If you’re not familiar with Scot Kelby Training or the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, then you don’t you know what you’re missing. Today I attended a their CS4 “Down and Dirty Tricks” conference in Oklahoma City, OK. Among the things we learned today were special effects and palettes only found in Adobe Photoshop CS4, but mostly we learned TRICKS that no Photoshop professionals should be without.
From hidden or overlooked palette functions even down to time savers and quick tips. For me, saving time is a MUST! So anything that makes me go faster, is a step in the right direction!

Over the next few days I’ll take opportunities to share some tips with you. One of the time savers we learned today was how to make quick and sleek product ads. That idea led to tonight’s bookmark!  I would also like to share one of the millions of tips I learned today.

This one may be  something that may be obvious and you may already know, but I actually didn’t, so I was happy to have it pointed out to me.

1. Unlocking layers. To unlock a layer in Photoshop, it is no longer necessary  to double click the locked layer. Now, you can simply “drag” the lock icon to the trash. Simple, huh? Yet, totally overlooked!

You can today’s bookmark  here.

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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 PDF that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

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This particular design of the day features another free texture background with overlayed fence elements. The fence element appears on the bookmark 3 times. Once full strength, and twice as a color overlay. Download It Today!

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 PDF that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

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Continuing our series of “What Is It’s Purpose?” this post will deal with the Purpose of Letterhead and Letterhead Design.

As we’ve mentioned before let me recap by saying, every design we create serves a purpose. Is it up to us to determine that purpose? Or does each piece innately have a purpose? I think there is truth in both. Our job is to amplify the innate purpose for each piece. Confused? Don’t stay that way, let’s examine one of the pieces we create on an everyday basis and the function they should serve.

Letterhead.

In today’s digital society does letterhead even still have a place in the industry? I believe so. A traditional formal letter still has it’s importance and uses. Businesses use letterhead for Thank Yous and other otherwise “form” letters that they must send out. It’s also useful for subtly reminding your customers or constituents that you still exist and what services you offer. Wait? Can it really do this? Yes.

Let’s jump ahead and look at some of the things you might want to include on your letterhead:

Remember, you can’t possible include EVERYTHING. So you’ll have to pick and choose:

Letterhead Checklist

Here are some of the many details you might include on your next letterhead design.

PEOPLE
Name of person (Nickname)
Title
Affiliations
Professional/academic designations

PLACE
Pronunciation of unusual names
Department/division name
Organization street address
Floor/suite/mail stop
Alternate P.O. box address
City/state/state abbreviation
Zip+four/postal code
Country
Home street address

COMMUNICATION
Voice phone/extension number
Toll-free phone number
Mobile phone number
Pager number
Fax phone number
Home phone number
E-mail address
Web site address

DETAILS
Office hours
Time zone
Map/directions

ORIENTATION
Name of organization
Mission statement/business description
Product/service categories
Resource info
Special offer
Invitation
Illustration/photo
Logo
Organizational affiliations
Sponsorships

Once you’ve determined WHAT you’re going to include, try to think about ways to include it that will make a statement!

Have you designed Letterhead you’re proud of? Email them to me, and I’ll showcase them in an upcoming post with links back to your site!
For today, let’s look at some recent letterheads I’ve designed for clients and personal use:

Download Today’s BookMark. Don’t miss my #365 Design Everyday. 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 PDF that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

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Today’s bookmark as seen to the left cannot be downloaded easily as it’s actually a double-sided promotional piece that I created for a client.

Regardless of whether or not your client is an author, they may still be able to reach an interesting crowd with a bookmark that doubles as a promotional item. In terms of size it offers roughly double that of a traditional business card, giving you  more room to explain your services and options. If you go double-sided, you have actually created 4 times the space!

But how do you design a promotional bookmark effectively for your client? The answer is easier than you think! Much like traditional business card design, don’t limit yourself to the boundaries! Think outside the box and create something that will be remembered but don’t forget to include all the necessary contact information!

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 PDF that you can feel free to download, print out and share as desired.

Bookmark This!

I’ve got a confession to make. Of all the pieces that make up an identity package, my favorite by FAR is the business card. Why? The sheer flexibility it offers. There are NO limitations to what you can DESIGN with a business card. Any style, any shape, any color, and outlandish thing you can imagine can actually WORK as a business card.

There is no other single design piece I’ve found that offer’s so much flexibility. We’ve talked before about fake finishes design tricks and cheap ways to make a big difference, but let’s look at some ideas that you can use to display your text.

Text. We know that a business card HAS to contain information, and more often than not, it has to contain LOTS of information. Information that is ESSENTIAL to a strong business card. This alone, may sound like an overwhelming task, but what it REALLY is, is an overwhelming opportunity to do something great.

Let’s look at some inspiration for just such an occassion:

Orientation. Dare to be different. Change the orientation of your business card from horizontal to vertical. And don’t forget the front AND the back.

Right Alignment. Contact information right aligned is probably the most common of ANY alignment style for a business card. However, you can still pull it off with class:

Left Align. While the alignment may be common, this design is anything but. When you “create” a business card every detail is important.

Diagonal. These cards show a different kind of alignment– go DIAGONAL. Arrange the content and the text in such a way that it creates a design itself.

For more inspirational business cards visit Daily Poetics Flickr stream.

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Iddy Awards

It’s almost that time of year! The 2nd Annual In Search of Design Student Identity competition will begin accepting entries on October 1st. Let’s go over the rules–if you’re currently a student or recently graduated and have STUDENT work you’d like to enter then you’re eligible.

Unlike many other competitions, that charge exorbitant competition entry fees, The ISOD Iddy Awards is a strictly STUDENT Competition designed to expose the best of the best Student Identity Designs. The best part is, because we understand the expenses of higher education, this competition only costs $10 per entry.
Now, the best part! Because the contest is for Identity packages, each entry must consist of a student-designed, Logo, Business Card, Letterhead and Envelope. These pieces can be actual pieces created for clients, self promotional pieces or concept pieces created for fake or imaginary clients. Entries are based on the following criteria:

Awards are granted for the following categories:

Grand Prizes:

1st Place – Overall Package

2nd Place — Overal Package

3rd Place — Overall Package

The Overall packages are judged based on the following criteria:

Clarity of Message, Piece Integration, Consistency of Design, Overall Use of Color, Overall Creativity

There are also Certificates awarded for the following criteria:

Logos: judged on the following criteria: Creativity, Use of Color, Uniqueness, “WOW” Factor, Scalability and Color Conversion to BW.

Letterhead: judged on the following criteria: Creativity, Use of Color, Logo Integration, Main Letter “Area”, Contact Info. Placement, Use of Whitespace, Overall Appearance
Envelopes: judged on the following criteria: Creativity, Use of Color, Logo Integration, Address Placement, Overall Appearance
Business Cards: judged on the following criteria: Creativity, Use of Color, Logo Integration, Placement of Elements, “WOW” Factor, Overall Appearance

Click here for a breakdown of rules and award information.

The Entry deadline for the 2009 Competition is January 1st, 2010, students, start your designs!

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Usually, on this blog I showcase others work, but today I thought I’d share some recent business cards I had the opportunity to design. As always feedback is more than welcome!

Enjoy!

Splinters

SliceOThePie.com

Collipsis Web Solutions

Southern Ladies Showcases

Paige1Media

Jeff Bardel

Life Triumphant Church

ECommerce For Beginners

Paige1Publishing

Graphic Illustrator

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There are many keys to making your graphic design skills profitable. However I think without a doubt the most important is your speed as a designer. If you are fast enough at what you do you will not have to charge an exorbitant amount of money for each design that you produce.

At the same time as you enhance your speed, you will not be able go charge by the hour–because you’ll be producing multiple projects an hour. Instead as you charge by the project you will have the opportunity to make more money and touch more prices.

This may sound great but how do you actually increase hour design speed? We’ll look at some tips to help you get faster:

1. Learn your software. If you’re a designer using your software should be second nature to you. It should be so instinctive that you aren’t even thinking about your keystrokes.

2. Know what your software CAN do FOR you. As a designer, you will be severely limited by your knowledge or lack thereof of your software. You may be able to accomplish the same things but may be spending more time than necessary to complete a task. Having a thorough knowledge of your software will increase your speed abudantly.

3. Rough it out. You will save time in the long run if you create a draft of your design while the ideas are flowing before going back and fine tuning the details. If your typesetting- get the text flowed and them go back and align. You’ll see a big difference in your work time.

4. Time yourself. Having an idea of what you can and cannot accomplish in a given amount of time will make a big difference to you as you set deadlines and make commitments.

Each of these keys will help you to speed up the design process. However, you will need to be aware and walk the fine line between speed and sloppiness. Never let a client have to clean up your messes or pay for your mistakes. Do your work with excellence and understand that each project is different and will require different skills and time.

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Recently a design student was perplexed when I requested that she "spice" up her typography. She let me know that one of her instructors did not allow her to add anything to the typography.

She had learned that typography effects were the first sign of an amateur. While I can definitely confirm that I’ve seen some typography tricks that were so poorly applied or so hideous that they were indeed the marks of an amateur designer.

However, in an effort to avoid throwing the baby out with the wash, I think it’s important that young designers are taught the ins and outs of typography effects without the bias of "simplistic style" so that they can appease the client with the greatest amount of design prowess available.

The next few posts we’ll be looking at keys to creating this stunning typography and carefully exploring the effects and techniques available.

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As creative professionals its easy to get stuck in a particular style or genre of art that we personally like or gravitate towards. We’ve all seen art and said, "That’s a so-n-so". How do we determine the artist based on the piece? By their individual style.

This style, while a necessity in fine arts, can get in the way of the modern graphic artist. If you are working with clients, chances are they are wanting something truly unique for their business.

Recently one of my students asked, after looking at some of my sample Web sites, how we managed to have such a variety of styles . . . The question took me by surprise, but I quickly recovered and shot off a few answers.

As a designer, what can we do to continue to come up with uniquely creative ideas and stay out of the rut of same ol’ design?

Let’s look closely at what I told him:

1. Keep learning. We should constantly be looking at magazines, books and websites for new designs and creative inspiration. Sometimes seeing something new will inspire you greater than any amount of thinking and studying.

2. Learn the Software. The better you know the ins and outs of your design software, the more creative your work will become. Nothing hinders a good design faster than not knowing what is available to you.

3. Collaborate with your Peers. A lot of designers are afraid to bounce ideas off their peers, for fear of stolen ideas and competitive proposals. Find some creatives you can trust and bounce your ideas off of them. A mixture of perspectives and ideas will do wonders to boost your creativity.

4. Listen to your clients. Remember that art is subjective to a certain extent. So while I may think that my designs are incredible, the client may have had something totally different in mind. The more you listen, the more flexible your designs will become.

5. Try new things. Constantly come up with ways to create a look that has never been done before. Don’t allow fear to keep you from stepping out there and coming up with "the next big thing". You can do it!

The list could go on and on. . . . tell me what you do to stay creative and keep your designs fluid!
 

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