Top 4 Steps to Perfect Publications for Experienced Designers

1. Grab a Pencil

When you suffer from white page syndrome or you find yourself repeating the same basic designs over and over, get out of the designer doldrums by stepping away from the computer. Rediscover the power of thumbnail sketches as a way to quickly explore layout options.

2. Experiment with Type

Beyond the rules of typography are the emotions of typography. Express yourself by exploring the many moods of type, bold or unusual ways to use type, and interesting individual characters.

3. Get Back to Basics

There are so many special effects and cool tools for customizing images that it is easy to get totally lost in the fun of photographic edges, magic morphs, and click-of-a-mouse editing. After you've played with all your plug-ins it's time to re-evaluate how you are using (or abusing) these nifty tools and explore alternatives to altered (or unaltered) stock images.

4. Explore PDF

Just as many desktop publishers shy away from PostScript files, others are leery of PDF -- beyond using it to share files electronically or use for proofs. While it's not without limitations at present, don't miss out on the prepress potential of PDF.