Ok. I will admit it. Sometimes I check my email while I brush my teeth. It’s true I do. I also check it while firmly stopped at red-lights, waiting in drive thru lines, and while pumping gas. And that is just an average day for me.

When you run your own business, or in my case, three of them, you have to learn to make every second count. Is this healthy? Probably not. But the fact remains. The down side of all this “running” is that unfortunately by the end of the day I often feel like the proverbial rubber band. You know the one. It’s been stretched so far and so much that it’s liable to break at any time. Fortunately for me, I have a great support system of friends, family and coworkers that are willing to get in there and help out when needed. The don’t even usually ask for money. Usually.

For the most part though, I find myself struggling to make every second count and every minute of my day be filled to the fullest. Thankfully, while statistics and reports claim that no one can multitask effectively, those who know me best know that to be untrue. I’m at my optimal operating level with more than one task going on and somehow I can manage to keep those tasks in line and in order.

I wanted to share some of the strategies that I employ to accomplish these Time Effeciency tasks, and I’d love to hear yours!

• Surround Yourself with the gadgets necessary: I have them all, iPhone, iPad, Laptop and so on and so forth. But if you check out my apps, you will see that the apps I use enable me to be more flexible with my time and optimize my output. From apps for blogging and social networking to invoicing and to-do list management, I’m almost always able to jot down an idea when it hits or take care of a client emergency on the “GO”.
• Downtime? What downtime? In a society filled with meetings, committees and more meetings it’s important not to waste valuable seconds while waiting on meetings to start or the long winded talker to finally finish his point. The great thing about these gadgets is you can use them for taking notes, and finishing business. Just make sure you’re able to listen, or you might find yourself left behind.
• Every second is an opportunity. I check and respond to emails while running errands. Waiting in line at Walmart, standing in line at Starbucks, regardless of the location, if there is a wait, I can be getting stuff done. Drive thru’s and traffic jams are also valuable to this efficiency thinking.
• To Do lists: No one can be efficient without an awesome To Do list and task tracking software. Personally, I’ve used  LOT of things, from large systems like SugarCRM to small systems like Remember the Milk, but the one that works best for me BackPackIt by 37 Signals. BackPackIt provides To Do Lists with completion tracking, Calendars, Collaboration and Write Boards all in the same application, so I’m not having to log in and out of different things to accomplish my tasks.
• Headsets, speaker kits and earbuds can make all the difference for an efficient phone call and a time consumer. I will take calls and continue to work with no problem. Especially if I’m doing  a creative task or something mundane, then multitasking in that regard is no problem.

Now that you’ve heard my tips for efficiency, share you’re own. Maybe we can all learn something new!

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Got ideas for a clever 3-Dimensional design? Want to create something that will cause your customers or clients to do a double take at your piece rather than just tossing it in the trash? Afraid these ideas are going to empty your pocket book?

They don’t have to.

Thanks to the remarkable design software we have available today and the sheer limits of  imagination there is very little you can’t accomplish with a simple postcard design.

If you have a great idea, don’t write it off simply because it would cost too much money. Instead look for alternative design tricks to accomplish the same thing.  Let’s look at my favorite 3 approaches for ‘faking’ an expensive die-cut or 3-D design:

1. Layer. For that 3-D design you want to create but don’t have the budget, all you need is some creativity to create a 3-D design that will be looked at and then looked at again.

An example of this was a recent client that approached me about designing a  “invitation” for an upcoming event.   She wanted something that would be noticed and reminiscent of a traditional invitation. The catch? She wanted it to be a mail-ready postcard.

No problem? As you can see, I created a layered effect to simulate the the actual postcard was peeking out of an envelope.  The client loved it! And the campaign has been very well received.

2. Add Texture. This may seem like a no-brainer and it is indeed one of the oldest tricks in the book, but adding nice textures and grains to your design pieces will create the illusion of either a linen type of stock or perhaps something more earthy like these wood grained business cards for a woodworking shop I designed recently.  There are no ends to the types of textures you can use, to jumpstart your creativity, here are some ideas to get you started:

• Rust
• Metal
• Wood
• Fur
• Grunge
• Dirt
• Aged Paper

3.Think Outside the Proverbial Box. As we mentioned earlier, when your client approaches you with big ideas and a small budget help them think outside the box. Sometimes creating even “traditional” pieces with a twist can be huge attention grabbers. This happened with a project I worked on for some friends that were getting married. They wanted to be ‘different’ and sent out their ivitations as postcards.

So we did. After a photo shoot in a rose garden we had everything we needed to make a striking invitation that kept them under budget. Rather than the traditional light flowery colors, we went with bright and bold blacks, reds and whites.

The guests loved them. And these ‘wedding’ postcards received a lot of attention with other clients.

The bottom line is, regardless of your budget, a simple printed piece with the right design techniques can be astounding. Don’t be afraid to try something new (or something old!) and explore your options. Remember that you do not have to be confined to the 4 straight sides of a postcard, business card or other flat piece, you can use these sides as a platform  to boost your design to the next level.

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If you’re new to typesetting it can be very overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. I’ve recently been asked by several student designers to elaborate a bit more on Typesetting procedures and best practices.

Overview:

• All books should be typeset and gathered using InDesign’s “Book” feature. (No books that contain “chapters” (including Slims and Minis) should be set up as a single flowing document).
• All books should follow a standard “style” labeling schema for both Paragraph and Character styles as detailed below.
• All elements within a document SHOULD be utilizing paragraph styles.
• Master pages should be utilized as much as possible.

File Name Standards:

• Before you can utilize the “book” feature in InDesign you must first have a set of documents to work with. Ideas for naming these book Documents would include the following file names:
  • FrontMatter.indd (Include Title pages, Copyright, Table of Contents)
  • Acknowledgement.indd
  • Introduction.indd
  • Preface.indd
  • Foreword.indd
  • Chapter1.indd
  • Chapter2.indd . . . and so forth until the end of the book
  • Appendix1.indd . . . and so forth as needed
  • AboutTheAuthor.indd
  • Ads.indd

  Creating A Template
  To create the appropriate “design” of the book. You will want to start designing with Chapter 1.

  • Create a new document (apple + n)
  • Set document page count (just guess at this point)
  • Set document margins (remember to allow thumb room and interior gutter)
  • Set document bleeds

  

  Screenshots from CS4 but the process is the same

  Number and Section Options:
  Number and Section Options are found under the “Pages” panel flyout menu:

  

  Numbering and Section Options

  For each document set the “Number and Section Options” to “automatic page numbering”. Front matter will be set to “Roman Numerals” styles, but all others will be set to “Arabic Numerals”.  When this is set up, the page numbers will automatically update throughout the entire book as pages are added or subtracted to a single document.

  

  Tip! Use this document to set up your master pages, paragraph styles and character styles. When finished save it as a “template” for the rest of the book.
  
  Using Styles:
  To maintain consistency, I often use a specific naming scheme to be used when creating my paragraph styles.

  Paragraph Styles Naming Standards:
  Chapter Number
  Chapter Title
  Chapter Opening
  Body Copy
  Scriptures
  Pullouts

  Opening Your Paragraph Styles:
  Window  > Type and Tables  > Paragraph Styles

  

  From the Paragraph Styles panel click the flyout and select “New Paragraph Style” or from the bottom of the panel window click the “New Style” icon.

  
  

  Creating the Style:
  When creating a new style there are really only 4 of the Paragraph Styles option panels you need to deal with:
  1.    “General” you will name your new style (one of the names above) and be sure to set your “Based On Style” to “No Paragraph Style”. Why? If your style is “Based” on another style and the other style changes it will alter this one as well. That is something you do NOT want to happen.

  

  2.    “Basic Character Formats” you select your typeface, weight, size and leading height.

  

  3.    “Indents and Spacing” choose your alignment (normally left justify for body copy) and extra spacing. i.e. First line indent for body copy, space after and before for subheads or scripture text, etc.

  

  4.    “Hyphenation” Set your hyphenation options as seen below:

  

  Now your new style is complete.

  Tip! To apply a paragraph style to an entire paragraph it’s not necessary to highlight the entire paragraph, you can simply click within the paragraph and select your style to alter the entire thing. Also try clicking with the formatting eyedropper tool for a quick fix.

  When to Use a Character Style?
  Character styles should be used anytime an “override” needs to take place for a paragraph style. For instance a bold word, a bold number, etc.

  Opening Your Character Styles:
  Window  > Type and Tables > Character Styles

  From the Character Styles panel click the flyout and select “New Character Style” or from the bottom of the panel window click the “New Style” icon.

  Creating a character style is the same process as a paragraph style but with more selective options. And applying them requires that you click within the WORD or highlight the character that you would like to change.
  
  Master Pages:
  Your master pages will need to include:
  •    Page Numbers
  •    Running Heads
  •    Chapter Opening Art
  •    Any other graphic elements that are consistent chapter to chapter

  Adding Your Content:
  As long as you have created your margins and columns within your InDesign document, you can flow all the text in for your first chapter automatically. To do this, choose File > Place and then select the document you’d like to flow in.

  Your cursor will change showing you that there is content to place. You can flow this content in with several different options. The quickest and most efficient way is to “auto-flow” the text throughout the document. Using this option will automatically place the text for you, allowing you to go back in and fine tune the layout and add your paragraph styles as needed.

  

  
  

  Creating the “Book”:
  Once your main document is set up you will want to use the template you saved to create each subsequent chapter.
  
  To create the “book file:
  File > New > Book
  1.    Name the book as needed. This creates a new “book” panel in your workspace.
  2.    Click the “+” to add documents to your book.

  

  3.    Load all your documents into your book panel.
  4.    Your page numbers will auto adjust and you can now edit each document by simply double clicking it to open make your changes and then save the documents.
  5.    When you’re finished with the book file, you can save and close the book panel, export the entire book to digital additions (more on that later) or package the book for printing!

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Let’s face it. Being successful as a designer often means we must be everything to everybody. Need business cards? No problem. Need an event banner? Got it right here. And thus is the life of design. To me, that’s the best part. I love learning new techniques, new ideas and new technologies that increase my ‘value’ as a designer.

We’ve already talked a little about ebooks and the new opportunities emerging for designers in this area. But, I realized that we can’t talk intelligently about ebook design until we really get the basics of book typesetting down.

Today we are going to cover frequently asked typesetting questions. Feel free to leave comments below with your own questions about the trade and we will address those as well.

What program should I use to typeset a book?
To create a professional book typeset you will need to use a page flow software. These softwares will give you optimum results and do in fact take a lot of the ‘grunt-work’ out of typesetting. The top three typesetting softwares are:

1. Adobe InDesign
2. Quark Express
3. Microsoft Publisher

If you are looking to do this long-term I personally recommend Adobe InDesign. having worked with all three InDesign is by far the most powerful and most widely accepted software there is. The basis of my course here on typesetting will be focused around using InDesign.

Can I use Microsoft Word to typeset a book?
Technically, yes you could. Would I recommend it? No true designer has ever recommended designing in Word. Be aware that Word will not have the features and functionality that professional typesetting software has.

What are the parts of a typeset page?
Your basic typeset page will include at least three elements:

1. A running header
2. Body copy
3. A page number

Optional elements will include:
A. Subheadings
B. Images

Unsure what some of these items are? Check out my ‘typesetters’ glossary.

Got more questions? Comment them here or email me at jp@insearchofdesign.com.

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Each day it seems technology changes. For the professional designer these changes must be embraced or your profession will soon move on without you. Lets think for a moment about the eight track tape. Depending on your age you may not even know what I’m talking about. and let me assure you they were before my lifetime as well.

Chances are you’ve at least heard of the over-sized cassette tapes. Cassette tapes? Oh yeah. That was next and finally in my lifetime. I remember as an elementary student when those flat Frisbee looking discs came out for music looking proudly at my cassette collection and thinking happily, “No, those things will never catch on. I’ll be fine.”

How wrong could I be? Now years after CDs finally became popular our newer way to listen to music are intangible MP3 files. We buy them, but we can see them. We can’t feel them. And yet we think nothing of it.

Hopefully by now you catch my drift. As a designer a lot of the mediums we’re used to are being replaced. Direct mail is often substituted by email campaigns. Newspapers are replaced by interactive and user driven Web content. And now with the introduction of Amazons Kindle and Apples iPad devices we know that traditional books will soon be going the way of the buffalo.

So what do we do about it? How do you handle seeing pieces of your job security being transferred to intangible prices of technology?

the answer is simple. You LEARN and EVOLVE or head for home. There really isn’t another option. While I’m not preaching doom on those of us that love the smell of a new ream of paper I do think it’s important to learn WITH the changes rather than struggling against them. As such I have embarked on becoming an expert at eBook conversion.

For the past six months I have read every article, every trend forecast and every bit of information I could grasp to be ready for the revolution.

In the next few weeks as my busy work and client schedule allows I will begin to write yips for ebook and typeset beginners that I’ve picked up along the way! See you on the other side of technology!

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Today’s show is brought to you by the letter “P”.  Enjoy!

Smashing Magazine issued a challenge to designers for the new year, and I’m on board! I tried to decide what type of design I’d want to do and could stretch my boundaries as a designer. So in answer to this Challenge, I will be designing and posting a new Bookmark design each day on this blog. The Designs will link to a downloadable file that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

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The past couple of weeks I’ve been having migraines. Now, I’ve always been prone to headaches but recently my stress level has seemed to go through the roof and the resulting cycle is more headaches and I can get less accomplished, equally LESS prodcutivity which causes more stress resulting in more headaches. It’s a vicious cycle. Get it?

Well, because of this, I’ve done some research on stress relief and everyday things you can do to eliminate or expel stress. Yesterday I took a day off work both formally and client side for the most part and spent the day treating myself to recovery. And today, I can honestly say the results have paid off big time! I feel amazing!

So here are some of the things I did  . . .

1. Take a vacation day just FOR YOU. That’s right, try to make minimal plans so that you can simply do what YOU want to do. For me, this was a little difficult, as when I finally decided to do this, I already had scheduled 2 client meetings and an oil change. The oil change I was able to reschedule but I went ahead and kept the meetings, they were with some of my favorite clients anyway.

2. Sleep in and then just lay there. I had no problem with the sleeping in part until my phone starting ringing off the hook and alerting me to new emails and texts. Yeah, unfortunately I actually had to get up. Take my phone to the other end of the house. Even on silent, the phone still vibrates ever so slightly and I realized even that sound of work piling up was NOT going to help me relax. By the time I got up at about 10 I had already received 4 phone calls, 3 client texts and 24 emails.  After I had finally decided there would be no more sleeping, I went back, found my phone and made some calls, chatting with family members and catching up on things that were happening. Snugly under the covers. For me, that in itself was relaxing as I’m normally talking on bluetooth or earbuds while accomplishing other tasks.

3. Take a long bubble bath with aroma therapy and spa supplies. Now, obviously if you’re a guy this is probably not on your list of “relaxing things”. If it is . . . well, don’t tell me . =P  But for me, I took the time to relax, gave myself a pedicure and a facial and treated my hair to a leave in conditioner as I was getting ready to go to lunch with a client and my business partner.

4. Enjoy the sunshine. Yesterday in Tulsa was a beautiful Spring day, at 71 degrees and sunshine I was able to drive my convertible. The sunshine made such a difference on my outlook! Days like that certainly make a difference. If you don’t have a convertible, consider opening your windows, sunroof or just go for a nice long walk out in the sun to get the right chemicals awakened in your brain.

5. Sing at the top of your lungs. This was something that I read during my research last week, but singing at the top of your lungs, whether in the car or in the shower, will actually alleviate stress! Try it . . you’ll be amazed how much better you feel.

6. Wash your car. Did you know that a seemingly simple task, such as washing your car can be very relaxing and rewarding? It can. Not only will you be subconsciously proud of how your car looks afterward when you’re driving, but there is something about “cleaning” that affects our brains. We expect things to be clean and when they are we have peace. Between errands I spent about 45 minutes washing/waxing and vacuuming my car I felt so good

7. Express yourself. As an artist, it had been a really long time since I’ve done any traditional art. So I bought some new small canvases yesterday and spent the evening painting. It was not only therapeutic and relaxing but also used an entirely different skill set for me.

8. Drink hot tea. Yeah, it may seem strange. But if you’re not normally a tea drinker take the time to slow down and enjoy a good herbal tea or something a little stronger like a nice black tea. Yesterday I picked up Chamomile and Earl Gray.

I’m sure the list could go on and on, and we all have things we “do” to get ourselves back on track, but don’t overlook the little things you can do to really set yourself right. Not only will your designs show that you are relaxed, but I’m sure your customer service will improve as well.

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Continuing the “Letter” series of bookmarks here, I’m going to actually post a BUNCH of them together here. I really LOVE the way these letter bookmarks look all lined out together. Enjoy!

Smashing Magazine issued a challenge to designers for the new year, and I’m on board! I tried to decide what type of design I’d want to do and could stretch my boundaries as a designer. So in answer to this Challenge, I will be designing and posting a new Bookmark design each day on this blog. The Designs will link to a downloadable file that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

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Today’s bookmark comes to us from design student Sherman Merchant. Merchant, owner of Oops! Creative and recent 2nd place winner in the In Search of Design Identity competition can be followed on Twitter at @ShermanMerchant.

Smashing Magazine issued a challenge to designers for the new year, and I’m on board! I tried to decide what type of design I’d want to do and could stretch my boundaries as a designer. So in answer to this Challenge, I will be designing and posting a new Bookmark design each day on this blog. The Designs will link to a downloadable file that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

Bookmark This!