Wow. This is awesome news for photographers using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.5.
Free cloud computing vector art: Part 1
When I’m searching for a piece of vector artwork, one of the first places I start looking is Vecteezy. There are plenty of sources for vector art online, but Vecteezy is definitely one of the best. It offers a great mix of free and premium vector art you can download immediately and start using.
Today I offer the first set of exclusive cloud computing vectors from Vecteezy – perfect for use in infographics or any other cloud computing-related design. (more…)
Font management with Suitcase Fusion & Adobe Creative Cloud
A reader asked me if a downloadable version of the webcast was available for a recent font management webinar from Extensis.
At the time, I was not aware of one. Fortunately, Extensis has made that webinar available for viewing by everyone.
View this recorded webcast to learn proven techniques to help you focus on design rather than font management. You’ll learn how Suitcase Fusion 5 takes the work out of managing your fonts in Adobe Creative Cloud to improve your creativity.
Learn how to:
• Remove corrupt fonts from your workflow
• Dispel the dreaded “missing font” dialog box in Creative Cloud apps
• Efficiently organize your font collection
• Speed font prototyping
• Remove font duplicates
• Clean font caches
• And more…
Tips for working with images in Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign has always been great at handling images placed in documents. But many users aren’t aware of some of the great features available to them.
Creative Bloq has posted some smart ways to work with images in Indesign that touches on a few lesser-known features, such as the ability to turn on and off alpha channels in placed PSD files.
4th of July: By the numbers (infographic)
Click for full size infographic
Did you know that 80% of you (if you’re in the U.S.) will have a BBQ or picnic today, where you will help consume over 150 million hot dogs? Shocking. I mean, who eats hot dogs when they’re not at a sporting event?
Happy Independence Day!
Photoshop CC 2014’s blur on path among new features
You’ve probably heard about some of the features of the latest version of Photoshop CC 2014, but like my post about my favorite new InDesign features, it’s the little things that make upgrades worth having.
Rather than writing a repetitive post here, I’ll point you to an excellent look at a few of the new Photoshop CC 2014 features over at CreativePro.
I will note that I’ve not played with all the new features, but the ones I have are pretty cool. The new motion blur on path feature is nifty, and reminds me of the motion trail feature in Alien Skin’s excellent Eye Candy 7 plugin. That being said, I find the Eye Candy plugin much more flexible, and much easier to use.
The font rollover previews are extremely handy, as are the auto-updating comps and the new smart(er) guides. I have not tried the new Focus Mask feature, but I’m looking forward to putting it to good use.
In any case, if you haven’t upgraded yet, or aren’t aware of some of the smaller features in the new version, check out Steve Caplin’s excellent overview.
Logo design inspiration
170+ logo designs for your creative inspiration. Some of these are quite nice, others made me yawn because I’ve seen so many similar ones before. But all serve to inspire.
Free poster mockup
Grab this free poster mockup, perfect for presenting poster concepts to clients. The layered PSD file contains smart objects, including various lighting options, that make the entire effect easy.
Logitech offers alternative to Apple’s Magic Mouse
Made with a brushed metallic body and a silky-smooth touch surface, the Logitech Ultrathin Touch Mouse T631 perfectly complements the sleek good looks of your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. There are two things I really like about this mouse (though I’ve not actually used one).
The first thing is that it’s wireless functionality is handled via Bluetooth, rather than the obnoxious little USB dongle that Logitech has been known for using in the past. I hate taking up a USB port for a wireless mouse.
The second cool feature is the fact that, unlike most all other wireless mice, you don’t have to plug it in to a charger or use batteries. The Ultrathin Touch Mouse features an internal battery that you can charge by plugging it in to a USB port. Now I know what you’re thinking: You just said you hate using up a USB port. But at least you only have to do it for a short amount of time. Logitech claims that one minute of charge time provides enough juice to power the mouse for another hour (under normal working conditions).
The Logitech Ultrathin Touch Mouse is available for $69.99, but there are coupons available – one popped-up right on the Logitech site when I visited it. If you’re in the market for a new mouse, and you love the idea of using touch gestures like the Apple Magic Mouse.
My favorite new InDesign CC 2014 features
If you’re a graphic designer, you no doubt know that Adobe released new versions of the major apps in their Creative Cloud subscription this past week.
I’ve been using InDesign CC 2014 the last few days, and had no troubles at all with the software. While Adobe focused on specific features for all the apps, it’s often the case that the little things make all the difference. For me, this is definitely the case with the latest InDesign. There are two new features that make a world of difference for me. (more…)