Seamless Texture

I updated the background for my blog to a seamless texture that looks better than the tiled version. How did I do it? I copied the original psd file and worked on that. I made sure the dimensions were a square by cropping the image. There are two ways to make a square with the crop tool. One way is to set the pixel dimensions (not inches) in the width and height at the top of the window. The other is to hold down the shift key and drag the crop tool. Next, the image was flattened. Then I went to Filter/Other/Offset, setting the horizontal and vertical offset to half the pixels of the image and leaving the Wrap Around checked. My image was 400 so I used 200 for the offset. The seams I cleaned up by using the stamp tool and a soft brush. Last step was to save the file for the web.

Time Passes

I'm done with school but have two internships hanging around and sticking like glue. One I'm pretty much done with and promised the client I would do some training so she could take it over. She was going to do a letter of recommendation too. The other I'm still, believe it or not, in layout phase.

Both are pro bono work and the communication seems to be one way. One client doesn't respond to email and I have to call them because they don't call me to move the project forward. The other client sometimes responds to email but doesn't return phone calls.

I sometimes wonder, if I didn't contact them, how much time would pass until they decided they wanted me to do something.

If anyone has any tips on how to handle situations like this, I'd surely appreciate it.

Networking

Networking is fun. You get to meet people and share information. At the job club I got a tip about another job club in Tacoma that meets on Wednesdays. I shared my portfolio with people and gave them my web address. One person took down my information because they might be contacting me to revamp a non profit website.

I have resolved to carry my portfolio everywhere I go and, of course, my business cards. Everywhere I go, I tell people what I'm doing and I find myself getting animated and excited as I share my portfolio and discuss my goals. Graphic Design is my chosen career and I love it.

Job Club

There is a job club at the WorkSource office in Tacoma that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This last Thursday I attended and they covered social networking. Today's technology provides job seekers and the self employed so many different inexpensive ways to market themselves. You can use Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogs and your own website to brand yourself.  A dear friend of mine uses Yelp. I do have a Linkedin account and a personal Facebook account but I think it would be best to establish a separate Facebook account for my professional career. The job club meeting inspired me to get going on my business card which I'm almost done with and will have a similar design as my website. Iprint.com is a fairly inexpensive way to get business cards printed. You can upload one of your own designs or use one of their templates.