Any good plans for this weekend? Or perhaps some great ideas? I’d like to know if you want to share …

This was a great and full week here at SnackTools … we are working on two new products, searching for amazing ideas to redesign the logos and staying in touch with our members.

And found some blog posts worth sharing with you. See how colors can make or break your design, rules for newbie designers or experienced folks that want to refresh their memory regarding this subject.

A short post for everyone that it’s valid any time, 5 step plan from a marketer we admire, Seth Godin.

Learn how hospitality businesses, big or small use social media to get in contact with their clients, to tell stories, to offer support and make their business grow.  I like to read examples of success stories and how other people made it in the crowded “world” of internet connections. You can extend the lessons from this article to your business or personal brand.

Now I will let you view a nice collection of photos, to bring a smile to your face. Hope it will. Just a few hints … night, colors, sky, sounds … click here to see it.

Hugs

We want to add something fresh to our identity. And since the world is full of ideas and smart people, we thought we could ask for help to redesign the logos of our applications.

So we started a $750 prize contest on the popular 99designs.com. Since the contest started, 236 designs were submitted, some of them very close to what we think would suit our apps…  some of them not so close. Until now, from all of them, these two are our favorites:

But there are plenty more here that are worth considering.

Which one do you think is the “perfect one”? We would love to hear your opinion.

As you can see, there are two more SnackTools: QuizSnack – online poll & survey software and TubeSnack – flash video player for the web. We are working on them right now, but I’ll tell you more about them in a different article.

One more important thing before I end this blog post: Do you have skills in design? Or perhaps you know a great designer that could add his ideas to this project? Submit a logo for each of our products here. There’s still time for you: 5 more days. If your design gets to be chosen, you will win the 750$. You already know our products and this is a big asset in my opinion.

Thanks for being here, have a great weekend! Don’t forget to tell us which one you’d choose.

How was your weekend? Mine was more than great and I was thinking what theme should I pick for this Tuesday. I chose birds, because they are simply beautiful. Enjoy this piece of nature!

Template name: Horizontal flip (free template), size 500 x 400px, perfect for a blog. You can view this photo slide show in a different page.

Image credits:

1. Barb’s Photos2006; 2. Nature55; 3. Escape Goat; 4. Birds of the South; 5. ~Bron~ “Very Busy”; 6. Anjoudiscus; 7. FoNgEtZ; 8. Tinyfishy; 9. Ása B; 10. JacquiT; 11. Tr1307; 12. DansPhotoArt; 13. Steve.nichols2008; 14. Tadeu Segundo; 15. A wing and a prayer.

Lovely photos, don’t you think?

Time for some Friday goodies to end the week well! This is what I want to share with you:

A collection of websites from where you can learn something new every day… Sites loaded with “how to” videos, podcasts and articles describing how things are made or how you can create them, step by step. Very handy I think.

How to write an article that draws thousands of readers is a question I often have in mind. As a reader you probably know what draws your attention: empowerment, specific tips and minefield warnings. The article is a great reminder of what you should blog about to help your audience.

Need some guidelines for your web design projects? WebDesignerDepot wrote an excellent article with trends for 2010. Let me name a few: big headings, Serif fonts, massive white space, clean illustrations. Did I make you curious? You should go and check them and the examples too.

Are you a local business? Or perhaps you know someone interested in this kind of information: how to get free advertising on Google using Google Maps.

To end the post, I’ll leave you with some pretty pictures.

***Image credits Serni

Since we heard a lot of questions and answers about what’s going to happen to the Web after the restrictive moves that Apple has made, we felt that somebody neutral to this cold war needs to shed some light on the issue.

We think Flash can’t just fade out like some have insinuated. Moreover, Flash is going to rule the next decade. Here’s a list of 10 reasons why:

Click here to read the 10 reasons

Hi there, time for some new useful links to end this week in a good mood. How was your week? We are still working on banner templates, as I told you a few days ago.

Let me get straight to the subject, to tell you what I found that’s worth checking. Smashing Magazine shares 20 fresh free fonts for your design projects. It became a habit for them to post great collections of fonts, so I’m sure that if you browse through their archive you’ll find what you need.

Need some examples on how to use photos in web design to make a statement? Six Revision thought about this subject and wrote a nice blog post this week. Check it out.

You’re a web designer… a client comes to you with a picture and tells you that he wants the feeling from that picture into his web layout. What do you? Well… you could check out what others did and read the tips published on Noupe -  How to turn anything into a website design. Smart!

Here is a list of free desktop applications that can help you if you have  a small business. Let me name a few: Jing, for easy print screens that you can share instantly, TweetDeck for Twitter, Skype, the familiar communication tool and others. I’ll let you discover them. A good alternative for desktop apps are online tools that you can access from any computer, besides you don’t have to download anything. Which one you rather prefer: desktop or online apps?

Very interesting story about a 28 years old copywriter that landed the job of his dreams using Google AdWords. How did he do it? Well, knowing that people sometimes google themselves, he chose the names of the five creative directors he most admired and made a Google AdWords campaign with their names as keywods.. And got their attention. Brilliant, don’t you think?

That’s it nice guys. Till next week, have fun and charge your batteries!

*** Image credits Lesbru

Do you like black and white photos? I do … a lot. That’s why I picked some gorgeous images for today’s slide show. I found them on Flickr, told you that I like to “take a walk” there.

Enjoy the slide show and make one with your photos, you’ll have a lot of fun.

Template name: Classic thumb-view (paid template), size: 500 x 400 px. The same photo slide show is available in a bigger size, on a different page, just like a portfolio would look like. Find it here.

Image credits:

1. C@rljones; 2. NeTTa; 3. Doberdad; 4. Kotsifi; 5. Pure Warrior Maiden; 6. Hans Heemsbergen; 7. Gorbot; 8. Andrew Withey; 9. Holie*d4; 10. Diego Humboldt; 11. Malindi; 12. Danshill; 13. Mcilrathf; 14. Almotasim; 15. ɿəxıdɿɐəɹun’s