A wise psychologist once said that “adults are nothing more than deteriorated children.” We are at our most creative and our most powerful when we are connected to the child within us. Whether we are at business or at home, when we see the world through the eyes of a child, we live our biggest and best lives. Children bring boundless festivity to their moments, live with wide open hearts, see the innocence in others and dream big dreams. However, as we grow through life, so many of us lose access to the children that we once were. We pick up the false beliefs, limiting assumptions, fears and judgments of the world around us. We lost sight of our Original Nature and begin to wear social masks that we present to the world in an effort to fit in. Yet, the only place you get to when you follow the Crowd is the exit.

An exciting change has been made to the agenda for OAQP's National Conference, scheduled on Saturday, November 15th, 2003, at the International Centre in Mississauga, which runs concurrently with the Graphics Canada 2003 trade show. The conference is featuring a keynote presentation by Suzanne Stevens, President of Ignite Excellence Inc., on business development through effective communication.  

Suzanne's approach to the topic is revolutionary. She teaches her clients how to understand and market to the evolving social values (also called psychographics). Her emphasis is on tracking social change and identifying new, emerging trends that will present new business opportunities.

We're all familiar with the expression, sex sells. Two thirds of all advertisements – whether they're selling yogurt, shampoo or chainsaws – contain some sort of sexual content.   However, it wasn't always this way. Mankind didn't stumble across this juicy bit of information until the early 1920s.

Advertising has been a part of most societies since the dawn of time. When the first caveman staggered out of the mud, he came home and began working on an advertising campaign for bone-marrow hair clips. In all seriousness, ancient civilizations used iconic signage to tell people what kind of business they were operating whether they were butchers, blacksmiths, brothels or alehouses. Another form of advertising was the prodigious town crier. He would walk the streets calling out the verbage that today we hear on the radio.

This month we're going to take a closer look at taking control of the Mac OS X by becoming a super user. The underpinnings of Mac OS X are after all UNIX, so you should be aware of the power a super user wields.

The root account is a “super user” account built into every UNIX system, which you may remember is a multi-user environment. On a UNIX system the level of access that root has seems to have no limits.

There are many processes and files that are “owned” by root. We've looked at “permissions” in past articles, and you may remember that permissions control what you can do and see. Keep in mind that the all-powerful root account must be treated with respect and access should be limited to a small group of users. There is no way to stop the root account from altering any file on the system.

Colour management offers great rewards to those that embrace it – but all to often colour management is disengaged before those rewards are achieved. The rewards of implementing the basics of colour management can be significant:

• Greater accuracy to predict how an image will reproduce on press.
• The ability to use a desktop or wide format inkjet printer to create accurate proofs showing how the job will print on a press.
• The ability to move images from workstation to workstation and maintain a visual match.
• And best of all, to save money and time by reducing re-runs and materials.

“If you build it, they will come” may be true in the movies, but not when websites are concerned. People will not visit your website if they don't know it exists or how to find it. To increase exposure a focused marketing program is a must. What should you do?

Make a Plan

Like any other marketing foray, you need to establish goals and expectations, then a plan and a budget. This includes both financial and time commitments, as it can take from several months to a year to establish a significant web presence.

Prepare Pages for Optimal Search Engine Ranking

The most important element in web site marketing is establishing a high ranking for your key words on the main search engines. Ways you can optimize your site ranking include:

Have you ever noticed others acting real snarly, mean, full of anger, with the hackles aloft on the backs of their necks? Have you ever experienced it yourself? If you say no, you're not looking into the right mirror. Or you don't have a boss or a spouse. What makes us like that…?

We often think it's cultural –it's the person's nature. They were born that way. Personally, I believe aggressiveness is a defense for feelings of inferiority.

Let me explain. Look at yourself. You feel you're a respectable person, and probably don't think of yourself as aggressive. But I bet there are people who would call you aggressive once in a while. Why is that?

What is a California Day? Go outside. Sit down. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Now open your eyes. Look up. Look at the cloudless, blue sky smiling back at you. Feel the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze gently caressing your skin. Feel, for a moment, that all is right in the world. There are no bills to pay, no nattering employees to satisfy and no 'to do' list hanging over your head. Everyone that you love and care for is safe. There are no deadlines, no cell phones and no emails to write. There is only the blue sky and the warm sun that bathes you with a feeling you have long forgotten. That's a California Day! As business owners, we tend to forget that they exist. We're too busy burning out!

Trade shows are like the game of tug 'o war: Both teams are pumped with high expectations of a win, and each side has its game-winning strategy (we're talking World Cup Tug 'o War!). The game is usually very short, only mildly interesting to play and ever so boring to watch!

Trade shows cram an enormous amount of energy, stimulus and expectation into a very tight time frame. With this narrow window, exhibitors are expected to connect, demonstrate their products' benefits and make sales. Subsequently, trade show attendees are in a dueling match with these pitchmen and under pressure to make that all-important purchasing decision. It's no surprise that trade shows are an exhausting experience for both sides!

Let's be frank. If you're in business, then your primary goal is to make money. You may have secondary goals, such as serving the interests of your customers and employees or being a good corporate citizen, but your number one priority is return on investment – profit.  

I often find that business owners and managers   don't have their priorities straight. They lose customer loyalty, face increasing operating costs, scramble with staff turnover and struggle to keep up to the competition. They may work hard and think positively, but with marginal impact.

But by simply realigning their priorities, owners and managers can lead in a way that builds loyalty, reduces operating costs, makes more money and serves as a model corporate citizen. You won't have to work any harder, just smarter.

Giclée printing is a new, fine art printing technology that has taken the art world by storm. Artists seeking reproductions of their artwork using giclée technology are also giving printers an opportunity to create a new revenue stream.

Giclée is the French verb meaning “to spray” (as from a nozzle) and this perfectly describes the manner in which the inks are dispersed onto the substrate in the digital printing process. The main intention of the word giclée was to distinguish “fine art prints” from those created for non-art or commercial purposes. Today, artists commonly use the term, “giclée” to describe a fine art print produced by the inkjet printing method.