My literary themed wedding [8.28.11]

Photo's by Picture This Photography, Fort Collins, CO

Disc Hubs

I always wondered where one could get those little nifty stick ons to hold a disc inside a folder/brochure. The search is over because I found them at 5inch. They also cary custom silkscreened CDRs and DVDRs!

Tips for dealing with professional print shops

According to Marco Tabini, from Macworld.com, the printing industry is a curious mix of old and new—a world rich with history that harks back hundreds of years, but relies on technology that changes and improves all the time.


The bad part is that dealing with the challenges presented by a print job—from business cards to posters—can be difficult, particularly if you have never worked with a print shop before and don’t have the budget to contract a professional to handle the process for you. Read More


Marco has some great tips. I have found that there are a decent amount of online printers you can work with. Most of them even offer design services; but beware you are using template designs and nothing is really custom. It is really easy to upload your artwork and each site provides production guidelines specific to the service you are utilizing. Make sure to request samples if you are printing large quantities so you can judge the print quality. Some of my favorite online vendors include Vista Print, Zoo Printing, Overnight , 48 Hour, and Uprinting. All of these sites offer discounts so keep an eye out for their sales and you can really strike a bargain on your printing. I have purchased 500 Business cards for $25 in the past and the quality is beautiful; double sided and gloss coated! 

Awesome Product Design

Who says a usb flash drive has to be a standard design and in a variety of color choices? There are several out-of-the-box options out there for those of you who love product design. Check out Brando, a company who specializes in electronic gadgets. They offer fun food memory usbs like chicken wings, icecream, and sushi! Another awesome company specializing in usb memory gadgets is Solid Alliance. Don't you just love their paperclip memory usb?
 

The Professional Communicator

I am terrible at spelling and grammar. The other day I had my sister edit my resume and she found several errors. She said I should consider the Chicago Manual Style. I did a little research and came up with a great resource for designers like me – the online Chicago Manual of Style.

TIP from HOW's Doug Bartow: 

You are a professional communicator; act like one. Carefully edit everything you publish: résumés, social media, e-mail, blog posts, letters, text messages, everything. Get a copy of “The Chicago Manual of Style” and keep it handy. Most potential employers and clients don’t appreciate text shorthand, so don’t use it. They won’t be ROTFL, and you will end up SOL.

Personalized Vintage Wedding Posters

Alexander & Company is a creative collaboration between Chicago-based artist, Alexander Doll, and you. Your choice of text, along with multiple design and color options give you the ability to create your own custom piece of art. Be sure to check out the 2010 online catalog for all of the current poster options.

Gifts for Graphic Designers

We are really not that hard to shop for. The next time someone asks you what you want for your birthday have them consider one of these cool gifts for graphic designers.

Wire and Twine's  Hell-Fucking-Vetica Tshirt

 Pantone Plus® Series Formula Guide Solid & Solid Uncoated at MyDesignShop

Tom Gabor's I shot the serif poster

 

Oh Crop Mug from Cafepress

istockphoto photography credits

 Type Coasters from Veer

The future of printed publications

With the birth of the Kindle and the iPad the printing industry is starting to recede. Designers have adapted to technology and their viewers by creating sleek online publications that one can actually skim through as if they were looking at a printed piece. Nonpareil, one of my favorite blogs, hosts a fantastic e-magazine about crafty weddings. Style me pretty, another blog I follow just recently followed suit and created an e-glossy. I see publications really moving toward electronic media, and with technology quickly advancing there is little hope for the print industry.

The NounProject

 

You're designing a package for a product that is very fragile, you have to illustrate a fragile symbol for the box... save a little time and get that symbol to use as you please. Matter-of-fact you can find just about any symbol you might need with The Noun Project. This wonderful project collects and organizes symbols that form the world’s visual language. Developed by design collective Simple.Honest.Work, the symbols from The Noun Project can be freely used in your design work.

The Best Interactive of The Year!

Communication Arts Magazine announced the winners of the 2011 Interactive competition. Now in its 17th year, this competition has selected some very impressive projects. One of my absolute favorites is the promotional website of Grip Limited. The navigation is so smart and engaging. Its type heaven too!

The panel of five leading interactive media professionals spent ten weeks thoroughly reviewing this year’s entries.View a list of all of the 2011 Interactive Winners here.

Type Genius

I was checking out one of my daily online indulgences and came across this fantastic Type treatment over on RES72. If it doesn't make you hungry than you're not human.

The device that does it all now does even more.

Apple released the iPad 2 last week. According to Apple, the all new design is 33% thinner and up to 15% lighter making it even easier to hold and tote around. It boosts speeds that are two times faster and includes an extended battery life of up to 10hrs. The major addition of a second camera supports face time video calling so callers can view one another on either end. Apple made a wise choice with developing the smart cover for iPad 2. It uses magnetic technology in a light and thin design. The smart cover can be used as a stand and works with the iPad 2 so that it automatically sleeps and wakes when covered and uncovered. And apple pleases its audience with offering the smart cover in 10 bright colors. I would love to see Apple continue to develop smart covers and cases for their computers and phones. They should have been offering smart cases/covers years ago when the iPhone hit the market.

TIP: The iPad is a great tool for your buisiness. Just imagine presenting a consumer/client a new product with a glossy video at your fingertips. Or maybe you are presenting a new set of logos to your client and instead of printing and mocking them up you are sliding through an image library of electronic design boards. I believe that printed materials are quickly moving to the web and the iPad is taking that even further. Investing in one will definitely help grow your business and help you stand out even more than your competition.