Print

Amongst the many truly terrible providers of online printing services, MOO is something of an exception. Founded in 2004, it now cranks out millions of business cards, postcards and minicards each month, all while retaining a special place within the design community. I've used it myself on several occasions and always found both the print quality and customer service impeccable. Which makes its latest initiative, The Luxe Project, that much more intriguing.

Dyslexia is a broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and spell.

Only a few weeks after the announcement that it had been acquired for $180 million by X-Rite, the color mavens at Pantone have announced a major update to the industry-standard Pantone Matching System, the Pantone Goe System.

In the link below is an informative detailed explanation of the basics of colors and profiles.

If you ever sent a job to press and at one point or another said: "Why did these cards turn out so bad? They looked looked great on my monitor" then this is a must read.

Hope this is informative and let me know if it helped anyone!

Look out next week for "Resolution Issues in Printing"

Enjoy!

http://www.4over4.com//infofiles/colors.pdf

In the link below is an informative detailed explanation of what bleeds are and why we need them in PDF format.

This is basic knowledge that every graphic designer should know before submitting their files for print.

Hope this is informative and let me know if it helped anyone!

Look out next week for "Basics of Colors and Profiles"

Enjoy!

http://www.4over4.com//infofiles/bleeds.pdf

During a project for the American Institute Of Graphic Artists the creative team, John Neerland and Nina Orezzoli, discovered that many graphic design terms have an inherent dark side to them. They then quickly decided that this could become a fun ad, poster and interactive tool online to test the knowledge of students and young designers across the world. Oh yeah, you can buy some cool t-shirts, too.

Short version:
For print work you want your images at 300 dpi (dots per inch).
Lineart: 1200 dpi
For web design you want look at the pixel dimensions.

Long version: Are you seated comfortably? Then let's begin...

The topic of resolution has long been a stumbling block for many designers. "How do I know my image will look good on such and such device?", "What should I scan a line art image art to prevent jaggies?", "Why is your office so messy?" are questions I hear over and over from my clients and students. So lets have at it.

Client comes in,
wants business card,
doesn't have the company's logo,
points you to company website,
icky low res garbage on website,
you notice company has downloadable brochure in pdf format,
you download said brochure,
notice that the company logo is present in brochure,
hey that logo looks pretty damn good,
open pdf in Illustrator,
wipe tears of joy from eyes when you see company logo sitting there in all its vector splendor,
dump vector logo into business card layout,
present to client,

For anyone wondering what to use for there font management needs under OS X Linotype have just released a new version of Font Explorer for OS X. Even more interesting is that they have released it as a completely free product.

It seems to be bastard child of iTunes and Suitcase. It has all of the important features of Extensis's $100 product and includes features from iTunes such as smart folders and an integrated online store for browsing and purchasing new fonts.

Hopefully anyone that has been using InDesign for a time will have found this alread but for newbies or those who don't fiddle with apps…

One of the best things about InDesign over Quark for me is the ability to really control your workspace and keep things hidden and within easy reach at all times. I find it's much easier to work when your workspace is uncluttered and only the panels you need are permanently active. The rest I dock to either the left of the right of the screen.