Randy Ricker, Senior Vice President, Graphic Design Practice North America, Aquent joins host Scott Sheppard for an overview of the job placement, portfolio review and other valuable services they provide to graphic designers. Find out more at http://www.aquent.com

Chris Allen, Leading Open Source Flash Developer and Program Developer of this year’s Flash on Tap Conference joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an in-depth look at their unique event featuring the best of Flash tools and design and a Flash focused beer tasting festival. The Flash on Tap conference combines world-class sessions with the best developers and networking opportunities built around casual locales offering fine brews and barbeques.

Chris explains the highlights, topics, and their all-star speaker lineup which includes sessions on Adobe AIR, red5, Flex, case studies, animation, actionscript, and inspiration. The speakers represent experienced visionaries of Flash development including; Dr. Woohoo!, tink (Steven Downs), Joe Berkovitz, Aldo Bucci, Trevor Burton, and of course, Chris Allen.

This year’s event is being held May 28-30, 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts at The Castle and Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers. Tickets are on-sale for $595 through April 28th, and several package, party, and session bundles are available. To sign up visit: http://flashontap.eventbrite.com/

For more information, details, and complete registration pricing visit: http://www.flashontap.com. Check out Chris’ blog at: http://blog.ff9900.org/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay joins us this week with some tips and reviews on font management tools. He recently completed some hands-on reviews including Monotype’s Font Explorer X, Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2, and Insider Software’s FontAgent Pro 4. Jay describes some of the unique features of these applications including floating font previews, and enhanced interfaces. Are font management tools critical to your workflow? Jay explains why using a font manager keeps you organized and your system running more efficiently.

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

Ted Balderree, Industry Manager, Consumer Products, Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions joins hosts Scott Sheppard & Gene Gable to explain some tips about transitioning from 2D to 3D design. Ted discusses how Autodesk’s powerful digital prototyping tools can not only assist in final product and packaging development but also provide early images, renderings, and elements designers can use in marketing, brochures, web, and other promotional materials. Having access to “final” product images long before final production can have an enormous impact on shortening time to market for new product introductions.

AutoCAD has set the standard in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets since 1982. Their aquisition of Alias and Maya have greatly expanded their portfolio of products enabling creative designers to access these powerful tools and integrate them within their workflow. Ted shares some tips on how designers can get training on these applications and 3D design techniques. Many colleges and universities offer classes on  AliasStudio and Maya, Autodesk Resellers offer local training classes around the world, or you can train yourself using their “Autodesk AliasStudio Personal Learning Edition“. The learning versions include interactive tips and guides within the applications while you are working on a project file.

Autodesk provides exceptional design tools for product development, manufacturing, architechture, video, entertainment, animation, gaming and more. You can download free trial versions of both AliasStudio (Windows only), or Maya (Mac/Win)

For more information on their full range of solutions visit: http://www.autodesk.com. They also have an Autodesk Gallery at One Market Street in San Francisco, CA showcasing over 20 exhibits featuring amazing work. 

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay shares his thoughts and experiences this week on the “Death of Macworld“, which he feels is greatly exaggerated. Even without Apple’s booth presence, Macworld remains a great place for networking, seeing a full breadth of Mac related products, and learn valuable skills in a range of areas. Looking ahead to next year’s event, Jay explains that although the nature of the show will be different without the famous Steve Jobs Apple keynote there will be plenty of interactive and experiential hands-on sessions that encourage social learning. See details, join their network, and stay tuned for Macworld 2010 at: http://www.macworldexpo.com/

Jay shares a tip on a font management tool – Type DNA – which adds a great deal of functionality as a plug-in to your favorite design applications including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Microsoft Office. Type DNA can recognize typefaces, organize them, and even provide suggestions on finding the perfect, complementary typefaces for any project. Check it out at: http://www.typedna.com

Jay maintains a special industry calendar with more details, dates, locations, and links at: http://www.design-tools.com/events/

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

Pete Rivard, Principal Instructor for Digital Imaging, Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, MN joins hosts Scott Sheppard & Gene Gable to discuss designing for flexography and packaging. Pete explains that in 1914, Dunwoody College was founded by the folks who also began General Mills and has enjoyed a close relationship with the packaging industry as one of the nation’s key technical resource for print education. Pete also discusses some key points of what makes designing for flexographic printing processes so uniquely exciting, and different from traditional offset processes.

He also discusses details of their technical curriculum for flexographic printing, prepress, and design. Pete shares some insights on the overall process of flexo and package printing, which unlike other processes include finishing the piece, bag, box, label within the press run. Designing the page layout needs to consider these factors, as do the variety of substrates available which are used in package design. Package designers often use 3D tools to help visualize final printed boxes or other pieces to better understand the overall folding configuration which need to be addressed in the final print file. He also details the differences between flexo and gravure printing.

Packaging and flexographic printing are one of the major growth areas for designers available in the print industry today, find out more about Dunwoody’s courses at: http://www.dunwoody.edu/graphics/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

This week’s Jay shares the results of the Pantone Color of the Year for 2009: PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa established annually by the Pantone Color Institute. He also discusses Google’s new archive of Life Magazine’s Photo Archive that makes millions of their images searchable and available for reference dating back to 1750′s. Jay also explains the Copyright Clearance Center’s ReadyImages Service that provides easy access to a large collection of images having only to pay a small annual fee. Find out more at http://www.copyright.com

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

Michael Makin, CEO, Printing Industries of America joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an industry update, share details on their recent efforts to rebrand their organization, and some details on their services. Printing Industries of America has over 12,000 member companies and is the largest printing organization in the world. Michael explains that the printing and publishing industry is far from “dead”; it has in fact grown over the past decade contributing over $170 billion to the U.S. market. Although there have been consolidations in the over 37,000 plant facilities, their overall business is shifting from ink on paper to digital printing and services. PIA is very active in Washington, D.C. lobbying for postal rates and related issues and feels confident that they will continue to represent the industry effectively in 2009 and beyond.

Michael also explains the components that make up the Printing Industries of America, which include business issues and also technical/research programs through their Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). PIA provides not only government lobbying, but technical support, and education programs that cover technical and business topics. Formerly known as PIA/GATF, Michael felt that the acronyms traditionally used by their organization were confusing the market and not serving their members effectively. This year, they have combined all areas under the “Printing Industries of America” brand.

The printing industry is a very close-knit family oriented business sector, and the organization has been serving their efforts since 1887. Earlier this year Michael produced a hilarious YouTube clip, which expresses PIA’s passion and commitment to their industry; “I Love PIA/GATF”.

For more information about their association and services visit: http://www.printing.org.

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

This week, Jay Nelson brings a review of the best holiday gifts for your favorite designers. If you have any designer friends, you’ll agree that the most beautifully wrapped and thought out gifts you receive this year will be from them, so if you’re looking for a way to make their season bright check out his tips for ideas. Jay scoured the headlines and recommends; Pantone inspired mugs, custom designed items at CafePress or Zazzle and other sites, Verbatim’s retro Vinyl CD’s or Digital Movie DVD’s, or their Archival grade CD, Logitech’s Space Navigator, or NewerTech’s Voyager Hard Drive case.

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

Chad Siegel, Group Product Manager, Design Segment, Adobe Systems Inc. joins hosts Scott Sheppard, Gene Gable, and Jay Nelson to explain the latest features for designers in Adobe Creative Suite 4. Gene, an Adobe beta tester, feels strongly that this is Adobe’s most integrated application suite yet released since their acquisition of Macromedia in 2005. Chad confirms that this version is the most complete multi-media offering in terms of delivering a seamless, cohesive set of design tools for any creative professional.

Chad shares some anecdotes about the challenges Adobe faced in developing the integrated user interface and some of the benefits of now having an integrated UI across all components. Chad explains that their entire process from conceptualization, to testing in Adobe Labs, and final delivery have made most Adobe employees now feel like “kids in a candy store” with unlimited possibilities of integration and extensions among the platforms. A great example is Adobe Acrobat’s 9 integration of Flash technologies helping creatives develop interactive designs.

Some of the highlights include that the rendering and print engines have been integrated on the back end of the applications, what this means for designers is that now it’s easier to reliably export or output into a range of formats. Chad recently participated in the Adobe MAX 2008 North American Conference, held last week in San Francisco. He feels the key benefit of this conference was his ability to get live feedback and interact with users.

Chad also shares some tips on how the new 3D tools and overall video workflows within After Effects and Photoshop that can really open up some opportunities. Gene and Jay also open up discussions on how today’s economy can affect a designer’s ability to justify upgrading their software – Chad provides some key considerations that can expand a creatives capabilities which can not only bring them new business but open them up to new clients. Chad also explains that with the redesigned interface in Creative Suite 4, can also save time by requiring fewer keystrokes and with the tighter integration many fewer steps to accomplish the same tasks. Chad also shares a glimpse of some of Adobe’s future developments including the potential for a pay-as-you-go model currently being piloted in markets outside the U.S.

Find out more at: http://www.adobe.com, or see Adobe’s favorite social links by visiting: http://delicious.com/adobe/

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

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

Drew Trujillo, Designer –better known as Dr. Woohoo! joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable this week to share his background and an inside look at his amazing design work. Fusing the best of art, technology, and design Dr. Woohoo’s technical and programming background help him to bring his visions to life. Drew explains, although his early background was in traditional mediums he soon became passionate about animation and digital art applications where his current expertise tests the boundaries of Adobe’s Creative Suite.

A renowned speaker, Adobe beta tester, and educator on Adobe Flash, AIR, and other interactive platforms. One of the best places to see his work in action is on In the Mod – Color Analytics: A Study of Color Palettes website. This site offers the ability to explore art, the interaction of color and palettes, and even lets you download your favorite sets directly to your Adobe apps. Dr. Woohoo gives us his description and experiences of the power working with Adobe AIR and how it integrates within the other Adobe Suite applications.

He has also published a book showcasing his work entitled, “Color Visualizations: Exploring the Circle, vol 02“. Where he uses software he developed to generate his artwork by extracting millions of color pixels in each image, analyzing and organizing the color data and then building the composition with absolute precision.

In addition to pushing the limits of available technology, Dr. Woohoo’s art is truly unique. He combines the organic qualities of nature and textures and expands them using digital enhancements that stand out in multiple mediums. His work is available for viewing and purchase online, including his kinetic art – Dandelions.

For more information, news, tips, his art, and more visit: http://blog.drwoohoo.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week to share the latest news and discussion about typefaces and a informative history of OpenType to celebrate the release of ITC’s Franklin – not Franklin Gothic offering a new range of options for larger display fonts. Jay and Gene, our resident “fontologists” share the use, sizing, and variations of this popular typeface. Jay also shares his review of the type focused movie – Helvetica, which recently came to his home town of Denver for a screening. PopChar celebrates it’s 20th birthday this month, which remains a great easy way to enter characters.

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

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

Dani Nordin, Designer & Zen Warrior Princess, The Zen Kitchen Design joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some insights, tips, and inspiration about her eco-friendly design business.Dani’s passion for design began with her background in theater. Leveraging what she learned about understanding and developing a backstory to get into character actually helped her develop her process and approach to communicating her design ideas with her clients. Figuring out what her clients would like to accomplish through design, Dani uses theater inspired techniques to get her clients to define the character of their target market to help her hone in her creative pitch. She attributes her success to her consultative approach with her clients.

The Zen Kitchen specializes in eco-friendly designs and Dani is passionate about striking a balance of minimizing our environmental impact yet using enough of the right materials to acheive marketing/brand success. Focusing on environmental issues doesn’t mean her designs look “hippie” or “eco” but that her commitment to making smarter choices comes through her design choices and advice to her clients. Dani also shares some of her thoughts about working with clients seeking “green washing” designs and rebrands that are hoping to take advantage of the rising popularity of eco-friendly designs.

Dani actively participates in the design community, and firmly beleives that social networking, her blog, and attending design related events have brought much success and business to her firm. She feels that offering advice and consultation, and sharing information especially with women owned business groups is a great way to learn, stay inspired, and of course gain clients.

For more information about Dani & The Zen Kitchen visit: http://www.tzk-design.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week to share his thoughts on the Orphan Works Act recently put through legislation. Jay explains the importance of speaking up about this topic from a designer’s perspective as the final verdict includes eliminating the automatic copyright protection on your existing and future creative work.The issue in legislation surrounds the lack of their ability to easily research and reference the origin of creative work. In the future, you will have to individually register and reregister work you’ve already registered in order to ensure proper credit, and royalties for your work or be able to litigate in the event of copyright infringement upon your work. Registration for existing work could be tedious and there is a fee for filing which could get costly for large collections.

To get more information and find easy ways to write your local Senate and House Representatives visit Jay’s site at: http://www.design-tools.com/ilpow/ or the Illustrator’s Partnership Orphan Works’ Blog at: http://www.ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Jay also shares a tip about scanning your work. At a recent conference he learned that over time, flatbed scanner bulbs and parts can wear out which can impact the overall quality. Since many manufacturers offer cost effective solutions, it’s a good idea to consider an upgrade every 18 months.

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