What is Good Design?

I had a Design Professor once tell me that there is no such thing as "bad" design. In order to define whether something is good or bad, you must first define the end goal for the design. When speaking of design as purely a medium for expressing one's self, then perhaps there is no such thing as "bad" design.

However, if your design is to be used for a particular purpose - say, for instance, commercial marketing of a product or service - then the effectiveness of that design in accomplishing that purpose will inevitably lead it to measured as being closer to "effective" or "good" design, or closer to "ineffective" or "bad" design.

Good commercial Graphic Design helps compel the viewer to act upon the product or service being offered. The old saying, "judging a book by it's cover" is generally the way in which consumers judge the worth of a service or product being offered (particularly a product or service that is new to the consumer), the ability of the entity to deliver what is being represented, etc.

Logo Identity or "branding" styles can change over time, or from industry to industry. But general principles have stood the test of time, and should be followed if you want to achieve "Good" design. A world-renowned Designer name Paul Rand had this to say about Logo design: "A logo cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint". While the goal of every design is perhaps NOT to survive for long periods of time, and thus the "simplicity" and "restraint" criteria could be lifted in many design applications - the general principle remains the same. If you want a memorable design that will stand the test of time n the commercial field, more is not always better!

So, is there such a thing as "bad" design. In commercial design the answer is "ABSOLUTELY!".

Creating 3D Effects in Illustrator

Below is a good tutorial I found on creating 3D effects in Illustrator. I will have my own tutorials soon.

How to Create an Outline Out of a Stroke

This is a handy feature of Adobe Illustrator, and a somewhat commonly asked question by new AI users: How do you outline a stroke and turn it into a fill? Well, there are at least THREE ways to do this, ordered below from not-so-best to best!

#3 Way -  Select the stroke/path you are wanting to create into a fill. Go to EFFECT > PATH > OUTLINE STROKE. Save the file. Open a new AI document, and then select FILE > PLACE. Once you have chosen the file, place it, and then select the image and press EMBED in the top tool bar.

Ahhhh, take a breath.

#2 Better Way - Select the stroke/path. Go to OBJECT > FLATTEN TRANSPARENCY. Type 100 in the Raster/Vector Balance, and press OK.

#1 BEST Way - Select the stroke/path. Go to OBJECT > EXPAND APPEARANCE. 

NOTE: #1 & #2 also work if you are wanting to outline all other EFFECTS, such as PATH > OFFSET PATH, DISTORT & TRANSFORM, WARP, etc.

Vector vs. Raster

One of the most important parts of working with graphics is understanding the difference between Vector and Raster files. You probably have heard that Illustrator is a VECTOR-based program. For those of us who work mainly with computer-generated graphics, that is one of the reasons we love Illustrator!

Now - to explain why, and the difference between the two types of files.

RASTER images are made up of a certain number of dots or pixels. The exact number is measured by how many dots or pixels are

 included in 1 inch - or dpi, and this number is the RESOLUTION of the image. Photographs are primarily raster images. Raster image file types include: PSD, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF, BMP, and a few more.

One of the weaknesses of a raster file it will lose it's quality the larger you size it past it's optimum resolution size. You may have

 seen this when a file "pixelates" or looks grainy. So, the max size of a raster image is the size it was created or saved at, and no more.

VECTOR files, on the other hand are based on measurements, and not pixels. The obvious

 advantage to this is the vector image is basically infinitely scaleable, and will not lose it's

 quality. Examples of 

vector file types are: AI, PDF, EPS, CRD, INDD, and more. Again,

 Illustrator is a vector-based program.

Understanding the difference between these types of files is an important part of working in Illustrator, or any programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. As a graphic designer, you begin to value the vector files, and cringe when a novice sends you an "artwork file" in one of the raster formats, and expects you to blow it up and print it on a billboard!

The Adobe Illustrator Experience

Welcome to the blog that is everything Illustrator!

I have been working in Illustrator for 9 years, and love the flexibility, capability, and integration of Adobe Illustrator.

In this blog, I will post helpful hints, interesting articles, and answer questions about using Illustrator. If there are any topics of interest, or tutorials anyone would like to see, please let me know!

In the near future, I also will be posting short tutorials on a variety of Illustrator practices, and again - if there is a particular tutorial you would like to see, please comment on this post and let me know! Happy Designing.