Why Good Design Service is Just As Important As Your Design Skills Many of us strive to be successful. We work hard and we are constantly refining our skills to get better. We want to be able to build websites faster, edit images faster, build great layouts faster. We...
Freelance
Freelancing: 10 Things You Can Do to Get Business
It can be really tough to get going as a freelance designer. If you don't have a background in business, you may not know how to get started. Freelancing has its good and bad sides, but it can be scary to take the leap. Honestly, getting into the business and being...
Grow Your Design Business: A How-to Guide
Grow Your Design Business: A How to Guide Figuring out how to grow your design business should be your main focus. You have the talent, and you have the expertise, but where is the steady flow of clients that you are looking for? One of the hardest things for...
Your Designs Are Not Your Own
Your Designs Are Not Your Own Many people go into the field of design because they love art and they love computers, and they want to make money creating artwork. This is a common misconception about the field of design. I am even guilty of making this mistake. I...
Why You should Choose Design as a Profession
Why You should Choose Design as a Profession I have a lot of friends that hear about my job and think "I would love to do what you do!" I love the enthusiasm, but I don't think a lot of people really know what is involved in graphic/web design, illustration, or...
My Predictions For Design and Development in 2011
I like how so many people like to say that web design and graphic design is going to do this and that. Honestly, I don't think anyone knows where the world of design, web design and web development is going to to be by the end of the year. Some people say that we need...
The Importance of Including Sketches in your Portfolio
As art artist, designer and illustrator, I have come to understand the importance of sketching. Sketching is the proverbial drawing board. It is the place where our ideas start, and where we can put them down on paper. I have found that sketching helps tremendously in...
Creating Glow Effects in Your Designs With Photoshop Part 2
Yesterday, I covered some basics regarding glow effects and how to use them to your advantage. Today, I will cover some more advanced techniques that will help you to achieve some really cool effects. I created a new document with the dimensions 1024 x 768 and filled...
Places to go for creative Inspiration November 2010
Yanko Design- Never Miss the Keyhole Fast Company - An Amazing Collapsible Lamp My Modern Met - Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes The CSS Awards- The Best Free Fonts of 2010 The Photo Argus- 60 Breathtaking Fall Images for Your Inspiration Andre Jolicoeur Illustration...
Things to Remember During an Interview
The economy is in a rough place right now, despite what the media says about no longer being in a recession. None of us can afford to bomb an interview, so I thought I would share some tips and things to think about when going for a big interview. 1. Be confident, not...
An Example of Excellent Branding: Enexis
Enexis is a branding brainchild of the branding and design powerhouse EdenSpiekermann. EdenSpiekermann was founded b the famous and ingenious Erik Spiekermann, co-author of Stop Stealing Sheep & Learn How Type Works. This book is considered a must-have for anyone...
Should Pentagram Sue? Would it do any good?
I recently came across a case involving Pentagram, where one of their designs were blatantly ripped off by a famous clothing company Sean John, owned by the famous rap artist known as P Diddy. Sometimes you can argue that a work is inspired by someone else's work, and...
Multiple Masks on One Layer in Photoshop
This is a great method to get great masks in Photoshop. You can actually have 2 masks on an image at the same time. You can use a vector mask and use a custom shape to mask out an image, creating a clean mask for sharp edges. The pixel mask is great for creating...
Is There A Gap Between Your Ears? Lesson Not Learned
After being constantly attacked last week for ruining their logo, Gap decided to revert back to the old logo that everyone knows and loves. They admitted that is was a wrong step for the company, and that the customer comes first, which is great. They should come...
Create a Dark and Gritty Effect in Photoshop
First, take your image and duplicate the background layer, so you can go back to your original if you need to. Hide the background layer and work from your copy. Go into the channels panel and hold down the command key (CTRL on the PC) and click on the RGB channel to...
Things to Consider With Branding and Corporate Identity Part 1
Many companies and designers think that branding and identity begins and ends with a logo, but there is much more to branding than simply creating a pretty logo. The whole point of building an identity or brand is to build trust with a client and create a connection...
The Future of Design and Advertising
I was asked a question yesterday that really got me thinking: What do you think the future will hold for design and advertising? What will be the next big platform to design for? I thought about this for a long time, and my guess is as good as yours. People are always...
Is the design field seeing the end of its day?
I frequent a lot of design blogs, simply because I like to know what is on the mind of other designers, and also because I like to have my ear to the ground regarding our industry. One thing that I caught wind of was a discussion about designers and web designers and...
Winner Announced: Free Design Book Giveaway
First off, I want to thank everyone that participated for their invaluable comments for this post. There are many aspects to branding and corporate identity, and I think each comment touched on a different aspect. Branding is a vital part of marketing and building a...
Design Book Giveaway: Comment for a chance to Win!
Contest Rules: It's simple- All you have to do is go to the Creative Beacon website and post a comment at the bottom of the giveaway announcement page to win. Post a comment about what you think is the most important aspect of branding or identity. Post your comments...