graphic design Archives - Page 13 of 19

Freebie: Clothing Tag Vector Shapes

On Tuesday, we walked step by step, creating our own hipster-style clothing tag vector shapes and designs from scratch in Illustrator. Knowing which shape you’d like your tag to be when you begin informs all of the design decisions you make afterwards. The cool thing about tags is that there are soooo many options when it comes to shapes! I’ve found having a few ideas in mind of which shape I’d like helps me to sketch out a bunch of ideas quickly, which makes my final shape decision a confident one.

September 8, 2016

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Illustrator, Tutorials, Typography

Create a Hipster Clothing Tag in Illustrator

I’ve somehow always been drawn to really beautiful design on smaller items. It might just be the cuteness factor, but serious planning goes into hierarchy and layout in such a small space, and that has always been really impressive to me. Do you ever check what the clothing tags look like when you’re shopping? I remember the first time I ever obsessed over a clothing tag. It was when I was in high school and at the mall with friends (I probably should have known a career in design was imminent at that moment). Anyway, I wasn’t in love with whatever article of clothing it was (see? I can’t even remember that part!) but I loved that tag, so I bought it anyway (in my defense, I’ll also note this was before cell phones with cameras). Roll your eyes if you must. 😉

If you love thoughtful graphic design on smaller things too, this tutorial’s for you! In this week’s video, we’ll create a hipster style clothing tag from scratch using just Adobe Illustrator. Get started below!

September 6, 2016

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Hand Lettering, Tutorials, Typography

iPad Lettering: Recreate the Stranger Things Logo

This week is really fun. I was brainstorming some iPad lettering tutorials where I could share quick tips without being overwhelming, and recreating the Stranger Things logo came to mind. Spence and I finished binging on Stranger Things a couple months ago, but even now, I still can’t wait for the next season! It’s also extra cool that it was filmed in Georgia (gotta find that lake!) *and* I’m a child of the 80’s. Perfect match you could say.. But! I digress 😉

August 30, 2016

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Desktop Wallpapers, Freebies, Personal

Freebie: September 2016 Desktop Wallpapers

Today’s the last Thursday in August, so it’s time for your free September 2016 desktop wallpapers! This month’s wallpaper is another doodle explosion (hopefully in a good way!) brought to you via an iPad Pro + Apple Pencil + Procreate app. This download includes the wallpapers in two common resolutions: 1280x1024px and 1920x1080px, with and without dates. I’ve left ‘2016’ off of the ‘no-dates’ jpgs, so you can use this for any September in the future, too!

August 25, 2016

4 Comments

Business, InDesign, Tutorials

How to Create a Clickable PDF with InDesign

Last week, I gave away a few freebie pdfs and this one was fully clickable. Being able to offer readers a clickable pdf has been a great way for me to share some of my favorite tools all in one place, and in a simple doc you can tuck into your favorite folder(s).

Creating clickable pdfs is also a nice option for sharing resources with clients (and also look like a badass designer at the same time 😉 ). If you sell digital printables on Etsy for example, adding your url at the bottom that is also clickable is a simple opportunity to gain more visitors to your site or store!

For whatever your purpose(s) might be, in this week’s tutorial, I’m sharing exactly how I make mine from start to finish using Adobe InDesign. Read on to see how easy it is!

August 23, 2016

8 Comments

Freebies, Hand Lettering, Resources, Typography

Freebie: Hand Lettering Style Inspiration Guide

I am truly so flattered by the response to Lettering Layouts this week (it’s the #1 trending class on Skillshare as I type this!). I have loved, LOVED seeing everyone’s experiments they’ve shared either by tagging me on instagram or posting in the class. So much talent! To say a giant thank you, I wanted to share a little something extra to inspire any new layouts you may have up your sleeves: a hand lettering style inspiration guide!

August 18, 2016

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Hand Lettering, Skillshare, Tutorials, Typography

New Class + Bonus! Lettering Layouts

Happy Tuesday! Today is one of my favorite kinds of Tuesdays, because I get to share a brand new class with you! I’m not going to lie, this class was a lot of work to prepare and record. There were 3 days where I was up until 5am putting every last detail in, so today, I’m breathing easier. 🙂 If you’ve followed along in past classes like Waterbrush Lettering Essentials and Bounce Lettering, you already have the perfect foundation for this one. Instead of a class focused on how to hand letter, this one is all about using your hand lettering.

August 16, 2016

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Hand Lettering, Resources, Roundups, Typography

6 Stunning Typographic Layouts (+ what we can learn from them!)

This coming Monday, I’ll be publishing my next Skillshare class, Lettering Layouts. Since we went over typing on a path in Illustrator on Tuesday, I thought it’d be fun to mix the concept of custom baselines with purely typographic layouts. The results are pretty incredible and can for sure seem intimidating to try yourself. This week, on top of a roundup of 6 stunning typographic layouts, I’m breaking each layout down. By doing this, it’s far easier to see how each layout was achieved and how you can begin incorporating similar methods, techniques and design elements into your own layouts moving forward. If you’ll be joining me in Monday’s class, this post is a big head start. Read on for more!

August 11, 2016

6 Comments

Illustrator, Resources, Tutorials, Typography

How to Perfectly Type on a Path in Illustrator

Let’s talk about something that’s massively important, but often gets overlooked: type on a path in Illustrator. You’re probably already familiar with the ability to select any text and go effect > warp, but that makes editing your text later on pretty difficult. The truth is, most of graphic design is experimenting, altering and adjusting. Because of this, the need to go back and adjust previously warped text quickly is a big deal. Luckily, Illustrator makes it super easy to customize text appearance along a path with a few handy tools. Prepare to take your layouts to a whole new level with these options in this week’s tutorial! Oh, and just in case you need to reference these tips later, I made you a free cheat sheet, too 😉

August 9, 2016

18 Comments

Branding, Freebies, Resources

Freebie: Brand Style Guide Template

A brand style guide template… When I worked at a design studio, we called this the ‘systems page’ for each brand’s identity standards. We also called all of the graphic elements the brand’s VIS, or visual identity system. I’ve seen (online, anyway), it’s commonly referred to as a brand style guide, so we’re using that for this post. (Feel free to use your favorite term, they’re all relevant. 🙂 )

A brand style guide is basically this: a brand board template of all visual elements (including primary logo/ secondary logo) that comprise a brand’s unique presence and aesthetic to the public. It’s what makes a brand get noticed, helps them to stand apart from their competitors, and creates the feeling(s) they wish to communicate visually. If/when you’re tasked with creating a brand’s identity, this page will be handed as branding template to all other designers to use that ever work on the brand. It’s a series of branding templates & guide to keep a brand’s look – colors, fonts, patterns, etc. consistent across all applications.

So yep, pretty handy little template to have 🙂

August 4, 2016

13 Comments

Freebies, Illustrator, Textures, Tutorials, Typography

How to Create Watercolor Typography in Illustrator

There’s no doubt you’ve encountered it before: typography with a watercolor texture built in. A while back, I shared how to replicate this cool effect in Photoshop. Today, I want to share how easy it is to create watercolor typography in Illustrator using 3 different methods. If you saw last week’s tutorial, then you’ve already gotten a peek at one of them. 😉 But! If you don’t have a seamless watercolor pattern on hand, it’s still cake to create the same effect. I’ll even help you out by giving you a free texture from Watercolor Texture Kit Vol. 3 so you can follow along and start experimenting asap! Read on for everything you need to know to get started!

August 2, 2016

11 Comments

Desktop Wallpapers, Freebies, Hand Lettering

Freebie: August 2016 Desktop Wallpapers

Since today is the last Thursday of July, it means it’s time for your free August 2016 desktop wallpapers! This month you could say I went just a little bit overboard, but if you like a leafy doodle explosion on your screen, then it’s probably the perfect amount. 🙂 This was created on an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil using the Procreate app, then exported and edited a little further in Photoshop. More on iPad lettering/doodling here!

July 28, 2016

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