● Laura Thornberry ● Lifestyle Blogger ● London Based ●

AD| Artificial intelligence is making its way into nearly every industry, and social media is no exception. In 2020, Social media is continuing to take over our lives, with many of us glued to our laptop and phone screens. With consumers of social media constantly interacting and engaging online, whether that be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other website. AI is basically a form of computer science that create machines to automate certain tasks and make them more efficient and productive in modern life. AI-powered social media can help companies to measure and improve their brand, detect consumer preferences/trends, and understand target audiences.

Artificial Intelligence enables those working in social media marketing to relate closely to their target audience, understand their preferences and helps them to connect to potential customers. This allows them target their adverts as well as create content that is more suited to their audience and more relatable to what they are searching/looking at. You may notice this when one day you are searching for a specific product/brand one day, and a few days later, you will be seeing adverts for them on your different social media platforms. Other ways you may find this use of AI include video recommendations on YouTube to product recommendations on websites and even songs on Spotify. All these use AI to collect data and target your preferences based on what you're searching.

Social media platforms like Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, all use artificial intelligence in some format which allows users to do certain things without any hassle. For example, Snapchat uses computer vision to allow users to be able to select multiple filters that can move with your face in real-time, to help create the perfect selfie or photograph. Twitter uses artificial intelligence to help with trending topics and hashtags, helping to keep tweets in order of relevance rather than ranking them in chronological order, making the site easier to follow and navigate. Finally Facebook, one of the biggest social media platforms uses machine vision systems and artificial intelligence to do absolutely everything. It can help to recognize your face in photos as well as suggest certain adverts to its users based on searches, to even suggesting people you may know based on your friends lists.

Another way artificial intelligence is used online is through the use of chatbots and live chat features on websites. Through this use of AI, users are able to simulate a conversation online, without the need to make a call to the company/brand, making it more convenient to ask questions or have any queries solved. Because who really wants to spend all day waiting for your call to be answered or being left on hold with some annoying music for hours. Chatbots use an AI-powered Natural Language Processing, enabling them chatbots to identify what is being said via text in the chat section, then deliver a response that matches. These chatbots are programmed to respond immediately, saving time and improving overall customer satisfaction.

Artificial Intelligence is a key component of social media and modern life. It's something that is constantly expanding, improving and evolving every single day, so who knows what will be created next?

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AD - GIFTED | With the COVID-19 outbreak still ongoing, a lot of people had to make a complete shift from the corporate office settings to working from their own homes. For some people, this could be less than ideal as they do not have the correct locations to work from home and avoiding any injuries whilst working away from the office, and those slouched over laptops for an extended period of time could be the ones getting aches and pains. The problem is when you sit slouched over your laptop on your bed or desk, you don’t maintain a correct posture, and end up rounding your shoulders. As a result of this, too much strain on put on the tissues of your body which may result in chronic pain in your neck and back. So how can we rectify this?

Obviously the most necessary thing to do would be to take regular breaks away from your laptop, to ensure you don't stay slumped in the same position for hours and hours. Whether you use this break to go to the toilet, make some food, or just have some fresh air, it's very important to take regular breaks when working from home. Not only will this help you prevent aches and pains, it will also help you to remain focused and alert.

Another way to beat the aches and pains is resorting to some form of pain relief, whether it be pain killers, gels or sprays. Although it may be a temporary solution, you can definitely feel it working within minutes, so it may be a quick fix in your time of need. I've been using both the Biofreeze Pain Relief Gel* and Biofreeze Pain Relief Roll-On* to help beat my sore neck and back pains. Resulting in long lasting, cold therapy pain relief for sore muscles, backaches, sore joints and arthritis, it's been a life saver! From the first application, it brings targeted and effective pain relief, and I could feel the cooling sensation spreading right across my back and the pain reducing within minutes. The cold relief reduces blood flow to the affected area to ease swelling and minimize damage to soft tissues. Applying Biofreeze when needed has really helped me remain focused on my work and has allowed me to forget any pain that I was suffering with.

Finally, something that can really help you through the aches and pains are simple back/ shoulder exercises and stretches to help improve mobility and posture. I like to make sure I do as much stretching as possible, and if necessary, I have been using my foam roller to target any specific areas of pain. Just by getting up and about every hour or so will help beat those aches and pains, and help to keep your muscles functioning correctly and prevent soreness. There are so many videos online and tutorials to follow to make sure you are correctly stretching your muscles out - something very important to focus on as you don't want to risk further injury.

Have you been suffering with any WFH aches and pains? What ways have you been trying to reduce these?

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AD| Creating a gallery wall is a creative way to display your favourite family photos and relive these memories every single day. These are simple, yet effective ways to add a personal touch to your home and to show off photos of your favourite people and your pets, for all your visitors to see and to talk about. Gallery walls are so versatile, so stylish, can help add a modern touch to your house and make it feel more like a home. You can create a beautiful display of your favourite photographs and favourite memories, and these can be easily styled and adapted to suit any décor, depending on the colour scheme, layout, themes and sizes you choose to use in your family gallery wall.

If you think you want to build a gallery wall or are in the planning stages of putting together a display of family photos for your home and need some starting points to think about and help plan this, here are some of my top tips to help get you started.

For me, the most important stage of creating a gallery wall is designing the perfect layout for your photographs. Planning this ahead will save you a lot of time and effort in the future, and will also allow you to work out what shapes and sizes you will need to fill the space you have saved to keep your memories hung up on the wall. Deciding on the number of photos you wish to include in your gallery wall is also an important factor, and will be necessary to think about depending on the size of the space you are using. You will also be able to mix and match sizes of photographs and frames to help build your perfect gallery wall. Once you’ve planned your layout and have decided on the family photos you want to include in your gallery wall, you may wish to do a trial run to make sure you’re happy with the sizing and layout before you commit to finalising the project.

Another key feature to think about is the colour scheme. Black and White? Colour? A mixture of the two? Depending on your style, all three of these options are really great, but it will depend on the vibe of the room and the artwork you will be showcasing. Black and white images can be more striking and evoke emotion, whilst colour images can be more decorative and eye-catching, but both styles work well for a gallery wall, it just depends on your personal preferences and what works well for the space.

Having a specific theme for your gallery wall will help pull it all together, keep all the images connected and make it look like one large piece of artwork. You may include photos from the same events, or family portraits, or some special memories that you wish to put on show. You could even include a special Animal Portrait, as our pets are family too! Keeping the gallery wall to a specific theme will allow all the images to go together perfectly and keep your gallery wall looking cohesive and stylish! If you're looking to get some pet portraits made, vectorpets is a great place to have a look! It's super simple to use, just upload the photograph of your pet, select whether you want a realistic or illustrated image, and choose how detailed you want your pet portrait to be. Vector pets put together the nicest handmade custom illustrations from your photos and digitize your pet to keep them in your memories.

To work out what sizes of images you want, and the size of the frames you will use, will depend a lot on the space that you’re hanging your family gallery gallery wall in. You could keep your gallery wall very clean looking by making all the photos/frames the same size throughout for a more uniform and cohesive look. Alternatively, you can mix and match the sizes for a more contemporary and modern feel, which will really bring some personality to any space in the home. Also you may wish to consider whether you want to display your images in traditional photo frames or even get them developed onto canvases. There are so many questions to answer and decisions to make when creating a gallery wall, that the possibilities are endless!

Have you created a family gallery wall in your home? Have you visited Vector Pets before?

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AD| When it comes to designing your blog's layout, whether it be headers, banners or logos, being able to decide what features you want to use and adding your own creative aspects to these are what makes your blog stand out. The header of your blog is the first thing your readers will notice. This will set the tone and mood for your content and gives them a good idea for who you are as a blogger and what your site/content is all about. When it comes to designing and creating your blog header, there are many factors to take into consideration before coming up with your final design. Whether you decide to design your own blog header yourself, or opt for the help of a Web Design Agency, here are a few design top tips to consider.

When designing a creative blog header, the use of colour, text and background images are some important features that you need to consider to really make something that is designed well and eye-catching. As well as this, the way you choose your layout and design is crucial in making a great blog header. For me, I like to create a variety of templates before I pick my final header design. This allows you to easily change parts of your header, and get it, so you're completely happy with it, before publishing it online.

Design Top Tips
1. Use the header when the background on your site is white. This makes it more clear, appealing and engaging with the reader.

2. Make sure to play around with correct sizing of your header and not have your header take up the entire space of your site. You don't want the whole first part of your site to just be a header, you would want to showcase some of your blog's content, so the reader can see what your site is all about.

3. Use colour carefully and avoid colour clashing. Colour is a great way to draw the eye in and express your personality and the entire vibe of your blog. Make sure to stick to a solid colour theme throughout your website to keep it clean and professional.

4. Keep it simple! Simple doesn't mean boring, it means purposeful, direct and clear. Remember, less is more. You ideally want a clean layout to your website, so avoid too much going on.

5. Take your time whilst in the design stage, as it can take time. Start with something that you feel works well for your blog. Maybe you have a favourite colour combination or font style. Try these out on multiple templates. Don't be afraid to change it little by little, until you are happy with the final outcome.

6. If you're unsure about the design you have created, then ask others around you for some advice and constructive criticism. Sometimes it's a good idea to take a step back and let others have a look at what you have created, as essentially they are all visitors to your site.

Pictured is my current blog header. Before I managed to come to this design, I had a number of other designs that featured different fonts, different colours and a bunch of different layouts, but in the end I went for this creative and bold design. If I were to change the design, I would definitely head over to Design Bundles and see what creative ideas the site would inspire me with, from the use of SVGs, fonts, and backgrounds. SVGs are scalable vector graphic format and is used to display a variety of graphics online. They are simple plain text files, and these SVGs are used to describe lines, curves, shapes, colours, and text. You can scale vector images to any size that you need without losing the quality of the image. Vector images are best used for typography, logos, icons, or illustrations, which is perfect when you are designing creative layouts for your blog's website.

Below are some SVGs I would use in the future to help me produce new, bold designs for my blog header. There is such a range of designs and colours, that there would be something for everyone. I've found some really simple designs that I feel would be perfect to use when creating a blog header, making sure to keep it simple yet effective, in order to make the website appealing to visitors.

The resources Design Bundles have to offer are great when you require some help to create these headers, logos, and banners for your website. Some of the benefits they have to offer include a large selection of exclusive deals on high quality premium design resources including logos, graphics, fonts, templates and much, much more. As well as these, Design Bundles also have a free design section to their website, which could be great if you are a new blogger looking to create some of your first designs and these resources include free SVGs, illustrations, backgrounds and much more. There's over 150,000 products to choose from, so why not have a look today!

How do you create your blog headers? Have you visited Design Bundles before?

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AD| Worldwide lockdown situations have seen countries around the world implementing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and to help kickstart some form of normality back into everyday life. Quarantine has us staying at home and watching the world go by, but that doesn't mean your love life has to come to a stop whilst the whole world has.

For couples lockdowned together, it can be quite hard to carry on living as normal when you're with your partner constantly, or if you're relationship is long distance, this can also prove problematic and hard to cope with. The key to this being communication. It's one of the most important parts for a good relationship, and it's needed more than ever during these uncertain times.

Something that can really help living together during this time is both quality time together and apart. Everyone needs their own space from time to time, and living together during a lockdown can be very hard and sometimes you just need to take yourself away from the situation and have some down time, even if it's just for an hour or two! Similarly, quality time together is also needed so you can catch up and feel connected with your partner. Maybe plan an at home dinner date, have a movie night, or even a pamper session together.

For singles in lockdown, trying to keep your love life on track can prove quite tough living life by yourself and feeling quite lonely. Dating sites likes Tinder, Bumble and matchmehappy.co.uk, to name a few, have been extremely popular during the COVID-19 lockdown. The free dating sites uk have been very helpful for singles to venture out and meet new people from the comfort of their own homes, so they don't feel like they are missing out on anything. Many dating apps have been installing video calling services so you can feel close to who you're talking to, but from the comfort of your own home. Think of it as dating in real life, without the awkward first date and less pressure, as you can feel relaxed and comfortable from your own surroundings.

However, during this global pandemic, singles and couples may be struggling with isolated life, so there are many ways to help battle this during lockdown. Communication with family and friends can really lift your spirits, and can allow you to stay connected with your loved ones, so it feels like you aren't missing out on anything at all, whilst staying lockdowned at home.

If you feel like you need a break from everything and need to relax, disconnecting from social media for a day or two can be really good for your health. You have the chance to forget about everything that is currently happening and spend more time focusing on you. Practicing self care is really important. Whether you take up an existing hobby, learn something new, or just pamper yourself, these can really help you feel normal in a not so normal world currently.

How has dating and your love life hanged during the coronavirus lockdown?

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