Leanin' Tree Magnet

On Friday I like to I like to post something I recently designed. Here's magnet recently released by Leanin' Tree

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Tutorial: Create A Fun Ink Splatter Vector

Here's a good tutorial by Vandelay Designs about how to make a splatter effect in a vector
file. See entire tutorial.

Greeting Card Association Artist Tips

Greeting Card Association has a new website with artist and writer tips:

Here's an excerpt:

Tips for Artists

It’s hard to imagine a greeting card without any imagery, which is why good design is always in demand by the greeting card industry.

The ideal greeting card is a seamless marriage of art and verse. The successful card designer needs to create an image that’s eye-catching enough to capture the customer’s attention, yet reflects the tone and emotion of the card’s message.

Try to envision your design in terms of how it is likely to be displayed for sale. A vertical layout is most often used for greeting cards, and many cards are displayed in racks, where the bottom half of the card is not visible to the customer. Focus attention on the top half of your design, which is what the customer will see.

To get a better sense of greeting card design, spend time looking at cards. Visit a variety of card shops and retailers in your area and really look at the cards. Notice how the imagery and text work together with different types of cards.

Pay attention to different design styles and the publishers whose cards hold special appeal to you. The more you learn about card companies and greeting card design, the more successful you’ll be in determining what type of design you want to create, and the publishers most likely to be interested in your work.

If you haven’t created greeting card designs before, consider creating a collection of several designs in a certain look. This can help a publisher see your skills, style and how you carry out a theme. Be sure your submission will “match” the publisher; a traditional Christmas scene, for example, will not be of interest to a company that publishes only humorous everyday cards.

Most designers license their work either on a flat-fee basis, or for an advance against royalties. Licensing gives a company the right to reproduce your design for a certain use for a specific amount of time in a particular market, such as North America or worldwide. The artist retains ownership of the image and can continue to license it for other uses that don’t conflict. Under a flat-fee basis, ownership rights are typically turned over to the publisher. For greeting cards, a flat fee generally ranges between $275 and $500. An advance against a typical 4%-6% royalty may run from $150 to $300. Payments vary from publisher to publisher, as well as by type and complexity of the artwork.

Before you consider submitting any work, learn which greeting card companies accept outside submissions. Then obtain a copy of their submission guidelines. You can generally determine if a publisher accepts outside submissions by writing or phoning the company, or by locating a submission-guidelines page on their website. GCA-member publishers who accept outside submissions are indicated on this website by a “submission guidelines” link after their contact information. Only those with a “submission guidelines” link accept outside submissions.

Death of the Print-Only Designer

Interesting article worth checking out by Paper Leaf. Here is an excerpt. Read entire article...

The print-only freelance designer is a dying breed. There, I said it.

If you’re a freelance designer who doesn’t have web-related skills, you best add that arrow to your quiver or you’re going to be left in the dust.

Freelance designers who only operate in the print realm aren’t long for this world.

The digital realm is growing and spreading, and at the expense of the print world. As the opportunities for print work shift over to digital work, so do those print jobs.

The numbers show the shift: Amazon sold 143 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books in the second quarter of 2010. In the music industry, album sales fell 12.7% in 2009 while digital singles rose 8.3% and digital albums rose 16.1% (source). These are only two industries, but two big ones – and they point towards the growing trend towards digital over print.
Read entire article...

20 Presentation Folder Designs

Here are some great ideas for folders for submission presentations from Uprinting.com. Here are some samples. Here is an excerpt. See entire article...

A brand identity package will never be complete without presentation folders. These branding tools are reliable branding materials you can use during client presentations, business conferences, and trade shows. It is necessary to create a professional-looking and creative folder design that will effectively represent your company image to the market.

No need to search the web far and wide for presentation folder designs, because we’ve already compiled some of our favorites in today’s post. Whether you are a marketer or a designer looking for design ideas, these folder samples will definitely enhance your creativity.