http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/ Graphic design tutorials on how-to design logos, brochures, websites, direct mail, and other types of marketing. en Copyright 2008 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:29:01 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss BY CHUCK GREEN Take a look at your design portfolio. Does piece one for client A have distinct similarities to piece one for client B? By that I mean, do the pieces share similar concepts and/or layouts? Do the same typefaces, color palettes, and types of imagery appear project after project? Is there a “look and feel” that permeates everything you do? If so, there could be a problem.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/commercial_graphic_design_is_n.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/commercial_graphic_design_is_n.html 1 View Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:29:01 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN I believe that people on our periphery hold an extraordinary potential for positive influence that those closest to us do not. We (rightly so) should expect a certain level of encouragement from friends, colleagues, and family members, but when someone we don't know well, someone with no motive other than kindness, expresses even a small bit of interest in our lives, it can have a profound and powerful effect.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/post.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/post.html 1 View Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:11:53 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Don't be fooled by the terminology—for most of us, “hard-sell” conjures up a less-than-pretty picture. You might even go so far as to say it smacks of intimidation, of someone trying to sell something we wouldn't buy unless we were talked into buying it. That is not the kind of hard-sell I'm going to talk about here.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/hard_sell_design.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/hard_sell_design.html Print Design Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:35:53 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN What do houses and well designed pages have in common? They are both built on a framework—a carefully measured, solid structure that forms a foundation on which to build. A grid is a combination of non-printing margins, columns, and guides used as the underlying framework of a page. Though any type of document can incorporate a grid, it is long, detailed documents such as magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and books that virtually require them.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/page_layout/the_grid_an_invisible_framewor.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/page_layout/the_grid_an_invisible_framewor.html Page Layout Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:43:51 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Conventional thinking says a newsletter is a good way to keep your name in front of prospects and customers. And that producing one is both time consuming and costly. Conventional thinking also says a newsletter should be a minimum of four 8.5 by 11 inch pages and costs at least the standard letter rate to mail.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/get_the_news_out_with_a_postca.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/get_the_news_out_with_a_postca.html Print Design Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:34:25 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN The truth is there is no secret design formula known only to professional designers. Readability is accomplished through a series of small, often subtle changes that anyone—designer or non-designer—can implement.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/page_layout/the_readable_page.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/page_layout/the_readable_page.html Page Layout Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:21:07 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN “Branding” is one of those issues we picture the marketing VPs of Intel or Kraft Foods worrying about—hardly something for a small or medium sized business to concern itself with. It’s easy, after all, to appreciate the value of a brand like Coca-Cola, but near impossible to see how the same principles apply to an organization with an advertising budget something less than 30 million dollars.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/marketing_pr/integrated_branding.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/marketing_pr/integrated_branding.html Marketing Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:41:26 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Write a book this afternoon. Sound preposterous? To the contrary—you can create an information-packed, 16-page booklet using a single sheet of paper in little more time than it takes to type the text.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/big_idea_small_package.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/print_design/big_idea_small_package.html Print Design Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:32:43 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Some time back I was asked, “What career advice can you offer to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?” Beyond seeking the counsel of a clinical psychiatrist, here's my answer.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/advice_for_a_new_designer.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/advice_for_a_new_designer.html 1 View Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:14:22 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN I don’t think of myself as an author. I am, more accurately, a designer who, periodically, squeezes a few words through the eye of the publishing needle. The fact is, if my high school English teacher, Mr. Kryston, had known I’d be writing for public consumption, I’m guessing he’d gladly have thrown himself on his sword for the better good.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/about_writing.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/about_writing.html 1 View Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:43:39 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN To me, design is a communication art and the people who practice it should be held, or hold themselves, to a far higher standard than the terms imply. Following are the standards I aspire to. Someday, I hope to get halfway to achieving them.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/1_view_about_design.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/1_view/1_view_about_design.html 1 View Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:01:01 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN The “word works” palette uses vivid colors and the beauty of elegant typefaces to do the job typically delegated to illustrations and photographs. And it is economical.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/design_palettes/the_word_works_palette.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/design_palettes/the_word_works_palette.html Design Palettes Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:26:15 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Thought it would be fun to share one of the projects from my book Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshop, A Step-By-Step Guide. In addition to chapters on Establishing Your Mission, Do Some Research, Choosing Paper, and so on, the book includes 25 identity projects. The second half of the book focuses on newsletters. Here is one of the identity projects:

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/logo_design/design_it_yourself_graphic_workshop.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/logo_design/design_it_yourself_graphic_workshop.html Logo Design Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:30:17 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN Instead of creating illustrations and photographs in a rectangle, think of the page as a surface on which to set your image. One of the things that makes this design distinctive is the recurring theme of setting a story-related object or objects on the table of the cover.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/illustrations/using_the_page_as_a_surface.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/illustrations/using_the_page_as_a_surface.html Illustrations Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:40:39 -0500 BY CHUCK GREEN To get the maximum from stock and clip art, you need to develop a knack for seeing inside illustrations. For seeing beyond the limited application the illustrator had in mind, to the limitless potential of how the whole or its parts might be used to illustrate our specific applications.

]]> http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/illustrations/maximum_illustrations.html http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/illustrations/maximum_illustrations.html Illustrations Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:32:18 -0500