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Use Space – Tracking & Leading

Use space to improve your design. There’s the space around blocks of text – margins. And there’s the space between elements of text – tracking and leading. Tracking is the space between letters. Leading is the space between lines. If tracking and leading are too tight, words appear cramped and are harder to distinguish from one another. If tracking and leading are too loose, units of text fall apart into separate units. Use enough space to help text rest gracefully on the page and breathe, but not so much space that it weakens the relationships between separate pieces and they drift apart.
tracking3
leading
Find books on design I recommend here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Neil Enns Folio Covers

folio-covers
Back in December of 2009 I had the  pleasure of joining John Paul on a trip to Antarctica. On that trip I saw  firsthand the beautiful folio packaging that Brooks Jensen <http://www.brooksjensen.com> created to sell his work. I very much enjoyed the presentation style, as  it is an intimate way to share images with people and a nice departure from  large, framed, images.??When I returned from the trip I  looked all over for a source of covers to do my own folios <http://www.danecreekfolios.com/folios-for-sale>, but it turns out that nobody (including Brooks) offered them for sale. What  was a chance viewing on a ship in Antarctic waters has now become a small side  business for me! I now manufacture and sell folios covers <http://www.danecreekfolios.com/> for photographers who are interested in using folios to present or sell their  work.??The fun part for me about working  with folios is they are an excellent way to explore storytelling and photo  essays. John Paul has great guidance on these two topics in his Illuminating  Creativity lessons <http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/downloads/creativity/creativity.php>, and the folios are a perfect size to hold a story of 7-9 images plus title  page and colophon. I am currently working on a project <http://danecreekfolios.squarespace.com/blog/2010/4/12/second-beach-wa.html> involving images of the Washington Coast that will be packaged as a  folio with images assembled using John Paul’s Photo Essay technique.

13 Go To Fonts, 7 Fonts to Avoid

Whether you’re designing for a book or a presentation choosing the right type face is important. The font you choose helps shape the tone of what you create. As with any endeavor, it helps to have a trusted resources you can always turn to.
Here are my go to serif and sans serif fonts … and a few I steer clear of.
serif
sanserif
stylized
Serif and san serif and the most common kinds of fonts. Serif fonts have a classic feel. Sans serif fonts set a contemporary tone. Decorative or display fonts have a great deal more flair and are generally best used for signage; it takes the right project and a great designer to use them well in other applications. Design is typically best used as a support for content, not a distraction from it or a substitute for it.
Find books on design I recommend here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Gaming Can Make a Better World – Jane McGonigal – TED


Jane McGonigal would like to see us all play more online games.
How much more? 7 times more! That would take the current world total of 3 billion hours of online gaming a week to 21 billion hours a week.
Why do this? She thinks gaming can save the world. And she makes a compelling case! Imagine if all that energy were directed to solving real world challenges.
Other interesting stats include …
Children will spend 10,000 hours (a magic number) gaming by the age of 21.
Low energy, low bandwidth gaming is developing in third world countries.
World of Warcraft has created the largest wiki on a single topic.
She’s right when she says, “We make the future.”

The Best Online Resources Teaching Adobe Photoshop CS5

PSCS5
Where can you learn about the new features in Adobe Photoshop CS5?
Here’s a list of some of the best resources online right now.
– Video Tour of Photoshop CS5 New Features at Adobe
– 41 Short Videos on CS5 at Adobe.
– 7 Videos on CS5 at Adobe
– 8 Videos on CS5 Extended at Adobe
– 16 Videos on CS5 at NAPP
– 4 Video Training Courses at Kelby Training
– 7 Videos at PhotoShop Cafe
– 20 new CS5 Features Detailed at NAPP.
– 5 Videos – Terry White’s Top 5 CS5 Features …
Combined, these resources offer over 85 online training videos!
Learn more in my Blog, Lessons, DVDs, Seminars, and Workshops.