Motivation Monday #006 - Food Coma

As the majority of us recover from a prolonged food coma brought on by Thanksgiving festivities, enjoy this week's Motivation Monday, fueled by the culprit itself!

http://store.glennz.com/

10 Things You Didn't Know InDesign Could Do

InDesign is a program that is essential to almost anything related to printing. The program is pretty straightforward but there's always tips or tricks that you don't know.

This article goes through 10 different items in InDesign that will contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of your project. Check it out!

fred design : http://www.freddesign.co.uk/2010/03/archive/10-things-you-didnt-know-adobe-indesign-could-do/

How To Create A Circle Polyorama

After thousands of people were begging to know how it was done, I managed to find a tutorial about creating a circle polyrama. You'll need a digital camera, Photoshop and Bridge to complete this, but it looks like it's definitely something that's really easy to pull off.

Pxleyes.com : http://www.pxleyes.com/tutorial/photoshop/1544/How-To-Create-A-Circle-Polyorama.html

Motivation Muesday #00? - Circular Thinking

Motivation Muesday is a rare event, occurring once every time that I forget, are too busy, or otherwise don't make a typical Monday Motivation post.

So here are some designs involving circles, and have a happy Muesday!

http://www.buamai.com/image/7170

Create a Frugal Coupon in InDesign

Vectortuts has a tutorial on how to create an interesting and enticing coupon for everyone. Embrace the inner extreme couponer and try out this tutorial.

Vectortuts : http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/designing/how-to-create-a-coupon-in-indesign/

Create a Loud Slab-Serif Poster in InDesign

Computer Arts brings a tutorial to make a poster with a big voice for whenever you want to make a bold statement. InDesign and its layout tools make this very easy to do.

Check out the tutorial and break out the Rockwell!

Computer Arts : http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/create-impactful-slab-serif-poster

Motivation Monday #004- Mnmlstc Mve Pstrs

This week's Motivation Monday showcases several minimalistic movie posters that use negative space to create an enticing focal point that is classic and demonstrative of the film in question. Some posters styled like this won't make sense if you haven't heard or seen the movie before, which is kind of a disadvantage.

You can learn a lot from these if you want to experiment with negative space or even just studying how the visual tone of a poster can influence the mood it has.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Minimalist-Movie-Posters/763138

10 Common Mistakes in Logo Design

This article by Smashing Magazine focuses on errors in logo design, however a lot of it can apply to the rest of the graphic design field. Throughout your time as a designer, you'll sure run into these stumbling blocks. Make sure you have the knowledge to dodge them!

Smashing Magazine : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/25/10-common-mistakes-in-logo-design/

Motivation Monday #003- A Cornucopia of Inspiration

This fall, you might be itching to make a few designs that are relevant to this season and with Thanksgiving coming up in a few weeks, there's only a small amount of time before Christmas takes over. 

Check out a few logos and designs involving cornucopia and a couple other Thanksgiving-inspired symbols. 

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Turkey-Run-2011/3346597

Create a Geometric Self Portrait

A geometric style can look very clean cut and mature, and if you supplement that with a subdued color scheme, it can take on a soft playfulness to it. 

Brush up on your Illustrator skills and try out this tutorial.

VectorTuts : http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/how-to-create-a-self-portrait-in-a-geometric-style/

Creating a Crazy Cool Logo with Illustrator

Fun and colorful logos really catch a person's eye and can be very inviting to their target audience. Combining that with a smooth circle motif makes for a logo that can be very striking and interesting. This is another good tutorial for practicing with the pen tool and getting a basic feel for Illustrator. Check it out!

Abduzeedo : http://abduzeedo.com/creating-crazy-cool-logo

An Illustrator's Project: From Start to Finish

Happy Halloween! On this All Hallow's Eve, check out this intricate look into how an illustrator creates their work conceptually and digitally, producing a beautiful image with tons of details to look at.

Design Instruct : http://designinstruct.com/drawing-illustration/an-illustrators-project-from-start-to-finish/

Create A Grid Based Resume Layout in InDesign

When showing off resumes to potential employers, a lot of people don't know how to make their own, so they resort to templates and online tools to help them be sure to put the correct information and format it properly. This leads to a lot of resumes looking bland and worn out.

As graphic designers, our resumes could be benefited from some creativity and some flavor, something this grid-based layout could help do. You can also adjust this to your needs and even make it stand out even more. All it takes is some design.

Spoongraphics: http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-grid-based-resume-layout-in-indesign

 

Motivation Monday #002- Skeletons, Ghosts, Zombies, OH MY!

Motivation Monday reaches its second week, and with it some more motivation! 

This Wednesday is Halloween, and with it, comes a lot of spooky imagery.
Here are some images to help inspire you to make something great, whether it be an full-fledged illustration, a slick design, or a basic sketch that helps you somewhere down the line.

http://painhatred.deviantart.com/art/Till-Death-Do-We-Part-271225620

Add Light Streaks to a Photo with Photoshop

This tutorial comes from Photoshop Essentials.com, and it shows us how to create vivid light streaks that dance around your photo or graphic. 




A lot of commercials and print ads use variations of this a lot to demonstrate that an item is graceful and airy(ex: Revlon Makeup Advertisement) and on the other hand, it can be used to show that an item is edgy and mature(5 Gum Advertisement). 

Some practice with this would give some great looking portfolio work, especially if you pushed the limits of the idea further. 

Photoshop Essentials.com : http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/light-streaks/

Create a Character from a Sketch

Vectips.com shows a really great and easy way to create a character from a sketch. This has a lot of applications and can be extended to landscapes, logos, or larger print designs. Definitely something you should check out if you want to get better with Illustrator.

Vectips.com : http://vectips.com/tutorials/create-a-cute-creature-character-from-a-sketch/

How to Create a Landscape Wallpaper for Your Desktop

Vectortuts has a great tutorial on how to create a wallpaper for your desktop. There are a lot of ways that you could add your own spin of originality or creativity to this, which makes it a really helpful tutorial. 

This can also be great for learning Illustrator and gives a lot of good practice for mapping out a scene. Check out the link and the finished product below.

Link : http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/how-to-create-a-landscape-wallpaper-for-your-desktop/

Motivation Monday #001- Fall Season

The season of fall has a lot of items associated with it. Pumpkins, leaves, and a general feel of slowing down and relaxation. Here are some designs that throw around muted colors and organic shapes to create an autumn aesthetic.

Wedding Invitation - Design With Chon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designwithchon/6128030086/

Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop

This tutorial comes from a really great site, Abduzeedo.com. If you have the time you should definitely check it out more, but for now here's a tutorial that shows how to incorporate swirls in your designs using Illustrator and Photoshop. The end product is definitely inspiring to use in your own work. The link to the website is below.

http://abduzeedo.com/swirl-mania-illustrator-photoshop

DesignFusion at MSSU

Hello world! 

DesignFusion is a website based out of Joplin, Missouri put into service by students at Missouri Southern State University. 

This website will be providing interviews, tutorials, and inspiration gathered from around the internet and put into one convenient package for students and designers everywhere.

This site also plans to have opportunities for several exhibitions of student work to showcase budding designers at Missouri Southern and give them a chance to have their work published on the internet. 

All in all, the goal of the website is to unite(read: fuse) the separated students and Graphic Design department at Southern, allowing them to grow their skills and help them to become better designers together. Through your help, we hope that this goal is seen and leads to some great accomplishments and awesome designers.

Thanks for reading, and here's to the future!

Kahlief Steele

DesignFusion at MSSU