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Famous Fonts for Graphic Designers and Web Designers

December 31, 2009 – 6:58 am

Famous Fonts for Fun
In conclusion of our font series we are putting the spotlight on some of the most recognizable fonts in the design world. If you ever want to mimic a certain font for fun or for a design project, these fonts can help you to do it.

Thanks to simplythebest.net for their wonderful compilation of font resources.
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Gotham Nights

Need a font that oozes heroism with just a touch of ominous undercurrent? Look no farther than this Batman font set. It is suitable for all super hero memos, announcements, and flyers.
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PacMania

Are you one of the many old school gamers who plunked down all their lunch money, spare change, and loose quarters to play PacMan, Mrs. PacMan, and PacMan Junior? If so you’ll remember this font clearly. Try it out for a spin on your next invitation project.
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Walt Disney Script

This is one of the most familiar hand signatures in the world. Walt Disney built an empire from drawing a little animated mouse. Try this font out for your next script needs.
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United States Font

Does this font look strangely familiar? Just can’t put a finger on where you’ve seen it? Try looking on the back of a dollar bill and you’ll see this font at the top. This is a nice font use when you need to have something look official.
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Loki Cola

The Coca-Cola script is considered to be one of the most famous name brands in history. The handwriting script is recognized around the world in over 200 countries. If you want to accentuate a headline or title, the “Loki Cola” script will do the trick.

Next Time…
We’ll start a brand new series on the psychology of marketing and design. Hope you’ll join us then!

By admin Posted in Design Project Management, Fonts, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials, Uncategorized No Comments

Special Occasion and Holiday Dingbats for Graphic Designers

December 30, 2009 – 6:10 am

christmas-bear ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly…
During special occasions or festive holidays your clients or student assignments may call for a certain look or venue. The following dingbats can help you to spruce up your work with these familiar icons.
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Lovya Babe
lovya-babe
When you need something that will give you a St. Valentine’s feeling the “Lovya Babe” dingbats will do nicely. You’ll have a selection of hearts, cupids, and other love graphics to choose from.
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Easter Dingbats
easter-dingbat
You’ll be up to your eyeballs in cute bunny rabbits and Easter eggs with this font set. If you need a simple graphic for an Easter project the Easter dingbats should fit the bill.
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Spiders Club
spider-dingbat
Do you need some creepy crawly spiders, flying witches or graveyard tombstones for a Halloween poster? The “Spiders Club” dingbats have a wide selection of graphics for you.
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Christmas Silhouettes
christmas-dingbat
These graphics offer the familiar Christmas scenes of the three wise men, the manger, the Christmas star and other icons of this holiday season.
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Next Time…
We’ll finish off our font series with stylized fonts that are suitable for creating certain moods and themes. Till next time, take care!

By admin Posted in Fonts, Free Design Stuff, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Web Design No Comments

Twas the Night Before Crunch Time

December 23, 2009 – 6:08 am

Update on an Old Poem
Here’s a variation of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” especially written for all of you graphic designers and web designers. Have a safe holiday and may all your designs come true!

Twas the Night Before Crunch Time

By Frank Ling aka “admin”

Twas the night before crunch time, when all through the house

Not a designer was stirring, not even a wireless mouse.

The graphic files were saved and stored away with care,

In hopes they’d safe till the next day, and still would be there.

The designers were all nestled so snug in their beds,

While visions of deadlines kept dancing in their heads.

But suddenly outside there arose such a clatter,

Did the servers all crash, just what was the matter?

But outside there appeared the delivery man so lively and quick,

I knew right away that it must be my Cintiq!

I opened the package and looked right inside,

And there was the graphics tablet so shinny and bright.

Now Maya, now Adobe, now graphics galore,

I can now produce artwork and images and much more!

As I plugged in the tablet to my monitor and PC,

I noticed the delivery man was just about to leave.

He got in his van and gave me a whistle,

“Your work never stops, that’s as clear as crystal.”

Then I heard him shout out as he drove out of sight,

“Happy Graphics to all, and to all a good-night!

Happy Holidays everyone. See you next year!

By admin Posted in Blogging No Comments

Specialized Dingbats for Graphic Designers - Part II

December 21, 2009 – 6:00 am

four-dingbats Dingbats Continued…
We continue this series with some more dingbats that you can use in your next flyer, ad or graphic arts project. These dingbats are all scalable and will come in handy when you need a quick graphic or design motif for just the right look.

We’d like to thank the folks over at dafont.com again for their excellent compilation of font resources.
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Floralia

With the holiday season rapidly approaching you’ll find the Floralia dingbats a perfect match. You can use each dingbat as a stand-alone graphic or chain them together to make borders or as graphic accents.
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Sportzs

This dingbat font has a good selection of graphics representing a number of sports and outdoor activities. Some of the images are stylized while others are more traditional. If you are working on a sports theme you may be able to incorporate Sportzs into your project.
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Barcode

This unusual dingbat doubles as an interesting font as well as a design element. Each letter in the alphabet is represented by its corresponding barcode. If you need a new look for your headline this may be what you need.
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Nymphette

Do you need to add some scrollwork or separators for your document? The Nymphette dingbat is perfect for creating quick borders or flourishes for invitations. The designs run from the very simple to very ornate. Nymphette is a very useful dingbat for all-around purposes.
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Next Time…
We’ll wrap up this series with some dingbats that are geared towards specific holidays and celebrations.

By admin Posted in Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Design Project Management, Design Tools & Utilities, Fonts, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Web Design No Comments

Specialized Dingbats for Graphic Designers - Part I

December 18, 2009 – 6:23 am

Dingbats or Wingdings Anyone?
We’ve all used them at one time or another in our design projects. While they are usually simple in scope they can be real time savers when you need a quick graphic to fill in a border or add some snap to your project.

The following are some of the more interesting ones we’ve found.
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Chinese Zodiac

Here is a nifty dingbat for projects that need an Asian motif other than the pictograph-calligraphy that we’re used to seeing. This dingbat set includes all twelve Chinese Zodiac signs and can be scaled to the size you need. The dingbats for these signs occupy the lower case characters “a” through “l”.
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Children’s Animals

You’ll have a great assortment of animals with this set. Virtually every keyboard character has a unique animal image connected with it. If you need a hippopotamus all you need to do is to type the lowercase letter “p”. Looking for a camel? Type the lowercase letter “k”. Uppercase letter produce other animals.
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Talkie Speech Bubbles

This dingbat will definitely get some serious use from graphic designers who need the perfect speech bubbles for their projects. You’ll be surprise at the variety of speech bubbles this dingbat collection offers. So the next time you need one, you can just load up this font and type one out instead of drawing it from scratch.
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Old Egypt Glyphs

The next time you need to add a little Egyptian flare to your design project try this set of dingbats on for size. These fonts are more stylized and detailed than the “traditional” looking hieroglyphic fonts you have seen — these are bolder and more attention grabbing. Suitable for all mummy excavation invitations…
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Next Time…
We’ll put the spotlight on some more unusual dingbats for your enjoyment and use. In other future articles we’ll focus on fonts that are very specific in theme and are just the thing for highlighting your titles or headlines. Until then, take care!

By admin Posted in Fonts, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials No Comments

Specialized Fonts for Graphic Designers - Part II

December 17, 2009 – 4:49 pm

abc-blocks The Fonts Go On
Last time we presented some really nice fonts for specific uses and applications.

In part two of Specialized Fonts for Graphic Designers, we are continuing this series by displaying some very creative font designs that are functional as well as unique.

Underwood Typewriter

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Sooner or later you’ll need to use a typewriter font. There are literally hundreds of these types of fonts for the choosing but this particular one seems to have a bit more character than the rest. The designer used his personal Underwood typewriter for the basis of this font

Home Remedy

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Here is an excellent specialized font for the occasions where you need something that represents planning, architecture, home improvement or design. The font has no lowercase characters but this shouldn’t present a problem since you can vary the type sizes to simulate upper and lower case.

Kid’s Font

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This font is great for producing projects that need a children’s touch to it. The letters are on placards that each child is holding. Not too over the top and very effective for flyers or ads that need a bit of whimsy to them.

Bloomster Font

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Like man, this font is retro like in the Haight-Ashbury days when hippies ruled with love and peace, man. If you’re looking for a font that is retro and represents the flower power era, like you could use this one for sure, man. Peace, man.

Next Time…
We’ll explore the weird and wonderful world of dingbat fonts. The samples we’ll show you will definitely come in handy when you are looking for that perfect match for your graphic design project.

By admin Posted in Adobe Illustrator, Fonts, Photos & Clip Art No Comments

Specialized Fonts for Graphic Designers - Part I

December 11, 2009 – 4:38 pm

baby-and-books Innocent Beginnings

Graphic designers and web designers use a basic collection of fonts when first starting out on a project. But as time and experience soon dictate, it becomes evident that a basic collection of fonts can be limited in scope and use.

This need for additional fonts turns into a hunt for the “perfect” match for your projects. In some cases this pursuit of unique fonts turns into an informal hobby of creating your own “font zoo” — a continuous addition of fonts to your collection just for the sake and enjoyment of having them. But your font zoo can be practical as well — it gives you a better assortment of tools to select from.

In this series of articles we’ll put a spotlight on various specialized fonts that may fit your needs for thematic flyers, ads, or posters. You may have some of these fonts already, but there may be a few that you haven’t used or seen before. Our thanks go to DaFont.com for supplying and rounding up all of these font creatures!

Fashion Victim

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This font is best used in the larger sized points of 36 and up. Its various letters are not entirely uniform in size and presents just a hint of being informal. It serves as a good headline font.

Symphony in ABC

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This is definitely a specialized font for any projects in need of a musical motif. Is it a bit over the top? Perhaps, but it can add just the right touch for a flyer design or poster.

Ennobled Pet

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If you want to go cute, this is as cute as you can get if you are looking for a specialized font that needs an animal or pet theme. Try this font for highlighting phone numbers or contact info.

Dali

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Do you need a script font that is a bit different from standard looking scripts? Try Dali. It gets its inspiration from the great surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

Next Time…

We’ll muster up some more interesting fonts for your design needs. We’ll see you then!

By admin Posted in Fonts No Comments

Photoshop Backgrounds for Graphic and Web Designers - Part III

December 10, 2009 – 9:30 pm

The Rest of Them
This series concludes with several colorful Photoshop backgrounds that can be used for the times when you need something colorful and eye-catching for a backdrop. And as it was with the previous examples, you can modify these patterns to suit your own specific needs.

Light Rays
If you need a dramatic and striking background texture, this light ray effect is something to consider. In order to achieve this effect you’ll need to use multiple filters, some blur effects, and blending effects. The final image looks a little organic in nature and can be modified for other colors and swirl intensities.

Abstract Art
Have you ever visited a modern museum of art to admire and take in the colorful and enigmatic art paintings on display? The abstract art may not necessarily make sense to you, but images do stir your feelings and emotions. With this Photoshop background technique, you can create your own abstract art for business or pleasure.
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Space Lighting
This is a really nice “spacey” background that can be used as wallpaper for your computer, a nice backdrop for white text, or just for experimentation to see what you can create. This is the sort of Photoshop project that can sidetrack you from your normal duties because you really can get creative with this one. Remember, we warned you.

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Swooshy Lines
The production of this background actually looks more complicated than it really is. The final image you produce can be used in a variety of art projects from hi-tech posters and flyers to backgrounds for websites. It is an excellent general all-purpose background that you’ll be coming back to many times.
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By admin Posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Design Careers, Design Tools & Utilities, Graphic Design, Graphic Design 101, Graphic Design Effects, Graphic Design Resources, Graphic Design Tutorials, Print Ads Design, Web Design No Comments

Photoshop Backgrounds for Graphic and Web Designers - Part II

December 4, 2009 – 12:00 pm

Abstract Photoshop Backgrounds
In the following tutorials, you’ll learn how to make Photoshop backgrounds that are more abstract and artsy. Since these themes are open-ended in nature, they can be used for many types of graphic design projects and web design layouts. You can scale these backgrounds to be used as buttons, backdrops, or poster elements. Have fun with them and modify the look of these images as much as you want.

Brushstroke Background
This Photoshop background is very customizable and you’ll have a great deal of latitude in turning this background effect into a host of different configurations and styles. The pattern can be adjusted to resemble wisps of smoke or rays of light. It’s a nice background for creating a calm or ethereal mood.

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Stripe Abstract Background
This background is very easy to produce and is so generic in nature that it can be used in a variety of projects or uses. You’ll have your background up and running in a matter of minutes. For a more interesting take on this background, try using multiple colors for a rainbow effect,

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Warped Abstract Background
Here is a background that can be “artsy” by applying different Photoshop filters on the image multiple times. By using the distort-spherize filter, you’ll get a pop-art effect. Using the distort-polar coordinates filter will make the image resemble a fractal pattern. Try different color combinations for added dramatic effect.

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Organic Abstract Background
We call this one organic because it reminds us of a feather floating in the wind. The actual pattern you create may be similar to the one shown here, but can be modified to tone down the white areas or increase the feathery effect in the background. Using this image as a Photoshop tile can be interesting if you want a repeated image effect.

Next Time…
We’ll complete this series of Photoshop background tutorials with some of the more colorful ones. Until next time, take care.

By admin Posted in Adobe Photoshop, Best of the Best Designs, Best of the Best Designs, Catalog Design Tutorials, Colors and Design, Design Careers, Design Tools & Utilities, Graphic Design 101, Web Design No Comments

Photoshop Backgrounds for Graphic and Web Designers - Part I

December 3, 2009 – 4:26 pm

Background Check
Have you even wanted to create your own unique Photoshop backgrounds for a specific project or web design layout that needed some extra shine? In the following tutorials, you’ll learn how to do this. The instructions take you step-by-step and can be used as the basis for creating new backgrounds to suit your needs.
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Windows Vista Background

Although Microsoft’s operating system, Vista, hasn’t been the most popular of all its offerings, it does have a rather nice background graphic that can be used as a backdrop for text, PowerPoint presentations, or general purpose graphic design uses. If the background is too “Mircrosofy” for your tastes you can easily manipulate the color palette and swirl patterns differently.

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Digital Star Effect

This background is somewhat “organic” in that the pattern and colors of the star effects differ according to what you choose for your primary image. In this particular instance, the image source is a photo of a carnival ride. You can use virtually any image for your source to make unlimited unique backgrounds.

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Summer Background

This could also be called a “hippie background” as the motif is representative of posters and graphics that were quite popular during the 1960s. The design is quite adaptable for many graphic design projects that need a friendly retro look and can be adapted for your next poster, brochure, or flyer.

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Chroma Background

Here’s an interesting background that can be used to highlight text by entering the information in the various globes in this background. Web designers could also use this pattern for menu layouts as well. You can vary the number of white globes you need in this background to suit your next project.