Before&After Design Tip: Small Size, Big Impact
When it comes to impactful design, little things mean a lot.
The Before & After Archive
Welcome to the CreativePro archive of Before & After magazine articles.
Published from 1990–2014, Before & After magazine was the gold standard for educational material aimed at professional graphic designers and anyone else who wanted to learn “how to design cool stuff.”
Since the articles focused on design principles and techniques instead specific software, they are “evergreen” and just as relevant today as when they were first published.
You can read about the history of the Before & After magazine, and its founder, John McWade, in this article.
CreativePro members enjoy full access to download Before & After articles in PDF format, which preserves the original look and feel of the magazine.
The shorter design tips are available free to all.
Before&After Design Tip: Infuse Life Into Your Charts
Learn how combining photographs with data can enliven your charts.
Before&After Design Tip: Use Color to Mark an Active Hyperlink
A little pop of color can increase clicks on a hyperlink.
Before&After Design Tip: Don’t Trap the Space
Empty space surrounded by text and images can weaken your design.
Before&After Design Tip: Position Text for Quicker Reading
When words are critical, put them at the center of the design.
Before&After Design Tip: Crop Mugshots the Same Size
Photos of faces in a row or group should be presented uniformly
Before&After Design Tip: Crop Closeups at Eye Level
Learn how to effectively crop portraits using eye level as your guide
Before&After Design Tip: Crop out the Dead Stuff
Learn the first rule of photo cropping
Before&After Design Tip: Use a Simple Photo in Your Web Ad
When space is tight simple, bold, and brief
Before&After Design Tip: Use Cropping as a Design Tool
How to get the effect you want by changing the size, angle, and cropping of a photo
Before&After Design Tip: Use Text to Frame Your Image
Text and photos must work together to convey a message
Before&After Design Tip: Use Text to Supplement an Image
Turn a problematic image into a powerful one