Category: Design

This past week, I attended a couple of webinars put on by Topaz Labs that featured some of their plug-in software for Adobe Photoshop.

The first webinar was hosted by Nichole Paschal, a Topaz representative, and it featured B&W effect plug-in and Adjust. Topaz Adjust allows you to make Pseudo HDR pictures without having to compile several different exposures into one. Once installed, the plug-in is easy to jump into and use in your normal work flow for photography. The interface is fairly easy to grasp with multiple presets and many sections with individual sliders. Watching someone’s work flow can be informative because there is always more than one way to do something in Adobe Photoshop, and you can benefit from knowing more about how to use Adobe Photoshop. I have already been introduced to Topaz Adjust about a year ago, and so far, it has been a great Adobe Photoshop plug-in.

The second webinar was hosted by an established photographer, Joel Wolfson. He demonstrated a new plug-in for Topaz called Star Effects. This plug-in allowed Joel to amplify lighting effects with ease. As I mentioned before, watching someone’s work flow can be more informative than expected. I watched Joel copy a layer mask to another layer and invert it with some hotkey movements that I had previously been unaware of.

The webinars are only an hour and are well worth it, especially when the event is free! They also have software giveaways for random people in the webinar, and everyone gets a discount code! Check out the Topaz Labs site for more information about their products, or check out their YouTube channel to re-watch a previous webinar.

(Source: Skynet Solutions)

By Clint Smith

This past week I was lucky enough to go and hear one of America’s top graphic designers speak in my home town of Tulsa. Art Directors Club of Tulsa and the Philbrook Museum of Art were responsible for bringing such an established person to come and speak.

Of course once I heard he was coming to town, I was on the bandwagon and very anxious to hear his lecture. I have always liked his snarky character and down-to-earth responses in numerous interviews, magazine articles, and videos such as Helvetica.

He started off by mentioning how nice our venue and surrounding areas are, stating ‘If I was giving this speech in New York, we would be in a dark and dingy old warehouse or building. You have it so nice out here, great lighting, high-res projector…’ Micheal was more humble than most people would imagine. In fact, he mentioned his first kiss, which was his wife and high school sweetheart, and he quickly spout out the exact date and time of the event.

One of the portions of his speech I valued most was his sharing an experience with a difficult client. It was one of those ‘I got this!’ moments when they landed the identity process for New World Symphony. In his mind, he had the solution already planned out. Everyone in the office agreed that it was a great identity solution and was sure that the client would love it. Michael, of course, displayed these proposal identity graphics to us, and they were indeed, very elegant, precise, and perfect logo solutions. But, as we all know, it does not matter how awesome, balanced, or aesthetically perfect a design is UNLESS the clients loves it themselves. This was the case for MANY revisions until some many moons later when he received an email from the client. This photo email was a picture of the client’s desk with six post-it notes attached. Each post-it note had a very simplistic line drawing of his vision of the identity. Like most designers, this was a little difficult to accept on a Friday afternoon after trying for weeks to gain an inch on this project. It greatly discouraged Michael Bierut. He mentioned going home and talking with his wife, and he said his left-brained wife just couldn’t understand why it was affecting his overall mood throughout the weekend. We all, of course, could relate and shared a laugh. He went on saying that, ‘Isn’t it funny how people can look at other people’s professions and say, I can do that, there is nothing to that.’ He backed up this statement by relating his late Friday post-it note email to the job of being a Symphony Conductor. ‘That looks easy; anyone can wave a stick around!’ Michael went on to show us the art and precision of a conductor, and how the manuals and form of a conductor are not to be discounted. ‘There is a lot of process, practice, and study that goes into being a conductor.’

Coming back to work on Monday, Micheal expressed that maybe he was looking at it too selfishly and should consider another point of view. That client is super busy yet had taken the time to sketch, to the best of his ability, a concept of the logo. The client wants it just as bad as Pentagram wants to finalize its identity. So Micheal started considering his conductor research and the six post-it notes to make connections and similarities. Carefully inspecting the six line drawings, Micheal derived a perfect connection from the client drawings, music, design, and Symphony Conductor and finally delivered a winner to the client. It can be seen here:http://www.nws.edu/ The client really wanted a connecting acronym with the three letters NWS. Micheal mentioned that the conductor manual gave some insight on the shape and formality of the design. It was like the end of a conductor wand leaving traces in the air.

I guess the moral of this particular section of his talk was that research is key, as well as keeping your pride aside, and be willing to step back and consider several points of view.

Hearing someone as established as Micheal Bierut and Pentagram having clients send them example ideas on post-it notes make me, as well as every designer at the lecture, sigh with relief. Everyone is human, no one is perfect, and patience is perseverance.

I was lucky enough to sit very close to the front in the main lecture hall; there were so many people that they used another lecture hall with live video/audio feed to accommodate the extra people. I was also lucky enough to get a signed poster that he designed for the event. Can you tell what it says?

(Source: Skynet Solutions)

By Clint Smith

This article does not only pertain to designers; it pertains to anyone. For me, the design field is vast and growing with many different facets and jobs being created daily. Finding a personal path that best suits you can be a task that many never complete. Learning how to best position yourself among colleagues and co-workers can produce great personal gains as well as business productivity increases and accomplishments.

I strive, and I hope that many others out there are also trying to figure out what am I supposed to do, or how can I help change the world? Even if it is not world changing, knowing your personal strength and using it to your advantage is critical for optimum success.

When I was asked, “What is your strength, Clint?” I did not have a solid answer. Thinking to myself, I could name many things I am good at, but not something I could consider a strength. Having an outside perspective from a friend, co-worker, or even a book can help identify qualities within yourself that you may not be able to pick up on. So when I was perplexed and couldn’t formulate an answer to the proposed question my mentor had asked me, he supplied me with a book called Strengths Finder 2.0.

This book is very short; in fact it’s only a readable 20-30 pages that sets you up for an online test. The online test generates the results for your personal strengths. The test is timed and should be taken directly after reading the 20-30 pages in the book with zero interruptions. The test takes about 30 minutes. Each question has a rating in which you adjust the pointer closer to one of the answers displayed, and you only have an 8-10 second window per question. This time frame, along with zero interruptions, will allow for instinctual answers rather than analyzing them in way that will morph your results. The results are dynamic with the fact that it supplies you personal advice as well as how to work with other people and their specific strengths.

The whole point of the book is to help people realize and understand their strength(s), and how to better concentrate on them instead of possibly wasting efforts on things that you will never be great at. The book can be picked up at a local book chain for under $15, and it can be found online. Here is the author’s web page with more info on the Strengths Finder 2.0 book and others he has published.

http://www.strengthsfinder.com/

(Source: Skynet Solutions)

By Clint Smith

I attended the Tulsa Tech Fest, or TTF for short, for the first time this year, and from a designer’s perspective, it was a little disappointing. However I would like to say that I fully support TTF and plan on going again. It’s a good cause and a great annual event to have in Tulsa; I strongly advise everyone to attend.

I was geared up on Friday to take two morning Photoshop classes. I was a little leery at first with the title ‘Tips and Tricks’ and with the teacher being over 60, and rightfully so. As I walked by large and very packed classrooms on the way to my class, my anticipation grew. Upon reaching my classroom, I saw that only 5 other people were awaiting the instructor. The class was eventually canceled due to technical errors.

My second class (in the same room with the same teacher) was the next morning. She also walked in late, dragging in her laptop which too had it’s own set of problems. She was barely able to finish her mask tutorial before the class period was over. This was geared more to hobbyists, not professionals, as far as design is concerned.

It’s well known that TTF is geared more towards developers, but I hope over time that it will also be home for designers as well. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities, and with fests being held all over the country, there is surely a place for you to offer help. We should all help to support the cause and expand it’s efforts.

(Source: Skynet Solutions)

By Clint Smith