Build a Legacy
*“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, and to have it make some difference that you will have lived and lived well”-RALPH WALDO EMERSON.*
Legacy is about life and living. It’s about learning from the past, living in the present, and building for the future. Legacy isn’t tomorrow. Legacy is **Now**. When people talks about legacy, the idea may remind us of death, but it’s not about death. Being reminded of death is not a bad thing, because it gives you a view on what’s important. But legacy is really about life and living. It helps you decide the kind of life you want to live and the world we want to live in. Also, people think of legacy in terms of wealth they might pass on to someone next to them. Legacies are anything transferred or received including intangibles like belief, attitudes, or values. Legacy is an idea about what we hope to leave behind. We might think of it as our mission in life. Our legacy is a summary of who we are and how we will be remembered for, if we die in this moment.
*“The number one regret of dying is not living a life true to one’s self but rather the life expected of them.”-Bronnie Ware.*
Most of us may not have our names and accomplishment remembered or written in the history books. But that doesn’t stop us from creating a meaning in our lives, to have what we’ve done and thought live on after us, to be remembered in some way. There are certain things that block us from building a legacy. Lack of focus, bitterness, anger, fear, living the life others want us to live and so many more. Eliminate those behaviors and attitudes that hinder you from building a legacy.
*“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another”-Charles Dickens.*
To build a powerful legacy, know yourself. Develop and maximize your talents, strengths, and skills. Seize every small opportunity that comes your way. Do things that matters and are important. Monitor your impact on other, how you influence people. Put other people’s need ahead of your own and so on.
We can’t predict the future and since we can’t, we might want to be prepared. Live each day as though you might die tomorrow. Please do leave a like and feel free to share your opinion. THANK YOU❤
Brand Personality Part One
Have you ever wondered why people show strong loyalty towards one brand over another? For some people, it must be Benz or nothing, Samsung or nothing, Gucci or nothing, Closeup or nothing, Indomie or nothing and so on. These customers will pay any amount to stick to their preferred brand.
Brand personality is what makes your business human in the eyes of your customers. Customers do not buy brands, they buy its personality resonates with their own values. Does your brand have a human face? What is your brand personality type? In this article, I will share the 12 brand personality types & their features to help you see where your business belongs.
1. **The Explorer:** *“Don’t fence me in.”* Customers of Explorer brands often crave thrill-seeking quest. They often scope out the next mental and physical high. Freedom is the top priority for an explorer. They seek freedom through discovery.
**Brand Message:** You can only get one life. Get out and make it count.
**Brand Voice:** Exciting, Fearless, Darling.
**Explorer Brands:** The North Face, Jeep, Patagonia, Nike etc.
2. **The Sage:** *“The truth will set you free.”* The sages are driven by the desire for truth, knowledge, and understanding, a high level of wisdom to be able to use them to make the world a better place by sharing their research. Sage customers are impressed by intellectual concept; they are drawn to new ways of thinking.
**Brand Message**: Education is the path to wisdom and wisdom is where the answer lies.
**Brand Voice**: Knowledgeable, Assured, Guiding.
**Sage Brands**: Google, BBC, University of Oxford, Discovery Channel
3. **The Innocent:** *“Life is simple and simplicity is elegant.”* In the innocent’s world, everything is free, simple, safe, virtuous and content. Innocent brands rely on the simplicity of their product. They are not usually ones for innovation.
**Brand Message**: The most wholesome things in life are unadulterated and pure.
**Brand Voice**: Optimistic, Honest, and Humble
**Innocent Brands**: Aveeno, Dove, Innocent drinks, coca cola, etc.
4. **The Creator**: *“If it can be imagined, it can be created.”* Creators crave innovation, perfection, and authenticity. Creators strive to make a product that you can’t live without. Creator brands are the focus attention of customers who love to create.
**Brand Message**: See potential everywhere and uncover originally with liberated imagination.
**Brand Voice**: Inspirational, Daring, and Provocative.
**Creators Brands**: Lego, Apple, Adobe, etc.
5. **The Ruler**: *“Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”* The ruler brands want absolute power. The objective at the top life of their agenda is being noticed and admired. Rulers are attracted by wealth, respect and prestige.
**Brand Message**: You are successful in work and in life. Reward your excellence and your achievements.
**Brand Voice**: Commanding, Refined, and Articulate.
**Ruler Brands**: Louis Vuitton, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, etc.
6. **The Caregiver**: *“Love your Neighbor as yourself.”* Caregivers make people feel secured and nurtured. They are compassionate, caring, and build trust. Customers of caregiver brands enjoy safety and security.
**Brand Message**: Everyone deserves care and we must all strive to bestow service upon one another.
**Brand Voice**: Caring, Warm, and Reassuring.
**Caregiver Brands**: Unicef, WWF, Toms, NHS, Heinz, etc.
E.E Cummings says "it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are"
It's a new month guys, what's the thing you've set aside for your growth and improvement to become the better version of you. That doesn't take a little strength or courage, it takes so much more. I am so grateful to God for so much already and i can go on and on and tell so many things I'm grateful for in my life. My growth process hasn't been easy, i have had to make wrong and right decisions too. They only got me to this point and I'm grateful for the growth. How have you taught yourself, how have you helped yourself grow and are you grateful for that growth process? If you are reading this right now, you should being grateful for your growth process because it is not easy to grow up. Love every bit of it and be courageous about it. That's the mistake most of us make, we struggle to live better but hate the processes we have had to go through. To properly grow, you need to love the experience to shaped you, bad or good. Imagine loving and experiencing that almost got you mad, 😆 but are you still that same person right now? You be better for that little progress and growth that took place. When you practice this, you'll feel different.
Being the first day of the month of August, i decided to motivate someone today. Be courageous, thankful and love every bit of your growth process. Better days ahead of us this month guys. Happy new month❤❤
Living Beyond Your Generation
Let’s assume you are now 90 years old and sitting outside your house on a deck chair while the wind is blowing your dry and toothless cheek. Sitting there, you started to reminisce about how you lived your life. What life you would have wished you lived? What cause would you have wished you fought for? What life would you have wished you touched? What institution would you have wished you built? What call would you have wished you answered? What thing would you have wished you did better? Think about this for a minute. What are your thoughts? That’s exactly what I want to achieve with this article.
You are lucky to be alive and younger now. It’s time to start working on those thoughts. It’s not over until it’s over. You still have the opportunity to live a fulfilled life. No matter what rushed through the mind of that 90 years old man, there is little and nothing he can do again to turn the tides because he is old and weak.
**What does it mean To Live beyond Ones Generation?**
To live beyond your generation simply means to continue to exist when your mates are already gone, being relevant while you are no longer alive, and being current and useful, even when history has forgotten your age mates. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bob Marley were long dead, but they are still relevant even with children born today. Obafemi Awolowo’s name still comes up during political discussion today. Can we ever forget Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Bishop Ajayi Crowther, Steve Jobs, and even Bill Gates? What about Wole Soyinka, Aliko Dangote, Chinua Achebe, and many more? These names will continue to live with us forever. How will you feel if your name is still making money and opening doors for your generation yet unborn after you’ve gone? Some of you will say, but these are big people. 99% of these names were ordinary people before they embraced what I’m writing in this article. Anybody can live beyond his/her generation.
**5 Benefits of Living beyond your Generation**
•**Fulfillment of purpose:** You can only live forever in purpose. Therefore, almost everyone living to live forever are fulfilling purpose.
•**Influence:** Influence is the ability to make others make certain decisions. When you are living to live forever, automatically, people will follow you and you will have the power to influence their decision. Everyone should desire to be a person of influence.
•**Recognition:** People living to live forever are always recognized anywhere they go. They enjoy certain privileges, they are treated special, and they are recipients of awards. Even in death, they are still given a posthumous award.
•**Fame:** If you want to be known and famous, live beyond your generation. Fame is automatic when you live to live forever. Yes, all people living to live forever are famous.
•**Wealth:** You want to be wealthy, live to live forever.
**How to Live beyond your Generation**
•**Discover, Develop and deploy your Purpose and Passion:** This is fundamental in living beyond your generation. You need to know who you are, why you are here, what your assignment is, what you are passionate about, and good at. Everyone has a purpose in life, you need to discover it and work towards it.
•**Solve Problems:** One of the ways to live forever is to solve problems. Problems solver are not easily forgotten. The level of greatness you desire is largely determined by the kind of problem you are solving. Don’t be the one who will always point out the problems. Make sure you find solutions. People follow solutions. Stop complaining about situations and start looking for solutions. There are local, national and international problems. Solve them and you will live forever.
•**Be a Creator:** Inventors don’t die, they live with us forever. Do Henry Ford and Graham Bell ring a bell? You want to live forever, be a creator. Create products, write books, sing a song, create an app, create software, and create things. There is so much in you. You are more than what you are now. Your greatness is inside of you. In any industry you find yourself, create, be different, and be creative.
•**Give yourself to the service of humanity:** Yes, humanity! Humans don’t forget those who serve them selflessly. People like Martin Luke King Jr. who fought and die for equality in America can’t die, they live forever. Stand for a cause bigger than you and you will be remembered forever. This is the problem with Nigerians and Africans. We hate serving humanity. We are of ourselves. Greed has become our god. Stand and be counted and see if you will ever die. Mandela’s name will open doors for his children’s children for live anywhere.
•**Be an exceptional leader:** Exceptional leaders are not forgotten easily. Great leaders live forever. Mahatma Gandhi can never be forgotten in India. Leaders in the place of work, cities, states, religious bodies, nations and globally will live forever. Remember that leadership is a responsibility & not a position. Do you know how many people could be benefiting from this? But some leaders did not care to learn or bring their people to learn. All these must change. Selfless leaders. Leaders with sympathy and empathy. Their impact and memory can’t be erased with a duster. They are forever.
Please don’t forget to subscribe, like and comment. I’ll appreciate that. THANK YOU❤
Target Market
Once upon a time, two brothers decided to make their father happy. The elder bought fruits while the younger one prepared a meal of roasted goat in red pepper sauce and a chilled glass of palm wine to wash it down. Which of the meal do you think their father would love? Your guess is as good as mine. Yes, the roasted goat in red pepper sauce was their father’s favourite. The father appreciated and blessed the younger brother for raking the time to find out what he loved and for preparing it nicely. The elder brother got angry.
This is the case with business owners today. They go ahead to make offers to clients without knowing what they like. Why are you angry that no one is patronising your business? Have you taken the time to know your customers’ needs and want? This article reveals **“How to Know Your Target Market”** so that you can provide products and services that will serve their need. There is a way to sell what your customers can't resist. But first we need to understand what target market?
Target Market is the specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing efforts. Target market may be known for a business, brand, location, product, sales or marketing strategies. Most of the times we see some companies conducting surveys among customers in its various markets, asking them to provide information such as age, education, employment, household size, income, status and more. Doing this, the company can create profiles of its particular customers.
**How to know your Target Market**
*To build a solid foundation for your business, you must first identify your business; you must first identify your typical customer and tailor your marketing pitch accordingly. – Mandy Porta.*
• **Age and Gender:** Knowing their age will give insight into what they love and the type of offering you will present to them. For instance, a company selling kids items will appeal more to children. Also know if your business caters for only men, women or both. If they cater for men, know what men want as well as for women or both.
• **Location:** Knowing their location and where to find them will help you plan marketing that’ll reach them.
• **Educational Level:** Their education level will say a lot about their mind-set and taste. Always bear this in mind
• **Income:** Know the income status of your customer. How much do they earn? Can they afford what you are selling?
• **Motivations:** What keeps them going? What inspires them? What motivates them? You need to know all of these to serve them better.
• **Goals:** Knowing what their personal and corporate goals are will give insight into creating products and services that will help meet them.
• **Brand Affinities:** What other brands are they in love with? This will reveal a lot about their taste and help you build your brand into one they will love
Finally, when you have identified your target market, it will be much easier for you to determine where and how to market your company.
Please don’t forget to write your views on the comment box, like and subscribe. Thank you❤
Photo Editing
Today I want to share with you guys some photos I edited on Photoshop. But first I’ll be explaining what photo editing is, how to edit a photo and the software/programs you can use to edit a photo. This article will be helpful to those who don’t know how to edit a photo or are new to the editing world. So let’s start
**What is photo editing?**
Photo editing is simply the transformation of images. It involves making enhancements to change the appearance of an image. Photo editing is done to add a special effect to an image, to remove some unwanted element, such as worse background, changing the color, removing blemishes, softening the image, and adjust exposure. The most important part of capturing photo is the work that is done after the shot. Digital cameras are great tools, capable of capturing countless numbers of images, they’re also known for producing low contrast and silent colors. Photo editing helps correct these issues to bring out the true beauty of the image.
**Some importance of photo editing**
•Photo editing helps increase the scope of your business and help fulfill its potential
•Photo editing can make events feel and look more colorful and vibrant
•It can bring life to any image with more color.
**Photo Editing Software**
Photo editing software is a tool used to manipulate and enhance images. This software makes it easy to edit photos. The popular photo editing software include
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Lightroom Classic
• Corel PaintShop Pro
• Serif Affinity Photo
• GIMP
• Canva
• Google Photos
**How to Edit a Photo**
Some edits every photographer uses
•Crop: Trim off some of the images to bring attention to the subject of the image
•Exposure: Adjust brightness and reduce shadows
•Saturation: Increase saturation to enhance colors, decrease for dull colors
•Hue/Color Balance: You can add some amount of blue or yellow, depending on the looks of the photo. If a photo is looking yellow, increase the amount of blue in the photo and vice versa.
•Contrast: It is useful for black and white images as well as adding a bit of drama to color images.
Below are some of the images i edited on photoshop.
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My Love for Music
Music has been a part of me and my everyday life since childhood. It’s something I can’t do without. Music helps me feel a sense of release, happiness, gives me the strength I need to push forward, and motivation to do things. Music also helps me during times of distress, depression, and tough times. Listening to music helps me relax. I love listening to music when designing, playing games, doing chores, walking and more.
Everyone in my family loves music. My parents always play music when we were young till date. My dad is a music lover. My mom loves to sing as well as my two sisters. I’m not blessed with a beautiful voice to sing, but that doesn’t stop me from singing. I even joined the choir in my church, join them in singing sometimes but what I do most is play the keyboard. Yeah I learnt how to play keyboard because I have passion for music. I love listening to all kinds of music but my favorites are pop, hip-hop, and rap. My world revolves around music. Music is my life. It is one of the most important and powerful things in my life. It has helped made me into the kind of person I am today.
Music is said to be the language of emotion in that it can represent different feelings which I agree more. I believe music has the power to bring all kinds of emotion. Music brings peace, happiness, sadness, joy, despair etc. It can make people shed tears or burst of laughter. When a beat is slow it resembles sadness and slowness while an upbeat tone will resembles joy and full of energy. Music makes us feel. Music has the ability to transport me back in time. There are times when I listen to a song especially an old song, I revisit forgotten memories or moments in my life.
Music is extremely important in my life. It brings me closer to my family and friends. Music is more than something to listen to or play; to me it’s something to feel. Music will always have a huge place in my heart. If you are also a music lover, feel free to write what you love about music on the comment box. Please don’t forget to subscribe and like. Thank you❤
First Bitcoin ATM in Nigeria
Bitcoin ATM (Automated Teller Machine) is a kiosk that allows consumers to purchase bitcoin by using debit card. Bitcoin ATMs have grown in numbers around the globe because of the easier way for consumers to exchange bitcoin. Nigeria, being African's largest country has launched its first Bitcoin ATM. Blockstale BTM, a new bitcoin startup in Nigeria, has installed Nigeria's first Bitcoin Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in the financial capital of the country, Lagos state. The machine was installed at Dazey Lounge and Bar in the Ajah area of Lagos. It was designed in Shenzhen, China by the founder and chief executive officer of blockstale, Daniel Adekunle.
*“Despite all legal uncertainties about cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, Nigerians happen to be the highest crypto traders in Africa”-Daniel Adekunle, Blockstale’s chief executive and founder.*
The chief of executive officer of blockstale, at the launch explained that the ATM was specially designed for easy exchange of bitcoin to naira and vice versa in Nigeria. He also noted that the invention was part of the desire to eliminate the technicalities associated with Bitcoin transactions.
According to legit.ng, The Bitcoin ATM has a door alarm system, a remote tracker and some bio scanners, which makes it theft proof.
Nigeria is recorded the eighth country to host a Bitcoin ATM in the continent. South Africa is home to seven crypto ATMs, Ghana has two, while Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, and Botswana each have one terminal, and altogether African continent has 15 bitcoin terminals.
According to Google Trends, Nigeria also tops Google searches for Bitcoin, by generating twice the traffic as the second-ranked country, Austria. Three of the top five ranked countries for Bitcoin searches are African countries with South Africa and Ghana being ranked third and fifth.
How Do You Build a Brand?
Imagine adding some salt into a pot full of water & calling it soup. That's how many owners of small businesses see the issue of branding. Often I've heard entrepreneurs say, "**WE ARE BRANDING**", only to discover that they just had a logo & flyer created. Branding is a totality of who you are & what your customers think about you. Designs are only a part of external branding. A complete branding begins from the internal & proceeds to the external. Branding is much more than just a logo or an advertisement. According to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, **"Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room".** Read this https://read.cash/@Jeffsmith/branding-and-its-importance-to-businesses-f97aa4ed to know what branding is and its importance. Building a brand is a process. It doesn't happen overnight or even in a month. Its generating awareness about your business with the use of marketing strategies to create a significant and lasting image in the marketplace.
How to build a brand
**Discover your brand**
You need to know the purpose behind your brand, why you exist? What differentiates you from others? What problem do you solve? and why should people care?. Discover what you want to represent not just today, but what is it that you want to represent for the rest of your life.
*“Every successful brand has a powerful purpose behind it. And so should you. Dig deep and find those nuggets of truth which can distinguish your brand from others”. Sonia Gregory*
**Research your competition and your target audience**
Identify what your competitors are doing. For instance, you should know what they do well or where they fail. Your goal should be to differentiate from the competition. You can do this with colours, logo, and brand name, how you identify yourself, and so on. You should keep in mind who exactly you are trying to reach. Make sure you are reflecting your audience's tastes and goals. Try to figure out your consumer's behavior.
**Define your voice**
How do you communicate with your customers, and how do they respond to you? Your brand voice could be professional, friendly, authoritative, informative, conversational, and service-oriented, it could even be funny. Once you define your brand voice, you can ensure that your logo and your brand all reflect that. Maintaining a voice will help your brand image become recognized in various channels.
**Be your brand**
Your brand doesn't start from your website or your logo, flyers, No. The core message of your brand is you. Your brand should be you. Customers are real people so they want to relate with you, not your business. Embrace all parts of you. Do not be afraid to be who you are. Make your personality stand out in every aspect of your brand building process.
**Create your brand logo**
The most exciting and important piece of the brand-building process is to create a logo for your business. A logo is the face of your company and could potentially be everywhere that your brand exists. You'll want a logo that's unique, identifiable, and professional. You can work with a professional designer with a branding design experience to help build your brand.
Finally, when you build a brand that works for your small business, you are the best advocates to market your brand.
Photoshop for Beginners
Today I'm going to be throwing more light on Photoshop; how to use Photoshop for beginners. Why I’m writing this article is because in my previous article, 'Photo Manipulation' on the comment box, some of you guys were showing interest in learning how to design on Photoshop. I want to introduce some of the basic elements you need to know about Photoshop so that you can be able to make beautiful designs on your own. Photoshop isn't just for the professionals. You can easily teach yourself how to use it to create beautiful, compelling graphics. So let's get started.
Photoshop is incredibly powerful design software with a wealth of tools that can seem overwhelming at times. But with a little guide, you can be able to use the tools. In my previous article, https://read.cash/@Jeffsmith/photo-manipulation-be9a245c I explain what Photoshop is, and what it is used for, you can go read them. In this article I'll be explaining some of the most useful tools in Photoshop, how to use them, where to find them, and what they do.
1. The Move Tool
This is a basic tool that allows you to move elements of your grapic. You can use it to highlight all of your layers, reposition images, text, and other design elements. The Move tool is located on the left hand, at the top of the toolbar.
How to use the move tool: Click on the Move Icon and simply hold and drag the object you want to move. To move all object in different layers, simply highlight the layers(Shift + click the layers) and use the move tool.
The Free Transform Tool: It lets you scale, rotate, skew, and flip any object in your select layer. Press [CTRL+T or Command+T (for Macs)] to use Free transform, then right click to check out the options.
2. The Select Tool: This tool enables you select individual object or entire objects when used correctly. After selecting the object, you can be able to copy, cut, and paste into your graphics. The select tools is located in the toolbar on the left. You can use the Quick selection tools, the lasso tools, the marquee tools, and the pen tools to create a selection.
How to use the select tools: Open an image, click on the selection tool you would like to use, and select the part of the image you want to copy or cut. Once you've selected the area of the image, simply copy or cut the area. Then open a new tab and paste it in as a new layer.
3. The Crop Tool: This tool lets you crop an image. It works like any crop tool you've encountered. Simply choose your area and crop it out. The crop tool is also located in the toolbar on the left.
4. The Eyedropper: This tool allows you to extract and use color from any image. It is located in the toolbar on the left.
5. The Brush Tool: The brush tool is used to add some visual effects to your content. With the brush settings, you can change the size, type, shape, and transparency of your brush to achieve different visual effect. The brush tool is also located on the toolbar. You can download and install more brush tips on the internet.
How to use the brush tool: It's advisory to create a new layer to work with so you don't paint over any of your other elements. Click on your brush tool, you can choose a color from the color swatches, or use a custom color, you can also adjust the brush settings. You will see the settings at the top of your screen when you click on the brush tool icon. You can change the brush size, opacity, flow, etc. Then paint the area of your element with the brush tool.
6. The Eraser: The Eraser functions a lot like the brush tool. It's one the most useful tool in Photoshop. It is used to erase unwanted areas from your images or contents. It has its own setting which pops out at the top of your screen when you click on the eraser icon. It works like the brush tool.
7. The Fill tool: The fill tool fills any solid area or background with the color of your choice. You can also use the gradient tool within the fill tool to create a nice, faded background effect with the colors of your choice. The fill tool is located on the menu bar, **Layer->New Fill Layer**.
8. The Text Tool: The text tool is used to add custom fonts and gives you access to the fonts settings. The text tool is located at the bottom left, in the tool bar.
9. The Color & Swatches Tool: This lets you use different colors for your content. It has powerful features that will keep your visual content bright and unify your color schemes. It is located at the top right-hand corner of the Photoshop, by default.
10. The Layer Tool: A layer is used for any contents in Photoshop. Particular content has its own layer which you can use to design. The layer stacks on top of one another to create a final product. Each layer can be edited individually without affecting the work as a whole. Once you understand how the layers work, it'll make your work much easier. It is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the Photoshop, by default.
You can access more information about how to use Photoshop on YouTube. There are still few tools not listed in these article. I'll try covering them up in another article. Thank you for your time and have a good day. Feel free to leave to subscribe, like and comment.
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Happiness
Happiness is an emotion. Its a sense of joy or contentment. People derive happiness in many things, to some few, whether good or bad depending on what life brings to the table or how you live your life. What brings happiness in life? is it wealth or love? There are more than these two mentioned that bring happiness but I will be emphasizing these two.
Does wealth bring happiness?
Wealth/money is said to solve many things in life but does it bring happiness? The more wealth an individual earn the more happiness he gets. There are people that achieve perfect happiness with the amount of wealth they already have. I believe wealth earned rightly with hard work also contributes to the overall happiness of an individual. Research has it that, millionaires who made their wealth on their own were indeed happier than those who hadn’t.
Does love bring happiness?
Love, though, is an element that you can always count on to bring lasting happiness. Love always wins, no matter where you are and what you have. Self-love is important, you need to love yourself first before you give or receive love from others. Human relationships are able to keep you healthier and happier- Robert J. Waldinger, a psychiatrist, and professor at Harvard Medical School. People find happiness when they are with those they love, their family, friends, and partners.
Life itself has thrown many good and bad things at us to make us feel happy and sad. A time like this during a pandemic, we are faced with a lot of challenges as a person, and a nation, with the number of deaths, economic crises, racism, rape do people still find happiness? By God's grace, we are not consumed. Most of us still have our lives, families, friends, wealth, business. All these things make us happy during a pandemic. But what about those that don't still have these things, how can they find happiness?
There are people who derive sadistic enjoyment in hurting others, making people suffer, and doing badly. They show no remorse towards others, no conscience. Life runs on the principle of pleasure and pain. All living beings avoid doing things that are painful and do things that bring pleasure.
Suits
Suits is an American legal drama TV show that is now available on Netflix. It's one of my favorite TV shows recommended for me by my sister. I didn't watch it when she told me about it because I thought it was a crime TV show, I'm not a fan of a Crime movie. But after finishing every available episode of the series I was watching, I found myself at a loss of what to watch. So I had to just watch the TV show at least to know what its really about. Like they say "Don't judge a book by its cover", Suits turned out to be very interesting, and it's not a crime TV show but an immensely entertaining Lawyer show.
Watching this show is a generally enjoyable experience, it had everything exactly right. After not expecting much, it caught me by surprise how great this was. The show focuses on Harvey, a very brilliant but egoistical lawyer and Mike Ross, a young lad who is smart, has a photographic memory, dropped out of college because he was caught for taking tests for fellow students, luckily started working as an associate for Harvey Specter despite not attending law school. Both characters faced different legal and personal challenges in each episode, closing cases while maintaining Mike's secret.
There are other amazing characters, Jessica hardman, once manager of the firm, a career-minded woman who balances the talents of her two top lawyers, Louis Litt, certainly one to make you laugh and Harvey specter. Donna, a very smart secretary who works for Harvey and the beautiful Rachel Zane. The show featured more characters as the season goes by.
The script matches both funny and serious, silly and smart, love and hate, at exactly the right amount. It is a brilliant show, I recommend it for everyone to watch if you haven't. The show is from season one to nine, I guess that's the last season.
Vikings
Vikings is a historical drama TV series full of mysteries, actions, wars, and adventures. I just recently finished watching the latest season 6 that was premiered on December 4, 2019. I started watching Vikings a few years back, I guess 2015 or 2016, it's really long time ago.
Vikings is about one of the best known legendary Norse heroes **Ragnar Lothbrok.** A farmer and a Viking warrior who loves to explore and raid across the sea. A fearless warrior with so many ambitions. A mere farmer who grew great fame for raiding England and became the King of Scandinavian, with the support of his family and fellow Viking warriors.
He had two wives(Lathgertha, and Aslaug) and five sons- Bjorn Ironside, Ivar the Boneless, Sigurd snake-in-the-eye, ubbe, and Hvitserk. His sons ensured that their father's name lived on long after his death.
Its a really long and thrilling story. What I love about this series is the way the Vikings fight for their family, their territory, their gods, and their possessions, though I find their culture different and strange. There are many life lessons you can learn from this series like how a wrong decision in life as a person or a leader can put your life or those you love at risk.
Season 6 is the beginning of Bjorn Ironside's reign as King of Scandinavian and it ended with his death. Well, the latter is quite a shock and it leaves us(the fans) with a question. Is Bjorn Ironside really dead? The last episode ended with Ivar the boneless killing Bjorn Ironside in a war. We are yet to know what happens next as we wait for the next season of Vikings.
Branding And Its Importance To Businesses
Branding is a marketing practice of creating a symbolic identity represented by a name or design, which differentiates and identifies a product from other products. Branding helps your customers know what to expect from your products and services. It differentiates what you're offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is the representation of you and the type of perception people have about your business. Logo is one of the many areas that is used to develop a brand, it communicate your brand.
Importance Of Branding
Branding is important because
1. It helps you stand out in a saturated market: Consumers are far more likely to choose a brand that they recognise over something unfamiliar, even if they don't know a great deal about your company at the time.
2. Branding improves recognition: Customers or clients will recognise your business through your branding. if done well, it will give them the desired impression of your company.
3. Branding create trust: Branding presents your business in a professional way and customers or clients will trust your company and feel more comfortable giving you their hard-earned money.
4. Easy introduction of new products: If you have a loyal brand following, your customers will often be interested in your new products and even anticipate them being released.
5.Branding helps to attract your ideal clients. People connect with brands they share the same value with.
Know Your Worth
There's a saying that when you start seeing your worth, you'll find it harder to stay around people who don't. Most people who don't know their worth earn regrets by compromising their life to have anything in this world, therefore, hurting their self every time they do it. They may look happy or smiling but from inside they are dead. Some people waste their time and energy on things that are less important or won't add value to their life. What does it mean to know your worth?
1. Knowing yourself: Knowing who you are and accepting yourself is one way you can know your worth. Knowing your passions, your purpose in life, strength, background, limitations, and living that way at all times. "Know who you are. Know what you want. Know what you deserve. And don't settle for less."-Tony Gaskins
2. Staying true to yourself: Don't try to be like someone else or live by someone else's rules or standards. **BE YOU**, Let people know the real you, live as your natural self. Be authentic.
3. Knowing what you spend your time and energy on; Spend your time and energy on those who value you and love you at your worst. Spend your time on things that will help you in life and add value to your life. Spend your time and energy on things you will be proud of, things that will help you succeed, become a better person.
4. Don't compromise: Don't compromise yourself, your values, happiness, morals, dignity, self-respect for anything in this world. If someone makes you do so, he/she doesn't love you. "Sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own".
In conclusion, ATGW says "Once you awaken to your true worth life changes for the better. I love the song by Khalid "know your worth". Find someone you know will put you first, find someone who loves you at your worst. I'll appreciate your comments and contribution. What you understand by knowing your worth?
Photo Manipulation
Photo manipulation is one of the coolest designs made by an artist or graphic designers. Photo manipulation is the enhancing or transformation of images to obtain a certain effect or objective in a way that's pleasing to the eyes. Most designers use Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator to manipulate images.
Adobe Photoshop is a popular editor program for creating designs. It has excellent tools that help enhance photo's appearance, removing blemishes, changing skin tone, creating high-resolution photos, creating logos, and many more. While
Adobe illustrator is another popular editor program for designing. It is used by graphic designers or artists to manipulate or create vector images. It can be used to create cartoons from real images, company logos, illustrations, graphs, and so on.
Photo manipulation techniques help you create something out of the ordinary. You can change your image into something that feels real and cool. It allows you to make a photograph look more professional and enticing. In order to do photo manipulation, you need to understand and have more basic knowledge about editing.
Benefits of Photo Manipulation
It can be used to boost marketing strategies
Make an image look beautiful
Enhance your looks in a photograph
It draws the attention of the viewers.
Below are some of the images I designed but they are not really my concept. More like a practice.
Please do leave a like and I'll appreciate some comments. Thank you.
My Experience On Read.Cash
I haven't introduced myself to the community. My name is Edward Jeffrey from Nigeria. I am an accounting student at the University of Benin, Nigeria. I'm also a graphic designer. I discovered read.cash a week ago, when a friend posted it on his WhatsApp status. He posted how he got paid for writing an article on read.cash, he even showed me his bitcoin cash wallet to prove what he said, but I still didn't believe. Thinking it was another one of that scam earning free sites that don't pay. But I decided to give Read.cash a try since the registration is free. I got the link from him and I came to the site, I wasn't in a hurry to register, I had to observe the site to know how it works, read the rules before registering.
After registering, I was clueless of what to write, I had no idea. To be sincere, I didn't come here because I am a writer, I came here to earn money. But to earn here is to write an original article, you can't copy from the internet. Then I went to pick up a note and a pen and I started thinking of what to write. I decided to write about what I do, my hobbies.
I was able to write my first article about graphic design which was to let people know how to learn graphic design even if they don't have the opportunity to learn it in school or they don't have someone to teach them. I got my first point after publishing this article and I was encouraged with few likes and comments which got me more points. I was so happy that I was able to write my first article.
I was motivated to write another article on color theory. it was this article I got my first upvote from @bregecko. I want to use this opportunity to thank her for the encouragement. I also got my first pay 4days ago which cleared all my doubts about read.cash.
Read.cash has helped me a lot this one week. I was not a writer until I came to read.cash. I'm learning a lot from read.cash and I have noticed how I've improved this one week. I also want to thank @fexodine1, his article(How to use read.cash, step by step tutorial for a newbie)helped me understand how to use read.cash platform.
My experience so far on read.cash has been great. I want to especially thank the read.cash team for their amazing work and improvement on the site. The artificial intelligence on read.cash is incredible. Yesterday I wrote an article on the restart of the premier league, I saw a news about some new changes in the premier league, then I had to copy the new changes from the news and add it to my article so that my fellow premier league fans will know about it. After I published it, the AI detected those copies from the internet and I wasn't given any point for publishing it, I had to delete the article. You can't cheat the system, your article must be original. So far so good, Read.cash is the best platform I have ever been, not just to earn money but to bring out new talent in me. Thank you read.cash for this opportunity
Favourite Video Games
One of my favourite video game is Assassin Creed. I love playing assassin creed, the brotherhood, black flag, revelation, i'm still yet to play more like origin, liberation, rouge. Why I love this game is because the storyline in each version of the game is very interesting and I try to follow them up to know what happen next. Most times I love watching the cinematic to understand the storyline. There is no difficult in playing this game, its simple. It has great graphics and easy controls. Most of all its fun.
Another one of my favourite game is Fifa. Fifa has been the best football game ever. The latest FIFA which is FIFA20 is my favourite. The graphics of this game is superb, thumbs up to the FIFA team. Every year they come up with something new to make the game look real. There are little difference between the FIFA game and real life game when watching it. The players, the stadium, the teams, the boots, the movement of the player, the goal celebration, they are all cool. FIFA is an amazing game for gamers like me and its fun to play but hard especially when you don't know how to play.
Video games makes me happy especially when I'm depressed or sad and it kills boredom. And it helps my brain, I get exposed to greater creativity and imagination. I love playing video games with my friends and with other people that love games. What about you? What's your favorite game? Do you love playing games and why?
Life
Life doesn't have a specific definition or meaning it's dynamic on so many levels and it's perceived from different perspectives by different people, to some it's rosy, to others it's very cruel, to some it's a mix of both, some days bearable, other days very hard, you just wanna give up but then you can't. It's so confusing because some days you get a hang of it, other days you feel lost and alone. We've all got our moments of pain, joy, peace, happiness, relief, agony and with these emotions, we draw a perspective of life. We let certain moments define how we see things, how we think, and how we feel about life but the truth is, it doesn't have any definition it's what it is and it can be what you want it to be. But then again you don't always get to choose. You take what you get, it all depends on whether you choose to take it as it is and try to survive it or decide you don't want it that way and bend it to your will.
Honestly, I feel that life isn't exactly in a specified pattern. I feel you can make what you want to happen if you try hard enough. Also, we shouldn't let certain events and moments define the way we see life rather try to see the shine in every moment even if it isn't exactly rosy, but then again there's a saying as long as you can see the sun there's always hope so yeah hang on.
Why I Love Playing The Piano
I learnt how to play the piano 5years ago. I was taught by a pianist who played for my church. He taught me all I need to know about the piano and how to get familiar with the keys and play songs with it. It took me quite some time to understand and master the keys. The first song I learnt was "Mary had a little lamb". It was not easy at first but with constant practice I became better and I got fond of the piano.
The reason why I learnt the piano is because i saw it as an easy instrument to learn unlike the guitar. The piano has both melody and harmony, it can be played solo without any accompaniment. It provides the most beautiful sound and has ready-made pitches. The human mind usually finds playing the piano a challenge which provides enjoyment and satisfaction too. And it's great fun. Playing the piano made me fall in love with music more, a passion which will hopefully last a lifetime.
What about you? Perhaps its time you look into getting a piano and taking lessons? You might discover your true passion.
Ideas To Reposition Your Business For A Strong Recovery After Covid-19.
People are developing some kind of fear for their business after the covid-19 pandemic. Like those who own a restaurant, despite the easing of lockdown, they still record low sales in their business. People seem to have suddenly develop phobia for eating outside their home. Here are some ideas to reposition your business for a stronger growth after covid-19.
Re-strategize. Rethink the product and service you sell. You can find other services to add to your business to compensate for the loss of sales during the lockdown
Find new ways to attract customers. Take advantage of the social media and the Internet to reach new customers.
Find Partnership. Partner with other related business for customer referral.
Engage employees for greater impact. You may want to move employees to concentrate on other areas of the business with greater needs.
Guarantee safety. Make your customer feel safe by maintaining a clean working environment. You can put a hand wash or alcohol-based sanitizer in place to protect your customers and employees.
Career choice
Choosing a career can be difficult when you have no idea of what you want to do. There are people in this particular situation, that find it hard to make their own choice. Career choice is actually a process of choosing a career path which can involve choices regarding education and training for a given career. How can we make a career choice when we can't decide on what to do?
Before you can choose, you need to learn about yourself. Your interest, values, skills, ambitions, combining to your type of personality. You can do this with a means of a career aptitude test. It will give you an insight on your job personality. It can also tell you the area of expertise you will find a profession that suits you. Also find more about your options, make a research based choice. Like what professions are there? Ask people you know about their profession and what it includes. You can also ask them what they like about their job and is it something you might like? The experiences of others may help you decide on your own profession.
A career decision is probably one the most important decision of your life. Be patient while you consider different options in front of you.
MUSIC: Therapy For The Soul
You know when they say the eyes are the windows to the soul I feel that way about music, it's like a beautiful piece of art in a glass, in an art gallery beautiful but priceless only difference is we can access music anytime we want.
Music is just so phenomenal it hits the soul and connects with it so well, it's fascinating how it could elevate your mood or even dampens it, how its a companion in red times or how you can connect with it on so many levels, how you get sucked in by the lyrics, the beat, and the vocals it's like you're sucked into a whole new world I don't know about you but music helps me escape my reality even if it's just a little.
How do you feel about music? I feel a sense of release, a place of escape, a space filled with different colors like a spectrum has, a rainbow room away from all the dark, makes it easy to connect and relate on so many levels. How about you, how do you feel about music does it sink in or are you just a listener, a rhythm kisser maybe, either way, we are all different. Know what you like and what connects to your soul like smooth jazz, what makes you wanna keep it on repeat for hours non-stop, know your therapy, your elixir, your music.
A Glimpse Of My Novel Life
A lot of people find novels boring totally understandable because I used to feel that way too. The truth is we are all different, we've all got things that trigger our attention, like the way I love colorful things.
The first novel I ever really put my time and effort into was the UNDERWORLD HEAVEN, cool title right? I know, don't even get me started on the blurb, the writing and the grammar, it was so beautiful. Basically the book talks about Kokoma who got lost in the forest alongside a friend. They got trapped for over a year and when they finally got out they discovered strange things and even powers or should I say curses, they got from that place. It is really an interesting piece.
Actually the book helped me understand what I love reading. I love the imaginary adventures, the mystery, a sprinkle of romance and definitely sci-fi. This book for me I would say its kind of a key to unlocking my love for novels. I feel you should try reading novels sometime. It helps you explore the imaginary universe and helps you dream too. I feel there is a book out there for everyone, you should try sometime trust me its mind blowing. And don't forget to enjoy it while reading.
Color Psychology
According to Wikipedia, color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. Color influences perceptions that are not obvious such as the taste of food. For example, red or orange pills are generally used as stimulants. Color can indeed influence a person; however, its is important to remember that these effects differ between people.
Color psychology is also widely used in marketing and branding. Many marketers see color as an important part of marketing because color can be used to influence consumer's emotions and perceptions of goods and services. Companies also use color when deciding on brand logos. These logos seem to attract more customers when the color of the brand logo matches the personality of the goods and services such as the color pink being heavily used on Victoria's Secret branding. Colors are also important for window displays in stores. Research shows that warm colors tends to attract spontaneous purchasers, despite cooler color being more favourable.
Color Theory
Color is a powerful tool in graphic design. It can be used to attract attention, evoke emotion and help a design look aesthetically pleasing. But what colors should be used? In order to choose the right colors and colors combinations, it is important that the graphic designer have a basic understanding of color theory. Color theory is the study of color in art and design, their relationship with each other and principles used to create harmonious color schemes.
The concept of the color wheel was invented by Sir Issac Newton in 1666 when he bent the color spectrum, or the range of all visible light into the shape of a circle. It is circular diagram used to visually show the relationship between colors and can be used to logically choose color schemes.
Primary Colors
These are red, blue and yellow. These three colors are the most basic colors on the color wheel. They cannot be made from any other colors but all other colors on the color wheel are made from them.
Secondary Colors
These are green, orange and purple. They are formed by mixing equal amounts of the two primary colors that are beside them on the color wheel. They can be used together to create a nicely balanced color scheme.
Tertiary Colors
These are blue-green, yellow-orange, red-purple and blue-purple. They are formed by mixing a primary color and a secondary color together. Tertiary colors helps create a wider color pallette.
Tints and Shades
Lighter versions of colors are formed by adding black and are called shades. This is illustrated on the color wheel by adding two inner rings for tints and two outer rings for shades. The middle ring is the blue
Monochromatic Colors
These are colors with variations in tint and shade such as green, light green and dark green. Although there is very little variety in this colors, they can be used to create a simple, clean and elegant color scheme with minimum contrast.
Teach Yourself Graphic Design
If you would like to learn graphic design from the ground up, through self directed study, then this article lists some great resources that will get you started with your design education. Also, even if you do go to design school, at least 3/5 of your education will be through self directed study anyway.
1. Understanding the Principles and Theory of Graphic Design
There are a few graphic design principles that effect every project you'll create. Understanding these principles conceptually and learning to apply them practically will formulate the foundation of your graphic design education. Below are some of the basic areas you should study to get a solid footing in graphic design.
Shape, spacing and Rhythm
Color, texture and imagery
Working with type.
2. Internalize the Graphic Design Process, Conceptual Solutions, Real World Experience, and Creative Application
Graphic designers solve visual problems. The key to teaching yourself graphic design is to understand the process of solving a visual problem. This means you'll benefit from tackling design briefs. You'll learn to apply the skills you study by solving fictitious design problems to begin with and as you advance tackling real world problems and working with clients.
Visual and Conceptual Problem Solving
Visual and conceptual problem solving is the core of what we do as graphic designers. Clients come to us with a brief, which is a problem that needs to be solved. A new company may need to enter a specific market and come to you for a comprehensive identity solution. Or you may work at a newspaper and have to lay out a page to deadline. The problems are endless and your job is to solve these issues.
What is a visual concept? Well it's more than a pure visual solution. It's a unification of a graphic and an idea, which is placed in context to solve a problem. Let's look at the example of a logo. It's a visual mark, which represents the idea of a company, presented in the context of all the company's identity, marketing, and history. Let's look at some resources for developing your visual and conceptual problem solving skills for graphic designers. Keep in mind though practicing your craft will help build your visual problem solving skills.
The Design Process
Learning to research, create thumbnails, refine sketches, work up visual solutions in programs, and present to clients are just some of the basics of the design process. Every subset of design may have a slightly different procedure, and your working methodology, or a company you work for may implement things in a somewhat unique way in their production environment. Even so, the basics remain the same. Get familiar with the design process from start to finish, and work on getting faster and better at each stage of the process on each project you work on.
3. Learn from Professional Graphic Designer
You may fall in love with some other approach to design. Also, you'll go through numerous phases, where you'll be attracted to something else in design. This is part of what's great about the field; it's so diverse. Don't be afraid to emulate designers approaches on some projects. It's a good way to learn. Then you'll move on to something else and it will become part of your collective design experience.
4. Consider Advanced Study and Development
Advanced study can take many different paths for each designer. You may become interested in a related field, and then mold your graphic design education to apply to that field. However, every graphic designer will benefit from advanced study and planning.
Of course, there's no limit to the depth you can study on any subject of graphic design. Grid Theory, Graphic Information Design, and Career Planning are just a few areas to focus on. You could certainly go much deeper in other areas as well.
Participate in Online and Professional Graphic Design Communities
Becoming involved in the graphic design community and professional associations will increase your connections in the industry and knowledge of the field. Also, attend conferences and network whenever possible.
Join Professional Associations
A great way to learn about the workings of the graphic design profession is to join professional organizations. They run conferences, produce articles, books, and other resources. Some of these organizations work to improve the profession as a whole by lobbying and other activities.
Becoming Part of the Graphic Design Community Online
Aside from professional communities, there are loads of communities on the web that you can participate in. Below are some graphic design forums you may want to participate in.
How Design Forum
You The Designer Forums
Getting Critical Feedback Online and Promote Your Work
Interaction and critique is really important to your growth as a graphic designer. If you're not in design school, then you need to find other places that people will tear apart your work, and that you can develop your own critical eye. The best thing for a young design is to have someone tell
them why something they made isn't well designed, and what they might do differently. This prepares you for clients doing this (gives you a thicker skin), and it helps you grow with your visual and creative problem solving abilities.
I don't know of the perfect place on the net to find this, but try different online communities or forums. And if you can find a mentor, even someone with just one or two more years of experience than you, who is willing to critique your work, this can be invaluable.
Good luck with learning graphic design. It's OK if it takes even years to master graphic design. Just study, grow as a designer, don't give up, and you'll get there. Be sure to have fun along the way, or else what's the point
@Jeffsmith
