Very amusing:

http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/

Hello, first of all I would like to wish every one a happy Thanksgiving. The reason why I'm posting here is because I need to interview a professional graphic designer for one of my homework assignments. I need someone who has been in the field for a couple of years, preferably an in house designer. This will be a short interview over an instant messenger, or even e-mail, all I need is a written transcript.

Here is part of the brief my Professor gave me:

"Here are some questions you might want to ask (you’ll probably also want to word these more eloquently): What is your educational background? What kind of work did you do before? How did you get your foot in the door doing what you’re doing now? What kind of portfolio should I have when I graduate? Do you have any advice as to what I should focus on in school?"

so my questions will be along those lines.

I've been emailing designers left and right for about 2-3 months with no reply and my interview is due on Monday. So if anyone could help me out I would be very very grateful.

Please comment if you are interested or send me a personal message over LJ.

I've just finished creating a website for presenting my photography on the web. People say New Zaland has probably the slowest internet connection in the world. That is why I can't really estimate speed of the website. I set up two versions at the moment: San Jose and Moscow. Need some more testing to do before choosing one.

Could you please tell me where are you from and which one is working better for you?

As seems to be de rigeur at the moment, here's the front page design for my business. Navigation doesn't work as there's only an index page, but what I'd really like is feedback on layout and also technical feedback. Specifically:

Do the rollover buttons work (I'm trying out CSS sprites, and I'm not sure I've got them exactly right)?

How do the transparent PNGs display in browsers other than IE7/ FF3.5?

Does the background load and display alright?

Do the colourings of the two buttons make sense (I'm trying to apply precidence to the quote button by using the green)?

Link here

I'm trying to keep the design simple, so I'd prefer to avoid overloading on images. That's why it's clean and clear.

Pls help! :( So, 2color photos are my achilles heel. But sometimes they cannot be avoided. I know I will get better in time, but right now this is doing my head in!!

So, I'm working with a multichannel image - black and a purple. I converted the multichannel from a duotone of the same. Now when I click on the black channel, in the color picker it shows the black channel is not true black - it's a CMYK black. So, I changed it to 100% black. Right?
Ok, and now when I place it into Illustrator I get a warning that sais there is a conflict of swatches and do I want to add to my swatch palette? So I said, NOW WHAT! and clicked ok. It created a swatch called Black, 100%. This was added to the existing black in my swatches, but that black is K 100%. Why the 2 blacks? And should I change all the black text in my Illustrator document to this new Black 100%, or is the Black 100% something the printer is going to be upset over? :(

I'm sending this to the printer and it's kind of a rush job so I will not have time to rework it if the printer comes back to me and sais, get rid of one of these blacks!

Can anyone explain this/help me? It will be very much appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I have been looking through the tags and haven't found what I'm looking for.

I'm working with a children's toy designer, and drawing up her artwork in Adobe Illustrator. She's given me the codes for the exact colours she needs, in Pantone.

I've never worked in this way before. Is there any way to convert Pantone colours into CMYK? or RGB? I've tried looking on google but haven't found anything. In fact, working with Pantone is completely new to me, so if anyone has any tips/resources I'd really appreciate it. Thanks :)

I've been designing a logo for a exhibit about the history of heating in Canada (Sounds so exciting doesn't it? lol)

Anyway, the clients like what I've done, but they wanted me to try something in a slightly different direction before moving forward.

They gave me this little mock up of what they wanted me to "try"

( Client mock up under the cut )

The bottom left is a guy shoveling coal and the girl in the top right is supposed to be using a touch screen.

I have NO idea how to draw this in a way that would be simple enough to be a logo, yet still show all the things they liked from this mock up they made (They repeated several times how they love the girl using the touch screen with the house on it) x_x

What should I do? I just want to make them feel like I tried their idea... but I'm really stuck on how to make their idea work.

Hey guys, I have two questions. They feel like they should be pretty common but I checked the tags and didn't see my specific questions, soooooooo.

Question 1! Is there any efficient way to ready a booklet in InDesign for saddle-stitching? I work on layouts as they'll appear on the finished product because it doesn't make sense to me to work with the pages out of order (how can you tell if it looks good?!) but it's a pretty big headache once I'm done and have to get it printed. Most decent printers will take care of this process but I've noticed they charge for it ಠ_ಠ So I guess I'm just looking to save myself a few bux.

Question 2! Suppose I let the printer do the work, or (like I'm doing currently) making a perfect bound/wire bound book. I still work on the book as a series of facing pages because I like to look at the pages side by side. After I'm done, what's the best way to separate the pages? Someone told me to just uncheck "facing pages" in the page setup but if there's a table or image going across two pages it only stays on one page and kind of just... hangs off the side. That's lame. What if my whole book is tables and/or large images?

Thanks for any advice you might have about this :V

Hi guys,

I was just wondering...I'm creating a portfolio for an independent study this semester. I haven't finished uploading all my portfolio, but I have about a dozen different projects up. My advisor tends like projects that are more modern and kind of playful feel, but I think I should maybe incorporate a lot more professional looking pieces. I have incorporated a lot of photography in my designs, those pieces are just not up yet. But anyway, what do you guys think so far?

and ignore the resume. It is just a placeholder...not very good design at all, but just wanted something up, fast.

www.elainehaapanen.com

I've seen in some discussions some of the freelancers on here mention they have a questionnaire for clients for projects.

I'm curious as to what questions those of you who have them ask on them, both for print/branding design and for web design. Would any of you be willing to share?

I have to do a newsprint ad, and the specs say the photo has to be 85 lpi linescreen reproduction, and the darkest parts are 80% black and highlights have a minimum 10% ink dot. Can someone explain this, and how to do it?

I'm sure I learned this..a long time ago.. but have since forgot almost everything. Anyone know of any tutorials on how I can prepare this image? I tried a google search, but couldn't find anything specific enough. :( It can't be THAT hard, and it must be very common because I see many photos in newspapers :)
-- but I can't find anything on it!

Thank you!

Just looking for some ideas on how these pictures are transformed to look as they do. Given the prices they must be filters or something rather simple in Photoshop since they are created from real photos. They can't be paintings because the creator is a talented sports photographer and these aren't much more expensive then an 8x10.

Ideas?

I am making a logo for a tournament I'm organizing with a few friends next month. It's just for fun mostly but I want to put it on flyers, postcards, and posters. Once it's finished, I could see it being used for years to come. This is a rough I put together to get an idea of what I want. I made like 50 changes after I got a screenshot of this but sadly, Illustrator crashed and I lost all of that. :( Before I start modifying again, I wanted to share and see if I could get any tips and suggestions on making this better and less boring. I know tournament is spelled wrong (was very sleep deprived and still am!). This is the first time I've touched graphic design in ages so I'd appreciate any sort of help, which I know it could use a lot of. Thanks!

I am just curious. indesign or quarkXpress or maybe other softwares?

please do tell. thanks a head.


I think it's time to take quark out of my computer. thanks guys.

Hey there.

I realize there are several entries in this community relating to webhosts already, but I haven't seen this exact issue mentioned... Ive been with Netfirms for a while now and I was pretty happy with them, except for the last, say, 6 months. During this time, I've had malware issues on average, every 3 weeks. I go on my site and all of a sudden there's a malware error message and when I check the files on the server, there's some malicious line of code inserted into almost all of my files. Tech support is essentially useless and tell me to reup my files and set the permissions to something more secure. 2 or 3 weeks later I get the same problem. The last time I did this (yesterday), the error message was back right away.
It's a really urgent and big issue because I'm hosting clients' sites on top of my own. So now I'm looking for a new webhost, but their level of security is a huge thing for me. It's hard to judge based on reviews online because there's always tons of positive AND negative reviews for any host I look up.
Advice?

Thanks bunches, as always

Hi,
Just wondering where people get their fonts from.
Do you just browse sites like DaFont? Or install applications like Font Folio?

Hello. My name is Jen, I just started my B.S in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division, and I had some questions about hardware.

I currently have a Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 with a 1.83GBGHz processor, 3GB RAM and an 100GB hard drive. Not the most awesome machine ever, but it gets me around. I'm just starting out, and this session I'm just taking prereqs anyways, but when the time comes to actually start design classes, what kind of computer should I buy?

I'm assuming I'll need some flavor of Mac, since working design firms usually use Macs, but precisely how much Mac will I need as an undergraduate? I don't think I can afford the $3,000 Power Mac, but I can possibly swing the high-end eMac or iMac or whatever it's called now with the 27-inch display and the quad core processor (once my grant money comes in, that is). Macbook Pro would be nice for portability reasons, but I'd be paying more for less than I would get with the fancy eMac.

Also, what kind of periferals would be undergraduate-appropriate, such as scanners, printers, and drawing pads? More precisely, what periferals should I avoid like the plague?

This might not be the best place to post this kind of question, but this is the most active Graphic Design community on Livejournal, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'm not sure if this will be considered too off-topic or not, but this seems like a good place to ask.

I've been looking to buy some sort of ergonomic mouse to use at work, as my wrist has been bothering me lately. As fellow designers and heavy mouse users, I was wondering what you fine folk consider the best and most comfortable mice for doing your design work.

I don't care too much about fancy bells and whistles (I'm happy as long as there's a decent scroll wheel), and I don't really care if it's cordless or not... although I'm inclined to think that keeping it charged would be a little bit of a hassle, and that the USB receiver some cordless mice use is just another thing to lose/have problems with.

So far I like the looks of the Logitech Performance Mouse MX the best. However, it's almost $100! I was also looking at the Logitech Corded Mouse (M500), although the shape of it doesn't seem quite as ergonomic as the Performance MX.

Then there are some super-ergo mice, like the Evoluent Vertical Mouse, but I think mice like that are a little too weird for me.

I'm going to try to go to a store to see if there are any good mice I can try out in person, but until then, what mice do you use and find comfortable? Are there any steps you take, besides having a good mouse, to prevent hand/wrist pain? Suggestions for good stores to check out are also welcome (Seattle area).


Thanks for suggestions!

Can someone tell me how they made this text effect? It looks like light shining through the holes... I am guessing you can do this with a difference clouds effect somehow?? ....but not sure. Can someone explain it or point me to a tutorial? Thank you!!
( Read more... )

First, does anyone have any cheap resources for printing carbonless forms? (2 pages, the top page is white and transfers whatever you write onto the second page which is yellow :) We went through a local printer for the first run of a few thousand, but now want to do a significantly larger order - could we save money by going with an online printer, or is it basically the same as doing it locally? Anyone have a good printer they can recommend?

Second, does anyone have experience printing onto bubble mailers - the 8.5x11 or whatever size.. We're trying to figure out if it's worth it to print directly onto the envelope or just use labels. Thoughts?

Thank you!

Personal business card. Your thoughts?

Look

Hi all,

I've checked the tags and haven't really found anything on this topic.

I was wondering how you all present your directions to clients via email?

For logos and print materials, I've created a document, with a section for the design, and a section for the explanation of the design. This has been working well.

For website design directions, I usually attach static images to the email named Version A, B, etc. and then explain each version in my email refering to the file name. I don't really like this presentation, and was wondering how others do it. I was thinking of setting up space on my web server where clients could perhaps "log-in" to see their project, or I can just provide a URL to them in the email.

Also, if you have a personal preference on a design direction that you're submitting, do you state it in your description, or do you keep the description completely objective?

Thanks! :)
 

Does anyone have experience with Foil Blocking on menus? I'm looking to get a rough idea of the difference in price between foil blocking a small area (a logo) and foil blocking a whole side. I understand that costs vary across different printers, but if someone has produced something similar or would know the average increase in cost that'd be great.

Ideally I'd want to know:

1) Assuming a print run of 250 menus (4 colour outer, 2 colour inner pages). What sort of cost would one assume that foil blocking would add?

2) Is there generally a difference in price between a large area of foil blocking and a small area, or is the price difference dependant on the size of the product.

3) Is it possible to use foil blocking & normal printing on the same side of an item?


I know there's a thousand different variables affecting the answers to these, but if someone can give me a rough answer that'd be marvellous.

Also, can anyone in the UK recommend a printing company that can do Foil Blocking?

So I have a ton of fonts on my external hard drive but I never use them because I have no good way of viewing them without installing them, which of course I don't want to do. I've looked around and found some cool free font managers, but they're either for Windows and they don't let you view uninstalled fonts. Anyone know of a good free font managing program for Mac?

Thanks in advance!

Hello there. I need your hel, oh wise designers.

I was given a 2009 planner to turn into one for 2010. It's an indesign document and since each page is a single day the original designer made a(n automatic) page number for each day (each month is a section, so it starts from 1 every 30 or something days). Each page states the day (number), month and weekday.

I have an issue, though. I thought I'd just delete January 1st and restart counting the section from what used to be january 2nd. This way the weekdays would match and i'd only need to do that once for each month. The problem is that January 2nd was an even page, so if I make it an odd page all the other pages will change (odds will turn to even and vice-versa) and they are not the same.

Do you have any bright ideas other that just insert a blank page in lieu of january 1st?

I hope i made myself clear, but if not be free to ask for details.

TIA!

Edit: I've managed to solve most of my problems. I created a new document based on the old one and started the numbering from the first page. I just need one thing: Is there any way to create some kind of word list so I can set the page to display a list of words in order, in a loop (i.e.: every page would have the day of the week, in order, and once it got to the end it will come back to the first one and so on? this would be perfect.

Hello,

First of all. Thank you for your contributions to my logo problem - see last post: Stuck in a logo mess - help?

I have worked with simplify the logo. And, as suggested, amplify the type.

( See more )

Hey guys,

I need some advice on binding a book. My covers will consist of either of a plexiglass or an acrylic sheet. My instructor and I were talking about the options, but we were both stumped because a perfect bind might not hold enough. So I was wondering what other options I have? or some websites that would help me out.

Thanks a bunch!

So I'm working on a print project in Indesign and I need to insert images. They are a decent size but whenever I try to place them in indesign using the Place tool it defaults the boundary box and the image itself to a small unacceptable size. Has anyone else have any problems like this? It is kind of frustrating :( 

 

However, when i placed an illustration from illustrator that I did it placed fine.
I did a quick google search and nothing of this problem showed up.

 

Hello,
I am trying to design a logo for a women club called: Female Oxygen. And, because of weather, sickness and un-employment, I think I'm creative dead and worthless.
( See more ? )

(apologies in advance to non-US community members).

I was looking up a tax issue on the IRS website, and there was a link to a reference document, with the typical IRS code-numbered form/file name. I was surprised to open it up and find this very well designed and clearly worded document—simply not what one expects from IRS.gov! What a surprise. Thought some of you who are freelancing/self-employed might find this both helpful and interesting:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1518.pdf

I'm impressed with the person who designed it for breaking away from the visual monotony of the organization. I've always found that the hardest time I've had with designing something was when the existing collateral, styles and identity systems of an organization are dull, uninspired or outdated. As hard as I try, much of the time I find my work in those situations ends up reflecting the status quo, so it's nice to see a "break out" design in a place like the IRS.

I took some advice from the post here and fidgeted with the kerning and such a bit, and a few other wee things.
please take a peek.

also keep in mind that these include the bleed, hence....well, all that extra space where the bleed is.

( here we go again )

Hey guys,

I have a client issue that I'm not really sure how to deal with, and thought you may have some experience/advice.

I did some logo/business card design work for a client. She wanted several different versions of the logo and cards (I mean as the end result, not to choose from) so it was somwhat of an extended project. While I was working on these things, she sent me emails every other day asking if I could change this or that. There weren't big design changes which wouldn't have been covered by my contract. They were little things like changing the phone number on the cards or the URL, moving something over a few pixel. Things that literally only took a minute. But the thing is, with opening Illustrator, resaving it, sending it to her for re-approval, multiplied by how many times she did this, it adds up. I kept doing this for her until it was too much (well, it always was, I suppose) when I told her that this was getting to be outside the scope of the contract. She didn't protest and since she needed some more work done anyway, she paid me whatever I told her.
Some time later she asked for more businesscards. I said ok and to send me the details of what she wanted. She disappreared for a month and a half, and today I got an email from her saying that there was a lot going on and that shes almost ready to do the cards but in the meantime, could I please change the URL on another file that I made for her previously, if there wouldn't be an extra fee for that, and she needs it today if possible. I know I've spent more time writing this post than I would have editing that file, but I'm not sure how to respond. I don't want her to think she can keep doing this, and I can't really bill her for 5 minutes of my time. I'm at a loss.
Any advice?

Thanks a bunch as always

ps, sorry for the tl;dr : )

I took a look at the tags to see if this topic was covered in the sections pertaining to cards, identity and so forth but didn't see anything related to rounded corner business cards.

I haven't worked with print design in awhile. Most of my work has been in Flash for the last year or so and illustration. As a result, I am a bit rusty in remembering how to set up rounded corner business card templates properly. Bleeds, trim lines and so forth aren't an issue.

I am looking to set up these elements in a standard size (3.5 x 2 inches) rounded corner business card:

• Rounded corner die cut


• Front and back design (I know I can create two separate files but I vaguely remember there being a way to set it up in the same file as a .eps or .pdf file)


• Specifications that let the printer know areas of the card I'd like to have any effects on (embossing, extra UV coating, pearlescence, etc.). The service I will be using automatically provides UV coating to their cards with no extra charge, but thinking about possibly having effects put on the lettering of the logo and/or the images of illustrated desserts only.

I remember a while back learning about how to specify areas for effects by using channels, but I don't remember the process unfortunately.

Does anyone have any advice on how to set this up or know of any thorough on-line tutorials? I've looked around but can't really find any good tutorials on these specific needs.

Hey,

I got a logo designed for me recently and completely changed up my business cards to it into it...opinions, advice, anything is helpful. I want to make a strong impact with these cards

( editorial photographers business cards underneath )

Thanks!!!

Earlier this week, I was on either the How or Print site, and they were offering subscriptions to both magazines for $40-something bucks combined, which is an incredible deal. But when I went back on the sites, I didn't see the offer anymore.

Did it expire? Or am I just not looking in the right areas. Could someone post the link if it's still valid? Thanks!

... is there such a thing? I see a lot of free programs for PC, no luck with Mac though.

As much as I hate the Olympics, I must say I've loved some of the design I've seen come out of it. Check out these medals, which are uniquely Vancouver-ish and really gorgeous. Although there is a big part of me who is thoroughly disgusted by the constant exploitation of native imagery through all this.



http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-medals/vancouver-2010-medals/vancouver-2010-medals-photos

repost from form 55 blog:

http://www.formfiftyfive.com/2009/10/someone-2/

London 2012 Olympics.. I think they are growing on me, i really like the poster designs.. and I think it pushes design forward, but its very, very bold. I've sampled in the office and its a pretty much universally hated.

What do you all think?

Finally I found a printer, a different way of approaching my background texture (digital texture as opposed to texture from the stock)
The texture is scanned paintings I did with coffee :)

( please click and critique me )

Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker and I wanted to get some advice :) I've been unemployed and searching since late Spring and as I search and get more and more frustrated, I've been working on building my own business. I've had a few freelance jobs, and I recently opened an Etsy store  featuring bookmarks made from my photography (more than bookmarks coming soon). Everything is coming together on my end, although clients and customers have been scarce so far.

I originally setup http://www.lindseyalbritton.com for job searching to direct possible employers towards samples of my work. Since I started selling on Etsy, I've been promoting and branding myself under the name fallenpeach and just built this website http://www.fallenpeach.com. What I'm currently debating is merging the two and promoting my store and my graphics together under fallenpeach. I think it would be better and easier to focus my energies on one "company" rather than two.

I'd appreciate any advice and any critiques of either website, although if and when I do merge, obviously lindseyalbritton.com will change and redirect to fallenpeach.com.

Also, my big fear in this decision has been that if I apply for a job somewhere and they go looking they might look down upon finding my running my own business. Any thoughts on this?

thanks ahead of time!

Hi!

Anyone has any idea how Information Graphics like these are usually made?

Is it some specific programs? It's not done manually usually right? =x

So as much as I love this blog, and I do the community presence is great, I was wondering what is your favorite blog that has news about our industry. I have a string of Adobe Blogs, particular agency blogs, etc...but is there a Graphic Design news blog?

Thanks!

Hey folks,

Running into a little problem with Photoshop CS4 that just started today for the first time, and can't seem to figure out how to fix it. Wanted to see if anybody here had any ideas as to WTF is going on.

Basically, leading seems to be acting all screwy. I've set the leading to "auto" in the character palette, but in my body of text, it appears to be giving it about 3 times (my approximation) as much leading as it should for the auto setting. When I try manually leading it, I can take the setting all the way down to 1, and it still has a ridiculously large gap between lines of text.

It's not a font thing, because I've tried it using several different fonts, including default system fonts (Arial, Myriad, etc).

Anybody got any ideas to fix it?

I am interested in international internships, particularly with Adidas or Nike. Not necessarily because I love sports design, but because I've heard they both have reputable international internship programs, and both have world headquarters near my house (Portland, Oregon).
I've checked the websites for both and Adidas does not provide very much information about international internships beyond their Design Academy, which is for graduates only (I'm in my junior year at PNCA) and further more, it seems the opportunities there are limited to apparel design. Nike claims to have internships available in Hilversum, the Netherlands, but no specific place where one would be able to just search for internships, not full time jobs.
Any advice or relation of past experiences would be helpful!

Since I'm relatively new to the freelance graphics industry, I was wondering: what are the contractual essentials one must perform before accepting any freelance assignments?

Specifically, is a prospective employer - who wishes to hire you on a freelance basis - responsible for filling out 1099 forms? or is that entirely the freelancer's responsibility?

Also, should any type of freelance contract be agreed upon by both parties before work begins? Or does the client/employer have the right to require a freelancer to sign an independent contractor agreement, asking for driver's license and SSN number as well as specifying a set rate of pay per hour?

I've looked through various sites but found no information to satisfactorily answer my questions. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. :)

Hello,
My first post may be mundane, but does anyone have examples of Travel Guides?
Desperately in need for inspiration.

Hi guys,

I'm sure you're familiar with the Appearance of Black in InDesign and how you can set it to Rich Black and 100K Black. Do those options have any affect on how the document will be printed? What do you guys use?

Also, there's another option: Overprint Black Swatch at 100%. Do you have it checked on or off?

Thank you!

Hi guys,

You know how sometimes you can see in companies their logos being cut out and they hang above the reception desk. They are usually flat or 3D made out of metal, plastic, or other medium.

What's the most popular medium used right now for something like that with two colors?
Would plexiglass do the job, or are there better options?

Thanks in advance for your help!