Articles
The Results of Project Icon
The community has voted, and the votes have been tallied. The winner of Project Icon, with 35% of the votes, is Entry ID “BD,” otherwise known as Ben Dunkle. Congratulations, Ben! The runner-up was VS, otherwise known as Verena Segert, so we’ll be attaching that set to the alternate color palette that is selectable from the profile screen. As we prepare for RC1, Ben and Verena will be revising a couple of their icons so that both sets will use the same metaphors, creating the colored “on” states, and creating the larger size of each icon for use in the h2 screen headers. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to select from so many great options, and would like to express again our appreciation for all the designers who participated in the contest. Thanks also to the more than 3700 people who completed the voting survey and took the time to weigh on on the individual icon sets.
Q.18 Which one of the sets do you think we should use as a basis for the 2.7 icons? | ||
Icon Set | # of votes | % of votes |
BD | 1285 | 35% |
VS | 1080 | 29% |
GB2 | 424 | 11% |
OSD | 376 | 10% |
LS | 300 | 8% |
GB1 | 235 | 6% |
The wide lead of BD and VS made it clear that voters had a clear preference for these sets.
Q.20 If you could choose a runner-up, which would you choose? | ||
Icon Set | # of votes | % of votes |
VS | 916 | 27% |
BD | 647 | 19% |
LS | 522 | 16% |
OSD | 488 | 14% |
GB2 | 462 | 14% |
GB1 | 331 | 10% |
Question 20 was not mandatory, so a few hundred people skipped it, but the responses we did get (3366 of them) reinforced the fact that the two most popular sets were also the most popular 2nd choices, which made the decision of the judges to go with the popular vote an easy one (take that, electoral college!).
A few of the individual icon metaphors also had a significant lead over the other choices.
Dashboard: 1333 voters (40%) chose a house as the best metaphor. We agree, so both Ben and Verena will be replacing their Dashboard icons.
Media: 2097 voters (65%) chose the combination camera + musical note icon, which was part of Ben’s set. We also really loved it, and Verena will amend her media icon to incorporate this idea.
Plugins: 1682 voters (53%) selected the outlet plug metaphor, which both Ben and Verena used in their sets.
Tools: 1581 voters (49%) liked the combination of two tools better than anything else, so Ben and Verena will try this approach.
So those are the results, and soon you’ll see the new icons coming to a 2.7 installation near you.
Need another look at the entries to remember which one you liked best? Here are some reminder images, as well as the identity of each set’s creator.
BD was Ben Dunkle, a designer, professor and artist from upstate/western New York State. In case you’ve already forgotten, Ben’s icon set is the winner of Project Icon and will become the default icon set after a few minor changes. | VS was Verena Segert, our runner-up, a designer from Germany who presented sets in both grayscale and blue. Her blue icons received more specific voter comments than the gray ones, so we’re planning the second color palette to be in shades of blue so that we can use the blue icon set. |
GB was Guillaume Berry, a designer from France who submitted two sets in the same style in order to propose a couple of different metaphors. One of his sets came in third while the other came in last, but whether you only look at the higher scoring set or you combine their votes, Guillaume had the next highest percentage of votes, and many people liked the metaphors he used for various icons. In fact, given the enthusiasm of the community for Guillaume’s icons, we think a great plugin would be one that would allow the user to upload the icon set of their choice. Any volunteers? | |
OSD was the Open Source Design class at Parson’s in New york City, taught by Mushon Zer-Aviv and consisting of students Alexandra Zsigmond, Ed Nacional, Karen Messing, Khurram Bajwa, Leonie Leibenfrost. Teacher and students worked together to determine their metaphors and visual style. | LS was Luke Smith, a designer from Iowa who specializes in icons among his other design pursuits. |
If you need to hire an icon designer any time soon, we highly recommend our Project Icon contestants, who all delivered great work in a very short timeframe. It was great to work with all of them, even for such a short assignment.
So, to sum up:
- The winning icon sets by Ben Dunkle and Verena Segert will be incorporated into WordPress 2.7 RC1.
- Someone should write a plugin that would allow anyone to upload a custom icon set (I bet the other contestants could be convinced to release their icon sets for such a purpose).
- 2.7 is still trucking away, but we can always use help with patches, especially for IE6! (I know, that wasn’t in the main post, but it’s true, so hmph)
Thanks again to everyone who participated in this experiment, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And congratulations again to Ben and Verena!
Plugins
Plugin Review: WP Greet Box
Yesterday I found and downloaded the WP Greet Box plugin from Omni Noggin. This plugin could be a very useful tool and keeping visitors from various sites, asking them to subscribe to your RSS feed.
A great feature of this plugin is the ability to allow or disallow a user to remove the banner if they so choose to. Another great example is the different icons and text that show up from where the user come from. For example if this post was to get tweeted by yourself or any reader, and one of your followers clicked on the link, a Twitter icon and the associated text would show up on the post.
So far I am really liking this plugin! I have only had it one day, and haven’t played or tweaked with the options. But, you can add in your own icon’s and text from what ever referral site you like that may not be included in the plugin default. That’s cool!
I am going to have to give this plugin a rating of 5 stars. If you liked this post and you’ve download the plugin, please tweet it & head to WordPress.org and vote for this plugin.
Plugins
Tested: Twitip ID Plugin
There is a really neat plugin named Twitip-ID for WordPress. As you can see, if you have commented on this site I was using this plugin.
While it is still in beta testing I feel that it is a really nice plugin, plus it will automatically put the required field into your comments template without any editing. I choice to to manually input the field for custom css and styling.
This plugin is really awesome and allows for other to employ their Twitter ID for other to follow them, giving a little more incentive for people to comment:).
But I have been having a little problem. The Twitter ID’s are generated and stored into the post’s meta as a custom field. Im not sure if I am the only one affectied by this, but as time passed the custom fields generated by commentators started to take over the drop box, and wouldn’t allow the regular custom fields I use to show.
Another think i would like to touch base on is the fact that even if a comment got cought and filtered through Akismet, the custom field of some spammy email address and aa value close to SncSJHfd6sNSs was still generated and stored in the Database of the post..
So from my perspective, I am going to deactivate this plugin at this time and hope the the next releases with touch base on some of these issues.
Update:
Following a message I posted on the WP Twitip ID forum, Andy Bailey replied:
I am working on an update to the twitip plugin. at the moment it is only at beta stage and I have a few things I want to add or change for a proper release. I will get on it as soon as I can!
Guest Post
Best Photo Editing Apps in Digital Marketing For E-commerce.
The article highlights the significance of quality photo editing for successful e-commerce, improving consumer engagement and driving sales. The author mentions various crucial editing techniques such as clipping path service, retouching and background removal. He reviews eight photo editing apps useful for e-commerce, including Photoshop Express, Pixlr, Crello, Canva, VSCO, Adobe Lightroom, and BeFunky discussing their features, pros, and cons.
The best photo editing apps can turn an excellent photo into a piece of glorious art. Here’s my list of the 8 best photo editing apps for e-commerce.
When you’re an eCommerce company – whether you’re just starting or have been around for years – there’s nothing more vital than building your relationships with consumers. After all, they’re the lifeblood of your brand.
You may also like to read the 18 Photo Editing apps to try in 2024.
Do you edit every photo you use for digital marketing? Even if you snap photographs of the highest possible quality, you’ll still need to edit them to improve their overall appeal. However, if you don’t already, this is the perfect beginning moment. When used correctly, clipping path service with image editing software may help you generate photographs for your internet marketing that are more realistic.
Why Do You Need to Edit Your Photos?
More commerce is generated by photographs that have been edited. For instance, if you own a fashion company, you may increase your customer base by using eye-catching photographs to promote your products. E-commerce companies can submit appealing product photographs to their websites with the help of the best photo editing software for selling, which drives up sales and income. Additionally, you will need to modify your images for the following:
The photographic industries of fashion, weddings, modeling, and product photography often use picture retouching. It makes the images look flawless by removing imperfections like pimples, spots, or blemishes. When a photograph is retouched, the photographer or marketer might enhance the model’s natural attractiveness to make them more appealing to potential customers. The use of digital cosmetics to improve the color and tone of the skin is one aspect of photo retouching and unwanted object detection for image background removal services. Retouching photos to make a model look appealing may require bleaching the model’s hair or eyebrows to change their natural color, clearing up their face, and whitening the model’s teeth, even making the model look slimmer and younger.
You should crop out any extraneous elements, such as people or objects, in the background of a photograph to draw greater attention to the image’s primary focus. You can keep the backdrop white, or you may select a different environment entirely. For example, most product photographs on e-commerce websites are devoid of backgrounds to make the images more attractive and reduce the amount of attention drawn away from the objects themselves. Removing the background is also known as the clipping path service. An illustration of this procedure is as follows:
No customers imply no profit, which eventually means no business for you. Improving this relationship requires effort, persistence, and a terrific marketing game.
Unfortunately, the former two are under your control; however, we can aid with the latter. Our suggestion? Start by downloading the correct picture editing applications.
These will offer you the polished, professional edge your audience will enjoy. Need a little advice here? Don’t worry. Here are seven of the most outstanding applications you can acquire for yourself today.
Adobe Photoshop is most likely the world’s most renowned, influential, and well-known picture editing software. The disadvantage is that it is expensive and not the most intuitive thing ever. Here, Photoshop Express comes into play. Unlike its larger sibling, Express is user-friendly, straightforward, free, and paid!
It’s one of the most fantastic picture editing applications on the market, according to industry experts, and after using it for yourself, it’s simple to understand why. Best Features Photoshop Express may not have the same depth as the original, but it still has several valuable functions. Light and color balance adjustment, frame choices, word tools/text addition, and a variety of transformation tools are all available and operate with relative ease. There are also many excellent cropping choices, including presets for all major social media networks, making uploading faster than before.
Pros:
Offers a free alternative
Simple to use
Numerous presets for picture effects and cropping.
Text layering is simple and beautiful.
You can quickly get an image masking service by using this app.
Cons:
Can improve the retouching
More robust features require a membership.
Pixlr
Pixlr is a picture editing software that influencers and eCommerce companies can use fast and while on the road. It is in the same category as Photoshop Express, which is another name for that program.
Also very similar to Express, it offers a great deal of versatility and a respectable degree of complexity for a mobile solution, but it does so without being overly complicated for people who have never edited anything.
They are very similar, but like everything else, different people will have different tastes. Get the latest version and find out what yours is by downloading it today.
Best Features
Pixlr includes all of the essential tools you want to create a great advertisement, post on social media, or anything similar. The application places a significant emphasis on effects, tweaks, filters, general retouching, and the inclusion of text, all of which perform admirably for the most part.
Its UI, as well as its quick fixes and tweaks, are both strong points. You only need to make a few taps before you’re all set to post. Straightforward and highly effective
Pros:
The user interface is intuitive and easy for amateurs and seasoned pros; free and paid choices are available. Pre-made filters are excellent. The quality of photographs available for free use is surprisingly high. This app is beneficial for photo cut-out services and other services.
Cons:
The number of available templates does not quite meet expectations—more Buggier than some other options available.
Crello
You’ve been shortchanged if you haven’t been exposed to Crello until now. Crello is not just another picture editing software; it is an all-in-one content production platform for businesses with many valuable features.
The app stands apart in a crowded industry partly because it is a SaaS software, which makes it compatible with a wide variety of hardware.
It should be no surprise that thousands of users and eCommerce companies have come to vouch for it, given its fantastic design tools, unusual and animated alternatives, and devoted development staff.
Best Features
Crello has received overwhelmingly positive feedback as a result of the numerous animation capabilities and template options that it provides. The first of these is outstanding in its quality.
There is a template for everything, and all of them seem professional and beautifully done, providing more room for customization so that consistent branding can be achieved. What about the animated sequences?
They are arguably the feature that receives the most accolades since they are enjoyable, inventive, and not overly complex to figure out.
Pros:
Animation and video features of the highest caliber.Lots of great, editable templates to choose from. Regular revisions are made to the content. Both the layouts and the stock pictures are of excellent quality.
Cons:
The search feature might need some improvement. Not as friendly to users as some of our rival products. There have been reports of problems with the upload area from a few users.
Canva
Canvas popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, and the primary reason for this is because it is so straightforward to use.
The app is easy to use and doesn’t take much time to learn, making it great for eCommerce firms that want to concentrate on selling their goods or providing their services rather than mastering the intricacies of a piece of editing software.
Canva, much like other applications of its like, is offered in both a free and a paid edition. As a result, it has everything from frames to filters, effects, and text, among other things, and it does so without an overly confusing user interface.
Best Features
The fact that Canva is both a picture editing software and a comprehensive graphic design tool is represented throughout the entirety of the program itself.
Its picture modification tab does its job, and it does it well. It has all of the typical brightness, contrast, and saturation sliders and options that change blur, x-process, and a few other things.
Canvas app connectivity and built-in stock pictures, both excellent quality and diverse, are the show’s real stars. There is a good chance that the first of them has all you require, but if not?
Pexels, Pixabay, YouTube, and even GIPHY are readily available through the app interface to meet any of your requirements for the inclusion of material.
Pros:
Easy to use for everyone, regardless of prior knowledge, the front selection is very efficient in terms of cost. A substantial amount of included stock photographs
Cons:
Templates aren’t as spectacular as in other apps. The free version may have some functional restrictions.
VSCO
The VSCO girl fad may be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of the app, but the app certainly deserves to be remembered for more than just one trend alone.
VSCO is a photographic application and a sharing platform that operates on a “creator-first” premise. As a result, the application is somewhat decent. It emphasizes creativity and simplicity, concentrating on making little corrections and modifications to produce the best-looking photographs possible without making them appear excessively manipulated. The editing solution is not entirely on par with programs such as Photoshop Crello, and others, but it has polished the fundamentals while maintaining a high level of aesthetic appeal.
Best Features
As said before, the VSCO app is not designed for the kind of dramatic alterations and content production that some of the others on the market are. Instead, the focus should be on the little particulars. If you can get those correct, the shot will turn out beautifully. Fortunately, the app has various options that can be utilized to assist in completing this task. However, X-skew and Y-skew are two of the most useful since they enable you to essentially extend the photo along each of its respective axes, modifying the angle at which the shot is seen. The camera controls are also quite convenient, and they will help you take superior photographs of your products, advertisements, or anything else you want to picture.
Pros:
Even when they aren’t highly stylized, filters nonetheless have a significant impact and enable angle adjustments without the need for annoyance. In addition, they have advanced camera controls. The photo editing game is completely transformed with the addition of angle adjustment.
Cons:
A solution that is a bit too easy to use as an all-in-one package for eCommerce and other types of enterprises. The premium version is required for the majority of filters. Other forms of commercial software make more sense from a monetary standpoint.
Are you unfamiliar with this entry on the list? BeFunky is an all-encompassing editor, and graphic design solution developed to make it easier to create marketing campaigns.
Please pay attention to companies that sell their products online! The fonts, frames, and filters are given the prominence they deserve, and even in the free edition, there are many options to choose from. In addition, cropping, color, temporary adjustments, and overlays have not been neglected, which contributes to an editor in which you can have faith. Finally, because there are no advertisements, no watermarks, or other pointless distractions, you are free to focus entirely on what you do best without being interrupted.
Best Features
The user interface of BeFunky is, as was to be anticipated, straightforward and not excessively cluttered or complicated. This makes it possible for virtually anyone to take it up and utilize it to its maximum capacity without too much struggle. The software’s drag-and-drop editing, themed effects, and templates are the show’s real stars; the app’s user-friendliness is merely a bonus. An integrated stock photo choice from Pixabay, Pexels, or Unsplash is the icing on the cake for a photo editing program capable of various tasks.
Pros:
Option for superior service that is both free and affordable includes collaborations with several image-sharing websites. The navigation is a breeze.
Cons:
No layers or blend modes, Limited editing options, and Minimal graphic design elements like adding text elements
This Guest Post has been provided by Robert Lewis
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