Graphic Design
My camera battery refused to hold a charge starting sometime in the spring. I purchased a new battery but nothing changed. After more than 10 years together, I was ready to let it go. In the meantime I used a combination of my sister’s camera and cell phones. Enough was enough. Black Friday was fast approaching and I decided it was time to purchase a camera. That was when I started thinking about the features I knew this camera would…
When speaking about a job in the creative field I mean Art Directors, Graphic Designers, Photographers and similar “art degree” careers. Check out my post about types of jobs you can do with a Graphic Design degree. The competition is so tough when it comes to creative careers that it seems as though 1,000 people are all vying for one single position. Obviously everyone will not make the cut. There are ways to up your chances though. Many of these…
Your professors have provided lists of items for each of your classes. Each list looks daunting. I’m here to tell you that you won’t use half of the things on those lists. I’ll tell you what you should actually purchase and where to make investment purchases. Paintbrushes My first inexpensive set worked fine so I thought the second one would too. They didn’t though. That set of cheap brushes left brush hairs in my paintings. No need to spend a…
Quick Photoshop hacks can be used to instantly improve an image when you are short on time. The images above were slightly washed out. A little adjustments using Curves can save the day. Curves (Control M or Ctrl M) Use this tool to adjust the contrast in an image, color channel by color channel. For example, an image may have a large percentage of red. This can alter how the image’s subject looks compared to how the subject would look…
Everyone is vying for the Millenial dollar. Walmart decided they wanted a bigger piece of the pie. The Walmart website has definitely gone through some changes as of recent. When you compare it side by side with Target’s site you can see how much they resemble. Kudos to Walmart. Not so much for having such a similar design aesthetic as Target, but for making necessary changes toward relevancy. Print Magazine has an insightful article specifically about Walmart’s redesign. Interactive design…
Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet. “The Pantone Color of the Year has come to mean so much more than ‘what’s trending’ in the world of design; it’s truly a reflection of what’s needed in our world today.” – Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. As a child, I loved violet, and all types of purple for that matter. As an adult, however, it wasn’t the first color on my list. It felt…
You’ve heard so much about Pantone spot colors vs process colors, but what does it all mean? Everything design-related has to do with color. Be it Graphic Design or Fashion Design, color is so important. In simple terms, colors can be separated between spot colors and process colors. Pantone is the global standard for spot color. They have created a color matching system in which colors are specially mixed for accuracy across all types of media. Colors are numbered and put…
Everyone is a rookie at some point. And there will always be someone who has more experience than you. There are some design mistakes we can make, though, that automatically make us look like a rookie. I’ve made all of the following. Don’t be like me. Avoid making these five rookie mistakes. One: Forgetting to proofread your project before production. We get so excited to be ending a project and we just want to see the finished result. We rush…
You have just created the perfect logo. You drop it into InDesign only to realize that it has a white background. You thought you saved it in the correct format, so what did you do wrong? I’ll walk you through how to make images in Adobe Illustrator with transparent backgrounds. Step 1 Go to the Document Setup under the “File” menu. Now you’ll be able to see all the document properties. Step 2 Make sure that “Transparency” is selected as…
In a previous post I explained how you can definitely start a successful career with an arts degree. Today I want to give examples of specific career paths you can take with a Graphic Design degree. One thing about creative degrees in general is that you are very flexible. You may start out teaching art (as I did at one point) and go on to working at an advertising agency. Graphic Designer Design and produce collateral material (brochures, booklets, posters,…