News & Information for Creative Minds

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Gary Unger, Author, Speaker, Advertising Consultant joins hosts Scott Sheppard & Gene Gable for some tips from his popular book "How to Be a Creative Genius (in five minutes or less)". Gary’s book represents a practical and humourous take on the creative process based on his decade in working as a creative serving such clients as Chick-Fil-A, General Motors and the National Basketball Association. He is the originator of AutoZone’s “Get in the Zone” ad campaign and has a shirt in the Levi Strauss T-Shirt Hall of Fame.

Gary provides some practical advice on how to spark your creative inspiration, how to work with your clients in brainstorming creative thoughts, and offers suggestions on getting out of a design rut. Gary’s explains how his book uses humor, sarcasm, and a bit of reverse psychology to get you to think creatively about his challenging statements. Gary also developed an approach to the creative process called XDO which he uses to teach in his mentoring programs and sessions. Gary is an avid social networker and often uses LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

To find out more about Gary’s work visit: http://www.garyunger.com or visit his blog at: http://garyunger.com/blog/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay joins us this week for some hands-on tips on using Acrobat 9’s collaboration features which include a quick way to share your PDF’s via simple email links and comment together via a built-in chat. Acrobat will also allow you to easily share your screen and desktop among members of your meeting. Gene and Jay review some other features available on http://www.acrobat.com including Adobe Buzzword and ConnectNow. Jay has also been using FileChute for Mac OS, which is a quick way to send files via email links. If transferring files is common to you, you may also want to check out YouSendIt at: http://www.yousendit.com/, which offers easy click plug-ins for Acrobat, FinalCut Pro, Photoshop, Microsoft Office and others that allow you to send from within those applications.

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

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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

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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