I once had an Art Director who nicknamed me “Eagle Eye.” She often asked me to look over her color proofs before she released them to the printer. This was before design was done on computers, when any last minute change could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to make. While it is always good practice to have a second set of eyes review any work before it goes to press, my keen ability to spot things that are out-of-place is not always as appreciated in other areas of my life.

I went to see the movie  “Julie & Julia” yesterday with my husband. What a great movie! One of the main characters is American chef, author and television personality, Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep. Throughout the movie, 6’ 2” Julia competely dwarfs her husband and her unusual height is an issue many times. The studio went to great lengths to create this important visual effect with Streep, who is only 5” 6”. All was going well until the end of the movie, that’s when I noticed the pair of five-inch heels Streep/Julia was wearing while cooking at her stove! When Julia’s husband, played by actor Stanley Tucci, walked to her side, I also noted that he is five inches shorter than Streep/Julia in those heels….hmm. Now the movie has lost it’s “detail” credibility with me.

Don’t lose your credibility over the details. When working with photos never “flip” photos if they contain:

• Buttons. Men’s clothes button left over right and women’s clothes button right over left. Flip the image and they will be buttoned for the wrong gender.

• Trademark moles and scars. Cindy Crawford’s mole is always on her left, if the image is flipped it moves to the right and weakens her brand.

• Wedding rings. Traditionally worn on the left hand, rings will be on the right hand if the photo is flipped.

The secret really is in the details—and they do make a difference.

Image facing correctly on the left. Image facing incorrectly on the right.

Recently I read about a coupon that could be downloaded from a company’s Facebook fan page. Since I suffer from a  “keeping up with the Jones” mentality when it comes to technology, I wanted to distribute coupons, too.

After doing some research, I discovered Wildfire Promotion Builder, an easy-to-use web application that allows designers to create interactive Facebook campaigns. To add to my excitement, I learned that it was much more than coupons—it was also contests and sweepstakes! My head began to spin…the more I learned, the more I had to have it, both to draw traffic to my Facebook fan page and to offer promotions via Facebook to my clients.

I signed up for the free version and installed it onto my fan page. Now I had it and victory was mine! What to do, what to do… I know—what better way to work out all the kinks than to take it for a test drive? Thus, the “Komjati Design FRESH CASH Giveway” was born.

Today is the third day of the sweepstakes and it has had a few touch-and-go moments. Moments that made me glad it was my own personal project. Like the first day when the Promotions tab completely disappeared from my fan page. I removed the Boxes tab, posted the promotion again and all was right in my world, whew!