Remember you can choose the keystrokes of InDesign to those of Quark by going Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts... The table below is for the default shortcuts. Action Quark InDesign Illustrator Photoshop Show/Hide guides F7 Cmd(Mac)/ Ctrl(PC)-; (Cmd(Mac)/ Ctrl(PC)-H for boxes) Cmd(Mac)/ … [Read more...]
Charging companies interest on late payments
This post only relates to the UK, I'm afraid. It's a fact of life in this country (and probably all over the world) that many companies try to save themselves a little money by paying small businesses late. This has happened to me recently and it's not nice. Always at the back of your mind is the … [Read more...]
What is good design?
What is good design? I'll tell you. Good design is whatever your client wants. Good design is whatever rich people like. Good design conforms to the zeitgeist. I'll never forget my first paid assignment in the world of design. I gingerly handed a print out to a relaxed Creative Director who's … [Read more...]
Working with large files in Photoshop
Preparing artwork for huge exhibition spaces or large point-of-sale displays in Photoshop can be a nightmare and can use up precious processing time on your computer. And this is even if you have a Dual 2 GHz G5 Mac with 3 GB of RAM! But there's no need to keep the high resolution you would for … [Read more...]
Price quotes and estimates for graphic design
One of the most asked questions on graphic design forums is: "How much I should charge?" Well, the answer is, I don't know! But here is a list of my most recent price quotes. These design estimates include image sourcing and copy editing but assume images and most text have already been supplied or … [Read more...]
Designing logos – the future
There are three types of logo – text, symbol and a combination of the two. A text logo is used when the client's name is long (Marks and Spencers) or unique (Yahoo!, below right). A symbol logo is the opposite. An example of this is Nike's "Swoosh" (right) which, by-the-way, originally cost … [Read more...]
What is a graphic designer?
Websites, posters, business cards, detergent boxes, DVD artwork, movie credits and dog food cans – graphic designers do them. Within just about every conceivable employment sector, a graphic designer brands, advertises and communicates. He works under time and money constraints and, to varying … [Read more...]
Designing web icons
Here are some icons I designed for a friend's website. He asked me to make them at three sizes: 20 pixels wide, 80 pixels wide and 300 pixels wide. There's a real skill to designing icons. You have to make them simple enough to be understandable at small sizes but interesting enough to be beautiful … [Read more...]
Designing screen PDF newsletters – Why and How?
Question: How can you disseminate a graphically interesting, beautifully designed small book to a large number of people cheaply? Answer: Email a PDF. Almost every computer has Adobe Reader (formerly called Acrobat Reader) and PDFs are widely used as a way to present information with a fixed … [Read more...]
Public art near Tate Britain
Not only can you see art for free at Tate Britain, you can also get some just down the road. On the left you can see Locking Piece (1963) by Henry Moore on Millbank right by the river between Vauxhall bridge and Tate Britain. And on the other side of the road there's Jeté by Enzo Plazzotta (1975). … [Read more...]
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