John Abbott College
You are probably familiar with InDesign and its complexity. It is where are all files (PSDs, AIs, EPSs, TIFF, etc.) can be met to create an original project. Has it ever occurred that you are lost in all of your files? Organizing them together is a way to improve time efficiency and to feel satisfied with what you are creating.
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A quick and simple guide to using the Pattern tool in Adobe Illustrator for creating beautiful patterns for backgrounds, textiles, packaging and more!
This is a tutorial on how to add a layer mask in Adobe Photoshop.
A layer mask is a reversible way to hide part of a layer. This permits us to have more options when editing than permanently erasing or deleting a part of a layer. Layer masks are useful when making image composites, cutting out objets for use in other documents. Black white or gray are the colors that we can add to a layer mask. A way to do this is by painting the layer mask. If you paint it black it will conceal and if you paint it white it will reveal. And gray partially hides the layer that contains the mask.
Continue reading “How to Add A Layer Mask in Photoshop”
Illustrator is the easiest and fastest way to create patterns. During my first year in Graphic and Web Design program, one of the projects was to create a pattern design and display it in objects and shapes. Since it was spring time, I decided to create a flower pattern. To go along with the theme of flowers and the spring time, I made a flower vase with flowers inside using the pattern I created.
Continue reading “Create Patterns in Illustrator”
When you first enter any kind of computer related course which requires you to work on any kind of software. Your teachers have probably nagged you about learning keyboard shortcuts. They say it can improve your workflow and efficiency overall. However, you probably mindlessly nodded your head and then proceeded to draw spirals in illustrator. Now you have become a master at all things design, yet you are just as slow as when you started. Maybe even slower due to your inability to make decisions with your arsenal of design experience.
Continue reading “Don’t Shortcut, Keyboard Shortcuts”
Designing is no easy tasks, designing takes a lot of skills, one of them being choosing the right colour palette for your project. When I first began in the graphic and web design program at John Abbott College, I had a particularly hard time coming up with colour palettes that were cohesive, and fit the aesthetics of what I was trying to convey. The colours I assumed went together, showed no representation of what I was trying to perceive through the website.
I really struggled to find which colours worked best together, or even which colours can be paired as a palette. So for the better part of my first semester in the program, I struggled with comprehending the ideologies behind colour selections. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the website called https://colorpalettes.net/, which taught me the beauty and power of colour selection. Colours play a huge role in helping people to recognize and comprehend what the website is about. What really sets this website apart from others, is that it gives you images that feature the colours they have paired together.
Continue reading “Colour My World”
In a visual and design-oriented course, your portfolio is your resume. Your future employment opportunities rely on the work you have under your belt. In the Graphic & Web Design program, every project you do is a potential portfolio piece. The work you do in school might not be inspiring. You might be stressed and not have the time or the will to put maximum effort into each work. If this is the case, at the very least keep the feedback you received during and after you presented your work in class. Then you can take full advantage of that precious spare time to revamp your portfolio pieces.
Continue reading “Make the most of your spare time”Welcome to the next chapter of my life. I’m Nour Turk, graphic and web design student at John Abbott College.
To start off, I did not know anything about being a graphic and web designer, I’ve never heard of it, which made me curious and wanted to know more about it. Seeing all the work of the previous students and the work of famous graphic designers made me interested in this program.
After these three years in this program, I still do not like web programming (coding), it is something I do not enjoy and I do not see myself working in, in the future. However, working in InDesign, Illustrator and Lightroom I do enjoy. I love photography and working in Lightroom made me love it more with all the features it has, which is more than photoshop.
Creating flyers, magazines, brochures and more, are the reason why I enjoy working in InDesign.
I am very excited to finish college and head to the real word and start working in this field. However, I am planning to continue to university \\and getting another degree. I still don’t know what I would like to continue in, I am still figuring it out. Therefore, I would like to start working first and do part time in university. Working in big companies worries me, but it will make me get out of my comfort zone.
The next chapter of my life, should I be scared or excited?
I am afraid, but it’s time to turn the page and start a new chapter.
On the February 11 2019 episode of Recode Decode, Elevation Partners founding partner Roger McNamee spoke with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his new book, Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.
A must-listen podcast that sheds some light on the background of the growth and problems at Facebook, as well as the social problems linked to the successes of Silicon Valley internet and social media giants.
A former mentor to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who helped recruit COO Sheryl Sandberg to the company, McNamee said he reluctantly became a critic of the way big tech companies like Facebook and Google are abusing their users’ trust.
“You know, in advertising they say you are not the customer, you’re the product, but for Google and Facebook you are the fuel,” McNamee said. “And the problem is they gather all this data, not to improve your customer experience. Although they do a little of that, they really do it in order to create other products that may never even touch you, where you get no benefit at all. And importantly, they do this on the Silicon Valley model of shipping the product the minute it works without any consideration to the possibility there’ll be collateral damage.”
Recode.net
