1. Computing & Technology

Will Your Book Be Judged By Its Cover?

book jacket makeover

A book jacket can be an important element of a book design. The admonition to not judge a book by it's cover often goes unheeded so get it right with these book jacket design tips.

Books to Go With Your Book Jacket
Desktop Publishing Spotlight10

Found on the Web:
Helvetica Logos

Saturday May 19, 2012

HelveticaWe know that Helvetica is a popular typeface. It really hits you though when you see a collection of familiar logos that all use it in one way or another. Some seem quite different from the others but they all have a typeface in common. Check out 40 Excellent Logos Created with Helvetica. (spotted via @TypeBot)

Related Helvetica Topics: Where to Find | Names & VersionsAlternatives

Join me: Facebook | Twitter | Read My Newsletter

Candy Wrapper Templates for Serif PagePlus

Friday May 18, 2012

Candy bar wrappers cut and folded versions; PagePlus filesIf you saw my post a few days ago for the Microsoft Publisher candy wrapper templates you might get a little deja vu from this set for PagePlus. Same designs. Different software format. I created these in Serif PagePlus Starter Edition. Grab the PagePlus candy wrapper templates and personalize some tasty gifts.

Despite being the free version of PagePlus with fewer bells and whistles I found it much easier to use than Publisher. It's that Ribbon that so many Office users complain about. Until now I hadn't been particularly bothered by the Ribbon but while using it for several hours non-stop to create some templates I started to get frustrated by having to constantly click back and forth to find the tool I needed. Publisher 2010 has some neat tricks and there are things I like about it but I had a heck of  a time locating or using the basic stuff I needed from certain text settings to just zooming in and out. Although I've used Publisher more often, when I opened up PagePlus to recreate these same templates I found it so much easier to find the right tools.

Agree or Disagree? Share your opinons on Publisher or PagePlus in our User Reviews:

Image © J. Bear; licensed to About.com

Join me: Facebook | Twitter | Read My Newsletter

Desktop Publishing Q&A:
How Do I Design a Good Newsletter?

Thursday May 17, 2012

newsletter design clinicWhether or not you start with a template, there are several ways to help insure that your newsletter looks good, is interesting, and is easy to read. Start with the 3 Cs of consistency, conservation (clutter-free), and contrast and build from there.

More Newsletter Design Advice:

More Design & Layout Questions and Answers

Image © J. Bear, licensed to About.com

Join me: Facebook | Twitter | Read My Newsletter

Learning the Basic, Essential Tools of InDesign

Thursday May 17, 2012

Despite all its bells & whistles there are basic tools that you'll use over and over again.I'm continuing to round up and organize all the wonderful but scattered InDesign tutorials out there. As it turns out, many of the tutorials in this latest collection come from this site but there are others as well from vector tuts+ and Layers Magazine. Get up close and personal with the selection tools, type tools, transform tools, and the CS5 gap tool in these InDesign Interface and Tools Tutorials for new users.

Screenshot from InDesign CS4

Join me: Facebook | Twitter | Read My Newsletter

Discuss in my forum

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.