How to Generate a QR Code

If you don't know what QR code or if you've seen these around but don't know what they were called, here is a good description from wiki:

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. ... The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.

Here's how to generate a QR code:

1. Open your web browser and navigate to your favorite QR code generating website. This free QR code generating site from Kerem Erkan came highly recommended. The better sites will allow you to create the file in vector .eps format—definitely preferred!


2. Select a Code Action which will most likely be "Browse to a Website" but there's a whole drop down menu of options.


3. Select Code Type: QR Code


4. Select Output Type: Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) (vector data is preferred because it's crisp at any size)


5. I left the defaults for the rest. URL Shortening: None, Error Correction Level: Low, Block Size in Pixels: 10, Margin Size in Blocks: 1, Foreground Color: #000000, Background Color: #FFFFFF, Transparent boxes unchecked



6. Click the Generate Code button and the file will automatically begin downloading


7. Insert the code into your Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator document. QR codes will be hard to read at sizes smaller than .59 inches (15 mm). A good standard QR code size is around 1 inch or 25-30 mm.

Cleanup Hero: The Eraser Tool

I used to manually edit vector art in Illustrator the hard way, manually snipping a path in two places with the scissors, selecting the section I didn't want, deleting it and then joining the path back together. Well, no more.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to start using it but the Eraser tool is awesome! It's a much better tool than the scissors for most cleanup and editing projects. It also rejoins the path for you! For extra speed, use the Eraser tool's keyboard shortcut: Shift-E.

Type Around a Sphere and Other Type on a Path Tips

I don't know how long it has existed but I only discovered the Type on a Path dialog box recently. That's the Adobe suite for you - there are always a couple different ways to create the same effect and the easiest, most efficient way is sometimes hard to find. At least I know about it now. These tips work in both Illustrator & InDesign.

Arcing Text around a Circle

I used to create this effect with two circles of different sizes and visually and manually align them so they looked even. This way is much easier:

1. Open a new document and draw circle (hold down Shift while drawing to keep it proportional).


2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the circle. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the outside top of the circle.


3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Rainbow, Align to Path: Center and click OK.


4. Copy the text, Paste in Front and move the text to a new layer. Move this text's center point tot the bottom center.

Wrapping Text Around a Sphere

1. Open a new document and place your world graphic or other round object. Draw a long oval as shown.


2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the oval. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the inside bottom of the oval.


3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Skew, Align to Path: Center and click OK.

Multiple Strokes with the Appearance Panel

Creating multi-layered strokes is easy with the Appearance panel:

1. Open a new document in Illustrator and draw a shape. Or open a previously created document and select the shape you'd like to stroke.


2. With your shape selected, add a stroke color, style and weight in the Stroke panel. For this example, choose Align to the Outside (third option) in the Align Stroke portion of the Stroke panel.


3. In the Appearance panel, choose Add New Stroke from the flyout menu. Choose a stroke color, style and weight. Continue adding strokes as desired.


4. To adjust the stacking hierarchy of a stroke in the appearance panel, select a stroke and move it up or down. The stacking hierarchy works just like layers, layering strokes on top of each other to create different effects.


5. To copy the multiple stroke effect from one shape to another, select the original multi-stroked shape. At the top of the Appearance panel, select the thumbnail for that object. Drag that thumbnail onto the new shape to apply the Appearance panel effects.

Tips for Speedy and Efficient Graphic Design - Part 2

So you want to be a faster graphic designer? More tips for speed:

Clean Up Your Text Before You Start Designing
(InDesign)
It's such a pleasure (and it's more efficient) to design with clean text but let's face it: designers rarely receive perfectly ready and clean text. There's always some issue: the bullets don't convert properly, the hyperlinks cause issues, there's all sorts of invisible trash (extra spaces, paragraph marks, tabs, etc.). For those pesky hyperlinks from Microsoft Word: Select all of the text in Word and hit Cmd-6 which strips out all of the hyperlinks (and hyperlink formatting!). In InDesign, use Find & Replace to get rid of the invisible extras: double spaces, extra paragraph marks, tabs and other document trash before you start designing. It will be that much easier to hit the ground running with your design.

Master Selecting Objects and Selecting Tools
(InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator)
Do you know the quickest way to switch from inside a text box to the Selection tool in InDesign? (Hint: hit Escape.) Can you draw and modify a shape in Illustrator without ever selecting a tool with the mouse? Learn the keyboard shortcuts to all of the tools and be able to select, move and modify an object using keyboard shortcuts whenever possible. Those little side trips to the menus and toolbar really add up over the course of a day.

Organize Your Files (Computer & Paper)
It doesn't matter if your desk looks perfect or if it looks like a cyclone hit it. The true measure of organization is function: if you can find a document or file you need in 10 seconds or less, you're doing great. If you can't find your files that fast, you might need a better system. My main organization inspiration comes from Julie Morgenstern's books and Zen Habits. I analyzed my own workflow and tested out different methods until I found the one that worked best for me.

Think Like a Race Car Driver
Race car drivers drive safely at dangerously high speeds (at least most of the time). How do they do it? Training, practice, focus. The same principles apply to designing faster:

1. Training. Know your design programs backwards and forwards. The more familiar you are with the programs, the less time you spend figuring out how to do something. You just do it.


2. Practice. Practice, practice and more practice. The more you do something, the better you get at it (at least usually). Also remember to practice skills that don't get used daily in your job. For example, if you rarely work in Illustrator, do something for yourself for fun in Illustrator to keep you skills from getting rusty.


3. Focus. The research is becoming clearer and clearer: multi-tasking doesn't make you more efficient, it does exactly the opposite. Intense focus for periods of time, focusing only on a single task and ignoring distractions like email and phone calls, is a more efficient and productive way of getting things done. It's also more pleasant! So do whatever you can to help you find that single focus.

Tips for Speedy and Efficient Graphic Design - Part 1

Speedy design is a bit of an oxymoron. It's important to be able to design quickly and efficiently but you also need enough space and leisure to be able to explore and generate quality ideas. Here are some tips for speedy and efficient graphic design when you already have that quality idea:

Keyboard Shortcuts
(Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator)
"The first thing I do when I walk in is pick up the mouse and turn it upside down." I heard these words from a design efficiency expert years ago at a design conference and they've stuck with me deeply ever since. The message: the mouse is the slowest tool in your repertoire. If you want to be fast, you have learn (and use!) keyboard shortcuts. If a common command you use doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, assign your own custom keyboard shortcut. Make it a game to avoid the menus. Here are keyboard shortcut guides for Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

Templates
(Photoshop, InDesign)
Take the time to create templates (or download templates) for whatever you create a lot of and/or have as a recurring projects. Create the templates in the programs you commonly work in. For example, if you often use Photoshop and InDesign on brochure projects, create brochure tri-fold.psd and brochure tri-fold.indt. Make your template file the right size, adjust margins, add guides and bleeds, add basic text styles, etc. I recommend locking your template files (make them read only) and your templates folder so you won't accidently overwrite your original template files.

Actions
(Photoshop)
Actions are awesome. I don't know how I could be a designer without Photoshop actions, especially batch processing (File > Automate > Batch) using actions. I use actions for everyday operations like converting to 300 ppi CMYK and saving as tif or converting to grayscale. Whatever I find myself doing often, I create an action. I also use actions for project specific tasks like applying a special sepia photo effect or adding photo edges. For even more speed, I assign keyboard shortcuts to my most commonly used actions.

Paragraph and Character Styles
(InDesign)
Paragraph and character styles are powerful, flexible, easy to apply and vitally necessary for most InDesign projects. For ease of use, create folders for your styles and organize them by hierarchy (ie. organize them in the order that you apply them in the text: headers first, then subheads, text, bulleted lists, numbered list and the rest). For greater speed, I apply keyboard shortcuts to my styles so header might be Cmd + 1 and subhead Cmd + 2.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Getting to the Real Adobe Help Files

When I go to for help in InDesign, I want to search the official Adobe InDesign help document to find my answers. It's not so simple anymore.

The default InDesign help search takes you to Adobe's website where your search gets clogged with extra (and often irrelevant) results from community and other Adobe site sections. So here's how to get to the REAL help files. Once you set this, you'll never have to worry about it again.

1. Click on the each of the following links to open the original help document search pages for CS4: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustator
2. Up top near the search box, check the box marked "This Help system only" and at the bottom check the radial button "Help on the Web (product Help system only)." This will set your Help preferences for all future searches.

Creating Vector Jewelry

I don't know how many people might find this useful but, since I had to figure out it for a recent project, here it is: my technique for creating rhinestone or diamond vector jewelry. In my case, I had to create a tiara but this technique would work well for vector diamond necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Maybe even pearl jewelry.

Creating the Tiara

1. Begin with a vector image of a diamond's face. (If you can't find one, create one by tracing a photo). Recolor the diamond using shades of gray. I used 5%, 20% and 35% black in this example.

2. With the pen or paintbrush tool, sketch the outlines of the piece of jewelry. Apply a colored stroke and no fill. The drawing can be quite rough since you can always make later adjustments.
3. Zoom in on the tiara. Copy and paste the diamond. Then scale the diamond down very small. It should be scaled down to the actual use size.

4. With the diamond selected, go to the Brush panel and in the drop down menu at the top right, select New Brush. In the next dialog box, choose New Scatter Brush. In the Scatter Brush options box, choose Size: 100%, Spacing: 100%, Scatter: 0%, Rotation: Random from -40 degrees to 60 degrees, and Rotation relative to: Path. Down in the Colorization section, choose Tints and click OK.
5. Select the tiara path and apply the new diamond scatter brush. Change the color and weight of the stroke as desired. Adjust curves and points of the path as necessary.

Adding Sparkle
If you'd like to add catch lights or highlights to your jewelry, here's how you create star-like sparkle.

1. Use the Round Rectangle Tool to create a long horizontal shape. 

2. Create a transparent white (Opacity 0, Location 15) to white (Opacity 100, Location 50) to transparent white (Opacity 0, Location 85) linear gradient and apply it to your shape.
3. Using the pen tool, remove the corner points, leaving only the 2 endpoints.
4. Copy your shape, paste in front and rotate 90 degrees.
5. Select both shapes, group them, copy and paste in front, scale the group down and rotate 45 degrees.

6. Repeat step five twice, freely rotating the shapes until they look about right.
7. Copy and group the sparkle. In the Transparency panel, change the layer blend mode to Screen 100%.
8. Add sparkly highlights to your vector jewelry as desired.

Spirographs

Remember spirographs? I used to love making them—it was one of my favorite toys as a kid. I stumbled into a neat tutorial on making spirographs that's different from just doing step and repeat in Illustrator. Here's my summary:

1. Open a new document in Illustrator. Set your stroke color to black, point size to 0.5, and your fill color to none.
2. Draw a shape (star, circle, spiral, rectangle, etc). While still holding down on the mouse button, hold down the ` key (it's right next to the 1 on a standard US keyboard).
3. Now, move your mouse around—play with zooming out, zooming in, moving it in circles, etc. The direction and speed you move the mouse determines the size of the copied shape and space between the copies. Faster = further apart. Have fun!

Distressed Grunge Effect

Here's how to create grunge or distressed look for your text or image. This technique has you create the distressed texture in Photoshop and then jumps to Illustrator. Skip ahead to step 5 if you already have a distressed texture that's vector.

1. In Photoshop, create a 5 x 5 in. grayscale document in Photoshop. Make sure the background is white. 
2. On the same layer and with black as your foreground color, use grunge brushes or Photoshop effects to create a distressed texture. 
3. Apply Image > Adjustments > Levels and pull the black and white sliders towards the middle to get a black and white image with very few shades of gray. Save your image.

4. In a blank Illustrator document, place the Photoshop grunge file. Choose Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options. Choose Black and White Logo, check Preview and adjust the Path Fitting and Corner Angle as necessary. Make sure Ignore White is checked and click Trace. Click the Expand button.
5. Group (Cmd-G) your vector texture and copy it to the clipboard. Open your clean artwork, making sure it's a different color than the vector texture. Paste the vector texture.
6. For Sample 1 (top left), make the texture white and reduce the opacity to 40%.
7. For Sample 2 (top right), select both the clean artwork and the vector texture. Click on Divide in the Pathfinder.

8. Using the group selection tool, click on a piece of your vector texture and choose Select > Same > Fill Color. Press Delete. Repeat this action for the little pieces left (usually there are blank pieces left with a fill of none, stroke of none). This cleans up your artwork so you have a truly one color piece of artwork, necessary for one color T-shirt printing.

Longleaf Pine and the Scatter Brush

I recently had a logo project where one of the elements needed to be pine tree, and not just any pine tree, a longleaf pine—a type common to Florida and the Southern US. Here's how I created my tree(s) from scratch with help from Illustrator's scatter brush.

1. Open a blank document in Illustrator. Using varying stroke widths, create your branches and tree trunk (I used a longleaf pine photo for reference.)
2. Draw the pine needles and apply a very thin stroke weight. I used a .3 pt stroke with round joins and round caps. Save this grouping off to the side of the page.
3. With your pine needles selected, go to the Brushes flyout menu, choose Create new brush and then New scatter brush.

4. Name your brush and change all the drop down menus for size, spacing, scatter and rotation to random. Pull apart the sliders to choose how much your brush will be varied. My values were Size: 85% to 115%, Spacing: 102% to 97%, Scatter: -35% to  13%, Rotation: -21 to 93. You can also vary color but I chose not to do that this time.

5. Choose the paintbrush tool and click on your new scatter brush. Draw a curving line over the branches. Continue to draw other randomly shaped lines until the tree looks full (you can also speed this up by copying and pasting full sections of pine needles). 
6. In any areas that need a fix (ends of branches, etc.) copy and rotate your original pine tree needle grouping (the one you put to the side of the page earlier). You can consider your pine tree finished (tree on left). 
7. For the tree on the right, select all of your scatter brush strokes and choose Object > Expand Appearance. Click on a green needle and choose Select > Same > Stroke Color. Change the strokes to 3pt. 
8. Choose Object > Expand and then choose Stroke. In the Pathfinder menu, Opt-click on "Add to Shape area" to get your final shape. The path will most likely need some smoothing so apply Object > Path > Simplify at around 90%. Delete cutout sections as desired to get your simplified tree. 

Photo Edges: Two Ways

Here are two different ways to create artistic or rough photo edges.

Photoshop Only

1. Open your image in Photoshop.
   
2. Make a rectangular selection and click on the add layer mask button at the bottom of the layers palette.
3. Click on the layer mask (important!) and apply Filter > Brush Strokes > Spatter. For this example I used the values spray radius: 18, smoothness: 11.
4. To smooth the bitmapped edge, go to Select > Refine Edge. My values for this example were radius: 1, contrast: 20%, smooth: 3, feather: 0, contract: 0.

Illustrator and Photoshop Combined

1. Draw a rectangle on a blank page in Illustrator.
2. Add a black fill and 1.5 pt black stroke. Apply Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and use amount: 2 pt.
3. Open the Artistic_ChalkCharcoalPencil brush library and apply the Chalk - Scribble brush to the stroke.
4. Select the rectangle, copy it and paste a copy in front (Cmd-F). Rotate the copied rectangle 180 degrees. (This step fills in any empty corners. Often a brush stroke will get too thin or disappear in one corner.)
5. Select all (Cmd-A) and choose Object > Expand Appearance. Select all again and copy the rectangle to the clipboard.
6. Switch to Photoshop and open your image file.
7. Paste the rectangle as a shape layer with a black fill. Scale up or down as necessary.
8. On the shape layer, Cmd-click on the vector mask to load a selection of that mask.
9. On the photo layer, click the add layer mask button at the bottom of the layers palette. Hide the shape layer.

Thanks to stock.xchng user theo1krie for the photo.

Perspective Text Movie Poster

I like the white space and perspective text on this poster. I figured the perspective text would be a quick and easy trick. Well, it wasn't easy, at least for me. I tried a lot of different things in both Photoshop and Illustrator before finally finding a series of steps in Illustrator that mostly worked. I'm really curious how the designers made this one because this is my best shot (at least with the time I have available) and it's doesn't match the original 100%.

Here are the steps I used in Illustrator to create the perspective text:

1. Type my text in and color it.
2. Apply perspective to both pieces of text on a purely eyeballing it basis. The Illustrator way to distort in perspective is to select the Free Transform tool, start dragging a corner handle and then hold Shift+Option+Command and drag down.
3. For the smaller text: Rotate 29 degrees, Shear -30 with an angle of 29
4. For the larger text: Rotate -25 degrees, Shear 40 with an angle of -25
5. Add figures and other elements.