NOTE: GDB and I (as a mere individual) do not endorse or receive payment for posting any contest listed on this site. You are responsible to discover whether the contest is bogus or legitimate. You are responsible for your own judgment. You are the one who will not come back to me to say that I’m in hot water for leading you by the nose to enter any given contest. I am here merely for your convenience, and that fact alone should thrill your socks off.

I (as in Linda Goin) am an active writer, journalist, poet, graphic designer, and fine artist with an undergraduate degree in visual communications and a graduate degree in history. My ‘hobbies’ include international travel, culture, mycology, and fiber arts. My twenty-five-year-plus writing career includes thirteen Colorado Press Association awards for journalism, a series of articles and a book about visual communications, Website accessibility issues (see below), and an upcoming book on Photoshop CS2 tips for DMXZone.com. I’ve also contributed over two hundred and fifty articles for BuyandHold’s weekly financial column, “Mom Chronicles,” and I’m a monthly contributor to Better Investing Magazine.

While my education, career, and interests may seem disparate, my underlying focus is on how people generate ideas, how they communicate their thoughts, and how they eventually put their ideas into practice. To this end, artists and designers play a pivotal role in how people utilize form to function within their daily lives. No matter if the art or design is about painting, architecture, or Websites - the form functions (in direct opposition to Dada) in some way or another for any individual who encounters that form (Let’s hear an argument for “non-function” as a “function”!).

For the past four years I’ve been bogged down with my college pursuits, but I hope to put this site to good use once again. Over those four years, WordPress has met various technological challenges to produce a fine format for Websites (Jeffrey Zeldman likes it, so I’m happy). Other individuals have created all sorts of plug-ins to help the Webmaster create a site with more content, more relevant content, and ways to offer readers an opportunity to gain as much information as possible about a given topic through a content-rich site. I hope to take you to the best in design, graphics, and the basics of both through this site and links to other pertinent sites.

Contact Information

Well, the spam has dwindled, so I’m about ready to face another onslaught with new filters, etc. blah blah. You can contact me at graphic AT graphicDESIGNbasics dot com or just leave a comment after any post on this site which contains a comment box after you’ve registered. Comments are moderated before they’re posted, so expect a delay between your first post and its appearance.

Latest Books

My last publications are e-books available only at DMXZone.com, where I contribute weekly articles on design:

I wrote Photoshop CS2: Take the Photoshop Express e-Book for beginning or intermediate Photoshop users. Get the most out of Photoshop using step-by-step tutorials. The book is divided into four major Parts. In the first part you jump aboard the Photoshop Express. This train takes you into the world of Photoshop CS2 to show you how to alter reality. After that you move on and learn more about the common Photoshop CS2 tools. In the next part the scenery around the Photoshop Express changes with the use of fantastic filters! Finally the Photoshop Express reaches his destination, time to put your theory in practice. Happy Photoshopping!

Design for Web Developers: Colour and Layout for the Artistically Overwhelmed, was written for Web developers who know a lot about code, but who don’t know how to deal with the Golden Rule layout. The articles contained within this book center on all the elements and principles of design, including color, balance, rhythm, and unity.

Design and Accessibility is a book filled with articles that I wrote for DMX about Web design and accessibility issues. This book was written as the PAS 78 was made public, which makes it relevant to today’s issues.

Other Sites

• Fanatic Attack - a site for and about all sorts of fanatics and fanatic obsessions. Russell Ossendryver and I started this site when we realized that obsessives - like birds of a feather - seem to flock together.
• Fungifest - a site for and about mushroom festivals, conferences, and all things mycological.
• Quiltshome - a site for quilters, with events, shows, competitions, and a focus on fiber arts.
• Goinhome - This was my graphic design site many years ago, but now I use it to focus on my love for Virginia history.
• Coffee Bean Shop - a site for coffee lovers and for writers who like to write about coffee.
• James River Genealogy - a new site intended to hold tons of research that I conducted in the James River, Virginia area over the past five years.