TECH SALON

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. This just happens to be based on Tech.

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Why choose public transportation?

For me public transportation allows thoughtful moments in time. This was not always the case, like most passengers I use to end up idling my time away swiping at games or scanning through feed after useless feed .

This is exactly the moments I cherish, taking advantage of this extra time as I’m whisked into the city. Making this change wasn’t easy, from entertaining oneself just to pass time, to a much more mindful state. Now focusing on reading books, which was a big change. This helped with my personal transition. At first I start with young adult fiction, as it was easy to consume, such as the Hunger Game series. Anything that I could get through rapidly left me with a sense of accomplishment. This was the shift I needed.

My passion for reading transitioned from one of pleasure and switched to one of personal growth. My book lists are now on education, designing in the digital space to strategies on user focused development. Scanning on my phone now has laser focus, based on keeping up with design trends or blogging, all the while my fellow passengers.

Finding a time for personal growth becomes harder and harder in this feature rich world. Step back, figure out what brings more value into your life and remember, sometimes it’s just a bus or tram ride away.

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How I smashed into the world of programming

When looking from the outside, the glass that serperates you from what your looking at seems to be insubstantial. Then as you continue your understanding and developement there is that moment when you realize that pane of glass.

That glass is the seperation we ourselves need to either smash through or figure out how to get around. When I decided to join @codefellows, that day I set into motion the smashing of the glass.

Why is getting through this invisible yet susbstanial divider such a powerful thing for me? It allows complete “immersion” into the mind space and the realm of the programmer.

The difference is falling asleep tired as hell because you had to code that next step toward a better product. Awaking knowing there is at least 10-12 more hours today to push forward. Living code and creating a better experience.

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Going online with Code - GitHub

Setting up a GitHub is part of my new journey of code development. I just submitted an assignment in JavaScript yesterday and now what I programmed is Public. This should feel no different then the many posts that we all throw up onto the internet daily, but somehow it does.

When submitting to GitHub it goes into an area where others can grab your code and try it out or even use it themselves. My advice to you if your reading this article, "Go for it!" Really, what do we have to lose. Plus putting your self out there will make you better, for fear of not putting out your very best!!

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Codecademy is one of the very best ways I have found on the web that is free to start your journey to becoming a developer. My personal journey has been one that has significantly ramped up recently, due to joining Code Fellows.

What Codecademy offers:

a working environment to try coding

skills taught by experts in the field; all text based

free online training with achievements and tracking

a place to test your knowledge if you all ready code

a path that is more rigorous then the watch me videos out there 

In the photos above I show the interface of Codecademy's user profile, paths, achievement tracking, and some of the working code I put in there myself. There is a great online community to help you when you get stuck!! It is definitely part of the process.

Try it out and if you start to love it, check out the link above to Code Fellows, they are popping up all over the country. 

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Graphic Design

Graphic design with Adobe Ideas, Illustrator, and Photoshop allows you to quickly go from pen and paper sketches to working models. First, I typically sketch like crazy coming up with multiple ideas. These are low fidelity at first, then I start honing in on my design. I can sketch quickly and love to use a pen, so there is no erasing and it's all permanent. The idea is just to jot things down as fast as possible. Adobe Ideas on my iPad allows me to draw as well and then send my work over to Illustrator as a vector file, but since you can erase and switch colors, etc, I choose to stay with ink.

Bouncing around in multiple apps helps me create unique and creativity inspired workflows, allowing my fine art skills to show through. Two recent card and branding solutions, of course one is mine personally!

Check out Adobe Ideas if you haven't. It's exceptional.

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There are many prototyping methods out there that allow a designer to create working models, this model was created in one of the better options, Proto.io. This software is online and free to use for a limited time or if you start falling in love, sign up for their different packages and continue creating!! One of the best parts about this software is the ability to send a working file over to your device to see how it will look and run.

All the above work took a few weeks, from learning how to animate and get the links working in the software to capturing the photographs for the app itself. The front screen was the most challenging, from the studio lighting to the 100’s of shots taken and mess that had to be cleaned up afterwards!

Go check out this amazing tool at: Try Proto.io

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How to get paid when working for free

There are some jobs that you sign up for knowing well in advance that the only way you will do them, is if they are done for free. Pro bono. Well, how do you actually still get paid while working for free?

Let’s back up a little, what is “getting paid?” Is that the check written out to you? Is that the acceptance of a job well done that is seen far and near, giving you a ton of publicity? “Getting paid” has many meanings if you really think about it.

How much really is the difference between a job that’s done that generates more from the other clients that follow? Yeah, yeah, I can hear you now, and my mind is agreeing with you. But how does this pay my energy bill, can I fill my fridge with food on this pro bono work? The real answer is, well, yes!

Great, one of these articles. I ask you to follow through with this article, seeing it as an investment worth your time.

Here is how we get paid for doing a project for free. First of all, stop advertising where you are just spending money. Advertising is at its best when someone is telling everyone how much they love something, right? Yet, value is seen less and less when you are not charging what your worth or you give your product away for free. So let’s create value. Here is how we do that.

Write an Invoice.

Why write an invoice if we are not getting paid? Well, this is where we decide how we want the client to think. Write in how much the pro bono work would have cost or the products worth. Then realize the that pro bono work is just another line item. The line item that brings the total down and in this case down to zero. What the difference is here is one of perception. Was this line item zero due to charity, advertising, or promotional usage for the designer? Does this make our work free or have more value? If the client is asked how much the project was, they know the price for the work done and that creates value to our work.

Think of this from your client's perspective. The client can mention you giving them a promotional discount but the fact remains that in their next words we receive the most potential value. Your clients will let people know how much they liked you, your work, and their experience for a job well done. This is where we really start getting paid, allowing our pro bono, or as I like to refer to it now as promotional work, starts paying us back. Word of mouth advertisement, a new client’s project out in the world, and your best work. This will generate more. More work and more invoices.

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A talented friend of mine needed some help capturing shots of his new project, “Sculpting in Light”.

Mitch can make about anything, he is always experimenting with materials and has been creating for decades.

His recent venture has made more then one of his friends say, “You have to get these pieces out there and sell them”.

So this is the beginning, with my Canon 70D and some studio lighting, strobe flash, umbrellas and white backdrop we captured some good images. Next was to bring them to life in Photoshop CC with HDR toning to really bring out the raw details of the metal and rusty bits. Then add that layer with the opacity lowered to under 50% were it looks good, blend layer to overlay, on top if the original image in the layers. Of course cutting out the background will allow you to place the image into another background, compositing the the subject in a completely new environment. As you can see above with the table lamp.

If you want to try something similar to this shoot, Lynda.com has some great video tutorials to get your hands on. Watching anything from Chris Orwig will be extremely valuable.

http://www.lynda.com/Chris-Orwig/43-1.html

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How can the iPhone pull off graphic design? Well, let’s take a look at the apps Afterlight and Pic Jointer, which made my lock screen on the iPhone.

This is performed by first taking a photo that can become a pattern. Think of some retro wallpaper for ideas. Taking a photo of your own keeps this project completely your own, so go find something to snap a picture of! Architecture such as a ton of windows on a large building or like I used here, leaves on a tree.

In After Light go into the border area of the app, the one that adds frames to you photos. Here they allow letters to mask out the photo, and you can choose the color of the background which I left white. From here I made 3 letter forms: “J, &, T” and sent each to the camera roll.

Next I opened up Pic Jointer and choose the 3 box layout, and chose one that looked the most similar to the iPhones screen in shape. Add your letters and since I wanted a design that looked interconnected, I chose to keep the letters large in both apps. Aligning them interestingly is always were your design style comes through.

Share this finished 3 box layout to the camera roll and go to your photos! Choose the new layout and set it to either the lock screen or home screen. Go ahead and see what you come up with! Download the apps on your iPhone here: Afterlight & Pic Jointer 

Enjoy what you create and remember, don't think just create.

~Jay @Tech_Salon

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A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. This just happens to be based on Tech.

Wikipedia & Jay of Tech-Salon