September, 2004 | CreativePro Network

Paper Tips: How to Choose the Right Paper

This story courtesy of PaperSpecs.com. Choosing paper is more complex than just picking the most expensive sheet and keeping your fingers crossed. In fact, you shouldn’t think about choosing paper based on the highest quality available, or even the highest quality you can afford. Rather, you should figure out the most appropriate quality paper for […]

Photoshop How-To: Making Warhol-style Images

This story is taken from “Adobe Photoshop CS Creative Studio.” The brightly colored, slightly posterized image made popular by Andy Warhol is almost a cliché these days, but there’s no denying that the style has impact. After all, by employing this method, Warhol was able to turn mundane soup cans into works of art and […]

Framed and Exposed: Buying a Digital Camera, Part 5

In our last column we discussed some of the important extra features you need to consider when choosing a camera — secondary features that make shooting easier. Now we’re going to take a look at some of the design characteristics that you should consider, as well as some of the extra, “frillier” features that you […]

dot-font: Type now

dot-font was a collection of short articles written by editor and typographer John D. Barry (the former editor and publisher of the typographic journal U&lc) for CreativePro. If you’d like to read more from this series, click here. Eventually, John gathered a selection of these articles into two books, dot-font: Talking About Design and dot-font: Talking […]

Photoshop How-To: Using the Lens Blur Filter

This video tutorial is excerpted from “Total Training Inc.” Total Training has many more titles like this one. Click here to learn more. The Lens Blur filter in Photoshop CS lets you add selective focus to an image to create interesting visual effects. Much like with a traditional camera, you can use it to create […]

InDesign How-To: Creating Tables

This story is taken from “Real World Adobe InDesign CS.” Tables provide a compact way of presenting complex information in a layout. But many creative folk shudder at the prospect of designing them. Tables are boring and difficult to format, goes the common thinking. And tables mean using Excel, right? Ick. Well, ever since Adobe […]

The Art of Business: In Praise of the Fine Print

I’ve yet to meet a creative professional who said “hey, I love negotiating the fine print.” But the dizzying array of legalese often spells the difference between profit and ruin, customer satisfaction and irritation, and legal protection and problems for you. Here are a few things you can do to help prevent contractual problems from […]

Creative Fuel: Inspiring Images from Photographic Scenes

I went to Seybold San Francisco this year seeking information and news. I wasn’t expecting much more from the conference. I dutifully sat in my share of sessions on practical topics such as workflow and color management, filling my mind and reporter’s notebook with interesting tidbits and observations. There were several digital photography sessions on […]

Plug-Ins and XTensions: Slug Makers, File Annotators, Text Extractors, Word Importers for InDesign and QuarkXPress

Each month Design Tools Monthly reviews some of the best plug-ins and XTensions on the market. Most of the mentioned products can be purchased through The PowerXChange. InDesign Instant Callouts in InDesign Triple Triangle’s Color Spec Cubed ($99) is a plug-in for InDesign that adds callouts that provide details about colors, fonts, and imported graphics […]