Lewis Davidson design and seo blog

Totally hilarious

2012-01-20T20:53:00.000-05:00

My last post I stated I was looking for work.

that is totally hilarious.

I had the busiest most productive 6 months working from home.

I am so glad I took keyboarding in high school,

ha ha NERDS rule.

NOT LOOKING FOR WORK,

I am an internet marketing professional serving the tampa bay area and work finds me.

peace & profits 2012

Client project

2012-01-01T13:28:00.000-05:00

client project: http://strawzzle.com/

Web design for a new product on the market that's great for anyone with kids.

Strawzzle, is a new straw replacement for foil, drink bags and drink boxes. Now you can pack your kids lunch and not have to worry about stains.

Strawzzle is great for snacks in bed and road trips as it prevents spills and messes associated with regular straws that come packed with drink products.

Client project

2012-01-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

Client Project,

web design, affiliate e-commerce and seo for a healthy products website.

http://adaptiveperforma.com/

This is a great looking site that has a simple link based affiliate e-commerce system making it easy to find and purchase their products.

By the way the products really work!

Client project

2012-01-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

Client project: http://comprehensivelaborsolutions.com/

Graphic design, web design, seo.

Pittsburgh PA based, labor service company specializing in moving services needed a new website, with some good seo.

Their old site was flash based, and not build for the google bots to get in and index it properly. This meant that it was not Google or SEO friendly.

I produced a brand book set of logos, icons, colors and fonts for the client.

After that I made a website and optimized it for SEO and searchability.

The finished site, looks great is SEO friendly and even has online quote generators, so anyone looking for moving or cleaning services can get fast free quotes.

Mission accomplished!

Client project

2012-01-01T13:17:00.000-05:00

Client type: SEO

Client: Mobility Express Bradenton FL.

Goal: improve SEO of client for mobility product related search terms in their local market.

I worked on researching the best keyword, and keyword index terms to create the best diversity of seo for each applicable page.

I put this data in a spread sheet and shared it with their development team.

Upon completion I then verified all the SEO was implemented in the code properly.

Both the meta as well as on page, H1 and H2 tags.

Upon verifying that the SEO work was complete I then submitted the site to major search engines to get some quality inbound links.

It took some time but now the client is coming up on the first page of Google for it's major terms.

Mission accomplished!

where's all the posts? Busy year in production

2012-01-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

2011 was a very busy year for me.

I didn't blog a lot, but I did make a lot of web work, design work and seo work for clients.

In 2012 I am going to start to learn mobile development.

Latest web site design work.

2011-07-09T08:36:00.000-04:00

I am working on a new project with some friends of mine.

We have formed a new parent company called Florida HD Productions.

This is our new website that I designed:

click to see the site

We are not your ordinary design company, we specialize in videos, and helping market videos we produce for our clients. We have recently acquired some assets that really give us an edge.

These include, Best Shot Stock Footage company, and Impression Masters videography firm.

Not only can we shoot your video, and design your website, but unlike other firms we can also promote it professionally on the web with high caliber internet marketing services.

Looking for new work.

2011-06-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

I am currently updating my resume, website and social profiles.

Looking for new SEO and free-lance consulting work.

Like karaoke? Like Rolling Stones? Check this out

2011-06-01T22:25:00.000-04:00

I love the Rolling Stones, and think it's a blast to sing their songs Karaoke Style.

I made this image for use on a blog post about the 25 Rolling Stone karaoke songs, you can listen to and purchase in ARIA karaoke products, built in karaoke download store.

Check out the ARIA Karaoke blog for cool stuff going on in the growing world of computer karaoke.

iPhone Karaoke Software

2011-04-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

ARIA Software launches update to iPhone Karaoke app.

ARIA Karaoke updated April 21, 2011 on the App Store features performance improvements and support for v.4 iPhones that had in-app purchases.

I use ARIA Karaoke on my Android phone and love it. I have many friends I can now do karaoke with too, because they have iPhones.

This is a really cool app, so if you love karaoke and own an iPhone check it out.

FREE karaoke software

2011-03-22T16:35:00.000-04:00

ARIA has just launched a new FREE karaoke player.

This way anyone can try computer karaoke.
The player is basic, but hey it's FREE, and it does include access to karaoke locker ( karaoke song downloads).

BIllboard top ten of 2010 Karaoke Content

2011-03-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a cool article featuring the top 10 artists of 2010, and which of their hot songs are available as down loadable karaoke content.

The article is featured on www.ariaparty.com's blog.

Here is the link to the Billboard Karaoke downloads article.

ARIA DJ VJ and Karaoke software open house party

2010-12-17T10:07:00.000-05:00

Holiday open house party with lots of music DJing, and Karaoke!

Hey Tampa Bay your invited to the Aria Party open house karaoke party.

This is the first of many karaoke parties to come from Digital 1 Audio, the makers of ARIA consumer entertainment software.

If you are in the Tampa Bay area of Florida come on out for this fun event.

Learn more about ARIA software with these links:

1. www.ariaparty.com the ARIA software website.
2. ARIA mobile Karaoke for iPhone.
3. ARIA mobile Karaoke for Android.

Happy holidays!

ARIA Karaoke bar sign

2010-11-11T12:34:00.001-05:00

For this graphics art project, I used photoshop to make a photo realistic marquee sign for Aria.
If ARIA was a karaoke bar, and not karaoke software, they would use this!

If you are looking for fun and easy to use karaoke software, to replace the old machine, check out: ARIA Karaoke Aria has three modes: Karaoke mode, DJ mode and Scratch mode! It works with audio and video and does all kinds of stuff that iTunes and Windows media player can't!

Own an iPhone or Android os phone? Check out the mobile version of Aria karoke for these mobile devices!

Apparently there is one person who does not like Karaoke!

2010-11-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

Apparently there is one person who does not like Karaoke!

Aria Logo

2010-10-18T16:55:00.000-04:00

Rabbit in the Moon logo icon on a Playmobil toy?

2010-10-15T15:08:00.002-04:00

I was at Toys R Us looking for a cool gift for my kid, when I saw this!

Being from Florida and a big fan of Rabbit in the Moon, their icon rabbit logo caught my eye!
If you look close it is clearly used on the bongo player? Clrh20 did you have anything to do with this?

I will have to go back and buy this, too funny!

Dinsoarur world visit

2010-10-03T11:49:00.002-04:00

This is a mobile phone upload from our first visit to Dinosaur World off of I4 in Florida.

I have driving by it many times en route from Tampa to Orlando, and my kid always squealed when she saw the big dinosaur on the side of the highway. Well we finally went, and it was pretty cool. The park is big and spacious and easy to get around for even those in wheel chairs.

The exhibits are very well done, and the gift shop had cool stuff.

FYI they don't serve food, so bring your own, but there is nice pic nic areas, and tons of great dino photo ops!

2010-10-03T11:48:00.002-04:00

This little guy caught my eye. Being that he is a much smaller dinosaur, he seemed more realistic to me.

There are many creatures to see. Including huge T-rex's and the really big long neck dinosaurs too.

2010-08-16T10:44:00.002-04:00

pixelmator MAC based graphic design project

2010-07-11T13:09:00.000-04:00

Today I wanted to put together a new image for my facebook default photo.

Here it is:

Next I will show how I did it.
I used a MAC only design program called Pixelmator. It is not an online photo editor or graphic design program- I cover those in another post. This one is for Mac's only. Pixelmator is similar to photoshop and very powerful, and has some unique features. First it 'runs' off of the graphics card, so it does not use up a lot of processing power and resources. This makes it a fast program great for multitasking. It can do most of what Photoshop does, but not everything. It is lacking "page comps" and groups.

However if you are looking for a powerful and affordable photo manipulation and graphic design program for your Mac- I would definitely recommend it.

Images used:

Ok. So I took an image of a jungle scene, a statue head, and a girl blowing a bubble.

First I started with the statue head. I downloaded the file and then right click opened it in Pixelmator. Using the erase tool, I erased all the white background leaving only the statue head.

Next I opened the bubble blowing photo, and using the lasso tool, I traced the bubble section of the image, and then copied it and pasted it onto the statue head file.

I then opened the image file of the jungle, and placed it as the bottom layer of the statue head and bubble file. I sized the jungle image to match the statue head, so it would make a nice native backdrop.

Finally I adjusted the bubble layer by making it a little bigger, and moving it into place.

To finish the image I made a layer copy of the statue head, and added one of the many default effects available from Pixelmator, to style it a bit. I adjusted the layer positioning and opacity level of these files, until it looked how I like. Pixelmator has lot's of effects to experiment with. I recommend you make a copy of a layer and then experiment until you find a style you like.

See the Pixelmator site for more information, and great tutorials.

2010-06-26T17:38:00.000-04:00

dragon

sculpy madness

2010-06-26T08:27:00.001-04:00

u wanna piece of me?

creative design: sculpture.

2010-05-29T08:57:00.003-04:00

The bad bunny! Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys these cool hand made models. It's a fun project with your kids, but does take patience and practice. I recommend using aluminum as filler as you can't make them to thick with super sculpey. Be prepared to sand them, and paint them in layers to get them just right.

For design inspiration I suggest these links:

The Sculpey website.

The Mojizu website.

and Chuck Ferrell's Youtube page is good, as well as having lot's of variety of suggested video viewing for those just starting, all the way up to expert level sculptors.

All in all, working with this stuff is fun, and took me back to my old hippy days of hemp necklace bead making.

Have fun everyone!

creative design: sculpture.

2010-05-29T08:56:00.002-04:00

This is another more advanced model. This one is also inspired by a vinyl toy maker. I started with an aluminum foil shape, and added the sculpy to it.

Do a google search for: super sculpey, and you will see tons of inspiring models and ideas. Super sculpey comes in a nude or pink/ flesh tone. This model was baked, sanded, primed and painted. The cigarette in his mouth, was a little piece of paper clip inserted into a sculpy tube, and baked. I then glued it in, after were both painted.

This one is called bad bunny and was the one everyone seemed to like the best.

creative design: sculpture.

2010-05-29T08:54:00.002-04:00

This is a pair of photos from a cool looking futuristic dog. This one is inspiration from Mojizu, the "contemporary character design community". The cube dog looks to have been done as a drawing or sketch, or directly in Illustrator. The artists name is Tituz.

Anyways, I really like his art, and it inspired me to replicate it as best as I could in a new medium. I used plain super sculpy wrapped around a small aluminum foil ball. After he was "baked" and cured, I sanded him, and painted him. I then used a paint maker to add some shading effects to the bone, and his one eye.

creative design: sculpture.

2010-05-29T08:48:00.002-04:00

Here was another colored sculpy based design. The inspiration from this one, also came from my daughters, coloring book projects. Simple and cute. Ava put on the black spots on this one as well. If you look close you will see a smiley face on the creatures belly!

creative design: sculpture.

2010-05-29T08:47:00.002-04:00

Ava and Mrs. Laylannie inspired me to make some sculpy characters. This is the creature that started it all. Ava put on all the purple spots! We had some left over colored sculpy from some refrigerator magnet projects.

Ava had some prints of things to color from her school coloring books, and I just referenced those for the design inspiration of what to sculpt.

Kapok Tree Pavillion

2010-05-01T11:17:00.002-04:00

Photo of Ava and a "creature" statue from the Kapok Tree.

While there she played with snails, water in the fountain with a fishin' pole, and more.

The garden is nice with lots of shade, and access for Ava to get around.

The back section of the garden was under construction but we'll come back one day to see the bamboo and rest of the garden.

2010-04-10T18:27:00.001-04:00

picture perfect.

My daughter the little artist

2010-03-30T15:28:00.002-04:00

Ava the lil' artist enjoying spring break in Florida out on the lanai.

Rapid Weaver, NCD themes

2010-03-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

I had a great customer service experience from Nick Cates of NCD Themes.

I needed help with some Mootools Jquery scripts, and Nick sent me an old tutorial video to get me back in action fast.

If you are a MAC based web designer and use Rapid Weaver like me, you should should check out his site.

Using the combo of his themes and Rapid Weaver and some good design techniques, you can crank out great looking sites like the one I made here really, really fast!

Rapid Weaver, NCD themes

2010-03-28T21:43:00.001-04:00

I had a great customer service experience from Nick Cates of NCD Themes.

I needed help with some Mootools Jquery scripts, and Nick sent me an old tutorial video to get me back in action fast.

If you are a MAC based web designer, like myself and use Rapid Weaver like me. You should should check out his site.

Using the combo of his themes and Rapid Weaver and some good design techniques, you can crank out great looking sites like the one I made here really, really fast!

Valentines day graphic design project

2010-03-23T15:47:00.003-04:00

This graphic design project, is actually quite simple, but can yield great results. So it's Valentines Day, and you need to do something romantic. How about a custom wine bottle? Well the bottle itself, isn't custom, but by applying your own label it is! I created a custom wine label badge for my better half, and she thought it was thoughtful and creative. The label had her name on it, in a nice serif font, and even showed the date range we have been together for, similar to how wine has a date. I added an emblem or a crest and some fleur-de-lis style effects. It was finished off with a label which said, "open only for life's finest moments", and it was made to look like a tag, complete with a hold punched in it, for a ribbon to tie it to the bottle. The finishing touch was stating it was a "Classic Reserve", as if that was the name or brand, and it sounded good to me, and we both enjoyed it. So if you're a graphic designer and need a fun and easy idea for a little romance, this is a great project, just make sure you can print full size label paper on your color printer, and your all set!

Latest Good Book

2010-03-18T15:46:00.000-04:00

The last book I recently finished was called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

There are really only two characters, a young man on a journey to discover how to "solve man kinds problems" and well, for sake of not spoiling the book, another character.

This one took me back to my late nineties reads such as: Celestrine Prophecy, Tales of Power, and The way of the Shaman.

This is a read all through the night book, which will give you a different look at the state of mand kind.

here is the authors site.

Good Books

2010-03-18T15:42:00.000-04:00

Occasionally I will recommend a great book.

A couple of weeks ago I finished Next, by Michael Crichton. I have read several of his other works, and would definitely reccomend this. If you have any fascination with the medical industry or genetics, this one is for you, reads like a fast mystery novel!

Click here to go to the authors website to find out more about him and this great read.

Which is the best social tool?

2010-03-18T11:06:00.002-04:00

Here are my reviews and feedback for some mulit-tasking tools to consider for keeping your reality boat afloat on the seas of today's social network.

Yoono *****

Socialite****

ScribeFire***

TwitterBar**

Personally I use Yoono. I have it as a Firefox plugin on my macbook, and I can multi-post on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, IM, listen to music, Read RSS feeds, share webclips, photos, videos and more. It even has link discovery Nuff said my hands down favorite... However each app has it's own uniqueness and therefore appeal.

I really like Socialite. Drawback it is not free! However if you are a Mac fan, and appreciate when a third party company makes a great app for Apple, you should consider this too!

ScribeFire is great, if your a word press user. It has revenue capabilites and if you have like 10 firefox tabs open and want to share a lot of links and data quickly, it is a power blogging tool for sure.

TwitterBar. Now If I was Kevin Smith and I could talk about whetever the hell I wanted on Twitter all day, and make a living, this is the tool I would use.

That's my review! If you have any comments, or can suggest any other features or apps to use, please do share.

Multi Tasking Social app reviews & Links!

2010-03-18T09:20:00.015-04:00

This post is all about multi-tasking and productivity tools for social networking.

The programs are:

Socialite MAC standalone.

Get Socialising

"Socialite is a beautiful Mac OS X application, designed to make it easy to stay in touch with the social networks and services that matter to you. From news on Digg, photos on Flickr, statuses and photos on Facebook and Twitter updates, to full Google ReaderRealMacSoftware, Inc. RSS syncing, Socialite keeps all your social networks in one convenient place."

ScribeFire MAC or PC firefox browser add-on.
(Note: this is for blogs like word press or blogger!)

About ScribeFire

"ScribeFire is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox Web Browser that integrates with your browser to let you easily post to your blog: you can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog."

Yoono MAC or PC Standalone or Firefox plug-in.

STAY CONNECTED

"Connect to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, AIM and more...in one place..."

STATUS SYNC

"Update your status across all your services at once..."

EASY SHARING

"Share links, images & videos across all your networks..."

Twitterbar MAC or PC Firefox or Google Chrome browser add-on.

Post to Twitter

"...from your (FireFox) address bar."

________________________________________________________________

Click on a logo/ link to go to the site(s) and find out more info on each of these tools.

If you can think of any other tools that allow you to multi-task and be more effective with your social networking and marketing duties please do share! Also see the poll to vote on which is your favorite.

Twister- Twiiter groups for your website!

2010-03-18T08:56:00.003-04:00

Twitters hot! But whats even better is how fast spin off aps are coming out. Here is a new one called Twister, that lets you display twitter account group posts on a website, instead of just one. It is easy to install and pretty powerful, well as powerful as your twitter audience is busy tweeting!

Avatar 3D with my daughter Ava!

2010-03-08T18:11:00.002-05:00

Avatar official Movie Site

Last week I took my daughter to see Avatar.

What a joy to see the wonder, curiosity and awe in her face!

Is it any coincidence that one of the coolest movies ever, has my daughters name in it?

I think not.

If you have not seen this movie yet, go do it, while it is still in the theaters! I read the Wired magazine interview with James Cameron and was very motivated, here is someone who got into action by being pissed! He saw Star Wars with a buddy, and was like damn, I wanted to make a sci fi epic movie! I am not going to start a debate of which will end up being bigger or better over time, but it is cool to note that one influenced the other and made it all better for us, the movie watchers!

Now go see the movie!

Last day of long hair.

2010-03-04T18:07:00.003-05:00

I grew my hair out for fun, and well mostly for my wife. She said it was for our family vacation in the Carolina Mountains, and she wanted a rugged looking mountain man! Well it reminded me of the 90s and a different era of my life. Here it is for posterity...

The last 6 pack

2009-12-31T07:30:00.002-05:00

This year I met a new friend and graphic designer, named Will. He is a home brewing fan. We chose to a make a delicious Holiday Winter Ale, for 2009's holiday season. I decided to document the process in my blog, check the posts below! This is the final six pack that I saved for our New Years Eve party. I DJ this event with friends and family every year. Everyone loved the beer! The challenge as a graphic artist was to make our own "brand" of beer. We decided on the name "Rumble Fish", Winter Ale. First I did a pencil sketch after checking out some stuff online. Then I scanned it into Adobe Illustrator, and traced the lines to ink. I colored it and rendered it as a vector. I did some finishing touches and font work in Photoshop and printed the design on labels. I think it turned out great, both the beer and the graphic design/ marketing project!

Finishing our craft brew project.

2009-12-27T14:17:00.002-05:00

After the sugar was added we then filled the bottles. The sugar was necessary to feed the little microbes that make the alcohol. We ended up with 48 beers and a couple of 16 ounce bottles. Enough for friends holidays and good times!

Capping the beer!

2009-12-27T14:16:00.002-05:00

Putting the caps on the beer. Well the beer is not quite done. We put the caps on, but the yeasty critters need to eat their sugar and finish their job. So just a little bit more time, and they will be ready, for the final job cycle- enjoyment of a job well done!

The whole process of home brewing or craft brewing was a great experience, I would recommend anyone try it. Pairing beer with different meals, and trying out different ingredients in the beer to make it original is fun.

It's easier then you think, and actually affordable to but the beer making kit and the ingredient/ recipe kits too. Check out the website where we got the kit and the ingredients for our now famous Rumble Fish Beer!

Cleaning Bottles.

2009-12-06T14:16:00.003-05:00

We bought an adapter that screws onto the faucet that makes it quick and easy to clean the bottles. First we took two 5 gallon buckets and added the sanitizer solution. The we manually cleaned each bottle as shown in this picture and let them soak in the solution. We then took each bottle out of the soaking solution and blasted them again, before hanging them on the bottle tree to dry.

After we capped each beer by hand, we gave them a quick rinse and dry, and then packed them in cases for storage.

Our "holiday winter ale" beer making kit yielded two 24 packs, and two 16oz bottles.

These need to be stores in a cool dark place and not be exposed to light or sunlight for a week. At one time during the week turn them upside down and give them a swirl to make sure the yeast is doing it's job. Look for bubbles. This shows that the C02 is being formed by the yeast eating the last bit of sugar you add to your brew, before bottling.

NOTE: wear gloves when cleaning bottles or the sanitizer will dry your hands.

This is pretty much it, when about ready you can label your beer as we are this weekend, and I will complete the micro brew blog with a pic and video of the finished product!

BEER.

2009-11-27T11:15:00.004-05:00

56 beers, 4 people 4 days.

wall of beer.

We had a wonderful family vacation in the mountains of North Carolina. Between the birthday parties, and thanksgiving we enjoyed a bit of beer and partying.

Second fermentation & Beer label/ logo

2009-11-17T13:50:00.002-05:00

We drained the beer from the first fermentation bucket to the second, and made a logo and label for the Beer.

Again it's Rumble Fish Winter Ale, and here is the design:

Beer wert tasting.

2009-11-08T18:56:00.003-05:00

After boiling the beer, and then cooling it to 80 degrees in a sink of ice, you can then taste what you are making.

Kind of like a hot beer tea.

This is called wert, at this point, the hard part is done, and you can seal it, and wait.

Beer making leftovers.

2009-11-08T18:50:00.003-05:00

Our brew is a winter ale, with two types of hops, two types of malt, and some nice spices. The smell while brewing was very nice, like a dank earthy tea.

The beer boiled for an hour, steeping the grains, and stirring occasionally.

This is a shot of the bottom of the pot, of our last chunks after the pour off into fermentation bucket.

Cooking the Beer, boiling ingredients.

2009-11-08T17:56:00.005-05:00

We heated the nearly 5 gallons of water until a hard boil. Then we took it off the heat, and added the two malts.

Again we then boiled for one hour. At the ten minutes left mark of this second boil, I added the last spices. Finally with two minutes left of the second boil, I added the cascade hops.

Photo of Beer making ingredients outside.

2009-11-08T16:12:00.002-05:00

Our winter ale kit had a dark liquid malt extract, and an amber. This added to it's style and it's colors and flavors.

It featured really nice cascade & vanguard hops as well as cinamon nutmeg n ginger to top off the beer with a nice spice.

2009-11-08T16:06:00.002-05:00

This is my friend Will.

He is a web designer at our company. He has mad CSS skills.

Here he is enjoying the robust smell of the vanguard pellet hops, "mmm-azing".

This flower is a crucial element in a quality American style Ale beer.

The pellets of hops looked like rabbit food, but smelled really amazing.

Main ingredient, Beer making grains.

2009-11-08T15:55:00.002-05:00

Here we are steeping a muslin sack tied, and full of Beers main ingredient- grains.

Our mix of barley malt grains, freshly pre cracked by our supplier.

I dunked the sack of grains, for awhile, and then stirred it on occasion while boiling.

This process went on for some time.

This is a real good time to be drinking other beer. If you have mad skills, you can even grill simultaneously!

That's right we made our beer in a 5 gallon pot on top of the side burner, of our heavy duty gas grill.

Beer Cooking pot, and thermometer.

2009-11-08T15:25:00.002-05:00

Step one- bring 2.5 or more gallons of water to a boil or about 155 degrees.

This is our cleaned pot. We chose to do this on the outdoor grill, it can get smelly, but if that's ok with you, feel free to do this indoors.

Beer making ingredient list.

2009-11-08T15:03:00.002-05:00

This is the ingredient list for our Winter Ale, Beer.

It was listed as a Happy Holiday Ale.

Sounded nice to me.

Ingredients for Beer.

2009-11-08T15:02:00.002-05:00

The happy holiday ale at midwest brewers.

I opened up the pack earlier to check for everything and chill the yeast activation pack.

Here is a pic of all the ingredients.

Will the brew master/ web master holds up the Beer Kit.

2009-11-08T14:55:00.002-05:00

Will the Web/ Brew Master holds up the

botteler, siphon & thief.

Primary and Secondary fermenters.

2009-11-08T14:52:00.002-05:00

The beer making kits primary and secondary fermenter.

Make sure they are cleaned and sanitized.

Store them in a clean sealed container

when not in use.

Beer kits are cheap, buy one today!

Beer making kit- in a box!

2009-11-08T14:50:00.002-05:00

This is the brewers best deluxe equipment kit. Other then the fresh ingredients, this is all you need to make beer at home! Do try this at home!

Yahoo pipes aggregation tool.

2009-10-29T21:30:00.004-04:00

I have recently been using a great new internet resource called Yahoo Pipes.

Pipes are easy to use, get started here.

Experienced web developers have used some type of news feed aggregator, and others might have used one, with out even knowing it. Take my page for example, this is a Google Blogger Blog. In my admin panel, I have the option of choosing news feeds. I keep up on the big three, Microsoft, Apple and Google. This is through an aggregator. Also on this page is a Web/ Graphic Designer job post resource from Yahoo Pipes.

Pipes allows you to pull data from the web from a variety of built in tools, and then "pipe" them into your own source, which can then be easily shared and configured to display the data in a variety of ways.

I use them for my current company I am working for, to display news feeds for the CAD CAM industry from a variety of sources. Instead of going to various feeds, or reading my syndicated rss feeds, I can get all this data in one place, and share it with our web visitors. See this Cad Cam news feed here.

I am testing out some other valuable cloned and customized pipes for flickr photos and google videos. The cool thing about pipes, is that there are many already created, and if you publish and share yours, then other people can view the back end code, and learn how its done.

This can be beneficial for SEO purposes, as you can have relative key word data, auto populate the sights you are working on. This adds value to the site, for search engines, but also to your clients, and web public as they can get valuable info from your site, and that gives them a reason to come back, instead of looking some place else for this info.

In summation, Yahoo pipes are a great resource, anyone seeking to collect and share content from multiple sources should check out.

Eminem

2009-10-13T12:04:00.001-04:00

Eminem’s New Music Video Features Star Trek, Robots

Posted using ShareThis

illustrator practice super hero words & logos

2009-10-04T21:17:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, you need to make a name or logo look huge and well, kind of like a super hero. Here is a rendering for www.bobcad.com the company I cam working for now.

The super hero effect!

illustrator practice sunny day cartoon

2009-10-04T21:13:00.003-04:00

Knowing how to draw basic shapes with the pen tool, and coloring them with gradients, makes it easy to make cartoon style drawings with Illustrator. This one is perfect for a greeting card.

illustrator practice RSS FEED, 3D gear

2009-10-04T21:11:00.001-04:00

Here is a 3D gear for the tech look.

illustrator practice RSS FEED

2009-10-04T21:06:00.002-04:00

Most sites these days have an RSS feed icon, I put a slight angle on mine, and a slight glow and drop shadow. It is designed to pop off of a colored page.

Illustrator practice

2009-10-04T21:01:00.004-04:00

I had been so busy running the E-news letter and designing new sites at work lately, I decided to take some time to brush up on my Illustrator skills.

Here are some sample files.

Knowing how to do the 3D bars and blocks is good for styling statistical charts and graphs, and what corporate web project is complete with out glossy buttons?

Being funny at the office.

2009-09-07T08:44:00.002-04:00

Avas B-Day get away.

2009-08-29T13:37:00.002-04:00

chillin at the "picabu" cafe. avas being so funny!

yummy!

2009-08-29T08:31:00.002-04:00

For breakfast, I had plates of food that look like happy faces!

2009-08-29T08:29:00.001-04:00

avas b day breakfasts!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Drum and Bass EP Release

2009-07-18T12:33:00.003-04:00

New Release for Technorganic Recordings.

Genre: Drum and Bass

Title: "Take this and Die, EP part 2"

this is a collaborative effort release featuring all Russian up and coming DJ / producer talent!

Lots of energy and passion in these tunes. Good use of techno and organic elements. Headed by Acid Rain, and always showcasing excellent drum edits, and unique samples this is a must have EP of powerful tunes for any cutting edge, drum and bass DJ.

It is available as an album on Beatport so check it out!

social updates...

2009-07-11T17:15:00.001-04:00

My updates and presence on my social sites, has been really bad the past month, but thats ok!

It's because I got a great full time job that I really love.

I am part of the marketing team for a CAD CAM software company.

they have a good crew, it's close to my house, and the product is solid.

I am happy to be working, for a company I like, with products I respect.

I am learning a lot about how so much is designed and made using CNC machines and CAD CAM software.

Mac based design and marketing software

2009-05-20T09:22:00.009-04:00

<== sample image produced by me with Art Text is 6 seconds!

Attention companies!

Ever wonder how graphic designers like me, make those cool shiny and glossy "Web 2.0" styled logos and designs? Does it frustrate you that as soon as you make a nice new logo, the web standards and trends change, and your logo looks dated? Don't have a fast and reliable designer like me in your area? Do you wish you could work with some simple and affordable software that makes it easy for you to create these modern styled logos, font stylings and designs, just like the pros?

Well now you can!

<== sample image produced by me with Art Text is 4 seconds!

Right here, in my blog, for those of you lucky enough to come across this post, I am going to share one of my most powerful graphic design secrets!

Are you ready? It's a program called Art Text!

Wait- please pay attention, this is a MAC only program!

Please don't hate, appreciate. This is a very powerful and easy to use program that will allow you to create the stylized text, and modern looking designs that are all over your competitions websites and marketing materials, all by yourself. So if you own a MAC, are a graphic designer, or need to make logos youself, look no further then this program! Check out Art Text for your self, by clicking here.

I have been using Art Text for several months, and I truly love it and highly recommend it. The program is affordable, works fast, and is super easy to use. You do not need to be a super star graphic designer like me to start making amazing designs.

Here is what the people at Belight Software, the creators of Art Text, have to say about it:

Why use Art Text?

Headings and other text graphics created with Art Text will make business presentations catchy.
Attractive buttons and cool titles will make your web site look stylish and professional.
Various logos and icons can be easily created to enrich your brochures, flyers and postcards.

<==sample image I made with art text in 5 seconds!

I could add tons of things to this list, but basically in my personal experience, what this program does is- it really speeds up the production cycle for cranking out this kind of work.

Many of my graphic design friends have asked me: "Can you do what Art Text does in Photoshop"? Yes of course you can, but not everyone can afford Photoshop, or take the time necessary to learn all of its powerful features. With Art Text, you simply download the program, start using it- and within a few minutes you have a great design- it is truly that easy.

So there you have it, one of my best graphic design secrets for all my blog readers, and clients.

Remember it is a MAC program, so if you use PC's and there is nothing wrong with that- you will simply have to rely on me to make all of your awesome looking font designs and shinny buttons!

SEO and SEM

2009-05-20T08:42:00.003-04:00

In the last several months, I have been really working hard to master the basics of SEO and SEM.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in my words is doing the simple but effective things with your HTML code in an effort to optimize and target your potential website audience. The book I have been following, and recommend is by Kristopher Jones, who runs Pepperjam, a very respected SEO and SEM company. You can pick it up at any retail book store like Borders, or Barnes and Noble, or of course at the large online bookstore Amazon.

Also if your a small company, and don't have the time or the budget to learn, implement, test and perfect these tasks, you can also contact me directly via email, or through my website, as I would be glad to help! These efforts of SEO are a combination of developing organic search listings, as well as pay per click campaigns, to successfully compete for keywords that relate to your business, and to get more people to go to your website.

SEM or Search Engine Marketing, is the various outbound marketing efforts a company employs to target its many different types of potential customers to very specific pages or landing pages on their site. To illustrate if your company offers more then one product or service, it is important to market specifically to each individual customer and not generically to all customers. This becomes more difficult the larger the company and the more products and services they offer.

Simply being specific with your HTML code, and doing individualized marketing are not enough, a company must also combine traditional marketing into their web based marketing efforts. A new technique that I am working on for the companies I serve is called PURLS, or personalized URL's. This in marketing terms is the best of both worlds. PURLS is personalized urls. This is the process of doing direct mail and or physical marketing, that is very specific, even down to a per customer basis. Each physical item that is delivered to them has it's very own unique personal(ized) url, or PURL. This way you can test and measure specific marketing strategies to each and every customer and find out what they like, or don't like. You can see what they respond to and what motivates them to find our more about your company's products and services. As the internet becomes more crowded, and more and more people compete for keywords, and search engine rankings, the more we have to balance traditional marketing and targeted marketing.

While this all might sound like a daunting task, it happens to be very exciting for me, as I have a traditional marketing background, and work hard at learning new techniques to help my clients on the digital frontier.

Should you have any questions about what I can do to help you with SEO or SEM, and help turn more people onto your website, and it's various products and services please contact me through my website: www.lewisdavidson.com. Together we can develop the traditional physical marketing and branding components, optimize your website, and then deliver a PURL campaign with customized tools to study your customers needs wants, and desires, saving you time, money and most importantly making your valued customers happy, by giving them exactly what they want.

coming home from a day on the water

2009-05-10T17:22:00.003-04:00

The view from the back of the pontoon boat, coming home...

Ava, happy on the water.

2009-05-10T17:21:00.001-04:00

This is a great pic! Ava happy and smiling on the water! She got to play with fish and enjoy the sites. Sunshine is good for kids, and she is a beach girl for sure.

The cutest thing, is when she would watch a scallop open up in her hand. That was awesome.

I like pontoon boats, as thy are safe, and stable and it's like being out on the patio, but on the water.

We had a great time!

on the boat, w/ Captain Sonny

2009-05-10T17:19:00.002-04:00

This is my good friend and neighbor Sonny. He is a native born Floridian. Occasionally when I am lucky I get to go out on the boat with him. We always have a great time. We fish, and enjoy the beauty of nature, nothing beats being out on the water with good friends.

on the water, I love Florida

2009-05-10T17:18:00.001-04:00

This photo is from the back of my neighbor/ friends pontoon boat. His name is Sonny, and he took my daughter and me out on the Ocean, and island hopping. As always it was amazing. I got some sun, and fresh air, and Ava got to catch fish, a scallop and enjoy the beach.

Being able to go out on the water and to the islands in Florida is as good as it gets, we are so blessed!

chameleon in nature

2009-05-06T11:47:00.001-04:00

There is a little lizard in this photo. He is an anole, but in Florida they are called chameleons. I was at the park, breathing, and meditating to calm my mind. I saw this guy on the rocks by the steps. He was not scared of me at all, so I slowly moved in for this photo.

I love nature, and appreciate his colorings to help him blend into the rocks and the environment. We looked at each other, eye to eye for some time, and we had our moment.

My cell phone is the series 1, envy from Verizon. Overall it is a good phone, great for texting, but the view screen is small, so it is sometimes hard to judge the shot before you post it!

Ava riding a pony

2009-05-02T19:39:00.002-04:00

ava riding a "pony"

This simple little toy makes a little girl so happy!

2009-04-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Nacho lunch!

Earth Day treat

2009-04-19T16:30:00.002-04:00

What earth day is complete with out a yummy treat!

Here we are supporting a local family business that serves a small organic farms ice cream and frozen yogurt.

We had a great time, and this was the perfect way to cap it off.

It runs in the family.

2009-04-18T17:46:00.003-04:00

Look Mom- it (skateboarding) runs in the family!

Here is a short video of enthusiastic Ava- scooting around on a skateboard. This was her first time, and we took it easy, focusing on balance and fun!

Like father like daughter.

2009-04-18T17:39:00.003-04:00

I spent a good portion of my life skateboarding.

Here is a pic of my daughter on a skateboard for the first time.

We were smart and put on elbow pads, gloves and a helmet.

It was good exercise for her, keeping her balance, and working her arms, to move around. She was even turning. Ava did great as like most things in life, attitude makes all the difference. She won that battle, again and really enjoyed herself!

Photo editing software

2009-04-13T11:20:00.003-04:00

Are you a blogger, or photographer? Own a Mac? Want to do a little more with your photos, but don't need all the muscle of photoshop?

Consider: Image Tricks.

Made by Belight software, it is a powerful program, but very easy to use, and runs quick, so it is great for Bloggers, or Mac based photographers, who need a bit more effects then what iPhoto allows. Many of the images you see on this blog, are edited and tweaked using this program.

Check out Image Tricks the Mac based photo editing software here.

Natures beauty, is appreciated by children.

2009-04-13T08:10:00.003-04:00

Ava picked this. She said it looked like the flower from Horton hears a Who, movie an Dr. Seuss Book. I am learning a lot from this Child. She is patient, and notices things most of us miss. there is beauty all around us, and I appreciate the blessings this child has brought to my life- to take it slow, and notice the details of the journey!

Hot new DNB Single just released on Beatport!

2009-04-09T17:50:00.003-04:00

This is a great release!!!! The Style is: electronic/ Dance file under:

DRUM AND BASS!

You will love the spacey trance elements and influence on this release!

Check it out on Beatport.com/labels/technorganic

right now!

See what other DJs bought, that mix well with these tunes, and more.

The rest of the palm / tiki art crew- Jungle Style!

2009-04-08T09:14:00.002-04:00

Here is the rest of my recycled art jungle crew.

Compared to my sisters, the white elephant sucks! But i did run out of paint, and do intend to make it better.

The zebra and giraffe need paint to.

Needs more black and white, and some jewels and details to bring them to life.

My daughter and I will finish these soon, and her elephant is the best of all, so I am saving it 'till we are done!

more cool 'recycled art'

2009-04-08T09:11:00.003-04:00

Tiki Mon art dude.

This one is my favorite, as he is colorful and kind of traditional. I might add some more black details for emphasis and emotion, but we will have to see how he stands out at the Tiki Bar first!

The palm trees were just sitting there, and i kept seeing these creatures in them. All of this was inspired by my sister Chris, who owns a restaurant called the White Elephant Pub in Englewood Beach, FL. She is a great artist and made a white elephant out of palm bits, and i was so inspired I tried to make more, but I ended up with these creatures instead.

My sisters are much better, and you should check out the PUB! It's right on the beach and has great food, drinks, music and views of the bay!

Art made from palm tree bits n junk paint.

2009-04-08T09:10:00.001-04:00

This one is creepy cool and inspired by a combo of traditional African Art, and English hot cross buns?

Cool art made from recycled junk!

2009-04-08T09:08:00.001-04:00

After my mom took my daughter Ava and I to the art show a couple weekends ago, I was inspired to make some art myself!

This is made from recycled paint n palm tree scrap. The palm tree pits are tough and hard to cut and fit in the trash, so I decided to make some "tiki" style art out of them.

James the neighbors son, seemed bored, so Ava and I invited him over, to work on art with us. He followed my design template and created this amazing leopard head!

New web site live for video production client

2009-04-04T21:00:00.003-04:00

I did this site is for an LA based Video Production and Motion Graphics company.

The site is a modern clean CSS based design to feature their high end production facility.

Titus Productions services high end video clients, and is really busy, they needed, a clean modern high end site, that showcased their current promo reel and made it easy for people to find and interact with them on the web.

They have helped me with video production work, and consulting.

If you are in the need of high end, video production, editing, flash or motion graphics, check out their site, and ask for John.

Click here to visit Titus Productions.

Be sure and tell them Leiws of: www.lewisdavidson.com referred you!

New site in production

2009-04-04T20:55:00.004-04:00

New Technorganic Recordings Music Release!

This is a two song single of Drum and Bass music, just released and available here: Beatport

The artist is named: C qnz

The catalog number is TECODD0026

Track names: Alpha and Omega, and Alien Prayer.

These are both fast high energy electronic dance songs, in the drum and bass music genre.

Art fair pics with Ava.

2009-03-28T15:55:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, was awesome. My mom took Ava, and me to a local art fair. We really enjoyed these tropical Tiki style pieces. Very colorful and fun.

Art fair pics with Ava, continued.

2009-03-28T15:52:00.004-04:00

This pic was from the Art show at the park, down by the water. We had a really nice time. It was pretty windy for the exhibitors, but overall a nice day.

In this pic Ava is hamming it up with her best tribal yell- in this pic! "Aaarrr!"

This artist had great hand carved and painted tropical fish, leaves and tiki style masks. The Artists name is Ellen Phaff.

To see more of her work, click here.

Art fair pics with Ava, continued...

2009-03-28T15:40:00.005-04:00

Awww! How nice, this wonderful woman- Norma works with her artist husband who does amazing paintings of wildlife. She was helping work a very busy booth, as the artist- Gene, is quite excellent, and had many patrons admiring and purchasing his work. The artist (not pictured) is Gene Rizzo, and his website is: www.generizzo.com he is a water color painter, and and he gave Ava this lovely print of some wild Florida birds- awesome! One of Ava's name translations is "little bird", so it was quite fitting. The green background of the painting perfectly matches our kitchen too. A very nice love offering of some beautiful free art, this really made our day, and is very inspirational to our little artist. Thank you Gene and Norma Rizzo!

A great start to an art filled weekend!

2009-03-26T15:14:00.003-04:00

This was a special gift from a Co-Workers daughter. It is a hand made stuffed doll. It is hand sewn with custom fabric and button eyes. The quality is excellent, and he is very lovable. Unique style of fabric print, nice quality and details galore, he even has one eyebrow askew, to give him- or her perhaps, personality.

Ava named her "Free", and she has been tugging Free along for many days now!

Avas special handmade gift from-

Etsy.com she loves it.

A child's fascination with bugs!

2009-03-26T06:35:00.003-04:00

All kids are special! My daughter Ava like many kis, has a fascination and curiosity with bugs. That's ok, as it gives me an excuse to catch them for her. Living in Florida we get many opportunities to see great wildlife. Like this grasshopper here. We often see these whoppers at the park by our house. Ava likes bugs so much we got her bug making kit, and of course little jars with magnifying lids, and screens on top to see the bugs! Rolly polly's are great, as our lady bugs.

This pic was taken from my cellphone, thanks mobile blogger!

New site in production

2009-03-22T00:36:00.003-04:00

I am working on some web design comps for a new client.

This is a fun project, as I am going back to the old school!

One of my first jobs in Florida, you know day job- was at Kinkos.

What a great place to make rave flyers, and of course they used to have those phones, you could use for free back in the pager days.

Anyhow! I remember working in the Business Printing Department. I used to design business cards for people. And I am going back to what I learned there with regards to how I am making designs for clients now.

You see as in this example: Budgeting Solutions As you can see on every link/ page tab on that site, it is a different design.

What I did here differently is that first I made the client a business card, as for many people that is how they think about their company. The business card itself is the look and feel of the company, and important as to how they present it to the public, and on the net.

If you have ever seen the movie American Psycho with Christian Bale now famous for his temper and Batman Movies, you will remember the scene where they compare business cards, in the lobby of the restaurant where the business execs would meet. Oh how Christian coveted Lewis' card!

So the point is- I am making a website based on the business card first. This is how I used to design, and I am seeing how it can speed up the production process for designing, and it also makes the whole process more complete and well rounded.

Just click on the links and see! Each page comp has a business card on it, with some generic copy, but the site design matches the card, so the client can see the card and site, and pick what they love for both!

Another new site live

2009-03-22T00:29:00.005-04:00

Ok,

this site needs some more SEO work, and some other mild tweaking with regards to the contact page/ form but overall it is done.

This site was done for some local clients who offer a VPA or virtual private assistant service.

They are originally from the UK, and I loved working with them.

Their service is very convenient for growing business, as they are really good at Microsoft Word, Bookkeeping, and other numerous office related tasks. They have helped me, and I am glad to help them back with a great design package.

If you need to outsource, document production, bookkeeping, or other administrative tasks, look them up at Chameleon Business Services, and ask for Cornelia.

Make sure you tell them Lewis sent you.