The design department brings graphic design ideas, tips and tricks and concepts for design, printing, photography and publishing of all kinds. Everyone is welcome, beginners and pros alike. The best place to start is with the latest issue of the Newsletter
Featured Reviews
7 Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3
George M Engel takes a look at Scott Kelby's 7-point system for working with digital photos. He says: "I would classify it in the Intermediate to Professional user level... a typical Scott Kelby Photoshop book: Great graphics; Extremely well put together; Comprehensive and well thought out. 7 Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3
Worldwide Identity, Inspired Design from Forty Countries
There is more to being a designer than using tools to re-form and regurgitate our thoughts. There is more to design than balancing concept with execution. Maggie Macnab reviews a blockbuster book by Robert L. Peters that examins the very intent of design with regards to Worldwide Identity
Review: Cool Web 2-point-0 Clip Art
It's zippy, flippy, hippie, and trippie... you'll like Jumsoft's new collection of clip art! They say it's for Apple's Pages... but you can use it anywhere! Here are just a few examples of Cool Clip Art from Jumsoft
Review: Zero-configuration CMS
I've had bad experience with Joomla... it's geek CMS for geeks -- not normal people. If you want a high-power CMS without the geek, get MovableType... I'm setting up a SkyBlue blog now! And I'm learning that if you want really easy, quick CMS, then you need to check out SkyBlueCanvas
Review: Got kids? Get Doozla
They say it's a full screen vector drawing application for kids -- but I'll bet adults will like it even more! Doozla features simple free-hand drawing and color tools, webcam & tablet support, entertaining color-in templates and inspiring background images. Doozla Drawing for Kids!
Decoding Design
George Engel reviews Maggie Macnab's awesome new book all about symbols in graphic design -- he includes pictures and some links you're sure to enjoy! This is recommended for everyone Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication
Alternative Vector Drawing & Painting for Mac
Once there was only one drawing and one painting program for the Mac. This month we look at several newcomers that give Mac users some exciting choices:
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ZeusDraw is a vector drawing program with great brushes and a host of other features...
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DrawIt presents an impressive assortment of professional grade vector features...
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iMaginator and Create are two powerful new publishing tools from Stone Works' and
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DropFrame is a cross-platform application that allows you to easily add a picture frame to your images.
Photographic Image Processing for Leopard
Jade uses state-of-the-art algorithms to enhance color, contrast and dynamic range -- it's an easy-to-use image enhancement and batch processing tool that will automatically improve digital images ... powerful Image Processing for Leopard
Digital Cameras: Good, Bad, Ugly
I've been testing digital cameras for some time -- even destroyed a few! This year the quest was for a durable camera for video that would stand up to extreme sports, while giving good image qualaity. I tested a few really good ones, and a few real dogs. Hopefully I'll help you make a smart decision on purchasing your next Digital Camera
Viewsonic VX2235 LCD Display
Next, George Engel shares his experiences in purchasing a new 22" display -- and points out several good criteria when shopping for displays. If Santa brought you some cash, and you've been wanting a new or second computer monitor, then read George's review of the Viewsonic VX2235 LCD Display
PhotoBooks make the ultimate gifts...
Here's a great gift idea for your entire list ... make a PhotoBook -- hardcover photo albums -- using the Unibind PhotoBook Creator thermal binding machine ... Make yourself a PhotoBook
Book Review: Non-Designer's Design & Type Books ~ Deluxe Edition
Back in the Fall Fonts Festival you read George's insights into type and typography. Well now you get to discover one of George's most inspirational resources on type and design -- from one of our favorite authors of all times, Robin Williams! Non-Designer's Design & Type Books
Ultimate Patterns made easy...
You'll never have to search for -- or fumble over -- patterns again -- this updated Adobe Photoshop plug-in makes the coolest patterns and textures so easy you wonder why someone didn't invent this before now. SymmetryShop is the tool that automates the creation of all types of surface designs Ultimate Patterns made easy...
CDFinder finds everything on CD
I have used CDFinder for years -- since version 2 in fact. With dozens of CDs of client files and archives, dating back to the early 1990s, I can give you my personal endorsement that it works ... CDFinder finds everything on CD
High Quality Raytrace Renderer
Microspot Interiors provides interior space and modelling space in the same application with a shared library, Interiors Pro gives professionals the flexibility they need to be truly creative without the computer slowing them down. High Quality Raytrace Renderer
Software Review: Klix saved my Photos from doom
How much are your digital photos worth to you? Priceless? An old favorite of George's is resurrected under a new name and new company -- with a Mac OS X version that actually saves your photos from corrupted digital camera media... Klix (Image Recovery)
Review: Marshall McLuhan ... Everyman's McLuhan
"McLuhan was right." said the Reporter, June 1976 -- You thought "Global Village" referred to the internet? Right? You thought "The Medium is the Message" referred to MySpace, or Google? Right? Maybe, maybe not. But you won't know for sure until you discover (or re-discover) Marshall McLuhan! I'm including this book review not just because it's a visual treat -- but because everyone should experience the thoughts and words of Everyman's McLuhan
Reviews for November
- Unique Photoshop Brush Sets Graphic Extras brush packs for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements are royalty-free designs for art history, clone, blur, smear, pattern stamp, paint, dodge, burn + others.
- Photo collage made easy You really didn't know it could be this easy! AKVIS version 5.0 of its photo collage plug-in AKVIS Chameleon is totally cool -- and a true breakthrough in photo collage creation. Works in Photoshop and Elements as well as any other Photoshop compatible software
- Create a Watercolor from a Photo This very cool plug-in for Photoshop compatibles offers natural-looking paint media with ArtStudioPro, Watercolor, Technical Pen, Marker, Crayon, or Colored Pencil
- Photo viewer in your pocket What a great gift this will make -- and it's totally affordable -- with digital foci's "pocket album" Digital Key Chain photo viewer ... carry up to 74 photos everywhere you go on 1.5-inch color LCD screen with 8mb of internal memory
- WYSIWYG website creation tool XtraLean Software has rolled out the latest release of its WYSIWYG website creation tool, ShutterBug V2.3. This version dramatically improves the quality of images with the new image processing engine and the addition of filter controls to adjust the sharpness, brightness, contrast and saturation of images.
- Free seamless backgrounds The fourth installment of Spiral Graphics free seamless texture packs more than 150 textures freely downloadable seamless textures -- bringing the total of free textures to 600 -- including all new terrain textures for games and maps
- Making Things Talk Tom Igoe bestows the power of communication upon your favorite tech creations -- guidelines for electronic verbosity
- Microsoft Word automated output Multiple Word files -- printed at the same time? You can select the files you want to output, adjust the settings, and WordOutput will do the rest automatically.
- Linux Firewalls Linux Firewalls shows how to use iptables and Netfilter to detect and prevent network-based attacks -- in today's security nightmare, a secure firewall is essential
- Powerful Notebook for the Mac Notae is advanced notebook software -- including such features as template notes (notes you can insert into other notes), partial matching for tag searches, optional automatic saving of documents when they are closed, adding or removing tags via contextual menus as well as many smaller usability enhancements
- DiskLibrary: Catalog your digital life DiskLibrary media cataloging application for Mac OS X is indispensable if you have a lot of media to keep track of. It catalogs not just your complete file structure, it also creates thumbnails, and stores metadata, for most popular media formats.
- Activity Visualization Ascent is an activity visualization application designed to organize and analyze exercise data downloaded from exercise computers or imported via various file formats. Version 1.8 adds the following new features. (See video for sure!)
Previous Reviews
- Photoshop Lightroom Adventure Field testing in Iceland turned out to be a stroke of brilliance," enthuses George Jardine, pro photo evangelist for Adobe Systems, about Mikkel Aaland's new book, Photoshop Lightroom Adventure
- Marshall McLuhan ... Everyman's McLuhan Everyman's McLuhan is McLuhan's career; his words are accompanied by colorful and innovative illustrations that apply McLuhan's and Gordon's ideas to the realities of 21st century technology and media.
- Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One Pioneering computer graphics author Deke McClelland updates his bestselling hands-on tutorial for "Adobe Photoshop CS3" -- Read the Lessons. Watch the Video. Do the Exercises.
- Art Text If you do a lot of graphics, check out Art Text for creating textual graphics, high-quality headings, logos, web banners and buttons.
- Killer virtual tours Starting from digital images, the software's powerful central automatic stitching engine enables a diverse range of users to create high-quality panoramas and virtual tours
- CSS Tool, Makes CSS approachable for Mac users Eric Meyer really is the leading expert on CSS for the web. His new tool, CSS Sculptor, created in collaboration with WebAssist, makes it easy for Dreamweaver users to create Web standards compliant CSS-based layouts
- Graphic Inspector The latest version of Graphic Inspector provides extensive info about graphic files and helps locate potential problems according to user defined settings.
- ConceptDraw 7.2 CS Odessa ConceptDraw 7.2 Dramatically Shortens Learning Curve for Business Graphics - it's vector graphics make it easy to build and modify all kinds of graphics not just charts and presentations!
- iWatermark iWatermark is the popular watermarking package for Mac OS X and Windows - ease of use with efficiency for beginner and professional photographers to protect their work. Add digital signatures, url, email address or company logo to one, or a 1000 images at a time.
- Custom shapes for Photoshop Graphicxtras.com's latest set of royalty-free releases feature flames and fiery imagery: custom shapes for Photoshop and Elements; symbols for Illustrator; and font set for DTP and 3D and others
- Buttons for Photoshop, Elements and Illustrator three new Button Themed Sets for use in Adobe Photoshop, Elements and Illustrator as well as a corresponding Fonts Button Pack. Custom Shapes Pack consists of 200+ custom button themed shapes for digital scrapbooking, fashion designs, packaging, books and more
- Automate Illustrator and Photoshop Production Pack 5.0's plug-in interface integrates directly with the Workgroups 2007 suite, enabling users to quickly access information about the job or project they are working on.
- AlphaStar for Adobe After Effects AlphaStar for Adobe After Effects create different types of highlights, stars, rays, flashes, blinks, lens flares, rainbows and etc., and gives a lot of possibilities to decorate video and create both natural and unusual fantastical effects
- Free QuarkXPress 7.3 Updater More people use QuarkXPress for creative design and page layout than any other software in the world. Here's support for five additional languages including European Portuguese, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, and Russian
- Sound, Motion, Near DVD Quality DXG ANNOUNCES DXG-572V DIGITAL CAMCORDER - Full-Motion Video in Near DVD Quality with Sound, 5 Megapixel Photos, Digital Voice Recorder for Only $149 ... pretty slick!
- Create, Animate 3D Worlds e frontier has launched Power Bundle, a total 3D animation solution - Poser 7 - Vue 6 Esprit for creative professionals, graphic artists and hobbyists to create 3D worlds with human and natural imagery.
- Free Photos at TurboPhoto 5th in celebration of the 5 year milestone, Turbo Photo plans to release an unprecedented amount of free stock photos for the month of September -- Thousands of web photos for commercial and personal use can be downloaded for free
- Improve your Time Tracking Now you have the option to pause a running timer when a new one has started. Billings, the time tracking and invoicing software from Marketcircle Inc. has accommodated user requests for restricted timers in a new point release.
- Toon Boom Digital Pro Toon Boom - easy-to-use interface - the complete animation software for professionals, offering advanced content creation, animation and compositing capabilities within a single application.
- BBEdit gets upgrade Since the early 1990s we've preached the true benefits of having BBEdit installed on your computer. It's been said that BBEdit should be the second piece of software installed after the System package. If you use text on your Mac, then you need BBEdit!
- Store more, share more - at home NewerTech has announced the miniStack Drag, Drop Shared Storage up to 750GB for Home or Business, 6 Times Faster Performance, Extra Security with NDAS Technology
- RapidWeaver gets a slew of handy new features RapidWeaver brings a slew of handy new features including an upgraded blog plugin, new custom RSS fields, and a brand new Dynamic Sidebar option allowing far quicker upload times
- Memory for New iMac Upgrade your Memory for New iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0/2.4GHz, Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz "Extreme" Models - Upgrade from 1.0GB to 3.0GB for Less than Factory Option to 2.0GB
- Data recovery for Mac OS X FileSalvage 6, Data recovery software for Mac OS X now has support for custom file type recovery, embedded file search, and new bootable DVD
- iLife '08 iLife '08, the most significant upgrade ever to Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented iMovie
- iWork 08 Apple has introduced iWork '08, a significant upgrade to Apple's productivity software suite featuring new versions of Pages and Keynote word processing and presentation applications, and introducing an innovative new spreadsheet application called "Numbers."
- Disk Cleaner regains More Disk Space To regain space and keep your computer running fast, it's essential for you to clean it up -- Windows users can now reclaimj more Disk Space from Disk Cleaner than ever before
- Tips on Writing a Good FAQ Adriana Iordan shares insight and tips on Writing a Good FAQ, those organized "collections" of valuable information you want your readers to learn
- Logos 01 Today's designers must be clear on all the steps necessary to create work that stands out in an increasingly competitive marketplace -- here's a book to help you upgrade your image
- Artist's Guide To Gimp Effects The GIMP, an image editor whose power and ease-of-use rivals that of Adobe Photoshop, is one of the world's most popular free software tools. Here's the guide you'll need...
Epson R260 Printer
A little wit and common sense as author and computer guru George Engel, asks:
WHY WOULD A GRAPHICS-WISE GUY throw away a perfectly good Photo Printer that's getting 5740 x 1440 dpi pictures?
Well, you'll just have to read his review of the Epson R260 Printer
BEST Natural Media Plug-ins
Hardly a week goes buy without someone writing in for a quick, easy way of converting digital photos or Photoshop images into art. Most frequently they ask about pencil or pen and ink sketches. This year's BEST IMAGE EDITING software is a draw between Akvis and Alien Skin natural media plug-ins
Celedy Software CeledyDraw 2
Can professional Windows users in the design field exist without Adobe Illustrator? Maybe not... probably not. However, most other Windows users can indeed exist nicely without Adobe Illustrator -- here's a robust, alternative for just about anyone... CeledyDraw 2
Thinking In Type
Alex White is the leading authority on graphic design using typography. Thinking in Type, The Elements of Graphic Design, and Type In Use continue to be our top recommendation for learning and applying The Practical Philosophy Of Typography
Reviews: Movie Editing Made Easy...
So many people have written lamenting about the lack of movie-making products for Windows -- until the latest iteration of Movie Edit, from Magix, there wasn't. But now, Windows users, your time has come... get your hands on Movie Edit Pro
The Life and Deaths of the Printed Word
William J. Sonn traces the seismic societal shifts which followed each dramatic drop in the cost of written knowledge. What do current technological advances and "free information" via the Internet hold for the future? This is must reading for anyone involved in printing, typesetting or graphic design... Paradigms Lost
Building Colors on Uncoated Stock
Tintbooks Introduces Tintbook Uncoated -- Remember, we told you about Tintbooks last year... well, they've now completed the first comprehensive CMYK Graphic Design Tool for printing on Uncoated Paper. See the latest TINTBOOK...
InDesign CS2
Author and Macintosh technical expert George M Engel -- a die-hard PageMaker user -- found Adobe's InDesign a bit of a pain to get used to... but now he's found some new features that he really likes in the new Adobe InDesign CS2
Stock Layouts for CorelDRAW
For graphic designers and business publishers who need to produce professional-looking brochures, newsletters, flyers, postcards, ads, business cards, letterheads and more. For CorelDRAW Graphics Suite versions 9 through 12
InDesign CS2 Classroom in a Book
Author and Macintosh technical expert George M Engel takes a look at the latest Classroom in a book from Adobe; the experts in the tradecraft of image editing and layout design -- InDesign CS2 - Classroom in a Book
Babel Color Brings New Color
The BabelColor Company has rolled out the second version of "BabelColor", a color comparator and translator software designed for the Mac and Windows platforms. Babel Color Color Comparator
Building Colors on Uncoated Stock
Tintbooks Introduces Tintbook Uncoated -- Remember, we told you about Tintbooks last year... well, they've now completed the first comprehensive CMYK Graphic Design Tool for printing on Uncoated Paper. See the latest TINTBOOK...
Deke McClelland's Total Training
Reviewer Joyce Evans shares a brief look inside some of the best video training on the planet... with Photoshop expert Deke McClelland and the product called Total Training
DigiEffects Web Euphoria
Here's one of the BEST for 2004 - plug-ins from DigiEffects ... that easily and effectively create the most sought-after effects in the business... Web Euphoria
Interview: Leslie Cabarga
Frequent questions about type, typography, fonts and lettering in email, the Design Cafe and classrooms prompted us to contact the logo, font and lettering wizard himself
... Leslie Cabarga
Editors Choice: Photoshop for Right Brainers
Want to expand beyond typical tips and techniques? Tired of those "hot" tricks without a reason or purpose? Al Ward's technical expertise gives you precision training and a creative jolt in the arm that won't quit... Photoshop for Right Brainers
Turbo Photo Library and Freebies
Graphic designers on a tight budget may appreciate the new Turbo Photo Library of CD-ROMs, hundreds of high resolution, royalty-free images at very inexpensive prices. Learn more and download samples this month in the Reviews Department
Software Solutions with Joyce Evans...
This month, noted author and frequent DTG contributor Joyce Evans puts her review pencil to software solutions for designers:
First, she needed a quick and easy way to write proposals without crunching her busy schedule. Here are her comments on The Proposal Kit
Next, Joyce found a super quick and easy way to produce Flash SWF animations with Wildform FX Pro
The Designing Business
Although this is part of our Business department, designers can learn a thing or two in How to Hire A DesignerUnique Design Layout...
One of the more popular layouts we've presented over the years is the Digital photo tent displayUsing Color in Design
(From the Photoshop Department) Designers must always remember the powers of color. Sometimes you need a little help Using Color to Harmonize PhotosSure-fire Techniques for Creative Thinking
Take this step-by-step tutorial and see if you don't get a real surge of Creative ThinkingGenerating Creative Ideas
A frequent problem for graphic designers is falling into a creative slump. Here's a whole page to help you sharpen your creative edgesMaking your graphics work
Of course creating graphics is only part of the challenge. Getting them to print requires a bit of output file wisdomUnusual Design Layouts
If you need to stand out, then do something different... Design: Skinny Layout Templates.Other Favorites
- Layouts For Portfolio Disk Jackets
- Laser Paper Selection
- InkJet Paper Selection
- Handmade, Custom Envelopes
- Becoming A Graphic Designer
- Visual Proofreading
- Die Cutting without Dies
- Designing for CREEP
- Easy Type Modification Tricks
- T/Maker EPS Clip Art Classics
- Finding Varnish Techniques
- Spectacular design student work
- Unique Brochure Folds
Return to the Design Department, or back to the Front Page
Participate in your Design Center
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