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

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

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

Wes Wilson, President, IncSpring LLC. joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some information about how their site helps designer “re purpose” their unused corporate logos, brands, and corporate identities, connecting graphic designers with entrepreneurs and small business owners across the globe. Wes explains that when designers are contracted for traditional branding and logos they often create several concepts for their clients. Since only one of the concepts is chosen, IncSpring’s site offers a venue to resell the leftover brand concepts – including any relevant domain names – for additional income opportunities.

Launched in August this year, IncSpring focuses on entrepreneurs and venture firms seeking turnkey branding solutions. For designers who enjoy creating branding and logos, IncSpring can provide a lucrative outlet for expressing their designs. Pricing begins at $150 a package and can go to several thousand dollars for an established design firm, brand, popular url, and other extras.

IncSpring includes social networking tools that allow clients to communicate directly with the designers and their revenue is based on commission % for the final creative sale.

For more information, and to sign up visit: http://www.incspring.com

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week for more information on Adobe’s recent release of Creative Suite 4. Gene and Jay, who were beta testers and have experienced the different components of the suite focus the discussion on the enhanced integration of the suite of applications. This version of Creative Suite definately showcases the traditional Adobe programs and has successfully combined the best tools from their acquisition of Macromedia applications including Flash and Dreamweaver that are now better incorporated in the interface and connectivity across the applications.

For more information and details visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

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

Jeff Fisher, Author & Engineer of Creative Identity, LogoMotives joins Inside Digital Design for a discussion about his book “Identity Crisis: 100 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands” where he showcases examples of recent brand redesigns and provides an invaluable resource for designers focusing on brand and logo work. Jeff has been involved in branding and logo design for over 30 years, a popular speaker, often showcased in HOW Design and AIGA conferences and articles. Jeff maintains a series of blogs that are informative and full of relevant examples and tips. Jeff also shares some tips on how to stay ahead of the trends, keeping your brand and identity work up to date and find inspiration with fresh perspectives.

For more information and links visit: http://www.jfisherlogomotives.com/ or his blog at: http://blog-omotives.blogspot.com/. For information and tips from Identity Crisis visit: http://identitycrisisbook.blogspot.com/

Suzanne Norman, Director of Community Relations, and Jim Hitch, Agency Relations Manager for Emma Inc. join hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some tips and insights about using and designing e-mail marketing campaigns. Emma Inc. is a web-based email marketing comunications companywhose services are setup to eliminate the complexities of list management, implementing and executing a campaign, and also allow for full tracking and measurement to see the results.

Suzanne and Jim explain some of the formats and known issues of creating HTML based emails but confirm that in the end using HTML email campaigns have consistently returned better results. They also discuss tips on avoiding SPAM reporting, using images, and designing for regular and mobile email users.

Suzanne points out that designing successful emails is much different than creating for web and print. Knowing the layout of available real estate for your message in popular email programs is critical to successfully delivering the message. She also reminds designers to consider the message in addition to the design as many email programs block images as a default, and it’s important to make sure that the relevant text comes through even if the images don’t.

The Emma service offers custom co-branded and private label options for designers who wish to include email marketing in their efforts or expand the services they offer their clients by taking out the technical issues and allowing designers to focus on their special skill sets. Find out more at: http://www.myemma.com/agency

For more information visit: http://www.myemma.com

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week for an update on the exciting fall events happening in October / November focused on design and creative topics including the InHowse Conference, An Event Apart focused on web standards, PhotoPlus Conference and Expo, AIGA Business and Design Conference, Graph Expo, InDesign Conference, and the Create Chaos. Jay and Jeff Gamut will be speaking at Macworld ’09 on iTunes for Audiophiles.

Jay maintains a full industry calendar at: http://www.design-tools.com/events/

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

Gene Gable & Scott Sheppard discuss design choices for this year’s Presidential Election Campaigns. Gene has been following and researching the campaign from a designer’s perspective and explains how typefaces, colors and other element choices can impact how voters perceive each candidate. For example, in analyzing their font selections, Republican John McCain chose the Optima font which is a more traditional, older, and considered a “safe” type style it also happens to be the type style chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. On the other hand the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama chose a very modern font, Gotham which certainly supports his views and platform.

Gene also points out that the placement of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates in the imagery makes a statement about their views. In the McCain banners, John McCain and Sarah Palin’s name are of equal size and weight. In the Obama images, his name appears much larger than that of his running mate Biden. Republicans tend to use all capital letters where Democrats tend to use upper and lowercase lettering. Gene explains the history and background of the use of the elephant and the donkey. Traditionally campaign color choices involve red, white, and blue which of course can be “officially” selected based on the Pantone Matching System.

You can see examples of this year’s designs on their websites and in their merchandise/store selections at:
McCain: http://www.goptrunk.com/ & Obama: http://store.barackobama.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week for an color update on Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2009, which is generally announced during New York Fashion Week, September 5–12, 2008. The Pantone Fashion Color Reports traditionally translate into key Spring 2009 graphic and other designer color choices. Jay reports that there are very few reds, but expect to see many blue and purple hues. There are the earthy tone neutrals and greens as well. Jay also shares some tips on how to create pleasing color palettes at: http://www.mypantone.com, see some unique color combinations at: http://www.colourlovers.com/, Adobe’s AIR application: http://kuler.adobe.com/ or you can use a CMYK tool such as: http://www.master-colors.com/.

Gene and Jay also discuss how most type foundries today are transitioning to OpenType standards which take the best of PostScript and TrueType formats and make them available with expanded character sets and are cross-platform compatible. For more information about Jay and Design Tools visit: http://www.design-tools.com.

Brian Yerkes, Creative Director, Brian Joseph Studios joins Inside Digital Design to share some tips and ideas on how his firm leverages social networking, web 2.0, and blogging tools to expand their business. Brian explains how his approach has helped him not only meet some great designers and potential clients but also helps him keep up his creative inspiration. Brian also shares some tips for other designers on his blog, but reminds other designer bloggers that anything they post online is public and therefore chooses to keep his topics very positive. Brian and Gene also discuss a recent blog entry about “Things Brian Would Tell a Design Student“. Brian shares these tips on the show. Brian is also very active on Twitter, you can follow his discussions at: http://twitter.com/brianyerkes

For more information about Brian, read his blog at: http://www.brianyerkes.com/ or see the creative work of his studio at: http://www.brianjosephstudios.com/

Rick Littrell, President/CMO, Magicomm, LLC

Rick shares his insight on how to grab your intended audience’s attention by attracting them to your message, email, website, using a personalized approach. A key area required to plan and execute a successful personalized marketing campaign is access to “clean” and detailed customer lead and account data. Although many consumers feel current email / website marketing practices are invasive. Rick clearly explains that when utilized correctly in the development and planning processes, having access to detailed customer information can be incorporated within the design, imagery, copywriting, and delivery methods. By incorporating these concepts in the early stages of the campaign planning process, the end result for the customer isn’t invasive at all it can actually become a targeted message that provides them relevant information to which they are more likely to respond. The ultimate goal is to establish communication and trust with your intended audience as establishing the relationship makes it more likely for the customer to buy the product or service.

For more information, and live examples of the “Magic” visit their site at: http://www.magicomm.biz.

Inside Digital Design is pleased to include a new regular segment beginning in this week’s episode featuring the “Design News of the Week”, Reported by Jay Nelson. Jay is the Editor of the popular Design Tools Monthly Newsletter and of course host of the Design Tools Weekly Podcast. We welcome Jay to the Inside Digital Design team and look forward to hearing his insights on the headlines each week on our show! For more information about Jay and Design Tools visit: http://www.design-tools.com.

Jeff Butterworth, Founder & CEO of Alien Skin Software joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an update on these popular Photoshop plug-ins and what it has been like for them to develop these additions created to make a designer’s workflow easier and more efficient. Jeff explains some of the effects you can achieve using their latest products; Exposure 2 which simulates film grain and effects on digital images and Image Doctor that instantly restores, repairs, and retouches images.

Unlike other plug-ins, Alien Skin uses their own proprietary algorithms that improve the image processing which creates instant effects and customizations, otherwise not possible or too time-consuming to prepare within the standard Photoshop application. Jeff also gives some tips and advice to designers who may be interested in creating their own plug-ins. For more information, tutorials, downloads and more visit: http://www.alienskin.com

Sara Birkemeier, Principal Designer, 8Dot Graphics joins Inside Digital Design to discuss how they use some of the Alien Skin plug-ins in their client work. 8Dot Graphics, who happens to be the primary design company for Alien Skin, shares their first-hand experience working with the various plug-in tools. Sara and her husband work on a range of projects including designing Endurance Magazine each month, which forces them to maximize their creativy while working on tight deadlines.

Sara explains their favorite Alien Skin plug-ins include; Exposure 2, Blow up, and Eye Candy. Blow up is a tool they use to resize and enlarge images that they often receive from their clients but are too small to use in their final print and other projects. Sara shares some time saving tips on using these plug-ins and explains why even though they are “expert Photoshop users” they prefer these plug-ins to the Photoshop native tools. Speed and overall quality are the two main reasons 8Dot Graphics will continue to rely on these great design tools. For more information on 8Dot and some examples of their client work visit: http://www.8dotgraphics.com/

Renee Martin, Vice President, Sales & Service North America, Corbis joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable to discuss the winners of the recent “Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award and Scholarship” awards presented at this year’s ADC – Art Director’s Club Gala. The awards recognize outstanding creative work done for a non-profit on a pro bono basis and this year two winners were selected to receive the prestigious ADC Gold Cube, winning $20,000 for their cause.

Corbis beleives in supporting non-profit designers and Renee also explains how creatives can make a difference by participating in Corbis’ “Search for Justice” program now through July 31, 2008 which rewards the winning charities with a $1 donation for every image search. Renee also explains that any designer working on a pro bono basis for a non-profit is eligible to license Bettman Collection images at no charge to support their project. Find out more at: http://www.corbis.com or search for images at: http://www.corbis.com/searchforjustice. Renee also discusses Corbis’ latest project a virtual museum showcasing some of their finest images, the Museum of Art for the Arts at: http://www.mofaa.org/

Scott and Gene round out the discussion with some insights and analysis about poor design on websites. Sharing examples and tips on how to turn today’s online content collections into a place that is easy to navigate yet incorporates elements of good design. Gene clarifies that the changing roles of today’s designers, overuse of available technologies, and pressure to deliver the end result can really impact the final result. Scott points out that trends in blogging and social networking sacrifice design for continual content.