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2001 Feature Articles from your Guide

Daily Updates - all the latest additions including new or updated Subjects, interesting links, commentary, and feature articles.

These articles will be updated periodically, as required.

Sketches & Snowglobes - 12/06/01
Here are two fun ways to use digital photos. The first turns photos into a sketch and the second puts people into glass balls that you create yourself.

Before You Buy Inkjet Photo Papers - 11/27/01
Discover the main characteristics to look for in judging photo-quality papers.

Type Like You Write - 11/22/01
Find out why I like this Windows program for turning your handwriting into a TrueType font.

Before You Buy a Personal Paper Shredder - 11/10/01
When you don't need a heavy-duty shredder here's what to consider when looking at personal paper shredders.

Pantone Spot Color Name Suffixes - 11/06/01
Learn what C, CVU, and other suffixes mean in your Pantone color palettes and swatch books.

Before You Buy Collections or Suites for DTP - 10/29/01
Desktop publishing software is expensive. A complete toolbox can run into thousands of dollars. There are special collections and suites that can put all the tools you need on your desktop at great savings.

Before You Upgrade Professional DTP Software - 10/26/01
The primary applications for professional design carry hefty price tags and often steep learning curves. Your investment of time and money is a major consideration when choosing to upgrade.

Before You Buy Home Publishing Software - 10/23/01
Sometimes called desktop publishing software, home publishing or creative printing products are primarily for the non-professional designer.

Before You Buy Professional DTP Software - 10/20/01
The primary applications needed by professional designers are those programs with the power and flexibility required to produce a variety of documents, provide strong typographic controls, produce output suitable for commercial printing methods, and have industry-wide acceptance.

Banish That Background - 10/17/01
Hemera Photo-Objects give you thousands of everyday objects with all the work of knocking out the backgrounds done for you. Learn how to best utilize these transparent images in your page layout.

Peek Into the Big Box - 10/16/01
It may not be "all the clip art you'll ever need" but it comes close. The Big Box of Art is packed to the brim with thousands of vector clip art images, illustrations, photos, Photo-Objects, and Web graphics.

Untangling Type - 10/05/01
Windows users looking for a basic font management tool with a familiar name might want to take a look at Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.1. It's functional although hardly "Deluxe."

Lean to the Right - 10/03/01
A quick design lesson on using italics, including why you should use “true italics” in your documents.

Before You Buy Logo Tools - 10/02/01
Top picks for the software, clip art, and fonts you need to get into logo design.

Discover Your USP - 10/01/01
Identify what is unique about your desktop publishing business and how it benefits the customer.

DTP News - 09/26/01
Beta releases, Epson inkjets, plus filters, plug-ins, and XTensions are new this month.

In Remembrance... Free Fonts - 09/18/01
2 free stars & stripes fonts plus two free graphics utilizing those fonts.

In Remembrance... US Flag Graphics - 09/14/01
4 designs in 3 sizes and reverses for use on Web, print, or iron-on transfer projects.

DTP News - 08/31/01
Eye Candy, HP Scanners, Epson Printers, and more updates and news for the desktop publishing industry.

What Color is Your Flag? - 08/29/01
Patriotic Pantone Color Palettes based on the flags of many nations.

Design it Yourself - 08/22/01
Excellent book on logo, letterhead, and business card creation for non-designers and designers alike, from Chuck Green.

Back-to-School - 08/15/01
Tools for teachers: school fonts, templates, and K-12 lesson plans that use three common desktop publishing documents.

Bite the Bullet - 08/08/01
A quick lesson on using bullets for lists and to provide emphasis.

All Spaced Out - 08/01/01
Clean up your headlines and improve readability with careful kerning and tracking.

DTP News - 07/31/01
Corel upgrades Painter and acquires Micrografx; Apple drops the G4 Cube; Lexmark has a sub-$200 laser. Software upgrades, new printers, scanners, and image collections are in the news this month.

A Century of Color - 07/21/01
Over 60 color combinations (with CMYK formulas) based on historic and modern designs. Explore by color or era. Also, books to help you choose color combinations more successfully.

DTP News - 06/30/01
PageMaker 7 coming this summer. Suitcase 10 for Mac available now. More selected hardware and software news for the month of June.

Use Fewer Fonts - 06/27/01
Less is more. Find out why and how many fonts are too much or just right.

Show Me the Money - 06/20/01
How to legally reproduce illustrations of paper currency for the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, and many other countries.

Principle of Design: Balancing Act - 05/23/01
4 lessons illustrate how to achieve a balanced page layout.

4 Ways to Personalize a Template - 05/21/01
Easy ways to turn an 'almost' perfect template to one that's just right for your project.

8 Ways to Get New Clients - 05/17/01
Business of DTP: Tried and true methods for finding those sometimes elusive prospective clients, especially for new DTP businesses.

One Space or Two? - 05/16/01
Rules of DTP: Banish those 2 spaces after a period.

Rules of Alignment - 05/10/01
Rules of DTP: How to choose between left-aligned and fully-justified text.

Principles of Design: The Big Picture - 05/02/01
2 lessons including graphics define and illustrate six principles of design.

Element of Design: Color - 03/28/01
3 lessons including graphics explore the use of color in print and on the Web, including value and color symbolism.

Element of Design: Texture - 03/07/01
3 lessons including graphics explore the use of and methods of adding texture in desktop publishing projects through paper, images, and printing techniques.

Element of Design: Mass and Size - 02/21/01
2 lessons but lots of material covering the use of mass in design and size matters with emphasis on measurements, conversions, type size specifications, and paper sizes.

Element of Design: Shapes - 02/14/01
4 lessons explore the three types of shapes: geometric, natural, abstract, with emphasis on the use of the basic geometric shapes of square, circle, and triangle.

Element of Design: Lines - 01/23/01
3 lessons explore the appearance, patterns, and uses of lines in desktop publishing and graphic design.

Problem-Solving Software - 01/19/01
A peek at two products that might help you design better with color or work more efficiently with clients.

First Impressions - 01/16/01
Professionally designed printed stationery packages are crucial to making a good first impression. Follow these steps to creating a basic identity system consisting of business card, letterhead, and envelope.

Building Blocks of Design - 01/09/01
5 lessons introduce the desktop publisher to the elements of design and help you to recognize the elements in printed pieces.

Design Basics for Desktop Publishing - 01/01/01
Introduction and class overview of a 2-part course that covers the elements and principles of design, especially for novice designers. (course interrupted in part 2).

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