the blog » Web http://blog.kylebisch.com a design and philosophy blog by kyle bisch Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:04:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Google SketchUp http://blog.kylebisch.com/2009/03/google-sketchup/ http://blog.kylebisch.com/2009/03/google-sketchup/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:42:46 +0000 kyle http://blog.kylebisch.com/?p=74 Chip TrayI mentioned using Google SketchUp in a previous post about a wine rack design I could finally render in 3D. While using it for that project I thought of a previous client request to design a plastic chip stand that could hold five bags of chips upright on a larger shelf. At the time of the request I had to decline helping them because I simply didn't have the capability to work in 3D.]]> Chip TrayI mentioned using Google SketchUp in a previous post about a wine rack design I could finally render in 3D. While using it for that project I thought of a previous client request to design a plastic chip stand that could hold five bags of chips upright on a larger shelf.  At the time of the request I had to decline helping them because I simply didn’t have the capability to work in 3D.

I went back to their design specs with Google SketchUp and I was able to fulfill their request and even include measurements, sizing, color, and some graphics in the final design for them.

Not actually the house I'm designing. Just some practice.

Not actually the house I'm designing.
Just some practice.

I discovered Google SketchUp in an effort to do some 3D modeling for a house I am attempting to design. I was looking for a simple, free, 3D rending mechanism. Google SketchUp is that and more. It is also very intuitive to use and can be used for both simple designs and more complex designs. It works by pushing and pulling 2D objects into 3D. A square can be easily drawn using that square tool. Then with a simple click and drag that square becomes a cube or crossbeam.

There are also many more complicated features available that are best explained in the various blogs, tutorials and guides related to SketchUp.

Download Google SketchUp Here

]]> http://blog.kylebisch.com/2009/03/google-sketchup/feed/ 0 LeapFish http://blog.kylebisch.com/2009/03/leapfish/ http://blog.kylebisch.com/2009/03/leapfish/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:48:15 +0000 kyle http://blog.kylebisch.com/?p=73 Leapfish

I recently had a request from a client to evaluate advertising on a new search engine. My first instinct was 'absolutely not.' Why would you advertise somewhere new when Google has about 60% of daily searches, with Yahoo and MSN pulling in the next 30%? But I looked into the company called Leapfish for them and discovered some very interesting things.

]]> Leapfish

I recently had a request from a client to evaluate advertising on a new search engine. My first instinct was ‘absolutely not.’ Why would you advertise somewhere new when Google has about 60% of daily searches, with Yahoo and MSN pulling in the next 30%? But I looked into the company called Leapfish for them and discovered some very interesting things.

First, they themselves are not actually a search engine. They simply use Google, Yahoo, and MSN for their searches but try to provide more than just that. Their search feature is unique in that it actively updates the results as you type. So if you type in “a” the results for “a” show up. Then if you continue on and search for “aardvark,” the search results update as you type. Although you would really nave to be a fairly slow typer for the results to update after every letter, it is still a cool concept.

They have also integrated news, video, images, shopping, and answers into the search feature. Where you would normally see the Google ads, the top results for each of these categories is displayed. By clicking on ’shopping’ the most relevant Amazon.com and Ebay aardvark results show up. Similarly, news is provided by the Yahoo news feed and videos are provided by YouTube. The videos also begin playing by simply mousing over them, so you don’t even need to navigate away from the page.

The most interesting feature to my client was their advertising model. Where Google and Yahoo charge on a per-click basis, anywhere from 10 cents to $3.50, the Leapfish model is more based on the idea of purchasing a space. A company chooses a keyword, then purchases one of the three ad locations. Their ad will always appear in this location for that search term, as long as they pay the yearly fee, with no further fees no matter how many clicks the ad receives. They can choose to sell the space to someone else, or lease it to another company while retaining ownership, but as long as they own it, their ad cannot be bumped by a company with a higher advertising budget.

This advertising model very unique although the effectiveness of the ad is still dependent on the number of people using the search engine. So will people leave Google in favor of Leapfish? The keywords are not cheap, but if people make the switch it could be a very effective advertising venue.

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