Technique One: Images with Plain Backgrounds

The best photos are those professional studio type shots that are taken against a plain white background. These shots make it much easier to find the edges of the subject, but trimming out fine hairs can still be a little tricky. In this example we’ll be using the common Channel technique to trim out this lovely lady.

Open up your image in Photoshop. This particular image doesn’t have a pure white background, but it is a plain colour and has good contrast between the subject and grey backdrop.

Head over to the Channels palette and review each of the Red, Green and Blue channels. Each one will be made up of slightly different tones, pick the one with the most contrast between foreground and background. Drag this channel onto the new channel icon to duplicate it.

With only the new channel selected, adjust the Levels (CMD+L) to dramatically increase the contrast between light and dark areas. However, don’t go too far, as you’ll notice some horrendous pixilation appearing in the fine areas.

Due to the slight variation in tone of the background, it appears grey in the darker areas. Use the Dodge tool set to a low Opacity to target the highlights and brush over this background area to really brighten it up.

Switch over to the Burn tool and target the shadows to dramatically darken down the inner areas of the image to pure black.

Use the brush tool to finish off the blacks by painting over the remaining areas of the inner section of the image.

Inverse the image to switch over the black and white areas (CMD+I), and give a quick check for any stray areas that may have been missed by the brush.

CMD+Click the Channel thumbnail to load the selection, then turn back on the visibility of the original channels. Head back over to the Layers palette and copy the selection. Paste it on a new layer and hide the original to see the cut out image against transparency.

The selection has managed to trim out even the finest of hairs to give a realistic cut. Paste the photo against an alternate background. Zoom in and check for any light coloured fringes around the edges, especially if placed against a darker background. These can be reduced using the Burn tool set to Highlights and gently brushed over the outline of the image.

Technique Two: Images with Detailed Backgrounds

The Channels technique is all well and good for studio photography with plain backgrounds, but it gets a little more difficult on standard shots with detailed backgrounds getting in the way.

Open up your image in Photoshop. This image has a decent contrast between foreground and background, but certain areas of the hair do blend in with the darker tones of the backdrop.

Start by trimming out the clear edges with the Pen Tool, but when you reach the hair simply create a rough tracing.

Around the hair portion, aim to include only solid areas of hair that aren’t merging with the background, otherwise the lighter tones will mess things up later.

Make a selection with a feathering of 0.2 pixels to remove any harsh edges then paste onto a new layer. Reduce the transparency of the image so that the original hair line can just be seen.

Here’s where the fun begins! Use the Smudge Tool to draw in areas of new hair, using the original outline as a template. Begin with a 4px brush to flesh out the thick base hair and disguise the jaggy lines from the path. A Wacom Graphics Tablet really comes in handy here to speed up the process and help add varied line thicknesses.

The new hair will soon flesh out the image back to its original appearance. It doesn’t look too bad at this stage, but repeating the process with a thinner brush will draw in those individual hairs.

Use a 2px brush with the Smudge Tool to draw thin stray hairs in varied directions to add realism to the image.

The photo can then be placed on any background with ease, and displays a crisp cut-out with no fringing or loss of fine detail.

1. Work with vectors
   This probably sounds obvious to most designers out there, but it isn’t to everybody so I repeat it as often as I can to avoid receiving those damn jpeg logos. Vector formats are the ones that will allow the most variations for your logo.
2. Don’t use more than 2 fonts
   There is many nice fonts out there and we would all love to use as many as we can. Unfortunately using too many fonts will most of the time result in a loss of coherence. Using two different fonts can be good to create a contrast, catching the eye.
3. Keep it readable
   If people can’t read your logo, it’s useless to have one. This sounds like dumb advice again, but it’s easy to get caught in creating letters or distorting a font until it becomes unreadable. Always stay aware of that when working on your logo.
4. Test sizes
   Your logo should resize well at any size, whether it’s huge on a truck or tiny on a badge.
5. Adapt it for dark backgrounds
   So you’ve got a wonderful looking dark logo, but now your client want to get it on his black car. It’s usually not too hard to adapt it, but you’ll look more professional if you already got that case figured out.
6. Make sure it works well in black and white
   I have a very simple technique for that: I work every logo in black and white before adding any colour. This way choices are made judging by the shapes and you are not distracted by anything else. It makes it much easier to know that your logo will work well in shades of grey afterwards.
7. Don’t include photos in your logo
   Well… this one goes along with the first tip. First, photos are not vectors. Photos also don’t scale, have no branding value and are hard to adapt for any use.
8. Look at it upside-down
   This is a tip I got from my teachers in graphic design school, looking at your logo (or any printed design really) will get the meaning out of the way and give you a new look at the design’s balance and white spaces. Try it!
9. Don’t follow trends
   It’s often hard to escape trends, especially if you’re passionated and love to look at inspiring logos on design sites. Your logo has to work on the long run, so try to avoid the web 1.0 swoosh or the web 2.0 reflection.
10. Get specific feedback
    Asking people’s opinion is worthless if you don’t know what informations you want to get, so when getting feedback, try asking specific questions (eg. does your logo expresses the industry of the company?).

Easier said than done, you say? Maybe. Luckily, however, there are time-tested guidelines to follow in your quest for a great logo. Whether you hire an agency or do it yourself, commit these rules to memory (or at least bookmark this Web page):

1. Your logo should reflect your company in a unique and honest way. Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs want something “just like” a competitor. If your logo contains a symbol (often called a “bug”), it should relate to your industry, your name, a defining characteristic or to a competitive advantage. What’s the overriding trait your want people to remember about your business? If it’s quick delivery, consider objects that connote speed, like wings or a clock. Consider an abstract symbol to convey a progressive approach (abstracts are a great choice for high-tech companies). Or maybe you simply want an object representative of the product or service you’re selling. Be clever if you can, but not at the expense of being clear.
2. Avoid too much detail. ”Simple” logos are recognized faster than complex ones. Strong lines and letters show up better than thin ones, and clean, simple logos reduce and enlarge much better than complicated ones.

Although your logo should be simple, it shouldn’t be simplistic. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn. Look at the pros: McDonald’s, Nike, Prudential. Notice how their logos are simple yet compelling. Anyone who’s traveled by a McDonald’s with a hungry four-year-old knows the power of a clean logo symbol.

1. It should work well in black and white (one-color). If it doesn’t look good in black and white, it won’t look good in any color. (Also keep in mind printing costs for 4-color logos are often greater than that for one or 2-color).
    
2. Your logo should be scalable. It should be aesthetically pleasing both small and large, in a variety of mediums. A good rule of thumb is the “biz card/billboard” rule: your logo should look good on both.
    
3. It should be artistically balanced.The best way to explain this is that the logo should seem “balanced” to the eye � no one part should overpower the rest. Just as a painting would look odd if all color and detail were segregated in one corner, so do asymmetric logos. Color, line density and shape all affect a logo’s balance.

Many logo gurus insist your logo should be designed to last for up to 10 or 15 years. But I’ve yet to meet a clairvoyant when it comes to design trends. The best way to ensure longevity, in addition to the rules above, is to make sure you love your logo. Don’t settle for something half-baked.

Once you commit to your logo design, you’ll need it in three essential file formats: EPS for printing, JPG and GIF for your website. Essentially, these file conversions render your logo a single piece of art (i.e., no longer a symbol with a typeface). Which brings us to the most important rule in logo use:

Never, never re-draw or alter your logo. If you want to animate it for your website, fine. But don’t change its essence. Reduce and enlarge proportionally. If you become tired of your logo, good. That’s usually about the time it’s starting to make an impression on everyone else!

When photographing your business cards, spending some time picking out a great background can go a long way compared to just shooting them on your scratched up work desk. Look for something that compliments your business cards color, texture and style. Just make sure that the background does not overpower the actual design. A busy background will distract the viewer from the beauty of your work. Try using a neutral color, a contrasting color that makes your design pop or keep the focus sharp on the design and blur out the background a bit.

2. Bring Out the Texture

Some of the best business cards use high-quality card stock or unusual mediums to print the cards on. If you have spent a lot of time and money on extra touches like texture for your cards why not let it shine in your photographs. Texture is not only wonderful to feel, but it can make cards look amazing. When you shoot your cards make sure you can see the texture in the photos. To do so you may need to play with the focus, take close up shots and adjust background colors.

3. Picking the Perfect Position

Nothing is more boring than shooting your cards flat on a table looking directly down on them. Try experimenting with different views, positions, heights, distances and so on so you can get a photo that looks dynamic. The more photos you take in different positions the better your chances will be of finding that perfect shot.

4. Focus on the Focus

Its extremely important to make sure your photo is in focus, because a blurred photo is painful to look at!. Play around with the focus and make sure the important part of the card is clearly in focus. Beautiful typography on your cards will be wasted if you cant capture it properly with the camera.

5. Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

A large part of photography has to do with proper lighting and this can often be very difficult to achieve. Try experimenting with both natural lighting such as outdoor lighting and artificial lighting by using photography lights that you can adjust. bad lighting can make your photos look faded, bland, unprofessional and really just do more harm than good. So make sure you spend plenty of time experimenting with lighting so you can achieve the exact look you are going for.

For a brochure whose primary purpose is to advertise or market products and services, the cover will most likely have two parts: a catchy phrase that grabs the potential customer’s attention, and then lists the benefits of the product (what will this product do for me?). In the instance of a brochure that is primarily educational or informative, the product generally appears on the cover with the information of what it does or can do listed inside. The entertaining brochure is used the least. You might see it in a family-style restaurant, for example, and it contains puzzles, drawings, etc. for kids to keep them occupied. But, for this piece, I’ll focus on the first two types of brochures.
The next thing you and the client need to decide is the number of panels in the brochure, which is influenced by a number of factors. Some questions to consider:
· How much information will be in this brochure?
· How is this brochure going to be used?
· Is there a bleed?
· Is the brochure going to be of a unique design that might include die-cuts or unusual folding?
· Will the brochure be a direct mail piece? If so, what are the postal regulations for the size and mailing costs?
· Also under mailing, will there be a returned piece such as a Business Reply Card (BRC)?
· What is the allotted budget for the brochure?
Designers need to get the parameters and specifications from the client before they proceed, as these may greatly affect the cost. Printers can also be a tremendous resource in explaining how a brochure’s parameters and specifications will affect everything from the size of paper a brochure is printed on, to trimming, folding, and special cuts.
Once those decisions are made, the graphic designer and client need to discuss what is often referred to as the “hierarchy of information” or what’s the order of information; starting with the most important and moving onto the least. At this stage, you’ll need to know on which panel or panels information is being placed. In some brochures, information (particularly photographs and maps) can go across two panels to striking effect. At the same time, when thinking about how the brochure will be laid out, consider whether each individual panel will hold distinct information or are the panels related?
You’re still not quite ready to move into the actual design process as you need to refer back to that target audience the brochure is aimed at. Here you need to know the answer to the following question: what is the message the client is sending with this brochure? Advertising, educating, informing, and entertaining are how that message is presented; the actual message is what you want to say about the particular product, service, or company.
When all that information is gathered, you can finally get down to the business of designing. You’ll take into account the basic elements of good design – alignment, repetition for a sense of unity, contrast and a focal point that provides interest, balance, scale and perspective, color, and so on. You’ll also want to keep in mind the font, size, color, and orientation of the text.
As with any design there are also things you’ll want to avoid. These include:
· Avoid over-used typefaces, two of which are Arial and Helvetica.
· For content type, keep the point size under 12.
· Don’t use more than three type faces in a brochure.
· Generally don’t use more than one alignment.
As you can see, designing even a standard six-panel brochure is often a much more complicated process than you initially might think. The more organized you are, the easier the graphic design process will be, and probably a lot more fun. With any design project, it’s a good idea to have all the necessary information, pictures, parameters, and specifications before you let your creative juices flow.

2. Contraction
A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus

3. Publicity
The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising

4. Advertising
Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy

5. The Word
A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer

6.Credentials
The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity

7. Quality
Quality is important, but brands are not built on quality alone

8. The Category
A leading brand should promote the cateogry, not the brand

9. The Name
In the long run a brand is nothing more htan a name.

10. Extensions
The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything

11. Fellowship
In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands

12. The Generic
One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name

13. The Company
Brands are brands. Companies are companies. There is a difference

14. Subbrands
What branding builds, subbranding can destroy

15. Siblings
There is a time and a place to launch a second brand

16. Shape
A brand’s logotype should be designed to fit the eyes. Both eyes.

17. Color
A brand should use a color that is the opposite of its major competitor’s

18. Borders
There are no barriers to global branding. A brand should know no borders.

19. Consistency
A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years.

20. Change
Brands can be changed, but only infrequently and only very carefully

21. Mortality
No brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best solution

22. Singularity
The most important aspect of a brand is its single-mindedness

Source: various websites

Simple
Good logos are simple. They incorporate just one typeface and/or mark. This simplicity makes a quick statement about your company without unnecessary fluff.

Scalable
Logos should be able to scale down small enough to fit on a business card as well as large enough to fit on a billboard. Be sure your graphic design firm gives you vector images of your logo so it will scale without becoming illegible.

Versatile
A logo should look good in both black and white and color. Logos are often used in black and white advertising where color is not available. When color is used, it should look good in both spot color and four color.

Appropriate
Logos should use fonts and colors that appeal to their demographics. A woman’s spa should not use huge clunky lettering and a men’s basketball team wouldn’t use soft feminine letters. Your audience can often influence your color choices; generally, men prefer blue while women prefer red.

Different
The best way to stand out from your competition is to be different. Don’t emulate a competitor’s logo. Not only can it be illegal, you’ll stand a greater chance of getting noticed if you’re different. While there are many common aspects of logos, there are plenty of ways to make them distinguishable through graphic elements, colors and fonts.

Memorable
The best way to be memorable is to make your logo speak truthfully about your company. It should evoke a feeling or provide insight into what your company does. By doing this it will become recognizable over time.