Search Google Plus – How You Can Use It

By now you’ve probably heard about Search for Google+. You’re also probably familiar with hashtagging. You’ve also most likely heard about the one-upmanship FaceBook has been attempting to keep pace with Google Plus features. You also are most likely painfully aware of the lack of business pages on Google+, currently my only real complaint about Google+.

What This All Means

FaceBook – suck it up and keep on using the crap they are pushing out to fast to try and keep up with Google+. Hopefully FaceBook will get it right and the people that are going to stay will benefit from the Google+ innovations that FaceBook is copying.

Lack of Google+ Pages – create profiles as real people and interact with your potential clients as people instead of just leads. I’ve interacted with people as just a normal person sharing conversational stuff as well as about 42wd Publishing. Until the business pages come this is the best we can do for now while staying within the Terms of Use.

Search for Google+ – love it and embrace it. I’ve been doing some of my own experiments with it and talked to others who have been experimenting with it as well. Here’s what I’ve come up with. Take it, use it, make it better and then share it with me and others.

Sketchbook Pro for Android – Tablet

Autodesk is at it again. If you’re like me, you sketch all over the place. I was using Autodesk’s Sketchbook Mobile. This version is designed to work on smartphones and not tablets; so of course I had challenges. Now there is Sketchbook Pro for the Android Tablets and so far it seems to integrate well with the desktop version as well as with Photoshop. To the bottom is a quick 30 second sketch to test just how good it worked with a stylus so I’d know if I should kick it back to the market.

Lots to learn with this new version. I’m actually pretty excited about it. Going to play with the Sketchbook Pro trail for the PC and see just how art like these programs combined together really are.

My two biggest complaints is the inability to change canvas size and to make groups. Haven gotten used to grouping in Photoshop I pretty much expect it in Sketchbook. We’ll see if it comes out in an update.

Palatable Palette

Any designer worth his/her salt knows that color can make or break a design. So what do you do when you get stuck for a color palette? Maybe the business owner hands you a photo? Maybe the point you at some websites? Maybe they’re the “I’ll know it when I see it” type?

So how do you quickly come up with a color palette; or multiple ones?

A Dash of Color

Come across the ColourLovers.com blog and it has some nice sample color palettes and figured it’s kind of handy. You can look at/use some prefab color schemes and download the ColorSchemer software.