Use InDesign’s Data Merge Feature to Create Business Cards for Your Entire Office
I’m a big fan of InDesign’s Data Merge feature. Data Merge is the Adobe equivalent to Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge feature and allows you to import information contained in an Excel spreadsheet and use it in your print…
More Lens Flares: 25 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes
I have often mentioned that there are many ways to create lens flares in Photoshop; some are better than others. One of my favorite ways to do this however is by using Photoshop brushes. Photoshop brushes give you…
Fuel Your Designs With Motivation
As a designer, there are a few things you need in order to keep creating fresh works of art. One of those things is (the often forgotten) ‘motivation’. Motivation is an important factor in your ability to convey…
Use Insertion Mode in SymmetryWorks 5 to Create a Seamless Valentine’s Day Pattern
As most of you guys know, I’m a big fan of SymmetryWorks. SymmetryWorks is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that allows you to easily create seamless patterns. If you have ever tried to create a complex seamless pattern…
Screencast: How to Edit an Existing Pattern Swatch in Illustrator
When you work with patterns in Illustrator you will find that you are constantly having to tweak them in one way or another. This is because sometimes color schemes or elements in the pattern change for one reason…
Buy My Book, Retro Style Graphics on iTunes for Just $2.99!
Hello everyone! Today, I’ve got some pretty big news to report. My book Retro Style Graphics is now available on iTunes for just $2.99 as an iPhone app! As you know, a couple months ago Retro Style Graphics was released…
How to Create a Seamless Argyle Pattern in Illustrator
You guys may remember last year when I posted a really nice set of seamless argyle patterns for Illustrator on this site. Those patterns quickly became very popular and I received several requests for tutorials on how they were…
4 Fabric Inspired Vector Pattern Swatches for Illustrator
A while back I snapped some photos at the quilting exhibit at state fair where I live. I came back with a lot of ideas for creating seamless vector patterns and decided to put a few of them…
Switching From PC to Mac: The Adobe Cross-Platform Upgrade
So you have finally decided to make the switch from PC to Mac. Congratulations! Changing platforms is quite a big decision and there are a lot of things to consider. Is it worth the price? Will you be…
Screencast: How to Customize Your Default Illustrator Pattern Swatches
Customizing your default settings for Illustrator can save you tons of time. Adobe has done a lot in recent years to make it easier for us to create new documents but even though they have managed to save…
Screencast: How to Customize Your Default Illustrator Brush Settings
Customizing your default Illustrator brush settings can save you loads of time. How many times have you opened your brush palette in Illustrator only to see the same tired, old, default, Illustrator brushes that you have probably never…
15 High Resolution Moldy Paper Photoshop Brushes
You may remember several weeks back when we released a set of 5 Moldy Paper Textures. In that release, we mentioned that we made considerably more textures than we were able to release but we couldn’t do so…
Create Stunning Interlocking Shapes and Light Effects Using Photoshop and Illustrator
I am often asked to write tutorials demonstrating how to create some of the designs in my site’s gallery. One of the more popular requests is for a tutorial demonstrating the effects used in Equidistant; which is one…
The Evolution of a Design Blog
As many of you know, the design community isn’t all that old. In fact, some of the most successful and popular design blogs have only been around for about 2-3 years. During that time the design community has…
Quick Tip: How to Import Pattern Swatches Into Illustrator
We frequently receive comments from readers who have downloaded a set of pattern swatches only to see a blank screen when they attempt to open the file. Our response is typically to tell them just to open up…
