To all those who attended the READ Posters Made Easy webinar–thanks! It was another great webinar with good questions and excellent participation.

In case you missed it or were unable to attend, the archive is here to watch again and again or share with a friend. Additionally, here’s the webinar Q&A with lots of great questions and helpful answers.

Finally, mark your calendars for March 24th at 2pm CST when we’ll be offering the next webinar in our READ Posters Made Easy series: Getting Creative with Adobe Photoshop Elements!

Til then!

Join us Wednesday, January 26th at 2pm CST for READ Posters Made Easy: A How-to Demonstration with Adobe Photoshop Elements. Register here: http://tinyurl.com/4t9kxlt

Can’t make it? No worries! We’ll archive both the webinar and accompanying slides on the READ Design Studio Info Page after the event.

What's the READ Design Studio?

Well, there are two ways you can get rid of any space that are part of the foreground you want to keep:
1). After you outline the group using the Magnetic Lasso Tool go to the area you want to remove. You will use the same process you used to outline the group, but this time you will hold Alt while lassoing, which enables you to capture those additional spaces. When you’re finished use the Move tool to pull the photo over to the READ poster like usual.

2). Instead of removing the spaces before pulling the photo over to the READ poster, you can remove the spaces after combining the two. You will use the same process as in #1, just ensure that the photo’s layer is selected in the Layer Box on the bottom right. Otherwise you risk cutting out the READ poster background or some other element.

And don’t let your creativity stop there! You can use this handy trick to carve pumpkins as well.

Happy Halloween, dear readers!

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint join the Celebrity READ campaign, each appearing on their own poster holding books of their choosing. Radcliffe holds Bulgakov’s The Master & Margarita, Watson holds Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and Grint holds Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange.Early orders can now be placed… at the ALA Store for the Harry Potter Set, which includes all 3 posters for 15% off list price. This special offer lasts only until October 15th. Posters will begin fulfillment October 18th at which point all 3 posters will be available for individual sale.

A trivia contest is running on the ALA Graphics Facebook Fan Page to win these posters, with the special chance at a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie poster, compliments of Warner Bros. Pictures. Check in daily from now until October 15th–first to correctly answer the trivia question each day wins!

Typically it’s us doing the talking. We’re the ones that present, that write, that demo, that laud the READ Design Studio, its products, and its inspiring results.

So, if you’re sick of hearing us blab on, here’s your chance to do the talking instead:
We would LOVE to have any interested person(s) present a poster session at this year’s ALA Annual Conference on their positive experience with the READ Design Studio in their school, library, or community.

If interested, here is information on how to apply. Check it out and give us an email or call 312-280-2427.

From a recent ALA Poster Session:

This could be you!

ALA Graphics – Make your own customized READ poster! from ALA Publishing on Vimeo.

Kids Need to Read: Nathan Fillion Featured on Upcoming ALA Celebrity READ Poster

Wired: Captain Tightpants Says “Read!”

POPCANDY of USA Today: Celebrities continue the tradition of sweet ‘READ’ posters

How so you ask? Simple! The READ discs allow reader’s to appear on whatever READ poster file they’d like holding whatever book they’d like, meaning they choose how they’re represented as readers! And if they can’t find one that exactly suits their fancy, they can make their  own!

This Word document provides instructions complete with screen shots (ooh! ahh!), detailing how to use your own background as the base for a READ poster. It also shows how to add additional elements like text or props to your poster.

Hope you had a safe and relaxing 4th of July weekend!

PS. A small bit of legalese (to truly speak to our nation’s spirit! hehe.): The READ Design Studio products give the user the license to use the trademarked READ. We ask you respect the trademark by using only the READ type treatment files provided on the discs and not creating your own versions of READ. That said, you can be as creative as you can with the backgrounds you choose–whether it’s using the art files provided on the discs or making your own from a photo or a collage of photos.

As a result I mainly associate customized READ posters as an incentive for learning, so when a coworker pointed out the inherent learning opportunity in the READ Design Studio I did a double-take. “Why didn’t I think of that?!” She observed that getting students and patrons on board for the actual making of the posters is a great way to teach photography, computer use, and general design principles like composition, color, and balance! How true!

Not to mention eager learners make great assistants!

Here’s Hailey deep into her first book on design principles. As soon as she can hold that camera, she’ll be making READ Posters. Thanks to her aunt, Valerie Halbert, for the image!

Since this was all inspired by the signs question, I decided to carry on in that vein. Here is a potential Romance sign for the stacks:

Then I experimented with adding the Water Paper effect, in hopes of getting that gauzy, fuzzy aesthetic I always associate with soap operas (because if soaps don’t scream romance, i don’t know what does.):

Next with the Chalk & Charcoal effect, for something more “artiste”:

And then finally with the Pointizllize effect, for that Sunday on La Grande Jatte feel (apologies to Monsieur Seurat, who is probably rolling in his grave as I type.):