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Graphic Design Tips: Copyrighted Images vs. Royalty Free Images

We’ve said it before, and will probably say it again:  Technology changes EVERTHING! This is especially true in the field of Graphic Design.  The growth of personal computers and desktop publishing software made EVERYONE an amateur graphic designer. Now, the internet has become a wealth of knowledge and resources; especially for people looking for photos. This brings us to a VERY important topic: Image Use and Copyright Law.

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Graphic Design Tips & Tricks | Easy Holiday Snowflakes

Happy Holidays! Have you been preparing your Holiday cards, or winter print ads or marketing materials?  Nothing says “Winter” like the image of snowflakes, and if you want to know how to create your own original custom snowflakes quick and easily, you’ve come to the right place!

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Graphic Design Tip! How Does Foil Stamping Work?

’Tis the Season to send out Holiday Cards!  The weather gets a little cooler and winter is right around the corner, which can only mean one thing: Holiday Season!  It’s time to start breaking out the decorations and start singing carols like that old holiday classic Silver & Gold.  There’s just something classy about silver and gold.  It’s used for expensive jewelry, it backs our nation’s currency, it’ used for trophies, awards, and medals. Silver and Gold simply epitomize class, value, and sophistication.

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Where Do Pocket Folders Come From?

Pocket folders are a great way to package and present a variety of materials to your intended audience; whether it’s documents, inserts, CD/DVDs, brochures, booklets, or other items.  One of the appeals of pocket folders is their ability to cost effectively enhance your brand or message, since they can be custom printed and produced fairly econimically.

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Tips & Tricks for your Graphic Design Portfolio | InDesign Columns

Adobe InDesign continues to refine and improve it’s tools. The video below is a review of the Column Splitting and Spanning feature, which helps eliminate the need for multiple text boxes.  This is ESPECIALLY handy for magazine and newsletter layout, where you might have multiple headers and the potential for far too many text boxes.  If you’ve been doing Graphic Design and Page Layout for very long, you’ve no doubt already dealt with clients or editors who’ve made very substantial changes, maybe even massive re-writes, which requires a major amount of reflowing and rearranging of your layouts.   Life will be so much easier if you use this simple and handy technique to eliminate unnecessary text boxes and keep things neat, tidy, and easy to rework if needed.

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Tips & Tricks for your Graphic Design Portfolio | Coils and Spirals

Adobe Illustrator has also been the Graphic Designer’s “go-to” program for creating and manipulating vector based artwork. It’s withstood the test of time, and each release keeps getting better and better.  Granted, some people will always defend their personal preference (Like those die-hard, loyal CorelDRAW fanatics, who are convinced their program is the best.)  Personally, I actually enjoy illustrating with Flash because I think Bézier curves are a bit archaic and Flash handles line art in a more fluid and hand drawn manner…. but that just MY opinion.

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