VerveCast

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a pretty amazing thing. It’s basically a web site that allows creatives to pitch their ideas, and for people to support those ideas with monetary pledges.

This is just a little bit revolutionary. Years ago if you wanted to record an album, or produce a film, you had to raise enough money up front to rent studio time and equipment, and pay for any expenses like a crew or consumables out of your own pocket. Now you can pitch your idea, and if enough people believe in it, they become stakeholders in making it happen. As the artist, you get the money only if you have enough backers to reach the goal. What is the goal? It’s the dollar amount that you set. And that’s the tricky part… determining what to ask for. Ask for too much, and if you don’t get enough backers to reach the goal, you get nothing. Ask for too little, and if you didn’t properly estimate the cost of your project, you may end up funding a good chunk of it yourself. (There are fees taken out of the total by Kickstarter, transaction agents, etc.)

There are also rewards. If you back the Sensu Brush at the $25 level, you actually get one of them, with the knowledge that the final product will probably cost $5 to $10 more. This is a great way to get people to back your project. Determining rewards at the various levels is another way to convince people to back your project, and the folks behind the Sensu Brush have done a good job. They were hoping to get $7,500 and are currently at $37,412. So well over 1,000 people thought this would make an awesome product and were willing to put down some money to make it happen.

But as we in the marketing world know, having a great idea is only part of the battle. You also need to tell people about your great idea, and then execute your great idea. That “tell people” part is called marketing. I’ve seen a lot of projects on Kickstarter, and one of the things I like to see is a good video that clearly explains things. Add to that a good title, descriptive text, images/photos, and any relevant links, and you’ve come much closer to getting my money.

Maybe it’s not surprising that designers on Kickstarter are doing pretty good. They tend to get the marketing part of it. Take a look at the design category and see if you find something you’d be willing to back…

This isn’t as much a Photoshop Tutorial as an insight on human nature.

We all settle in to a certain workflow, no matter what your job. You reach a comfort level and with deadlines, client demands and The Daily Grind it becomes difficult to shake yourself out of that routine.

Which brings me to the other day. I was working on a video project for PORON® Cushioning with Jason, our video intern. We needed to take the photo below and clip out the hiker, replacing the clipped area with the background that would appear if he were not there. The result would be an animation effect that would hopefully be more interesting than a flat stock photo.

My usual approach would be to make a clipping path around the hiker, create a new layer with the hiker on it, and use the clone tool and various other techniques to try to seamlessly fill in the area. Then, something occurred to me.

Before Photoshop CS5 was released, a YouTube video of one of its new features started floating around. This feature was jaw-dropping and I remember counting down the days until I could give it a go and incorporate it into my workflow. Unfortunately, The Daily Grind took over and I never took an opportunity to use it, until now.

The feature is called Content-Aware Fill; what it does is analyze the contents of the image to figure out what the photo would have looked like if the unwanted object or area had never been there. Let’s have a look at the hiker.

First, I’ll use the lasso tool to draw a selection around the area I want removed; in this case, the hiker.

Then I’ll hit the delete key and a dialog box will appear asking me what I’d like to replace the deleted area with. I’m going to select; Use: Content-Aware, Blending: Normal, Opacity: 100% and click OK.

Eureka! Granted, results vary from photo to photo and a perfectionist would still take the time to clean up the rough spots, but Photoshop has given us a great start on accomplishing what we set out to do.

Lesson learned, no matter what your line of work, it pays to take a time-out and attempt to learn something that may be out of your comfort zone, no matter how small. In this case, I saved a ton of time and now I have a new trick.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some deadlines to meet.

Are you tired of messy ketchup packets? Heinz, the ketchup company, was and decided to clean up its image by creating a unique new package.

Heinz Dip & Squeeze, was first introduced in restaurants like Dairy Queen and Chik-fil-A earlier this year. The new packets give people two choices for Heinz Ketchup use. One could peel back the label to dip, or tear off the top if you want to squeeze some ketchup on your food. The new packets also provide people with three times more ketchup than the older version.

“Consumer demand for this product has been tremendous, as there is a universal need for convenient, portable packaging,” said Noel Geoffroy, Vice President of Heinz Brands. “We are thrilled to help consumers make it easier and more fun to dip or squeeze Heinz Ketchup no matter where they are.”

The new design has a familiar face. It’s shaped like a Heinz bottle with the same signature red color and familiar tomato vine and logo. The ketchup will be available in packs of 10 with a suggested retail price of $1.99. Will you buy into the ease of this new product, or run the risk of wearing red with those old packs?

The New York Daily News recently wrote an article about how the iconic “I Love New York” logo is raking in millions for the state through licensing fees. The logo was created by the renowned designer Milton Glaser in 1977. He did the work pro boon since it was to benefit the state, which was at one of its lowest points – crime was high and the city was near bankruptcy.

In true “Mad Men” style, the logo was scribbled down in the back of a taxi (the sketch now resides in the Museum of Modern Art). The logo is a simple rebus that stacks the letters I, N and Y and a ♥ as the symbol for love. The letters are set in a modified version of American Typewriter and the ♥ symbol, is a precursor to the many emoticons we use today. Many credit the logo and campaign with kick starting the necessary reforms in New York.

In the past thirty years, the logo has been seen on t-shirts, mugs, perfume bottles, has been copied countless times and even inspired the name of a horrible reality tv show. Most importantly, the message for the campaign was positive and clearly still resonates today – Glaser even created a modified version of the logo to commemorate the 9.11 attacks. The “I Love New York” campaign is a true testament to the power of good design.

Dear Steve,

Thanks for everything* you’ve done over the years. We really appreciate it.

You made people realize the importance of design, and taught them that design isn’t just how something looks, but how it functions.

* OK, well, not everything…