10 Tools for Choosing Colors

This year’s books are barely off the pallet, but you’re already working on the 2010 publication, aren’t you? Here are 10 very cool online tools to help you choose just the right combination of colors for the look you’re after.

40 Creative Logo Designs

As you start working on next year’s book, company logos can be a great source of inspiration for designs, phrases, themes and more. Here are 40 great-looking logos to consider for your graphics notebook…

-Adam

50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design

Here is a treasure of free lessons on typography, grid design, color theory, design theory and usability. Enjoy!

InDesign Mag’s Tip of the Week

This week’s tip: Applying Effects to Multiple Objects Quickly

From InDesignmag.com:

“Apply Effects to Objects Quickly You just spent 30 minutes in InDesign’s Effects dialog box, settings options for the perfect effect. Now you want to apply the same effect to several other objects in the file quickly and easily.

Apply your settings in the Effects dialog box (Objects > Effects >) while no objects are selected to make your settings the default for the document. InDesign will automatically apply your perfect effect to each object you draw after that.

Or, select the formatted object and create a new object style in the Object Styles panel. Use Quick Apply (Command-Return/Ctrl-Enter) to format subsequent objects with the new object style even faster. Or finally, copy and paste formatting from one object to another. Double-click on the Eyedropper tool first to select which formats you want to copy. Then select the objects you want to format with the Selection tool. Switch to the Eyedropper tool and click on the object with formatting you want to copy.

– Renée Dustma”

Order your free copy of InDesign Magazine here

Typographic Inspiration

If your list of New Year’s Resolutions included improving your typography (and what yerds’ list wouldn’t?) here’s a great page with links to 17 groups on the photo-sharing site Flickr dedicated to excellent use of type. Enjoy!

–Adam

Font Shuffle – FontShop.com on Your iPhone

Here’s the scoop from The Unofficial Apple Weblog guys:

“If, like me, you do a lot of your font shopping at FontShop, you’re sure to love FontShuffle.

FontShuffle is like having a copy of the indispensable FontShop catalog right on your iPhone or iPod touch. I know my dog-eared copy from 2002 needs to be updated and/or retired: FontShuffle is a nifty, free replacement. It’s ideal for situations where you know what look you want, but don’t know what font to use.

FontShuffle lets you choose from six major classifications of type: sans serif, serif, slab serif, script, blackletter, and display. Tap one, and FontShuffle shows you six more sub-categories to choose from. Tap one of those, and you’re presented with six selections from the FontShop catalog based on the look you selected.

If none of the fonts fit the bill, press “Shuffle” or simply shake the device to get six more fonts. Tapping a font lets you view a customizable string of text in that font, and even save a picture of the text to your device’s camera roll. Rotating the screen displays a specimen.

Unfortunately, FontShuffle can be frustrating if you know what font you’re looking for, as there’s no search tool. You have to shuffle through page after page of fonts until it comes up in a random selection. Also, FontShuffle doesn’t contain FontShop’s entire catalog. They promise to add more fonts in upcoming versions.

FontShuffle is free, and available from the App Store. It’s a must-have for any type geek or designer that needs a font reference handy.”

To download the link in iTunes, click here

What a difference a day makes!

Thank you to all who made it to our Design Workshop with HJ Special Consultant Paul Ender yesterday and today. The new format of projecting your files so we could make real-time changes worked incredibly well because you all came prepared and ready to dive in. Isn’t amazing what a difference it makes to have an entire day to focus on designs with the expert help of a yearbook guru? We’re already making plans to have Paul return next October, so mark your calendars now.

JEANC Mail-In Contest for Just $5!

The Northern California chapter of the Journalism Education Association is once again holding their newspaper and yearbook mail-in contest for just $5. Here’s the info from JEANC:

“It’s that time again—the annual JEANC Mail-in Contest for newspaper and yearbook! The October 15 “received by” deadline is quickly approaching. At the JEANC website you’ll find contest information, including entry forms and category descriptions, so don’t delay! With just $5 per entry, the JEANC Mail-in Contest is a great way to recognize individual and staff achievements for your publication. If you have questions, please contact Sarah Nichols.

CNPA Services Inc., 708 10th St., Sacramento CA 95814″

-Adam

Do your designs need work? “Google” them!

No, no – don’t spend time searching for your designs among the gazillions of web pages listed in the Google search engine. Instead, apply the same design principles that the Google UX (User Interface) Team applies to every program and service that Google puts out on the web. Even though the smart folks at Google are designing for a completely different medium and have different goals-good design IS good design and you can adapt their 10 Principles that Make a Design “Googley” to your yearbook work:

1. Focus on People
2. Every Millisecond Counts
3. Simplicity is Powerful
4. Engage Beginners and Attract Experts
5. Dare to Innovate
6. Design for the World
7. Plan for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Businesses
8. Delight the Eye Without Distracting the Mind
9. Be Worthy of People’s Trust
10. Add a Human Touch 

Here’s a link to the Google blog with more info on each principle. Happy Friday!

-Adam

Are you ready for the fiesta?

Our Yearbook Fiesta workshop with Kathy Daly is only a day away! With more than 120 registrants, this is sure to be the kick-start for 2009 that we were hoping. The day starts at 9am and lunch will be provided at the Doubletree Hotel across from Arden Mall. Learn more about Kathy here.