Learn 2 Design

Free Vinyl Decal Application Instructions

2012-08-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

Tools needed to apply your decal:
Decal, Isopropyl alcohol, Tape Measure, Soft Cloth and a Squeegee

Steps for applying your vinyl decal:

Step 1: Examine your surface
Make sure the surface that you want to apply your decal to is smooth with no texture. Some plastics are textured or "rough" by nature, you will want to avoid applying decals to surfaces of this nature. Do not apply vinyl to rubber surfaces, it will stick but it's only a matter of time before it peels off. The best surfaces to apply a decal to are painted metal, glass and smooth plastic surfaces. These surfaces will allow your decal to adhere properly.

Step 2: Clean the surface
Cleaning your surface is the most important aspect of successful vinyl decal application. You can use alcohol for the best results. It is most effective in removing dirt, dust, road grime, and small bits of adhesive. My favorite type of alcohol is 91% isopropyl alcohol. You can buy this at CVS or if you need a lot of alcohol you can buy an entire case here: Vi Jon Isopropyl Alcohol Pint Pack Of 12.

Step 3: Decal Placement
Tear off two small (1") strips of 3M Economy Masking Tape and apply one to the two top corners of your decal. This will allow you to place your decal before you peel the backing off and apply it. Place the decal in the desired location.

Step 4: Make sure your decal is level
Get our your trusty Empire Measuring Tape and make sure your decal is level. There are two obvious ways to do this. The first way is to measure the distance between the bottom of your decal to a straight line or edge on your surface. Make sure you measure the left corner's distance, and then match the right corner's distance so that your decal will be level. The other method is normally used when you have a lot of flat-bottomed letters to measure by. Basically you will measure from the edge of your surface to the bottom of a flat letter on one side of your decal. Using the same surface edge match the distance to a letter on the other end of your decal. This will ensure your decal is level.

Step 5: Tape your decal down
Now that you have your decal level and in place, you need to secure the entire top edge with a long strip of your 3M Masking tape. This creates a "hinge" that will allow you to apply your decal in the most easiest manner.

Step 6: Apply your decal
The hinge you created in step 5 will allow you to "flip" the decal up so you can peel off the backing. Flip the decal up and peel off the backing half way. Only peeling the backing off half way will allow you to keep the decal tight, preventing the edges from flopping down and sticking prematurely. With the backing peeled back, take your squeegee and lightly press down on the top part of your decal in a horizontal sweeping motion. This will allow for a smooth application with no bubbles or wrinkles. After you have applied your decal up to the half way mark, you can then carefully peel off the rest of the backing and continue to apply your decal.

Step 7: Remove application tape
Take the top edge of your decal's application tape and start peeling it off at a 45 degree angle. That's it you have applied your first vinyl decal.

How to Turn Pictures into Vector Decals in Adobe Illustrator

2012-05-31T16:36:00.000-04:00

How do you turn a picture into vector artwork and why would you want to?

Ok, first of all if you do not know what vector art is then you might want to skim through these two pages that explain what a vector is, when you should use it and what software you should be using to do it. Defining Vectors here & Vector File Formats.

The Adobe Creative Suite is top notch design software and I wouldn't even consider using any other product at the moment. I use Adobe Illustrator for all of my vector based and layout needs mainly because of the ease and the ability to be scaled. The Pen Tool is my weapon of choice paired with a Gradient Tool. Master these two tools and you will be an expert. I have at least 7 years of experience with the pen tool and it is what I will be using in the video today to create a "deer head" hunting decal. Please watch the video below:

Photoshop Video Tutorial: How to Create and Edit Gradients

2012-05-21T23:42:00.000-04:00

Things you need to know about gradients in Photoshop:

The best way to make sure that the entire shape is selected is to double-click the layer that you want to edit. When you double-click the layer, the Layer Styles window is opened (shown below in pic). As you can see, there are many options in this menu. Some include drop shadows, inner shadow, bevel and emboss, color overlay, gradient overlay, pattern overlay and stroke. When trying to create a gradient, you are going to want to click on the gradient overlay tab and then use the menu down arrow to select a preset or you can click the gradient bar and create a brand new gradient.

Layer Style Window in Photoshop CS3

When you create a gradient make sure you save it as a preset by clicking NEW after you get your settings as you want them. I can not tell you how many times I have lost gradients that I had worked on for a half hour because I failed to save it as a preset before closing Photoshop. Save your gradients!

Learn the different types of gradients and when to use each of them. There are five types of gradients in Photoshop: Linear, Radial, Reflected, Angle, & Diamond.

From Left to Right on screenshot:

Linear gradients are the most commonly used and consist of at least two colors that are blended in a straight line from one end to the other.
Radial gradients are also utilized frequently and can be described as a circular color shift from the inner most point of a shape to the outer most point.
Angle gradients are sort of a mystery to most designers, but if you know how to use them they are amazing. Information on Angle Gradients.
Reflected gradients can be used to make objects look dimensional and/or metallic. It features two color shifts: Color1 > Color 2 and Color 2 > Color 1.
Diamond gradient. The diamond gradient basically starts in the center and points out to the edges like a star. Personally, I do not use the diamond tool much at all, if ever. However, you can achieve some very interesting effects when you toggle some of the blending options over top of images in Photoshop.

Name your layers! This is good practice for Photoshop use in general. Designers both experienced and beginners fail to do this simple organizational step when designing. If you take the extra time to name your layers it makes it easier to delete unused layers, organize, link and group similar layers.

After you watch the video below, visit my new Quick Design Tips section. Currently we are adding new video tutorials showing techniques in programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. We are accepting requests for videos and are beginning to add them now. If you are new to graphic and web design, you should also visit the Typeface Anatomy page. Typography is an extremely important part of design and this article illustrates the anatomy of a typeface with an info-graphic and a brief explanation of the parts of a font.

Blogger Stats vs. Google Analytics - Report Very Different Values | Jenson Taylor Blog

2012-05-09T10:47:00.001-04:00

Why does my Google Analytics page views total differ so much from my Blogger.com stats?

When trying to estimate traffic to your website, there are many options and tools out there. Most people use Google Analytics alongside other counters such as Statcounter.com, Blogger Stats, etc. Every traffic estimator or stats analysis tool will come up with different results because they are programmed using different algorithms. From what I read on the web, I find that most people believe that Google Analytics is the most valid and accurate form of website tracking. Analytics knows when you visit your own site and does not count these views. Analytics also ignores web crawler hits. Analytics works by using cookies and JavaScript to effectively manage and analyze your data. Other stat trackers will sometimes have an image counter and each time that the image is loaded, it will count that as a hit or page view.

One thing that bothers me about Google Analytics is the 30 minute rule. If a visitor visits one of your web site's pages more than once within 30 minutes of each other it will not be counted as an additional page view. In my opinion, this can somewhat blur your "real" traffic number. For instance, when I go to Amazon.com and do some shopping I tend to go back to Amazon's home page many times to search for new stuff, and Google Analytics ignores my additional views.

The best way to effectively manage your traffic data is to use more than one tracking system. On this blog, I currently use Google Analytics, Statcounter & my Blogger stats tool as well. These are all free for personal and commercial use. After a few months of monitoring your traffic with all three tools, you can start to see patterns associated with your traffic. Take each report with a grain of salt and try to focus more on percentages instead of actual numbers. For instance, if you study your traffic reports and notice that your blogger stats have increased by 15% over the last two months, compare it with your Google Analytics percentage increase. I bet you that they will be very similar when it comes down to percentages. So, just remember that no tracking software is perfect and that you should be using multiple methods of tracking. Keep blogging, working and monitoring and you will see your website traffic grow and exceed your expectations. I stumbled upon a great article on Jenson Taylor's Blog discussing this topic in detail. Be sure to also read all of the comments and see what results different real world users have had with different types of tracking software. The link is provided below:

Blogger Stats vs. Google Analytics - Report Very Different Values | Jenson Taylor Blog

NC State Logo Emboss Tutorial: Adobe Illustrator Vector

2012-04-26T01:15:00.000-04:00

How do you give a flat vector logo a little depth?

The answer in this case is embossing. But we're not talking about any old Photoshop embossing, we want a vector file so that we can change it later if we need to. My friend asked me to create a desktop wallpaper featuring the NC State "S" emblem logo. He showed me a picture he had found on Google, so I used it in this tutorial.

I thought I was going to get it easy and be able to trace the embossed shapes from the (raster) picture and align them with the (vector) artwork that I already have. No such luck; they didn't even remotely match!

Steps in embossing the NC State logo

Download the picture from Google as a reference.
Open your vector logo into Adobe Illustrator.
Align the two images very close to one another.
Select your pen tool from the toolbar in the top left.
Start Clicking!

Watch the video below to see the awesome little video I put together for you.

As an added bonus I am offering a free download of the finalized NC State Logo as an .ai file.

Top 10 Old English Fonts Free Download

2012-03-30T16:02:00.000-04:00

Old English fonts are gothic style fonts and date back to the Medieval times. Every designer loves a good old english style font. I have compiled a list of the most usable and unique old english fonts available. Some of the fonts may not be great for body copy, but they serve as great textural shapes and can also be used to help one to portray a certain mood or feeling in a work of art. Please read through the article, but if you can't wait the FREE DOWNLOAD is at the bottom of the page. Thanks for visiting www.Learn2Design.com and check out some of my other text related articles listed here: Typefaces: The Anatomy, Awesome Metal Text Effects Tutorial, Add a Fresh Look to your text Tutorial.

1. Dirt 2 SoulStalker

2. Kings Cross

3. Deurergotisch

4. Medici Text

5. Cloister Black (The original)

6. Shadowed Germanica

7. English Towne

8. JSL Blackletter

9. Middle Saxton

10. Rapscallion

Alright folks, that's all of the Top 10 Old English Fonts, now click below to get your free download of all 10 fonts.

Web Design Premium Themes & Templates

2012-02-19T20:51:00.002-05:00

Where can I find premium website templates and themes to use for my web design projects?

Look no further my fellow designers and developers.

Themedy.com is a great resource for any site builder that doesn't have the wealth of design knowledge that others do, and also for those people that are so busy and don't have time to build everything from scratch on every project (which is most of us).

Don't you want to make money for all the hard work that goes into your website business?

You can make big money, you just have to know how to be agile in today's market. Agile by definition is to be quick and well planned. That's what you should be as an entrepreneur. Cut out all that time you are wasting getting your websites put up and get a theme from Themedy.com! They have amazing templates for sale individually, but the best deal is the monthly or yearly plans. You get access to ALL templates. Here's a picture of their Clip Cart page: Check out their link:
Themedy templates here.

Themedy Design Themes

Top Web Site Design Layouts

2012-02-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

Web Design Layouts: Simple & Effective
Layout or organized structure is the most important element in web and print design. Graphic and web designers have a very complex job, despite what some may think. When brainstorming for layout ideas you must consider a wide gamut of concepts. For most designers, knowledge of many areas is required to create efficient layouts including color theory, usability, consistency, content, white space, legibility, hierarchy of pages and content, linking structures and let's not forget aesthetics.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

What Content?
The aforementioned design elements focus on how the foundation of your project is built. When looking at the big picture, we can figure out what content is needed and where it should go. This should first be sketched out on to paper. I know that you have heard this before but listing your needs out on paper is so much more productive and versatile than using a computer.

What Pages are needed?
Find out what pages are needed and how the hierarchy of the site will be formed. After you have digested all of the site's informational needs, you can focus on design.

Design Perfection
Designers tend to be perfectionists and because of this we tend to get bogged down in the work sometimes. The worst thing you can do with your time is to sit down at the computer and begin to design with no direction or concept. Never do that again, you will improve as a designer if you follow that rule. With that said, every designer obsesses about layout and probably spends way too much time trying to perfect it anyway.

Important End Users
Web users with lots of "surf" time will agree that simple and effective is preferred over complicated and 100% unique. Your end user does not want to be bogged down in advertisements or junk content. They want clean, crisp and to the point, an effective user interface. We do not necessarily have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to web site design layout. This work has already been done for you by the masses of professional designers out there. Use your resources.

Domain Name Purchase and Hosting Account
A very important part of the whole web site development process is to figure out what type of domain name you want and what type of hosting you need. eCommerce sites have different requirements than say an info site or tutorial site like learn2design.com. GoDaddy.com is my preferred domain registrar because they have great customer service, unmatched prices, tons of extras and lots of premium services for eCommerce sites.

Web Site Design Inspiration
A good way to get inspiration for professional web design layouts is to "crawl" the web and find out which sites look and work the best. You should take individual elements from lots of different web pages to figure out the best route for designing your next project. Below this paragraph, I have listed some of my favorite resources for finding layout inspiration. Please feel free to visit their pages and let the learning begin.

Web Designers Idea Book vol. 2
A great book that showcases many different styles of web site designs with detailed explanations and beautiful images of examples is: The Web Designers Idea Book vol. 2. A link to Patrick Mcneil's website: http://thewebdesignersideabook.com/books/volume-2/. This book is worth every penny I paid for it and I continue to reference it for all of my web design projects. You should definitely buy this book!

DesignShack.net
One of my new favorite design resources on the web is a site called designshack.net. They offer amazing lengthy articles on any topic related to web design, coding, graphic design, and anything else you can think of. You should browse their entire site, but I am going to give you a link relating to this post specifically. The page illustrates their top 10 website design layouts.DesignShack's Top 10 Web Layouts They are all simple black and white mach-ups of a layout, with corresponding real-world examples. It's pretty amazing and I just used one of the layouts for a website that a team of about 20 professionals, including myself created. The website is will be live in about two weeks. The web address is tecteach101.com and it is targeted for individuals who are beginner users in computers and computer security. You should go and check it out, you might learn something.

Smashing Magazine

A great resource for any design need that you could ever have. Smashing Magazine features 6 massive categories for design and coding and more. The categories are Coding, Design, Graphics, UX design, WordPress and Community. The website is massive and there is definitely something for everyone.
Since we are a graphic and web design audience here, I will send you to their 40 Web Layouts page in the design section.

Dzine Blog
This link has a massive amount of photoshop tutorials for web design layout purposes. 36 Best Photoshop Web Layouts.

Get Better Tools
A great way to help you get started is to use a site like WordPress. You can get started pretty easy and there are infinite options when it comes to tools. A site that offers some amazing tools is Themedy & Market Place. With Themedy, they offer amazing templates to work from that work with wordpress genesis and thesis. Market Theme focuses on utilizing your website as a business and helping you to create an online store fast and professionally. Click the links below to visit these wonderful sites.

Market Theme

Themedy

Chevy Cruze Vector Logo

2012-02-15T14:42:00.002-05:00

Today, your free vector is the logo for the all new Chevy Cruze.

Please follow the link if you are interested in learning a little about the Chevrolet automobile manufacturer: Chevrolet's Brief History
The staff at Learn2Design.com strives to bring you content that is useful and relevant to your needs. If you need any logo in vector format, please feel free to post a comment or email me with your request.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment! Check out some of my other links to free vector logos: Amp Energy Drink Logo, Costa Del Mar Logo, Quikrete Vector Logo, iPhone 4 vector logo and many more coming soon!

Please find your download link below and thank you for visiting Learn2Design.com
File is in Adobe Illustrator CS3 EPS Format. File size: 423k

Free Chevy Cruze Vector Logo

Costa Del Mar Free Vector Logo Download

2012-02-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Today, your free vector is the hard to find logo of Costa Del Mar sunglasses.

Please follow the link if you are interested in learning a little about the Costa Del Mar Company history: Costa Del Mar Brief History.

The staff at Learn2Design.com strives to bring you content that is useful and relevant to your needs. If you need any logo in vector format, please feel free to post a comment or email me with your request. Please find your download link below and thank you for visiting Learn2Design.com

File is in Adobe Illustrator CS3 EPS Format. File size: 790k

Free Costa Del Mar Logo

Vector Logo for Quikrete

2012-02-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

Today, your free vector is the hard to find logo Quikrete.

Please follow the link if you are interested in learning a little about the Quikrete Company: Quikrete Brief History.

File is in Adobe Illustrator CS3 Format or lower. File size: 1.3mb

Quikrete Vector Logo Free Download

iPhone 4 Logo

2012-02-12T22:00:00.002-05:00

Apple was formed on April Fool's Day in 1976. There were three founders of Apple: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak & Ronald Wayne. The first computers were hand-built by Jobs & Wozniak and had a msrp of $666.66 each. In 1977, Ronald Wayne sold his share of the company back to the team for approximately $800. A bad choice indeed.

Apple Inc went on to form the largest electronics market in the world. Their sales have topped $100 billion this past year!

Steve Jobs was a visionary, helping invent cutting edge technology and only allowing the most beautiful and efficient products to be sold to his customers. Steve Jobs lost his battle with cancer in 2011. RIP

I am giving you a free logo today that represents artistic excellence, futuristic technology and efficient devices that have all been created by one singular company. Apple has come a long way from the ground and it's good to see that someone's hard work has paid off and made other people's lives easier.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment! Check out some of my other links to free vector logos: Amp Energy Drink Logo, Costa Del Mar Logo, Quikrete Vector Logo, Chevy Cruze Vector Logo and many more coming soon!

Here's the free vector download of the iPhone 4 logo with the Apple symbol also included.
Adobe Illustrator artwork (AI-CS3) File Size: 190k. Click Button Below to download.

A Website in the Worst Kind of Way

2012-02-07T00:24:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been to a website that offers absolutely nothing to you as a user?

I know we all have, it's inevitable. Most of the websites that I speak of are just ad farms. These websites are mining Google money. They probably get tens of thousands of hits a day and a nice sum of adsense money. Ad farms consist of an entire website of nothing but ads, placed strategically throughout the entire website. Link and photo ads are literally packed in like ants. We'll get back to the bad websites in a minute. Let's discuss some characteristics of good websites first.The best way to get traffic to a website is to generate original content that is helpful to others while always aggressively promoting and improving your website.Doing this will give you what I like to call "Long-Term" traffic. Creating a solution to something that a person needs is the key to all your traffic desires.

Your website needs to be designed by a professional for starters. Having a beautifully crafted layout with a user-friendly interface is the best approach.

OK people, it's time to get a new logo. Let's get into the 21st century here. It seems daily that I run across medium to large sized companies with terrible logos. I mean, people usually get paid to do a logo, it should look pretty good. You just had your site designed by a professional, now get him/her to create an updated brand identity for your company.

Now back to the bad websites. I have repeatedly come across a certain website that is nothing like what I described to you above. Recently, I was researching a keyword's search rank for one of the highest ranking pages for this website. I noticed that higher up in the page ranks was a website that I had visited before. I decided to go check it out to see if it was a good site. I clicked it's link while searching in google for "vector pms chart" and it came to a "results" page. Here's the screenshot below:

Now, in my opinion this is not an "allfreedownload"! This website consists of nothing but ads from top to bottom. It sends you to places like shutterstock, istock and getty images. This is misleading to the users of this site. When playing Webmaster, you should be honest with your visitors and upfront about what you are offering.

Side Note: Having a pile of links stacked up all over the page is just obtrusive and should be in a junkyard, not on the Internet.

People, create QUALITY sites please! (Or at least good content)

Hard to Find Vector: Amp Energy Drink Logo

2012-01-31T23:49:00.004-05:00

A little history lesson on AMP Energy Drink:

Free Vector Download at bottom of page.

Amp Energy Drink was first produced in 2001 by the Pepsi Co. under the Mountain Dew label. It's very easy to see all of the similarities in Mountain Dew and AMP's designs. For one, they both use the exact same color combination of greens, and the letter styles also have the same aggressive, sports-geared look. Amp changed the main can design in 2008 to emphasize the Amp logo and to minimize the Mt. Dew logo. This was one of the first signs of AMP becoming its own brand.

In 2009, AMP did become its own entity and started expanding the product line to add additional flavors. As of now, Amp comes in 7 different flavors: Original, Sugar Free, Overdrive (Cherry), Elevate (Mixed Berry), Traction (Grape), Lightning (Lemonade), and Sugar Free Lightning (Lemonade). Also, there is now AMP 100% Juice (Orange) and even AMP Energy Gum (80mg caffeine per piece!). Go to there website for more information. ampenergy.com

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment! Check out some of my other links to free vector logos: Chevy Cruze Vector, Costa Del Mar Logo, Quikrete Vector Logo, iPhone 4 vector logo and many more coming soon!

Here is the hard to find vector logo of AMP Energy Drink:

Amp Energy Drink Logo

Click Here! Quick Flip Formula - The Real Domain Flipping Formula

In a Designer's Mind: Acrostic Poem

2012-01-24T23:54:00.000-05:00

A poem written at will. Read Slowly

Drafting the sketches I see,
Every one shines with glee.
Surely a technical expert,
It shows in your work.
Great artists and designers,
Now is your time to shine.

Awesome Metal Text Effect in Illustrator! Free Download

2011-12-15T00:23:00.002-05:00

Create an Awesome Metal Effect with Adobe Illustrator

FREE FILE DOWNLOAD AT END OF ARTICLE!

Open a new file:

Click File Open in Illustrator and set your file size to be small. For this tutorial, I am using 3" for width and 2" for height.

Choose your font:

I am using Old English for the font in this tutorial.

Convert Text to Outlines:

Select your text and in Adobe Illustrator go to the type menu and select "Create Outlines".

Group Your Text:

Select all of your text shapes and hit Control/Command G in order to group your object into one unit that moves together. It should look like the image below.

Add Gradient to Text:

Go to the Window menu and you will find a list of objects; select Gradient. Set your gradient to the following values if you are following along: 1st Color on the left (63% Black | Position 0%), 2nd Color from the left (48% Black | Position 16.5%),
3rd Color from the left (0% Black | Position 48%), 4th Color from the left (100% Black | Position 54%), 5th Color from the left (34% Black | Position 86%), and the 6th color from the left is (8.5% Black | Position 100%). This gradient needs to be set to -90 degrees.

Offset the path of your text:

In order to get an accurate shape expansion we will need to use the Offset Path option in Illustrator. Go to the Object menu and then click Path and finally click Offset Path. Object -> Path -> Offset Path. Since my file is so small (3" x 2") I will only need to offset the path a little to achieve the desired effect. In the Offset Path dialog box, I chose offset to be a value of .004. Click OK to apply Offset Path.

Select the Outer Path:

Remember the offset path we just created? Now we need to select inner path and group the letters. Next, I will select the outer path and group those objects as well.

Create Second Offset Path:

Select the original inner layer and go to ...Window -> Path -> Offset Path and set the value to .012 and click OK. Ungroup your objects once and then select the outer most path that we just created and group them.

Make the mess look pretty:

With the outer most path selected change the color to 87% black. Then add a white or light gray stroke about .25pt in size. I also added a .1 pt stroke on the original object with a fill of black.

Save your gradient as a swatch:

Simply click the thumbnail of your gradient in the Gradient Window and drag it on to your swatch palette. And there you have it!

Thanks everyone for checking out this article. Please read some more of my articles you can browse from the home page http:www.Learn2Design.com.

Here's the download link for the final project file:

3>Metal Text Effect Illustrator .AI

Vector File Formats Explained

2011-12-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

As a graphic design expert, there are many terms and objects you should be familiar with. In this article, I will describe in depth the various vector file formats you should be using and when you should use them. Vector graphics is a term that is used a little too loosely on the internet these days. For an excellent primer on vectors, you should read this article. There are so many people calling any old graphic a vector, when in fact it is not. Below, I will detail what type of file Photoshop creates versus what type of file Illustrator creates.

Photoshop = Raster

Let's go ahead and get the first misconception out of the way. You can not create a true vector in Photoshop! Photoshop is a raster image based creation software and can only create raster images. A raster image is one where you are designing with pixels, not lines and points. Pixels contained in raster images can not be scaled up without losing quality. Have you ever taken a thumbnail off of the internet and tried to use it as your desktop background? Notice how it's extremely small and if you stretch it it will blur or "pixelate".

Illustrator = Vector

In my opinion the best vector based software on the planet is Adobe Illustrator. There are a few other desktop publishing programs that create vector files: Inkscape, CorelDraw, FlexiSign, and Xara to name a few. Most of these are primitive and do not offer the amazing capabilities that Adobe Illustrator does. For all purposes in graphic design, the only option in my opinion is illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator (.AI)

A vector format that is created by Adobe Systems and is normally .pdf compatible, which means that a select few alternative programs can open these files. Be careful if you like to use gradients and gradient mesh, drop shadows and other such effects because they can be displayed radically different in other programs. Other software platforms that can open .ai files include: Adobe Acrobat X Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash, Serif DrawPlus, FlexiSign, CorelDraw and Inkscape.

This file format should be used when you are trying to create a file that might need to be scaled up or down in the future depending on the needs of the user. You should ALWAYS use .ai files when you are designing logos! A logo is useless without the capability of changing size, so if you spend 20 hours designing a logo in Photoshop at three inches wide you will be highly disappointed when you figure out that you will have to redraw the logo to be able to create that large banner with the company's logo on it. Don't make that mistake, trust me it's not fun redrawing something because you screwed up.

Encapsulated Post Script (.EPS)

An .eps file is very similar to an .ai file. One major difference is file size. Typically .eps files are much larger than the counterpart .ai file. For example, I created a solid black box at two inches wide and two inches tall. AI file size = 206kb | EPS file size = 462kb. That is a huge difference for just a simple little black box. Although, the file sizes are much larger for eps files they are more flexible and can be opened by many alternative programs. Most ripping machines for printing companies can open EPS files when they can't open an AI file. So, it's nice to be able to use Adobe Illustrator to design files with smaller sizes, and then converting your file to an EPS to send to the printer.

Portable Document Format (.PDF)

I am sure most everyone is familiar with the PDF file. Various uses include text only files, text and image files, and last but not least vector files. Adobe Illustrator will save any document or image to a PDF file. Adobe Illustrator has a built-in function to allow PDF compatibility so that other software applications can open and view your document. PDF files maintain small file size while keeping a slew of images and text intact. Graphic Designers BEWARE: When you request a company's logo or artwork that you need be careful when they ask, "Is a PDF Ok?". I can't tell you how many times I have opened a client's pdf file in Adobe Illustrator to find out that they took a .jpeg and saved it as a pdf. It is so frustrating...

There are a few more vector file types, that we will not go into within this article because they are not as widely used and frankly you do not need them. So, I leave you with this statement. Please do your homework when you are designing for a client, especially if you are new to graphic design. You can blow an enormous amount of time creating a graphic that is useless to your client. When designing for the web, it is ok to use Photoshop because your images will never need to be any bigger than someone's computer monitor. When you are designing logos, decals, posters, promotional displays and any other large-format medium you need to be using vector files. Your reputation depends on it.

Ambulance Vector Stripe Pattern: Free Download

2011-11-30T21:04:00.002-05:00

FREE AMBULANCE STRIPE VECTORS

In this post I am offering you a free to download Ambulance Stripe Vector. This file is free from copyright and restrictions. Use this file as you will, it's yours now! There are a lot of sites like iStock, Shutterstock, Dreamstime, and Vector Stock that make you pay for vectors like the one I'm giving out for free to you. This is going to become a frequent addition to this website. I will be giving out as many free vector images as possible. This file is a true vector and can be scaled to any size. This is a free vector .eps / .ai file. If you are not sure what a vector is, check out this brief article I posted last week that explains what a vector file actually is. What Are Vectors?

All that I ask of you is to give me a plus one!

Enjoy your free vector download. Vector Art Free! The link is below.

Free Vector Ambulance Stripes, (.1mb, .AI)

Vector Files, What are They?

2011-11-21T22:49:00.001-05:00

What are Vector files?

Graphic and Web Designers need to be familiar with a host of things, including design techniques, trends, color theory, balance and symmetry, composition, technical aspects of design software, and way too many to keep listing. However, one of the most important things in design to me personally, is to have the ability to take any image you can find anywhere and turn it into a vector file. The process can add an unlimited amount of flexibility to existing designs and can even be broken down into individual parts to create other artwork to either compliment the existing artwork or to invent completely new designs.

Vector file you say? What's that?

My definition of vector graphics is: artwork that is created using geometric shapes (with points and lines)or curved shapes by using custom drawing tools (the pen tool). Vector files can be scaled up or down in size infinitely and will still be crystal clear, with NO pixelation. That's right, no pixelation ever! A vector file can be used to create paths for CNC Routed signs, or to cut vinyl decals on a plotter, can be used on billboards to reduce file size, can be modified or edited at any time in any such manner that you may choose. That's a real world definition, now here is Wikipedia's version...

Vector graphics defined by WikiPedia is: the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics. "Vector", in this context, implies more than a straight line.
Vector graphics is based on images made up of vectors (also called paths, or strokes) which lead through locations called control points. Each of these points has a definite position on the x and y axes of the work plan. Each point, as well, is a variety of database, including the location of the point in the work space and the direction of the vector (which is what defines the direction of the track). Each track can be assigned a color, a shape, a thickness and also a fill. This does not affect the size of the files in a substantial way because all information resides in the structure; it describes how to draw the vector.

Here's the link: Vector Graphics Technical Definition.

Go See some Great Vector artwork examples @ www.vecteezy.com, and BrandsOfTheWorld.com is a great place to find free corporate logos, auto logos, designers logos, and anything else you can think of. Go check em out it's worth your time.

Free Download! Printable Vector Pantone Chart

2011-11-18T15:04:00.002-05:00

Today, I give the world my first vector freebie!

The freebie today is for a huge printable vector Pantone color chart. This is great for sign shops who do not want to take the time to design their own. The PMS Chart can also be scaled to any size. If enough people download this, I will break the file down into 8.5" x 11" segments... so that you can print your own book!

File Type: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Size: 4MB
Document Mode: CMYK
Release Date: 11/18/2011

A special thanks goes to ColorStorm Graphic Design located in Smithfield, NC for designing this beautiful vector for us.

Download Link Below:
Instructions: Click "Pantone Solid Color Chart" (That's It!)

CS3 Pantone Solid Color Chart

Where do Graphic Designers Work?

2011-10-31T23:39:00.003-04:00

Are you interested in learning what kind of jobs graphic designers hold?

You should be, especially if you are going to college and majoring in design. Trust me, the job market is a tough buy right now, even for the best talents. Don't worry though, just focus on gaining technical skills and staying creative because hard work pays off, eventually.

Note that not all designers jobs are listed as "Graphic Designer" per say, companies want a more sophisticated sounding title so they come up with names such as:
Graphic designers are also known sometimes as: Layout Artists, User Interface Designer, Commercial Artist, Graphic/Web Designer, Production Artists, Print Production, Communications Specialist, Art Director, Marketing Director, Digital Artist and many more I am sure.

So, let's discuss the most popular places for graphic designers to work.

Printing & Sign Shops are a great place to get started for entry level college grads. It gives you a lot of responsibility, especially in smaller shops where more duties are given to individual employees. You gain experience with customer service (client relationships), learn how to Increase Productivity (work efficiency), Thinking Outside of the Box to avoid monotony (being creative), Money Handling Responsibilities (Finance Management), Makeshift Engineering (making something from nothing), Learning how to "vectorize" anything! (Hone your Adobe Illustrator skills), and a host of other things you can help you gain valuable experience.
Marketing Departments for hospitals, visitors centers and tourist attractions are among a few places to work that is more of a mid-level position for a graphic designer. But don't let that scare you, if you are good you can get hired at a place like this easily. Just show some decency, dress nice and know how to talk to people oh yeah and know how to design like no other.
Small Design Firms are gold mines for young college grads. Places like this are a doorway to future opportunities in one's design career. If you can get hired at a small design firm, don't pass up the opportunity. I wouldn't say that the pay is immaculate, but you always have an opportunity to expand your knowledge and move up the ladder. Mainly, though these establishments are a great place to gain experience targeted at graphic and web design. Putting in a few years here will earn you a ticket to a large firm and more money.
Large/Corporate Design Firms are the cream of the crop for graphic and web designers. Corporate jobs, especially management and executive positions. Obviously, you need to have a ton of experience and an earth-shaking portfolio to back it up. You must operate with extreme efficiency, without fudging on the creative aspect. Your work must be of the highest quality and it also needs to be new and fresh.
Freelancing - Probably the most widely adopted alternative to for full time work. Most people that freelance typically hold other full time jobs and use the extra money to fund their start-ups or to pay off existing debt. Freelancers talent can range from down right shotty to pure professionalism, it just depends on the person. That's one reason why it is usually harder to find clients for freelancers. Talent is a variable and their name is normally not well known and they may have a limited portfolio as well. Freelancing is always good to participate in because you always learn new things and meet new people and build up your technical and people skills.
Media Management & Design- There are professional groups that when merged create another larger group making a complete media work horse. You have departments for development/coding, video production/editing, business/financials, conceptual design/development, graphic/web/flash designers, content writers/journalism, data management/server admins/IT. A media firm that would include this many separate departments of course would be a pretty large firm, but still in the small business world. These establishments are excellent for individuals with multiple talents both in technology and design. Start early though, you are going to need to get your experience in design, but you also need to be studying to get certified for the technical aspects of media technology. Salaries tend to be high in these firms, especially when an individual is responsible for multiple roles.

Now you know, where graphic designers work, normally.
Of course, there are many other places that graphic designers work, but no matter where it is the concept is always the same. Please post up your job titles and what you do at work, you never know what kind of interesting people you might meet!

Typefaces: The Anatomy

2011-10-31T13:24:00.001-04:00

Every designer needs to know what a typeface is.

Some people call them fonts or text, but we will stick to the term typeface for this article. If you are a designer, you need to pay close attention to intricate details in a typeface. These details are what make a typeface unique.

Do you know the different parts of a typeface's anatomy?

Take a look at the following diagram of my version of a typeface's anatomy. It highlights the important aspects of a typeface which includes: x-height, baseline, ascender-height, descender-height, and cap-height.

X-Height is simply defined as the height of the top of a lowercase letter.
Baseline is the horizontal line in which the base of the text rests on.
Ascender-Height is the height in which the top of a lowercase letter reaches. They actually extend above the height of capital letters. Some examples are the letters d,b,f,t,and l.
Descender-Height is the line in which lowercase letters that fall below the baseline reach to. Some examples are g,j,p,q,and y.
Cap-Height is the height of a capital letter.

I hope this short article has helped to inform you future font builders and designers out there. This information is crucial to being able to choose appropriate and professional fonts for your works. 90% of designers in the world have drastically reduced the quality of their artwork due to the inability to avert poor font choices. Learn about fonts, it will show in your work!

How to Learn Graphic and Web Design : Getting Started

2011-10-17T23:05:00.005-04:00

Pursuing web and graphic design is an adventurous and tech-oriented career path.This article will detail what graphic design is and will help steer you in the right direction to getting your career off the ground. So, we will first answer the apparently obvious question, What is a Graphic Designer and what do they do?

As stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Graphic designers—or graphic artists—plan, analyze, and create visual solutions to communications problems. They find the most effective way to get messages across in print and electronic media using color, type, illustration, photography, animation, and various print and layout techniques. Graphic designers develop the overall layout and production design of magazines, newspapers, journals, corporate reports, and other publications. They also produce promotional displays, packaging, and marketing brochures for products and services, design distinctive logos for products and businesses, and develop signs and signage systems—called environmental graphics—for business and government. An increasing number of graphic designers also develop material for Internet Web pages, interactive media, and multimedia projects. Graphic designers also may produce the credits that appear before and after television programs and movies.

WOW! That sounds like a pretty intense job description, but every byte of it is true. You can visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website to learn about any job title you might be interested in. Here's the link to the Graphic Design page on their site. Learning to design is thoroughly demanding in many unique ways. You gotta love doing it or you will not last 6 months in the business. Remember that "Rome was not built in a day" and neither will your skills library. It is hard work.

Perfection will not come overnight, nevertheless getting started with graphic and web design is relatively easy. You must be willing to learn a lot about a lot of different subjects and be able to navigate and efficiently use design software. Note some of the duties of the average graphic designer: (technical writer, creative-mind, artist, editor, web developer, designer, problem solver, customer service, public speaker, SEO expert, programmer, flash whiz, internet marketer and there are many more that I have not listed here for an obvious reason.

However, a person with extensive experience with the Adobe Creative Suites are way ahead of the game. The most useful set of programs for me personally, right now are Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop CS5. If you want to design and develop websites, you might be interested in learning Dreamweaver and Flash in addition to Illustrator and Photoshop.

Below are all of the Adobe CS5 Software Suite Icons

These programs possess unbelievably imaginative tools and have massive processing potential (Only good if your computer can handle it!). I definitely recommend that you go ahead and get some experience with these programs to start the path to your career in graphic and web design. I am sorry but please don't buy CorelDraw it sucks. Not only that, but NO other program in the world will open or convert Corel files, except for Corel software. So please do no waste your time and money on anything that says Corel on the box, except maybe a fonts cd or something.

I would also recommend that you take some drawing classes or at least be able to sketch your ideas well, but take note that a computer-savvy, highly experienced illustrator can have amazing visual ideas and be able to produce them easier. The fine arts come more naturally to some people than others, but that does not mean that you can't put out very high quality artwork equal to or better than an expert illustrator.

If you ever get a client that needs some very intricate drawings or painting that is out of your realm as a designer, do not hesitate to hire a freelancer to create the illustration and you can perform the "design" work. This is a great way to meet designers and illustrators while creating a trustworthy network of professionals that you can use to your benefit. Just imagine having a group of 20 people that all specialize in one unique subject. Let us get creative and say that we have the following breakdown of group members: (7) Graphic / Web Designers, (4) Web Developers, (3) Technical Writers, (2) Hardcore Software Programmers, (2) Internet Marketing Professional, (1) Flash/Action script Professional, and (1) Design Trend Researcher. That is one impressive talent pool. With this model, essentially you could have a great makeshift business with no start-up costs.

So, if you have been thinking about entering into the wonderful world of design, then march out and read as many books as you can, and use all design oriented sites to your advantage. There are hundreds of thousands of sites to visit and while they all may not be huge booming corporate monsters, there are great articles on even the smallest sites. I am going to leave a short list of links to sites that are very useful and will help you understand what graphic design is all about.

Smashing Magazine
HOW Design
Abduzeedo
Photoshop User
Communication Arts

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How to Add a Fresh Look to your Text

2011-10-14T01:17:00.001-04:00

In this tutorial, I will show you a couple of ways to add fresh effects to your text. Using Adobe Illustrator, we will demonstrate the pathfinder tools and the gradient tool. These are very important to master because they are very flexible and can allow you to design with a more individual style. Screen shots will be provided so you can see what I am actually doing on my computer as we follow along. Alright, now to the tutorial:

First Effect: Give your text a nice horizontal gradient to add some dimension.

Step 1: Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new file that is 600px tall and 800px wide. You can do this by going to the File menu and selecting the New option. If you're designing for the web, it is best to use an RGB workspace. Likewise, if you are designing for print you should use a CMYK workspace.

Step 2: Look on the left side of the screen for your tool bar. You will see a side by side set of tools that are on a vertical structure. Find the icon that looks like the letter "T" and click on it, that is your text tool.

(Text Tool Description)
Now, you can do two things with the text tool. You can click anywhere in the document and you will get a blinking cursor telling you to go ahead and start typing. This is free range typing and is not constricted to any borders. The second thing that you can do with the text tool is to draw a text box. A text box predefines an area in to which your text will fit inside. A little tip learned from experience.... the only way to get text justified on both sides is to put your text inside a text box.

Step 3: Now type a word or two. Maybe your company name or something.

Step 4: We want to make the text look a little less generic so, we will go ahead and add a stroke to the outside of this text, but it will be the same color as the text. We are doing this so we can "fatten" up the font a little and make it look more commercial. Go to the color palette and click the stroke and select a color so that it is not blank. Then go to the stroke palette and there will be three little boxes right under the stroke thickness box. These boxes specify inner, outer or center. Choose whichever you like best.

See this text already looks 100% better! (Original on left, Stroked on right)

Step 5: Now we are going to use the pathfinder tools, but first we need to create outlines so that our text becomes a shape or path. With your text selected, go to the type menu and find the option "Create Outlines" and click it or you can just press Shift + Control + O.
We also need to expand our stroke so that we can weld the stroke and original letter form together as one shape. To do this, you need to select your shape and go to the Object menu and select the Expand option. This will bring up the expand menu as shown below: Click OK.

Step 6: Select your text and make sure your color palette is showing. If it is not you can go to Windows menu and select Color and it will pop up. Now bring up your gradient window by using the same instructions. Here is the gradient window.

Step 7: Click inside the gradient bar to apply a gradient to your text. The default colors are a white to black gradient. You can change the colors by clicking on one of the markers in the gradient palette and then looking to the color palette to make your change. For this tutorial, I am going to stick to the black and white gradient but we will add a little twist to it next.

Step 8: With your text selected, go to your toolbar and select the gradient tool. While holding shift and starting at the top of your text, pull down to the bottom of the text and let go. This adds a generic black to white linear gradient to your text.

Step 9: Now go back to the gradient window and click on the bar and it adds a new marker and color to the line. I am going to give this a dual horizontal gradient effect. This step is difficult to explain with words so I'm gonna supplement you with pictures. Follow along below:

Set your gradient to reflect the screen shot below. I will give you the color values so that it is not an issue. Going from left to right (81% Black, 18% Black, 100% Black, 79% Black and 100% Black).

Step 10: After adding the gradient with a bottom up direction, we then need to add a light gray stroke.

With some additional modifications and a nice lovely background, we have a great looking design. It only took about 10 minutes to do this, so practice up on your Illustrator skills and keep coming back here to Learn2Design for more tutorials on increasingly broad subjects in graphic design.

How to Overcome Designer's Block

2011-09-26T23:24:00.023-04:00

Everyone has experienced designer's block at some point or another

All artists, designers and musicians will inevitably run into trouble while trying to be creative over extended periods of time. It is tough. Frequently staring at your screen for most of the day will turn your brain and eyes into mushy non-creative stress meat. Trust me, I have extensive experience and knowledge in graphic design and have experienced these meltdowns of the creative process. Dealing with stress and deadlines will eventually wear down even the most passionate designer at times. You just need to know how to cope with it and learn what to do when the block comes knocking at your door.

But enough about my opinion on designing websites and promoting yourself, let's get back to the designer's block problem. It happens to all of us some time or another, but in what way do we remedy our problem? I have a few suggestions on how we can overcome designer's block. There is a list provided below as well as some links to some great articles over at our partnering sites.

Ways I suggest to overcome designer's block:

Recess.
First things first. Step away from it for a while. Nothing helps better than to just take a mental break every so often. If you have multiple duties at your job, then try working on something of a different nature for an hour or so.

Interaction.
Next I can suggest to speak with someone else on the matter on a wire-frame basis. The terminology is probably not correct but what I mean is that you need to temporarily scrap whatever you were working on that got you in this mess in the first place. Then, with a partner discuss ideas and talk about what could work for this project in terms of organization, spacing, imagery, and usability. You never know, you might even come up with a better idea than the one that had you stumped in the beginning.

Inspiration.
A knowledgeable designer is a good designer. With the Internet of today you can find thousands of sites that contain information on any aspect of graphic design, web design, and web development. There are so many resources on inspiration out there, if you do not take advantage of that you will be missing out when it comes to new technology such as new programming language and new design software suites upgrades. One of the most amazing sites, Abduzeedo has a great page just for inspiration. If you can't find a way to get inspired here, then you're asleep! Abduzeedo Inspiration Page. Some good sites to see trendy new designs include LogoPond, LogoMoose, LogoFury & LogoFaves.

Some other links and articles on designer's block:

*A Great Site that lists many articles on how to get rid of designer's block of all kinds. OneXtraPixel

*Michael Locke personally gives you a few interesting tips in his video here at : http://www.mlwebco.com/2011/03/how-to-overcome-web-designers-creative-block/

*MediaZine is an awesome resource for quality articles, tutorials and other freebies. Check out their link to "10 Steps to Avoid Designer's block".

Free Webmaster ToolsSubmit Express

Learn 2 Design

Free Vinyl Decal Application Instructions

How to Turn Pictures into Vector Decals in Adobe Illustrator

Photoshop Video Tutorial: How to Create and Edit Gradients

Blogger Stats vs. Google Analytics - Report Very Different Values | Jenson Taylor Blog

NC State Logo Emboss Tutorial: Adobe Illustrator Vector

How do you give a flat vector logo a little depth?

Steps in embossing the NC State logo

As an added bonus I am offering a free download of the finalized NC State Logo as an .ai file.

Top 10 Old English Fonts Free Download

1. Dirt 2 SoulStalker 2. Kings Cross 3. Deurergotisch 4. Medici Text 5. Cloister Black (The original) 6. Shadowed Germanica 7. English Towne 8. JSL Blackletter 9. Middle Saxton 10. Rapscallion

Alright folks, that's all of the Top 10 Old English Fonts, now click below to get your free download of all 10 fonts.

Web Design Premium Themes & Templates

Where can I find premium website templates and themes to use for my web design projects?

Look no further my fellow designers and developers.

Don't you want to make money for all the hard work that goes into your website business?

Top Web Site Design Layouts

Chevy Cruze Vector Logo

Today, your free vector is the logo for the all new Chevy Cruze.

Free Chevy Cruze Vector Logo

Costa Del Mar Free Vector Logo Download

Today, your free vector is the hard to find logo of Costa Del Mar sunglasses.

Free Costa Del Mar Logo

Vector Logo for Quikrete

Today, your free vector is the hard to find logo Quikrete.

Quikrete Vector Logo Free Download

iPhone 4 Logo

A Website in the Worst Kind of Way

Have you ever been to a website that offers absolutely nothing to you as a user?

Hard to Find Vector: Amp Energy Drink Logo

A little history lesson on AMP Energy Drink:

Free Vector Download at bottom of page.

Amp Energy Drink Logo

In a Designer's Mind: Acrostic Poem

Awesome Metal Text Effect in Illustrator! Free Download

Create an Awesome Metal Effect with Adobe Illustrator

FREE FILE DOWNLOAD AT END OF ARTICLE!

Open a new file:

Choose your font:

Convert Text to Outlines:

Group Your Text:

Add Gradient to Text:

Offset the path of your text:

Select the Outer Path:

Create Second Offset Path:

Make the mess look pretty:

Save your gradient as a swatch:

Here's the download link for the final project file:

Vector File Formats Explained

Photoshop = Raster

Illustrator = Vector

Adobe Illustrator (.AI)

Encapsulated Post Script (.EPS)

Portable Document Format (.PDF)

Ambulance Vector Stripe Pattern: Free Download

FREE AMBULANCE STRIPE VECTORS

All that I ask of you is to give me a plus one!

Enjoy your free vector download. Vector Art Free! The link is below.

Vector Files, What are They?

What are Vector files?

Vector file you say? What's that?

Here's the link: Vector Graphics Technical Definition.

Free Download! Printable Vector Pantone Chart

Today, I give the world my first vector freebie!

Where do Graphic Designers Work?

Are you interested in learning what kind of jobs graphic designers hold?

Are you interested in learning what kind of jobs graphic designers hold?

You should be, especially if you are going to college and majoring in design. Trust me, the job market is a tough buy right now, even for the best talents. Don't worry though, just focus on gaining technical skills and staying creative because hard work pays off, eventually.

So, let's discuss the most popular places for graphic designers to work.

Typefaces: The Anatomy

Every designer needs to know what a typeface is.

Do you know the different parts of a typeface's anatomy?

How to Learn Graphic and Web Design : Getting Started

Below are all of the Adobe CS5 Software Suite Icons

How to Add a Fresh Look to your Text

First Effect: Give your text a nice horizontal gradient to add some dimension.

How to Overcome Designer's Block

Everyone has experienced designer's block at some point or another

Ways I suggest to overcome designer's block:

1. Dirt 2 SoulStalker

2. Kings Cross

3. Deurergotisch

4. Medici Text

5. Cloister Black (The original)

6. Shadowed Germanica

7. English Towne

8. JSL Blackletter

9. Middle Saxton

10. Rapscallion