Graphic Design
Fill a shape with a photo in Adobe Photoshop. Maybe you’ll choose a dreamy sunset or beautiful ocean waters. It’s all up to you. There are a few ways to achieve this. Keep reading for one I like to use. Step 1: Choose Your Shape and Fill Images Start with two Images. One will become the shape and the second will be the image within the shape. First select the image that will be inside the shape. Start with that…
You’re starting out as a freelance Graphic Designer. How much will you charge your clients? There are a lot of ways to calculate and it can be confusing. I’ll share what I feel is the simplest way. I suggest charging either a flat rate or a flat rate plus hourly. There may be small projects that you charge a flat rate for. For example, a simple edit to a photo in Adobe Photoshop. You know the work will not take…
Did you read the Blogging Toolkit post from last month? Then you may have some ideas about how to start a blog. Now it’s for marketing your blog! I suggest sticking to only a few marketing channels at first. You’ll easily overwhelm yourself if you set out to post on every social media platform in existence. I have found that a combination of organic search, Pinterest, commenting on blogs and a little of Instagram bring traffic to Passport by Design….
What are the best blogging tools to grow your blog? I’m going to give you the tools I use on a daily basis. Website and Hosting for your Blog WordPress is my blogging software of choice. This is WordPress.org, not to be confused with WordPress.com. There are a lot of website builders out there. Think Wix.com, Squarespace and many more. I’ve talked to other Graphic Designers and they’ve always gone back to WordPress. It’s the most used software for a…
Are you learning to code in HTML? There are a lot of codes to remember. I’ll help you remember the ones you’ll use most. 1. HTML Headings and Paragraphs When you’re writing in code, your headings and paragraphs look like this. When they are put into a web browser they end up looking like what you see below. It’s important that you use end tags. If the text in your paragraph starts with <p>, then you will need to end…
We buy things that appeal to our eyes. That’s why package design is so important. We will choose the item in the best packaging. It’s just human nature. Want to get an A+ on your package design skills? Check out the following brands. The cute bottle above is from beauty supplement producer, The Tonik. I like that they chose an uncommon bottle shape. The packaging is simplistic and cute at the same time. The next design is also simple, but…
Camera manuals and photography how-to videos can be very overwhelming . What are the most important things when you are just starting out? I can think of three things that really stand out to me. Aperture in Photography In photography, the aperture is the amount of light you are letting into the lense of the camera. There are places that have limited natural light. You will need to adjust the aperture to let in the needed amount of light. Aperture…
Colors have a large effect on us. They can push us or discourage us to do a certain thing. How can you use colors in your design to bring your message across? Fun and Playful Colors When a brand is looking to create a product with a fun and playful image, they use colors that represent life and vibrancy (above). Yellow, red and orange can be used to describe a product as being fun and playful. These colors show consumers…
A while back I talked about creating a Transparent Background in Adobe Illustrator. Today I’m taking it back to the basics and talking about the Pen Tool. You are interested in the Pen Tool if you are new to Adobe Illustrator. It is the base of almost everything you will do in the program. Identifying the Pen Tool Look for that little icon that looks like an old fashioned ink well pen. It’s located very close to the top of…
So you want to be a Freelance Graphic Designer. These are the tools you will need to truly succeed. Keep reading to find out what tools are most important. Graphic Design Software Quality software means a quality product. While I’ve used basic programs to edit photos (think “paint” that comes on every PC ), you will need to invest at a point. Adobe is the standard for Graphic Design. There are also others, such as QuarkXpress and CorelDraw. Graphic Design…