Category Archives: Design Tools & Utilities

Logos: What Makes a Good Design? - Part III

November 10, 2009 – 7:56 pm

And Now the Good Stuff
In our last few articles about logo design we’ve seen some logos that didn’t quite work because of design flaws, problems with concept or lack of visual appeal.
This time we’ll look at some of the most famous logos in the world, and some that aren’t so famous to see why they [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Project Management, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Tutorials, Logo Design Tutorials 2 Comments

Logos: What Makes a Good Design? - Part II

November 5, 2009 – 8:31 pm

The Logo Journey Continues
In our last article, we examined several logo designs that were, by most conventional standards, unsuccessful. Your art education is a continuing process and understanding the basics of graphic design can help you to be more effective in creativity and to avoid mistakes.
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll take a look [...]

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Great Ideas for Package Designs - Part I

October 29, 2009 – 2:00 am

See, Learn, and Get Inspired
Designing a package can be quite challenging when trying to think of unique ways to present a product. The following examples show how graphic designers think outside the packaging box by using creative techniques that are novel in approach, and also quite functional by design.
Otokoyama Sake

A simple design can be more [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Education, Design News, Design Project Management, Drawing and Sketching, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials 2 Comments

Camera Tricks for Non-Photographers - Part II

October 22, 2009 – 2:39 am

Make Your Own Filters and Special Effects
In our last camera tricks session we covered some basic techniques related to camera operation, lens usage, and camera settings to achieve different image effects without the use of Photoshop.
This time around we will still achieve in-camera effects but with the use of homemade lens filters and accessories that [...]

By admin Also posted in Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Project Management, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials 1 Comment

Camera Tricks for Non-Photographers Part I

October 14, 2009 – 5:49 pm

1986 B.P. (Before Photoshop)
Photoshop is a fun program and can be used to turn plain photographs into unusual or improved versions. But before Photoshop arrived, photographers were using in-camera effects to put some pop into their images.
What Is an In-Camera Effect?
This means the manipulation of a photographic image through the use of special lighting, shutter [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Project Management, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials, Photos & Clip Art 1 Comment

Really Cool Photoshop Effects Part 1

October 8, 2009 – 7:28 pm

Photoshop is like a magic hat. Inside it you’ll find and discover all sorts of tricks that allow you to manipulate and transform images to another state of being.
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Photoshop can be a little tricky sometimes because of the depth of all its features. But this shouldn’t scare anyone away from using this great program. In [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Project Management, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials 1 Comment

Web-Based Photo Editors: Fast, Fun, and Mostly Free

October 2, 2009 – 4:43 pm

It may seem odd but using a web-based photo editor is sometimes perferable to firing up Photoshop or some other computer software based photo editor. These little gems are easy to use, fast, and come in a variety of configurations.
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Some of the programs are surprisingly full-featured, while others do really simple tasks such as [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Design Project Management, Design Software, Drawing and Sketching, Graphic Design Resources, Web Design No Comments

Printed Paper and Storyboard Templates Galore

October 2, 2009 – 12:00 pm

People sort of take paper for granted. It’s everywhere and has become such a common commodity that it is rarely given a second thought.
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But for anyone in graphic arts, illustration or design, paper  is useful in producing the end results.
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Sometimes there is a need for the use of certain types of utility paper such as [...]

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Get Graphic Design Tips and Courses for Free

September 23, 2009 – 12:00 pm

There is an incredible amount of information on the Internet. Sometimes the hardest part about surfing is distilling the good info from the useless or even worse, the wrong info.
If you want to get a few training freebies related to using Photoshop, Illustrator, web design, and yes, even an introduction to basic graphic design, we’ve [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Funny and Humor, Graphic Design, Web Design 6 Comments

Free Photoshop Brushes for Creativity and Fun

September 21, 2009 – 10:16 pm

Photoshop is an application that can be used by beginners for graphics projects and photo retouching. But as many seasoned  PS users know, this is only the very surface of what this great program can do.
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Seasoned PS users also start to collect all manner of plugins and add-ons to their Photoshop program. The number of [...]

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Free Design Stuff, Graphic Design, Plugins and Filters 1 Comment