Tutorial Seni Grafik Sifoo Dot Com

(Post: Bahasa Melayu)
" Aliran seni grafik dan multimedia dilihat sebagai satu trend dalam perkembangan dunia teknologi yang semakin berkembang. Pelbagai perisian grafik dan multimedia yang terdapat di pasaran memudahkan orang ramai untuk menceburi dan menguasai cabang seni itu. "

Bagaimanapun, ketandusan bahan rujukan dalam bahasa Melayu mengenai perisian grafik dan multimedia dalam pasaran sedikit sebanyak telah membataskan penggemar seni tersebut dalam menzahirkan kreativiti mereka.

Kekurangan tersebut telah membuka hati seorang anak jati Selangor, Imran Abdul Jabar, 34, untuk membangunkan laman web Sifoo Dot Com yang dapat membantu penggemar seni grafik dan multimedia.

"Idea untuk membangunkan web ini tercetus kira-kira sedekad lalu berdasarkan minat yang mendalam terhadap seni dan teknologi grafik."

"Selain daripada itu, saya mewujudkan laman web ini kerana mahu berkongsi ilmu dan pengalaman mengenai seni grafik serta multimedia bersama orang ramai," katanya ketika ditemui Kosmo!.

Tutorial Bahasa Melayu

Graduan bidang kejuruteraan mekanikal Universiti Virginia Tech, Amerika Syarikat (AS) itu berkata, sukar untuk mencari bahan bacaan atau rujukan mengenai perisian grafik mahupun multimedia dalam bahasa Melayu.

Imran menambah, perkara tersebut telah menyukarkan penggemar seni tersebut terutamanya mereka yang kurang fasih berbahasa Inggeris untuk memahami atau mendalami perisian di pasaran.

"Keadaan ini membuatkan hati saya terdetik untuk menyediakan tutorial dalam bahasa Melayu bagi memudahkan penggemar seni ini."

"Tutorial dalam bahasa Melayu tentu dapat membantu penggemar seni grafik dan multimedia menguasai perisian yang diminati mereka dengan lebih mudah serta berkesan," ujarnya.

Pada peringkat awal, lama web ini hanya menyediakan artikel, sorotan terkini dunia grafik dan jaringan kepada laman web dapat digunakan oleh penggemar seni tersebut.

Bagaimanapun, atas permintaan ramai, laman web berkenaan mula memperkenalkan ruangan forum bagi memudahkan interaksi dan perkongsian ilmu.

Imran menambah, antara tutorial yang dapat digunakan dalam laman web tersebut adalah mengenai penggunaan perisian Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Macromedia Flash dan Dreamweaver.

Katanya, pelbagai tutorial disediakan kepada pengguna laman web itu termasuk suntingan foto seperti efek hujan, tona warna, refleksi air, efek mozek dan serlahkan kedutan pada muka.

"Kebanyakan tutorial yang terdapat dalam laman web berkenaan merupakan eksperimental yang saya lakukan sendiri ataupun ahli-ahli laman berkenaan."

"Saya melakukan konsep langkah demi langkah untuk memudahkan lagi ia difahami oleh setiap pengunjung laman web ini," ujarnya.

Lazimnya, pengasas Sifoo Dot Com itu menambah, dia akan menghabiskan masa 30 minit sehingga satu jam untuk menyiapkan satu tutorial.

"Kesukaran membuat tutorial tersebut semasa ingin merakam antara muka perisian yang digunakan satu persatu."

"Proses berkenaan mengambil masa kerana ingin memastikannya sempurna agar pengguna boleh menggunakan tutorial dengan mudah," katanya.

Dia menambah, sesi forum banyak membantu dalam pembangunan tutorial yang disediakan kepada orang ramai.

"Ada juga tutorial yang dibangunkan apabila berinteraksi semasa forum. Saya akan cuba membantu membangunkan tutorial berdasarkan permintaan pengunjung."

"Sehingga kini, Sifoo Dot Com mempunyai pangkalan data keahlian melebihi 20,000 orang. Mereka yang dikenali sebagai sifoorian masih aktif di dalam talian mahupun di luar talian," katanya.

Terdapat tiga golongan yang kerap menggunakan laman web Sifoo Dot Com iaitu pelajar, pensyarah dan terkini mereka yang menggunakan kamera lensa refleks tunggal digital (DSLR).

"Kebanyakan mereka menjadikan laman web ini sebagai rujukan dan memperoleh ilmu tambahan apabila mempelajari grafik atau multimedia di universiti mahupun kolej," katanya.

Tiada Penyesalan

Penceramah bebas itu menambah, selain tutorial, dia juga ada menyediakan bengkel-bengkel dan buku elektronik.

Bagaimanapun, untuk memahirkan diri mengenai pelbagai perisian grafik dan multimedia terletak pada diri sendiri.

"Jika mereka rajin melakukan kajian dan membaca, tidak mustahil karya yang dihasilkan dapat memberi impak mendalam."

"Saya hanya boleh memberi tutorial dan beberapa tip tetapi keyakinan diri dan kreativiti tetap lahir daripada individu tersebut," katanya.

Imran tidak pernah menyesal menceburi bidang grafik berbanding kejuruteraan kerana minatnya lebih kepada seni.

"Saya mempunyai minat yang mendalam terhadap seni terutama lukisan kartun. Pendek kata, saya memang suka melukis."

"Jadi tidak pernah timbul soal kesal atau sebagainya apabila menceburi bidang ini. Bagaimanapun, saya tetap mempraktikkan apa yang dipelajari ketika menjadi penuntut kejuruteraan mekanikal dahulu iaitu pembahagian masa," katanya.

Sebagai graduan kejuruteraan mekanikal, Imran tidak terlepas daripada suara negatif dalam membangunkan laman web Sifoo Dot Com.

"Sudah menjadi lumrah dalam apa jua usaha yang ingin kita lakukan terdapat cabaran. Sifoo Dot Com juga begitu."

"Saya pernah dilemparkan kata-kata negatif kerana dikatakan tidak layak untuk berkecimpung dalam dunia grafik disebabkan latar belakang kejuruteraan mekanikal itu," ujarnya.

Bahkan, Imran menambah, terdapat juga suara-suara negatif yang mengatakan usaha Sifoo Dot Com ini tidak akan ke mana-mana.

"Saya sentiasa berfikiran positif kerana niat utama saya bukanlah untuk membuat keuntungan."

"Saya sangat berminat berkongsi ilmu dengan sesiapa sahaja dan membuktikannya apabila umur Sifoo Dot Com telah menjangkau sedekad," katanya.

Imran berharap Sifoo Dot Com dapat dimanfaatkan oleh ramai orang yang ingin mendalami seni grafik dan multimedia.

Sumber: Kosmo! Online

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Selling to Kids Business Ideas

(Post: English)
" Michael Rosenberg, 58; Burhan Okuyan, 52; and Yosef Shimron, 52, all veteran shopkeepers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, don't know one another. Mr. Rosenberg is in clothing; Mr. Okuyan, art framing; Mr. Shimron, computer services. "

Yet all three, on their own, figured out the same thing. And that discovery has helped them survive the Great Recession when so many shops around them have closed: adults who stop spending on themselves in bad times will still spend on children.

Since the downturn, Mr. Rosenberg has switched the clothing at his shop from 60 percent women's to 80 percent newborn and children's.

Mr. Okuyan started working with nearby schools, and now says he's more likely to get an order to frame a 3-year-old's refrigerator art than a lithograph or an oil by an established contemporary artist.

Mr. Shimron has placed a big sign in his window offering lessons for children in building a computer, one of several kid services he's added in the last year.

While they expect to survive the recession, all three have been hurt. Mr. Rosenberg says business is down 20 percent; Mr. Okuyan, 15 percent; Mr. Shimron, nearly 50 percent. Still, they count themselves lucky.

Every day, Mr. Rosenberg walks down Amsterdam Avenue from his apartment on West 90th to his shop near West 79th and tabulates the recession's impact.

"Twelve empty storefronts," he said. Mr. Okuyan just has to look out his window onto Broadway: "We lost a flower shop, vitamin store, bookstore, Malaysian restaurant, women's clothing store."

GRANNY-MADE (381 AMSTERDAM, BETWEEN 78TH AND 79TH)

Mr. Rosenberg opened the store, which features handmade sweaters, 25 years ago. It was mainly a women's shop with a men's section and a few children's things. While his clothing is priced mid-range (women's machine-knit sweaters start at $60), well into the previous decade he was able to sell British hand-knit women's sweaters for $800.

"That's gone," he said. "We did a lot of women's suits, sportswear, reversible skirts - totally dropped after the recession."

He used to phone his female regular customers after Labor Day, inviting them to come see the new fall clothes, but stopped in September 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed. "I didn't know who was hurt and who wasn't," he said. "I felt it'd be unseemly to call."

As sales dropped - and a women's shop closed a few doors down - he noticed children's sales were not falling as much.

"I always listen to my customers, and what I'd hear from mothers and grandmothers was, 'How can you not spend on a baby?' " Mr. Rosenberg said.

"We started carrying swaddling blankets, first toys, birth clothes, we even do clothes for prenatals now. We just expanded into christening gowns, people were asking and they'll spend - from $106 to $192."

"Girls' dresses have been explosive - 6 months to 8 years. We stay out of the teenaged years - they get difficult."

Lee Anne MacDonald, 64, a writer and publicist, shops less for herself these days, but still buys for her grandchildren at Granny-Made.

"You have to remember a little girl on her birthday, you have to remember the little boy who's truck crazy," she said. "It's the idea of hope. They're our future."

Long-term customers ask, "When did you become a baby store?" In just 650 square feet of space, from a business that typically does $40,000 in sales a month, Mr. Rosenberg spotted a national trend.

While children's clothing sales are down 7.5 percent nationally over the last two years, adult clothing is down 8.9 percent, according to a survey by NPD, a market research company.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports employment at men's stores is down 25 percent since the recession began; employment at women's stores is down 1.5 percent, but at children's stores it is up slightly.

"People want their kids to be insulated from the recession," said Ellen Davis, a National Retail Federation spokeswoman. "We notice it in holiday spending - back-to-school didn't decline as much as other holidays."

It's still been hard for Mr. Rosenberg. He went into his retirement account to pay vendors and meet his payroll.

Children's items are lower-priced, producing a smaller profit. "Our average adult sweater is $150," he said. "You have to sell a lot of $30 rompers to make up." But last month, he did $52,000 in sales, his strongest March in several years.

METRO FRAMART (2459 BROADWAY, AT 91ST)

When the economy dived, Mr. Okuyan, who's been in this neighborhood for 20 years, began sending $50 framing gift certificates to architects, interior designers, synagogues, churches and schools, trying to draw some traffic into his store.

Only schools responded, auctioning the certificates at fund-raisers. "Parents started coming in," he said. They would put the $50 certificate toward a $200 frame.

Children's art has risen to about 25 percent of his business, from about 5 percent, since the recession. "Look around," he said pointing to shop walls covered with framed works by contemporary artists. "They're not selling. That's why they're on the walls."

On the other hand, Mr. Okuyan is framing three finger-paintings by Ava Jacoby, age 21 months, which will cost the artist's mom $1,082.64.

"I'd never spend that on a frame for myself," said Michelle Jacoby, 34, who's giving them as a gift to her husband for his law office. "He's turning 40, and there's nothing else he'd want, than something from his daughter."

It's broadened Mr. Okuyan's view of art. "All kids are artists, that's how we look at it now," he said.

Like his customers, Mr. Okuyan has cut back while still spending on his children. "I just bought my kids new phones, expensive ones," he said. "My wife and I are taking their leftovers. I don't want them to feel left behind their friends or inferior to anyone."

His daughter, a senior at George Washington University, went to Puerto Rico for spring break; his son, a sophomore at the University of Rochester, went to Europe last summer. And Mr. Okuyan, who used to take three weeks of vacation a year, hasn't taken any since the recession. "I can't afford not to work," he said.

DESKTOP USA (517 AMSTERDAM, AT 85TH)

Mr. Shimron opened his business as a copy store 20 years ago and has adapted through the years, now providing a wide array of computer and graphic design services

In the last year, while revenues are down, his children's business is up 15 percent. "We used to get people who needed a business prospectus bound and printed," he said. "We don't see that now."

He's started advertising one-on-one homework help for children at $50 an hour. ("Do you want your child to excel in school? Our team can assist your child on homework assignments.")

A big sign in the window says: "Can Your Child Build His/Her Own Computer? Absolutely. Let's Do It Together."

Instruction plus buying the computer parts can cost a parent $1,000, but Michelle Fraczek, 30, a business manager, thought it was worth it for her only child, Maya Chavez, 11.

Though the mother has cut out most spending on herself - beauty appointments, new clothes, eating out - she believed that learning to build a computer would be such an advantage for her daughter.

"This will give her a head start in school," Ms. Fraczek said.

"I think of it as a necessity that she has the skills to be able to do anything on a computer. I wish I did. If I don't do it now, when the economy eventually improves and it's Maya's time, she won't be ready."

Source: NY Times

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DXD Sports

(Post: English)
"Call it a lesson in trickle-down economics. As the recession deepened, sports fans quit buying as many game tickets."

That caused teams to cut their budgets, which in turn threatened DXD Sports, a Kansas City (Mo.) company that produces graphics for stadiums and arenas, like photos of players that are flashed up on big screens when they're coming into the game.

DXD, founded by former TV employee Sean Hopkins in 2001, pulled in $3.1 million in 2008 from clients including the Atlanta Braves and San Antonio Spurs.

To keep revenue from sliding, Hopkins turned over the CEO role last year to Willie Lanier Jr., 41.

Though Lanier's background was construction and real estate, he quickly came up with a new product: interactive video games that a randomly selected ticket-holder could play in front of the crowd.

In April, for example, one lucky fan got to virtually shoot the duck logos of Dri-Duck, a sports apparel company that sponsors the Kansas City Royals.

And season ticket-holders for the Cleveland Cavaliers have had chances to play games of Family Feud with their favorite players.

Source: BusinessWeek

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iBec Creative

(Post: English)
"While a senior at the University of Southern Maine, Becky Stockbridge wrote a business plan."

She plans to start a Web and graphic design business for medical professionals, a group she found was in need of logos, brochures, and informative Web sites - and who also had the money to pay for them.

She got started in 2006 with a $4,200 grant from the Libra Future Funds, a Maine-based group that helps entrepreneurs under 25.

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development awarded her free office space for one year.

However, Stockbridge says she found it difficult to get through to the decision-makers in medical practices.

While she struggled to make contact, Stockbridge began designing Web sites and logos for other small businesses.

By 2007, she had more business clients than doctor clients and shifted her focus.

Last year the five-person company had about $225,000 in revenue and Stockbridge expects $350,000 in 2009.

INFO:
The Company: iBec Creative
What It Does: Web development and graphic design
Founder: Becky Stockbridge, 25
Based: Portland, Me.

Source: BusinessWeek

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