DTG News and Else
DT&G:   Vol. 16, Number 12,   December, 2006   ~   The eZine for Design, Typography, & Graphics   (since 1990)  

December: Let the holidays begin... & ELSE

DecemberI'm happy to send the newsletter directly to your email, if you'd like. Some 50-thousand other people actually prefer it in email! Just ask!

... now is the time many people are feverishly putting together holiday promotions... this month we'll enjoy some idea-starters and cool resources for doing beautiful graphic arts for December.
Don't forget, the holiday issue continues in December, with pirzes for your favorite holiday design! Don't forget to register with your comments!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Web Design and development
WHAT'S HOT? Web Design and development, CSS, HTML, and more

Designing the Holidays

Running late? Need some last-minute idea-starters? Help yoursel. Also note that the Publishers Warehouse Holiday package is now open, visit and download 'til you drop!

BEST of the BEST for 2006

First, our topic for January is "Best of the Best" where we show the best books and software introduced to the graphic design arena in 2006. But we need your help.
Please go to this month's 'Topic' page and share your favorite new software or book you've discovered this year. Share your discoveries with DTG readers, and you'll be helping them, plus possibly winning a great prize for yourself

Photoshop the Holidays

Okay... so it's the holiday season and you're not really sure what to give the folks... or your friends... or the Pizza guy -- but if you've got Photoshop, you've got it made! See our Photoshop Photo Collage tutorial for a great gag gift of Santa and the kids -- and for all the digital photographers out there, you'll be wanting to automate your photo watermarking in the new year... It's all in the December Photoshop Department

Design Quiz: Questions for Designers

How design-smart are you? Will you pass that job application interview? Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion wrote about it in her "Telling Questions" article with questions prospective design employers may ask. So, we teamed up with Anne-Marie to find out if YOU know the answers to these Questions for Designers.

Then I took it a step further and posted my freshman digital graphics test. If you can pass this, you're ready to progress into advanced digital graphics. Give it a shot...

Design Business: Year-end clean-up

Our business department has three new essays that will put your business on the fast track for 2007... 15 things to get done before the end of the year! by entrepreneurial expert Ty Freyvogel; How to boost your freelancing job opportunities - Part 2 of Shaun Crowley's freelancing tips; and Preparing Artwork for Printing - a beginner's primer by Rob Cubbon... all in the DTG Business Department

Speaking of Business: Jobs looking for Designers!

The December partner came on board just when we needed him! DesignQuote.net posts graphic design and web design projects, and registered freelancers or studios can browse new projects daily with budgets of $250 - $30,000. No comission fees, no subscriptions. Hopefully we'll be able to find a MovableType web guru we've been looking for. Check'em out: www.designquote.net/

Type: Fonts and Ornaments for the Holidays

Here comes Gerald Gallo with yet another ornamental font -- Fleuron Ornaments... and we rekindle some of our Favorite Holiday Fonts like Goudy Medieval, BlackChancery, Harrington, ToneAndDebs, and, of course snow-capped IGLOO. Find these in the DTG Typography Department

Review: Flash Slideshows with Pixtivity

Have you ever said something like this, "I love how they did that! I wish I knew how to create Flash slide shows but I just don't have the time to learn?" Follow along as Mim McConnell shows you how easy it really is to make cool Flash Slideshows with Pixtivity

Paint the World Yourself!

You may know by now, we've discovered a new plug-in maker with some pretty cool stuff. AKVIS has updated their Decorator plug-in for Windows and Macintosh that allows you to apply a new texture/color to an object preserving its volume. Next month, we'll be showing you AKVIS Sketch and Chameleon, but check out Akvis Decorator

Site of the Month

You'll read Mim McConnell's review of a Flash slideshow generator this month, and I would like to point out the work of George Staicu from Oradea, Romania. George invited us to take a look at his web site and we're sure glad we did -- take a few moments out of your busy life and be refreshed by George's stunning photographic imagery and sound. But I want you to let it run. Do NOT click "skip" ... you'll want to follow the whole story line.
Here's the link : www.lifethroughtime.com
      Share your site, or an experience you've had with another site at the WebDesign & Review site review page.

Mailbag: DTG as Holiday Gift?

unfortunately we cannot fill the request of L.H. from Glen Haven, CO, and so many others who write:
      I would like to give a hard copy graphic design journal to my granddaughter for Christmas. What would you suggest?
There is no printed version of DTG. There used to be a PDF edition, but that ended in the late 1990s. Sorry.

Mailbag: Interview with a Designer?

Although I would love to talk with all the people who make this request, it's just impossible. B.K. out in California writes in to say:
      I am majoring in Computer Graphics. I'm taking a class that requires to get an interview with a person the design field. I was wondering if I can get an interview from a gragic designer, regarding what you do.
I'd like some volunteers who would agree to being interviewed via email. Please volunteer so we can take care of these requests.

Mailbag: Win a MacPro and Dual LCD...

Lars Hasvoll Bakke writes in to tell us about a Photoshop Contest at Crestock Stock Photos! The Photoshop contest is free to enter, and for four weeks, you can win amazing prizes including a MacBook, a MacBook PRO and the grand prize - A MacPro with Dual 30" Cinema HD LCDs.
See examples of the entries in the gallery (similar to Photoshop Tennis) Details here: www.crestock.com

Mailbag: Photoshop Faces on Ornaments

Heather writes in to say:
      I am croping a face from a head and want to put it on a christmas ball. But I am having a problem putting the 2 pictures together. Putting the head on the christmas ball. Can you help.

Sure, in a nutshell, make a soft-edged (feathered) selection around the face you wish to put on the ball. Now, drag it into the window of the ornament file. Notice it will arrive on a new layer above the ornament image. Scale it to the correct size. Now change the Blending mode of the layer to "Multiply" and see if that works. Experiment with color corrections, and transparency.
If you want it to be mapped to the surface of the ball, then use the Spherize filter, and experiment with size and position until it looks right. These questions are better sent to Photoshop 911

& ELSE...

This month's &Else includes: Free QuarkXPress Tools * Magic Sharpener * GoMom tips, file transfers * Better Color, Password For Safety * Swiss Army Knife for Color * Restore Deleted iPod Files * Picture Roller: ultimate picture manager * and many others... DTG & Else

Out with 2006, in with 2007

Pretty soon, we'll end 2006. Did you do something good this year? The world would be a better place if we all adopted the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin:
Each morning he would ask himself
      "What good can I do today?"
... then each evening, before bed, he would ask himself:
      "What good did I do today?"
Try to live by that thought.

This month, catch up on good deeds you passed by throughout the year. Help out at the children's organization, or your local Salvation Army. Take a food basket to your local church's food drive. Turn in all your old, unused coats and sweat shirts to the local Goodwill. Pull out that checkbook and write some checks to your local free clinic, or the Boys and Girls clubs.
      If you want to know what I'm doing, you can catch up with my charitable foundation at www.appleseedsfound.org

And, to you all, we send our warmest wishes for a joyous holiday season -- and best wishes for a healthy and productive new year. We're proud that you've chosen the Design Center community to be part of your life -- and hope to bring you many benefits in the months to come.

Well, once again you've already wasted a perfectly good hour reading the DTG newsletter. Hopefully all is not wasted and you've gained at least one helpful tidbit of info.

Thanks for reading...

Thanks for reading...

Fred Showker
Editor / Publisher, DT&G Magazine

Parting words for the Holidays...

  ""The excellence of a gift
    lies in its appropriateness
      rather than in its value."
        - Charles Dudley Warne

PS: if you've made it this far, the Loading Dock address for December will be changed to "holiday". Just add the word holiday after the last slash in www.graphic-design.com/ ... Sometime after the first of December

WHO IS Fred Showker?

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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.