Much of the work I do for Google Cloud is to help partner organizations help their learners successfully become Google Cloud certified. I actually designed this during Q4 2022 which always seems to be crunch time for taking certification exams — both for achieving KPIs for Google AND for achieving personal career goals before year-end. If you want to download a PDF of this Google Cloud Certification Exam Tips packet, here’s the official Google linked PDF for you.
Stay up-to-date with these 3 Marketing & Social Media Newsletters
I’ve subscribed to thousands of email newsletters over the years (more than one person has been amazed at the amount of written material I can consume — it’s actually quite shameful and a way to procrastinate, but I digress…). Out of all of them, these 3 have been adding more value lately than many others and keeping me up to date on marketing and social media marketing trends, news and entertainment. Hit the subscribe button and see if they’ll be a keeper for you, too.
1. LinkedIn Social Media Newsletter by Katie KcKiever
2. Stacked Marketer
3. Marketing Millennials
What do you subscribe to? What’s not on this list but should be??
Featured Artist: Juma Chomba aka “I bought a piece of artwork from Tanzania!”
I know, I know . . . it sounds like a scam. But my son was a missionary in Tanzania for almost 3 years and this young artist, Juma Chomba, is someone he knew who is earning money on the side to likely pay for schooling. And I really loved the picture! It will arrive through a mutual friend who is traveling to the USA. Will it be slightly complicated? Yes. What if I never get it? Possibly that’ll happen, but not likely. I’ll post again once it’s arrived and framed but, in the meantime, reach out to Juma Chumba on Facebook Messenger if you’re interested in his other artwork. We used SendWave to complete the transaction securely.
What I Designed Today: a YouTube Thumbnail + Social Media Post Graphic
The image below is a thumbnail cover image for an upcoming live podcast by sports commentators who I’ve grown to admire recently as I’ve helped them with their social media. The sports industry is new for me and I’m learning and making connections with sports journalists and reporters — they’re a fun crew! If you like to talk sports, give The Buck Stops Here a listen. They’ll be announcing their trademarked United States Athletics Hall of Fame inaugural class this week! Details on the image.
The image below will be slightly adjusted further to optimize size and resolution for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. if you’re interested, I’ll be the podcast LIVE on their TikTok channel as well. Join us!
Advanced Reader Copy Book Review for Net Galley: Agatha Christie Plots, Clues and Misdirections
As an Agatha Christie devotee, I found this book by Sally & Tony Hope through The Book Guild Publishing (a subsidiary of Troubador Publishing) to be a thorough collection and analysis of the mystery-genre literary devices she uses in her works. If you’re an Agatha Christie fan as well, or an aspiring murder mystery writer, this book is for you!
Want to get Advanced Reader Copies of books?
Join Net Galley.
What I Designed Today (way back in 2015): Pro Bono Funeral Program Layout and Social Media Icon/Logo Graphic Design
What a tragic thing to have to highlight some of your best work. One of our son’s friends was killed in an ATV accident and I had to do something — so I did what I do best — created a logo in his honor and offered to do the funeral program. I was able to create the layout and donate the printing for the funeral program for the Bartlesville, Oklahoma service and provide a digital, print-ready funeral program for the service in St. George, Utah. This kid had THE BEST smile. I hope you’ll find these graphics inspiring.
The circle social media icon / logo above was made into stickers and used for social media profile pictures by Burk’s family and friends to honor him.
The program used in Bartlesville, Oklahoma was printed 4 over 1 (CMYK/Black) on house stock by a local printer (yes, again with Bartlesville Print Shop’s Shawn Roberts — simply the best!), and donated to the family in honor of Burk and his friendship with our son for his funeral. The version above was the print-ready copy for the St. George service that had a few different speakers and participants.
What I Designed Today (er, 2020): Digital Religious Stake Fasting and Prayer Invitation Graphics for Social Media
⏰ One of the things it took me far too long to learn 🎓 is that 🔥 “done” is better than perfect 🔥 . . . except for maybe brain surgery and rocket science. If I could go back and redo this pro bono 2020 religious invitation for a special day of prayer and fasting (needed now even more than during the pandemic!) I would absolutely request higher-ups change the verbiage to “It consists of abstaining from . . .” but likely they requested it and I was preoccupied with my full-time humanitarian role. Does the message get across? ✅ Does it still bother me it wasn’t perfect? ✅ Can I live with that? ✅
Two prayer and fasting invitation options below that I had designed for the Bartlesville Oklahoma Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) below.
What I designed today: An Evita Theatre Program for a Theater in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Yes, I spelled “theater” both ways — the intentional “error” will increase engagement and better the SEO results for my Google search terms, so it’s a win-win for everyone except old-style grammar afficionados and most English teachers. As unofficial president of the Sharpie Enthusiasts Club, I apologize and encourage fixing the error with a Sharpie.
This program was actually designed in very early July on a rush basis because the original print layout person became ill. It’s been a few years since I designed anything for the theater, so it took longer than usual, but was fun to try and match the original cover style the original designer had created. I loved the custom gilt frames and golden photo backdrop I was able to bring to the interior — particularly the spreads for the major roles. It’s been a long time since I designed anything and felt like riding a bike after many years. The speed will come back as soon as I get familiar with the upgrades to the tools I used to use and some fantastic new ones that have surfaced in the last 6 years!
The show had all sold out performances — CONGRATS to Superstar Productions and the Darwin Theater in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia!
What I designed today: A horizontal funnel to illustrate learner journey retention for Google Cloud
Disclaimer: I’ve been so busy working that most of the “What I designed today” posts are going to be a retrospective! I designed this horizontal funnel a few weeks ago. The funnel was used in executive presentations using Google Slides for Google Cloud Partner Learning & Certification. The intent was to illustrate Google Cloud learner journey progress through a 5-stage funnel. I had a difficult time finding a vector or raster graphic for a horizontal funnel, so I drew one in Adobe Illustrator! I actually drew two versions: a horizontal funnel WITH a gray path and one without. Here’s the original .ai file for Adobe Illustrator for you to copy and tweak or a transparent PNG. Not-so-incidentally, this fits standard Google or PowerPoint Slides perfectly.
SEE BELOW the FUNNEL IMAGE for QUICK DESIGN TUTORIAL on how to use PNG files and keep image sizes low in large presentations and documents.
Design tip: place the entire PNG in your file and crop the image to the part you want to use. If you’re working in PowerPoint, you can compress images to what is shown to keep your file size down. Here’s a handy, quick 1-minute video tutorial on how to save space by compressing images in PowerPoint — makes for easy file sharing and space saving files. It was an old tech tip I shared with colleagues in my last role but still applies for those of you who want to keep file sizes down for sharing without using cloud hyperlinks.
Drawing digital art: more calorie-free Procreate Christmas cookies for the holidays!
During my last post, I learned from the incomparable Lisa Bardot. This time, I watched a short, sped-up tutorial from The Artmother on Skillshare on how to make a slightly different version of calorie-free gingerbread cookies. Completely different approaches but equally fun!
These gingerbread cookies make the cutest iPad lock Screen and wallpaper, if I do say so myself!)
Digital art with Procreate makes great, calorie-free gingerbread cookies!
Drawing digital art: calorie-free Procreate Christmas cookies for the holidays!
Lisa Bardot and team over at Bardot Brush provide such simple, easy, and quick Procreate drawing tutorials and I finally found the time to fit one in. I made a Peace ornament, a plaid Christmas tree, a traditional Christmas tree, and a few alphabet letters. Here are my Procreate drawn holiday cookies. I see a digital Christmas card in my future…
and then some…maybe a delicious ampersand?!
Join me in Big Dog Knits on Ravelry
I created a Ravelry group for those who like to knit for BIG dogs! All are welcome. This is a place to share customizations or good pattern tips and projects for BIG DOGS (you determine what BIG means to you!). I had a difficult time finding patterns for deep chested boxers so I customized this one for our Ellie, but we have a chubby pandemic dog, too, and I see a lot of customization in my future knitting…
My first knit dog sweater – a turtleneck for our boxer who is always chilly!
I had so much fun altering a basic knit dog sweater pattern for our boxer’s deep chest and long neck. It’s been a while since I knitted this, though, and even though I wrote down the changes, I’m worried I won’t be able to do it again – oh well, the fun is in trying, right?! Learning to enjoy the process as much as the product.
The pattern I based mine from is the Bernat Knit Dog Coat.
If you’re on Ravelry, let’s connect!
England Adventures
In the last 6 years or so, we’ve visited the United Kingdom four times: and we’re heading back again in 2023! I’m prepping for the upcoming trip by finally going through old photos. Here are some of the best from the 2017 trip, including a layover in Dublin with a quick tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and Manchester and Chatsworth.
Book Recommendation: Pitch Perfect by Bill McGowan
“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” — Neil Gaiman
Highly recommend this quick read written by Bill McGowan, former host of the TV show “A Current Affair.” It debunks a few prevailing communication tactics – the same ones that often left me a little nauseous! [The Gaiman quote above opens chapter 4.] #amreading #recommend #ad #amazon #communication #words
