{ The Art of Mixing Typefaces }

{ Branching Out as a Graphic Designer }

When it comes to be a graphic designer their are alot of steps you can do to branch out, here are some things you can do to do just that. Follow these steps and you may do just that.

The Essential Abilities of a Graphic Designer

{1} Organized- must be organized in order to keep deadlines.
{2} Time Management - should be able to work on multiple projects without hassle
{3} Up To Date- keep up to date with latest software and design trends
{4} Creative Imagination- to think out of the box and create artistic designs
{5} Communication Skills- to be able to communicate with clients and other designers
{6} Computer Skills- should specialize in necessary software skills
{7} Team Work - to be able to work as part of a team and coordinate on projects

Should Have a Good Understanding Of

{1} Typography
{2} Color Theory
{3} Print Basics
{4} Grid Basics
{5} Web Design Basics

Additional Skills to Have a Good Understanding Of

{1} Illustration
{2} Programming
{3} Photography
{4} Animation and 3D
{5} Video Editing
{6} SEO
{7} App Development
{8} Marketing
{9} Social Media
{10} Writing



http://visual.ly/branching-out-graphic-designer?utm_source=CMblog&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=funnydesigninfographics

{ 10 Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Day }

Here are some tips and insight into staying on top of your day and making the most out of your time.

{1} Rise early. It was this article about becoming an early riser that motivated me to make this significant change in my sleeping habits. And I’ve never looked back. Early mornings are quiet, peaceful, productive, energizing… and my favorite part of the day.

{2} Eat right. The food we put into our bodies becomes the fuel on which it runs. We are wise to make sure it is the right kind of fuel at every meal. Just be sure to include some protein in your breakfast, your mind will be sharper and clearer because of it.

{3} Exercise. According to recent studies, people who exercise regularly report to be happier, calmer, and better equipped to handle whatever the day decides to throw at them. Interestingly enough, the study seemed to indicate these benefits were experienced on a day-to-day basis, which means you can begin to experience them today by choosing to exercise just 20 minutes.

{4} Accomplish one big task. We all have projects, work, and requirements for our time – things that we need to accomplish. Likely, your to-do list is longer than you can accomplish in one day. But to make the most of this day, choose one big thing on your list and do it first. If you finish, move on to the next.

{5} Do one thing that you love. Apart from the day-to-day requirements of living life, you have dreams, goals, and hopes. You have hobbies that you love and activities that breathe life into who you are. Embrace these life-giving opportunities. And do one thing every day that you love.

{6} Rest effectively. Rest is as essential to our bodies as food and water and air. Our bodies need to be refreshed on a daily basis and a weekly basis. Don’t neglect to schedule rest. And don’t feel guilty about it when you do.

{7} Be present with others. Put away distractions. Engage in conversation. Ask questions. Give time for answers. And look people in the eye when you do. Their eyes reveal far more than their words.

{8} Give to someone else. Your fullest joy in life will not be found living it selfishly for yourself. Rather, the periods of greatest joy and fulfillment are found in the moments and motivations when we are choosing to give to others. Invest your life in someone else everyday. Mentor a child. Help a co-worker. Fund a local charity. Or just make that phone call to a friend who needs to hear from you.

{9} Nurture your soul. Our lives are more than flesh and blood. They are also mind and heart and soul. Find time each day to feed your soul by embracing gratitude, laughter, hope, and faith.

{10} Reset. Tomorrow is another day with great potential and opportunity. You’ll want to begin it with a clear slate and a fresh start. Take 10 minutes each evening to clear the clutter and refresh your home for the next day. Tomorrow’s self will thank you for it.

{ Gift Ideas for Graphic Designers -Part 5 }

To add to the growing list for Graphic Desingers this Holiday season, here is another installment of Gift Ideas for Graphic Designers.

{1} Pencil by FiftyThree- You can find it on Amazon for around $39.99. Click here to find out more.

{2} Lili and Ralf - You can find it on Les Manufactures d'Inopia for around an unknown price. Click here to find out more.

{3} 1000 Colors - You can find it on Lamington Drive Editions for around $40. Click here to find out more.

{4} Hand Painted Ceramics - You can find it on Martinich and Carran for around $14. Click here to find out more.

{5} Bat Light -  You can find it on Klaus Haapaniemi for around $800. Click here to find out more.

{6} Hard Graft Keyfold- You can find it on Hard Graft for around $18. Click here to find out more.

{7} Wooden Keyboard and Mouse- You can find it on Amazon for around $55. Click here to find out more.

{8} BERG Little Printer- You can find it on Little Printer for around $200. Click here to find out more.

{9} Mint Bucket Tote Bag- You can find it on Huddle Formation for around $40. Click here to find out more.

{10} Herman Miller Aeron Chair- You can find it on Sit4Life for around $543. Click here to find out more.

{11} Artist's Oil Color Bamboo Box Set - You can find it on Amazon for around $56.85. Click here to find out more.

{12} Intuos Manga Wacom Pen Tablet- You can find it on Amazon for around $77. Click here to find out more.

{13} Lego Architecture - You can find it on The Lego Shop for around $54.99. Click here to find out more.

{14} The Art of John Alvin - You can find it on Amazon for around $16.99. Click here to find out more.

{15} Make Your Own Luck - You can find it on Amazon for around $15.30. Click here to find out more.

And just in case this is my last post before Christmas I would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas

http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/what-graphic-designers-want-christmas-11135356

{ 10 Commandments of Typography }

When you ask someone about the Ten Commandants, people go right for the Ten Commandants of a biblical sense. The Ten Commandants relating to ethics and worship that play a huge role in Judaism and Christianity. If you ask a designer they may give you a different Ten Commandants, the Ten Commandants of Typography.

Commandment 1 : Thou Shalt Show Restraint
It can be easy to get carried away when it comes to trying several different types of fonts. Some people like the look of several typefaces within a text or page, but it usually a sign of an amateurs work. The golden rule is to pick two fonts, and sometimes you can get away with three. Just make sure its suitable to the message your trying to send. This can make the text not only readable, but it can give the reader a better indication of who you are as designer.

Commandment 2 : Thou Shalt Space Words Properly 
You may love the look of a certain font, but if there are a large section of text and the words are clustered too closely together it can make it hard to read. Compare the spacing of several fonts you like to see how they read, and don't be afraid to ask a fellow designer for help.

Commandment 3 : Thou Shalt Align
Working on a grid is the easiest way to ensure your paragraphs are lined up correctly. You don't want to have oddly spaced type as you read down the page. Choosing center alignment is always a poor choice, because it can create unwanted rivers that can ruin the way your type is read. Do yourself a favor and take the time to organize the text so it looks professional from start to finish.

Commandment 4 : Thou Shalt Not Over- Decorate
Decorative, ornamental fonts are fun and often quite pretty at times, but they are often difficult to read and don't further the message than your design maybe trying to say. You'll want to use
fancy fonts sparingly, perhaps only as headers or titles. Using a fancy font in regular paragraphs
is frustrating to read and the flourishes seem less thrilling when you have no one looking at
your designs.

Commandment 6 : Thou Shalt Make it Readable
Readability is something very important and has been mentioned several times in this post so far.Make all your hard work worth it by ensuring that your type is readable. The design is important but less is generally more when it comes to type.

Commandment 7 : Thou Shalt Choose Color Wisely
Fancy fonts and pretty colors are fun, but not all colors work well for reading a design. The brighter the color the harder it is to read. So while you don't have to stick to black and white, muted tones and neutrals are the best choices. And remember, some people are partially or totally color blind, so try to avoid red/green combos and other commonly problematic combinations.

Commandment 8 : Thou Shalt Group Similar Information
Don't scatter your info all over the page, logo or flyer. Keep the essentials where they are east to find and grouped together by related category. For instance, location, phone number and event time should be listed together.

Commandment 9 : Thou Shalt Space Words Properly, Again
The actual act of spacing individual words is very important. While every font has different spacing, and that should help you pick a typeface, there's also the option to change the spacing manually.

Commandment 10 : Thou Shalt Kern
Another dictate on spacing, kerning is how much space is between each individual letter, as opposed to each word. Squished together letters are difficult to read, for obvious reasons, and sometimes two overly close letters can seem to be a different letter entirely. Just don't change the aspect of the actual letters in Photoshop, that's a big designer no-no.

So now use these commandments wisely, and you'll never suffer a typography embarrassment again.


https://creativemarket.com/blog/2014/02/10/10-commandments-of-typography?utm_content=buffer595e2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=CMfacebook&utm_campaign=buffer

{ Fonts to Never Use... Ever }

As a graphic designers I have a list of fonts that should never be used in designs. These typefaces should not only not be used, they should be condemned and then never used again. In my own personal option these fonts shouldn't just be fonts that designers can't use, they should be fonts that no one can use ever again. Here's the list of what I like to call No No Fonts.

 {1} Papyrus, so why is this font terrible. Well Papyrus has a bad proportion in both height and width, which can make it look just plain awkward. It is a overused and awful font that is more than deserving to be on the No No Font list.

{2} Comic Sans , so why is this font awful. Well Comic Sans was designed after comic book type and has unfortunately been used widely for serious designs such as legal contacts, letters and posters. One of my favorite design quotes of all time is " Comic Sans is never an acceptable font. Unless you are an eight year old girl writing a poem about unicorns" So unless your eight never use Comic Sans

{3} Bradley Hand, so why is this font awful. Well Comic Sans look like it was written with a marker and it really lacks consistency and shape. In generally most handwritten typefaces are hard to design and there are very few of them out there.

{4} Zapfino, so why is this font awful. Well Zapfino has such bad proportions and the letters do not fit together. Just look at how tall the "f" is compared to the other letters and the huge width of the "z". Find a better script and your work will look much better.

{5} Stencil, so why is this font awful. Well Stencil is a hard typeface to pull of, because it automatically makes your work look dated, cheap, and even worse it looks like it was spray painted. If you aren't going for that look go find an alternate display typeface.

{6} Curlz, so why is this font awful. Well Curlz is again a font that should only be used by an elementary student. I recommend never using this typeface or any other typeface that looks like it, because its just a plain terrible font.

{7} Apple Chancery, so why is this font awful. Well Apple Chancery has been overused for far to long. If you want to be taken seriously as a designer, switch this out for a better script that looks like it wasn't designed by a calligraphy robot.

{8} Tekton, so why is this font awful. Well Tekton is another little kid font. This font should never be used unless you are throwing a princess/cheerleader or some other kind of little girl party for a six year old. 

{9} Scriptina, so why is this font awful. Well Scriptina is an overused typeface that also happens to be tragically ugly. The bad proportions of the letters make it hard to use, the "t" has major problems making it impossible to fit in with the other letters and even harder to read.

{10} Wide Latin, so why is this font awful. Well Wide Latin even though this typeface is called Wide Latin the widths of each of the letters are really difficult to use. The letters are inconsistent and the shapes of the serifs are truly ugly

{ Tips to Amp Up Your iPhone Photography Game }

 As a designer I rely heavily on my iPhone both to keep me up to date on news and for taking photographs. So here are some tips on how to take the best iPhone photos.

{1} Wipe off your lens regularly, your lens can get pretty dirty when its in your pocket or bag. The dirt can lead to blurry photos which nobody wants.

{2} Use the iPhone's gird feature to help you compose your shots. To turn on the grid go to your phones setting, select the Photos and Camera and enable the grid feature. Also to make sure you get all that the grid setting has to offer read up on the Rule of Thirds ( to find out more click here) 

{3} Hold down the camera's shutter to take multiple photos in rapid succession. Also called the burst mode, this can help you take great action shots.

{4} Use the rear facing camera instead of the front facing camera whenever you can. The front camera is perfect for taking selfies but should really only be used for that. The rear camera takes photos at a much higher resolution so you get much nicer images.

{5} Turn off the flash before taking photos of your food.

{6} Tap on the screen on the camera viewer to change the focus of the photo. You can tap on the screen to adjust the lighting that would be best for your photography.

{7} Avoid using the camera's zoom tool if possible. You should instead move your body closer to your subject or your can crop the photo after you've taken it.

{8} Use the headphones that came with your iPhone as a remote for taking photos. Plug the headphones in the phone and open the camera app and press the up volume button to snap photos. It's a great tool if you're using a tripod or if you want to take a selfie.

{9} Use a tripod with the aforementioned headphones trick to avoid shaky photos. Here's a link to GripTight GorillaPod that would be perfect for taking photos, click here to check it out.

{10} Keep in mind that your phone doesn't snap a photo until you take your finger off the shutter. So stay still as you release to avoid blurry photos.

{11} Adjust your photo's brightness and saturation before you start playing with filters. They can often do more for your photograph then what a filter would.

{12} Convert pictures to black and white for a more stunning photograph. Many professional photographers suggest doing this to get a better photo.

{13} Add text to your photo with the Over app. You can download the app at iTunes or you can click here for the link.

{14} Use an external wide angel lens to get amazing close up shots. You can try a macro lens from Photojojo. To find out more about Photojojo click here.

{15} Use the VSCO app for gorgeous filters. You can download the app at iTunes or you can click here for the link.

{16} Use the LookBirdy app when photographing kids or pets. This app makes a bird sound to get them to look at the camera. You can download the app at iTunes or you can click here.

{17} Nail silhouette photos using the Camera Awesome app. You can find out exactly what setting to use when you click here.

{18} Add sparkles with the Picfx app, you can download the app on iTunes or just click here.

{19} Try the Diptic app to create photo collages, you can download the app on iTunes or just click here.

{20} And the best tips for improving your iPhone photos is to keep snapping tons and tons of photos, the only way to improve your photograph game is to keep taking photos. It's also helpful to remember that you won't always nail your prefect photo on the first try, just keep snapping photos that's the only way you'll get better.