How to Get into a Computer-Aided Design Career

photo 1586868538513 51335a0c5337 - How to Get into a Computer-Aided Design Career

Designers who are trained in the use of software programs such as SolidWorks and AutoCAD work as drafters for a range of construction, engineering, and architectural organizations. They specialize in the use of computer-aided design software to create digital technical drawings. They will typically be provided with hand drawings from engineers and architects before digitally recreating them, adding details such as materials used and production procedures.

Training Programs

Many vocational schools and community colleges offer programs in computer-aided design. Some focus specifically on certain programs such as AutoCAD or SolidWorks, while others focus on drafting and design technology overall, incorporating software training into the lessons. Many of these programs lead to a two-year associate degree, which is typically the minimum that is required to get into this career. You can find programs that are offered both online and in traditional classroom settings. If you are interested in taking a program in computer-aided design, you will need to ensure that you have a PC that is up to the task, with powerful components such as this Solidworks Workstation Laptop.

Certification

Once you have completed the basic training to become a computer-aided design professional, there are various optional certifications that you can get in programs such as SolidWorks and AutoCAD to improve your knowledge and skills and demonstrate your level of expertise to potential employers. There are AutoCAD certifications available from Autodesk, for example, that you can gain to demonstrate your professionalism and proficiency to future employers. You will be required to sit an exam that will test you on common tools, tasks, and features of the software.

Finding Employment

Once you are trained in computer-aided design, you will be prepared for working in a range of drafting jobs in a wide range of areas such as electrical, aeronautical, mechanical, and architectural drafting to name a few. Drafters who are proficient and experienced in using programs such as AutoCAD and other computer-aided design software programs such as SolidWorks tend to have an advantage over those who do not. Most career options in this field are with engineering, architectural, and other firms offering relevant services that work under contract to provide engineering services or construction project design.

Career Advancement Opportunities

AutoCAD and other computer-aided designers will generally begin their careers in an entry-level position under supervision, before progressing to more senior positions with a higher level of authority and responsibility. Some will eventually be promoted to supervisor or managerial positions. Continuing education, including bachelor’s and master’s degree options, or getting various certifications in this field can lead to better and more abundant advancement opportunities for computer-aided design careers. Some designers will have the opportunity to move on to work in related professional careers such as engineers or architects.

If you are interested in computer-aided design, then there are various software programs to become familiar with, including AutoCAD and SolidWorks. You can find online training programs or college courses that are designed to provide you with qualifications to work in this field. Designers are in high demand, and there are lots of career advancement opportunities to consider.

Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

national geographic business card - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Branding your business is a must-do thing for your business’s success. Lots of budgets are spent on marketing campaigns to get recognition for their product. But a gateway to your product identification is the business card. It’s the first impression you are going to make on the corporate world.

The business card is a low-cost yet very effective marketing solution. If you have done your business card right, you are going to make a huge impression on whoever holds it. Try focusing on a very balanced design as well as presenting the services you are offering without cluttering and confusing the client. Today’s post will cover the awesome typography, minimal, crisp, and yet stunning best business card designs for inspiration. You can take inspiration and work along these lines to design your own.

 

Tetrahedron business card 2013

tetrahedron business card 2013 - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

National Geographic

national geographic business card - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Kupua

kupua - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Mozambique Investment Group

mbig - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Kusafiri Afrika

kusafiri afrika - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Tracks – Business Cards 2013

tracks business cards 2013 - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Pitted Business Card

pitted - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Lukas Strociak

lukas strociak - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Self Promo I Suit Your Team

self promo - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Ebanisteria Agueeras

ebanisteria agueeras - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Grebban Design And Web Agency

grebban business cards 2013 - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Lunnebergs

lunnebergs - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Alvena

alvena - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Mandate Press

ben webster - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Aritab

aritab - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Tiny Twiggette Letterpress

ten twiggette letterpress - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Greenwich Hotel

greenwich hotel - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Red Rocket Development

red rocket - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Teaterbrasseriet Kitchen & Bar

scandic grand - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Digitpool Median

digitpool median - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Appearance – Letterpress Business Card

appearance letterpress - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Ultimate Business

ultimate business - Best Business Card Designs For Inspiration

Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

image wpp1621834050706 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

Starting your first blog can be quite a challenge. There are many tools and tutorials out there that will give you a helping hand when it comes to starting one. In this article, we’ll give you a couple of plugin suggestions for your very own blog. Having the right plugins is of great importance as it will improve your page’s functionality, SEO, site speed, user experience, etc.
Just like in the eCommerce business, many things affect the site’s main goal, conversion rates.
Things that have the greatest impact on the conversion rate are site speed, search engine optimization, page design, and in general, the user experience.


Let’s see what tools we can use to improve all of these things and provide our blogs with great visibility and good conversion rates.

WP Reset

image 1 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

The WordPress Reset plugin is an extremely helpful plugin used by many developers that helps you keep your site clean and organized. This plugin is one of the most popular ones among bloggers and developers alike. 

Some of the plugin’s features are:

  • “Time machine” – Did you recently update an outdated plugin that ended up messing up your whole site? No worries, you can return your site to its previous state with one click.
  • The Emergency Recovery Script which you can utilize as a standalone tool for fixing critical situations, like when a plugin wrecked WordPress, white screen of death, and similar.
  • The Ability to install your favorite plugins in 1 click – Make a collection of your most-used plugins and themes and install them quickly after resetting your site.
  • The “Nuclear” option – Need to start anew? This plugin has you covered. All options, files, custom databases, and tables can be deleted using this option
  • Automatic snapshots – besides helping you delete things, this plugin enables you to restore things as well. WP Reset can make automatic snapshots of your site before making any drastic changes, creating a safety net if something goes wrong.

Under Construction Page

image 1024x660 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

This plugin gives you the ability to start grabbing some internet space for yourself even before you’ve finished with the making of your site by making an exceptional coming soon page in WordPress. Don’t want your not yet ready site to be indexed in its unfinished form by Google? This plugin has you covered. The plugin has a great variety of template options for you to choose from; more than 270 templates come bundled with the plugin when you install it. 

 Some of the notable features this plugin offers are:

  • Easy Drag and drop builder – Are you tired of looking up online tutorials on how to use something that should be simple? Well, this plugin is beginner-friendly and offers you only the tools you need to build the page fast
  • Great Image gallery – Can’t find the photo for your site, or its behind a ridiculous paywall? UCP has more than a million beautiful HD and 4K images completely royalty-free and ready to be used. 
  • 270+ ready templates – Sometimes, you just don’t have enough time to make your own under construction or maintenance page and just want a quick and pretty page to put on your blog.

WP 301 Redirects

image 2 1024x453 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

WP 301 Redirects is one of the best plugins when it comes to retaining users due to mismanaged or broken URL links or blog migration. Whether you want to redirect WordPress to a new site or making a new blog, this plugin can be beneficial. As its name says, the main task of this plugin is handling user redirection and 404 error logging and solving. It has many tools specifically designed to do the job of maintaining all of your URLs, pages, etc., efficiently.

WP 301 Redirects most notable features include:

  • Automatic redirection of users who made a typo – why bother the user with a witty 404 error page when you could instead redirect them to their desired destination. Best of all, the user doesn’t even know he misspelled a letter and is not bothered; instead, he engages with the content. It’s the best scenario for you and the user.
  • Full 404 logging – This allows for easier maintenance of your blog, providing you with a centralized place for checking and fixing your errors.
  • SEO oriented – The plugin will enable you to significantly boost your search positioning by fixing broken links that lead to your pages and your blog in general. Don’t miss any of your hard-earned traffic and growth.
  • Branded and professional PDF reports – Want to know the details of who, when, and from where was redirected? This plugin will provide you with all of this information and more, with its great reporting options.

WP Sticky

image 3 1024x620 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

Many of us have gotten used to the fact that some of the websites’ items should be “sticky,” they should always keep their position. The most notable example of this is the sticky header and sticky menu. If you have paid attention to eCommerce websites, you could have also spotted that, usually, the “Add to cart” button is also sticky. All of this makes the user experience much more pleasant and makes navigating your site an easy and enjoyable experience.

  • This plugin is very fast to set up – you can make your first sticky item in a matter of seconds
  • Visual choice – don’t want to mess with the direct code? No problem, you can just pick an element you want to make sticky off the screen
  • No limit – you can create as many sticky elements as you want and need
  • Great compatibility – the plugin is compatible with all themes, page builders, and plugins

Google Maps Widget

image 4 1024x476 - Must-have WordPress plugins for starting a new blog

Finding a physical location has never been so easy as today, mainly thanks to Google maps. Want to go to a fancy restaurant but unsure how to find it? Does the offer from this store sounds too good to be true, and you want to check it yourself in person? Just use Google maps. 

 Google Maps Widget is a no-nonsense plugin that makes adding a Goggle map to your blog and site a quick and easy procedure.

The main benefits of this plugin are the following:

  • Quick setup – have the first map set up and ready in two minutes after installing this plugin. It’s that easy!
  • Unlimited maps – Create as many maps as you need! You can also mark and pin as many places as you want.
  • Maps everywhere – Do you want to use maps only on some of your posts and not all of them? You have that option with this plugin. Customize where and how the maps appear in a few simple and easy steps.
  • Mobile responsiveness – the plugin works great for mobile users as well. Know where you are going and your surroundings on the move.

Conclusion

Here we have some of the best plugins for new blog makers and writers. Do you need a helping hand maintaining your blog, want to monitor its’ stats closely, or do you just want to provide additional information to your readers? These, easy to set up and use plugins, have you covered. All of them come with great documentation, even better customer support, and amazing plan options.

How to Help Your Design Team Collaborate Better

Design Team

Getting a group of designers together to work on a project for your company can be a
fantastic opportunity for everyone involved. Not only does it allow the designers to show off
their talents, but as a business, you get to see fresh ideas that can help boost your
marketing game and brand development. However, while collaborations are great, there can
also be difficulties along the way, whether it’s a breakdown in communications or that your
team is finding it hard to send work to each other promptly. To help your design team
collaborate better, here are a few tips.

Break the Ice

If there are new people in the team or you’re using freelancers to help out with a project, the first thing you’ll need to do is break the ice. Schedule a meeting with everyone so they can all get to know one another, preferably face-to-face if this is possible. You can then all sit down and discuss the project in more detail and start establishing goals for the group and preliminary deadlines.

Give a Detailed Brief

If you want to see the best results, you need to provide your design team with a detailed brief of the project. Although it’s important to still allow them room to be creative, if you are too vague about what you want, you could end up with something that you’re unsatisfied with, which will be a waste of everybody’s time and your money. Encourage them to ask your further questions for clarity if necessary, so you all feel confident that you’re on the same page.

Allocate roles

Another thing you need to establish early on to avoid tensions and confusion is who is working in what role. For example, choose a team leader who will oversee the general management of the project, then have one person working on the layout, an illustrator, web design, or whatever type of role is relevant to the project they are working on. Having these set roles will mean each job is covered, and people will understand what their contribution is to the team.

Improve IT Networks

You might also want to think about how your business network will affect your team’s performance. Slow systems and applications can make your design team lose time but also struggle to communicate with each other effectively. Equally, if you’re teams are working remotely, they will need to access your network outside of the office, so a cloud computing system might be better for this purpose. If you want further advice on how you can improve your networks, speak to an IT support service and see what they can do for you.

Better Software

As well as having a fully functioning computer network in place, you should be looking at new and improved design software that your teams can use. This could enhance the result and give your team an edge on the competition because they are using the latest programs to create stunning graphics that will make your business brand look incredible.

If you want to help your design team work together more efficiently, think about the tips above and how they could improve collaborations.

30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

tilt shift stadium

Tilt-shift photography is a beautiful and amazing type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model.

Selective focus via tilt is often used to simulate a miniature scene, though as noted above, the effect is somewhat different from the shallow DoF in close-up photography of miniature subjects. Many such images are described as employing “tilt-shift”, but the term is something of a misnomer because the shift is seldom involved and is usually unrelated to the effect produced.

The difference between tilt-shift photography and original photography is shown in the figure below.
difference - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography
source: http://www.tiltshiftphotography.net/photoshop-tutorial.php

Today we present here more than 30 amazing examples of tilt-shift photography and some video examples for your reference. All examples here, are linked to their original sources. We strongly encourage you to explore other works of the photographers we’ve featured in this entry.

1. Photo by Ender079
tiltshift photos - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

2. Photo by TiltShiftPhotography.net
tiltshift station - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

3. Photo by Anonymous
tiltshift water - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

4. Photo by Lsear
rocket tiltshift - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

5. Photo by roevin
tiltshift desert - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

6. Photo by Foxymcslick
tilt shift paris - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

7. Photo by Ender079
tiltshift - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

8. Photo by Anonymous
tilt shift photography - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

9. Photo by Anonymous
tiltshift photo - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

10. Photo by Ender079
shift photo - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

11. Photo by Nicolas
tilt shift stadium - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

12. Photo by mattb4rd
stadium tiltshift photography - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

13. Photo by Sherwood411
mini village - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

14. Photo by Perfect13thstep
train tiltshift - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

15. Photo by Lorenzo Baldini
mini marathon - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

16. Photo by BaldHeretic
roller tiltshift photo - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

17. Photo by Jean Genie
box tiltshift photo - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

18. Photo by Rawksteadi
beach tiltshift - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

19. Photo by Vladimir Dolezel
palace miniature - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

20. Photo by Daniele Philip
miniature bisons - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

21. Photo by Lorenzo Baldini
barcelona mini - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

22. Photo by Tarkka
mini mountain - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

23. Photo by Nina Myers
mini china - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

24. Photo by Nina Myers
caterpillar tiltshift - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

25. Photo by Joeldc
summer mini stadium - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

26. Photo by Phinboke Planet
mini winter - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

27. Photo by Piero Campilli
los angeles mini photo - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

28. Photo by fras1977
mini porshe - 30+ Awesome Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

Steps to Create Your Logo in Minutes with Online Logo...

Logo Design

If you truly want to become a reputable and distinctive brand, logos is the first undertaking you should pay attention to! Logos are the silent faces that have the power to communicate with your audience.

They can show people what your brand is about in just a glance. They are the main point of identification that your audience uses to understand your brand. The logo can do a lot more for your business than you ever think.

Besides everything, the pinpoint from where your logo will start catching the attention is the final design you come up with. You have to make sure the design you create should be unique, impactful, eye-catching that sets an unforgettable impression.

Here we will introduce you to the best free logo maker tools that will enable you to create perfect logos for free in minutes. Also, we will share some tips that will assist you in the logo creation process. So, let’s get into it!

Create Logos With Free Logo Maker Tools — 2021

Today, the web is offering thousands of logo maker tools, and that’s why it could be a tough job to pick the one on which you can trust. So, whenever you are going to choose a reliable logo maker for your needs. Look for its price, ease of use, and features.

The good news is we have already put in hours researching the best logo maker tools. Suppose you don’t want to waste your time, money, and efforts in trying and testing. Just scroll down, and flip through the top 3 online logo makers!

A quick list of the best free logo makers, we will compare:

  • SmallSeoTools
  • Canva
  • ThemeIsle — Logo Maker

3 Best Logo Maker Tools Compared:

Let’s dive into the details of tools to learn how they work and what features they can offer us!

SmallSeoTools — Free Logo Design Online

This is one of the most amazing & dependable platforms for creating elegant logos. This is the best logo maker that will prove perfect for both beginners and professionals. The best thing about this free logo creator tool is it is providing plenty of advanced features and editing options. Also, there are a bunch of amazing templates to choose from. If we are talking about its credibility, it must be clear that it is 100% free to use.

How to Make a Logo with SmallSeoTools?

After accessing this online logo maker, follow the following steps:

  • The first step for creating your logo with this tool is the selection of a template. Explore and pick the one that you think will prove best with your brand.
  • Now, it’s time to customize! This free logo maker offers you a free logo customization option. You can adjust and make changes in your design by using the given features.
  • The last step is to download your design! After completing the customization process, select your format and click on the download button.
  • It’s done! Within a matter of a minute, your logo will be saved in your device’s collection.

Canva — Free Graphic Designer

This is another best-known website that is offering a free logo maker service. Canva is a great place that helps you design free eye-catching logos and other graphic presentations for free. These inside flyers, banners, T-shirt Designs, Covers, social media posts, invitation cards, resumes, and more. However, the most reputable and most usable of its service is the logo maker. To know how to utilize this logo maker tool, scroll down and read on!

How to Make a Logo with Canva?

Take a look at the below-listed steps:

  • Firstly, select whether you want to go with the blank canvas or with the ready-made logo collection.
  • Now, start designing your logo on your own or customize it using the given editing options.
  • After completing the designing process, choose your format, and hit the Download button. Simple!

ThemeIsle — Free Logo Maker

Last in order, but not of importance! Themes is another free logo maker tool that can help you design a professional-grade logo in minutes. This is a top-notch multi-format approach that is considered the best time-saver. With this tool’s help, you can create logos and save them in all the pre-sized PNG files.
It will be a great option for creating and downloading a logo directly with several ready-made templates and icons. Just like other tools, you can customize your free logo design by using editing options.

How to Make a Logo with Themelsle?

Take a look at the below-listed steps:

  • Firstly, pick a template.
  • Now, customize your logo by using the bunch of options provided by this tool. You can play with the colors, fonts, backgrounds, icons, and more
  • After finalizing the customization process, choose your format, and click the save button. That’s it!

So, this is how you can create and generate a perfect logo for free in minutes!

5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds

smoke background5 - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds

Many designers make use of smoke to achieve a powerful and dramatic effect in their designs. Today I have a pack of smoke backgrounds for you which you can use commercially. All black smoke backgrounds you can download in one package at the end of this entry. Enjoy!

smoke background3 1 - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds
smoke background3 1 1 - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds
smoke background3 - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds
smoke background2 - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds
smoke background - 5 Cool Black Smoke Backgrounds

Details:
Backgrounds in pack: 5
Size: 9 MB
Format: High-Quality JPG

Free Web Page UI Elements

web elements - Free Web Page UI Elements

This set of web page UI elements was created for specifically for dark and heavily-styled web pages. The web design elements are available in layered vector file for designers to easy access and edit the element only they need for their project.

The UI Kit includes most common web design elements and is perfect for mocking up designs. In this pack you can find more than +50 elements for website design, such as: checkboxes, radio buttons, signs, web icons, tooltips, small web elements like bullets, arrows, buttons, forms, scrollbars.

Feel free to use this item for commercial projects with attribution back to FreeWebElements.com

web elements - Free Web Page UI Elements
Free Web Page UI Elements

Top 3 Educational Photoshop Online Courses

Top 3 Educational Photoshop Online Courses 750x500 - Top 3 Educational Photoshop Online Courses

When it comes to photo editing, Adobe Photoshop software is considered the prime solution. The software provides great solutions and has been recognized for producing amazing images and pictures. While you can get all your writing help from such places as the ThesisRush service, Photoshop online courses exist to give you the skill and knowledge you need to do photo editing. Photoshop beats all the imagination when it comes to photography and if this something you want to do, then you can consider taking an online course for that.Continue Reading…

Hello, my name is Mahmoud Ameara the owner and founder of mameara.com it is a blog that I share web and graphic design, resources tutorials, and freebies.
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