kern-what?
Text kerning refers the space between the letters. Now, this is not to be confused with tracking, which is the space between the words. Or leading: the space between lines (known as line-height in Web circles). Good typography utilizes both. The more white space in your layout the more reader-friendly your text will be.

By adding kerning to display text you can create a lighter, modern feel to your design. Similarly, by tightening the kerning you can create a denser feel to the layout, making it heavy and bulky on the page.

Adjusting the tracking can alleviate bad breaks in the copy caused by justified text. Slightly adjusting the tracking in a line is not noticeable, however for a light and airy effect try adding a little extra trackingto a paragraph for an easy-reading experience.

Last but not least, leading (pronounced ledding) is the space between the lines. As with everything else, the more space you have between lines the easier it is for the reader to separate the lines of text as they read. A good rule of thumb is to have at least a 4 pt increase in size (i.e. 12 pt font, 16 pt leading). Obviously, this guideline is based on a perfect world. Often you have to adjust your text to fit within the space determined by the size of the piece you’re working on. Just remember, using a little more space and making the piece readable will benefit everyone in the long run.

These terms, ideas and suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg that is Typography. Pay close attention to the text around you and you too will start to notice typography in action!

I found this simple tutorial through an e-Newsletter that I subscribe to from StockExpert. Using half-tones in Photoshop is an excellent way to get incredible visual effects.

This tutorial will help you go from this:

To this:

Several effects added to a photo can take a normal photo and make it extraordinary. Click here to go to the tutorial.

What does it take to design a breath-taking magazine? We all know a magazine generally consists of certain "standards" that will be seen in each issue. For instance, chances are you will have some type of table of contents, main articles, advertisements and editorials.

Throughout the years I've had the opportunity to learn some great guidelines (some by example and some by trial and error) to creating a magazine spread that really "pops."

The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived! First of all I'd like to thank you all for participating this year and making the competition such a great success. We got a lot of coverage online this year as the competition is growing in popularity. Enough about all that— let's get to what you REALLY want: this year's winners. 1st Place Goes to Ramond Walker for his designs for Launch Ministries! 2nd Place Goes to Sherman Merchant for his designs for Oops! Creative: 3rd Place Goes to Ramond Walker for designs for Revolution: Awards of Distinction Winners Listed Below: Austin Beymer Joy Franzen David Willis Chelsea Davey Shawn Bender

Following up an earlier article where we discussed some magazine layout principles, let's take a look at continuity in design.

Design continuity for a specialized marketing piece, specifically one that only makes an appearance quarterly or annually is incredibly important. Because the piece will only be in the viewers hand a few times a year, it's important to make a visual impact that the reader can easily remember.

How is this accomplished? When creating such a piece, it's important to keep some "theme" of consistency throughout the magazine. The theme will usually consist of similar graphic elements that appear on each spread, every page or at regular intervals within.

Here is a great example of how this is applied in a semi-annual magazine for the Alumni of the Communications Department at ORU. Knowing the advisor/designer personally I can clearly see her thought process as she carries the visual theme throughout the magazine.

Notice the "recording" lines around the dominant photo. These are repeated symbolically on the opposing page that begins the profile article. Later on, as we continue through the magazine, we again see the same elements repeat. The story is different and even the layout is different but the theme is the same.

To keep the magazine fresh and changing, we don't want to simply repeat the exact same layout over and over. Between these main stories the magazine is filled with shorter articles, sidebars and photos. But once we come back to such a spread, there is an immediate visual connection to what we've already seen.

Ways this can be accomplished:

1. Repeat. Simply pull a previously used element such as a drop cap, a rule line, background graphics, etc.

2. Duplicate a photo effect. Add crop marks, frames, distress or elegant filter effects to dominate photos to create a unified effect.

3. Mirror. To mirror a spread simply re-arrange the elements in your layout to appear as if they would if you literally printed it out and held it up to a mirror. (If you can't visualize the effect--print it out!) This is what has been done in the above example.

4. Reflect. What would your layout look like if reflected upside down? Please realize we're not referring to the text or headline, but rather the arrangement of the elements on the page. If your dominant photo is a square on the bottom left, another layout within the piece could have it placed in the top left instead.

5. Rotate. If your original design is solid, you can rotate your layout of elements in a clockwise or counter-clockwise fashion to retain the 'feel' of the other spreads.

Keeping these tricks in mind with assist you in creating a unified magazine piece.  To download the entire magazine to see the visual impact of repeating elements click here.

Let's face it. Being successful as a designer often means we must be everything to everybody. Need business cards? No problem. Need an event banner? Got it right here. And thus is the life of design. To me, that's the best part. I love learning new techniques, new ideas and new technologies that increase my 'value' as a designer. We've already talked a little about ebooks and the new opportunities emerging for designers in this area.

But, I realized that we can't talk intelligently about ebook design until we really get the basics of book typesetting down. Today we are going to cover frequently asked typesetting questions. Feel free to leave comments below with your own questions about the trade and we will address those as well. What program should I use to typeset a book? To create a professional book typeset you will need to use a page flow software.

These softwares will give you optimum results and do in fact take a lot of the 'grunt-work' out of typesetting. The top three typesetting softwares are:

1. Adobe InDesign
2. Quark Express
3. Microsoft Publisher

If you are looking to do this long-term I personally recommend Adobe InDesign. having worked with all three InDesign is by far the most powerful and most widely accepted software there is. The basis of my course here on typesetting will be focused around using InDesign. Can I use Microsoft Word to typeset a book? Technically, yes you could.

Would I recommend it? No true designer has ever recommended designing in Word. :) Be aware that Word will not have the features and functionality that professional typesetting software has.

What are the parts of a typeset page? Your basic typeset page will include at least three elements:

1. A running header
2. Body copy
3. A page number

Optional elements will include:

1. A. Subheadings
2. B. Images Unsure what some of these items are?

Check out my 'typesetters' glossary. Got more questions? Comment them here or email me at [email protected]

As a designer, I'm always learning, new, faster and better ways to do something! One of my most recent discoveries: creating a 5 second contact sheet using Adobe Bridge and InDesign.  The functionality may have been around for a while, but it wasn't until reading "Adobe Master Apprentice" that I suddenly stumbled acrross this incredible feature.

Here's how it works:

1. Instead of having to place the images you wish to sample in InDesign in order to print them, simply collect the images into a folder on your machine.
2. Open that folder in Bridge.
3. If you're using CS3 go to the "Tools" menu and select "InDesign".
4. Select the option for "contact sheet"
5. Choose the number of rows and columns you want (this will adjust the size of the images)
6. Watch InDesign do the work for you, automated!

I hope this tip will save you tons of time! Enjoy!

Yesterday evening, while sitting with a relatively new client I was a little anxious to finally show off my concepts that my partner and I had created. Though the two of us had done a lot of brainstorming, ultimately it was me, "the designer" who had to interpret everything the client had said and create a logo and web presence that would ultimately serve her needs.

I go there early, so that the two of us would have time to go over the proposal one last time and prepare to make our pitch. As I pulled in, I parked right beside the client. SHE WAS HALF AN HOUR EARLY!!!! Since I had only met her once previously, I hoped against hope, that it was just someone with an uncanny resemblance to her. I hurriedly rushed inside, my nerves getting the best of me each moment. She walked in right behind me. After initial greetings, she mentioned running to the restroom quickly before the meeting began. Perfect! That gave me the chance I needed to allow my partner to double check everything.

Among some of the most creative and impressive marketing moves of all time, chances are you will hear tales of early Starbucks. While trying to increase brand awareness, they hired people to drive around with a Starbucks cup glued to the top of their car just above the driver's door where it would be found if the driver had inadvertently sat it down while getting into the car.

Brilliant? Not yet, it gets better. As other drivers and those considerate enough to marvel at how he had gotten this far, and motion or speak to him regarding the cup, they were given a coupon for a free coffee at their local Starbucks. Now, it's brilliant. Not only did it raise brand awareness but also drove new potential customers to the store who had the potential of being turned into loyal customers

Unless you have been formally educated in color chances are you may not fully understand the difference between Tints, Tones and Shades.

I'll never forget learning this principle during one of my first art classes way back in high school.  The teacher handed us 3 bottles of paint. 1 Red. 1 Black. and 1 White. She further instructed us that we would be creating a monochromatic painting.