DTG News and Else
DT&G: Vol. 14, Number 1, January, 2004 ~ The eZine for Design, Typography, & Graphics   (since 1990)  

January Editor's Column

Welcome 2004

A new year is upon us and with it comes the anticipation of learning new things, meeting new people and accomplishing new tasks.
      2004 marks the tenth year the Design Center has been at graphic-design.com. Actually it was September of 1994 when the first pages began appearing. It's interesting to look back. A lot has changed, yet not much has changed. Conundrum? Yes and no.
      Ten years ago DTG had already been in fairly wide-spread distribution via AOL, GEnie, Compuserve and then eWorld. So DTG was a monthly event that took a week or so to prepare and launch. Today it has become an ongoing concentration. Articles, resources and all the items that come together to form the "monthly" edition are actually produced and deployed in the web site as they're finished. Follow along as we continue on our path toward 2014.

The Year 2003 in DTG

We've put together a collection of the most sought-after articles from the 2003 pages of DTG. They were all fun, but these got the most number of readers and visits: 2003 Best of DTG

BEST OF 2003

Unlike last year when Pamela Pfiffner's blockbuster book "Inside The Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story" which was the unanimous winner -- this year we had quite a bit of difficulty deciding on a single "Best" for the year.
      We had to step back and reevaluate the very mission of this web site. What book is most worth buying to advance the skill set most essential to all those in visual communications, graphic design and other creative endeavors? We arrived at the conclusion that our focus is all about two essential elements that makes for true greatness. Most importantly, ideas and creativity. Secondly, but equally important, is responsibility. So what we ended up with was two 'books' of the year! These two books reflect the ultimate in those values and goals.
Book of the Year: Idea Revolution
Book 2 of the Year: Citizen Designer
Both are highlighted along with all our other winners for 2003

2004 Monthly Prize Giveaways

The bookshelf's book bins are crowded and overflowing with 2002 and 2003 books! We've got to make room for all the great books coming in 2004 -- which means good news for you. Each month we'll host a "topic" on the prizes page. All you have to do is send in your comments... if selected, you win. It's as simple as that.
      January's topic is "Best of 2003" where you share your favorite design you created or found, your favorite design and publishing book; your favorite download of shareware or freeware or, perhaps your favorite web site you discovered.
      Also launching this month is the February theme "I Love Design" ... tell us your favorite aspects of the visual communications world, or a favorite marketing promotion for Valentine's day. It's easy and fun. And you could pick up another great book for your designers' bookshelf. Let us hear from you!

Kick off 2004 with a Card Promotion

Promo, promo, promo. Each January we try to take a fresh approach on self promotion. This year we share some proven promotions that can bring a lot of notoriety to your business! If you want to bring those customers and clients in, just try these Promotion opportunities with Creative cards...

New life to that old brochure?

Start your 2004 with a new look to a simple, inexpensive brochure. Get rid of that boring 8.5 x 11 three-fold and generate some excitement with some Creative Brochure Folding

Photoshop vs. Illustrator

When someone asked this question, we thought some explanation was in order! Which is BEST: Photoshop or Illustrator?

Top 10 New Year's Resolutions for Clubs

Pump some new life into that local civic organization or club with any or all of these resolutions... (this one is posted a bit early, actually it's for January, 2004 -- so you can pass it along during December!)... #165 60-Second Window

Thoughts on Computing's Past

Naturally, when welcoming a new year we sometimes look back to where we've been. These two articles reach back to the dawn of the computing years, before the internet, and still ring true today.
* Cary Lu talks about Computing's Holy Wars
* James Redelfs: Personal Computer Software and Ethics. See: Creative Networking

Web Site Critiques for January

Web designer and popular author/reviewer Mike Swope files these two site critiques: one claiming to be the "Best Stock Photography Site"
-- and another where the site design possibly damages this iCi et la Photography site's very mission!
Then, reviewers Bennie C. Taylor and Fred Showker double-team a web site and tweak existing graphics and concept to improve the: "Air compressors in India" web site.
All these and more in the Web Critique department

Feature Web Sites for January:

There are quite a few new sites this month, from standard business sites to a few you might just call bizarre... give them a look in the Web Reviews Department

A New Kind of Threat

Dispite all the news about legal actions against spammers the online email marketing industry seems to have no end to creative methods of sucking email users into their webs -- you'd better watch out, they're coming to get YOU. This article was posted late in December, some of you may have already seen it -- but it needs repeating: Avoiding New Spam Traps

Why are my images jaggy?

This article was also posted late in December, missing that newsletter. This is an interesting piece from the Photoshop 911 team. Again and again people ask why their GIF files don't look so good... here, one surfboard site gets the real poop when we illustrate using Photoshop to fix those GIFs right

Photoshop 911 Call Reports

Here comes this month's batch of reports from the Photoshop 911 call line. The most interesting is how one user solves the problem of removing the background from multiple shots of a rotating product for a 3D video... there are seven others, and you'll want to read them all: In the Photoshop 911 FAQ department

Be sure to get a web critique

Many readers have been upset that their web sites didn't get a review or critique. Understandably we cannot review every web site that comes in. We rely on readers to share their opinions, but they seldom do. A few years ago we had relatively successful "formal" critique service. So, this year we've brought that service back. Our "formal" critiques are fee-based and offer several levels of involvement. Now, if you really want a serious critique the WDR Design Team will give you one along with helpful advice on how to make it the best it can be! Just click on any "Formal Critique" button in the Web department.

In the NEWS: TURBO PHOTO

Most graphic designers cringe at the thought of buying stock photography. Most of the 'trendy' photo services are rather pricey and some even charge a per-image use fee. Designers on a tight budget may appreciate the new Turbo Photo Library featuring as many as 500 high resolution (hi-res) royalty-free images for only $49. Turbo Photo is a new stock photography agency in San Luis Obispo, Calif., striving to provide quality images at affordable prices. As part of their debut, they're offering you up to 50 free stock photos ready to go now. All they ask is that you fill out the 2 minute survey ... Turbo Photo

In the NEWS: Let it Snow (In Photoshop)

SnowScape is a plugin for creating layers of snow in your (semi-)transparent image files. You can specify where you want the snow to appear, how sticky it should be, allowing you to control whether the slopes should be smooth or jagged, and of course how much will have to be falling down. (It also creates, dirt, gooey, slimy stuff, blood and similar effects. SnowScape v1.03 is freeware, available for Windows only from Martijn W. van der Lee

TaskCapture captures tasks

TaskCapture is the intuitive, user-friendly software that intelligently and automatically tracks working time on any document in standard applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress, AutoCAD and many more. It runs in the background on your computer, gathering important job-related information to your personal database (included) whenever a document is closed. In 2004, shed those "old-fashioned" time keeping and billing chores. TaskCapture's accuracy is astonishing and will give you a crystal clear picture of how your time is being spent. Supported OS: Win95, Win98, WinME, WinXP, Windows2000, Windows2003, Mac PPC ... TaskCapture

Convert raster images into a vector format?

A frequent question in the design forums, until now converting raster to vector has been impossible. RasterVect Software claims they can dow it now with their new RasterVect. Raster drawing can be imported by scanning original paper drawings. This Windows product is Shareware and offers great promise. Try it out and let us know what you think... RasterVect

FontAgent Pro for Panther

Do you miss Adobe Type Manager Pro in OS X? We do too. But Insider Software has rolled out the latest version of FontAgent Pro, Mac OS X native font management and repair utility. Now, it's the only font manager to offer auto-activation in Adobe Photoshop CS. FontAgent Pro allows you to define multiple font libraries that can be opened simultaneously -- rename font files with meaningful file names for easy management -- verify fonts on the fly as they are imported, activated, or exported; and reorganize scattered fonts into useful libraries that maintain original font-file formats. FontAgent Pro requires Mac OS X version 10.2 or later (including Panther), 3MB of available disk space, and 7MB of memory. Download it for $89.95. FontAgent Pro

Keyboard Milkshake

Imagine how I felt when my eldest at VCU called to say "Dad, I spilled a drink into the iBook keyboard, and now it doesn't work. (!) It was one of those moments when I wished we had used iSkin keyboard protectors. iSkins fit the new Apple iBook and PowerBook laptop computers with flexible, high-grade silicone protection. It's a transparent barrier against spills, dirt, food crumbs, and other unwanted elements that may get in between the keys of the keyboard and potentially cause damage to your computer. It also prevents the keyboard's keys from general wear and tear caused by everyday use. $19.99 is a small price compared to replacing the keyboard, and possibly the logic board from keyboard disasters! Save your keyboard!

Well wishes for a wonderful 2004

I want to remind you all about each month's "theme" give away. February is coming up, and for Valentine's day the theme is How I love Design! ... come on ine an post your reasons for loving Design...

  • Your favorite aspects of the design, illustration or graphics world
  • Great Valentine's Promotions you've seen
  • Great Valentine's graphics or art you've seen

We'll be selecting entries for publication, and if we select yours, you've WON! So, all month long, the Publishers' Warehouse will be hosting the loading dock under the "love" directory in the Design Center. I understand they've uploaded some new stuff and enhanced the desktop publishers' Jumpstation as well. So, for this month you'll want to use: http://www.graphic-design.com/love/index.html.

Happy new year, and ...

Thanks for reading

Fred Showker
Editor / Publisher, DT&G Magazine

Parting words: on the subject of LOVE...

Conscience is the frame of character,
and love is the covering for it.
        Henry Ward Beecher

Participate in your Design Center

Lots of fun and information for all... don't forget, any community is only as good as the participation of its members. We invite your tips, tricks, comments, suggestions and camaraderie.