Even Better Blog for Help & Learning the Graphics Industry

Be sure to visit our new blog at: http://www.thegraphicsexperts.com where you will find help with many topics of interest to the graphics professional and lots of learning materials as well. Learn from us or share your own experience!

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VISIT OUR NEW BLOG!

Be sure to visit our improved blog!

www.thegraphicsexperts.com

More members, more topics and more training services!

FlexiSIGN for VersaWorks Users

Givemehelp.com is happy to announce the release of our “FlexiSIGN for VersaWorks Users “ training DVD. This new DVD is especially designed for users of Roland wide format printers who also use FlexiSIGN for design and VersaWorks for printing. In this valuable DVD loaded with hours of training, we will show you how to get the best prints possible, how to soft proof your prints using your monitor and even give you hours of training on VersaWorks itself.

This is a must have for any FlexiSIGN & VersaWorks users!

 

To order or for more info, use this link: http://www.givemehelp.com/store.htm

 

 

Find The Right Fonts For Your Projects & Test Them Online With FontPro

by Fatima Wahab on May 17, 2013

Web designers have a lot riding on their shoulders whenever they set out to design a new app or service; everything from the layout and the flow of the content to its color scheme has to be carefully considered and crafted. One very important aspect of design is the choice of font that’s used. It might sound somewhat trivial, but fonts come in a huge variety and they certainly aren’t a one-size fits all deal. FontPro is an excellent service that helps you choose the right font for any project. It’s free for now, but might not stay that way. The service allows you to search fonts by specifying different parameters such as the weight, slant, and width of the letters. The search can further be classified into serif, sans serif, slab serif, mono-spaced  script, handwriting, black letter, and decorative. Let’s take a more detailed look at it after the jump. Read More…

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Free Interior Design Software – Sweet Home 3D  
Download Free Sweet Home 3D 3.6 Interior Design Software 
Sweet Home 3D File Size: 33.1 MB 
Sweet Home 3D Website

Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design software that helps you placing your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview. Sweet Home 3D comes with 50 pieces of furniture, but you may also import some additional objects in Sweet Home 3D. To get more objects, visit this regularly updated object model page. Print, plan export with Copy/Paste. Sweet Home 3D provides a full help accessible from its Help > Sweet Home 3D Help menu. Sweet Home 3D free Interior Design software requires Java Runtime Environment. Get It Here.

Graphic Design Software & Skills

Graphic Design Software & Skills: You The Designer’s 1st Infographic!

News, Resources   February 28, 2012  by Cadence Wu

If you were with us back when we first launched our Graphic Designer Survey, we’re glad to let you know that we’ve just released the first of a series of infographics we’ve made from the survey’s results! This one is about popular graphic design software we use today, and statistics on skill sets and specializations we tend to have. Check it out below!

 

Infographic: 10 Myths About Graphic Design – You The Designer | You The Designer

Infographic: 10 Myths About Graphic Design – You The Designer | You The Designer.

Infographic: 10 Myths About Graphic Design

Articles, Resources   October 15, 2012  by Patrick Jude Ilagan

Throughout the years graphic designers have tried to dispel the myths surrounding graphic design and working as a graphic designer.  While some myths are hilarious and particularly harmless, there are other myths that are annoying and generally unhelpful in the understanding of clients to graphic design and graphic designers. In our quest to demystify these myths we here at YTD made a cool infographic for you to share that will help people understand what graphic design and being a graphic designer really is.

**EDIT: Hey guys! We went through the infographic again and already fixed the errors that you guys pointed out. In that we would like to apologize and thank you guys for your inputs.**

What do you guys think? Do you find this helpful? Drop a comment below and tell us your thoughts! Do check us out in Facebook, Twitter and Google+ also do not forget to subscribe to get first dibs in all things awesome.

Author: Patrick Jude Ilagan

Patrick Jude Ilagan is a graphic designer/photographer hailing from the vast jungles of urban Manila. Always on the look out for visually appealing stuff he scours the internet and the bustling city in search of inspiration. His tools for mass creation is a Canon 500D along with a wide array of lights and lenses plus a 4 year old (but still fighting) laptop. Check out his work here.

Giveaway of the Day – free licensed software daily.

Giveaway of the Day – free licensed software daily. 

You really need to check this daily or have the email delivered, you’ll save thousands and get to use really cool software!

The Four Steps of Graphic Design

I was taking a look at graphic projects, you know the daily work we get, to see if I could break it down into simplified, logical steps. The reason for this is to start a discussion on how we get things done and to see if you have an opinion on how to better serve the graphic market. So read on and let me know if you agree, disagree, or if you just want to add a step or comment.

Design

Software – Original Designs

Whether you use an Adobe product such as Photoshop or Illustrator, or a more specific product such as FlexiSIGN, PosterShop or SignLab, learning the little tips and tricks that each has for design is essential. Be sure to invest in online, computer-based or live training so you can take full advantage of these fine products.

Web Images – Small Signs

Of course some images in your layout will come from the internet, so it is also essential that you understand formats, resolutions. Also understand copyrights so you don’t get yourself in trouble legally. Take advantage of Googles advances search options to find legal images. Google image searches are awesome and can provide many images for those layouts. Products like Vectormagic and PhotoZoom Pro can also be helpful in resolving resolution issues.

Cameras –Photos

Of course let’s not forget the good ole digital camera. A good camera is great for recording where an image or sign is to be placed, and can be used in mockups. It also can be useful in taking images that are very unique as well. Most of the time a good 8 megapixel camera will do well, especially if you use the programs mentioned above for resolution issues.

The key to all of the above design tools is knowing your tool. Learning, education, training and practice are essentials to getting a good design.

Print

Water Ink – Desktop

Surprisingly, aqueous inks are making quite the comeback in signage and printing. The wider color gamut and cheaper inks are probably part of that equation. In addition, there are many more media, including textiles that are aqueous compatible for instance take a look at some from Neschen Americas.

Solvent Ink – Large

Of course solvent printers are still very popular and well supported. There are many ICC profiles, but be careful with those newer printers where ink sets go beyond CMYK and use orange red, blue, violet inks. Some RIP software does not yet support these extra color channels.

UV Ink – Flat Bed

Flatbed printers are also climbing in popularity, probably due to the fact that many of them can print right to a substrate such as Cintra etc. and because the ink set allow for immediate use outdoors.

Latex Ink – Heat

HP introduced the latex printer but Mimaki now also has a model. This ink set is useful for many reasons. One is that the finished product can immediately be laminated, and two, the ink has a bit more “stretchability” than solvent and thus can handle those acute contours on a vehicle wrap fro instance.

Laminate

One Side – Cut Sheet or Roll-to-Roll

Finishing can be as simple as covering a sheet to roll of prints with a thin film to protect from UV or to add durability to the finished image. There are many films to choose from and many are simple to apply by using a laminator and pressure. Check out some from SEAL®.

Both Sides – Encapsulate

Occasionally, an image may need to be encapsulated where, both sides are laminated. Typically this involves heat-activated laminates, but pressure sensitive laminates can be used as well, if you have the right laminator.

Adhesive Only – Mount

Finally, there are times that we use mounting adhesives. Lately, companies such as SEAL have release adhesives that are permanent on one side and removable on the other. Check our SEAL new gudy window product as an example.

Mount

Foam Board – Signs Etc.

Sometimes we just need a simple adhesive to mount an image to foam board. There are many choices here from a simple spray can of adhesive to more permanent adhesives applied with your laminator.

Plexiglas – Back light

Adding images to the back-side or second surface of a clear Plexiglas can be a bit more challenging. Not only must the image align correctly but the adhesive must be perfectly clear. SEAL makes a product called OptiMount that can be useful here.

Windows – Advertise

Window advertising is a great application and requires two types of adhesives, permanent and removable. The permanent for those location where the customer wants the message to endure for years and removable where the customer wants the message to come down in a few days or weeks and replaced with new advertisement. Again, gudy window by SEAL is a good choice here.

So basically, Im saying there are four steps in successful graphic design and you need to consider each of these in choosing the right tools.