The New Year is when we vow to change our old habits and patterns. Fine, I’ll start backing up my computer on a regular basis and learn a new program or two, but I’m sticking to my junk food and calling a walk from the keyboard to the printer good exercise. One new design exercise for the new year is looking for patterns. Every once in awhile an assignment presents opportunities that a... »
Inspiration can hit at any time, and anyone who has ever been involved in the creative process knows this. If you’ve ever endlessly slaved over a song, only to have the clouds part in an instant and the blocks fall perfectly into place, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When you finally break through your creative obstacles, you want to make sure you have the right... »
As joyous and harmonious the Christmas season is, there is a discordance within its palette: the very colors which define Christmas–red and green–when placed side by side or upon each other, in their purest form, are disturbingly uncomfortable to look at. When such colors are used in typography they are difficult to read as well. Note how these colors “vibrate” to the eye,... »
Ok, I know some of you are thinking “Really? What can this guy possibly tell us that isn’t already obvious”. Well the truth of the matter is that it’s not always obvious. The following is just my experience on how I got my song on constant rotation on a top 40 station here in Canada, and hopefully eventually around the world. It’s just my experience and may not app... »
In designing my Christmas cards this year, I chose Bickham Script (professional character set which allows alternate characters). Upon setting the type, there appeared several mis-aligned character couplings which require kerning, which is the adjustment of spacing between characters: In this close-up the errors are detailed in pink; the one good coupling is highlighted in green: Using the kerning... »
Should we condone or condemn clip art? Though a professional designer, I use the same old elements every single day which I did not create out of my own head: the dot, the line, the color spectrum. I just manipulate them. The same goes for some everyday clip art. Rather than discarding any thought of using clip art in your layout, stop and consider this: Clip art can be a conceptual element that ... »