Our email tip subscribers will notice the look of our email newsletter changed a lot this week. We’re trying out a new 2-column format, as well as testing a switch over to MailChimp for our email delivery service.
This is the 228th straight week of publishing our weekly tips newsletter, and this is the first time we’ve tested significant changes in our template.
Please bear with us while we work out some of the details. I’d love to hear your feedback and questions in the comments on this post.
As we head into the shortened Thanksgiving week, we’d like to offer our traditional holiday papercraft project. This delectable roast turkey was found on a Japanese site. We’ve bundled the templates into a single easy-to-download PDF:
Continue across the jump for links to the original site (with Google translations into English).
Over the last six months we’ve been poking at a new version of the Creativetechs website. This weekend we finally threw the switch. This is a work in progress, and we’ll be cleaning up details and fixing missing links over the coming week. Please give us a visit:
Link: Creativetechs Website
Link: Creativetechs Tips Blog
Link: Creativetechs Workshop/Webinar Calendar
The new tips blog now supports comments. You can now respond to tips that catch your interest, ask questions, or give us an occasional vote of confidence. We invite you to please say hello.
Most InDesign production artists have a routine they repeat dozens of times a day: Place a graphic into an image frame, and quickly type a keyboard command to fit the graphic to the frame size. It becomes an instinctive keystroke.
Command-Option-Shift-E fits the graphic proportionally.
Command-Option-Shift-C fills the frame with your graphic.
But, no matter how fast your fingers are, there is a quicker way: InDesign’s frame fitting options. Select an image frame, and choose Object > Fitting > Frame Fitting Options. You can preset how you want your graphics to fit when they are placed into that frame. Perfect for catalogs and magazines where large numbers of images are used in existing layout templates. Add this setting to an Object Style and you’ve really got a timesaving technique!
TextExpander 2.5 ($30) isn’t for everyone, but if you find yourself typing on the computer on a daily basis, text substitutions can save you a lot of time. TextExpander automatically expands abbreviated text snippets into predefined words or phrases. It can also run scripts based on what you type. As an example, whenever I type “ctadd” on my Mac, TextExpander automatically replaces that abbreviation with the full Creativetechs mailing address.
Watch some video tutorials to see TextExpander in action, and read a great review at Lifehacker to get a sense of the time-saving possibilities.
Source: This tip inspired by my recent visit to Forget Computers, a Mac IT support company in Chicago, whose team uses TextExpander every day. This write-up also inspired by a tip in the November 2008 issue of Design Tools Monthly.
We get frequent questions from designers wanting to use HTML email for client projects or their own marketing. Here is our comparison of the four prominent email delivery services on the market today.
Implemented properly, email newsletters are a powerful marketing tool. Financially, they are one of the most cost-effective ways you can keep in front of clients and prospects. We’re seeing more creative studios using email as a core part of their own marketing effort. And we’re seeing a lot of design projects with studios creating email marketing templates for their clients.
Flash skills are increasingly in demand, and there is a shortage of good Flash designers on the market today. Yet, despite the business opportunities, many print designers find the leap to interactive Flash design intimidating.
If that sounds familar, here is a great series of tutorials detailing how to create a simple Flash-based shooter game from scratch. The series was developed by Kongregate.com and includes free downloadable Flash source files for the game “Shoot” shown above. The tutorials walk novices through the fundamentals of using Flash as a game building tool, and explores the elements needed to pull together a simple, interactive shooter game.
While building a simple arcade game might appear a bit frivolous, the Flash skills you’ll pick up along the way are serious business.
Jack-O-Lantern Here is a screen saver that displays a carved 3D pumpkin, right down to the flickering candle inside. Several carving designs are included, or you can create your own personal carving.
Spooked! (Sound activated) This screensaver uses your Mac’s microphone. The screen remains dark until your victim makes a noise. That triggers a leering skull to jump out with an optional scream, startling unsuspecting co-workers.
3D Desktop Zombies! This one is fun! Watch as the undead come back to life and roam your desktop, fighting, crawling, and leaving messy footprints, blood and gore. All as your screen rotates in 3D.
iPhone Crazy Pumpkin This one isn’t technically a screensaver. Turn your iPhone into a digital jack-o-lantern. Swipe your finger to change the carvings for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Give your iPhone a shake to change the color. Perfect for a night out trick-or-treating with your kids. [iTunes Link]
