Absolute vs. Relative Links

May 2, 2009

A link which shows the full URL of the page being linked at. Some links only show relative link paths instead of having the entire reference URL within the a href tag. Due to canonicalization and hijacking related issues it is typically preferred to use absolute links over relative links. Example absolute link <a href=”http://customdesigntools.com/folder/filename.html”>Cool [...]

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Should You Design in RGB or CMYK?

January 3, 2009

This is not the be-all end-all guide for color modes, just best practices from my experience designing for the printing industry. The only thing that matters is the output. The simple rule is: web=RGB, print=CMYK. If you are designing for print, what will the final output be? What kind of press will this be printed [...]

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Font Management

December 21, 2008

When you have more than a few hundred fonts on your system, you are going to need font management. I am sure you have noticed that when you start up an application it will run through a list of every font on your system before starting up completely. You can significantly increase your application start [...]

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Color Links

December 16, 2008

Kuler Find color palates or create your own. Start with a photo you like and Kuler will create a color palate based on the image. Solid to Process chips (PDF) Download a PDF that shows Pantone to CMYK comparisons of each color. Keep in mind you will be viewing these on your monitor, so you [...]

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Organizing Photoshop Files

October 29, 2008

Organizing files in general is important. Photoshop files can become unwieldy after adding a couple dozen layers, paths and alpha channels if you don’t maintain an organization system. Files are archived for later use or handed off to another design for some reason or another. Taking over a Photoshop file, or any file from a [...]

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What is your favorite font today?

October 29, 2008

My favorite font today is Gotham. Unfortunately, I have a lot of fonts that are not Gotham and I am not in the market for a new font. In search of a replacement, I asked the twitterverse what they were liking today. Not surprisingly, the majority of votes were in favor of sans serif. Here [...]

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Free Texture Downloads

October 29, 2008

Free High Res Rough Textures Wood Textures Lost and Taken

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Logo Inspiration

October 29, 2008

35 Stunning Black and White Logos 15+ Amazingly clever logos 50 Kick Ass Logos for Inspiration

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Orange

October 25, 2008

The color of Halloween. The color of excess. You may have noticed that restaurants and retail outlets use orange in surroundings and especially at point of sale locations. The reason is orange is the color of excess. Studies have shown that when people are surrounded by warm colors in the orange hues eat more and [...]

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Red wine themed holiday card

October 25, 2008

This red wine themed card was designed for the 2007-2008 holiday season and was mailed to clients and colleagues around the world. Some were sent with a bottle of wine, all were sent with personalized notes. This design combines custom illustration and stock art carrying the Korby Imagery http://korbyimagery.com/ brand. The card is hand-cut and [...]

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