Nov 13

How to Avoid Design Clichés

Creative Graphic Design Anchors, art, Artifice, Artistic Flair, ayisyen, ayiti, bagay, Brushes, Canvas Backgrounds, colorful, Creative Graphic Design, creole, culture, design, Dvd Covers, Graphic Artist, Graphic Program, Graphics, haiti, haitian, haitien, Ingenuity, kreyol, lakay, lakay graphics, Persistence, pride, Program Titles, Puke, Sheer Beauty, slogan, Sponge Brush, text, text-art, Time One, Tv Commercials, Typeface Add Comment (0)

Oct 24

How to Calibrate your Monitor

Creative Graphic Design Actuality, Amateur Photographers, Color Management Software, Colorful Designs, Dead Links, Family Albums, Favorite Sites, Flicker, Graphic Artists Designers, Graphic Design Professionals, Graphic Designers, Graphic Professionals, Graphic Programs, Greeting Cards, Lagom, Mispelled Words, Monitor Calibration, Online Resources, Online Shoppers, Operating System, Photobucket, Test Pages, Vacation Photos, Virtual World Add Comment (0)

Calibrating the Monitor on the right

It is usually understood that monitor calibration is for Graphic Design professionals only. Not so! Indeed, this is a must for graphic designers,  artists, photographers, etc. But anyone who uses their computer to view or manipulate color objects (pictures, graphics or text) would greatly benefit from adjusting their monitors. Continue reading “How to Calibrate your Monitor” »

Oct 13

How to Design a Simple Greeting Card

Creative Graphic Design Arrow, Color Combination, Composition, Direction, Effective Design, Element, Face, Favorite Colors, Good Combination, Goodness, Grab, Graduation Cap, Graduation Card, Greeting Card Design, Happy Accident, Lettering, Many Things, Monsters, Painting The Ceiling, Pencil, Shape, Transparent Object Add Comment (0)

Thank goodness it’s over

This very simple but rather effective design will be today’s featured Design of the week. It shows Continue reading “How to Design a Simple Greeting Card” »

Oct 13

How to Zazzle

Creative Graphic Design Business Reading, Cafepress, Commas, Css Codes, Design Time, Exact Answer, Experiences, Expert, Google, Internet Shorthand, Pot, Quotes, Shopkeeper, Storefronts, Web Search, Webpage, Zazzle Add Comment (0)

I am no Zazzle (or Squidoo) expert, so this lens does not pretend to explain everything there is to know about the service. I am an average user wanting to share my experiences with other Zazzle Shopkeepers. The ones who, like me, are striving to reach their goals, while managing to have some time left for other stuff. I wasted so much design time trying to understand the Cafepress and Zazzle interfaces, Continue reading “How to Zazzle” »

Oct 10

Lesson in Simplicity

Creative Graphic Design Array, Backgroung, Cafepress, Dead Links, Design Time, Garbage, Gold Lettering, Gradient, Graphic Designers, Graphic Software, haiti, Light Effects, Mispelled Words, Print On Demand, Simplicity, Special Effects, Starters, Stupidity, T Shirt Design, Time Consuming Add Comment (0)

The Design of the Week is going to focus on simplicity, again! Graphic designers are sometimes amazed at all the special effects we can apply in the last version of our favorite graphic software and the vast array of available plugins. As a result, we go crazy and overload our pieces with garbage.

The first version of this design looks pretty good, but is totally wrong for its intended purpose. For starters, it is too bright and shiny. And it is rather confined within this rectangular panel which makes it look like a credit card. I probably could find a few uses for this, but who has that kind of time!

Continue reading “Lesson in Simplicity” »

Oct 7

How to Balance a Design

Creative Graphic Design Bottom Right, Composition, Design Balance, Dollar Prize, Excuse, Figure 1, Graphic Artist, haiti, Haste, Lack Balance, Masterpieces, Negative Space, Perfect Balance, Symmetry, Synonym, Upload, White Space Add Comment (0)

Our design of the week will emphasize one of the main qualities of a good design: Balance. In every composition, one has to always worry about balance, or the lack of it. The latter will definitely kill a piece.

Continue reading “How to Balance a Design” »

Oct 1

Symmetry or Balance?

Creative Graphic Design Alingment, Axis, Composition, Desig, Dilemma, Distances, Horizontal Stroke, Lettering, Letterings, Negative Space, Negative Spaces, Nuisance, Proper Balance, Relative Balance, Sign Painter, Silhouette, Space Interaction, Symmetrical Shape, Symmetry, Uniform Color, Virtual Line Add Comment (0)

Symmetry is one of the most perfect qualities. A symmetrical shape is about perfect. We have symmetry when the distances on both sides of an axis are equal. Balance is a whole other animal.

There is no way to quantify balance. It’s something that is felt. But it is not absolutely subjective. If a design lacks balance, everyone will notice. One way I can explain it, is that we achieve balance when Continue reading “Symmetry or Balance?” »