Posts Tagged ‘Design’
How to Create a Pie Chart with Adobe Illustrator
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Did you know that you can create 3-D pie (and other types of) charts with Adobe Illustrator? Here is how: (1) Select the pie chart tool from the tool bar and double-click it to display the Graph dialog box: (2) Enter 200 px for both Width and Height of the chart…
Read MoreGraphic Design & Single-Sourcing — Revitalize Your Technical Communication Career in the Post-Writing Phase
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Technical communication is a great exciting field full of material and non-material rewards. But if you’ve been in the business for 5 or over 10 years, things can start getting a bit stale. You’ll know when that time comes to push your career up to a new orbit. You can spark…
Read MoreMake Sure your Images Broadcast the Right Message about you & your business
A web site must reflect the correct image about you and your business with its design, color pallet, content, and also the IMAGES used. Sometimes I’m surprised how careless some web site owners are in the message they are broadcasting with the images they choose. Here is the web site of a writing service. I…
Read MoreImportance of Book Covers
A unique blog post on a topic that is usually ignored by most self-publishers… (Excerpts) There are two key things you can NOT skimp on when you are self-publishing. One is an editor. No matter how careful a writer you are, you have to have an editor. Period. The second, of course, is the cover.…
Read MoreWhen the Form Does not Fit the Content – A Classical Information Design Problem
FORM and CONTENT are two wings of the same bird. When one of them fail, the bird does not fly — or flies in circles.To make sure the two fit one another perfectly is a very old problem and challenge in information design and marketing. Sometimes the challenge is met through resorting to “genres.” Genres…
Read MoreREADER QUESTION: What qualifies as "doctoring" an image?
© 2009 Ugur Akinci ANSWER: When you change (modify) an image, the new work is sometimes referred to as the “derivative” work or image. An example: let’s say you buy a stock image of a kid eating a cone of ice cream on a background of a “school.” If you change the background in Photoshop…
Read More7 Tips for Drawing Great Labels in Adobe Illustrator
© Ugur Akinci You can enhance the value of your services as a technical communicator and writer if you learn how to draw labels. Thousands of companies out there need labels to market their products. While some of these labels are rather elaborate and require the skills of a trained graphic artist, not all labels…
Read MoreInkscape – How to Use the Layers
Inkscape is a free vector drawing program which is ideal for many of the illustrations drawn by technical writers. The fact that it’s available for free makes it a great resource for those freelance technical writers with limited budgets to spare for more expensive vector programs like the Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape has a Layers menu…
Read MoreInkscape – How to Place One Image Inside Another (Clipping)
© Ugur Akinci Inkscape is a pretty versatile and FREE vector drawing program that you can download from here. Inkscape is not as versatile and powerful as Adobe Illustrator but it can still do many things that a technical communicator can use. And did I mention that… it’s FREE? Here is how you can place…
Read MoreInkscape – How to Draw an Attractive Wallpaper in a Hurry
© Ugur Akinci There is a very easy way to create wallpaper or any background image by using Inkspace, the FREE vector drawing program that you can download from here. The crucial thing to remember is the difference between the two SELECTION tools: the direct selection tool (F1) and path selection tool (F2). Once you…
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