Author: James

Make Spotlight infinitely more useful with this free app

Flashlight for Spotlight

Search the web, save a note, add a reminder, or do over 200 other things just by typing in the Spotlight box (Command + Space). There are dedicated apps that do a lot of this, but they can be complicated.

Flashlight is simple to use and offers plenty of pre-built plugins to download, including: setting reminders, sending emails (including adding attachments), check the weather, add a calendar event, place Lorem Ipsum text, show hidden system files, and much more. You can also write your own plugins if you wish.

Flashlight is free, and requires Mac OS X Yosemite.

Photoshop CC to add Artboards (pages) feature

Check it out. Illustrator users will be familiar with Artboards, for those who aren’t – think of them simply as pages. I’m not sure why Photoshop Artboards are necessary with Layer Comps already available, but it looks cool!

Government investigates Apple. Again.

Now that the U.S. government has brought peace to the world, fed all the hungry, employed all the jobless, fixed our education system, and overhauled our miserable healthcare; I think it's great that they're focusing on more important things like investigating Apple over $10 p/m music subscriptions.

— The Graphic Mac

Apple must have a lot of ping-pong balls in the government’s “who do we investigate next” lottery barrel.

The psychology behind color

The psychology behind color

Color Wheel
Color has an incredible ability to tell stories and infer emotions, which is why so many film auteurs—not to mention designers and marketers—have spent time trying to understand its hidden power. But are there any universal rules when it comes to using color?

Free PSD Mockups

Free PSD Mockups

GraphicBurger PSD Mockups

There’s no better way to show-off a design than placing it in a real-world environment (such as a T-shirt design shown on an actual T-shirt). To do that, you can either photograph it yourself, or use one of these highly convenient and high-quality mockups. The PSD files are set to use with a SmartObject layer you simply double-click to place your design in, save the SmartObject, and boom! You’re mockup is ready to present to your client.

Learn how to use InDesign’s Liquid Layout rules to simplify cross-platform design

When you live in the modern-day design world, it’s not often that you design a piece destined for print that won’t eventually be found online. To truly create a piece that can live in both worlds, you have to format the file to work in print, as well as multiple mobile screen sizes. This is where Adobe InDesign’s Alternate & Liquid Layout features can help.

I offer you two great articles over at CreativePro that cover the use of InDesign’s Alternate/Liquid Layouts.

Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.

Alternate Layouts lets you have multiple layouts—of different sizes and orientations—all contained in one single document. What’s that you say…you don’t create digital publications? Not to fear! Alternate Layouts are a great way to create multiple layouts—destined for print or digital or a little of each—that share the same text and images. Maybe you have a campaign that includes posters, postcards, table tents, and door hangers that all share common elements. Or maybe you have a print version and a digital version of your client’s novel and you want to avoid having to maintain two documents when the editorial changes start rolling in. This is a job for Alternate Layouts!

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