ACD Blog

06 02 2023

How to Make a GForm

As most of us know, Google has a lot of Free Tools that are useful, intuitive and easy to use!

If you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t even used half of what they offer and mostly use the basics i.e. Google Drive, GMail, Google Docs and Google Maps.

However, late last year, I was shown how to use another one of these Google Tools/Apps called Google Forms.

There, you can quickly and easily create and share Forms or Surveys to your Clients, Employees, Team etc, and analyse their ‘real time’ responses as they come in.

In this article I will give you easy to follow instructions on how to create your own Google Form.

To start off, you need to either:

Sign In to your existing Google Account
OR
Create a New Google Account

HOW TO MAKE A GOOGLE FORM

1. Go to Google Forms
Normally, I would select Forms from the Google Apps Menu (shown below)
(However, you’ll need to scroll almost to the bottom)

Your Personal Google Apps Screenshot

But alternatively, you can either:

Go through Google Drive and create a new Form there
Go through Google Sheets to create a new Form
Click here to go directly to the GForms page!

2. You will arrive at the Google Forms Home Page.

If you want a completely customised Form, choose the Blank Form option, otherwise you can choose from 3 main Categories:

Personal Forms:
– Contact Information
– Find a Time
– RSVP
– Party Invite
– T-Shirt Sign Up
– Event Registration

Work Forms:
– Event Feedback
– Order Form
– Job Application
– Time Off Request
– Work Request
– Customer Feedback

Educational Forms:
– Exit Ticket
– Assessment
– Worksheet
– Course Evaluation

3. Choose your Template.
For this example, I’ll be using the Assessment Template, found under the Education Forms:

Educational Google Form Templates

4. Write a small description of the Form underneath the Google Form title.

5. Input your Information/Questions into your Google Form.

6. Write your first Question/Statement & Select your ‘Answer’ Format
Writing your Questions/Statements on Google Forms is super easy and there are several different options for how you can get people to answer your questions.

Short Answer
Paragraph
Multiple Choice
Checkboxes
Dropdowns
File Upload
Linear Scale
Multiple Choice Grid
Checkbox Grid
Date
Time

Here is what the various Answer Formats look like on a Google Form:

Google Form Question and Answer Formats

The small right hand side bar has:

Google Forms Extra Input

Add a Question

Import Questions

Add Title & Description

Add Image

Add Video

Add Section

7. Once you’ve put all of your Content onto your new Google Form, it’s time to look at the Form Settings and alter them if necessary.

From here you can customise your GForms so they perform exactly how you want.

You have many options once you are in Settings, shown below:

If it’s your first time making a GForm, I would have a scroll through and read all of your options, so you can see how much is offered with this App.

8. When you are happy with your Google Form, share it by clicking the Send Button.

You have the option to send it your contacts via Email, Link or your can Embed the Form on a website.

Before you send it, I would recommend having a look ‘Add Editor’ as it allow others to View and Edit your Google Form, select that option if necessary!

Creating your own Google Forms is very easy!

You can access and edit your Forms by going into your Google Drive or visiting the Google Form Page directly.

If you want more information about Google Forms, this article by Google Support tells you how to use and create a New Form and this is the Google Forms About Page.

Don’t have enough time to do make a GForm yourself? I can do it for you easily using your own content to populate the Google Form.

Contact me today to get started!

25 01 2023

Champagne Goddess Video Script

Kashi ACD Blog, Case Studies 0

I recently created a Service Offerings Video with an added voice over for a lovely client who is involved in the Wine Industry!

I wrote this short script for her video using some information that she already had on her Website and images she previously uploaded to Social Media.

INTRODUCTION

Susan Le Roux also know as the Champagne Goddess offers several different services for the true champagne and sparkling wine connoisseurs looking to enjoy a great experience with lasting memories.

SABRAGE 

If you’re looking for a unique and exhilarating experience to celebrate your next special occasion whether it be birthday, engagement, wedding or anniversary, Sabrage is for you!

Sabrage involves using a blunt edged sword, called a sabre, to slice open a Champagne bottle.

You’ll learn the history and master the technique of This ritual, originating from the time of the French Republic.

For a truly memorable experience, order you and your friends an “Art of Sabrage Certificate” at ChampagneGoddess.com.au to commemorate your personal event.

Let’s take a look at some of our new Sabrage connoisseurs!

SPEAKING EVENTS

Have you ever wanted to learn about the mystique and the challenges of champagne through time?

Or Maybe you’d enjoy guided champagne tastings wines for you and your friends, as Susan weaves in the rich history of champagne through a formal presentation?

Susan can work with you to create a bespoke speaking engagement for your next group event, no matter what the occasion.

Contact Susan today to get started!

GUIDED TOURS 

Like a true champagne enthusiast, Susan will go wherever there is quality wines to be enjoyed!

Most of Susans previous tour destinations were in the champagne region of France but she has also done past tours in New Caledonia and Tasmania.

Her intimate knowledge of these regions and their wines make her guided tours a memorable souvenir for your time abroad.

Check out the Champagne Goddess website for our upcoming tour dates and destinations.

MASTERCLASSES 

Like Susan, do you Love learning and experiencing the magic of Champagne?

Do you enjoy feeling the passion, the intention and the drive behind the wine you’re drinking?

Join us at some of our upcoming masterclass events, including the “Art of Sabrage” and let champagne be the little bit of luxury you deserve….

This was a very easy script to write up and took me about 20 mins to structure and about the same amount o time to record.

I also created Chapter ‘cards’ to put at the start of each Service being introduced (shown above), plus a video Thumbnail, shown below!

If you are looking for someone to write a script for your next video, contact me and we can discuss what you need done!

18 01 2023

How Humans ‘Read’ a Website

Kashi ACD Blog, User Experience (UX), User Psychology, Web Design 0

Even with the average adult attention span of 8 seconds, humans, like most other animals optimise their actions to get the best result for the least amount of effort.

So why would it be any different for navigating online?

It’s very easy for Graphic or Web Designers to fall into the trap of assuming they know how the end user will interact with their website.

In reality, users don’t normally behave the way you want them to and probably won’t spend as much time on your website and webpages as you expect when you create them.

It’s essential to understand how users think, what their basic patterns of behaviour are and how users interact with websites.

It will inform your decisions when structuring your information and website in a way where users can efficiently find what they’re looking for, you can steer them towards the information you want them to see and you can improve their retention of information.

So, how exactly do Users ‘Read’ a Website?

Steve Krug, a User Experience (UX) professional, has laid out 3 main ‘Truths’ about how People ‘Process’ information online.

We Don’t Read, We Scan
With very few exceptions, scanning is our primary mode of searching for information.In our current “Technological age” where our attention is regularly split multiple ways, we are all quite motivated by the desire to save as much of our time as possible.We read only what is strictly necessary to get the information and results that we want, using fixed points and key words and phrases on the site to get there.Those keywords and phrases are either:
a) Applicable to our current task
b) Relevant to our ongoing personal interests
c) Trigger words e.g. “FREE”, “SALE” etc.This image below from the Nielsen Norman Group, shows various methods of scanning a webpage.
We Don’t Optimise, We Satisfice
Satisficing (a combination of “Satisfying” and “Sufficing”) is a decision making process in which people choose an option that is ‘good enough’ (reasonable) rather than the best.Most users won’t do thorough research, as we reason that Optimizing is hard, and takes a long time, Satisficing on the other hand, is more ‘efficient’.You are more likely to click a heading or link that sounds close to what you are trying to find rather than searching for an exact match.While online, there really isn’t much of an incentive to actually choose the best option, especially when you can just start again using the Back button!

We Make Do
During Usability Testing, it becomes very clear that a significant amount of internet users operate with either incorrect notions or little understanding of how things work.The majority of us don’t find it particularly important to fully understand exactly how things work as long as we can still use them.
Fortunately, most of the time it works out!
We find a method that works for us and don’t change it unless we happen to encounter something better.

How can we Encourage Visitors to your Website to Stay Longer and Read your Information?

Create a Clear Visual ‘Hierarchy’
The more important the information, the more prominent it should be.
Using headings, colour, bold or underlined text and negative space etc can make your content/information accessible to the most amount of people. This ‘pre-processes’ the information for us.

Break-Up Your Webpages
It was brought to light that, during initial eye tracking studies of Webpages, people are quick to spot areas that may have useful information, and after finding it will hardly look at anything else.
Use high quality, optimised images, formatting and keywords/phrases can work wonders!

Show What’s Clickable
This point is self explanatory, you should make it easy for people to find what is clickable on your website.Bolding and/or underlining text, using common phrases (“Click here”, “More Information”, “Read More”), creating a Button or including a Symbol (e.g. arrow) makes it obvious what your users can actually click on.Ensure however you choose to show this is consistent across your site and writing!

Reduce Visual “Noise”
Visual noise can mean, actually graphics, writing and or elements of a webpage.
Every user has a different tolerance for distractions, so it’s in your best interest to assume most things can contribute to the visual noise.Keep your pages clean and as easy to navigate as best you can.

So to summarise:

Users usually only scan web pages, using fixed points on them to steer them through the content.
Users want ‘instant gratification’, they want to find what they’re looking for with the least amount of effort possible.
Users will most likely choose the first option that they think will lead them to what they’re searching for.

Website Functionality and quality Content that is concise, well-formatted and includes your relevant keywords above all else, can determine the success or failure of a website.

For some additonal reading on this topic the Nielsen Norman Group, World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience have great information and articles, including this one.

This article, written on Medium.com tells you more about how user reading patterns influences web content design.

22 12 2022

What is the “Creator Economy”?

Kashi ACD Blog, What Is 0

Some of us at one point or another have heard someone throw around the term “Creator Economy” but what exactly is that?

The Creator Economy is made up of millions of businesses set up by independent content creators and curators who leverage social media and other software platforms.
They can attract their target audience and begin to earn revenue through monetisation tools on their chosen platform(s).

The revenue made from these businesses is what makes the ‘Creator Economy’.

HISTORY OF THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Just a century ago we were living in an ‘Industrial Economy’ where the majority of the people earned their living through physical labor in particular manufacturing and agriculture.

However during the 1950’s after WWII and the Great Depression, the world shifted into a ‘Consumer Economy’, both men and women in the workforce were progressively moving toward more ‘service based’ roles.

The dual income for some families and couples also meant that there was more money in each household, after trade had become more globalised, there was a much larger selection of products on offer.

These newest products from abroad were repeatedly shown in traditional media and increasingly on television, prompting people to “Keep Up with the Joneses” and spend more of their hard earned money.

After the 1950’s, leaps and bounds were made in the technological fields, we assembled the first super computers, the internet (not as we know it today), television, phones etc.
As we advanced, technology automated many ‘traditional’ jobs and became the catalyst to switch to ‘Knowledge Economy’.

The ‘Knowledge Economy’ reached its high point on JANUARY 1, 1983. The official birth of the Internet.

Web 1.0 was The first stage of the World Wide Web’s evolution, storing and consolidating information was its main value, with users only able to view content in a ‘passive’ way.

Web 2.0 the second iteration of the World Wide Web, once its potential was realized, it opened more opportunities for people to express themselves online. There was an emphasis on user-generated content, ease of use and ‘participation culture’.

It was this shift where the ‘Creator Economy’ got its start, people in creative fields (e.g. bloggers, artists, designers, writers, musicians and videographers) could connect, share and monetise skills, hobbies and interests.
These creators, facilitated through software platforms including Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Spotify, Patreon and OnlyFans, attract their niche audience, in turn allowing creators to earn revenue from their creations through monetisation finance tools.

We have now moved onto Web 3.0 a.k.a Web3 which integrates concepts including decentralisation, blockchain technology and token-based economics. Some speculate that Web3 will move toward increased data security, privacy to push back against the strong influence of “Big Tech”.

So to recap in basic terms:

Millions of content creators leverage popular software platforms to share their skills and hobbies with their target audience to earn revenue through monetisation tools on those platforms, whose combined total earning make up the “Creator Economy”.

For a more in depth look into this topic I highly recommend reading this article by Influencer Hub.

They talk about other related topics that include practical advice and tips, how Content Creators can make money, how to build an Audience and the Role of Social Media in the Creator Economy.

19 12 2022

10 Types of Content You Should be Making NOW

Kashi ACD Blog, SEO 0

What type of content should you make?

We know we all need to be creating more content, but what types of content will increase your brand, visibility AND appeal to the most amount of people?
There are types of content that work better for either your website OR Social Media accounts and others that will suited for both.

Luckily, Posts and content are now easily shareable across multiple platforms, so anytime you create a new Post, you can share it between your different channels – this ensures you get the most out of every single piece of content.

I don’t recommend using only Social Media to market your brand/business, however popular SM Platforms like FaceBook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok can provide you with the ‘numbers’.
Most people in the world have at least 1-2 social media accounts and will have a fair chance of seeing your Product(s) or Service(s).

For the best chances of success on Social Media, you must make sure that you have clear incentives and conveniently placed Calls to Action.

As Social Media is specifically engineered in ways that encourage us to spend more time there, your customers attention spans become your worst enemy, which is why getting them OFF Social Media and onto your website is critical.

There is no equal substitute for having a dedicated website for your Product(s)/Service(s) that’s paired with with Keyword Research, Google Analytics (GA4), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) with Google Ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

But whether you are working with Social Media, a Website or both, to have better success with your posts I recommend 2 things.

1. Regular Posting
We all need to remember (myself included), that consistent posting is important for getting results!

Unless you’re posting every week on both your social media accounts AND website, you may lose momentum not only with your audience but with Google as well. Google and SM reward you the more you post, as it shows that you are active and relevant in your niche and that you’re engaging with your audience.

However, it is possible to post TOO much, as we are constantly exposed to vast amounts of content everyday!
On Social Media, you need to consistently post 2 times per week and on your website, 1-2 times every week.

2. Variety

William Cowper said it best in his poem, “Variety is the spice of life, that gives it all its flavor..” and it’s this same principal that applies to the content that you post.

The more you can capture your audience’s attention in new, fun ways the more they will engage with you and your Business.

Here is 10 Different Types of Content you can be creating now to be boost your Brand’s reach

No 1 – VIDEOS
There are many types of videos you make for your website and for social media including:

Instagram & FaceBook Reels
Reels are Meta’s answer to TikTok, the videos used to range from 15 – 60 seconds in length, but now with an recent Instagram update it allows videos up to 90 seconds!
Reels are VERY easy to make and can be used in several ways to effectively market yourself, for example:
– A quick overview of the benefits of your product(s)/service(s)
– An introduction to your brand
– A funny short involving your brand/product/service
– A ‘how-to’ guide on your offered product(s) or service(s)
Youtube shorts
A YouTube Short is essentially the equivalent of an Instagram Reel, around the same length of 15-60 seconds.
And again, you can use the same with YouTube being the 2nd biggest internet search engine you’d be crazy not to put up at least a few videos!
Short form videos
Unlike the Reels and Shorts mentioned above, these videos can be a bit more in depth without going too far into the topic you’re discussing.These videos can range from 1 min – 5 mins and like above can be around the same topics and can also be uploaded or embedded in your website to accompany a blog post, product or service.
Of course, these can still go on social media but, they may be best suited specifically to FaceBook and Youtube.
As the videos are probably longer than most of what gets uploaded to Instagram and TikTok, FaceBook and Youtube are the 2 platforms that reward videos that sit between Super Short and Long Form video content.
Video Stories
In my opinion, I think video stories are good if you’ve got a following.
It does help to include a video or 2 to break up any static content that may also be posted on your Stories (e.g. Images, Infographics etc.)You can use new and/or old original content when creating your Video Story OR you can repost other relevant videos from other Instagram users.Its encouraged to target the Social Media Platform(s) where your target audience is. Using Google Analytics, you can find out exactly how people are looking and reacting to you’re content.When you gain popularity, you can expand your reach to other social media platforms and even on other websites through Guest Posting and linking back to your videos.
Long Form Videos
Long Forms videos are for content that serves an informative purpose, like tutorials, educational content, vlogs, reviews etc.
If the video is done well with good information, it can end up being valuable to your brand and depending on its success it could be classified as ‘Cornerstone Content’.

No 2 – PRODUCT PROMOTION
From a recent post on DataReportal it was stated that:
“…The “typical” global internet user now spends almost 7 hours per day using the internet across all devices.”
The daily average time spent on social media being 2hrs 27mins.

Social media is perfect for promoting your products through videos, photos and customer reviews/testimonials, but however you choose to show potential customers more about your product, try to provide all the relevant information about the what you’re promoting.

This includes links to your actual website, pricing, the shipping costs, benefits of your product/service etc.
If important information is hard to find, customers are more likely to abandon ship and keep on scrolling, so its best to spell it out for your potential customers as clearly as you can!

No 3 – EBOOKS
Writing a short EBook is a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise in your niche.

The contents of the EBook is completely up to you, there are plenty of different directions you can take, for example it can be:

a compilation of your best blog posts
a how-to guide
free templates
a workbook with exercises

Once it’s done you can upload it on your business website as a product OR
You can make it a free download using your website/social media to share it with your target audience.

In the case of creating a “free” EBook, ensure you get at least a name and email address.
Its valuable information if you plan to follow up with the people who have downloaded it to find out if they enjoyed it and also to keep in contact with future leads.

N0 4 – STORIES
‘Stories’ are mostly relevant on platforms such as FaceBook and Instagram.

You will have more success if you already have an engaged subscriber base or audience who will interact with you, liking and/or sharing your content.

They are slightly different to other types of content simply because of the imposed time limit on how long you can view them, which is normally 24 hours.

Getting people to view your ‘Stories’ means posting good quality, relevant content and offering discounts or special offers that you can only access if you’re a subscriber.

No 5 – USER GENERATED CONTENT
User Generated Content is some of the easiest content to produce because you don’t even have to create it!

It’s brand specific content that showcases the best of your product(s) and/or service(s), gives you credibility and more importantly inspires confidence in new potential customers who might be wary of trying something new. Having unbiased opinions from other customers on the quality

Encourage your customers to give you their feedback on the Product/Service that they purchased, it’s invaluable information.

Running a competition or giveaway where they submit their photos, videos, and reviews of your product to enter for a prize, is an effective way to get your customers to contribute.

No 6 – CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS & CASE STUDIES
‘Social proof’ like positive testimonials and well written, successful case studies are persuasive tools for getting people to invest in your brand/business.
They give solid evidence that your product or service work well, offers credibility to your brand/business. and can informs future purchases of any new customers.

Testimonials normally come in the form of written reviews that are displayed on your website, social media accounts and Google Business page.Get testimonials from customers, family and/or friends that have had a positive experience with your Product(s) or Service(s).
You can even collect reviews and make them into a video and then share it!
Case studies illustrate your process while creating works and obtaining good results for your client. Include the corresponding pictures of the different stages and finished product.Like Testimonials, Case Studies can be shared on your social media accounts, although for this specific content FaceBook and LinkedIn are the 2 platforms that would be most receptive.

No 7 – POLLS & AUDIENCE QUESTIONS
Otherwise known as FREE market research from your target audience!
Need I say more?!

Polls and audience questions are easy and effective tools for collecting data to use on platforms like Instagram and FaceBook. It’s valuable to find ways for your customers to provide feedback on the things that need improving but also what they want to see more of in the future.

Your success and future sales will be improved if your customers feel like they have helped to ‘shape’ your business and that their opinions are valued and heard.

No 8 – EDUCATIONAL & ‘CORNERSTONE’ CONTENT
We have all seen at least one example of Educational content, but for those who don’t know what ‘Cornerstone Content’ is, it’s essentially your ‘core’ content, the best, most important posts, pages etc. on your website.

Both of these content types can work very well for lead generation.

The most important benefit of creating educational and cornerstone content is that it shows your expertise to current and potential customers. It helps to prove to them that you are capable at what you do, keeping up to date with the newest information relevant to your product, service and niche.

How-to Posts, Tips and Tricks, FAQ’s and Tutorials are great places to start.

For more information check out my article on ‘Cornerstone Content’.

No 9 – INDUSTRY RESEARCH & FINDINGS
By quoting industry research and findings, as I said above in ‘Educational and Cornerstone Content’, it shows that you are engaged in your niche and keeping tabs on the newest information in your niche.

A lot of people find processing technical information to be hard and time consuming, so Infographics are a great answer to that problem. They engage more people than text alone because they can improve reading comprehension by up to 50%.

We want people to be able to understand what this industry information means in relation to YOUR brand, specifically the importance of YOUR services/products in accurately solving real-world problems for your customers.

There are a number of great sites that can create Infographics easily, one of my favourites is Canva. Their templates and graphics allow for a lot of customisation and high quality downloads, even with free accounts.

Infographics on Social Media are well received, so if you’ve always been meaning to make one, now’s the time!

No 10 – ARTICLES
Articles will have more relevance for some brands over others however, what good about articles is, that don’t have to be long.

There are many topics and ways to write an article.

As a Graphic and Web Designer, I have categories like

“How To”
“What Is…?”
Case Studies
Search Engine Optimisation
Graphic Design

But one good way to find something to write about is to use Google.
When you type in your keyword, e.g. Graphic Design, displayed near the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) will have similar questions people ask, and there will also be Related Searches at the bottom.

Keyword Research can also help you discover new keywords that are still in line with your niche.

But one of the best ways to write articles is to recycle other content you’ve made.
Did you make a Long Form video recently? If you did, you could grab the Video Transcript, make a few changes and post it as a blog.

Have you read a great article about trends in your niche? Great, describe the key points, add some images and you’re done!

Did you make a featured image for one of your other articles? Amazing! Now write a quick step by step and include a few screenshots of your process.

As long as you have:
– Written in your Personal Voice
– Included relevant keywords
– A Featured Image (with Alternate text)
– Links to any Quoted Sources
– Post Consistently every week and shared on your Website AND Social Media
YOU’VE NAILED IT!

Creating new types of content doesn’t have to be tedious or scary and I hope after reading this you realise how easy it is to get started!
Need help with your content? Contact Us!

05 12 2022

Questions to Ask When Designing a Logo

Kashi ACD Blog, Graphic Design 0

What are the Top Questions to ask when designing a Logo?

Recently, I got to create my first Google Form (a.k.a GForm) to collect business and branding information from a new client.

She had approached me to create a Logo for her new Business Process Management business, but she wasn’t sure what direction to take, so we were starting from Square 1. (A very exciting thing for a Graphic Designer!)

There are common questions that were listed by many different Content Creators, Graphic Designers and Branding Specialists when designing a Logo, some more relevant than others.

My new client had just retired from a successful clinical research position, so she wasn’t looking for a lot of business- which meant more ‘in depth’ questions were unnecessary to include.

21 Questions to Ask when Designing a Logo

1. What is your Business name?

2. What Niche/Industry is your Business involved in?

3. What Product(s) or Service(s) does your Business offer?

4. What are the unique Features and Benefits of your Business’ Product(s) or Service(s)?

5. What are the Core Values and your Mission for your Business?

6. In 5 Words or less, tell me your ‘Brand Personality’.

7. What are Key Points about your Business that you want conveyed in your logo?
e.g Professional, Sustainable, Efficient etc.

8. What is your Business’ Demographic/Target Audience?

9. How do most of your Customers find out about your Business?
e.g. Referrals, Social Media, Website etc.

10.What Platforms are you using to market your Business?
e.g. Website, Social Media, Physical Location, Traditional Media etc.

11. Who are the Top competitors in your Niche/Industry?

12. What are the main point(s) of difference are between You and Your Competitor(s)?

13. Do you have a Tagline or Slogan that you want included in your Logo Design?

14. Do you have specific Brand Colours?
If yes, please provide RGB Hex Code(s) e.g. #Ae8a2d
If no, please name some Colours that would fit your brand personality
(This is a resource I provide to clients by Carey Jolliffe called the Psychology of Colours)

15. Do you have a specific Typography/Font for your Business?
If yes, please write the name of that type/font and where you can access it
If no, please describe the types of fonts you would prefer
e.g. Cursive, Block Text, Bold, Stylised etc.

16. Have a look at the 5 different Logo Types below and select the type(s) you would prefer to focus on.
(This is from Alina Wheeler, an authority in the Graphic Design/Branding field)

17. Are there any logos that you like? This can be the logo of a Competitor, Famous Brand etc.
Please send up to 5 links/examples.

18. How will you measure this Logo’s success?
e.g. Return on Investment (ROI), Analytical Goals, Usage Rates etc.

19. Do you have a deadline for this Logo Design Project?

20. What is your Budget for this Logo Design?
(This should reflect how many places or channels your Logo will appear, how many times it will be used and also how
many revisions you will be have/need)

21. Will there be anyone else, 3rd Parties or otherwise, that need to be involved in this project?

These ‘foundational questions‘ will give you 80% – 90% of the relevant information you need, to make informed choices when designing a Logo for a business/brand.

I still recommend researching the topic yourself to see if there is any other questions you would include that that would be relevant to your situation.

Contact me for help designing YOUR Logo!

01 12 2022

WordPress Slider Case Study: Live Wire Sculptures

Kashi ACD Blog, Case Studies 0

Recently, I was lucky enough to be able to help my uncle, Alan Holley with his website, Live Wire Sculptures.
He creates beautiful recycled sculptures, using armature wire, in combination with natural materials including wood, granite and moss that he finds around his bush property, down the south coast of Australia.

How to fix images in a Slider

This site was mostly created as a portfolio of some of his sculptural works

There were a few changes requested:

Edit the images displayed in the slider
Edit any images not properly oriented
Edit any images not web optimised
Change the appearance of the thumbnails underneath the slider
Edit the images displayed in the slider

This is how it looked (below) before I made the changes:
As you can see, the images featured in the slider navigation have a description box that take up approximately half the slide and the image needed work!

He asked for a simple fix using the images that we already had, so once we discussed his idea of what he wanted it to look like, I started work.

I downloaded the images displayed in that slider from his WordPress websites Media Library and then found the correct dimensions for the slider, which was 960px x 340px.

A custom canvas was created in Adobe Photoshop with the above dimensions (960px X 340px), once that was done, I added a 480px X 340px rectangle in black, so I had a half black, half white blank canvas.

The black was to accentuate the photo of the sculpture – and the white to make it easier for visitors to read the “featured description” next to the photo.

To complete the new thumbnails, I needed to find/verify their correct sizing on WordPress, which was 100px X 100px.
I made a 100px X 100px custom canvas in Adobe and dragged and dropped the images and scaled them to fit.

All of the edited and optimised images were exported from Photoshop and saved high quality JPEG’s.

Then they were compressed and emailed to my Uncle for his feedback.
He signed off on all but 2 of the images, which I changed per his request.

The new Slider images and thumbnails were uploaded into the WordPress ‘Media Library’, with their Titles and Alt Text (alternate text) descriptions, including the relevant keywords.

Unfortunately, once I got into the WordPress admin area, I noticed that his site was using an older, discontinued theme, which made altering the coding to change the thumbnail display size harder- but we wanted to retain this Theme.
With the help of wonderful coding wiz, Mr. H, we were able to identify the problem and input the new, correct coding for the specific theme, to alter the thumb size.

Once I reacquainted myself with the posts shown on the Home page slider, I opened each post one by one and removed the current Featured image.
Scrolling down past that to the Custom Fields (near the bottom of the Post Editor) is where I insert the new URL for the Featured Slider Image and under a newly created field (which I named “Small”) I pasted the new thumbnail URL as well.

This is one example of the new slider images(below) with the thumbnails underneath, also resized from the 95px X 54px to 100px X 100px displayed on the Home page:

Here is how the new post thumbnails look in the artwork category: Properly oriented, framed and

Both my Uncle and I were very happy with how it turned out.
We completed the simple fix he wanted using only his existing images, but managed to frame them in a much nicer way, which most times, makes all the difference!
Contact me if YOU need help with your WordPress site or graphics!