How To Use Texture in Graphic Design

There are some very nice ways that you can use textures to create some spectacular designs. As a Chicago graphic designer, I love to use texture and create designs that are not seen everywhere you look.

Here, we have 5 ways that you can use texture in your next graphic design jobs and create exceptional designs that will be loved and feature pieces in your portfolio.

1. Use nature. Don't be afraid to be inspired by texture you see in nature. See things like gravel, bark on trees, bricks, pine cones, etc. If it is in nature, then chances are that it has a great texture that you can be inspired by to create art. Nature is full of texture, don't ignore it or risk ignoring a source chock full of inspiration. How can you capture these textures? Well, you can either photograph them or perhaps draw them. 
2. Use paint and make your own. If you have any paint brushes and paint, go ahead and make your own textures. Just use the brushes until you create something you like. 
3. Use a pencil and draw your own. Make some scribbles and doodles and see what you come up with. Once you create something you like, you can scan it and play around with it in Photoshop. 
4. Find stuff online (that's free). You can have a huge file full of textures you like by doing a simple Google search for free textures. Plenty of these are high quality and resolution that you can download. From there, you can adjust the texture to make it more your own. 
5. Use stock images. Stock images can have some great designs in them. You can play around with them on Photoshop and create something beautiful. There are plenty of images you can find for free or if you have to pay for them, then you can do that also. Pick a piece of the image and use it. 

Creating something great for your next graphic design object does not have to be incredibly difficult. Once you find a groove to create great art, you can keep it in a file and use it like a "graphic design bank account" and take from it when you need some art. As a graphic design studio in Chicago, we at Integraphix are all about creating designs that push beyond convention. 

How To Understand Colors and Their Impact Part 2

Yesterday we had a post about colors and how they can impact people emotionally, physically, and mentally. The reason for these posts is because as a graphic designer, you will be using color in your designs and sometimes, it will matter what colors you choose simply due to how they will affect your audience.

• Orange (Orange): orange gives us a feeling of stimulation since it is a combination of yellow and red and affects us in an emotional and physical way. It allows our minds to think of things that bring us comfort, physically; it makes us think of things like food, warmth, shelter, etc. This is often seen as a fun color for our minds. 
• When positive: orange gives us thoughts of comfort, food, warmth, security, passions, fun, good times etc. 
• When negative: it can give us feelings of frustration, immaturity, and deprivation. 
• Pink (Pink): Pink is a combination of red and white, however, due to the white, this color often soothes us instead of stimulating. It does often represent femininity, like a sense of feminine power. It can bring us feelings of nurturing. 
• When positive: it brings us tranquility, nurturing, love, survival
• When negative: it can make us feel inhibited, emasculated, weak
• Grey (Grey): This color actually is pretty easy on the mind, it does not bring much to the mind in terms of emotion, mentality, or anything physical. It is a neutral color, for the most part. It is sometimes seen as suppressive and create a sense of hibernation. 

• When positive: neutral. 
• When negative: it can make us feel unconfident, damp, depressed, lethargic. 
• Black (Black): Black often brings us considerable impact on our mind and body. It can make us feel protected and takes in all the energy around us. It can be negative in terms of enshrouding our personalities when there is too much of it around. However, it can help us see clearly because there are no distractions and give us a sense of sophistication. 
• When positive: sophisticated, glamorous, secure, safe, efficient. 
• When negative: oppressed, cold, menacing, heavy. 

Next time you consider the colors for a graphic design job, consider them carefully. If you have any questions about this, contact Integraphix - a Chicago graphic design studio. 

How To Understand Colors and Their Impact

As a graphic designer, you will likely use color in your designs (I say likely because you might have a black and white design once in a while). Believe it or not, colors have an impact on people, they manipulate us without us even realizing it.

Here is how the colors have an impact on us:

• Red (Red): This color affects us physically. It often grabs our attention first among other colors because the mind perceives that object as closer to us than it really is. It can increase our heart rate and give us the impression that time is going faster. 
•  When it affects us in a positive way, it can make us feel stronger, more courageous, warm, energetic, masculine, and excited. 
• When this color affects us negatively, it can make us defiant, aggravated, and strained. 
• Blue (Blue): This color affects us intellectually/mentally. It often has that soothing effect on us because objects of this color seem more distant and encourage openness. Although, it can be perceived as unfriendly. 
• When this color affects us positively, it gives us the feeling of intelligence, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity, logic, calmness. 
• When it is negative, it has a feeling of coldness, emotionless, and unfriendliness. 
• Yellow (Yellow): This color affects us emotionally. It is a very strong color and will often give us a good feeling, like hope, confidence, and optimism. It is said to lift our spirits. 
• When this color affects us positively, it gives us feel ins of optimism, confidence, self-esteem, extraversion, friendliness, and creativity. 
• When negative, it can provoke irrationality, fear, depression, and anxiety. 
• Green (Green): This color affects our balance (not walking balance). Green is perceived to the eye as a color that creates rest/peace and creativity. It is the color of all things balance. It is a color that often represents health due to being the color of healthy vegetation. 
• When positive, this color creates harmony, balance, refreshment, love, rest, peace, and reassurance. 
• When negative, boredom, stagnation, and blandness. 

If you have questions about what colors to use in your graphic design, then contact Integraphix. 

We will have more posts discussing color. 

Is It Time to Hire a Graphic Designer?

Let's go through a hypothetical scenario: your company has decided to go with a new logo, perhaps new branding altogether. You are the lead chair in the marketing department, or just the lead chair in the search committee, and have been assigned the task of creating this new logo/branding scheme.

Well, naturally, you would think of finding someone who can create a few designs for you. This is when you would want to hire a graphic designer but are you sure it's worth it?

Graphic designers can save you a lot of time and money. If you are not artistic and no one in your office is up for the challenge, it would actually be more responsible of your business to spend the money on a graphic designer than to try and do it themselves. A graphic designer knows how to design, it's in their name. So, they will be able to get the job done the right way and in far less time it would take you to do the job. If you hire the graphic designer, that enables you to be free to do your actual business work instead of trying to spread yourself too thin, if you aren't already. Hiring a graphic design firm will cost you less in the long run.

A graphic design company will also help you achieve a look that is better than what you can imagine; you will have a better logo and branding scheme than your competition. When you have someone who is gifted in art, they are able to custom create marketing materials and logos for your company that will wow you, especially if you are not artistic.

A graphic designer will also help you keep an objective eye on your designs. If you are the one creating all your designs, then you are more likely to like the look of them since you created them. However, a graphic designer will be another person to analyze the work. The designer will help you remain objective on the designs; the designer has done work for lots of other companies and they have no emotional attachment to your company. This might sound a bit cruel but it's honesty; having that objective eye reviewing what needs to be done and the possible solutions will help you more than you possibly realize.

All in all, a graphic designer would be a wise investment if you are considering hiring one for your marketing needs. If you are looking for one, then hire Integraphix - a Chicago graphic design firm. 

Tips to Become a Better Graphic Designer

The graphic design business is constantly changing and it can be hard for beginners to understand just what it takes to become better at being a graphic designer. It's more than just knowing how to draw or being creative, it takes research and knowledge that sometimes is not known to a graphic designer if they do not study what other designers do.

Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help expand your knowledge of graphic design and understand new perspectives. First things first, reading this blog will help. BEH-DUH-TINCE. But we will help you stay informed via blogs and social media.

Here are several tips for graphic designers:

1. Collect what you like. If you find a design on something that looks awesome and makes you think, "Wow, how can I do something like this?" Take the item home and put it in some sort of filing system for you to find later. Now, if it is illegal to take the item home, such as theft, then take a picture of it with your fancy camera phone and keep it that way. This is a popular thing for people to do no matter what industry they are in. I know a buddy who is in marketing and when he sees a great marketing idea, he collects something that he is able to refer to later when he is looking for some sort of inspiration. Taking lots of photos of things you like is a fantastic way to keep memories of the designs you think are fantastic. 
2. Be a reader. Read up on graphic design; find respectable sources of information on the subject such as magazines, books, articles, blogs, websites, anything. Other people will be publishing their ideas in some way or another and you can learn from their successes or their mistakes. The same buddy I mentioned who is in marketing follows quite a few blogs and social media platforms of renowned marketers. The tips they put on their blogs and social media are concise and helpful; the same concept applies to graphic designers. The great ones will be putting their knowledge out there for the masses to enjoy and learn from, you can be one of those people. 
3. While we are on the topic of design blogs, you can start one yourself. Blog your ideas and your insights and see how people interact with you. Perhaps your wisdom will reach someone who needs it and perhaps the interactions you have will those who read and comment on your blog will give you good insight and ideas. 
4. Let your creativity run freely and without constraint. You will often find that clients say what to do for a design of websites, logos, print material, etc. So, what you can do is create things for fun. Create websites, print materials, logos, etc for any reason when you have the time to do so. This helps keep the graphic design side of things more fun and help your creativity flourish. This is also a great way to implement the things you learn without pressure of it going perfectly. After all, practice makes perfect. 
5. Refine and refine. You have old projects that you finished but does that mean they can't be improved any more? Try refining projects that you have done in the past and see if you can't make them any better. 
6. Take in your surroundings. When you're in a place, especially one that you have never been to before, look at the designs around you and just soak it in. Malls and cities are great for this since there is so much graphic design around you wherever you look. Chances are, you will feel very inspired about new designs when you leave there. 

Design Strategies

*Picture in original design mock-up courtesy of iStockphoto*

As a design firm in Chicago, we rely on a variety of strategies to create successful design pieces. When our graphic designers take on a new graphic design project, one of the first questions asked is, “Who are we targeting with this piece?” Whether you are designing for certain groups or a demographic, designers always have the intent to grab their viewer’s attention by making sure their design is appealing to the group it will serve. A main goal throughout all of our projects is to capture the viewer’s attention at first glance.

Just recently we designed a mailer for one of our clients that featured a striking man with an odd facial expression. While they did not end up going with this design, we all found the image to be strong and felt it would make people take a second look.  What was the reason behind this design decision? Think about how much mail you receive daily.  Think about how much of that mail you simply throw away without even really looking at it?  As a marketing and graphic design company, we strive to create design pieces that are not simply disregarded. If you received this mailer in your pile of mail, would you stop to read it?  Would you throw it away?  Would you at least be curious enough to read it?

There are many different strategies graphic designers utilize when creating design pieces:  

Evoke emotion(s): Most powerful designs evoke emotions from those who see it.  Depending on what the piece is about, think about what kind of emotion you are looking to evoke from your design and figure out what you can implement to help you achieve that feeling.  Some of the best pieces we have seen are the ones that know how to capture an emotion perfectly. 

Create confusion: If you want to capture your viewer’s attention, try creating some confusion through your graphic design piece.  Designs utilizing unfamiliar objects or mismatched imagery will guarantee a second look. If the imagery is unusual or challenging it may require your viewers to pay attention in order to understand it. Don’t get too cryptic otherwise viewers will simply discard your graphic design if the design just doesn’t make sense.

The element of surprise: As demonstrated in our mailer for one of our clients, images with unusual or surprising visuals will grab the attention of your viewers. Images that go against what is expected by your viewers will make them want to know more.

If you enjoyed these tips and the attention-grabbing mailer shared, leave comments below. Interested in our services? Contact us to have a custom created mailer for your company or small business.

5 Free Applications for Graphic Designers

We are a graphic design firm in love with all sorts of programs, gadgets and apps, that is for sure.  If you are anything like our graphic designers, you must love different types of software and apps that give you, as a graphic designer, multiple virtual capabilities. Since our graphic designers are avid Mac users, we decided to share a top list of FREE Mac apps useful for all graphic designers. As a creative agency we use the Adobe Creative Suite daily, but sometimes we like to explore different options. With the Adobe Creative Suite going for nearly $2,000 you may be looking for some more cost effective options and lucky for those of you that are graphic designers, there are many free applications available to be downloaded that have similar features to the professional software like Adobe Photoshop.

Inkscpace

If you are a graphic designer looking to create logo designs, our graphic designers highly recommend that you download the free Mac application called Inkspace. Inkspace is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw as it has the tools available to create vector graphics. The application has great capabilities for being a free software. The program allows you to do everything involved with creating vector graphics even tracing, XML editing and path operations. The software also supports standard SVG format and XML and CSS standards just like the professional software in its class.

Colorate

If you’re looking for a quick application to manipulate colors in a photo, you might want to check out Colorate. Just like the other applications we’re talking about in this blog, Colorate is a free application for graphic designers. It allows designers with creative minds to add and create a color palette to each of your photos. Whether you’re blending the existing palette, creating your own custom pallet or creating a totally randomized palette, you can definitely have fun editing your images using Colorate.

Image Tricks

The free Mac application Image Tricks has dozens of cool filters that we, as a Chicago graphic design firm, love to mess with. Not only does this application have so many different capabilities with filters, it also allows graphic designers to apply filters to over 20 different image file types!

GIMP

One of the most popular free photo editing software’s available is GIMP. The name ‘GIMP’ stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Not only is it a very useful tool for graphic designers, but the program is highly supported and is frequently updated compared to most free software applications. GIMP is often times related and compared to Adobe Photoshop. The application can make photo retouching, color correction, image sizing, image composition, etc. a very simple task. There are also plugins, extensions and filters available for download for advanced users looking for more capabilities.

DAZ Studio

If you are a graphic designer looking to expand your knowledge on design, try DAZ studio. DAZ studio can be a lot of fun if you’re a graphic designer looking to learn about 3D models and creations. DAZ allows you to create realistic 3D models such as people, animals and objects. DAZ Studio is one of the easiest 3D animation tools and is a great program for those who would like to teach themselves how to use it. 

Have a great free app we didn't mention here that you want to tell us about?  Feel free to leave us a comment below or contact us.

A Graphic Designer's New Year's Resolution

Now that it’s almost the New Year, it’s time to set some new goals. Are you a graphic designer hoping to advance in the graphic design industry? If so our very own team members have been there before.  Getting your foot in the door to the business of a graphic design company may seem intimidating, but make it your 2013 resolution to make a big impression. As a Chicago graphic design company our very own graphic designers have been in your shoes before and can help guide you in the right direction.  If your New Year’s resolution is to advance in the graphic design industry, check out the following tips from our very own graphic designers:

Network

As graphic designers in Chicago we are active participants in graphic design conferences and professional events. Networking is a great way to meet new people and build professional relationships. You have the potential to meet anyone from fellow graphic designers to web developers or business owners to copywriters. Before visiting any event, always plan ahead. Be prepared to socialize. Make sure your portfolio and business cards are something you can’t wait to show off. Going to networking events can definitely be intimidating especially as a burgeoning graphic designer. Prepare yourself by keeping these tips in mind:

• When talking to others show interest in what they are talking about. Ask questions, use eye contact and be friendly. Show courtesy for others and thank them for their time.
• When talking about yourself, don’t brag or try to oversell yourself. Tell don’t sell. Keep the conversation casual, you’re all there for the same reasons. Don’t forget to share your business card with whoever you talk to.
•  Look the part. Be prepared ahead of time. Figure out ahead of time exactly where the event is located and whether you need to dress casual or formal and always dress the part.

Start a Blog

Broadcast your portfolio on the web and start a blog. Never underestimate the power of blogging. Social media and blogging can help establish your online identity and be the voice behind your name. As a socialmedia company and search engine optimization company, we take blog writing very seriously as we know the power it holds for search engine optimization factors alone. A blog is a great opportunity to advance in the graphic design industry and show what you can do as a blossoming graphic designer.

Seek Advice

Share your portfolio with someone and ask for their professional advice. Constructive criticism is a great tool. There may be errors that only another pair of eyes can spot. When asking for advice, seek criticism, not praise. The soul purpose in sharing your portfolio with someone is to help you improve it.

Find a Mentor

Someone who is experienced in the graphic design business should become your best friend. Turn to someone who has been in your shoes before that can help guide you throughout your journey. As a graphic design firm in Chicago, we love when we receive emails or phone calls from students or young professionals who ask questions or want to interview us. There is always something new to learn and we’re always willing to share what we know.

As a Chicago marketing company with over 25 years of experience, we are here to help you successfully complete your New Year’s resolution. If you ever hit a bump in the road, or just need advice, feel free to contact us. 

2012 Holiday Gift Guide for Graphic Designers

In honor of the holidays, we came up with a holiday gift guide for graphic designers, which is what we did last year. Below is a list of some of our favorite gift ideas for graphic designers for the 2012 holidays. If you are shopping for a graphic designer and are stumped on what to buy, consider some of our suggestions:

1- A Lynda subscription: We know a ton of great graphic designers with tons of knowledge in the field, but no matter how much they know they always want to know more.  A subscription to Lynda.com is a perfect gift for that graphic designer in your life. Lynda is one of the best online resources available sharing tutorials and video lessons on popular techniques for graphic and web designers. Lynda has two packages available for their monthly subscription plans.

2- Digital Arts magazine subscription: Why not purchase a magazine of Digital Arts for the graphic designer in your life. Digital Arts is a great magazine for designers covering a wide range of topics from digital creative to feature tips and inspiration to reviews. Each magazine issue comes with a CD containing free stock photos, fonts, vectors and tutorials. This is the perfect gift that keeps giving year round for graphic designers.

3- Tablets: Okay, we'll admit it!  Our graphic designers here at Integraphix have an obsession with tablets. A tablet is a computer input device that has a pen and a drawing surface for digital illustration. The tablet is used in place of a mouse and is used to create complex designs efficiently and in a timely manner. As designers in Chicago, we strongly suggest all graphic designers to at least pick up a tablet and try it out for a day! We're sure you'll see how much potential it has to enhance your design capabilities!

4- iStock credit purchase: As web and graphic designers, we are constantly scrolling through different art and stock photos for our projects. If you are looking for a good gift idea for a graphic designer, consider purchasing credits to iStock.com. IStock has the largest library of stock photos and is a very popular resource for designers. 

5- CSSEdit 2: If you are looking for different types of software for the graphic designer your shopping for, check out CSSEdit 2. This program is specifically for Mac users and gives designers the ability to easily make changes to CSS coding. This software allows graphic designers to easily make minor edits to web designs. It’s a great resource for designers that may not have web developer capabilities.

6- App pillow: A silly and fun present that would make any graphic designer smile on Christmas day is the “app pillow.” App pillows are simply square, plush pillows that have different symbols that represent the products in the line of the Adobe Creative Suite. Each pillow is colorful and has abbreviations that represent an Adobe product. Not only is it a comfortable creative gift idea, but it can be purchased for under $20!

Looking for more holiday gift ideas?  Feel free to comment below or contact us.  

Creative Printing Techniques

A great way to bring variety to any marketing collateral or design piece is by switching up the printing technique.  Over the last few months, graphic designers everywhere have been preparing for the holiday season.  As Chicago graphic designers always looking to do something unique, we like to consider a variety of different print techniques. As the holidays approach us, we are getting more and more requests for fun and exciting greeting cards and print materials.  We strive to create new ideas and love to utilize new techniques.  There are many different printing techniques that can bring variety to your designs.  Below are a few of our Chicago Design Firm’s favorite printing techniques:

1- Foil Technique:

With the foiling technique you can create a brilliant, shiny finish to almost any print piece for a reasonable price. The process is simple and affordable and can turn a wide range of CMYK colors into multi-colored foils.  Everyday we are bombarded by marketing collateral and as a marketing company, we create prints that stand out from the crowd.  Foil colors bring shine and sparkle to a design and are very appealing to the eye. 

2- Embossing/Debossing:

Embossing and debossing are both similar techniques but produce the opposite effect.  Embossing produces a raised impression on your print materials, while debossing creates a depressed impression.  We recommend using a technique like embossing for special print materials.  Embossing looks great and stands out, but the process does manipulate the paper stock and printed items are often only one-sided if embossed or debossed.  When embossing or debossing it is very important to remember to keep an adequate amount of space between items on your piece, especially any text. Embossing is very easy and can even be done from home. Embossing can easily be preformed by stamping an image on to a piece of paper, sprinkling store bought embossing powder over the image and applying heat. 

3- Thermography:

Another interesting printing technique we’ve seen graphic designers and printers use is thermography printing. Thermography printing is obtained by heating a powder into the ink.  When the powder is heated it causes the ink to rise above the paper. The effect is often times compared to the appearance of engraving. Thermography printing has become one of our favorite techniques, as it stands out but is still very simple and subtle.

4- Silk Lamination:

Silk lamination is a water-resistant form of printing.  The look is very soft as it provides a silk-like-finish.  Similar to the foil technique, silk lamination is produced like any other CMYK document, but an additional step is needed to create the look and provide a unique texture. The silk lamination technique is great if you want to create a soft look with a durable quality.

Comments or questions on creative printing techniques?  Leave us a comment below or contact us.