50 ways ... from 25-50

[Jopicasso]

26 EVIL FLASH
“Never ever, ever, ever use the default Green-to-Black Gradient Fill tool in Flash. This is evil and will ultimately bring about the demise of humanity.”
SUPPLIED BY: LAITH BAHRANI

27 NAME CONVENTIONS
“Rather frustratingly, for me and everyone else, I always seem to approach projects in slightly different ways – even naming files differently from job to job, with Photoshop versions named with 01, 02, 03 suffixes for one project, and then A, B, C for the next. So, no matter how smoothly the job goes, I admit that there is plenty of room for improved consistency in my approach!”
SUPPLIED BY: JASON ARBER

28 GROUP LAYERS
“Setting up Layer Group colours and Shy Layers in After Effects can be a massive time saver when it comes to client alterations and amends. I like to take the vector image into Photoshop for a bit of final colour tweaking. I usually do the same in After Effects using a Pre-Comp. I find it unifies the image colours just that little bit more.”
SUPPLIED BY: JAMES WIGNALL

29 FORBIDDEN FRUIT
“We’ve all hit that stage when mastering Photoshop where we forbid ourselves certain filters or effects, but if you take some time to refresh yourself with these forbidden fruits, you’re bound to discover some new tricks. For example, while you might not use ‘difference clouds’ to make a blue and white sky, you can use it to make a selection while in Quick-mask mode, and you could exploit that selection to help render a more organic sky.”
SUPPLIED BY: DAVE CURD

30 THINK ON PAPER
“Use often-ignored tools called a felt-tip pen and sketchbook first, then a scanner, then various applications – the usual suspects. My tip is to think with a pen and paper first, then use computers. It will lead to a stronger, more original voice.”
SUPPLIED BY: JEREMYVILLE


Finishing work and finessing
An eye for the final details often makes the difference between a good and great piece of work. So read on and learn to how to ‘put the cherry on top’

31 WALK AWAY
“I find that it is best to finish my illustration and then walk away from it for a day if I can. Sometimes by the time something is finished I am completely spent, especially when I’m up against a tight deadline. Once I’ve had a break (even a short one), I’ll start up my machine and open up the finished file one last time. If I don’t have any finishing touches in mind already I’ll usually come up with some refinements that need doing after I look at the finished piece again.”
SUPPLIED BY: DEREK LEA

32 ACROBATICS
“For print designers, checking overprints, spot colours, trapping and knock-outs in Adobe Acrobat Professional is an often-overlooked step that can save you money and goodwill if your print settings are not right.”
SUPPLIED BY: JASON ARBER

33 KERN!
“…and get a fresh pair of eyes to look at your work. I always ask my girlfriend to look at something I’ve been working on. This is mainly because she is not a designer and sees things I don’t look for – she has a good eye for detail.”
SUPPLIED BY: OZ DEAN

34 BACK TO THE BRIEF
“Get feedback from the team as well as people not involved – you need to stand back at the end and go back to your original notes and thinking. Check it still meets what you set out to achieve.”
SUPPLIED BY: RALPH AND CO

35 ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
“The most important thing with finishing touches is knowing when to stop. There is always a danger of pushing a piece of work too far. The advantage of computers is that you always have the undo options, but it’s all too easy to ‘put some cherries on top’ for the sake of it, when all that it needs is a subtle sprig of parsley.”
SUPPLIED BY: INKWORM

36 PRINT FINISHES
“I find printing techniques a great way to enrich a project once it leaves the computer. There’s a multitude of ways to enhance a piece that can’t be achieved in the digital world. Metallic inks, spot varnish, embossing, de-bossing, foil blocking, matt-laminating or diecutting can all be used individually or together to great effect.”
SUPPLIED BY: JEFF KNOWLES

37 ADDING TEXTURE
“I suppose most of my work has an organic feel, so for me the finessing is adding various textures and handmade marks such as pencil and crayon. Your instinct should tell you when the piece is complete – although this does tend to be more tricky when it comes to personal projects!”
SUPPLIED BY: KERRY ROPER

38 BE PREPARED
“Working in the motion world can be tough. Print has tried and tested processes for high-quality work, but motion and video work is less predictable. Learn about your compressors and try to learn what works best for you and your projects. Make sure you stay lossless for the entire project – a little bit of compression early on will just magnify as the project progresses. Save compression for the final output, and save lossless versions of your final version as well.”
SUPPLIED BY: JJ JOHNSTONE

39 A LITTLE SHADING
“The last things I normally add to my digital pieces are shadings, shadows and minor tweaks to the colours. These can help to solidify the piece and make it look all nice and polished.”
SUPPLIED BY: JON BURGERMAN

40 BULGING EYES
“Once a design, site or animation is virtually complete, it’s good to step back from the whole thing, take a deep breath and stare at it until your face turns blue and your eyes start bulging like that bit in Total Recall. During this time you should look for elements that could be tweaked, polished, scaled, added or removed to some effect. With designs, especially, I’ll look for colours that could be made stronger or knocked back, and elements that could be nudged around to balance or otherwise complement the composition.”
SUPPLIED BY: LAITH BAHRANI


Things to avoid
Finally, learn from your mistakes. Ten things you should avoid when working with clients

41 READ AND RE-READ!
“When writing an email, do not fill the address bar until last. Go back and read what you have written at least twice. Too many people have horror stories about sending an email to somebody that it was not intended for. Don’t become one of those people. It’s not possible to ‘undo’ a sent email.”
SUPPLIED BY: OZ DEAN

42 BE SPECIFIC
“Be specific when working with new clients, especially as far as revisions or changes are concerned. In my excitement to work with a client I didn’t spend the necessary time going over the details of what was included in the fee. I received a call out of the blue from one of Canada’s leading magazines. I simply said that minor tweaks and revisions would be fine.”
SUPPLIED BY: DEREK LEA

43 DON’T RELY ON THE SPELLCHECKER!
“Don’t rely on your computer’s spellchecker! Always proofread any text extremely carefully. Preferably, get someone else to proofread your work because you may be too familiar with it.”
SUPPLIED BY: RIGEL

44 STICK TO THE BRIEF!
“In the earlier days we used to do too much to try and win a pitch and produced way too much work on spec – it made us look desperate when we were just enthusiastic. Stick to the brief and make sure you have answered it – don’t deviate, just answer it in the most creative way possible.”
SUPPLIED BY: RALPH AND CO

45 WORK WITH CLIENTS
“Everyone knows about ‘thinking outside the box’, but in creative circles, the real excellence comes from finding the best possible solution inside the clientmade box. Don’t look at external direction as a damning prison wall, but instead as a clue to finding your solution.”
SUPPLIED BY: DAVE CURD

46 STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW
“Definitely avoid briefs that are not your core strength and style. I’ve been that hapless salmon trying to swim uphill with a terribly inappropriate brief on a few occasions, and I now avoid those types of jobs. Choose your clients as well as they choose you. Turn a bad experience to your advantage by not repeating the same mistake again.”
SUPPLIED BY: JEREMYVILLE

47 DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING
“Once we had a very bad experience when we asked for a dummy mock-up from the printers for some packaging with the assumption that we were on the same track. They only showed us a blank mock-up and we assumed it was right, but when they started to print it, we noticed that the cover was on the other side! So never, ever make assumptions.”
SUPPLIED BY: INKSURGE

48 JUSTIFY YOUR ACTIONS
“I have worked with a few fashion brands recently and they can seem like the worst clients in the world, but I think if you provide valid reasons for your actions and maybe provide several solutions to their requests, you can steer things back into your control. I tried this recently and it proved successful.”
SUPPLIED BY: DARREN FIRTH

49 DESIGN HISTORY
“I’ve never really had any problems, but one thing I always do is to have back-up files. Keep some of the original ideas that you may have presented – sometimes people change their minds and this makes it much easier to revert back to earlier stages.”
SUPPLIED BY: KERRY ROPER

50 MANAGE EXPECTATIONS
“A good way to avoid client problems is definitely to be as up-front about what they can expect and when before the project is fully underway. If expectations are managed as early and openly as possible you can avoid misunderstandings and unreasonable demands. As a rule-of-thumb, a good way to deal with clients is actually to treat them with the contempt you would a small horned imp from the ninth layer of hell’s gate.”
SUPPLIED BY: LAITH BAHRANI

[hypeforlife91]

Those are certainly very good tips!

[Jopicasso]

Those are certainly very good tips!

i am glad u enjoyed it