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Does painless RGB to CMYK conversion exist?
Explore the advantages of the RGB workflow over the CMYK workflow
Everybody knows that images have to be in CMYK mode if a designer wants to output them with an offset press, right? Well, in certain cases this might not be true. When proper colour management is used, using RGB images for jobs that will be printed with any type of printer or press might actually present some advantages. In the article Does painless RGB to CMYK conversion exist? on American Printer, Julie Shaffer says:
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Quark’s Extreme Makeover: Online Designers React
As news of Quark’s new look spread, wired designers take varying note, and more similar logos are found.
It can perhaps be said, without too much fear of contradiction, that creatives are a group that has a deep passion for what it does. This translates into bold emotional statements–fierce loyalty to those individuals and organizations that ease and empower the process, and sometimes deep reproach toward those who are seen as indifferent or aloof to their needs.
Read more on Quark’s Extreme Makeover: Online Designers React…
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InDesign Threaded Text in InDesign CS
Find out how to flow text into two or more text frames.
Text appears in two ways in InDesign: either inside text frames or along a path. A text frame is simply made by clicking on InDesign’s type tool and then draw a rectangle, i.e., a text frame. Now you just need to type your text inside it.
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Making PDFs: A Modern Primer
How to make high-quality PDFs: A primer summarizing the six methods available to almost anyone.
There are a great many questions going around lately about making PDFs. Between e-mail, the Graphic Design Resource Group, and QuarkVSInDesign.com this week alone I answered the following questions and misconceptions about creating PDFs:
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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Downloamet
A Lorem Ipsum Widget for those using OS X Tiger
Company: g-design.net
License: Freeware
File Size: 112 KThis widget generates Lorem Ipsum text. You can use this text as placeholder text for your print or web designs. See full description and download this widget from Apple.
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Graphics look fine in InDesign, but they don’t when you make a PDF. This is often a problem with transparencies.
You have spent quite a bit of your time designing this nice brochure in InDesign. You have a drop shadow here, an image with transparency there and so on. It looks great in InDesign. Then you make a PDF from InDesign and white outlines show around that nice drop shadow or that image with transparent background. How do you handle that?
Read more on Unexpected White Outlines Around Graphics in InDesign…
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Cartographers: Richard Saul Wurman
Information Design Maven created the best U.S. Atlas You May Have Never Heard Of
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Restaurant Logos and the Design Process
Jeff Fisher at Creative Latitude talks to four designers about their experience desiging restaurant logos in this week's Logo Notions.
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QuarkXPress Quick Tutorial: How to Open QuarkXPress Passport Files Into Standard QuarkXPress
The trick is in the “multiple language” option
QuarkXPress Passport files can be saved so that the “normal” QuarkXPress can read it. When saving a file, QuarkXPress Passport offers you the option to save the file as either “multiple language” or “single language”. If you choose “multiple language” only QuarkXPress Passport will be able to read the file. If you choose “single language” also the “normal” version of QuarkXPress will be able to read it.
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Impossibly Small, Incredibly Astounding: iPod nano
Apple® introduces iPod nano™; smallest full-featured iPod model yet promises again redefine mid-low end portable media player market
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Creative Latitude: What’s new
Creative Latitude is a worldwide community that unites various creative disciplines for collective promotion, education and ethical business practice.
Each month Creative Latitude updates articles in the Articles section, member news in the News section, adds new members to the Profiles, and sometimes even whole new sections. The ‘What’s new’ on Creative Latitude is where you can come to find out what’s been added in the past month, and sometimes what’s on offer for the next.
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An Old Friend Gets New Clothes
Quark announces a new identity with an email to existing customers.
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Quark’s New Face
If InDesign users thought Quark lost its face, here is its new one
Quark has just revamped their site. Despite its logo being all too similar to Akademiks’, the new look of the site is much cleaner and seems to be a signal that Quark will bite back — and with authority.
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Prepress Tutorial: Tips to Save Money When Printing Translated Work
When designing things in several languages, the cost of production can become quite high. However there are ways to save money and make the printing cost of flyers, magazines, etc. much lower.
Read more on Prepress Tutorial: Tips to Save Money When Printing Translated Work…
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Are websites software?
The other day I had to optimize a website so it would work flawlessly in older browsers such as IE5.x (Win & Mac). Needless to say this is not the most creative task out there and one can get really frustrated really soon. When hitting a wall it’s sometimes best to just take a break from the task at hand so when you come back you can approach it in different and perhaps more successful way. That’s exactly what I did.
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Is Web Design overrated?
This one might seem like an interesting question coming from someone who makes a living out of designing websites. And no, I’m not planning on shooting myself in the leg here.
Take a moment and think about what does Web Design mean? Is it just whipping out a few colors and shapes in Photoshop (or your favorite graphic software for that matter) and then translating this magnificent work of art into XHTML, CSS and images, or is it a bit more than that? There are lots of websites out there that promote web design–the so-called “showcase websites‖some providing better content than others, but that’s not the point of this article. The point is that it’s strictly about the design and the way these websites look. Should someone come across a good looking color scheme on a particular website, the next day it’s featured on a dozen showcase websites and everyone’s giving praises to its designer. Sounds familiar? -
Remember your tables
If CSS layouts taught us one thing is that tables are bad. We now look down upon those who haven’t taken the leap into the 21st century and still use them on their web pages. In fact, the old
<table>tag has become so hated that sometime we pretend it doesn’t even exist. But are we right in doing so?
Tables serve one purpose and they serve it well–that is to present tabular information. Let’s pretend for a minute that all that bastardization of the table tag did not occur and it was never used so wrongly for layout purposes. Let’s try and rediscover the way we code and rediscover the table tag. In doing so, we might come across excellent examples of table usage, and most important, correct examples of table usage. Not for layout (that never happened, remember?) but for presenting data, just like any other tag would be suitable for describing and presenting various bits of information. -
Strategic Technology Planning for the Creative
The goal of technology planning should be to further the business plan and not technology for technology’s sake. While there are certain market forces at work in this industry segment (Apple moving to Intel, as an example) that you have no control over, as the beginning of the workflow you have more freedom to dictate standards then your production brethren. The production brethren cater to you. For example, you have the freedom to choose your applications but you must make sure that your partners are conversant and there is parity with software versions and platforms.
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Preflighting: Creatives vs. Producers
Quite simply, it’s a quality control step in your workflow. I like to use the terms “verify†and “validate,†as a quick, simple chant for defining the term, preflighting. Verify that all resource files are present and validate that these files are within spec of the manufacturing process they are about to enter. Meaning, good enough to enter the workflow.
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A Little Ditty about Tradeshows: a Preview of Print ‘05
Yes, for serious buyers, it's the ultimate closing ground. Signing on the dotted line for a printing press, discounting that last bit of margin to flush the funnel, or pitting a couple of developers to get the best deal, yes, these shows do serious business. For those of you that are not ready to sign but are determined to get the information you need to plan (I'm big on planning) this article is written with you in mind.
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THE Book: A History of Graphic Design
Review: The definitive history, a must-have for any student of graphic arts
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What is the PGDA?
Mission statement and code of ethics of the Professional Graphic Design Association
In the past few months a group of like-minded graphic designers have been talking seriously about our profession, where it’s headed along with clients’ needs and expectations. The discussion has resulted in the formation of a graphic design organization supporting the ethics of our business, but focused on clients. The Professional Graphic Designers Association (PGDA).
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Don't let a corrupted preferences file in Illustrator slow you down! Here's how to fix them and get back to work fast.
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Drawing the Line
Lively and well-written book tells story of how maps persuade and influence through history
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In-Source, an Online Home for In-House Creatives
Insource :: An Association of Corporate Creatives, is a great online resource for all of us in-house designers working with a longing eye toward what seems to be the promise land of agency or freelance design.
Read more on In-Source, an Online Home for In-House Creatives…
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