I was born without a sense of direction. Actually, that’s not quite true. It’s more like I was born with an inverted sense of direction. Whenever I come to an intersection in an unknown area I will always choose the wrong way. So, no one appreciates the value of a good map more than I do. But of course, maps aren’t just for navigating. We can use them to teach, to visualize data, to tell stories, and to lend a strong sense of place to a design. Nowadays, thanks to resources like ArcGIS, you can create your own custom maps with precision and accuracy and put them on anything from a PowerPoint slide to a beer can—but there is a bit of a learning curve. So, in this month’s feature article, we have cartographer and designer Sarah Bell on hand to walk you through the process of building and using custom maps in your design work.

Next, Steve Laskevitch is your guide to creating realistic 3D scenes with Illustrator, Dimension, and Photoshop, using an all-time classic film set as his inspiration. The finished product is so cool it’ll have you saying, “Play it again, Steve!”

Then, Ari Weinstein shows how to use Live Paint to color vector art in Illustrator. For my money, Live Paint is one of the most fun features in all of Illustrator, turning the program into an interactive coloring book.

Nolan Haims shares his favorite PowerPoint add-ins. In the same way that scripts can take your InDesign abilities to a whole new level, these tools can transform your PowerPoint workflow, removing pain points and increasing your efficiency markedly.

Erica Gamet has another InFocus full of cool color palettes, tutorials, fonts, scripts, and more.

And as always we have a collection of articles from CreativePro.com, including advice for optimizing your Illustrator preferences, tips for creating typographic contrast, a warning about scams targeting freelance designers, and a pair of cool free scripts for Photoshop and InDesign.

Enjoy!