Font Lust & Other Graphic Desires

True Confession: I sometimes spend more time on the title graphics of my blog posts and preso title slides than I do writing the darn things! It's totally probably a Photoshop Elements / Comic Life addiction - but I can quit at any time! But it's also all part of being a Presentation Ninja and an impt. VIRAL SECRET! A hot graphically compelling title pic with a sexy font grabs your reader AND your audience! Therefore it follows, that a blog, article, preso, wiki, etc. with engaging related graphics & screenshots is more compelling. It's difficult to teach graphic design - but there are some tips that can elevate your look without breaking your budget. Killer fonts, a cool colour scheme, & arresting images make for a banging and desirable graphic presence. I touch on these concepts in my How to be a Presentation Ninja slidedeck embedded below.
Here's the back story to my dirty little secret about Font Lust. It's probably not fair to admit that I judge presentations and websites by the kind of fonts they choose. And when I see a knockout combination font lust & graphic gorgeousness I fall in visual love - hard and quick! Enter Jesse Dee. About two years ago I started stalking errr following the amazing Jesse Dee on Slideshare. What really caught my eye about his work was a super slick clean preso he did linking marketing & Lady Gaga - which I totally stole (with his blessing, of course!). I got to thinking how much that preso could be related to education marketing and branding & now it's my most requested keynote preso! \\FTW!// But it was also his use of this font ...this gorgeous lickable really HOT font that REALLY caught my eye. I wrote him & he kindly replied that it was called. NEUTRAFACE from House Industries.

Sadly, hot can be expensive! Neutraface Display: $150.00 the whole suite is $275. But after drooling over it for years - yeah...I gave in & got it. So, expect to see it a LOT in my work! LOL

Don't want to spend your own $ on fonts? That's ok! \
Check out Da Font!

1001 Free Fonts - ugly site - gorgeous fonts!

Another great resource - I pinned it to my Graphic (Design) Desires board on Printerest 11 days ago (& thanks Matthew for reminding me in your AWEsome coment!) It's fab! Check it out!
So, what fonts should you choose? Here are some suggestions! A big thanks to Jennifer LaGarde for turning me onto Indy Pimp - it had me a the name but it kept me coming back for its sticky sick-like awesomeness!

It should come as no surprise that colour effects mood. What holds true with fashion, clothing, and interior design translates to graphic & web design, too! But how to choose?

Still can't pick a scheme? Go to ColourLovers.com and check out the "most loved" and popular palettes there!

I even made my own personalized colour palette & named it The Daring Librarian! W00t! It's FREE and it's Fun! Why not build your own palette of colours that turn you on!?

As you can probably guess from visiting this blog or going to some of my other websites:

Whatever complimentary colours float your boat! Now...let's talk Pics!

(ps. that font above is American Typewriter!)

Of course my favourite source for FREE images is Flickr Creative Commons! Particularly I search Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License for cool images!
Can't find just what you want? How about you animate them? This does take extra work but I have help & directions in this blog and on my Daring Tech Wiki!

For the most badass customizable images - take screen shots in Second Life! NOT for the faint of heart! It's a real tough learning curve, Second Life is!

Here's an example where I took out my pirate airship & dressed up for the "photo shoot" and the final product for the cover image our Australia speaking tour wiki. Pretty cool, huh? But you can see I'm a better dresser in SL than airship pilot, though!

Just want to get what you want? You're gonna have to

I really like iStock photo for this beacuse it was really hard to find the Ninja pics I really NEEDED! But that's ok, you're worth it! ;-)

See? How cool is this?

Now...your preso is AWESOME because you have killer fonts & arresting images! Shamelessly Share it with Slideshare!

And maybe if your preso catches the eye of the Slideshare peeps something VIRAL may happen! Check this out!

I'm still gobsmacked & reeling from the coolness of that! WOW! View the Transparency slidedeck here! Then a friend told me that Viral wasn't 100K anymore but a million! GAH! Honestly though, Slideshare is an amazing site that allows easy uploading & embedding of presentations, documents, zipcasts. I did go PRO this year using my school email addy to get an Educators discount! (look at the bottom of the table for education pricing)

Thanks for reading I hope these tips help & you also drink the graphic desire koolaid!
Check out the whole preso by viewing:

How to be a Presentation Ninja

View more presentations from gwyneth jones

I invite you to comment on what are your favourite fonts & graphic DESIGN desires?
(keep it clean! LOL)

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Credits & Resources:
See examples of some of my graphic design desires in this Flicrk set!

New discovery: Lost Type Co-Op by Curly Red (Obviously, I already love her!)
Comic Sans is a crime.