News & Information for Creative Minds

Listen NOW…
Option-Click or Right-Click HERE to download this radio program (mp3)

Fabrizio Scippa, Creative Director/Signor Dettaglio & Marc Aguilera, Color Management Director/Eclectic Technologist from Encompus, Inc. join hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some hands-on tips about how they are using and have integrated color management tools into their design workflows. Encompus specializes in creating brands and identities for medium sized businesses and Fabrizio explains that color in the look of the brand is an extremely important element in their design philosophy. Since they often create brands for their clients across all mediums print to web, color consistancy is very important to them.

Fabrizio shares examples of how color has opened up many business opportunities for them. Growing up in Rome around a family business in interior design, Fabrizio has learned the impact of color in many forms. Marc, who has a photography background, works well with his team because he is able to accurately measure color elements in nature and successfuly are able replicate and communicate them for each project. Like many studios, Encompus sees color as being a top priority and Marc shares some details about their workflows and how they are able to maintain consistancy in their studio using standards such as GRACoL 7; share those color settings, calibrating their monitors and proofers. Marc shares that they provide each client with a document that "decodes" their brand colors within the various color spaces and is actively involved in color education speaking at seminars around the country.

Marc also shares some tips on how designers - who are often overwhelmed by the technology of color - can easily improve color consistancy in their designs with tips he’s presented in his discussions during the Color Control Freak seminars. His hands-on experience enable him to get the most of out available color tools from X-Rite, using their measurement and calibration devices in addition to relying on the Pantone Goe™ System and Pantone Matching System® swatches to acheive color they can rely on. Marc also explains how they use the EFI RIP designer edition to accurately match colors in their output.

Jay Nelson joins the chat with focused questions for Encompus about the Pantone Goe™ System and their ColorMunki. Marc shares a live client example where they were asked to match a terracotta tile color that after measuring it with the ColorMunki, found there was no exact match in the standard Pantone Matching System®. Fortunately for Encompus, when cross-referencing the color to the Goe system, they were able to identify an exact match that pleased the client and enabled them to

For more information about Encompus and examples of their work visit: http://www.encompus.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay shares a great tip for a retro-plugin that will definately spark up your next design called Permanent Press by Mister Retro at: http://www.misterretro.com. This unique plug-in lets you create professional quality vintage offset printing and ink effects with any design, photograph, type treatment or image. Jay’s hot topic of the week is whether or not the design industry is ready to adopt the Pantone Goe™ System. The bigger question is are the printers using the newly defined Pantone Goe™ System base inks or are they using their existing inventory with some other matching techniques? Overall, the new color system offers a larger range of colors, organized it into a manner that addresses some of the flaws inherent in the older, but widely adopted Pantone Matching System®.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Listen NOW…
Option-Click or Right-Click HERE to download this radio program (mp3)

Dr. Yao-Hui Huang, CEO & Joey Kilrain, Creative Director, Gigapixel Creative join hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable to share their backgrounds - Yao was in pharmaceuticals and Joey a fine artist - and the overall vision behind their unique New York based web agency. Their background in technology, art, and business has allowed them not only to offer award-winning creative direction but they also provide their clients; strategy consulting, marketing, development, and technology support services.

Yao and Joey explain their approach in consulting with client’s business needs first. Once they have a full understanding of their direction and goals they are then able to prepare a comprehensive Web 2.0 strategy that combines design elements with the latest web platforms and technologies. Their clients include Time Warner, General Mills, Pfizer, Chase, and many others. They also offer affordable turn-key solutions through their Baby Gigs group.

In addition to working closely with top agencies, also founded an incubator for innovative technologies through The Hatchery. Yao and Joey discuss how they partner with key venture capital firms, media companies and technologists to identify, fund, and support new ideas and business concepts. Each month, 3 companies are selected to participate in The Gauntlet, picture an "American Idol" for tech startup companies, where they can present ideas to an elite forum and gain feedback on their concepts.

To find out more visit: http://www.gigapixelcreative.com/ or The Hatchery at: http://www.hatchedby.us/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week to share the latest news including that Quark XPress is now supporting InDesign and InCopy. Jay is one of the industry’s definitive source of Quark news and as a Quark insider, he explains some of the benefits of their latest announcement. Jay also share some tips about a cost effective web design program, Freeway 5 from SoftPress who offer upgrades from GoLive and other options.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Listen NOW…

Renowned Illustrator and Founding Member of the Illustrator’s Partnership, Brad Holland joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an update and some insight about the recently passed, Orphan Works Bill that was "hotlined" through Senate earlier this month. ‘Orphan works’ is a term used to describe works where the owner of the copyright cannot be located. Brad has been instrumental in advocating the rights of artists and creatives, participating in congressional hearings, and is a true expert in copyright legistation. Brad explains some of the issues involved in registering your work commercially and details on what the new bill changes in comparison to what had been in place prior to the bill passing. This bill originated in early 2006, and was intended to help museums and libraries obtain the rights to use truly "orphaned works" of art of images. Unfortunately, the current state of the bill does that and much more. The bill is backed and was presented by the advocacy group "Public Knowledge", who maintains their side of the information at: http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/copyright

One of the key changes is that traditionally creative work was protected by ensuring there was a visible copyright symbol along with a year on any work that you wished to protect. This acknowledged that the work belonged to the originating artist for their lifetime plus 70 years. The new law changes this structure and requires that any work considered copyrighted has to be clearly identified and searchable in a central database registry. Brad and Gene discuss some examples of "Fair Use" and complete infringement and an artist’s ability to take legal action against infringement under the new bill.

Brad explains the impact on creatives and small businesses who under the new law are required to register all existing and future work. Due to the processing fees involved, Brad points out that today’s digital photographers, who shoot hundreds of images on average, could be expected to pay $250,000 to over $1,000,000 in filing fees if each image cost $1 to register. This is very cost prohibitive to the artists.

Gene seeks to find the benefits of this new bill, which at this point are very clouded and unclear. There are amendments proposed to be presented to the House in the next few weeks and all urged folks involved to take an active position by writing to your Congressman and local House Representatives expressing your concern for this revised copyright system. For additional resources and one-click links to write your position visit: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ or http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

For more information about Brad Holland visit his site at: http://www.bradholland.net

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week to follow-up on last week’s topic about Apple’s decision to stop offering the matte display on their new MacBooks. Jay explains some of the issues designers have in using a glossy vs. a matte screen and shares some tips on how to calibrate your glossy display. Jay indicates that the issue isn’t the display but in the manner in which they are backlit, in the case of the MacBooks it’s using LED technologies. Jay warns that not all of today’s popular monitor calibration tools are designed to properly manage these displays but there are some available that can optimize your display to your work environment.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com