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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
I got this question yesterday, and thought that it would be a good topic for the day. If you want to fit text to a certain shape, you have a couple of options. The first option is to do what is called an envelope distort. First, you make your shape, and then take the...
When creating type in Photoshop, and you are looking for just the right display face, it helps to use the key commands to get things just how you want them. If you double click your text icon next to the layer, it will highlight your text. Then, simply go up to the...
I was playing around with some of the new stuff inside of Photoshop CS5 and came across one of the new tools that they have included called the mixer brush. This is a great new tool that allows you to take a photo and use different settings to create a painting from...
X-RITE With this site, you take a color test to see if you are as good with color as you think you are. This site goes off the notion that a large number of people have color deficiencies. RECAVE This is a cool blog about all types of interesting artworks, including...
I really like to create my own image galleries, but let's face it, in the real world, we can't always have things how we want them. Sometimes we need to get the job done in the best possible manner, as quickly and effectively as possible. When I need a quick image...
Opacity has a lot of uses for different types of effects. We like to see certain things bleed through in some areas, while in others we want a shape or text to be a certain color. Recently, I was playing around with opacity in the appearance panel in Illustrator, and...
When creating your web site, it is important to create a site that flows in a way that helps to get your message across to your viewer. You have to create something eye-catching, but well designed. Having a solid structure is key. To me CSS is the only way to go for a...
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There is certainly a lot to consider when laying out your site design. There are so many tools to help you out, and so many methods to get the job done. You really have to consider what your needs are, and which method will help you accomplish them. When I design a...
This is a neat trick that is easy and creates a subtle painterly effect with just two filters. First, find an image and open it inside of Photoshop. Then, hit Command +J (Ctrl + J on the PC) to duplicate your background layer. Do this twice, because we are going to...
I wanted to open the floor to fellow designers to request tutorials and how-to's. I post my own articles each day, but if any designers have any burning questions or would like to know how to do something in particular, how to approach a design, how to create a...
A reader adamantly requested that I create this tutorial, so I am going to run through the basics of creating your own business card. First, you need to gather all of the information that you need for your card. You will need your company logo, your name, your...
X-height refers to the height of a lowercase letter in a typeface or the top of the midpoint of lowercase letter such as d, p, q and so on. Some typefaces have a tall x-height, some medium, and some have a short x-height. This drastically changes the look of the text...
In the first portion of this mini series, I discussed finding and choosing a domain name, as well as hosting and things to consider. Today, I am going to build on what I discussed in part 1. I realized that I had left some important information out regarding domains...