Advice, Resources & Training |
| This site is amazing! Thank you so much for making this place possible! You have help me greatly with all of this info! Great JOB! |
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Wow! I feel so lucky to have come across this website while researching an unknown for me. I am currently in school for Graphic Design and will definitely be tearing this website up learning everything possible... Thank you!!! |
| Thank you! I have an interview tomorrow and its good to get some good advice. |
| I found this fantastically useful... i needed to fix up something very quickly and this was straightforward, clear and precise information. Thank you very much! |
| I'm making a logo for a friend. Its my first time doing it and I really needed this site. thanks |
| The interview guide was good. Very good. Thanks to this, I got the job at •••••••• |
| Thank you! I've been trying to figure out how to do this forever. This article was VERY helpful and has made my life a lot easier. |
| These articles are excellent, very very generous and educational, thank you very much!!! |
| What luck! This was exactly the info I needed and I hit it with my first click on Google. Should have known the answer myself, but got sidetracked trying to wrestle with Adobe Creative Suite... Can't wait to look at some of your other pages as time allows... And you can bet that I'll take you up on your invitation to ask about other design questions. You guys are a LOT more helpful than Adobe Support... am thrilled to have found your site. Thanks for the info. |
At Graphic Design Employment.com, You'll find:
- Graphics tutorials in InDesign, Photoshop, Quark XPress and Illustrator
- Advice about preparing a CV or resumé and how to prepare for a graphic design job interview
- Step-by-step guides to preparing press-ready artwork
- Tips and advice on proofreading and the most common proofreading marks
- Links to useful design-related websites and resources which are used in my studio on a daily basis
- Where to find graphic design employment
It's my experience that much of this basic training has been neglected by college tutors. There's a good chance that you'll already be familiar with some of the information on this site - but I'm confident that you'll find a lot of new material as well. I hope that you find this website of use, and that you get as much out of the creative process of graphic design as I do. Check out the links on the left and below to start getting up to speed... or use the site search below.
| Graphic Design Portfolios - Submissions. Show Off Your Work and Resume. Submit Graphic Design Portfolios and Resumes to GDE and get yourself known. If you're a job-seeking graphic designer or a freelancer, submit your work for consideration for free. |
| Graphic Design Portfolio Submission. Show Off Your Work and Resume. Submit your Graphic Design Portfolio and Resume to GDE and get yourself known. If you're a job-seeking graphic designer or a freelancer, submit your work for consideration for free. |
| Graphic Design Employment Blog The Graphic Design Employment Blog keeps you up-to-date with new articles and additions to the graphic-design-employment.com website. Subscribe here. |
| Graphic Design Books Available Online Visit our online store for graphic design books. You'll find books on graphic design in advertising, typography, color and much more. |
| About The Graphic Design Employment Website and Author The Graphic Design Employment website has been created for graphic design graduates who might have gaps in their knowledge after college. |
| Career Information on Graphic Design Employment.com, Jobs in Graphic Design If you're starting out in graphic design, you'll find career information on graphic design employment. Also find numerous websites listing jobs in graphic design for all levels. |
| Writing Graphic Design Resumes. Step by step to an effective graphic design CV . The basics of how to write effective graphic design resumes. A format that presents the information clearly and logically. Don't get carried away! Write a good graphic design CV and get the job. |
| The Graphic Design Interview. Common Sense Tips for Graphic Design Employment. So you've got yourself a graphic design interview! How do you handle it? Actually it's all common sense. Keep confidence high, think about what they want to hear and know the job you are applying for! |
| Learn About Graphic Designer Employment - Essential Knowledge and Information If you're getting ready to dive into a graphic design career, are you confident about what will be expected of you? Learn about graphic designer employment and the projects you're likely to work on. |
| How Do Graphic Design Creatives Get Their Ideas and Inspiration? Every creative experiences some sort of writers block at one time or another. So how do graphic design creatives get past this hurdle? Here are some ideas to start you off. |
| Graphic Design Software You Need to Learn for Graphic Design Employment. Since the introduction of the Apple Mac, graphic design software has transformed the industry. Find out what software you need to learn for graphic design employment in today's studios. |
| A student CS5 discount opens up the playing field A Student CS5 Discount can make the difference between getting a job and losing a job. Knowing Adobe software inside out will give you the confidence that other candidates might lack. |
| Standard paper dimensions, possible uses and infographic download A handy guide to standard paper dimensions, including paper sizes, possible uses and Free ISO 216 Page Sizes Cheat Sheet Poster infographic download. |
| Which Color Mode to Select for Press-Ready Images - CMYK, Bitmap or Grayscale? If you're uncertain about what color mode to convert prepress images to, here you'll find the basics of creating CMYK, Grayscale and Bitmap images. Which of the color modes should you select and why? |
| Color Management and How to Preflight Documents in CS4 Color management can be confusing for designers. As long as consistency in maintained and you preflight your documents, you'll be fine. |
| Press-Ready Image Tutorial - how to make high resolution images printer ready A graphic design tutorial explaining how and why images are made press-ready. Builds confidence in graphic design graduates and first-job seekers by demonstrating industry techniques. |
| Photoshop Clipping Paths. How To Create Good Quality Paths, and How NOT To Do It If anyone tells you to use the Photoshop Magic Wand Tool to create Photoshop clipping paths, don't believe them! This article shows how to do it RIGHT - and WRONG! |
| Creating a Photoshop Cut Out and Placing as a Layered PSD File in InDesign If you want to retain transparency when placing images in InDesign, you need to save a Photoshop cut out image as a layered PSD file. It'll blend in nicely! |
| Four Photoshop Hair Cut Out Tutorials Four in-depth Photoshop Hair Cut Out Tutorials including full write-ups and accompanying video |
| A hair cutout in Photoshop using Blending Options Instead of Paths Cutting out images using paths is all very well until you come across hair or fur. This article explains how to do a hair cutout in Photoshop without using paths that won't take all day. |
| How to Cut Out Hair in Photoshop using Replace Color and Levels How to cut out hair in Photoshop. A tutorial on using replace color, levels and channel manipulation to create a usable cutout mask for hair. |
| Cutting Out Hair in Photoshop by merging and manipulating channels Cutting Out Hair in Photoshop. A photoshop tutorial showing how to manipulate channels to create a mask cutout. |
| Remove Background From Image using Fluid Mask Remove Background From Image - How to cutout hair using Fluid Mask and Photoshop. |
| 4 Color Process Printing and Spot Color Printing - What's the Difference? Learn about the main printing processes involved in graphic design projects. Including 4 color process printing and spot color printing. What's the difference between Pantone and CMYK swatches? |
| Image File Format Definitions for Print. When to Use EPS, PSD, AI, TIF Files. Learn how and when to use different file types for different design projects. Image file format definitions, prepress preparation techniques, difference between raster and vector file types explained. |
| Just what is a Bitmap? Simple Photoshop color mode explanation & image tutorial. One of the few ways that poor image quality can be improved. This article, 'Just What is a Bitmap', gives a simple explanation of the Bitmap Photoshop color mode and demonstration of its use in print. |
| Gimp vs Photoshop. How to install Gimp on a Mac and how it compares to Photoshop Gimp vs Photoshop - how do they compare? Gimp is free image manipulation software and part of the GNU Project. This beginning Gimp tut explains how Mac users install and use Gimp at a basic level. |
| Using Adobe Illustrator How to Convert Text to Outlines Learning the basics of prepress graphic design? This tutorial shows when using Adobe Illustrator how to convert text to outlines to avoid font hassles. |
| Using Adobe Illustrator How to Prepare a Vector Shape Design for Press. Learning the basics of prepress graphic design? This tutorial shows when using Adobe Illustrator how to create a simple vector spot color or CMYK logo and make it press-ready. |
| Prepress Training Checklist: make press-ready vector graphics & raster graphics A checklist to keep by your computer when creating press-ready images. This prepress training website builds confidence in graduate or first-job graphic designers. Graphic design employment info. |
| Over printing problems and solutions in Quark, InDesign and Illustrator If you're browsing the internet looking for a solution to an over printing problem, this might be the page for you. Quark and InDesign overprinting issues and rich black CMYK values are covered here. |
| InDesign Files - How to Set Up Business Card Layout Design for Press. Learn how to set up InDesign files for press. This article demonstrates bleed, CMYK, spot colors and PDFX1a creation by producing a business card layout design. Applicable to all document layouts. |
| Quark InDesign Text Search and Extract Tool by Markzware Page Zephyr is a Markzware Quark InDesign text search tool which does what Spotlight cannot. It searches for Quark and InDesign files and allows you to find and extract text from within the documents. |
| Free Quark to InDesign Conversion From QuarkXPress version 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 - Do you need to convert a large or complex Quark file to InDesign? It'll need some reworking however you do it, but here is the free Quark to InDesign conversion method as well as a commercial option. |
| Convert Quark to InDesign - Common Quark File Conversion Problems and Solutions If you need to convert Quark to InDesign, here is a case study showing how to proceed. If the file is Quark XPress version 5 or later you will need to do some back-saving. |
| Convert Quark to InDesign with the Q2ID InDesign Plugin by Markzware One of the ways to convert Quark to InDesign is to use the Markzware InDesign plugin, Q2ID. It works with InDesign CS4 and Quark 8, as well as with earlier versions, and it's fast. |
| Convert InDesign to Quark with the ID2Q Quark XPress Plugin by Markzware One of the ways to convert InDesign to Quark is to use the Markzware InDesign plugin, Q2ID. It works with InDesign CS5 and Quark 9, as well as with earlier versions, and it's fast. |
| How to convert Publisher files to InDesign files using PUB2ID If you need to convert Publisher files to InDesign, short of recreating the document from scratch by hand you'll need a plugin like Pub2ID to help you out. |
| Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF, DOC, RTF and many more - for free. If you need to convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF, don't panic - there is a way online. And it's free. It took me a while to find, but now I'll never lose the link again. |
| Quark Style Sheets Tutorial It's essential to know how to create, apply and edit Quark style sheets when working with large documents in Quark XPress. They are easy to use and can save enormous amounts of time. |
| InDesign Style Sheets Tutorial It's essential to know how to create, apply and edit InDesign style sheets when working with large documents in Adobe InDesign. They are easy to use and can save enormous amounts of time. |
| 5th black spot color plates are often used in page makeup. What is it and why? If you're a freelance page makeup artist working on a publication which requires a 5th black spot color plate, this article explains how to handle the additional color and why. |
| You can edit PDF documents in Acrobat, but only in Acrobat X are tools improved. When you edit PDF documents there are several ways to do it. You can edit using Adobe Acrobat, but Acrobat X editing tools are much better than before. |
| How to edit PDF documents using Photoshop & Illustrator as Acrobat Plugins. If you need to know how to edit PDF files there are a number of ways to approach the task. To make complex changes you'll need Illustrator and Photoshop to help. Acrobat treats them as super-plugins. |
| How To Create Accent Marks on Apple Macs. French, German, Spanish Accent Marks One of the first stories I heard when I began my training for a career in graphic design was a tale of woe. Someone lost their job because they didn't know how to create accent marks on Apple Macs! |
| A Useful Proofreading Marks Chart -Universal Proofreading Symbols and Examples As a graphic designer, I find it useful to have a proofreading marks chart in front of me when ploughing through heavily corrected pages! Here are some of the most common proofreading marks & examples |
| Universal Proofreading Symbols for Graphic Designers An often overlooked skill in graphic design training is the ability to interpret universal proofreading symbols. If you're a designer and know nothing about proofreading, learn these essential basics! |
| Free Photoshop Tutorial Videos by Graphic Design Employment.com Our Photoshop tutorial videos are a great way to learn new techniques and tricks. They're easy to follow and include links to static tutorials of the same topics which can be printed for reference. |
| Photoshop Tutorial Bling Text - Adjustment Layers Photoshop Video Tutorial Photoshop Tutorial Bling Text. A Photoshop tutorial demonstrating how adjustment layers and layer styles can be used to create great effects non-destructively. Also shown as a Photoshop video tutorial |
| Glassy Button or Enamel Badge Created Using Layer Styles in Photoshop It's possible to create some great effects in Photoshop using just flat shape layers and non-destructive layer styles. This tutorial shows how to create a glassy button or enamel badge effect. |
| Create a Glass Photoshop Button Using Layer Styles and Shape Layers It's possible to create some great effects in Photoshop using just flat shape layers and non-destructive layer styles. This tutorial shows how to create a shiny glass Photoshop button, set in metal. |
| Cheap royalty free photos and stock images - where and how to find them Over the years the Internet has made image research and purchase a breeze. Some major image libraries are listed here, as well as our recommendations for cheap royalty free photos and stock images. |
| Adobe Illustrator Tutorials. Video and Written Tips and Tricks. Adobe Illustrator Tutorials. A collection of video and written tutorials created and collated in order to demonstrate some of the more useful tools and techniques of Adobe Illustrator. |
| ILLUSTRATION How to Create Great Looking Line Art in Adobe Illustrator ILLUSTRATION How to create great looking line artwork in Adobe Illustrator - even if you have no artistic skill whatsoever! Remember tracing paper? It's the same principle but better. |
| Custom Adobe Illustrator Gradient Creation - Basic Tutorial If you need to create a custom Adobe Illustrator gradient to replicate one you've seen in another graphic, or if you want to make one from scratch, here's the way to do it. |
| Illustrator Gradient Mesh Tutorial The Illustrator Gradient Mesh Tool in Illustrator CS3 is an often overlooked, highly versatile tool. It can help you create realistic illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. Here is a demonstration. |
| Live Trace in Illustrator. Create Accurate Line Art Tracings. Live Trace in Adobe Illustrator used to be a standalone product called Adobe Streamline. Illustrator's line art tracing tools were pretty basic. Then Live Trace was built into CS2, great for line art. |
| Adobe InDesign Tutorials - step by step help and guidance Adobe InDesign Tutorials. A collection of simple-to-follow tutorials written in order to demonstrate some of the essential tools and techniques of Adobe InDesign. |
| InDesign Transparency and Faded Background Image Effects When using InDesign transparency on a background image, there are two ways to lock the image at the back so you don't keep accidentally selecting it. One is to use layers, and one to use master pages. |
| Multiple Pages in InDesign CS5, Create a Spread with different sizes. How to create a document containing multiple pages in InDesign in a single spread. Also apply different sizes to individual pages. |
| EPS drop shadow problem in InDesign If you are experiencing an EPS drop shadow problem in InDesign where the shadow appears as a rectangle, here is a solution. |
| Re design an ad when the aspect ratio changes - timelapse video If you need to re design an ad because the shape or aspect ratio has changed, you'll often find it takes much longer than you first think. This is a timelapse video of one, created in InDesign CS3. |
| What the font is that typeface you're trying to match? What the Font is an excellent free font recognition resource provided by MyFonts.com. If you're struggling to identify a typeface, it's just what you need. |
| Using Dreamweaver - a website training site for Graphic Designers If you're a graphic designer or website design novice, this series of articles teaches you how to create a website from scratch, using Dreamweaver. |