What's New in Web Design, Graphic Design, & Typography on the Web I decided to change the name of my weekly post, "Cool Stuff For Designers" to a name that made much more sense. This will be a weekly digest of the latest resources for Web Design, Graphic Design,...
graphic design

Why Random Designs Are So Compelling to Customers
Random Design and Natural Design I was looking at a bunch of artwork the other day, and I noticed that I tend to lean toward a certain trend. While I like Modern and minimalist artwork, I really tend to lean towards artwork that has a touch of random or asymmetry....
Create a Futuristic Interface in Photoshop
Create a Futuristic Interface in Photoshop We go to the movies because they thrill us. We go there to escape reality and see things that just aren't possible in real life. Movies can bring fiction into real life, such as the comic books that we read, and the...
Getting Started With Branding Part 1
Getting Started With Branding Part 1 Branding is in the world around us. Branding can make or break any business. Branding does a lot of things, but what does it matter to you if you don't even know what branding is? That is where I come in. What is a Brand? A brand...
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...
15 Essential Serif Fonts for Professional Designers
15 Essential Serif Fonts for Professional Designers This is a list of 16 quality serif fonts for professional designers that you will find in most professional graphic design work. These are all found in body copy of books and magazines. They are all beautiful and...
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...
The Sometimes Humorous Side of Being a Designer
This article is made to be more funny than anything, just because of how people think when they know, or are friends with a graphic designer. Sometimes it can be really frustrating when being a designer, because a lot of people assume that you can do things that...
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...

Creating Glow Effects in Your Designs With Photoshop Part 1
Glow effects can really add drama to your designs and really make them stand out. Contrast is key here, so it is always a good idea to use a really dark, or even black background. You can add these types of effects to anything such as text, lines, shapes, etc.To do...
Blend Colors Easily With Fireworks
This is a really cool feature found right inside of Adobe Fireworks. What is great about this feature is that when you blend the colors, they are safe for the web. Many times when I am building site composite, or a piece of web work I would like a mix of two major...
Easy Width Control in Fireworks
We have all had this problem when making a web site - You are creating a mock-up of your web site, and you have a distinct number of menus. You want to create buttons that are the same width across as the header and that are spread out evenly across your site....
Using Variations to Make Color Decisions in Photoshop
Sometimes when we are editing and color correcting a photograph, we realize that a photo could use a little something, or that a color is off, but we can't figure out where we need to make the adjustment to get the look that we want. Photoshop has a tool built in that...
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...
Create Amazing 3D with Textures In Photoshop
In Photoshop CS5, the new Repousse Panel is fantastic, in that you can create 3D from almost anything. You can create a 3D object from a selection, a path, text, a mask, etc. What is really cool is that you can create your own textures, or you can use images as...
The Color Replacement Tool In Photoshop
This tool is a very handy tool for replacing color in a photo inside of Photoshop. It is found behind the brush tool and goes as far back as CS3. This sort of works like making a new layer and setting it to color in the layers panel. That is an old trick from before...
How to Control Your Image Size
Image size really makes a difference in the look of your documents. The size of your document and its resolution are determined by where your image is going to be viewed. Print This includes magazines, flyers, posters, and anything else that is printed. The higher the...