Articles & Inspiration
Typography is a complicated subject to learn, but starting with the history of type styles is a great way to gain an understanding of why there’s so many fonts, and why they look so different! Typefaces are divided up into classifications based on the era or characteristics of their design, which helps narrow down your options when choosing a font for your projects. Being able to identify a typeface style can help you make educated design decisions and choose the best font for your work depending on its use. In today’s post I give a brief overview of the main typeface classifications of serif and sans serif fonts that have emerged throughout the history of movable type.
I recently took the time to learn how to use Photoshop’s powerful 3D tools that are now included in versions CS6 Extended and CC. I found a bunch of online tutorials really useful that taught me how to extrude shapes, create environments, add materials and render the scene. The 3D interface is really daunting at first, but with these written and video tutorials you’ll be creating cool three dimensional designs with realistic lighting and reflections in no time!
Double exposure photography is the name of the original process where two photographs are exposed onto the same piece of film, resulting in interesting and surreal pictures. While this style is rooted in analog photography, it’s also popular with digital photographers and artists/designers who can replicate the effect in Photoshop, as I recently described in my video tutorial. Both the analog and digital techniques generate beautiful images, as you can see from today’s inspiration showcase of 45 examples of double exposure photography.
Back in January in created a showcase of beer bottle label & packaging designs that featured some fantastic artwork for craft beers. Many of those designs aimed for a small scale, low cost look with hand crafted illustrations, which is in complete contrast to the sophisticated theme of liquors. In today’s roundup I present 30 stunning packaging designs for whiskey, vodka and rum bottles. See how they make use of intricate illustrations, special print effects and premium packaging materials to create upmarket brands.
As a gearhead myself I love the design style that is based on vintage custom car & motorcycle garages. Imagine the ingredients of 1950s americana, the greaser subculture and old motor racing brands combined to produce cool logos, apparel designs and posters. That’s the theme of today’s showcase! Check out these 30 inspiring vintage style designs featuring custom typography, hand crafted illustrations and lots of texturing effects.
Logo mockup templates are clever PSD files that allow you to easily place your logo onto various surfaces to create realistic simulations of how your design would look as a real life print. These logo mockups are especially useful for presenting your designs to clients, or showing off your work in your portfolio. Seeing a design mocked up as a luxurious print helps give the design a tangible quality that isn’t represented in a logo’s basic black and white design.
