Periodic Table of SEO ranking factors
I find there are a LOT of “professionals” parading around claiming to be SEO experts. I know just enough about it to realize I’m NO pro at it. It takes a lot of work and diligent effort to improve search engine ranking for a website. For all those people who think that SEO work only involves paying for Google Ads (you know who you are), here’s an infographic that will only give you the rudimentary idea of all that’s involved (via SearchEngineLand)
read moreMy self-taught lessons in photography.
I’m getting a little better at capturing the images I want to keep. This has been an uphill struggle. I see photography I like and I’m often struggling to try to do replicate it. I buy books, I buy expensive equipment, I take classes, I ask pro photogs for tips, etc. I take one step forward, two steps back. But at least once in a while I get something I like. And that’s all that matters eh? Take these two recent shots I grabbed of Kingston this past weekend. I like them. I tried every recent tip I could remember at the given...
read moreLegal Documents for Designers
This collection of “Useful Legal Documents for Designers” is awesome. Read it, bookmark it, use it. What has taken me years to figure out on my own through trial, error, reading and research is all done for you right here in this short-form list of docs. There are some good gems of verbiage in some of these docs I might actually update my own forms with too! (via Smashing Magazine)
read moreGet out of their way
[youtube id=wiOwqDmacJo] I’ve been on this Neil deGrasse Tyson kick lately. Instead of music running on the background at work, I’ve had youtube vids of NDT playing as I work. I don’t know, I just find him to be an awesome source of inspiration lately. I think he may have changed one small element about how I raise Kingston…when asked “What should be done about the fact our kids in the US lag woefully behind other countries in the fields of physics and mathematics?” his response was simply Get out of their...
read moreSpace dreaming
Had a conversation with a friend today about the hoopla surrounding the landing of the Mars rover “Curiosity” this past weekend. He suggested the media was overcompensating about this space news lately, he’s heard enough. That’s a reasonable opinion, I told him. But at the same time I felt that overcompensation for this type of news might be long overdue. Enough news about lying politicians, about horrors of wars, about senseless shootings, about religious discrimination, etc etc. Yes, we all need to understand these...
read moreGray Hong Nojima
Finally finished a site today that I’ve been laboring on for a few months now. I’m fairly proud of this site….I think I accomplished everything I set out to do. A no-frills site that doesn’t rely heavily on fancy doohickies but I wanted to push my skills in website typesetting and image-work. It was a tricky balance trying to make my clients look every bit the experienced professionals they are, but I wanted to bring some fun into an otherwise very stodgy and conservative industry. (Try getting engineers to smile!) I...
read moreCounting days
The countdown is starting for my next trip to Hong Kong next month! Whoohoo! I’m REALLY itching to get off this island this time around. I love where I live but there has come a point where I’m tired and lack creative energy. I need eye candy…even in the form a crowded, grimy, non-stop, sometimes-smelly city like Hong Kong. I love the feeling of anticipation right before a trip, it might even be a better feeling than ACTUALLY being on the trip itself. Maybe because I know I have the full trip ahead of me. Once you’re...
read moreLife is extraordinary
[vimeo id=40123818] This beautiful video makes me feel like I have a LOOONG way to go with my video and photography skills. Truly breathtaking!
read moreIs it safe to talk about religion?
If there’s anything I’ve learned in all my years…people make their own decisions about both religion and politics that NEVER changes. (Hmm…maybe I should alter that since I made a major religious shift in thinking at some point in my life) I think it’s more accurate to say it RARELY changes. You can argue all day with people about these subjects and you’ll very rarely hear “You know what? You’re right. From now on I’m going to believe the same way you do” The Oatmeal recently put...
read more$3700 tablet
[youtube id=0LHkHAHWEPk] This 24 inch color touchscreen design tablet falls squarely into “want-but-will-unlikely-ever-have” category for me. Why? Because it $3700 smackeroos that’s why. So unless I ever convince the powers-that-be at the college to get me one of these for my “work”, I’m unlikely to ever gleefully run my grubby fingers across one. I’ve wanted the Cintiq for a while now. Ever since my sister-in-law got one a couple years back. (that bitch! hehe) I’d love to see how drawing...
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LoweStudio Inc was founded by me, Raphael Lowe, a Honolulu based illustrator and web designer. I presently design and manage a few dozen commercial websites, but my main focus these days is acting as the head developer for Kapiolani Community College and teaching