Articles by Guest Writer

Show your clients why it’s the designer who sits in front of the monitor

At some point in your career a client (or two) will question why they should pay exorbitant fees for designs that on the surface look pretty simple to produce. Let’s face facts, people who are “outside of the loop” of this industry lack an appreciation for the effort that goes into producing a clean, well executed layout or identity. After all, why would they? All they really end up seeing are the polished ideas. They aren’t included in on the oodles of hours spent brainstorming concepts, research and rounds of sketches that can fill a small coffee table book. More often than not, they only see an attractive and deceptively simple looking final result of all that labor and development.

Read more on Combating the Stigma of the Overpriced Designer…

2006-Dec-06 | Guest Writer | Filed: Features | Graphic Design

When is black a rich black? When do you use it? Lyn Eggleston expains it

Rich black is a mixture of all four of the process colours, particularly extra cyan for a ‘cool’ rich black or extra magenta for a ‘warm’ rich black – or both – as well as 100%K. Different commercial printers usually have their own preference for what is rich black, based on knowledge of their presses, their inks and the paper being used etc. I googled rich black to see whether there was any consensus, and in one discussion I found the following suggestions for the CMYK mix: 40/40/0/100, 60/40/40/100, 65/65/50/100, 40/30/30/100, 25/25/25/100 all in in one thread. In other words, there is no one ratio for rich black. It’s usually a matter of trial and error (expensive process) which is why if it is being commercially printed, you should find out from the printer what he prefers.

Read more on Some Blacks Are “Blacker” Than Others…

2006-Jun-16 | Guest Writer | Filed: Features | Graphic Design

The jump from InDesign 2.0 to the CS version was a no-brainer. The move from CS to CS2, however, required a lot more thought on my part. Is it worth it? Is it a justified expense? Is there anything new that I really need, or is it all luxury?

Read more on InDesign CS2: Improved Productivity Features…

2005-Aug-27 | Guest Writer | Filed: Features | Graphic Design | Reviews