Friday, December 19, 2008

Design Inspiration

Are you looking for a little inspiration for your next design project? This is a great site to visit to get you through that inspiration jam or creative block as I call it!

FaveUp - Design inspiration gallery.

Tips to Design Your Own Tattoo

By Brian James Tan

Once you have made the ultimate decision to ink, it is time you seriously think about what tattoo you are going to get, or possibly design your own tattoo. While some people are happy with off the shelf tattoo design, that might not be right for you. When you want something unique or a reflection of who you are, it is about time to consider design your own tattoo.

Tips #1: Where To Start To Design Your Own Tattoo?

Well, You have to ask yourself what you really want of your tattoo. Are you looking for a tattoo to commemorate some occassion or someone close to you like the birth of your child? Are you designing a tattoo that reflects your personality and you can easily relate to other people such as your goals and ambitions you are pursuing in life? You ought to design a tattoo you can connect with.

So, what images come to your mind? Would a japanese kanji character of freedom with your initial be the perfect description of you yearning for time and money freedom in life? You don't have to be an artist to design your own tattoo. All you need is an idea and willingness to work with your tattoo artist.

Tips #2: Find A Design For Your Tattoos

Even an artist needs inspiration to draw a good piece of art, much less a novice like us. We need to research through other tattoo designs to help our mind jump start. You can find many free tattoo designs online but there is always a better option of designing your dream tattoo from huge database of unique tattoo designs.

Tips #3: Find An Artist

Once you've found the basis to design your own tattoo, you need to find an artist. Many tattoo parlours are willing to use artwork you've brought from other source. You should always work with your tattoo artist who are extremely talented and may be able to freehand your ideal tattoo! Finding an artist may be tough but you have a great tool at your disposal - Tattoo Galleries. Some Tattoo Galleries offer a holistic service by providing an up to date tattoo directory which you can easily search for your nearest tattoo parlour.

Tips #4: Testing Your Tattoos

Before you commit to the tattoo you have designed, you may want to try it out on your body opting for a temporary tattoo. There are some sites on the internet let you upload your design and they send you the temporary tattoo that you can practise placing on your body.

Tips #5: The Final Step

You've spent all the time and effort you could spend on trying to design your own tattoo. Now's the time to get it done - find a local parlour and get inked! While it may seem like a lengthy and possibly expensive process, remember that unless you want to go through tattoo removal, this is something that will be with you for the rest of your life. Spending an extra week will only make your tattoo more meaningful.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_James_Tan

Graphic Design Jobs

By Marcus Peterson

Graphic designers must deliver creativity on demand. They have constant deadlines. They must satisfy demanding clients. The jobs are very challenging. The opportunity depends on their educational level, creative talent and the expertise in new technology. A good portfolio created during the educational process turns out to be very useful for the first job.

Employers are looking for people who are multi-talented. Today’s graphic designers must know how to use computers to put together images and text to create a design. They must know the equation of space, money and time. The graphic designer must be a team member, as throughout the process, he has to work with copywriters, photographers, illustrators and printers.

The graphic design field also is an integral part of many sectors. Graphic designers work primarily for various media like newspapers, magazines, book, and websites, as well as in the advertising, films and animation industries. Their roles and responsibilities are mainly to develop the layout and design for various media and reports, to produce promotional and marketing communication for products and services, to create logos, signs, symbols and taglines for products, services and businesses, to develop material for educational and multimedia projects, to create effects or title screens for TV or motion pictures, and to develop animation films.
Depending on the type of work and educational background, new graphic designers with bachelor's degrees can make $18,000 to $22,000 a year. Web design proficiency and skills like animation can attract an extra $5,000 to $10,000. Over time one can develop a lucrative career.

Graphic Design provides detailed information on Graphic Design, Graphic Design Schools, Graphic Design Jobs, Graphic Design Companies and more. Graphic Design is affiliated with Graphic Artist Salaries.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcus_Peterson

Crazy about Packaging

Advertising Articles September 29, 2005
Packaging makes a world of difference. It could be the same product, but with a different packaging and consumers go wild! Freelance Graphic Designer and Writer who normally strategizes such branding and packaging designs finds herself a victim of her own trade.

“It’s the same old tissue, honey, it doesn’t make a difference, ok? It’s still going to work the same way”, my exasperated husband hissed into my ear as I grabbed cartons after cartons of some ‘designer’ tissue.

DESIGNER TISSUE!
Hah, can you even hear me say that? I can’t believe I actually wrote ‘designer tissue’. So, yes, for a graphic designer and writer who knows all about the kind of effort one puts into packaging and branding products, I sure fell for it. All the hoopla. The shenanigans. The ‘suck ‘em in with good copy and fab color combo’. Hey, I am still a consumer, remember that. I am entitled to fall for nice packaging, I have a prevailing right to be human.

But they are so pretty…the packaging. I swear!

They have the ‘nature lover’ packaging, the ‘fruity’ packaging, the ‘woman on the go’ packaging, and then they have the ‘kids’ packaging. I grabbed 4 of each design packages and made a run for the counter with them with my screaming kids and exasperated husband running after me in slow motion. It was definitely a ‘die-hard’ moment. You know, when the hero is running away from a bunch of wild bad men with machine guns, and they’re shooting at your feet or something…and there’s an explosion behind you…and everything happens in ssslllloooowwwww mmmmooooottttttiiiioooonnnnn.

Well, in this case, I was running for checkout with boxes of tissue paper with fancy packaging designs on them. If I didn’t like the packaging designs so much, I would find it comical enough. But I am dead serious. In fact, I loved the packaging designs so much, after using up all the tissues in the boxes, I would cut out the designs and place it into my ‘must keep for reference’ clear folder. I don’t keep a lot of stuff in there because I am pretty selective about the designs that I like, but these packaging designs made the cut. They definitely did.

You see, this is the kind of thing that happens when you put some effort into making your packaging design. Yeah, we all have this in the back of our heads…. “Hey, it’s PACKAGING! It’s what’s INSIDE that count. They’re going to THROW the PACKAGING away. So, why spend so much money on the packaging?” Maybe you’re also thinking that the money should go towards developing better quality products…for faster shipment options…or maybe the money should go towards spending potential clients to expensive dinners in Italian restaurants. It’s your call, really.

But this is what I have to tell you, as a graphic designer and consumer. The more effort you put into designing your packaging, more customers will stop and take a look at your packaging or what’s inside the packaging. Now, does it make sense for me to say now that when they stop and take notice of your packaging, your chance of getting them to buy your product increases?

Exactly.

You see, the role of packaging is to grab the consumer’s attention. And without an electrifying packaging, consumers are going to walk past the heaps and heaps of other competitor products…and yours…without even knowing you’re there! Your product is sitting there on a shelf, for goodness sake, and the only weapon you have is to have a nice packaging. Once they stop and take a look, you’ve won the first round.

Think about it!

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marsha Maung is a freelance work at home graphic designer and copy writer. She focused on below-the-line advertising and marketing. More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com and http://www.creativejooz.com

Preparing Your Document for Print

August 13th, 2008 by kayemarks

Before sending your postcard, flyer, or brochure to print, make sure to prepare the format correctly. Otherwise, your product may come back looking very different from what you sent, and at no fault of the commercial printing company. Below are some printing tips to help you fully prepare your print advertising job before placing an order.

1. The fonts that your design program offers may differ slightly from the fonts of the printing company. Often, printers will choose a font that is close to the design you chose but this can sometimes result in subtle differences that change the style of your design. The best way to avoid this is to find out what font program your printing company uses and also send the font names and program files, if possible.

2. Even more important than font styles are the graphics in your design. First of all, convert RGB colors to CMYK, which is the color format all commercial printers use. Your design program should have the option to choose from a list of CMYK colors. Next, make sure to link rather than embed the images to your layout. Then send copies of your graphics. Usually printing companies require .tif files but check with yours for confirmation.

3. Finally, knowing the format required by the printing company will insure a quick turnaround. Many printers cannot complete your order from the publishing file in which you created your design. Most require Adobe format or other professional programs such as Corel and QuarkXPress. Also be sure that you send your project in the same version. If you have a more updated version than the printer, you may need to convert to an earlier version.
4. Send the files through the medium required by your printer. You may need to send them in a .zip file through email. Some online printing businesses will require you to upload the files directly to their website.

Following the printing tips above can provide you with a speedier process by avoiding last minute setbacks in your order or incorrect layout. The most important tip to remember, though, is to communicate clearly with your printing company. Not only will your printer appreciate your thoroughness but also you will receive the order you desire without frustrating delays.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the printing company developments in print advertising and how these improvements can benefit small to medium-scale businesses.

Becoming a Graphic Designer

by: Viojieley Gurrobat

You were doing your grocery one day in one of the largest shopping mall in town. You noticed that when buying soaps, toothpaste and canned goods among others, you were picking up those products that has packaging and logo design that appeals to your eye. And the lady next to you was doing the same. Then you wondered what made these products appealing and saleable to consumers. And your thoughts wondered onto who were responsible for doing these attention-grabbing and money-making packaging designs.

Basically, the person responsible for making a logo or packaging design look superb and marketable is called a graphic designer. They are the ones responsible for attracting potential customers and increasing a company’s sale. In order to be a successful graphic designer, one must have excellent interpersonal skills and the knack to sell their ideas to executives.
If you wish to be a graphic designer you must be prepared to receive a college degree in advertising or fine arts focusing in graphic art and computer graphics. Although there are some who make it to the industry just by talent alone, most still need a degree or some sort of certificate to land a job as a graphic designer. Employers won’t even look at you if you lack the piece of paper that shows that you have been trained in graphic design related program. In addition, much of your competition would be graduates from college so it is better if you come prepared before plunging into the exciting world of graphic designs.

There many schools across America that offers graphic design related courses. There are courses in visual communication, graphic design, animation, advertising, and multimedia and web development among others. There are short term and long term programs offered in different schools. Short term programs are usually for one or two years while long term programs such as Bachelor of Fine Arts degree are often for three to four years. Nevertheless, both these programs offer a work placement in a business or studio during or after your studies. This can be a stepping stone for you in gaining the experience that you need to get hired.

To improve your experience in graphic designs, you can also do freelance work whenever you can. This will help you have a solid portfolio to present to your prospective employer when you get out of school and hunt for a real job. Likewise, you have to pay attention to the packaging designs and advertising trends in all forms of media to keep you updated with what is the latest in the industry.

Remember that being a graphic designer necessitates you to learn new software and be up to date on design trends constantly. There is more to being a graphic designer than sitting in front of the computer. Thus, you need to learn how to speak efficiently and learn how advertising and PR influence design decisions.

About The Author
Viojieley Gurrobat loves readings books in her spare time. She writes stories and poems about anything under the sun. For comments and suggestions kindly visit http://www.graphicdesignsunlimited.com.

How to Choose a Great Logo Design

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