The best kind of logo, in my opinion, is one which relies on an image or shape to convey the company or brand. I would call it archetypal communication.

Above is an amalgam of five of the most famous of such symbols (actually four, the fifth is from a text logo!), can you spot where they’re from? Answers in comments, please.

One of a graphic designer’s most sacred unwritten rules is to not misrepresent or distort a company’s logo in anyway. Whoopse! Well, kids, don’t try this at home!

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
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The above picture is made from 17 logos of the most famous brands in the world.

The question is very simple: which letter comes from which logo? Please leave your answers in the comments section of this post.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

How many famous faces can you spot, who are they, what’s the background they’re superimposed on?

I did this to illustrate an article I wrote commenting on the music industry. I used paths, marquees with a feather of two pixels and a brush eraser with a hardness of 0% to cut out the heads. It’s usually best to go for a layer blend mode of Hard Light or Linear Light with an opacity of 80 to 90%, or Normal with an opacity of 60 to 70%. The idea is to be able to see the layer on top and what underneath it equally to merge two images.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
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Feel free to put your answers in the comments section.

• What is it? (OK – that’s easy)
• Where is it?
• Who designed it?
• What and where is the hidden object (only one)?
• What is the relevance of the hidden object?
• What is the relevance of the image to this site?

Easy?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Something a bit different. Here’s a quiz for you. Can you tell me …

• Where was this picture taken?
• Of what?
• What country’s flag is shown flying towards the centre of the picture?
• What is the connection between the flag and the picture?

Answers as comments, please. The winner gets absolutely nothing just a whole load of kudos.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Other games of this type are Jewel Quest and Ouba. Jewel Quest has a sort of Indiana Jones theme and involves matching artifacts and proceeding along an archaeological quest and is quite good. Ouba, on the other hand, has dreadful game play and although looks quite good is slow and clunky and should be avoided. Turning down graphics quality and switching sound effects off improves game play a little bit.

All these games available from Big Fish.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Using Flash and Photoshop to create beautiful scenes, hidden object games are an ideal distraction for relaxed gamers.

Here are four I got from Big Fish Games at $20 a go.

Three of them are in the Mystery Case Files series: Huntsville, Prime Suspects and Ravenhearst. Ravenhearst is definitely the best. Set in a Victorian English country house, it has some great point and click puzzles at the end of the hidden object rounds as well as an engrossing ghost story running through it. See below.

Paris 360º, however, is a different kettle of fish. Set in modern Paris, gamers can drag through panoramas of the French capital and surrounding châteaux. Sounds and looks good, unfortunately there is too much repetition of scenes and objects and soon gets boring.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Not only can you see art for free at Tate Britain, you can also get some just down the road. On the left you can see Locking Piece (1963) by Henry Moore on Millbank right by the river between Vauxhall bridge and Tate Britain. And on the other side of the road there’s Jeté by Enzo Plazzotta (1975). Nice!

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

The first three, Tumblebugs, Zuma and Luxor have the same addictive but stressful gameplay – shooting coloured balls making matches of three or more to destroy them. The fourth, Incredible Ink, is less stressful and involves drawing in ink to move a bouncing ball through various obstacles.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon
Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.