You could win a free trip to the 2011 HOW Design Conference, a 2-page spread in the HOW Design Annual, and more!

Deadline: September 1, 2010

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There is a reason for this. Color company Pantone picked turquoise as the color of the year for 2010, supposedly because it reflects the desire of people to regain hope amidst signs of economic recovery. “It is believed to be a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky,” the firm said. “Turquoise transports us to an exciting, tropical paradise while offering a sense of protection and healing in stressful times.”

As in terms such as blueprint, blue ocean, and blue chip show, blue is often associated with the ideal, hope and a bright future. There are 111 types of blue from indigo to ultra marine, and despite subtle differences, all symbolize trust and hope. In her book “Wie Farben Wirken (How Colors Work)” the German writer Eva Heller wrote that blue has the highest level of preference and the lowest level of dislike among the public. She found that 46 percent of men and 44 percent of women liked blue whereas just 1 percent of men and 2 percent of women disliked it.

Blue projects a sense of security as well as professionalism and trust. Many global companies like Samsung, AT&T and BMW use blue as the main color in their logo.

Blue also represents success. Olympic champion figure skater Kim Yu-na wore blue dress in her winning free program. Her choice was not inconsiderate of the “Olympic blue” magic. From 1998 until 2006, women gold medalists in figure skating all wore blue dresses in the free skate.

In ancient Rome, blue was associated with the barbarians. But the breakthrough came in the 19th and 20th centuries with the expansion of the jeans industry. Color therapists say blue has painkilling effects. Dark blue adds elegance and grace, and turquoise beauty. Therapists also recommend looking at the sky or at a blue screen on the computer when the eyes get tired.

Though every image by default is copyrighted for use, until now images have not always been visibly credited when viewed online. Equipped with a free PicScout Image Exchange(TM) add-on, image buyers surfing, searching, stumbling or visiting a particular site are able to identify images indexed by the Image IRC. Seeing a universally used “i” information icon, a user clicking on the icon exposes metadata that identifies the image’s owner or licensor and the connecting links to buy/use the image directly from the licensor.

“We believe that most people are prepared to do the right thing, especially when the right thing is quick and easy to do, as we’ve made possible with ImageExchange. Users of the ImageExchange Firefox add-on will see icons associated with images anywhere online. Thus, PicScout makes sure that every image gets its credit, and makes buying and tracking images simple,” said PicScout CEO Offir Gutelzon. “If people can find the image they want, see how much it costs, and how to buy it, most people will proceed gladly to connect with buyers and transact with speed and efficiency. PicScout has realized the way for everyone involved, from the creative professional, to the stock agency and photographer, to achieve full satisfaction. We are very excited to introduce our plans to the industry, the internet, and the world and to continue innovating on behalf of our clients.”

While the consensus is that the photo license industry is a $2 billion market, most also agree this estimate represents only a part of the true market size when factoring in all image uses, both legitimate and non-legitimate. By giving credit to every online image and facilitating immediate use and/or purchase, PicScout engenders a much larger and more apparent marketplace.

With today’s announcement unveiling the industry’s opportunity to have every licensable image appear with licensor information, PicScout moves to a Services Platform designed to utilize the company’s proprietary image fingerprinting recognition technology to inform, equip, and deliver a suite of products- the first new product being ImageExchange, which facilitates connections between image owners and image buyers. With the news, PicScout complements a previously established reactive model for non-legitimate usage with a proactive one that enables immediate recognition of licensable images.

According to September 2009 reporting by the LA Times http://tinyurl.com/p9wg9s, Getty Images reports 42,000 examples of copyright infringement per year, and Corbis claims to uncover 70,000 violations annually. PicScout, through its proven and highly scalable fingerprinting image recognition technology, has established that 85 percent of rights-managed images detected on commercial websites are non-legitimate uses. Yet, in 2008 an online survey from KRC Research, undertaken for iStockphoto, revealed that 33 percent of Americans use downloaded digital content, but nearly 30 percent are unaware that permission is required for its use.

Both users and owners of images are often frustrated by an inability to connect online for legitimate use. While most individual images for web use can be bought for $49 or less, according to Daryl Lang of PDNPulse.com, infringement can be costly for unwitting innocents, with fees accruing over time escalating to $1000 or more. While policing the internet for infringement has been necessary to attempt to maintain legitimacy for the industry, it’s not an optimal scenario and begs the PicScout ImageExchange.

In a separate announcement made today-October 7, “PicScout Unveils Services Platform and Suite of Products to Enable Online Image Transactions for Users and Licensors”-the company reveals the technology, platform and products that support the PicScout Online Image Marketplace and new model for online image transactions.

About PicScout

Founded in 2002, PicScout(TM) http://www.picscout.com , is the worldwide leader in image tracking and enabler of client image monetization services. Through its proprietary and highly scalable image recognition technology, PicScout created the image copyright protection marketplace through its widely used ImageTracker(TM) product and is now leading the way for image commerce to become a legitimate Internet economy. A financially independent, privately held company, PicScout has offices in the Silicon Valley, Chicago and Hertzelia, Israel. The company’s products ImageTracker(TM) and ImageExchange(TM) utilize the company’s Image IRC(TM) service platform which is based on its proprietary image recognition technology for its index, metadata registry and API connection to provide a wide variety of solutions involving image protection, ownership, identification, commerce, as well as business intelligence. PicScout is a member of PACA http://www.pacaoffice.org , CEPIC http://www.cepic.org , and BAPLA http://www.bapla.org.uk

For the most part it’s not a huge difference, but it could be. There are certain colors that don’t reproduce well when converted from RGB color to CMYK.  Most people who design in RGB are either Web designers, using Pantone colors or novices.  Novices tend to design in RGB to get the brighter colors then use their software to convert to CMYK.  It’s not a crime to design your piece in RGB then convert to CMYK, but consider this; printing is all about expectations.  You have something you need printed you expect it to look a certain way.  Either you or your designer setup the file, you previewed it on your computer, sent it to your printer and he sent you a pdf proof.  Everything looks great, you approve it and a few days later it shows up at your doorstep.

OH MY GOD… it doesn’t look like what I expected!  How can this be?  Good question.

Ever go to Best Buy or Walmart and see the huge display wall of LCD & plasma TV’s?  When you look at all the TV’s you’ll see that they are usually grouped by price then brand.  The other thing you’ll see is that they are all playing the same show.  Now you’ll notice that the white car on one screen looks bluer than the others & on another screen it’s redder.  Some are brighter and some are darker.  Some have high contrast some have low contrast.  So if these thousand dollar TV’s display color that is all over the place, then how can you expect your monitor to show the same colors as your designer or printer.

The short answer you can’t.  PDF proofs are more for layout and spell checking than for color.

So where does that leave you?  Take care in how you prepare you files.  Understand the process and adjust your expectations accordingly.  And most importantly, speak to you PRINTER!

Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture furthers its mission to revolutionize the way the world engages with ideas and information. By combining Adobe’s content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture’s Web analytics, measurement and optimization technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content platforms and devices.

The combination of the two companies will increase the value Adobe delivers to customers. For designers, developers and online marketers, an integrated workflow — with optimization capabilities embedded in the creation tools — will streamline the creation and delivery of relevant content and applications. This optimization will enable advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers and e-tailers to achieve greater ROI from their digital media investments and improve their end users’ experiences.

“Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer of Adobe. “This is a game changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets.”

“Omniture’s mission has been to enable our customers to optimize every digital interaction,” said Josh James, CEO of Omniture. “By joining forces with Adobe, we will accelerate our ability to deliver on that vision and together bring new innovation to the market that improves content engagement, advertising effectiveness and the overall user experience, which will drive more advertising dollars online.”

Expanded Opportunities for Adobe and Omniture
This acquisition will significantly expand Adobe’s addressable market and growth potential, broadening solutions Adobe provides to the rapidly growing Internet advertising, e-commerce and digital media markets.

The combination will also expand Adobe’s offering of mission-critical solutions to the enterprise customer. Adding the capabilities of Omniture will further enhance Adobe’s offerings and ability to appeal to online marketers, including chief marketing officers.

The acquisition of Omniture will further diversify Adobe’s business, adding a scalable SaaS platform that captures over a trillion transactions per quarter, an expansive partner ecosystem, and a recurring revenue model.

For Omniture, joining Adobe will provide global operational scale and the ability to more quickly penetrate new geographies and markets, thereby accelerating its go-to-market strategy and growth potential.

Integration and Closing Details
As part of the expected integration of the two companies, Omniture will become a new business unit within Adobe. Omniture’s CEO, Josh James, will join Adobe as senior vice president of the new business unit, reporting to Adobe’s president and CEO, Shantanu Narayen.

The completion of the transaction, which is subject to customary government approvals and the satisfaction of other customary conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2009 fiscal year.

The proposed offer represents a premium of 45 percent over Omniture’s average closing price for the last 30 trading days through yesterday’s close.

Adobe believes the acquisition will be accretive to Adobe’s non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2010.

The companies will make information, including an FAQ and other details about the acquisition, available at http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/adobeandomniture.html.

The combined solution will characterize critical documents and then assign access controls to them, both based on policies. Both will serve as new tools to prevent confidential documents from being emailed outside the company.

The goal is to eliminate data breaches and their catastrophic costs. The Ponemon Institute estimates that in 2008, there was approximately $3.15 billion of latent demand by businesses in the United States for technology and software to protect unstructured data, a term which Ponemon uses for random files stored on a variety of media.

McAfee has also made a free diagnostic tool, McAfee Security Scan, available as an optional download to customers when installing Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player software from Adobe.com. At completion, the user will be offered special discounts on McAfee security software.

Representatives from both companies will speak at McAfee’s Security conference, FOCUS 09, held Oct. 6-9 in Las Vegas.

Adobe also announced a software bundle for K-12 educators and students. The bundle includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and Adobe Premiere Elements 8, plus Adobe Contribute CS4, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro and Adobe Soundbooth CS4, all for a volume discount of $149. Further information is available at Adobe’s education Web site, the company said.

collective groan

Seriously. Quark will give you a free upgrade to version 8 if you buy or upgrade to QuarkXPress 7 between now and August.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Why bother getting version 7 when version 8 will be here soon?”

I can think of three good reasons:

1. Just like every version of QuarkXPress, version 8 will let you save documents down by one version. In other words, QuarkXPress 8 will let you save documents down to a format that can be read by QuarkXPress 7.
   But if you buy QuarkXPress 7 now, you’ll have both version 7 and version 8, which means you can save down to version 6 if you need to.
2. You’ll also be able to open, edit and save any QuarkXPress 7 documents that come your way, without worrying about file compatibility.
3. And finally, you’ll get my cool “New Features Overview” video that comes in the QuarkXPress 7 box! Maybe you heard that there were more than 160 new features in version 7. Believe me, there are — and I show every one of them. If you’re not up to speed with 7, you’ll miss out on some of the best stuff in version 8! Don’t miss out: get version 7 now.

You’ll thank me later.

(By the way, if you’re saying to yourself: “Hey! I’m already using QuarkXPress 7 and don’t know anything about that New Features video!” Well, maybe your boss locked away the discs. Maybe yours is missing. Whatever the reason, you can download your own free copy if you like, here.)

TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel community, today announced the top 10 art museums in the world, based on traffic to the attractions on tripadvisor.com.

1. Louvre Affair: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
Once a fortified palace that was the home to kings of France, the Louvre is now the world’s most famous museum, renowned for some of the finest pieces of art in the world, including the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. According to one TripAdvisor traveler, “The world’s greatest museum-from its Italian Renaissance Masters, to its Dutch Masters and the exquisite collection from Egypt’s Pharaonic period. Each time I visit I always discover new treasures and I reacquaint myself with my favorites.”

2. Religious Experience: Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
Spanning nearly nine miles, the Roman Catholic Church’s Vatican collection is one of the largest and most stunning in the world. Estimated to have more than four million visitors annually, the Vatican museums feature the art of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and, of course, Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. As one TripAdvisor traveler commented, “The amount of history and art that is located here is mind-boggling, from the frescoes to the statues, virtually every nook and corner (even the floor) is a treasure.”

3. Art in the Apple: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
From Picasso to Pollock, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on New York City’s Museum Mile, is one of the world’s largest museums with over two million pieces of artwork and enough variety for any enthusiast. Peruse the Greek sculptures, admire the armory or browse the 2,000 European paintings, all contained in a magnificent Beaux-Art façade building. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “The building itself is a work of art. This would be a great place to spend a day alone!”

4. Grand Getty: J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
The Getty features a remarkable collection, including the works of Van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne. The museum’s structure is a piece of art in itself, and the grounds also feature beautiful gardens, and views of Los Angeles. As one TripAdvisor traveler offered, “Prepare to be spoiled-from the free admission, gorgeous gardens, views, good food, unsurpassed attention to detail, and oh yeah, the art-this place is one in a million!”

5. d’Orsay d’Light: Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France
Enjoy Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” inside the Musee D’Orsay, a former train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, with a dramatic glass roof. Specializing in 19th and 20th century artwork, the museum displays a striking collection of Impressionism, including famous works by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “It is much less crowded than the Louvre and features wonderful pieces of art. The museum is just the right size to see everything, including famous painter Whistler and Van Gogh self-portraits.”

6. Magnifico: Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
Experience (or at least admire) Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” in the Uffizi Gallery, one of the oldest museums in the world featuring works from Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci in the heart of Florence. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “The building was originally built several centuries ago to display the vast Medici art collection. This is an absolutely wonderful museum and worth a tour.”

7. Millennium Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Located on Chicago’s Loop, The Art Institute of Chicago boasts extensive Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections, including more than 30 pieces by Monet. Visit France from afar through Monet’s “Haystacks” and spending time “At the Moulin Rouge,” one of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous paintings. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “Art buffs will be able to spend all day here! Their regular exhibit is fabulous — one of my personal favorites is ‘Sunday in the Park.’ They also usually have an impressive special exhibit, too.”

8. Modern Mecca: Tate Modern, London, England
Enjoy the electric art at the Tate Modern, displayed in a former Bankside Power Station, with views of the Thames River and Millennium Bridge. Remember the “Forgotten Horizon,” one of Dali’s many masterpieces and part of one of the largest collections of Surrealism in the World. As one TripAdvisor member said, “It is a must see, both for its setting (along the Thames, housed in a defunct power plant) and its installations and stationary art collections.”

9. Painter’s Place: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
One of the largest and most impressive collections in the world, not surprisingly, the Prado Museum is most famous for its assortment of works from Spanish artists such as Goya, Velasquez, Murillo, and El Greco. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “This is a first-class museum. Of course, the highlight is ‘Las Meninas’ but there is so much to see in this place.”

10. Capital Culture: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is comprised of an east and west building, and features a sculpture garden surrounding a large fountain. Modern art fans should head to the east building, where works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol are displayed. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “For the art lover, it is paradise. Forget most of the other museums, spend a day or two in these galleries.”

“These museums are truly destinations in themselves, as travelers could easily get lost in them for at least a day,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “This top 10 is a check list to see the very finest artwork in the world.”

Students can obtain QuarkXPress® 7 (plus Quark Interactive Designer™ and Quark XPert Tools Pro) totally FREE of charge. They can use it at home for the full academic year, provided their school purchases the Quark School Unlimited User License priced at £1,750 excluding VAT.This offer is only available until 30th April 2008

Here’s how it works:1 Order the site license QUK-122922-S
2 Add QUK-123991 to the order, plus a contact within the school responsible for managing the student licenses
3 The contact within the school directs the students to download the software at:
• Windows: http://www.buyquarknow.com/education/student/win

• Macintosh: http://www.buyquarknow.com/education/student/mac

This deal will enable students to not only access Quark’s award-winning design and layout application at school, but now they can continue their work at home. It is full version, and students are free to use the software however they like; the only requirement is for the school to have purchased a Quark School License (Unlimited Users).

Included in this deal:• Site wide access to QuarkXPress 7
• Site wide access to Quark Interactive Designer

• Site wide access to Quark XPert Tools Pro
• Mac and PC validation codes
• Online access to Quark
• Curriculum/Development materials
• Access to Quark Print Collection – for school marketing
• A site wide set of Classroom Project Packs
• Quark ‘Tips & Tricks’ book (supplied as PDF)
• ‘Using QuarkXPress with Adobe CS3’ (supplied as PDF)
• 3 hours of DVD training