Articles written by Ian Pullen

Technology has changed many aspects of Graphic Design and many Designers may not have developed basic drawing skills covered in Drawing, A Complete Guide

Dec 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Becoming self-employed is a dream for many Graphic Designers, however strong design skills may not prevent them making some common business mistakes.

Dec 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Being a hugely talented Graphic Designer may not be enough to guarantee a successful business, if those skills are not matched by at least competent business skills.

Dec 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop both utilize clipping paths to allow an image to be framed within the outline of another object and this can also be achieved in Inkscape.

Dec 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inset or recessed text has been a popular element of 'web 2.0' style design and typically it is produced with an image editor, but it can be replicated with Inkscape.

Nov 22, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inset style text has grown in popularity with 'web 2.0' style graphics and can be easily achieved in Photoshop with layer styles, but Gimp requires a different approach.

Nov 22, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Many online services are available to assist in the running of a Graphic Designer's business and these include services for time tracking, book keeping and invoicing.

Nov 16, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Graphic Designers can find many online services that can assist them in the day to day running of their businesses and save both time and money.

Nov 16, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Flickr is a popular image management tool used by photographers for sharing images, but it can be a useful tool for Graphic Designers also.

Oct 26, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Many Graphic Designers do not have the skills necessary to build an online portfolio, but there are a number of web services that can help Designers display their work.

Oct 26, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Twitter has become a hugely successful networking tool based on micro blogging, but it is easy to lose focus and waste time when using the service.

Oct 20, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Is Twitter a useful and valuable resource for Graphic Designers or a vacuous bottomless pit in which to lose precious working time?

Oct 20, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Halloween is a holiday that many businesses take advantage of for marketing purposes and Graphic Designers can take find many free resources for Halloween projects.

Sep 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Graphic Designers who can offer a range of different skills will find that they can make themselves more employable, particularly with smaller businesses.

Sep 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Gimp makes use of layers in a similar way to Adobe Photoshop and these can be a powerful tool for producing rich Graphic Designs with complex forms.

Sep 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

White space within and around text can have a dramatic affect on the clarity and balance of text and it is important that Graphic Designers pay consideration to this.

Sep 15, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Setting Graphic Design pricing is a problem that confronts all Designers at some stage, as even those who work full time may undertake freelance jobs.

Aug 24, 2009 - Ian Pullen

When it comes to designing a logo for a business, be it large or small, there is a range of free software applications that are suitable for producing professional logos.

Aug 16, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This article looks at adding some more sophisticated effects to a glass ball that was produced in an earlier Suite101 Inkscape tutorial article.

Aug 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inkscape is a powerful free and open source vector line graphics application that can produce sophisticated results such as this glass ball type image.

Aug 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inkscape can be used to produce effective pin button or lapel badge style graphics that can be applied to designs to add greater interest or to flag important points.

Jul 25, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Many Graphic Designers spend all of their time working on their computers, but using pen and paper for sketching ideas is still an important part of the design process.

Jul 20, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Gimp has a number of tools for making complex selections and the Select by Color tool offers some powerful options for making natural looking selections.

Jul 6, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Cartoons can be useful design solutions in many cases, but not every Designer is a natural cartoonist. There are some simple techniques however that can make it easier.

Jul 6, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Gimp's Fuzzy Select tool offers a quick way to select areas of images that share a similar color range and is similar in action to the Magic Wand tool in Adobe Photoshop.

Jun 21, 2009 - Ian Pullen

The Free Select tool in Gimp has few optional settings, however it is one of the more intuitive selection tools and the options that are offered make it very useful.

Jun 15, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Most Graphic Designers have a number of free stock photo websites in their bookmarks, but there is also a range of sites offering free vector graphics for download.

Jun 8, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inkscape is a free vector line graphic application that can be used to produce curved text or place writing on a path, though with some limitations.

Jun 3, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This article looks at how use the free image editor Gimp, to produce 3D style packaging visuals with a drop reflection for use in marketing virtual products.

May 20, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Drop reflections have become a popular design motif, both online and in print, and these can be easily produced using the free illustration application Inkscape.

May 10, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Drop reflections have become a popular design motif, both online and in print, and this article looks at how Graphic Designers can produce this effect using Gimp.

May 9, 2009 - Ian Pullen

New technologies make it possible for a Graphic Designer to work from home, but it does require some planning, particularly when introducing an employer to the idea.

May 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Many Graphic Designers dream of being their own boss and working on a freelance basis, but there many things to consider before taking the plunge.

May 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Websites are being launched by more and more businesses, but is this a service that Graphic Designers should offer and, if so, how can they go about offering the service?

Apr 24, 2009 - Ian Pullen

One of the most expensive aspects of setting up as a Graphic Designer is acquiring software, but can free software be used in a professional design environment?

Apr 17, 2009 - Ian Pullen

One of the really useful features of Adobe Photoshop is the Layer Styles options in the layers palette and now Graphic Designers can imitate these effects in Gimp.

Apr 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Gimp is a powerful free image editor and by installing the free Separate+ plug-in, it can be used to produce color separated images suitable for CMYK print production.

Apr 7, 2009 - Ian Pullen

There are many ways to produce glossy effect graphics that can be used for print and web designs and Inkscape can be used to produce such graphics that can be resized.

Mar 22, 2009 - Ian Pullen

There are many ways to produce glossy and shiny effect graphics that can be used for print and web designs and Gimp offers one way of producing such an effect.

Mar 22, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Graphic Design revolves around using symbolism to express messages and understanding the perceived meanings of different colors can help a Designer deliver a message.

Mar 18, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Understanding the anatomy of a font can be useful, particularly when a designer is is trying to put a name to an unidentified typeface or manage many different fonts.

Mar 16, 2009 - Ian Pullen

The Ellipse Selection Tool in Gimp is a multi-tasking tool with a range of different settings making it suitable for use in achieving a number of different effects.

Mar 9, 2009 - Ian Pullen

In a world dominated by Adobe Indesign and Quark Xpress, Scribus offers an application with much of the power the industry standard applications page layout applications.

Feb 28, 2009 - Ian Pullen

There are a number of points to consider when deciding whether to set up a small design studio using Windows PCs or Apple Macs.

Feb 26, 2009 - Ian Pullen

The Rectangle Select Tool in Gimp can be used in many ways, including selecting parts of an image, constructing elements or cropping images to a predefined size.

Feb 17, 2009 - Ian Pullen

The rectangle tool in Gimp offers a range of different settings making it suitable for carrying out a number of different tasks within the free image editor.

Feb 11, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Inkscape is the leading free and open source vector line illustration software, offering a viable alternative to the commercially available Adobe Illustrator.

Feb 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This is a look at sample designs for a fictional fast food restaurant with explanations for some of the Graphic Design choices.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This is a look at sample designs for a fictional ultra trendy restaurant with explanations for some of the Graphic Design choices.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This is a look at sample designs for a fictional family run restaurant that serves home fare with explanations for some of the Graphic Design choices.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This article focuses on fulfilling a brief for a fictional whole food restaurant with explanations for some of the Graphic Design choices.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

This is a look at sample designs for a fictional high end of the market restaurant with explanations for some of the Graphic Design choices.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Graphic Design revolves around making basic elements work together to engage, excite and interest the viewer.

Jan 14, 2009 - Ian Pullen

GIMP is a a powerful and full featured application that can have even more features added through the use of Plug-ins.

Jan 7, 2009 - Ian Pullen

GIMP is a freely available and open source image editor that offers much of the functionality of Adobe Photoshop, including the ability to install Plug-ins.

Jan 7, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Graphic Designers with access to a Lightscribe enabled drive and compatible discs can produce highly professional looking CDs and DVDs for free.

Jan 5, 2009 - Ian Pullen

Choosing the right font or typeface for a Graphic Design job can have a dramatic affect on the tone of the finished piece and the way that viewers perceive the message.

Dec 28, 2008 - Ian Pullen

One of the biggest problems for a new Graphic Designer is finding projects to work on in order to expand their portfolio, without having a portfolio to show clients.

Dec 23, 2008 - Ian Pullen

Saving and using images at the correct resolution can ensure that pictures display at the best possible quality, while keeping file sizes at their minimum.

Dec 22, 2008 - Ian Pullen

Many Graphic Design applications offer the choice of opening documents in CMYK or RGB color modes and each of these have their uses in different situations.

Dec 21, 2008 - Ian Pullen

Scribus is a promising free and open source application that offers a range of interesting features for Graphic Designers, including a calendar wizard.

Dec 21, 2008 - Ian Pullen

Microstock sites are pushing down the cost of high-quality stock photography, but do they offer Graphic Designers more than the many free stock photo sites?

Dec 20, 2008 - Ian Pullen

The rise of free stock photo websites has made the task of finding high quality imagery for graphic designs much easier and within the budget of all businesses alike.

Dec 18, 2008 - Ian Pullen