Have a design dilemma? Great! I hope I can help. I’m accepting submissions via email, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Please use #Ask a Design Pro for easier searching!

QI've just watched a couple of your tutorials on YouTube - really good! Clear and easy to understand. I've graduated in Design and have come across projects since that have left me working freelance nowwhich is great but not having someone there, as other designers may in an office, to ask questions can be frustrating. I'm still learning and I have lots of questions! I will be looking out for more tutorials! Thanks for taking your time to do them.—Rachel

AThanks! Remember, the internet is a great resource to reach out to people in your field. However, freelancing can be a lonely world leaving you stuck behind a computer and only interacting with clients. It’s important to seek allies anywhere you can for feedback, advice or just good conversation! 

QYou discuss starting with a large image (300) and making it smaller, but what do you suggest if your image is a screen shot taken of something off the internet and it starts as a 72 resolution? —Susan

AWhenever you work on print designs, all of your images should be high resolution at 300 DPI or higher to ensure excellent quality. However, you sometimes can’t avoid needing to use a lower resolution image. Your situation is a great example of what I call a designer’s compromise. You will have to take a screen shot at 72 DPI to include in your book because there really isn’t a better way to get a higher resolution version. In this case, you should take the screenshot from the biggest monitor with the best resolution you have access to. This provides an overall bigger image with more resolution then say a 13″ laptop monitor. Make sure your monitor is set to the highest resolution before you take the screenshot. For example, a standard 1024×768 resolution will produce a much smaller image then a 1680×1050 resolution. Using a higher resolution monitor creates an acceptable compromise without sacrificing major quality in the final printed image. You can get a nice 4×6 image with bigger monitors (27″). Remember, the human eye can only detect so much detail. Print a test page and see how blurry your screenshot is. This is what others will see. It’s up to you and/or the client if you accept that quality or not.

QI just saw your tutorial on designing dust jackets and I was wondering if you had any connection with the publishing industry or knew of any opportunities for graphic designers to design book covers either on a freelance basis or directly within an organization.—Therese

AI don’t have connections with a lot of publishing companies because I work directly with authors to promote their books. Most of the time, book covers are designed by in-house staff or through contract work via agencies or freelancers. The size of the publishing company greatly determines whether they use in-house or freelance designers. If you want to pursue the niche market of publishing, it’s a good idea to develop a portfolio of book covers that you can approach publishing companies with. Another way in is to work for agencies that design with publishing companies. You don’t have to focus just on book covers. A well rounded portfolio is also very beneficial. Don’t forget about self publishers. They don’t have the big publishing company behind them to help develop book covers and other promotional materials.

Readers: Share your thoughts and experiences regarding these design dilemmas below in the comments!

1. Highlight a post

2. Reposition a photo

Happy Social Networking!

While everyone picks their top Super Bowl commercials, many companies have created a standard such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Doritos to name a few. As an avid designer/marketing guru, it comes as no surprise that I’d offer my top 3 Super Bowl commercials pick. Here we go again…

1. M&M’s- Just My Shell

Coca-Cola’s top notch animated spot was my top pick last year, but the good old M&Ms stole my heart this year. There’s something about a commercial that offers a good chuckle with solid characters. While the idea of a naked M&M may not be groundbreaking, the story idea offers audiences a great laugh. With the introduction of a new character, Mrs. Brown, M&Ms prove they still can hold their own in a commercial. What really takes the cake in this spot is the expressions on the ladies (candy and human). Yes, women can be intelligent and sometimes the men in our lives really enhance that fact. Just ask the Mrs.Brown M&M.

2. Chevrolet- Happy Grad

Car commercials ran a plenty during the 2012 Super Bowl. It was a battle of the buy and the humor in Cheverolet’s Happy Grad elevated this spot to number two. Many of us can relate to the ultimate graduation gift that only a fraction of our friends enjoyed while the rest of us went off to college with sensible items such as pots and pans or mini fridges. However, I doubt we saw the car our friend supposedly received was actually the neighbor’s. Another laugh comes when the parents put off telling the truth about their real gift in an effort to wait for their son to tire out. Too bad there was an army of friends all about to get majorly disappointed.

3. Audi-Vampire Party

Yes, Audi is pick number three if only because they can make vampires still cool for the Twilight or Underworld fans among us. This commercial takes a tried and true fad and sheds light (no pun intended) on a vampire party. Who would have guessed the party bringer would end up being the party killer? The element of surprise mixed with a little humor is sure to bring a great Super Bowl commercial even if it’s not that original.

Runner Up

Chrysler- It’s Halftime in America

While entertainment and humor can always offer success in any commercial, those that aim for the heart strings hold a little extra in my book. The other car commercials may opt to strike your funny bone, but Chrysler hit a little below the belt and way too close to home. The message is powerful, dramatic and thought provoking. Of course Clint Eastwood drives it all home in his stern yet caring voice. Will the message send a stream of patriotic Americans out to buy a new car? Probably not, but it will make any American nod and hope for a brighter and stronger tomorrow with or without the car industry.

It began with the Lion King grossing over $80 million dollars. Considering most 3D Pixar animated films gross over $500 million, this doesn’t seem like much. However, that’s quite a bit of money considering most people saw the movie probably more than once and it was on limited release. Finding Nemo, Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc. and The Little Mermaid are all scheduled to release 3D versions in the near future. Will you make your way to the theater, pay the extra for your 3D glasses and enjoy a movie you remember so fondly?

What’s new and trending in the design world?

» Is it the end of an era when Kodak goes bankrupt?

» Blissfully into the music of Florence + the Machine right now! Great working music.

» 5 design trends that aren’t cool anymore.

» Ready for some football or the best Super Bowl commercials?

» Celebrate 50 books and 50 book cover designs in this exhibition.

» See a bit of the world through photographer Nikola T’s eye’s!

» Have you joined the Pinterest phenomenon?

Final Image

Step 1

Open the image you want to cut the background out of in Photoshop. Then double-click the layer and hit OK to unlock it. Make sure it is a high resolution (300DPI) for print projects.

Step 2

Remove the background from your layer. There are several ways you can do this. If the background is a solid color you can use the Magic Wand or Quick Selection tools. This tutorial will not go in depth on how to cut out an image from the background since the focus is on saving and placing a transparent image into InDesign.

Step 3

Next go to File>Save As and make sure you select PNG from the drop down. Note this only works for RGB files. Since you can convert all elements of your print project into CMYK when you save your PDF in InDesign, you can use this RGB file for any print or web project. Give you PNG file a name, choose the location to save it and click Save. Select None in the PNG options pop up window and click OK. You have now successfully created a transparent file to use in your print projects.

Step 4

Now let’s open up InDesign. Create a new document to your desired size. Mine is a sample album cover so it is 4.724 inches square with a 1/8 inch bleed.

Step 5

Drop in your background image by clicking and dragging it from your folder into InDesign or CTRL+D (Option + D on a Mac) to Place. Then move the background image until you are happy with the placement. You can also resize the image by holding down CTRL+Shift (Option + Shift on a Mac) and clicking and dragging a corner of your image. This constrains the proportions as you resize the image. Make sure your image goes all the way to the red bleed lines.

Step 6

Drop in your transparent image by clicking and dragging it from your folder into InDesign or CTRL+D (Option + D on a Mac) to Place. Follow the steps above to resize and place your transparent image. You shouldn’t see any background color on your image. If you do, make sure you saved the file as a PNG. Note I would clean up this image with some color correction to better match the background image. This is just to show you how a transparent image from Photoshop can be dropped into your print project in InDesign quickly.

Conclusion/Final Image

Now that you dropped in your transparent PNG image, you can continue designing your document. Add text, more images, etc. I cleaned up the PNG file in Photoshop by adding some color corrections. I also used the Blur tool around the outside edge of the entire image to soften the harsh lines. This makes the final PNG blend better with my background image when I drop it back into InDesign.

Pro Tip: Keep your designs consistent and use colors from your background and transparent images for the text.

Are there any designers out there that feel they can walk the lines of both left brain and right brain more simultaneously then others? Leave a comment below!

Step 1: Chose an action packed photo

There’s no doubt that photos are the best way to capture movement. From active people to running animals, you have so many options of high energy photos to choose from. Not only will action packed photos provide instant movement to your layout, placing them properly will enhance the impact. Scale your photo to span across two page spreads to draw  the reader from one page to the other. Stack multiple photos. Maybe the person in a bottom photo could be looking up at a person looking down at them from the above photo. Want mega impact? Cut a part of your photo out so it looks like the subject is literally jumping off the page. This works well for cars and animals. Be creative!

Step 2: Add repeating elements

Repeating patterns and elements in your designs make an otherwise stale and stagnant photo pop with motion. Consider photos with patterns or repeating elements as well as direction. The cathedral photo above has multiple repeating elements from the columns to the ceiling. All these elements offer a consistent direction for the reader’s eye. You can also use design elements like swirls, dotted lines or symbols around your pages to create movement. Repeating elements don’t always need to reside in a photograph.

Step 3: Think perspective

Perspective is a great way to create a sense of movement in your designs. It tricks the eye into thinking “movement.”  Bridges vanishing into the horizon, text at an angle and arrows all help direct the reader’s eye around your page. Cropping also plays a major role in depth and motion perception. The closed-in view of this bridge sends the eye jetting down the path to the back of the image. The repeating elements along the railing also guides the eye all in one direction.

You’re turn!

Careful placement of images using perspective coupled with repeating patterns and action will all help create that coveted sense of motion in your designs. How do you incorporate movement in your designs? Share your image links in the comments below. I might just pick a few to feature in an upcoming episode!

Head on over and give us a like, then spread the word to all your designer friends!

Disclaimer: Liking Design Like a Pro’s Facebook page does not guarantee your designs will be included in upcoming episodes. All entries will be voted on before going through a final selection process to air on Design Like a Pro’s Youtube channel. Digital Hart Studios has the right to refuse any entries if they are inappropriate, obscene or contain graphic images that do not abide by the contest rules/regulations. If your entry is selected to air on Design Like a Pro’s Youtube channel, you authorize Digital Hart Studios to use your design in any promotion  for that episode to include digitalhart.com, Facebook, Twitter and email campaign. All designers will be credited in the episode their work appears.

As artists, we’ve all been there. Maybe you’re listening to a rather long lecture spewing from the most monotone speaker. Not only did you begin the lecture with excitement for your learning adventure, you bolded the title of the page in anticipation. However, 30 minutes into the lecture your mind begins to wander to better, more exciting things. In an attempt to stave off thoughts of white sandy beaches or upgraded design software, you grab your pen and begin to draw shapes across the margins. Before the lecture hits the highest moment of ultimate snoozefest, you’ve managed to create quite the masterpiece on your notes page.  Better yet, if you were tested on your ability to recall the most important points in the lecture, you would pass the test with flying colors!

So what makes doodling so special and why is it your brain’s way of staying focused in boring situations? Check out this article by Alix Spiegel on NPR for all the answers. You might be surprised at how effective doodling is for an artistic mind!

Your Turn

Do you doodle?