Archive for September, 2008
How to Format your Graphics Design with Page Layouting
Justin Lemaire
Of all the different formats of graphic design, page layout is perhaps the one where you can really get a job opportunity in the regular sense right away. The reason for this is quite simple and it is that there are pages all over the world today. When you take a look at the different pages in the world that are in newspapers, magazines, textbooks and almost anything else you can imagine, what you need to understand is that behind most of them is a graphic designer that used graphic design principles to create the best page layout format manageable.
Page layout is in fact such an important subsection of graphic design that there are people that study it when they get formal training in graphic design in the form of page element management. There are even pieces of graphic design software online that deal with the idea of optimizing page layout and while they are good as a starting point, they are really no substitute for a person that knows what they are doing. This is why page layout graphic design experts are always in high demand. If you ever think about getting a job in the industry as opposed to doing freelance graphic design work, becoming a page layout expert might be the way to do it.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_principles, graphic_design_software, graphic_design_work, page_element, element_management, layout_format, design_experts, getting_a_job, page_layout, job_opportunity, graphic_designer, textbooks, newspapers, magazines
Choose the Right Graphic Design Format
Byalung
If you are truly interested in becoming an overall complete graphic designer, you are going to have to work in multiple graphic design formats when you create your different graphic designs. There are different formats for different types of design and for most of these formats there are specialized skill sets and experiences that you need to have down before you can hope to compete in the industry at large.
For example, one subsection of graphic design that you see a lot in your day-to-day life has to do with the newspaper. The layout of the newspaper is in and of itself a challenge of graphic design, especially when you consider the overall page and the positions of the different elements on the page. Likewise, the creation of very beautiful text (i.e. typography) is another format of graphic design that you are going to have to get used to. Many of these formats are interchangeable between the online and offline worlds however, so getting used to a new graphic design format might be easier than you think.
To give you an introduction into the wide world of different graphic design formats, the next posts will cover four of the major ones, some of which may have already been mentioned in passing on this blog before.
Technorati Tags: offline_worlds, graphic_designs, skill_sets, graphic_designer, graphic_design, typography, subsection, experiences, elements, blog, design_formats
Comparing Graphic Design Development Through the Years
Justin Lemaire
There are many different areas of graphic design in which modern technology has helped the process along significantly. For example, computers have allowed people the opportunity to fill and render objects instantaneously, allowing them to save hours per drawing when compared with a graphic design they might have created off the internet. Yes, there can be absolutely no disagreement whatsoever on the fact that graphic design software in a computer environment allows a higher efficiency of design versus time for most graphic designers.
However, the people that are critical of modern graphic design through the use of computers actually point to this very fact as being the reason that computers have made graphic design worse rather than better. While they agree that efficiency is up, the argument you are likely to hear from these people is that the creativity of the graphic designer is not better served by being able to create more things in less time. They would argue that the relative creativity is actually down since the graphic design professional now has the opportunity to pursue quantity in the hopes of finding something good as opposed to quality creative development.
It’s an interesting argument, albeit one I don’t particularly buy. Anyone that’s sat at their computer staring at a monitor for an hour straight knows that the creative process of graphic design online can be just as frustrating and long-winded if you use the same method of creative generation.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_professional, graphic_design_software, graphic_designers, computer_environment, creative_development, creative_process, modern_technology, graphic_designer, creativity, efficiency
Google Video Ads: Check out the Cavalcade of Cartoons!
Byalung
For sure, a lot of us have heard of the deal where Seth McFarlane was commissioned to do 50 short comedy clips for Google, most of which will be seen in ads all over the web.
Entertaining as they may, it is apparent that they offer another dimension towards what Google is trying to accomplish as far as online ads is concerned.
The show, which will be paid for, McFarlane and Google hope, by embedded ads, will appear in banners Google serves on both its own and independent sites. The notion is that as ads, the videos will reach a larger audience than a website dedicated to the clips. For Google, it’s a way to fill unsold ad inventory and prove the notion of AdSense as a distribution vehicle, after a similar deal with Viacom’s MTV Networks collapsed. And it could also have a long-run benefit for Google. By inserting content into ad banners, Google could be, in essence, retraining users to pay attention to the Web commercials they’ve long learned to ignore.
Technorati Tags: seth_mcfarlane, comedy_clips, object_classid, google
Get the Right Imaging from Graphic Design Schools
Justin Lemaire
If you are interested in becoming a professional graphic designer, there are many paths that you can take in order to achieve that goal. So far on Concept Wizards we’ve been discussing how you can get into the freelance business right away and start making money through graphic design and graphic design software. As a viewer quite rightly pointed out however this is not the only way that people get involved in graphic design. If you would like to go through formalized graphic design education before getting involved in the industry, then there are many schools around to which you can go.
The great thing about graphic design as a field is that since so much of it is online, there are many graphic design schools nowadays that will help you do your education over the internet from the comfort of your own home. On the other hand if you prefer a traditional educational setting, that is available for you to pursue as well. The choices are endless when it comes to graphic design education and choices like that are laid out quite nicely in sites like Graphic Design Schools dot Com. There are many other websites that operate under similar conditions as well and links will be forthcoming on those websites over the next few months.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_education, graphic_design_software, professional_graphic_designer, graphic_design_schools, freelance_business, wizards, making_money
Check Out the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
Justin Lemaire
If you want to become a truly good graphic designer, one thing that you are very likely going to have to learn to do is communicate and network with the other people in your field. Whether you are interested in actually doing graphic design for a major organization or simply using graphic design software to be a freelance worker on your own hours, learning to keep tabs on the industry is always a good way to advance your business and the best way to keep tabs on the industry is to start meeting other people from which you can get information.
Many organizations in graphic design work both on professional levels and on educational levels for people that want to learn more from graphic design. For this reason, finding your local graphic design organization is always a good idea, since it is a good first source of information whenever you are trying to find out about something. A good example of such a graphic design organization is the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada which is a big industry leading organization that has been in operation for about five decades now. I’ll be posting information about other organizations around the world as well, but you can likely find that info before I post it by doing your own internet searches.
Technorati Tags: graphic_designers_of_canada, graphic_design_software, society_of_graphic_designers_of_canada, graphic_design_work, design_organization, major_organization, professional_levels, leading_organization, educational_levels, internet_searches, graphic_designer
Making the Right Choice for Digital Software Preference
Justin Lemaire
If you are doing a sub-section digital photography service as part of your graphic design offerings, you might be wondering if graphic design software is actually necessary. While there are a lot of people that look at digital photography as an excuse to experiment with graphic design in a particular software package, there are also many people that are interested in digital photography in the same way that they would be interested in conventional photography. In other words they want to take a display the pictures without any other interference.
As a starting out graphic designer I would say that there is nothing wrong with this. Actually, the digital photographers that I hire for projects are almost always photographers that do not use graphic design software. I find these people to be better skilled as photographers because they don’t use the graphic design software to cover up their mistakes, but that’s really just a personal choice that I make. The decision is ultimately up to you but if you want to save some money at the start there is no reason with going for digital photography sans software, especially if you are just starting to develop your photographic skills.
Technorati Tags: digital_photography_service, graphic_design_software, conventional_photography, digital_photographers, photographic_skills, graphic_designer, software_package, money
Identifying the Right Digital Camera to Buy
Justin Lemaire
There are many areas within the realm of graphic design where people might be interested in delving deeper in order to see what they are capable of. For example, there are many graphic design professionals that almost never do their own design, but start with a picture they have taken. Whether you refer to these people as graphic designers or digital photographers really don’t matter because the basics are really the same. Digital photography and graphic design can be combined to make the whole better than the sum of its parts.
With that in mind, do you need a very expensive camera to do digital photography well? Unless you are taking a picture of a tree’s bark up close and you want all of the little details in the bark to stand out, I would submit that it is not necessary. Back when I purchased my first digital camera about six years ago I bought a 4 MP camera that was ridiculously expensive at the time. You can get a similar camera today for less than one hundred dollars which is a testament to how big digital photography even without the benefit of graphic design has become. If you’re on a budget and don’t already have a camera, I would argue that there is nothing wrong with starting your graphic design digital photography career off with one that is very affordable and low end.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_professionals, photography_career, one_hundred_dollars, digital_photographers, graphic_designers, digital_photography, digital_camera, budget
Microsoft Acrylic: A Freeware Design Program
Justin Lemaire
There are many people I know of that are interested in graphic design, but don’t really have the capital to get started with a big program like Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is in fact quite pricey and for that reason I don’t blame people for getting discouraged at trying to find some graphic design software that they can use. While freeware graphic design software will make it harder to design your own graphics, it will at least allow you to get started until you get the money necessary to buy a copy of Adobe Photoshop.
One such program that you might consider is Microsoft Acrylic. It allows for some pixel-based editing as well as vector editing, both of which can allow you the opportunity to get some good graphic design work done. While the functionality is quite limited (somewhat obvious since it is Microsoft freeware), I wouldn’t exactly call this piece of software cripple ware when it is compared to other freeware solutions in the graphic design software market. However, once you’ve had a chance to try it out you can certainly make your own decision.
More information can be found here. I’ll also be posting links to more freeware design programs over the next little while. I’d prefer that you make your own choice about which one to use rather than listening to my opinion.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_software, graphic_design_work, microsoft_freeware, freeware_solutions, own_graphics, adobe_photoshop, software_market, vector, functionality, microsoft, money
