35 great InDesign tutorials for graphic designers | InDesign Adobe Creative Cloud's digital publishing platform InDesign has a ton of features which makes it essential for everything from brochure design to eye-catching posters; newsprint publications to screen printing. Here we've rounded up the best InDesign tutorials on the web which walk you through a variety of design projects. You're sure to find something here to stretch your skills, either by jumping directly to a section using the menu below, or just by browsing all 47. Enjoy! Getting started with InDesign What is InDesign? If you're an absolute newcomer to InDesign, spend a couple of minutes watching this short tutorial that explains exactly what the software is, its purpose and who uses it. How to get started with InDesign CC In this 43-minute tutorial, worldwide creative suite design evangelist for Adobe Terry White demonstrates 10 things beginners want to know how to do in Adobe InDesign CC. Basic tools overview Working with frames InDesign is all about frames. Working with graphics
10 Ways Photoshop Actions Can Improve Your Workflow Photoshop actions are an extremely easy way to automate all of the mundane daily tasks that have made their way into your design workflow. Whether you’re in web or print design, odds are there are a few repetitive tasks that you could let Photoshop handle for you. Perhaps the biggest hurdle to automating your workflow is simply coming up with ideas for where Photoshop actions could help you out. Today we’ll help you solve that problem by going over 10 ways Photoshop actions can improve your workflow. Wielding Actions as a Designer Just about everyone that uses Photoshop knows about actions. The thing is, they’re largely underutilized in the design world. I think one of the biggest hurdles is simply coming up with ideas for how to use actions effectively. To help you out, I’ve compiled ten ways that I use custom actions in my workflow. How Do Actions Work? For those new to actions, I’ll give you a quick primer. Remember that Photoshop actions record every little thing you do. 1. 2. 3. 4.
In the Woods - Common Mistakes in Web Design Many rejected templates here on Themeforest suffer from the same few common mistakes: typography (font, line-height, letter-spacing, color), alignment (grid), and spacing (padding). In this tutorial, we are going to take a closer look at how to avoid these common errors. Typography You must understand how fonts affect the design of a page, and your readers. Don’t mix too many fonts Choose one font for headings, and another for the body. Don’t mix sans with serif fonts Ok, now this is not a rule; but for the beginners, I strongly suggest not to do so. Choosing the right font size We usually determine our font size with CSS by either using percentages, ems, or pixels. Adjusting the line-height The line-height property sets the distance between lines. Choosing the right font color The main thing to watch here is that your text is readable enough on any background that’s set. The problem can appear in choosing the wrong color palette. Alignment Use a grid system Be consistent Spacing (Padding)
Design Killer Mobile App Websites: Tips And Examples The mobile scene has grown exponentially over the past couple of years. The iOS App Store along with Android Apps on Google Play have become the two hotspots for smartphone enthusiasts. As the number of smartphone users increases we are seeing hundreds of mobile app developers launching new ideas into the market. Most popular apps are accompanied by their own website. In this article I want to go over some of the most common design trends for mobile app websites. Check out these concepts below and try implementing some into your own application website layout. Recommended Reading: Designing for Mobile Devices Device Screenshots A staple piece for any mobile app website has to be screenshots of the application. Easy Chef is a Spanish iOS app which uses many device shots. Another interesting setup can be found on the Tweetbot gallery page. App Store Badges This technique also seems very no-nonsense once you’ve finished building the application. Mobile Social Networks Minimal Photo Sharing Path
Eye Sharpening - Photoshop Tutorial With this tutorial you can create amazing, bright eyes within minutes. First retouch, adjust levels and do all necessary colour corrections on your image. With a Lasso Tool (L) select the eyes (hold Shift key to add to selection). Hit Ctrl+J to copy selection to a new layer. Use Smart Sharpen filter on the eyes, the choice of right settings will depend on the size of your file. Add a layer mask to the sharpened layer, then using a white soft brush on 50% bring back paint only iris’ and pupils to expose the sharpened eyes. Using levels brighten the whole picture and then copy mask from previous layer to select only eyes by holding Alt while dragging the sharpened mask (“layer 1” in the pic) onto the “levels 2” layer. With a Colour Balance set desired eye colour, keep “Preserve Luminosity” ticked, again use copy of previously created mask to select eyes only. Reduce opacity of the colour layer to make the eyes look more natural. And voilà, the image is ready.
How to Mix Hand Drawing Sketch With Photo Published on Wed, Sep-22-2010 by Ricardo In this Photoshop tutorial we will show you how to create nice unique photo effect from sketch and your photo. We will use many tools in Photoshop and also you will need some skills in drawing as to create this effect you will need to draw sketch. You May Be Interested In The Following Posts Final Image Preview 1.Step Open a new document with (w:900px and h:1355px), and white background. 2.Step Now open your main image, in this case I used a image of a boy found in Crestock.com. 3.Step Now use a simple superimposition technique to draw some elements in the composition. When you are satisfied with the sketches, scan the sketches and open in Photoshop. 4.Step I used this texture of metal to form the background. 5.Step Create a new layer below the layer “Boy”. 6.Step Return the “Boy” layer and click the Layer mask to hide some areas of the image. 7.Step Create a new layer and name “Shadows”. Copy this layer press Ctrl+J and reduce opacity to 30%. 8.Step 9.Step
25 Ways to Build Loyalty & Engage Customers with a Mobile App | AppIt Ventures LLC I recently wrote a post about various reasons that businesses should have their own mobile apps, and I highlighted customer engagement as one of the benefits that a business can expect. I mentioned that having your own app creates an opportunity to establish and build relationships with your audience, and it helps you stand out and ensures you’re top of mind when they need your product or service. For example, you’ll capture your audience’s attention if you’re always on their phone or if they enjoy a game that you created for your business’ app. Sounds great, right – but how do you do it? There are endless possibilities for how you can build a mobile app that will add value for your customers and make your business their favorite place to shop. 1. Another important opportunity is to utilize the app’s ability to track the ways that consumers use it. Sounds pretty good, right? Do you have other ideas for how to improve customer engagement with a mobile app?
10 REALLY Cool Photoshop Tutorials There are thousands of photo manipulation and effect tutorials on the internet. Below are 10 of my favourites. You may notice that a few of them are a bit, well, ‘dark’, sorry about that but they tend to be the most effective in my opinion! :) Can We Survive? Create an apocalyptic photo manipulation using stock images and a portrait of yourself (all images required are included in the tutorial). Create amazing water-drenched photomontages Create an image of a person dissolving into water from 2 images (included in the tutorial). Displacement effect tutorial This tutorial teaches you how to create a stunning image of a person disintegrating into particles. Chilling Photo Manipulation Create a fantasy photo manipulation called “You Can Not Frost The Time” Make smashing glass effects Master a convincing shattering-glass effect that has dozens of applications with this brilliant technique from Mark Mayers. An Urban-Style Piece of Artwork Create a cool artwork from a portrait photo. I got ‘me’ done!
Playing with Displace Filter in Photoshop I have been playing a lot with the Displace filter in Photoshop and I still get impressed with how powerful it is. Even though I have written some tutorials using it, I decided to try to recreate a different effect that I saw in one of the images submitted for the Daily Inspiration. It was a brick wall deformed like it was made of cloth. So in this tutorial, or a quick-tips I will show you how to create a curtain made of bricks or how to deform a brick wall as it was a curtain. To do that we wil use a few stock photos, layer adjustments and the Displace filter in Photoshop CS5. Step 1 Open Photoshop and create a new document. Step 2 Let's import another image, now of a girl opening the curtains. Step 3 With the Lasso Tool (L) or the Pen Tool (P) select the empty white. Step 5 Now select the hands/arms of the girl and the curtains. Step 6 Move the brick wall layer so it will be in front of the girl layer. Step 7 Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection. Step 8 Step 9 Step 10 Step 11 Step 12 Step 13
How to Create a Realistic Crack Effect on a Face Today we will learn an easy way to add crack effects to your images. We will only need a couple of textures and our Photoshop brushes to obtain a realistic end result. This tutorial is split into 9 easy-to-follow steps, with some basic Photoshop features carefully explained. Give a try! Preview: Inspiration The inspiration behind this design derives from the Black Swan movie poster. Step 1 As always, in Photoshop, there are several ways to create the same effect. Let’s start by choosing a portrait image. Step 2 The next step is to download the image of a crack on a wall. Open the texture image in Photoshop, then hit shift+ctrl+U to desaturate it. Now, since the only part we need is the crack, grab the crop tool, select the area of the crack and crop. Step 3 When saving a brush in Photoshop, we will save all the grayscale areas but not the white ones. Grab a white round brush, and paint to clean up the image. Go to Edit>Define Brush Preset and save your new custom brush. Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7
Newly Released Free Photoshop Tutorials of 2013 Just when we all believe there is not much to learn in Photoshop, Adobe launched a new product called Photoshop CC that means you still have a lot to learn while practicing new techniques and offers with the help of fresh Photoshop tutorials. There are abundance of Photoshop tutorials some of which are must to check out in order to begin designing but even then the rate of releasing new fresh Photoshop tutorials is surprising. Each new tutorial manages to trigger any designer to learn new techniques and understand the application of new style. I am sure with the launch of new Photoshop CC we will be seeing a lot more tutorials in future that reveal the potential of this cool graphic design software. Post updated on 5 July 2013 In today’s post we took a different approach where we compiled only fresh and free Photoshop tutorials that have been released in last two months. Recommended Reading: Few Available Calendar Design Tutorials & Free Calendar PSDs Poster Mockups in Photoshop
75 Excellent Photoshop Photo Manipulation Tutorials The first thing that clicks our mind when we talk about image editing and photo manipulation is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is such a great tool for image editing but on the other hand it is quite hard to master. Photo manipulation is the art of photo editing. It is another name of passion and creativity. Photo manipulation is not a cup of tea for the beginners. There are many tutorials that help beginners to complete their passion. For those, who don’t know what is Adobe Photoshop? The next generation, representing two decades of excellence. Excellent Photo Manipulation Tutorials The demand for Photoshop tutorials are too much in these days and finding the best tutorials from the pool with tens of thousands of tutorials is not a easy job to perform. 01. In this tutorial you will learn how to manipulate a simple image into a fantasy image using some simple tips. 02. In this tutorial you will learn to design a severed arm with filament of ligament and fleshy remnant. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07.