When it comes to marketing a site online, you need to have something that is link worthy. Link worthy is when something is so cool that people will link to it just because, it’s so cool.
A lot of times well written content on an interesting subject is enough to do this. But there are times in life that the product being sold is just not that interesting. It doesn’t matter how many articles you right, people are just not going to link to them.
This calls for a different approach and it is one we are working on now with a silicone wristband site we have. We hired a couple writers however, it didn’t take long for all the articles to start looking the same and it was rare for anyone to link to the articles.
In the past I’ve run across graphic designs that were just so cool that I linked to them. This got me to thinking about the silicone wristbands as well as the fact that none of the competition had tried this approach yet.
I’ve got some graphic designers in-house I am going to use and see how things work how.
Below are the original images we have to work with, these are all silicone wristband images and are very boring however, they are mixed in with images that I found online that are not boring to give you an idea of what I am talking about.
Hey gentleblobs and Ladyshrubs. Just doing an essay on Iconic Design and thought hey, no one ever mentions how insanely awesome PLASTIC screw top bottle caps are. However i’m finding it difficult to get some backround information on the actual invention of it. Anyone got any links or worthy mentions? Ta any help will be taken very octagonal cheers.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Worthy of a Pulitzer Prize
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an enticing tale of a young girl’s journey through a seemingly deranged world. The main character of the novel, Alice, finds herself in a disorderly place in which she comes across many irrational and peculiar inhabitants. Through the story Alice’s curiosity and clumsiness gets her into many troubling situations, however she perseveres with bravery and finesse. This story demonstrates all the characteristics of an effective novel through the combination of brevity, clarity, picturesqueness, and accuracy. The brevity of the novel is evident in the way Carroll describes uncommon circumstances, the character’s brief reactions, as well as the lack of evidence to explain irregular actions. Although Carroll’s novel is one of complicated events, he clearly incorporates all the details needed in an organized fashion that makes the storyline understood, this tailored design of writing clearly displays the themes of the novel without confusion, and makes it clear that the novel is intended for young readers. The descriptions of scenery, the diction and satire, as well as the original illustrations, provide insight and picturesqueness without excessive detail. The portrayal of a young girl, as well as the components of a children’s fantasy novel are accurately accomplished. It is because the novel has successfully met all of this criterion, expected by Joseph Pulitzer, that Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is unquestionably an effective literary work.
Carroll has a blunt way of describing situations that the reader would expect to have a very detailed description of. The reasoning behind this is to allow some characteristics to be left to the reader’s imagination. For instance, when the main character suddenly finds herself face to face with a large caterpillar, Carroll provides no more detail then necessary. His short description of the creature does not include excessive physical description. “ . . . her eyes immediately met those of a large, blue caterpillar, that was sitting on the top, with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and not taking the smallest notice of her or of anything else” (Carroll 39).The author did not elaborate and include all of the human senses to provide a full picture. This use of vague writing is also found in the mysterious disappearing act of the famous Cheshire Cat, this bizarre event only includes the brief details needed by the reader to understand what is happening. “ . . . and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone” (Carroll 59). This short explanation reveals the concession of the vanishing cat and excludes the unnecessary details to complete the reader’s visualization. Perhaps the most significant evidence of Lewis Carroll’s brief writing style is found when Alice comes across the Queen and King of hearts. During this passage it is extremely evident that Carroll’s focus was exclusively on the actions and thoughts of the characters rather then the physical descriptions. “Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King’s crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS [sic]” (Carroll 73).Through several chapters that have the Queen and King as central characters in the plot there is not any part where the narrator stops to explain their physical appearance. The reasoning behind this is linked to the audience the novel was intended for.
The brisk reactions of the main character to events she would not normally be accustomed to, reveals the brevity of the novel. The novel is set in the Victorian era (1837-1901), which was a very conservative time period, compared to society today (Nuta 1). It is surprising how well Alice is able to remain calm as well as maintain an open minded attitude. This is particularly evident in the calm way Alice dealt with her introduction to an oversized caterpillar. “The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid and sleepy voice” (Carroll 41). Instead of the horror and panic that would be expected of a child from her time period Alice’s reaction was tame and short. Another fitting example of her brisk reactions to normally horrific events is seen when she is taking the initial trip down the rabbit hole. “First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything, then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs” (Carroll 8). When falling down a hole it is reasonable to feel scared and, as the passage suggests, Alice did not feel this way at all as she journeyed into the unkno
This is how I rank them:
1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Although I don’t love every single moment of this game like many people do, its epic feel and nostalgic value propel it to #1. A major point in Ocarina’s favour is the inclusion of my absolute favourite dungeon in the entire series: the Shadow Temple.
2) The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – The only thing keeping this game from taking the top spot is the fact that it’s just too short, with only four actual dungeons. But its eerie atmosphere and incredible depth make it a very, very close second. If Nintendo ever remakes this game, I hope they add at least one additional dungeon (I’m thinking the area beneath the graveyard, where you learn the Song of Storms) and touch up the graphics so that the moon looks much more menacing.
3) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – I wasn’t a huge fan at first; I thought it tried too hard to emulate Ocarina of Time. But then I began to notice its own distinctive identity amidst the failed attempt at invoking nostalgic value, and I’ve since come to appreciate it’s quasi-gothic aesthetics and the length of its main quest. Even though it doesn’t push the envelope very far, Twilight Princess is the purest representation of the classic Zelda formula.
4) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – My introduction to the series and to gaming as a whole. It will always have a special place in my heart.
5) The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – A very charming game with a great deal of fun to be had. Earns big points for the Palace of Winds, one of the greatest dungeons in the whole series.
6) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – A massive world to explore, albeit scattered in nature considering how it’s spread over a vast ocean. It is sad in the sense that it tells the tale of Hyrule’s destruction, but The Wind Waker is still an upbeat and charming game worthy of the series.
7) The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures – Very linear by comparison to other games in the series, but this is to be expected with a game that is split into stages rather than having an open-world setting. Nevertheless, it is tons of fun as both a single player and multiplayer experience.
8) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – Spirit Tracks has better dungeons than its predecessor on the DS, but its main draw is the undeniable charm it exudes through its characters and varied settings. There’s lots to explore, and a great deal of fun to be had.
9) The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – Very monotonous dungeons, but has the same strengths as The Wind Waker for the GameCube. A game well worth playing at least once.
10) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – The hardest game in the series by far, but an underappreciated classic that deserves a second look. Zelda II boldly reinvents the formula established by its predecessor through combining elements of adventure games, RPGs, and side-scrollers.
11) The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – A massive world to explore, filled with the right amounts of charm and challenge. So why does it rank so low? Simple: it’s tedious. Link’s Awakening needlessly disposes of your ability to simply press the “R” button to grab objects in front of you (or to dash ahead with the Pegasus Boots), making for constant trips to the pause menu. Not only that, but it’s altogether far too cumbersome to navigate your way around the island. If this were the second ever Zelda game and predated A Link to the Past, it’d be much easier to appreciate its nuances, however frustrating they may be. But some questionable development choices really took a lot of the potential fun out of the game. That being said, there’s a lot to love about its dungeons, and Eagles Tower remains memorable as one of the most well-designed locations ever put into a Zelda game.
12) The Legend of Zelda – A lengthy and classic adventure, but a very old one, and it shows its age. Still a worthwhile endeavour, but doesn’t really compare to the more recent entries in the series it started.
13) The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords – Very short, far too easy, and with virtually no replay value.
I have not yet played the following titles:
-The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons
-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
I have sketched this picture a few different times and I know that I am not a great artist but I really like this design. I would like to turn this into a tattoo for my back but am not sure how I can make it “tattoo worthy” so to speak. If anyone can give me some suggestions or even redraw this for me I would really appreciate!
Here’s a link for the picture: http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx306/filly225/DSCN0971.jpg
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/numbers.png
So a guy who I read fairly regularly did an interesting bit of Google research, putting in various phrases into Google and finding out how often various quantitative statements are made on the Internet. While not exactly a precise research method, some of the things he found are dramatic enough to be striking and worthy of consideration even if there’s some imprecision involved.
So, among the random and occasionally amusing things he looked at (“I’ve got 99 problems…”), he stumbled upon the amazing ego of the average internet person: people claiming to have IQ scores of 147 (and more broadly, in and around the 140s), 9-inch members, and E-sized breasts dwarved all other “I have/I am” accounts (note the logarithmic scales used, incidentally – the frequency of these claims is larger than the appearance of the graphs would imply).
While I don’t have any reliable data on the statistical frequency of breast and penis sizes, the IQ thing can be analyzed in its full ridiculous splendor against the actual frequency of real-life IQs: as the author points out, the average IQ is in fact 100 (the scale is deliberately calibrated that way), and IQs above the 120s, and certainly the 130s, are freakishly rare (a person with an actual IQ of 147, just shy of Einstein, would be in the upper 99.91% of the population – to put this in perspective, imagine everyone is divided into 30-person groups. Such a person would likely be the smartest person in the room. Now suppose all these smartest people were further put into 30-person clusters. Such a person would likely be the smartest of all of these smartest people.) To put it succinctly, the average person (or even a relatively extraordinary person) believing they have an IQ of 147 is beyond egotistical, and apparently it’s actually the norm on the internet.
While these “average” 9-inchers and E-cuppers are either just flat-out lying (or are exceptionally good at self-deception, and bad at physical measurements), the 140s-IQers may have actually been led to believe this is true at some point in their life – the Internet is full of ludicrously inflated IQ tests (which will of course offer to publish your genius results for a small fee, or perhaps simply encourage you to visit their links to access your score), and even some entry academic tests and psychological studies may “protect” people with unflattering scores, or justify reporting inaccurate scores to average people.
But one thing most people have access to is an SAT, ACT or GRE score, which are not designed to be flattering or misleading, but rather to arrange people by order of mental capability so that colleges (and some professions) can quickly identify the most capable. While the score itself won’t tell you much, the percentile, which is reported by all of these tests, will. By relating that percentage to a Z-score and performing a simple calculation, you can craft yourself a crude (but more accurate than most other sources most people have access to) approximation of your IQ.
So, does this ridiculous internet above-average-manship surprise you? Have you noticed that most internet-goers seem to have spectacular IQs (as well as impressive measurements) when the conversation turns there? Have you ever taken a probably-misleading IQ test yourself (did it give you the oddly commonly-reported score of 147, or 142)?
Incidentally, if you’d like to approximate your IQ from your college exams, here’s how: take the percentile you’re given (e.g. 1700 on the SATs corresponds to the 72nd percentile), divide it by 100, and put it into the “given probability Q = ” box on the website below, then click “calculate.”
http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/experiments/analysis/zCalc.html
Take the resultant number (in our example, 0.582842), multiply it by 15 and add it (or subtract it, as the case may be) to 100, giving your IQ. (Our example tells us that someone scoring 1700 on the SATs has an IQ of a hair under 109.)
I keep hearing that Michelle Obama is a fashion icon, i respectfully dissagree……i have yet to see her in anything worthy of the word “Fierce” ::haha thank you Christian Soriano::…..i support her and My president barack, but i feel credit is being given where it is not due. If anyone can show me an outfit that is borderline amazing, please leave a link, tell me what you think about the topic. BTW i am a fashion designer.
Hahaha, omg you all make great points……..and i agree with you maraudin….she dosent have to be fierce, but i feel she can totally be fashion foward, i would love to see her dressed up in “Classic Chanel” i just feel if your going to give someone the title of “Fashion/Style icon” they have to be a little fierce.
Please dont say “I like the WWE Championship”..What I mean is what is your favorite design or style
For example my 2 favorite designs are
(1) Edge’s WWE Championship (Rated R spinner) because it was a bif F.U to Cena
(2) WCW World Heavyweight championship when the WHC was bigger and didnt have a name plate..
Best answer to the most thumbs up.