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October 2009
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PEREGRINE ASSOCIATES
(215) 343-2499
(215) 343-4895 FAX
info@peregrineassociates.com
Showroom:
968 Easton Road
Warrington PA 18976
Mailing:
PO Box 721
Warrington PA 18976
www.PeregrineAssociates.com
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 From the nest
Greetings!
Summer's gone and the holidays are sneaking up fast. I'm sure there's a wise old saying about time moving faster and faster as we get older. I'd love to learn of some wise old words that tell us how to slow things down! Well, while working on this month's editorial, I did some research -- yes, on the Internet. As my daughters keep telling me, if you see it on a website, it must be true! So here are some ways to slow life down: - Drink a cup of tea, put your feet up and stare idly out of the window. Warning: Do not attempt this while driving.
- Yawn often. Medical studies have shown lots of things, and possibly that yawning may be good for you.
 Spend more time in bed. You have a better chance of cultivating your dreams (not your aspirations.)- Avoid too much seriousness. Laugh, because you're alive on earth for a limited time only.
- Rake the fall leaves into a great big pile, then go ahead, jump on in!
If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear from you. I tried to slow down my summer without much luck. Maybe I can learn to slow down the holidays to make them last longer. I love the holidays, I'm sentimental that way, don't ya know. Happy Haunting...Happy Halloween! | |
Wearables 
Hugme Blanket
The blanket to snuggle up in while leaving your hands free. This is the perfect holiday gift to remind clients or employees about your company on those cold winter nights.
· Made with super soft fleece
· Super large sleeve for freedom
· Contrasting whip stitching
· Available in adult and youth sizes
· Color options include burgundy, red, cobalt blue, camel, green, black, pink, navy or brown. Youth sizes available in cobalt blue, pink or lavender
12 @ $18.99 24 @ $17.75 48 @ $15.99
Pricing based on 10,000 stitches. Does not include digitizing of artwork or shipping and handling.
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Ad Specialties
The Deluxe Weekly Planner
This 128 page weekly planner will help your staff, clients and friends keep their new year organized.
 · A full year's planning... ONE WEEK
AT A TIME
· 2 Year Reference Calendar
· Holidays
· Advanced Planning
· Address-Telephone Directory
· Special Dates to Remember
· Weights & Measures
· Calorie Counter
· His & Her Apparel Sizes
· First Aid Tips
· 5" Standard & metric rulers
· Automobile Business Mileage Summary
· Travelling Distance
· Extra Pages for Notes
Available in black, burgundy, hunter green or navy with an imprint in gold, silver or white.
100 @ $2.09 250 @ $2.05 500 @ $2.00
Does not include set up fee or shipping and handling.
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Printing 
Greeting Cards
Greeting Cards can be the perfect thank you cards, birthday cards, or invitation to your grand opening or party. With the holiday season approaching, why not consider a totally personalized greeting card for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah or New Years.
These cards are a standard size of 10" X 7" and include full color printing on both front and back allowing you to be totally creative. The front of the card is a high gloss and scoring is included
100 @ $127 250 @ $199 500 @ $253
Design and layout as well as envelopes are not included. Shipping additional.
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Learning to Fly
Another month has flown by and October is almost halfway over. Now is a great time to think about planning for 2010. Calendars and monthly planners are a useful way to keep your name in front of your customers and associates. Last year I heard a number of people comment that the local banks and stores were no longer supplying them with complimentary calendars and they were looking for a new source to keep their schedules in order. Why not provide this organizational opportunity to them. I encourage you to place your orders in October so that you can be distributing these by December 1.
Make sure you look at this month's Sales and Specials newsletter due to arrive on October 15. This issue will feature wall calendars, pocket planners, etc. Take advantage of these specials and keep your clients and employees organized in 2010.
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Marketing University 
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
The newest buzz word on the Internet, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) provides the steps you need to take to help keep your website at the top of search engines.
In years past, it was enough to provide up to thirty key words/metatags that people would use to search for your services on engines like Google and Yahoo. But these search engines have changed the rules recently. Here's a quick list of what needs to be done:
- Now, you need only about 5 metatags PER WEB PAGE directly relating to the content on that specific page. These should be hand-submitted.
- You should become an expert in your field on related blogs. But, don't try and sell your services on the blog or you may get kicked off.
- White papers (articles touting your expertise) should be posted on websites, blogs and forums.
- The content on your page needs to highlight your services and match your metatags.
- Social networking through sites like FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.
- Videos should be uploaded to sites like YouTube.
- Get your website listed on other websites and return the favor
In essence, what you are doing, is getting your domain name posted as often as you can. So the above, along with a list of other things you need to do, will help get your website listed in the top ten of search engine results.
In the next couple of months, Peregrine Associates will be hosting table top seminars on Search Engine Optimization. So look for those announcements. Of course, if you need information before then, give us a call!
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Doylestown Wealth Management, Inc.
267-864-2000
DWM provides expert financial advice for both individuals and corporations in areas including investments, retirement plans, trust funds, estate planning and so much more. In today's economy, it's nice to say that they've been quite busy because they do offer that personal service lacking in today's market place. And we'd like to announce they have just moved into their own building located at 165 West Ashland Street in the heart of historical Doylestown PA!
We've worked with Michael Mattie from the inception, designing their logo to creating and printing their business stationery and other marketing materials. And, we're very proud to say we've just been given the go-ahead to create their new and exciting website! We'll be highlighting that in a future Flights of the Peregrine.
So, if you are in need of personal financial service, give Doylestown Wealth Management a call: 267-864-2000.
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Business Cards 
Warrington Fire Department -- Station Cards for Open House
The Warrington Fire Department needed something unique for their open house this year. They set up four 'stations' where kids could learn about fire prevention. As each station was completed, they would get their Station Card punched. When all four were completed, they would turn in their card for a chance to win a great prize!
To keep things simple and inexpensive, we decided to use rounded-cornered, full-color business cards. The fronts are glossy to make the colors and logo 'punch' and the back of the cards are matte finished so you can write on it with a regular ball-point pen. And, instead of plain boxes for punching, we made them maltese crosses.
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Graphics/Design/Layout
Reflections
As you can see in the photo at right, it looks like the tumbler is actually sitting on a reflective surface. But, that wouldn't make much of an article on graphics design if  it was that simple!
In the steps below, you can see how it's done!
#1) Drop in a picture of your item making sure the background is knocked out.
#2) Add a color background that compliments the photo, keep it light.
#3) The second photo shows the image flipped vertically and placed behind the original--there's no gap between the two bases.
#4) In the third photo, you'll see we've created a gradation of the 'mirrored' image from strong at the base to none as we go down, the image was also lightened to 80% and a drop shadow below/behind the main image was also added.
As you can see, the final image looks real...thanks to a bit of Graphic Magic!
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Digital Photography
Part 2: Aperture
The 'film' of a camera receives pictures as dots: light to dark as well as hues of colors. But too much light and the photo is washed out, too little and we lose detail in the shadows.
We control the amount of light through the aperture and shutter. To help you understand this better, think of light as water through a hose filling a bucket.
- Aperture is the lens opening [think of it as the iris to your eye that opens when it's dark and closes as it gets lighter]. How wide or narrow the 'hose' is determines how much water gets into the bucket.
- Shutter is the length of time the water is allowed to flow through the hose.
The combination of these two makes sure the bucket fills with the right amount of water. Too much aperture/too long a shutter speed and the bucket overflows. Too little aperture/very quick shutter doesn't allow enough water in. How do we know the perfect combination? Cameras come with meters.
So why not always have the same combination of shutter/aperture? Because sometimes you want to control one aspect over another. Today, we'll talk about controlling the Aperture.
The aperture allows us to control what is called the Depth-Of-Field (DOF). This is the area of a picture -- in front of and behind your subject -- that is in focus. A smaller aperture offers greater DOF, a larger one narrows it. This is at a ratio of 1:2: meaning for every unit of measure (inches, feet, meters, etc.) in front of your subject that's in focus, there are 2 units behind also in focus.
Being able to control the DOF is tremendous. Say you're photographing someone standing in front of a very busy background (building, trees, etc.). If you have a narrow DOF, the background becomes blurry focusing the eyes to the subject's portrait. Or, if you're shooting a flower and only want a portion of it in focus, control that through the aperture. Or, think how many times at the zoo you wanted a close up of the polar bears. Now, instead of jumping the wall like the lady on YouTube, you could adjust the DOF so the fence is out of focus. Now you can get a great shot of the bear eating that tourist!
So, how do you do this? You need to read your camera's manual to see if you have what is called Manual or Aperture Priority modes. Then practice adjusting the aperture and view the results. In the old days of film, that meant shooting lots of rolls and waiting for the pictures to come back. Today, it's instant!
Next month: Shutter Speed
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 World Wide Web
Loving Arms Elder Care 267-895-1723
A new company, a new website. Loving Arms Elder Care provides non-medical home care for the elderly with a concentration on providing those services which best maintain their optimal lifestyle. After researching other senior market websites, it was determined that most of those were too busy, making the visit very confusing. So it was our intent to keep this site simple and easy to navigate.
One section that is unique is the services page. Here, we added a side bar of buttons, each has the name of a specific service. Click on one and the right side changes explaining that service with brief copy and bullet points. And to keep the site warm and friendly, we include photographs throughout.
If you're looking for elder care that will not only meet, but exceed your expectations, look no further. Give Aimee Read a call at 267-895-1723 or visit her website today! And don't forget to tell her where you learned about Loving Arms Elder Care!
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Final Thoughts...
I don't want to go to school
A mother repeatedly called upstairs for her son to get up, get
dressed and get ready for school. It was a familiar routine, especially at exam
time.
"I feel sick," said the voice from the bedroom.
"You are not sick. Get up and get ready," called the mother, walking
up the stairs and hovering outside the bedroom door.
"I hate school and I'm not going," said the voice from the bedroom,
"I'm always getting things wrong, making mistakes and getting told off. Nobody
likes me, and I've got no friends. And we have too many tests and they are too
confusing. It's all just pointless, and I'm not going to school ever
again."
"I'm sorry, but you are going to school," said the mother through
the door, continuing encouragingly, "Really, mistakes are how we learn and
develop. And please try not to take criticism so personally. And I can't
believe that nobody likes you - you have lots of friends at school. And yes,
all those tests can be confusing, but we are all tested in many ways throughout
our lives, so all of this experience at school is useful for life in general."
"Besides, you have to go, you are the principal."
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