₦airaland Forum

Em, we have discussed this some time in the past and I see that we are going to fall into the very same trap that people fall into when this topic come up. Globally, photoshop is the most used graphic suite.There was a time corel was in but they lost and it and I think they have sold the company to some investors who are trying to reinvent it.

The answer- It is a question of how good you are and which divide you fall into- a techie in a creative world or a creative using technology. A lot of the photoshop disciples I know ( a lot- not all) are in the former group. They are taken in by the many effects of Adobe's graphic suite and do not have an eye for concepts ( which is the bottomline) A well trained creative will use either and get results. He is not dependent of the pre determined capabilities of the software but his ability to think! So, it is not the software. If you aint got ideas, the best software wont bail you out! what you will just do is to dazzle the uninformed with one or two effects of images. But then, the guy in the business centre in shomolu can do that too.

Designing involves a whole lot more than the software you adopt. It involves a strong sense of colour combination, understanding typeface( not fonts!) balance( symmetry) copies. prepress (especially in these days when everything in coming in Rgb and offset printers are in CMYK) and the koko of it all THE CONCEPTS.

I have had the 'misfortune' of being trained on a corel but all my images are treated in Photoshop. Most of the clients we retain respect our concept and that my friends should be your focus-except you are designing to impress your friends!

The lads tried o! Considering the kind of preparation they had. Also, the team must become very comfortable with playing together confidently. I Really appreciate Vogts for arranging these matches before the  world cup. Its great!

I am not a very critical person but I must agree  with everyone that Taiy Taiwo has a challenge playing a against skillful and fast players, especially when they realise that he uses just one leg very well. I am beginning to think that he is one of those players that are deemed 'uncoachable''

For Mikel, he did not do that badly. Mikel flourishes  with a very mobile team. He is a one touch gut-not an Okocha that will carry the midfield on his back.His going to Chelsea accentuated that! He is a great lad and once we can get a very confifdent midfield that  wont give him extra burden, he will vome good! He is good! I wish he was in the eagle sin the days of Okocha. Mikel is a coaches dream;players who keep the team moving in  any chosen direction.

I watched their three matches and the last match against the USA was their best. They were very horrible against the Koreans. These girls are a victim of a sports system that was built on commemoration rather than development. The fight between the NFA and the NFL is an example.

The NFA is run by people who should have a court order restraining them from coming near anything administration.They are a clueless lot!

@I-man,

what was the rationale behind your response? Did you watch the match at all or you are just one of those who like to
abuse Nigeria?

Dealing with the police is very psycological. And it is the understanding of that psycology that will make them leave you alone. Policemen(hate ) and fear lawyers or people who know the law. Act like the Honourable minister is your sibling without mentioning any name and as long as your papers are in order, they will leave you alone. Policemen hate anything that has to do withy the courts! I have never been arrested as long as I have the basic papers to show them. And none has been bold enough to demand any form of bribe from me too! They want to but everytime, we are both playing the psycological game. All my actions speak I know my rights and I know your limitation without abusing them or raising my voice. They hate that and they keep wondering who you are as they rerturn your documents to you and ask you to go.

Policemen reralt stop vehicles with NBA stickers or those new peugeot cars given to military officers.

I really think that this DStv thing is overrated. A young Nigerian is bold enuf to pay for the rights of the premiership-which BTW is the mainstay of pay TV in Nigeria,not films( we no get dvd player?) or other channels. and all we are talking about is the fact that Dstv is better than it. In mu area, a guy operates a viewing centre and he was very adamant with his Dstv is better thing until last week. Dstv gave them an impression that the status quo is maintained and they all were disappointed. The man is back in business after installing his HItv.

I have followed the development of the Hitv thing for some time and I applaud it because as I said in my earlier posts, it is all about our development as a people. It just begins to trickle in just to tell Nigerians that we can do it too. Many people criticized the palms years ago but look at the success that it has become. Soon others will join in.

what every Nigerian who has a business with Nigeria should desire is that Hitv like any Nigerian driven initiative should succeed. If it does as I know it will, it says a lot about what we are capable of as a people. I know that many a class conscious people will feel that pay TV is now becoming common place through Hitv but I am interested in what it will do to our economy.

The people in Hitv are bringing channels television to a 24 hours local news channels. They have talked to LTV Lagos to create a 24 hours Yoruba channel and Ovation is creating a Unique Nigerian Society Channel. All these coming from the money that we pay, which used to go to South Africa(mostly).

I know that on this site there are main people who have given up on anything good coming out from Nigeria but let it be on record that some people have the guts to dare to make a difference.That is what Hitv means to me. I don't know the owners but as Long as they have Faith enuf to do this, they have my support.

Their Md was in the media apologising for the arsenal match too. Was really upset about the fact that matches may be unstable until they get it right but Hitv is good for our economy; at least we can use what Nigerians pay to develop our media the way the Hitv folks have planned it. It is a young guy trying to make something work in Naija. There will behitches here and there but they will eventually get it right!

I will be getting one next week. personally, I will always support folks who have enough faith to do something worthwhile. We can rely on a south African company to be the leading light in our pay tv. It is just not the right thing! It is not a class thing of Dstv versus Hitv. It is we and them. That is the way I see it!

Ordinarily, I would not have posted to a topic ike this But I am scandalised by the conduct of so many people here. The fact is that a bridge has collapsed; people have suffered misfortune and it is being celebrated as an act that proves that America is also as bad as Nigeria. Peopple have died from this tragic incident and that should be unuf reason for remorse. I may not agree with the policies of teh Ameriacn government on all fronts or teh way some Nigerians based abroad constantly condemn Nigeria but that has nothingto do with the lives of the people lost-in America or anywhere in teh world.

Show some respect people!

My niece came home last week and said KAI(Kick against Indiscipine) officers were arresting girls in Yaba for their dressing. I did not belive it until I sw this post. I think that the people who have been so treated should take legal action against the government for a very tidy fee. The government agents are stepping outside their bounds. Much as I do not appreciate the dressence of some of our ladies these days, the problem is from the home and it is not the duty of government to be arresting people for the senual dressence or hairstyle. These fashion styles copied from the western media wholesale without filter (including so many folks on these site who cant engage in a simple discourse without resorting to the kinds of swear words you'd only here in hip hop videos)
that many feel that it is the 'in thing' In tha past, you will really be pervert to seek to see a woman's undies-now, it is satring one in the face anywhere and everywhere
A few years ago, Marwa did the same thing arresting people wearing a slit skirt called 'shaba' (named after dance ghall king Shaba Ranks);it did not stop anything. And for the governor who was so moral, was he not detained over stolen Abacha money? Those who are casting the stones should ensure they have no sins too o!

I have to skip so many posts to make this and I will just say that we dont need Oprah to tell us that Nigerians. There are enuf Nigerians on sites like this who will help her.There are many who have believed that they are corrupt naturally because they are Nigerians. There are threads on this site to proof it!

Oprah is just guilty of a certain kind on ignorance helped by miseducation more than education. For the negative Nigerians that the international media bring the spotlight on, there are many times more who are dilligent and truthful, who are no different from other Americans or any other Nationality for that matter.

IT is for the sake of these group that I say Oprah is wrong. THis country will come out of all these. You cannot insult a generation of people because of the activity of a few. I see many hip hop artistes build their music empire on the use of female bodies but it will be stupid to assume that every Ameriacn man is like that! That is what Oprah has done. I dont blame her. She owes me nothing! It is the people put here who will use their mouth and agree with her that I feel sorry for.

I can imagine what you must have gone thru. I had a similar experience like this and the amount was 20 thousand. I use GTBank and had gone to their Bode Thomas branch after trying out at the Adeniran Ogunsanya branch of First bank, both In surulere, I checked the print out and it said I had withdrawn the said amount while it did not give me any money.

I called my branch in Broad Street, where one Eba or something took it up, tracing the transfer from Their branch to Interswitch and then finally to Bode Thomas, where the fault was finally discovered.According to the findings, the money was debited but a problem during the giving out of the cash caused the problem and so my money was in limbo,rtechnically out of my account and not yet in my hand. Anyway, Bode Thomas looked into it and paid as soon as the findings were done. It took about five days or so.

So, methinks your money is witgh one of those banks. Interswitch will be able to tell which of them will do the  payment. I will suggest you call customer service of your bank, since you are using GtBank. Thay will get to the root of it. Thats what I did. I do know that my case was an issue in that brach cos I put alot of pressure on the CS person who escalated it and they had to deal wity it as soon as they can.

Yes there were a few hiccups here and there but it was not as bad as the some peoiple made it sound. The setting up of the stage took to much time and the two day event had to be compressed into one day. At least, they were able to manage it and as theyu say, the show goes on.

AS per Kelly, things like this happen and it could have been amywhere- even in America. Did Beyonce not fall from a rope that was supposed to keep suspended. These guys tried their best to give Nigerians a good show. They need our support and good criticism-not condemnation and the oppurtunity to do some Naija bashing that is the hallmark of Nairaland when issues like this come up.

My pont really is that music evolves. I am not a fan of Hip hop, neither am I into the Hip hop artistes you mentioned. I only know about them because really they are in my face because of the nature of my job. My point is the knowledge of Nigerians and the kinds of music that is acceepted. Obvioussly, you have your facts about Rock music and their performance Outside Nigeria My point is that you do not carry that enthusiasm into Naija. We are totally different people. Because you like it does not make everyone do teh same. I ike U2 for other reasons apart from their music. Rock In Naija? I really doubt its success.


Music is evolving. thats why the raggae artistes who called the shots yesterday may not sell an album today excepot they change.MJ used to be the king. Can we compare his last album sale to 'thriller'? All those dance steps and crotch grabbing may be vintage michael Jackson, ith the emphasis on Vintage. True music must be integrated into contemporary culture. Hip hop is not just about music but a lifestyle( Roca wear,G Unit, Jay Z) these guys aint the most talented singers but they can rap and are roie model for so many young people. Tomorrow, it may evolve into something else.

On a very serious note, I think that we must balance our enthusiasm with some reason. The Rock- hard metal screaming - genre is not altogether in anymore. Even U2 engages in collabos and there is no rock artiste that is reckoned with in the mainstream that does not mix it up a bit. Music genrates its own culture!The rock culture and all that it represent has drifted away. The children of the people who listen to Rock are into hip hop( a huge white population), maybe to proof that there father's time is over as well as to say that the world has changed.

I wish you luck as you go on with this endeavour but evaluate your enthusiasm!Nigerians are straight forward people. I have seen peple who defy this and they got their fingers burnt. Oh and fadabasi tried rock. guess the song he was known with? The 'Abasi Aya ya 'song used in the FCMB advert!

Rock? Nigerians? There is a difference btw appreciating it because MTv shows it and actually liking it.I think if you can put guns to the majority of people's head, they will fill the hall.

Has anyone notuced that anytime there is a debate about how things are in Naija and how they are abroad, people generally dig trenches? THis post has been enlightening for me but I dont think people in the Uk are stingy. They prolly have bills to pay. I have loads of friends in the Uk and a few in the US but our relationship is based on mutual respect we have for one another and not how our locations have changed our status.

The issue really is the quality of friendship you share. I have a good friend in South Africa who texts me very regularly and call from time to time. She was in Naija last year and all of us loaded her with stuffs when she was going back to Jo burg;stuffs she cant get easily back there including Nigerian Cds and things like that.

We spent money of the relationship because we all know that if the relationship were the other way, She'd do the same way. Does she feel better than any of us? No!! And I really do think that things should be seen in that context.

This is the lesson: If the people in your social network are not developing as you are, they will become a burden to you later on in life.It does not matter where you are! Make sure you help your friends with the oppurtunities that will better them as they move along in life.They will not have cause to burden you. And realise that you cant be friends to everyone!

@the one, i really liked your post. it is very balanced and i will like to reiterate the fact that the problem is the kinds of relationship that exitsed between the callers and the one being called. i have no issues with my friends in the uk. i never ask them for anything and they have no cause to look down on me. most of our from naija even go there for holidays.

but it has been my observation the america based nigerians are doing better. A friend who travels regularly because of the nature of his work confirmed it. He sees all our freinds on both side of the Atlantic.

I currently bank with GTbank for my personal and business account. The only time I had an issue with them , it was solved promptly and I came to like the bank the more. I had paid in some money into my account in their Bode Thomas branch and wanted to collect it later at their Oba Akran branch only to find out that it had not been posted. I went to the Bode Thomas branch which was them close to my office to complain and you would have thought the guy who was doing the posting killed someone with the way one of the officers addressed him. His explaination that he had done it later fell on deaf ear. My colleague had to be begging on his behalf but the officer and everyone did not seem to budge as they felt everyone working knew the GTbank procedure that demnded that you post immediately.

That was the sole problem I have had with the bank with over three years of baning with them. I think the challenge with UBA (especially the Stb version) is too much customers. It appears to be the new people's bank. I sincerely dread going into any of their branches!

I have to agree with the last post. There are indeed a few good printing outfits in Naija. Most Agencies in Nigeria do their jobs here. What happens most times is that the contracts for some jobs are given to contarctors who know next to nothing about the printing they have recieved and so they end up with crap from some uninformed graphic artist in a business center!
Just a practical example; the magazine FOUR FOUR TWO is not shipped from SA in prints but printed i Nigeria even though the design is from SA. The quality is not compromised is any way!

@Rodent,

I totally agree with you and as you must have seen in my post, Photoshop is it but  we must not reduce these softwares to football teams we support. In the end -and this is my point- it is how they are used to achieve design or creative purposes that matter. I  know people who are so creative they'd shock you with what they can do with even the most unimaginative of software. Yes, photoshop is the global standard but in every of those design agency-and Nigeria agencies are affiliated to quite a few- the end is the creative productivity. No software will solve and idea or creative problem.

I personally use photoshop for images and colour when necessary but no client or colleague has ever questioned my creativity, which really is the crux of the matter and the only reason why clients are satisfied!

I think it is all a question of perspective. I have just finished a project using Corel draw. Photoshop seem to be the industry standard. It has been my experieance that if you are going to be working on images mainly, it is advisable you go on photoshop amd them try tp bring your image back to Corel if possible.

Also, much of what you do relies on other industry related tools like a pantone caliberator or similar tools if you will be working on prints. Colours, as they appear on the monitor-even using photoshop- can be very deceptive.A good print colur value guide will help solve that problem.

Photoshop is too techie and predetermined for the users. Corel more or less allows you to use your initiative. If you are more techie than creative, you will complain about the lack of extreme details that corel has in comparison with Photoshop. In the end however, it is your creativity that counts and not the software. I see these packages as canvas-you are the one who has to do the painting. This is where photoshop advocates miss it;they spend ages on the 'effects' that photoshop has and forget that it is the concept that drives design not the other way round.

summary: Will go for photoshop anyday. But if you are good in Corel, you can export your images to photoishop for treatment. As per clarity of print, get a good guide and check your colours values per CMYK.Just many routes to the same destination.

I have had to skip so many posts in order to make my contribution and this is it. For any individual to believe that about 99% of Nigerians are dubious and corrupt says so much about the mind of such individual. Apart from the fact that it is an insult to me personally as a Nigerian who does not belong to that assumed 99% grouping, for any young person with his future ahead of him to accept an identity that is not necessarily his or hers) is unfortunate.

We may have our challenges as a Nation and I will not be hypocritical to deny that but to define who we are and all we can possibly be by that is the tragedy. You may want to come across as being frank when you accept that identity and simply have it registered in your Psyche that you are part of a nation of thieves. When men of integrity gather in any forum and there is no door for you to leave, because you have aleday judged yourself, you will create a exit for yourself! Most of the what we will become starts from within us.If you have accepted that you are of a corrupt stock, you are not redeemable!

I think the point has been made by a few posts here and it all depends on what you wnat to do with the images you have from the camera. If you are going to be using the image on any platfrom that that5 is very large like a billboard or big banners, you may consider a higher pixel camera. You may not see the difference if you put two images from diffrent camera resolutions except you are using an application that allows you zoom into the image at a pixel level.

I think hat happens mostly is that people buy camera based on the mega pixels rather than the functional. For many, it is like buying the latest model of a car. I am working on a brochure on my laptop that filled with images that are barely a post card size but shot as if they they are going on a billboard. you can them imagine that just thirty pages of the book is alreday 1.5gigabyte!

I think my own perspective is for everyone of us to choose our friends very carefully.I have never traveled out of this country once and I have friends from my Uni days in the USA ans the UK. I have never asked for money before from anyone and I dont think every Nigerian is intimidated by our janded brothers.

It is all a question of perspective. My best friend's parents are in the USA courtesy a visa lottery in 2000 and everytime they come home, thier house is filled to the brim with people DAILY who have come to collect their share of the USA booty! When my friend(who could not go cos he was too old at that time) purchased a car very at about the time his folks came home, everyone though they bought it for him.

We have people in Nigeria who have simply condemened themselves to lack! I dont mean this as an attack but perhaps I have my own business and it is growing, I tend to look at Nigerians who have given up jobs to travel abroad with pity. What ever I need I can make happen.

The people who are asking for money from you have personal issues to deal with. You are not their God. Tell them to go earn their money!And do try and get friends that are not parasite.

It is known fact:productive people and needy never walk together! If those people are your friends with whom you share common values, if the tables were turned, you prolly will be asking them for money too and they will be asking for our opinion on Nairaland!

Is she a drug that should be banned? Or the people in the home video business In nigeria think they are NAFDAC to ban things. It just shows the psyche of the people who produce the kinds of videos that we all cry about for improvement.

It is shameful that people are not being judged by how good they are in their craft but their appearances are being determined and penalise through banning-whatever that means. If she has any issue, they should have simply avoided her in productions. Shikena!~ what in the decent world is banning?

I used mine immediately I got it from Gt bank and it was at their Bode Thomas Branch. I was one of the first set of people to get and use it among my friends and it was at a time when it was okay to ask how to use it. I did and I have not had any problem since then. Except one time when it deducted 22k from my money when the transaction was not yet concluded. I kept wondering if it paid someone else after I had left the ATM point.

It took about three days of investigation to find out that the fault was from the branch I used and of course the money was returned into my account.

The new generation Zenith bank ATMs are quite different. Unlike most ATM that will take your card and keep it until the transaction is complete, their's will simply ask that you insert the card and remove for the ATM to read your card and on the basis of that, transaction continues. Very cool indeed but the first day really embarrassed me as i Thought the machine was not working.

For the Presidency, I voted for Pat Utomi but gave my other votes to the AC in Lagos. In Lagos, they are the most 'credible' opposition to OBJ and election riggers.

You have really not defined what you mean by boutique like someone said. That will really define where yopu should locate it and the kinds of people you are trying to reach as well as the competition in the area.

In the Surulere area, there are two hairdressing outfits on the Bode Thomas area run mainly by men; Bobby's and Downtown. And belive me, they have built pedrigree and they are always occupied round the clock!

If you open up a shop against this guys, you really will be in for it. It is the law of branding!I think teh same law applies for other areas.

Only God in heaven knows why INEC has not announced the results that everyone already knows; that PDP lost woefully in Lagos. We learnt that ANPP was leading in Oyo State but somehow, the PDP is now the winner, which has been declared very eagerly by the PDP. Also, PDP has won in Ekiti, which is realy a suprise to people in the state.

I think it is the presence of OBJ in Lagos that is putting the INEC people under pressure as I can imagine that they are thinking of the best way to make Koro a winner. With the media and everyone watching,it is going to be the tenth wonder of the world if he PDP is voted in lagos as the winner.

My friend spoke to someone in Benin and they are saying exactly the same thing- INEC is unwilling to release a result that will confirm the fact that PDP has lost.We will continue to wait. remember that there are soldiers out now and the IG has announced that no portest will be tolerated. The 'fixers' in the PDP may bite the bullet and announce the result as dictated by PDP chieftains but they must first guage what the esponse of the people will be.If the petrson my friend spoke to is telling the truth, some folks have decided to defend their votes with their lives as they are tired of the performance of the PDP in Edo state.

Just watching MBI new right now and they report that INEC has confirmed Gbenga Daniels and Olagunsoye Oyinlola winners in Ogun State and Osun State respectively. Lets wait for the other results o and expect that no one is doing some abracadabra somewhere.

It was widely reported in the media that the ANPP candidate in Oyo State is in the lead.

question: How come it is only states where PDP have 'won' that INEC is very quick to confirm? Can we please have other results please Mr Iwu?

Does anyone out there know how the DPA is faring?

I voted in the Ikate regions of Surulere. I voted for Jimi Agbaje but the results from the polling centre where I voted showed that AC scored 78 votes and PDP 24. The results were similar in other areas with the DPA taking the second place in some places.

My friends in Ikeja said the DPA did better there and why did they not put Jimi Agbaje's picture in the papers. Also, I observed that even though the pictures of those who registered were not available for us to clarify before the election date, the PDP agent in the centre had personal copies of the pictures of the voters with them.

It almost scuttled the election as other agents were threatening to have him and his other colleagues arrested for being in possessio of INEC property. From what I have receievd so far, it apears that AC will win Lagos in this very first ballot.