OK! So some of you may have noticed that there’s some new shiny bits up top (wow, that sounds weird as I re-read it but I’ll leave it in for comedic effect). It’s true, I finally got around to nerdifying the blog even more. Thanks to my awesome Photoshop “skills” I managed to get this halfway decent header image. (I don’t have Photoshop or Photoshop skills. If I had MS Paint on my computer I would have done it in MS Paint.) It doesn’t match with the teal color of some of the text but I don’t care. I like it.
In honor of shiny things, I wanted to share a few websites that I’ve discovered lately that I’ve been using for library purposes. They are also just pretty cool so you can use them for other, non-library related fun.
First up is PicMonkey which is a photo editor. It’s fun because you can make your teeth really white and erase all of your acne scars but they have all sorts of fun themes and filters you can play with, too. My favorite theme is the one that they released around Halloween that lets you turn pictures of you and your loved ones into zombies!
My boyfriend said this picture makes him sad because he doesn’t want me to be a zombie. I think it’s awesome. Library-wise you could have a program where you zombify your pictures or use it in promotions for a program.
Next is the Pulp-O-Mizer which is a template tool that lets you create ridiculous pulp fiction style book covers with spaceships, monsters, steampunk goggle girls, and lots of other lurid sci-fi stuff. Here’s something I threw together quickly as a teaser for the summer reading program this year which is called, “Beneath the Surface,” and has lots of sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk, and underground-themed tie-ins. (It also has some pretty cheesy unicorn imagery on the posters and T-shirts, but that’s a post for another day.)
Lastly, we have QRHacker. I was searching the web looking for a good QR code generator today and I saw a review from Wired magazine listing this one. It’s fun because you can insert images into the code, change the colors, and make other modifications and they still take your mobile device to the website. Here’s one that I made that, once the site is live, will take you to our library’s big year long program commemorating the Civil War:
It’s not fine art, but it’s at least more interesting than your regular QR code (blue and gray! Honest Abe!).
So there are my fun internet picks for the week. And did I mention all of these sites are free? That’s the best part. I’m off to finish The Perks of Being a Wallflower for teen book group tomorrow. It creeps me out a lot that it was one of my friend’s favorite books in high school and I know I’m reading it with high schoolers who were born around the same time that it was published. Oh well.
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