If you ever need to create a simple but effective illustration or icon and are bored of the effect you are getting with just an outline, it may be an idea to use custom brushes in Illustrator to give your lines a bit of character. Here is a simple trace of a motorbike that was [...]
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Designing logos are the ultimate challenge for the graphic designer and there is nothing simple about doing them. The logo is the first and most important visual cue of a company or brand. Logos (usually) should be simple, compact and of one or two colors. Because you have less to play with, it’s the design [...]
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Every year I send Christmas cards to all my wonderful clients with a calendar of the next year on the back. You never know, somebody may pick one up and think of putting some design business my way, that’s the idea anyway! I’m a bit late this year but I’ll be artworking it up this [...]
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This is an illustration I did for a business card which I designed and created in Illustrator and Photoshop for a motorsports development fund. Rather than the standard old 86.6 mm by 53.98 mm rectangular thing they asked for a graphic representation of a Formula One steering wheel. It’s great when clients come up with [...]
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London time: This is now the day of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America. Here is a couple of interesting quotes, first from Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 talking to the BBC: Frankly, I have seen certain changes in the United States over the last two [...]
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Do you ever wish you didn’t use stock photography so much? Recently I’ve found myself trawling through pages of stock images from sites such as Shutterstock, iStock and Fotolia, usually looking for a well-presented young professional smiling to camera. These sites contain some good photography but I’m always worried that the stock approach lacks creativity [...]
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I’m always on the look out for simple eye-catching ways to communicate a message. I think this is a great example of a visually appealing background that could be used when there are no images, graphics or other ways to improve the typography. This is especially useful in direct marketing (email or mail shot). How [...]
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The problem Err, sorry, the challenge. How many times does this happen? You have an otherwise beautiful design and your client insists on including pictures of people who’s images weren’t taken by one of the world’s best photographers. This is a reoccurring hitch; we have to include pictures of the CEO, the MD, the whoever, [...]
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A while ago I did an article explaining how to create a country’s flag inside its map outline and I used as an example the Australian map and flag. I’ve since had a lot of interest from Australians who wanted to use the image so I thought I’d do one for Americans as I get [...]
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This is a good tip if you ever want to change type to invoke a mood. I wanted to give a bit of text a feeling of electricity and this is what I did. First of all, in Illustrator, you must convert your type to outlines. Remember, after you have done this you can’t edit [...]
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