Alright, so what has actually happened during the first 6 months this blog has been around. Well, first of all, 2 months ago we hit a milestone. We had our 100,000 page views bar reached and if I remember correctly I hope for us to reach 200,000 by the half year mark of this blog. Did we hit it? Well, we did more then that. We hit it and then some. I have been looking over all the statistics for the site and of course I want to share it with all of you. After all, you are the reason Minervity.com reached it.

We’ve had a continued increase in unique visitors during our lifetime and we keep getting more and more visitors each day. Our best week was last week where we had 15,846 unique visitors and 24, 361 page views in one single week. That result is just amazing knowing we have only been around for 6 short months.

What’s even more interesting is that during our lifetime we’ve had (at the time of writing) 217,502 page views and 138,674 unique visitors. That’s nothing short of a success to me. Thank you so much for all the support guys!

The main part of the traffic is, amazingly, direct. However, through my tutorials (Good-Tutorials) and following on Twitter I have gotten quite a lot of traffic as well. Google joins the top 5 list only at 4th place. Which is understandable when the site has only been around for 6 short months. JoeMonster.org (which is a huge all things weird site) linked a post of mine on their front page racking up quite a traffic stream.

Further more, just this very day we hit over 1,000 comments and we now have 615 RSS subscribers. It’s insane if you ask me. Compared to the other blogs maybe not so much but the mere fact that we’ve just been around for 6 months it’s staggering. And during the first 2 months Minervity.com was also focused on a lot of other things none design which held it back quite a bit.

Minervity.com has also had the opportunity to be mentioned on a ton of other websites in different occasions. It feels good that the website is so well received and it seems it is pushing in the right direction to where I want it to go.

On Twitter (@Minervity) Minervity.com now has over 10.000 followers and counting. That’s an astounding number and I always get humbled by looking at how many great people support the site and its content. I thank you all!

A side note is also that the only downloadable freebie present on the site, the “Free Set of Glossy Icons – Volume 1“, which was published in the beginning of the site launch has been downloaded over 850 times already. It’s quite humbling knowing your work is being used for something good.

Let’s see if we can hit a million page views before the day we turn 1 year old. I will certainly try to get the ball rolling. I have plenty of tutorials in the pipeline and they are something you haven’t seen before so it takes some time to prepare them but you will know when they are out.

Again, I want to thank you all for your incredible support during the past 6 months and I am hoping I will see you here in the future as well.

Thank you!
R. Darell

In this micro tutorial I will teach you how to get the very best out of the “Bevel and Emboss” tool that Photoshop has to offer to make your designs look ultra realistic. Before we get going there are some pointers that need to be expressed. A design can be ultra correct and still not have that realistic look to it. This is usually due to three different factors.

1. Detail – Everything we see around us is not flawless. Everything has its scratches, dirt and distortions. It’s the small bits of imperfect details that makes it real to us.

2. Time – It’s important to spend a lot of time on your realistic designs. Time is what will teach you what will look real and what will not. Just slabbing something together to be time efficient will always set you back when it comes to realism.

3. Creativity – It’s an obvious one but oh so important. Nothing makes up the quality of your designs as much as creativity. Try thinking out of the box. Try using the tools in a non conventional way and you’ll see you will take a huge leap forward raising the quality bar quite a lot.

Alright, let’s get to business. Time to take a look at how we can raise the realism in our designs with a few short tips and tricks. So, in Photoshop we have the option of adding some beveling to any created object in Photoshop. We can do so by right clicking the layer in which the object is located that we want to create a bevel to. Right click the layer and choose “Blending Options…”

A whole bunch of different choices come up in a new window. In the list you can find “Bevel and Emboss“. Click it and you will be taken to it’s settings which we will be playing with.

The trick is really just to try and capture the realism and true angle of things when adding the bevel. It’s really important to study and do some research on how things truly are and how they look. Just adding a bevel to an edge won’t make it look raised or lowered just like that. It is equally important to look at the shadowing of the bevel itself and the angle the light is projected at the bevel.

The object in itself always has a source of light being pointed at it from a direction. It’s important to remember to make the light source come from the same direction consistently. However, not using the exact same settings as light also illuminates itself off of other things around it. This making it even more complex. But, we’ll be talking a little about it in a short bit.

First, let’s take a look at the usual way a novice would add “Bevel” to an object and how we, with just a few carefully set settings, can add much more realism to the object. In this case we’ve just created a rectangle measuring Width: 150 and Height: 150.

Novice Settings and Beveling

As you can see we are here using the very basic settings to create a bevel. This is usually the  way a beginner setup their beveling. However, ultimately incorrect if we are trying recreate some kind of realism in the design itself. A cleaner and much more efficient way to put the tool to its ultimate use is to first try and create a realistic surface to the object and then add beveling and shadowing to is. This will enable the viewer to look at the object in a whole different way.

Let us setup the “pro” way of beveling and surfacing the object. As you will see there is a few more steps to the process. However, not too many and not to complicated.

Pro Settings and Beveling

Now we have created the surface for our object and it now incorporates a clear light source from the top left corner. Time to add some beveling to it before we add some shadowing to it.

We need to “Fixate” the layer to be able to add new layer blending on the layer. Create a new layer underneath the object layer and (still having the object layer selected) choose “Layer” -> “Merge Down“. We have now fixated out layer and the surface effects.

We have now created the beveling itself and we only have two more step to make it look quite realistically believable. We need to add some shadowing to the object to give it more “time and room“.  Realism is all about capturing the imperfect noise around any real objects. With shadowing we can achieve a lot of this noise in a simple yet effective way.

As you can see the shadowing adds quite a lot of realism to the object and it makes it easier to create details that match the reality. Lastly we will add some noise to the object to incorporate the imperfect surface that creates the realism in the object itself.

To add noise to it choose “Filter” -> “Noise” -> “Add Noise…” and add the following settings.

There! The object now visions a more realistic illusion and is more likely to catch the viewers attention in a more positive way. Playing around with the settings will quickly make you a pro at incorporating the realistic light sources and noise. This process you can add to just about any surface or object you want in order to make it look more realistic. Just be creative and play around with it.

That’s how you add beveling to an object. But, there is a few other things you can create with the “Bevel and Emboss” tool. One of those are to create perfect orbs that looks stunningly real and you can create great icons with these.

I will take you through the simple steps of how to create an orb and during the process also show you some great tricks to create realistic reflection and gloss.

I just created a new work document and made it Width:250 and Height: 250. Also added a circle with the measures: Width: 120 and Height: 120 in the middle of the work area.

Novice Orb Settings and Beveling

As you can see it is not quite there and this is the mistake that beginners usually do when trying to create an orb using the “Bevel and Emboss” tool in Photoshop. There is a more efficient way to create an orb and far more realistic then the novice way of doing it. Again, it will require a bit more steps. However, the result will be a stunningly effective orb that will catch just about any viewers attention.

Pro Orb Settings and Beveling

As you can see we’ve found a way more believable way to create an orb. However we are not done yet. The simple orb is there but there are still a couple of things we can do to create that ultra realistic look and feel.

Add a new layer above the orb layer. Create a elliptical orb just at the top of the orb using the “Elliptical Marquee Tool“. We’re going to use the “Gradient Tool” to make a little gloss on the orb. Make sure its set to “Foreground to Transparent“, “Linear Gradient” (you set it at the top of the screen) and use white color (#FFFFFF).

So we just made our orb look a little more realistic. Now, as usual, we should add some shadowing to the orb in order for it to really come across as being right there in 3D in front of us.

Create a new layer underneath the orb layer and create a circle measuring Width: 90 and Height: 90. We are going to use the “Gradient Tool” again but this time use the “Radial Gradient” and use Black as the color “#000000“.

Now we need to do some modifications to the shadow so go ahead and choose “Edit” -> “Transform…” -> “Distort” and then distort the shadow like I’ve done underneath.

We need to make the shadow layer a bit more transparent to make it more realistic so go ahead and change its “Opacity” to “25%“. This should make it just a bit more smooth and believable.

There! Our orb is done and looking quite realistic. You have again the option of adding noise to the orb but that depends on if you want it to have a more rough surface or a more glossy shiny surface.

Round Up

There are millions of ways you can use the “Bevel and Emboss” tool to make things look realistic and believable. It is all up to you what you can come up with. Your creativity is the limit.

I hope you have enjoyed this micro tutorial on how to master “Bevel and Emboss” and that it has taught you a few bits and pieces of how to create more realistic designs. Practising this over and over in different ways is the best progression to becoming a really unique and professional designer in Photoshop.

On to the next tutorial.

Thanks!

Not at all! There are plenty of search engines on the Internet that will enable you to find exactly what you are looking for. I am using most of these in my daily work and I would now like to share them with you to help you boost your creativity quite a lot.

Enjoy!

1. IconSeeker

A really nice search engine that will help you find Icons as the name implies. Also has a “Most Popular” feature which could certainly help you in your search.

2. IconFinder

Another quite useful icon search engine. Doesn’t have the “Most Popular” feature but it looks nice and it seems to sum up some rather nice search results.

3. IconLet

A nifty and simple icon search engine that generates some nice results. Has a “Search Plugin” link which I haven’t yet tries. IconLet was launched in 2007.

4. IconLook

A nicely designed search engine for finding icons. A few really nice features include Link Exchange, Random Icons and Popular. It’s in Beta but works just fine.

5. IconDB

A somewhat cluttered search engine to find some really nice fonts. They have quite a large database and seem to give great results. Nice interface however a bit hard navigating at first.

6. Icons Search

Nice icon search engine with several nice features. Guide how to search and some designer related link listings such as Emoticons, Desktop, Web and Graphics to name a few.

7. Very Icon

Really nice icon search engine with some nice and useful features. With Icon Search, Icon Category and Advanced Search it makes this search engine a truly invaluable tool for any designer.

8. EasyIconFinder

A powerful search engine for icons. Some platinum features that makes this search engine really useful. Interface is somewhat cluttered but the instructions are good.

9. FontHit

Quite simple but truly powerful search engine to find fonts for your design. It is an ever expanding search ending and you can add your own font site if you have one. Features: Font Search, Advanced Font Search.

10. FyFont

A really cool and useful font search engine. Instead of typing in a specific keyword you can simply upload a picture of the font you’re after and it will try and recognize it and point you in the right direction.

11. FindTTF

One of the most comprehensive font search engines on the Internet. With over 314.000 fonts in it’s database you are sure to find what you are looking for. Somewhat cluttered user interface though.

12. MyFonts

Another font recognizing search engine. This one also have the capability to search for fonts the old school way. Different search modes: Find Fonts, What The Font. Really useful and simple.

13. Free Fonts

A search engine for free fonts. Simple and straight forward. If you know what you are looking for you can easily find it here and then be directed to the place where you can download it.

14. FontSeek

With over 55.000 fonts attached to their database you are sure to find what you’re looking for. Interface is somewhat dull and 90’s but the results are great.

15. TutSearch

One of the most streamlined tutorial search engines on the Internet. This search engine will search a database of over 100 hand picked tutorials. Exclusive and high end!

16. Vectorials

A really nice and well proportioned search engine searching everything vector. Quite a large database with tons of software categorized tutorials. Excellent for any designer working with vectors.

17. Tutorial Vault

Really nice tutorial search engine with tons of software’s represented. Includes tutorials for: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, 3D Max, Photography, InDesign, Programming and Fireworks.

18. Tutorial Search

An extensive search engine which concentrates on categories of software’s. Tons of great and pristine tutorials ranging from Photohop to 3D Max and everything in between.

Testking offers you valuable 642-813 training designed specially to make you fluent in 70-640 learning through the effective use of 642-832 training resources.

When it comes to content we have several new unique tutorials on their way out. We’re finalizing them as we speak. We also have quite a lot interesting article for every freelance designer that will be published in the very near future. On top of this we have three new sites that we are eager to get up and running for your benefit and pleasure. We’re still about a month from launch of these but we are really excited about them and we thing they will have quite an impact on the design community.

For you to really see the success of Minervity.com since launch in numbers we have compiled a list of statistics. Our hope is to really increase the load of content considerably which we hope will lead to Minervity.com making the 200,000 page views in 6 months from launch of the website.

And without further ado, our 100,000 page view was generated by @longokid on twitter. Congrats to you!

Minervity.com – Statistics

January – 2009 – (Launch January 8th)

• Visits: 842
• Page Views: 4,921
• Countries: 63
• New Visitors: 69,12%

February – 2009

• Visits: 9,884
• Page Views: 15,724
• Countries: 115
• New Visitors: 79,26%

March – 2009

• Visits: 34,965
• Page Views: 48,661
• Countries: 162
• New Visitors: 81,94%

April – 2009 – (April 1st to April 24th)

• Visits: 19,535
• Page Views: 28,555
• Countries: 146
• New Visitors: 74,05%

Well that pretty much wraps it up. We will keep doing our best to produce good content that will make you want to come back for more every day. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed to quickly get the latest posts right when they are published.

Thank you once again for making Minervity.com such a great place to hang out for fresh and unique designer content!

Third party developers have long since created all the necessary tools to make this possible. The big question is what they will base their recruiting on. There are hundreds of web based tools dedicated to analyzing and chart up different measures of Generosity, Influence, FollowFriday etc. By using these tools, that is entirely based on the Twitter API, corporations can get really good information on a specific individual.

Is this good you say. Well, with Facebook they could monitor what we did in our spare time. With Twitter they can stay connected to our life 24/7. This could generate some discussions and debates whether it actually is healthy for the individual as it might take over our personalities to simply fit the mold of what they are after. The key here is really just to be yourself. Companies of course won’t base their entire decision on your productivity and creativity to express yourself, no matter what business you are in.

For a Web / Graphic designer for example it is the greatest way possible to make yourself a name. Use your creativity to brand your productivity so to say. Show off those skills you have but do it in a fancy matter. Create that extraordinary one page website showcasing your design and coding skills to the max and it could land you a nice job offer within soon.

So, what tools are most likely to be used when headhunting and what could really spot the recruit best suited for your job opening. Here’s a few interesting tools that is sure to be used in the process.

1. Twitter Grader

A tool that determines your rank among the Twitter community based on a lot of different factors. The tool will come in handy as it can plot your ranking in many different aspects. Such as “Country”, “City” etc. The tool also showcases the number of “Followers”, “Followings” and “Updates” along with the bio you have created to your Twitter Profile. This in turn will give any corporation a good view on who you are and what your productivity looks like. A great tool and is likely to be used in any recruiting.

2. Twitter Counter

A surprisingly well balanced tool with a few interesting factors to be taken in account when trying to find a recruit. This tool provides data about your followers mainly. How you progress in acquiring new followers. This can be a nice indicator on how well you progress and how well you are interfaced with the Twitter community. Followers is the main indicator how popular you are and how much valuable information you tweet about. I am sure this tool can be useful for some headhunters.

3. Retweet Radar

A huge factor in any ranking, it seems, is the quality of your tweets. How well fitted they are to the Twitter community and how many times it gets re-tweeted. To get re-tweeted is a measure how much your tweet might interest the rest of the Twitter community. The more it gets re-tweeted the more spotlight you will get. One can gain a lot of followers tweeting the right kind of stuff which makes this tool really useful. Recruiters can check in real time how your tweets are doing and how well you know your stuff. This tool is sure to be used by any headhunter.

4. TweetStats

One fo the more interesting tools for any headhunter. TweetStats provides astonishing data about “Tweets Per Hour”, “Tweets Per Month”, “Tweet Timeline”  and “Reply Statistics”. This will be the one measure for your productivity. A headhunter can easily judge your productivity and creativity by the numbers provided here. They can also see who you are most collaborative with within the Twitter community. So it might be a good thing to team up with some really “geeky” well known information providers to up your standings a bit if they take this into account. A really useful tool which probably will be used.

5. #followfriday

One of the most used sources for “followlove” rankings. Even though the tool itself doesn’t tell much of the Twitters listed it still gives valuable information about the popularity of an individual. To be top ranked is like saying you have a lot of people recommending you to other people to follow you. What it means is you are popular in among the people you are tweeting with. The use of this tool would probably just be out of a “personality” perspective and would only speak to the more “relationship” based recruitment’s where personal chemistry is of great value.

6. Twitterholic

A pure statistical tool. It will show you statistics in forms of “Location”, “Website URL”, “Followers” , “Friends”, “Updates” and “Joined”. A nifty little tool to determine your “true” ranking when it comes to followers only. You will probably find the already well known people in the top. Such as CNN, Times etc. Twitter accounts that people follow due to their popularity factor in the real world. However, if dedicated you can score quite a high position declaring your superior productivity and popularity. Headhunters will probably not spend too much time or money analyzing this information, however they might take it in to some consideration when recruiting.

7. Monitter

A real time Twitter monitor. What it does is that it in real time can check for certain words (3 columns at once) and give you the result as it gets tweeted. A really useful tool if a headhunter wants to stay on top of your success or demise in real time. Everything or anyone can be tracked. A headhunter could even set up three individuals against each other to monitor their creativity and productivity. I am sure recruiters will love this tool as it gives them a chance to stay updated in ways otherwise impossible. This tool will probably be well used.

8. The Twitalyzer

The one tool that is most likely to be used extensively by any headhunter or recruiter. Twitalyzer analyzes your entire twitter stream and plots it out into really interesting categories. “Influence”, “Signal”, “Generosity”, “Velocity” and “Clout”. All which provide invaluable data about an individual twitter. By using this tool a headhunter will be able to spot who is really “popular” or productive. Even how generous a specific individual is as far as how much he/she re-tweets other people. There’s even individual ranking columns which will put anyone dedicated enough in the spotlight. A great resource for any headhunter or recruiter. This will be a must use tool.