Lomography is an adaptation of the word photography that was originally inspired by users of the Lomo LC-A. The first Lomo was a simple fixed lens 35mm Russian produced camera that was discontinued in 2005 due to the waning popularity of film photography. Shooting with a Lomo was a challenging experience that embraced flaw-inducing techniques while demanding acceptance from its loyalists. Though the original Lomo is a rare sight, unexpected deals on cameras like this one keep growing and contributing to the popularity of Lomography throughout the digital age.

If Lomography had to be reduced to a single word, it would be “unpredictable.” Lomographers are encouraged to disregard their usual proclivity for image perfection is search of uniquely characterized snapshots influenced by uncontrolled photographic circumstances. To become an active Lomographer, one’s first step is to acquire a camera that can be kept in one’s pocket at all times. This is why early cameras on phones were so quickly embraced by many Lomographers. The low quality simplicity of the early camera phone images has since been replaced by applications like the Hipstimatic that convert modern high-quality camera phone images into distorted Lomography images. Carrying a camera encourages Lomographers to shoot constantly, which leads to an increase in snapshot capture.

A snapshot is a photograph that is taken for personal documentary reasons with little regard for the technical proficiency of the overall image. Before digital cameras became incredibly efficient and affordable, the only viable option for the general public interested in capturing snapshots was fixed lens 35mm cameras. Many of these generally appealing 35mm cameras simply had a single button that was pushed to capture an image and required no attention to focusing or exposure. Today, the one-button digital photography that is widely popular may seem similar in execution to the earlier 35mm cameras, but the intelligent electronics within all digital cameras are actually making a tremendous amounts of adjustments and calculations. This is why the compact digitals of today can usually capture a decent image regardless of the scene, but the 35mm one-button cameras of before suffered extraordinary variance in their image results.

The varying results of 35mm film photography were due to improper exposure, improper focus, low quality lenses or combinations of these influences. The results, as in the Lomo LC-A, would yield surprising consequences once the photographs were developed and printed. Originally, many people were frustrated by the common flawed results inherent in the pictures from a cheap camera. However, Lomography encouraged photographers to recognize each individual print as a unique work of random expression that unpredictably enhanced the nature of the original snapshot. Once photographers began to embrace this concept, Lomography’s popularity exploded.

Legendary Lomography cameras include the Lomo LC-A, the Holga, the Diana and the Action Sampler. Each of these cameras is made of cheap plastic and offers image characteristics that are now being replicated by DLSR users through Photoshop, but this misses the point of Lomography. This type of photography is not about having ultra-saturated images or extreme vignetting or finding the highest megapixel camera deals. It is about embracing the uncontrolled singularity of a cheap camera’s low quality imaging skills by respecting each printed picture as a work of randomly occurring art. Lomography encourages spending less time looking at life through a camera by creating memory-inspiring pictures, “shot from the hip,” with their own unique natural flaws.

Annie Birk is a jack of many trades, first and foremost she is a 5th grade school teacher. She also enjoys nature photography and gardening.

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Your business card as an e-commerce entrepreneur is the order management system you use. If customers are enticed with your products’ showcase but get turned off by a tangled order system they are most likely to leave empty-handed. The two main options for managing orders are order forms and shopping carts. Which one suits you best? Let’s analyze this in a few simple steps.

Forms are traditional means of collecting order information used since the pre-web era. An online order form placed on your page would bring to view the purchase options and direct customers to the payment gateway. Shopping carts are terminals with complex capabilities, which require more resources. Both solutions give a good range of features:
- real time price calculation
- transactions processing or integration with online payment gateways
- opt-in for product features
- product image attaching
- anti-spam facilities (CAPTCHA)
- data encryption.
Before deciding for one or the other ordering system, it’s a good idea to ask yourself the following questions:
Are you an occasional seller or you run a well-established e-commerce business?
Consider using a shopping cart if your sales activity is among the main objectives of your site or blog. An order form is a good option if you don’t have a massive flow of products to sell, otherwise you will need to update the form each time a new product appears. Forms are light tools to embed on any page, while a shopping cart is like an axis the website revolves around.
If your aim is just to keep readers engaged by offering small treats every now and then such as vintage music tapes you found in the garage, then you would certainly use an order form placed inside a post. Or say you regularly insert “offer of the week”-like posts with bargains. The best scenario is again to have a small form on each page, featuring the products that are showcased there. On the other hand, for regularly updating catalogues of products, shopping carts are the best choice.
How many products / service plans will you be selling?
Whether you are a freelancer selling photo shooting packages or the owner of a handcrafted decorations business, you should estimate the range of your offers in order to choose the best ordering system. If your catalogue includes more than maybe four or five items then you should opt for a shopping cart. Order forms tend to become too cluttered at that level, which diminishes visual impact.
Will you use fidelity coupons or discount codes?
If affirmative, it’s recommended to use a shopping cart for full automatizing the process. With forms, this feature falls in the category of workarounds for the moment (yet accomplishable).
Do you wish the visitors to be able to navigate on various pages while their order is saved?
In this case you have two options. Either go for the form and display it within a link that will open in another tab or put up a shopping cart. Order forms can limit customer’s interactivity with the products if there’s a wide range of items to display. Shopping carts, on the other hand, require a multi-step buying process, implying that the customer returns to finalize the order.
What payment options do you give at checkout?
Most order forms and shopping carts integrate with the major payment processors. The challenge is to choose a system that offers all the payment options you are considering. Of course, it’s best to integrate your online shop with all the leading gateways in order to fulfill the needs of customers all over the world.
Order forms are a time-effective solution that suits bloggers who want to build an online store without a hitch, while shopping carts are a better fit for industrial retailers. The order management system is a key usability element that will set your business working.

Laura writes on behalf of 123ContactForm, web form builder that helps users create effective forms and surveys for every web platform. From order forms to contact pages, users can create and customize fully-featured forms for any business.

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Digital Publications have quickly become an established media channel. Whether you like it or not, tablets are here to stay. Once the hype dies down you need to think how this can be turned into profitable business. When it comes to tablet publishing you need to use the medium effectively and produce quality content that will attract advertisers and readers.

Tablet computers have now become the fastest growing technology in the computer development world as they offer a ‘lean back and read’ experience you get from a newspaper or magazine that you don’t get from a laptop or desktop with the bonus of interaction, sound and video – built for consumption not production. This is one of the reasons they are not heavily used in the business world (there are many good laptops similar in size to a tablet PC that offer great word processing, spreadsheet and presentation facilities). It is not just adults that love them- children have also fallen in love with the tablet because they are built for leisure. Tons of great apps are available for them use including games and education.

It cannot be ignored that Tablet computer usage is dominated by the Apple iPad, however, Android Tablets are not far behind and are becoming just as popular.  The new Amazon Kindle Fire is shortly due for release in the UK and it is predicted the sales here will mirror strong sales in the US. Strategy Analytics estimates for Q2 2011, the Apple’s iPad took a 61% share of tablet shipments (9.3m units), Android represented a 30.1% share (4.6m units). The Blackberry Playbook and Windows powered systems account for the remainder of units sold. PWC have estimated that by 2015, the digital magazine market in the US and Canada will be worth $611m, up from a market worth $4m in 2010, so this is a very rapidly expanding market.

The biggest benefit of Tablet publishing is the fact that once you have downloaded a publication it acts in a similar way to the printed version – text size on the screen is similar as the newspaper and you ‘swipe’ the screen rather than click a mouse similar to turning a page. Also, once downloaded the content doesn’t need to rely on an internet connection so it can be read on a plane, on a train on anywhere you want.

The conversion of everything from the physical form into the electronic form has brought in the new revolution. Digital publishing in the form of e- books, magazines and newspapers are easily available therefore reducing the paper usage and the cost of purchasing all this. The appearance of the digital content depends upon the resolution that your tablet is giving you. A high resolution profile will appear like a real paper. Until recently, one could not have imagined books and other reading material being available on the internet- a method that has overcome the time consuming and lengthy procedure of traditional publishing.

 Jask Group are a british creative agency, specialising in Graphic Design, Web Design and Tablet Publishing for midlands-based businesses in Birmingham, Coventry & Solihull.

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What is Business Card?

Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver’s name, company affiliation (usually with a logo) and contact information such as street addresses, telephone number(s), fax number, e-mail addresses and website. It can also include telex, bank account and tax code. Traditionally many cards were simple black text on white stock; today a professional business card will sometimes include one or more aspects of striking visual design.

Business card has a vital role in your business no matter what type of business and size. In order to maintain the stream and constant communication with your clients you should have your own business card that should reflect how your business run and serve.

This post will not only confer the usual business card that we see and received from our friends and clients. We are going to showcase one of the most advance features of a business card today. This is all about QR Code.

What is QR Code?

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to traditional UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds (“modes”) of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or by supported extensions virtually any kind of data.

Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. It was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

So now that you know about QR code we will proceed in showcasing some of the best business card design that has QR code printed. Consider also business card printing companies who accommodate printing of business card with QR codes.

Adding QR code as one of the features of your business card will attract prospect client also. They will think that you are also up to date of what is the latest trend today. After reading and watching all our featured business card with QR code we are sure that you will have your own idea now how to design and soon you are going to print it and distribute to your clients and even to your circle of friends.

15 Best Business Card with QR code printed

BY: ugur akdemir

BY: Kamal El Adouti Aknioui

BY: Toby Harriman

BY: Samora Reid

BY: Ivan Dilberovic

BY: Sasha Roper

BY: Danilo Freitas Souza

BY: Erik Wiegers

BY: Jon Montenegro

BY: Thorsten Röver

BY: Grafikarna

BY: Daniel Marsh

BY: Robert McElaney

BY: Jonathan Rogers

BY: James Meekins

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Do you feel like your business could easily become more profitable? Are you stuck in discovering what it is that is holding your business back? The likely factor that is holding your business back is its brand image. Do not despair, all is not lost if this is the problem. Instead, you can gain some hope in the fact that with just a bit of effort, you can revitalize your business and bring it back to life with a new logo.

A new brand logo can work wonders for your business. Just when you thought your business was dropping off the face of this earth, you can be amazed by its soaring success with a new logo. To develop a new logo for your business, simply think about the needs and wants of the audience your brand is directed at.

If your cleaning business is directed at college students, for example, you may want to take two routes in developing a new logo for your company. You first want to develop a logo that college students can trust. Just because your logo looks edgy and flashy does not mean college students will buy the services your brand offers. However, if it can combine this element with an element of trustworthiness, then your business may succeed. So many college students wish their mothers could be at their homes to do their laundry, clean the home, and cook meals. Maybe your business could soar to success with a logo of a mother in a superhero costume. The “superhero” element would appeal to the sense of humor and excitement that every college student loves. On the other hand, the logo of a mother would appeal to the genuine need and desire that college students have for the work their mothers did as they were children.

Building a logo requires simply being thoughtful about your business. Be sure to set aside at least an hour to consider the different ways your business can build its brand with social media. Social media has become an imperative part in the success of any business. You need to know how to manage the different social media outlets out there.

Instead of rushing to become as profitable as possible, simply take a moment to consider the needs and wants of your audience. As you do so, you will be building a brand that genuinely appeals to your audience and looks authentic. One of the reasons many brands do not become successful is for their lack of authenticity. When an audience can pick up on a lack of authenticity, it turns them off. Try to be as real and authentic as possible with your audience to encourage the profitability and success of your business.

When building your brand, also try to be as creative as possible. Do not feel like you always have to play by the rules. Being a bit edgy can pay off in building your brand name. Remember, the more authentic your brand is, the more likely it will soar to success in the marketplace.

Sarah writes on behalf of Fluid Branding a promotional products specialist. Fluid Branding have thousands of promotional product from promotional mugs to calculators, from promotional pens to umbrellas. Fluid Branding have something for everyone.

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High-end product and service firms around the world are constantly innovating in their approach to representing their brand online, weaving attractive web design and development around that special “something” that gets across the luxury and status associated with the label.

Whether the product is a tangible one like vintage wine or imported chocolates or a service such as events and hospitality, the developers behind the web sites of luxury offerings work hard to create beautiful, functional places for potential and existing clients alike to find the information they need while being lured in by the quality of the brand.

One of the best examples of a luxury niche requiring something extra in web design are top-of-the-line hotels in New York City, New York. With stiff competition from rival hotels, designers know that an online presence is the first step in winning potential clients over to their product. Take a look at some of these websites to get an idea of what it looks like when luxury products meet luxury web design standards (many hotels from the lists are courtesy of Luxury-Hotels.com):

1. The New York Palace

A beautiful combination of dark colors combined with excellent use of imagery make the website of the New York Palace hotel in midtown Manhattan a prime example of enticing design with a gleam of luxury. Prettiness aside, both content links and a room availability search form lie above the fold, giving visiting customers all they need at a moment’s glace and with minimal page movement.

2. The Peninsula New York

Focusing on using photographs of rooms and premises to lure potential guests, the website of The Peninsula New York hotel also features dark colors to get across its air of quality, utilizing Adobe Flash to present visitors with an immediate peek at what the hotel has to offer.

3. Hotel Giraffe

The designers behind Hotel Giraffe’s website saw fit to not only present images, availability forms and quick links above the fold but also added clean white space below for easier presentation of textual content. Visitors are given an attractive overview of any given feature of the hotel’s experience within the site’s header with more detailed information always easily accessible with a quick downward scroll.

4. The Mercer Hotel

The Mercer Hotel, a trendy set of accommodations located in New York City’s Soho district, has taken a different approach with its web presence. Instead of elegant design attributes, The Mercer focuses instead on absolute simplicity, giving potential customers the information they need with little else to distract them.

5. The James Hotel New York

Taking a middle road between overwhelming design and access to information is the website of The James Hotel. While, like its competitors, The James makes excellent use of scrolling photographs to give visitors a quick taste of what their hotel has to offer, the real focus is on the ability og customers to find the information they need and to make reservations with minimal clicks. Excellent use of sidebar placement to feature an accommodations search form makes this process easy, with top navigation links presenting an opportunity for a casual surf around the site only if desired by the visitor.

6. The Muse Hotel

The general trend of dark colors in the interest of conveying luxury continues with the website of New York City’s The Muse Hotel. Imagery was obviously a priority in designing this site and photographs play a major role throughout the inner pages, lying below only the main navigation links.

7. The Ritz-Carlton

A household name, even for those who have never stepped foot beyond its doors, is the Ritz-Carlton chain of hotels. With a brand as well known as Ritz-Carlton, the designers behind the hotel chain’s website took a road less traveled and one not seen previously in this list by maintaining a light color scheme and wide online interface. Like many of the other websites featured, photographs reign supreme here, with images used to convey the luxurious potential of rooms, events, food and premises.

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It is all too easy in the digital age that we live in to write off many traditional business and marketing techniques like direct mail, face to face interactions, and business cards. Digital marketing and e-commerce have changed the playing field but have not changed the rules. Business cards are a great way to establish relationships and remind potential clients of your services in the future. Below are many ways to make your business card stand out in the 21st century.

credit: Lucid-Dreams

1) Use new technology like QR codes

Credit: Global X

Almost everyone has a smartphone these days. This creates a unique opportunity when it comes to making a unique business card. Leave some space on the back of the business card in the corner for a QR code (a scannable image that gives phone instructions). For example, you could place a QR code on your card that would redirect when scanned to the company website, a promotional youtube video, or even a coupon or discount. This integration of print and digital makes it possible to track business card success.

2) Unique and sleek textures stimulate memory

Credit: yuichirock

Business cards are useful but can often get lost in the crowd with dozens of other business cards competing for valuable wallet space. Find a unique texture that will make your card stand out from the rest and is pleasing to the touch. This will also help add an additional layer other than appearance to your card to help make it more memorable down the line.

3) Bump share and digital image storage

One problem with print business cards is that they are so easy to lose or just throw away. How many times have you done some house cleaning with your wallet or purse and thrown away receipts and business cards? There are many different apps on android and iPhone, like bump share technology, that allow you to either store digital business cards, or take pictures of a physical business card and save them in your phone. Business cards don’t get thrown out as much when you don’t have to physically keep up with them.

4) Include links to your social media

Credit: richardbouchez

In the olden days a business card needed a few key pieces of information; a phone number, an address, and an email address. Today, business cards need to include social media information like a linkedin account, a website, twitter accounts (if you use twitter) and other social networks that are related to your niche. This also shows potential customers that you are actively involved in more ways than one with the industry.

There are many traditional tips that still are relevant today with business cards. As always make sure that your design and message are consistent with both your personal branding and branding of the company. A great design will always be one way to “wow” potential customers and give them a reason to remember you.

This article was written by PrintExpress.co.uk; a London based printers specializing in business cards, magazines, brochures and a range of other bespoke printing types for professionals.

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When Google does something they do it really well and Gmail is a really good example of that in action. Google has taken the idea of a free email service and turned it into so much more. But there’s always room for improvement and sometimes people need that extra bit of functionality from something that can only come from an add-on – which Google refers to as “gadgets” – for their Gmail client.

The really neat thing about Gmail gadgets is that most people don’t even know they exist. Even better there are some of them that add that extra bit of functionality to Gmail that you’ll wind up loving. And if you break your Gmail….don’t worry….Google have a reset function built in for you.

Here are a few examples to get you started…

1. Add Any Gadget by URL

This is one of the first gadgets you need to install on Gmail. Most of the gadgets are hosted internally within Google and they’re accessed from the “Labs” section in Gmail settings. But some other gadgets are only available on their own and separate URL so this add-on is something you’re going to need if you really want to experiment.

2. Canned Responses

If you’re feeling particularly lazy, this add-on allows you to reply to emails with canned responses that you put together yourself – it appears as a button next to the compose form for when you’re replying. All you need to do is click on the drop-down box and choose your canned response and on a serious note this could seriously help streamline those mundane replies you have to make on a regular basis.

3. Message Translations

This add-on ties in with Google translator, so you can receive and read massages in other languages now too! OK you might not need to do this very often but it’s a really nice feature to have built into your Gmail account if you deal with non-English writing people every now and then.

4. Facebook

Want to keep an eye on your friends status updates on Facebook but from inside your Gmail inbox? This neat little gadget takes care of that need for you and fits itself down the left-hand side of your inbox so you can see what people are up to while you’re working.

5. Send And Archive

Now this is a really useful add-on that’s up there with the enterprise level email functions that some of us get to enjoy. This add-on sends your email and archives it at the same time – simple genius and saves you a lot of time archiving stuff later on. This is a real timesaver and a great way to reduce clutter.

6. Undo Send

How many times have you sent an email and a split second later thought “oh no…oh no no no!”? Yup me too and the Undo Send add-on gives you a few seconds to stop that email from being sent – it’s like having a time machine with very limited capabilities really.

7. Remember The Milk

Are you always forgetting things unless somebody gives you a reminder? You write down a to-do list and then forget where you put that too? Remember The Milk is an excellent gadget for Gmail that can also sync up with your Smartphone if you want reminders there too – it literally makes sure you never forget anything ever again.

So there’s a list of 7 useful Gmail add-ons or gadgets that you can get started with straight away and there’s plenty more in there for you to experiment with too. Plus, as we said earlier, if you manage to break your Gmail there’s a reset function built into the “Labs” section of Gmail that allows you to put everything back to how it was before.

This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for an online company that provides applications such as a to-do list app, and who also advises for a custom neon signs store.

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HTML5 has been launched and is all set to change the way have used web till now. It is basically a specification about how HTML can be formatted to deliver text and images on the browser optimally. HTML is a revised and advanced way to put all the data on the web together. HTML 5 offers offline storage, canvas drawing, native video and audio streaming support like no other, geolocation and several web applications. In addition, With HTML5 and CSS3 coded websites; the need of third party plugin is no more required. Several browsers such as Google, Apple, and others have already picked it up for implementation. Now, the websites will be more compatible across browsers and devices. Here, we have listed 5 best HTML 5 and CSS 3 websites for an inspiration.

Scientific Name

Scientific Name website is based on HTML5 and CSS3 with loads of features and functionality. This website runs on expression engine which is maintained by reckoned, freelance website designer named Owain Lewis from UK. This website is dedicated to teach people about different scientific names and their usage. As there is endless information that has to be covered, this website comes with a contribute section wherein in case of any mistake, feedback or any information can be shared. This website is compatible with new as well as old browsers alike with powerful, easy-to-maintain web pages.

The Elder Scrolls Skyrim

This website is developed using HTML5 and CSS3 tools including HTML5 video, audio, and canvas. Dedicated to the Elder Scrolls fans, this website has JavaScript combined with HTML5 tags to have reduced development costs, local data storage and easy code maintenance. This one is a beautiful site that all gamers especially the fans of Elder Scrolls will love to look at.

MW Template

MW Template is a website that is developed using basic HTML5 tags along with CSS3 and JavaScript. Dedicated to the best design mobile websites optimized for being displayed on handheld devices, MW Template pushes the bar above what is commonplace among mobile websites. It’s highly interactive and user friendly interface allows user to sail from one page to another easily.

Web Banner Gallery

Web Banner Gallery features the most attractive and effective banners from all over the world. This site features a user rating section where the visitors can come and vote for the banners they like. Web Banner Gallery has been built using HTML5 along with JavaScript and CSS3. This website also features a interactive and user friendly way to view the most acclaimed web banners from all over the world for webmasters to view and drive inspiration.

Agence DnD

This website is from the French studio Agence DnD, an organization with immense expertise in graphic and web design, e-commerce websites and mobile application development. Agence DnD website is a brilliant one with strong visual design backed-up with solid coding. The interface is smooth with fast loading pages and menus making easy access of information. The web pages are standard complaint and each one is coded with HTML5 and CSS3.

Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, Auto and health. Beside this she is fond of adventurous activities. Recently an article on Ktm Motorcycles attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on Glass tiles.

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A rack card is a document used for commercial advertising, frequently in convenience stores, hotels, landmarks, restaurants, rest areas and other locations that enjoy significant foot traffic. Rack cards are typically 4 by 9 inches in size and sport high-impact graphic design.

Rack Cards are proven to be one of the most effective yet low cost marketing tools.  Promote your business to vacationers, tourists, travelers – or even those customers right in your own backyard.

Aside from business card, flyers and brochure you might also give a try to this method since there are already  lot of companies that do rack card printing. Before ensuing to print your rack cards for your business please review it and ask an advice from a marketing expert.

Here is a list of 12 Rack Cards design that will inspire you.

by scarletbeauty

by geedimensions

by S.R. Martin

by Tucker Brooks

by Douglas Barba

by Stephanie M. Bartsch

by Murphy Advertising

by Travis Patterson

by Chris Edington

by Oran Parker

by ricepicker

by Stephanie McGinn

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