PDF Proofs – Removing the White Lines in the Proof

These days, PDF Proofs have come a long way and are very accurate. Not to mention they save a few dollars as well as a tree or two. Often times on a PDF proof clients will see white lines around images and text. WHAT? Is my proof bad? Is the print design project we’ve worked so hard on not going to print well? Of course not. No worries. Relax, it’s just a preferences setting in Adobe Acrobat! Here is the tip if you get white lines around your PDF proof and are worried its an issue with the design:

If you get the white lines go to Adobe Acrobat and open: preferences > page view > rendering > and deselect “Smooth Line Art” and “Smooth Images” > click save. Check out the screenshot.

Done. Now you are looking at you paperless, perfectly accurate, PDF proof. Thanks for thinking of the environment. Pat yourself on the back.

Does your printer use PDF proofs? Does your printer recycle all of their waste? Do they use veggie based inks and belong to the Forest Stewardship Council? Our printers do. Need a quote? Contact us today for a quote on your next print project! (We can design it too.)

1 Tip on How to Make the Web a Better Place

Life as a website designer (and much more) in the Outer Banks of NC is great. While the winters are to be the worst, I hardly leave the house, so I foresee this Winter as being a productive one. My website design services are based on one thing: Designing and building a website for a client that works well and provides a useful tool for the company. Any good website design should work, once developed, in any browser and on any platform. Enter IE6. Any web developer versed in CSS will tell you that Internet Explorer 6 is by far the worst and most annoying browser out there. Even though Microsoft themselves have warned users that it is insecure and you should upgrade, people still use it.

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We Take Pide in Our Work and It Shows

Did that title catch your attention? Yes, it’s a typo alright, but in this case it’s only a joke. I recently relocated my graphic / web design and development company to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and was thumbing through a community association newsletter and saw an ad with that very same headline, except in this case, it was for real. (Yes, I was forced to join a community association and yes, I was reviewing the ads in it.) I really wanted to scan it in and share but I think that’s borderline mean and I think you get the point. OK, now I create many a marketing material and there is always a typo or revision. It’s just the way it is–I consider it job security. But if you make a claim, you better mean it. Read more…

3 Reasons Why Blogs for SEO Fail

I found this article on Online Marketing Blog by Lee Odden. I couldn’t agree any more with just about every point. Often times clients ask me to design and develop a blog but are not quite sure what they are getting themeselves into. I admit, even I suggest that one may be useful in certain situations as they do have their strong points. But deciding if blogging is right for you and your business is a task not to be taken lightly. Lee breaks it down into some very technical reasoning in terms of SEO, but in the end it’s really common sense. Without proper planning, implementation, management and monitoring, a blog could do you more harm than good.

http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/12/blogs-for-seo-fail/

3 Reasons Why Blogs for SEO Fail

There are many benefits to publishing a business blog and improved search engine visibility is one of the most popular. It’s pretty common advice to hear: start a blog and the fresh content will attract links, improving your search results. Such tactical advice can be very effective.

Unfortunately, the advice gets filtered and distorted, not unlike what happens in the game “telephone” kids play. Pretty soon one or more blogs are implemented for the sole purpose and expectation of improving search engine visibility and nothing else. At least nothing else that’s accountable.

What’s wrong with this picture? Blogs started solely for SEO objectives will inevitably fail.

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