Trapping

Trapping helps to avoid the unwanted white gaps as seen in bottom example.What is trapping? Trapping digital files is the process of compensating for misregistration on the printing press by printing small areas of overlapping color where objects meet.
Huh? If you've always worked with a desktop printer or strictly one color jobs you may not quite understand register or close register or the need for trapping and how it affects your final printed job.
When you print from your color inkjet printer the color is all applied at once. Each color generally ends up just where you expected. It doesn't work that way on a commercial printing press. When your document consists of more than one color of ink the page may have to pass through the printing press two or more times as each color is applied to the paper.
Presses aren't perfect. They run at incredibly fast speeds. Sometimes the paper or the plates applying the ink may shift. It might be a tiny, tiny little shift -- but it can throw off your design enough to be noticeable. For example, a white gap may appear between a green letter that is supposed to be touching a blue box. When this happens your color is out of register -- things just don't align properly.
So how do you prevent having your work come off the printing press out of register? By avoiding the need for trapping. The best alternative to trapping is to simply print using all one color or never allow your colors to touch or get too close.Explore other alternatives to trapping.

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Using Script Fonts

Script Fonts Can Be Fun or Elegant

Image ? J. Bear

Typefaces that mimic cursive handwriting or fonts made from actual handwriting samples are known as script fonts. Some script fonts are irregular like real handwriting while others are stylized scripts.

Script fonts give a special tone to our printed documents or Web pages. Some script fonts convey a quiet elegance. Handwriting fonts with quirky letters can personalize a form letter or exude cheerfulness, playfulness, or a casual mood.

There are countless ways to use script and handwriting fonts. Let's look at just a few ways that these Lovely Lines of Type add an elegant or personal touch to our correspondence and find examples and free handwriting or script fonts to use for Valentine's Day cards, wedding invitations, announcements, and other desktop publishing documents.

Match Purpose, Graphics Style, and Type
As with any typeface, choose script or handwriting fonts that convey the right image. An elegant, flowing script font may be perfect for a formal wedding annoucement but not friendly enough for a child's birthday party invitation. Consider the purpose of your desktop document (or Web page) and the graphics too. View the examples on each of these pages for how to mix fonts and graphics and purpose. You'll also find sources of free fonts for each style:

Tips & Techniques: Use Script Faces Wisely
Once you've chosen your script or handwriting fonts, use them more effectively by heeding these three tips: Script fonts and ALL CAPS Mixing script or handwriting fonts Fancy, ornate script fonts

More Fonts and Graphics with a Valentine's Day Theme
The image in the sidebar uses original heart graphics created by former Graphic Design Guide Judy Litt. The other images on the individual tip pages use clip art from the Corel 7 CD and were modified in Corel Photo-Paint 7, those images are not available for use.

Looking for some more expressive hearts? Try these free heart-laden Valentine fonts.

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Typography

Definition:

The design and use of typefaces as a means of visual communication from calligraphy to the ever-developing use of digital type is the broad use of the term typography. However, the art and practice of typography began with the invention of moveable type and the printing press. Typography is sometimes seen as encompassing many separate fields from the type designer who creates letterforms to the graphic designer who selects typefaces and arranges them on the page.

In general usage typography is the practical and artistic arrangement of type and printing with type.

Also Known As: type design | typesettingCommon Misspellings: typegraphy | typeography"The history of typography generally begins with Gutenberg and the development of moveable type, but it has its roots in handwritten letterforms -- whether transcribed with pen and ink or chiseled in stone -- for they are the basis of type designs." AND "Typography in graphic design involves the selection of appropriate typefaces and their arrangement on the page."

Explore more Typography Quotations as well as quotes about Type Design

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TraceFont

TraceFont School Font

Very similar to the Peterson Directed Handwriting style, this basic dotted line font contains no punctuation. It is designed specifically for preschoolers and works best at very large sizes that they can more easily trace.Free for personal use; Shareware fee of $10.00 for use in educational settings including homeschooling.Fonts are available in Mac and PC (converted from Mac) formats in .sit files. PC users may have to download Aladdin Expander (link at site) to open Stuffit archives. On Windows: To access the double-storey a with a top hook, press shift-control-a. On Mac: To access the alternate (non-double-storey) a, press option-a. Kids Fonts Get additional information about using the fonts and available worksheets.var nr_manual=true;var nr_domain='about.com'nRelate.setup({plugins:{related:{widget_id:178}}})if(zSbL

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Traditional Certificate Templates

Build your own certificate using any of these frame colors and titles. Lower right is close-up of frame detail.

? Jacci Howard Bear; licensed to About.comBEFORE YOU START
You may need: desktop publishing software | certificate templates | fonts | parchment paper
You need to know: how to uncompress zip files | parts of a certificate
You need to know these terms: png | text frame (box) | letter size | landscape | centered text | justified text

There is no right or wrong way to design a certificate. The certificates for this project use a fairly simple frame with a bit of a traditional look. Just choose the color of frame you like and type of certificate, open it in the desktop publishing, word processing, or graphics software of your choice, personalize it with a name and a description, then print it on plain or specialty paper.

If you use Adobe Illustrator or other vector drawing software, download the AI or EPS templates on page 2. Otherwise, you can use the PNG templates on this page. Download one or all of these files. Each ZIP file contains 3 PNG images, one of each certificate type (Appreciation, Recognition, and Achievement) in the specified color.

Each PNG is an image of the certificate frame, the title of the certificate (arched) and the presentation line "is hereby awarded to" plus a signature line. The blank space in the middle is for your own descriptive text.

After uncompressing the ZIP file, open one of the PNG images in the software of your choice. You could create the certificate in a graphics program such as Photoshop by simply editing the image (adding text layers) or insert/import/place the image in a page layout program such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign.

Microsoft Word Users: If you insert the template in a new document it will re-size automatically to fit your page size/orientation and margins. To use at full-size do this: Before inserting the PNG graphic, set your document to letter size, landscape orientation, with .25 inch margins on all sides. Insert the image you want to use then set Text Wrap to Behind Text

Personalize the certificate with the name of the award recipient and some descriptive text and a date. Create text boxes over the top of the PNG image and type your information in the font of your choice. If your software supports layers, put your text on a separate layer from the PNG template to make editing easier. For some wording suggestions, see Certificate Wording.

Certificates are one of those types of documents where centered text is appropriate. If you have a large block of text describing the reason for awarding the certificate, you might want to consider fully-justified text alignment.

Save the completed certificate with a new name then print it.

This template is designed for printing on 8.5 x 11 inch letter size paper in landscape mode. You can resize it but do a test print to make sure it still looks good. If you want to resize it a great deal, consider using the AI or EPS templates on page 2 instead. They are vector images and don't distort significantly when re-sized the way most bitmap images do.

This page Using PNG Templates Using Layered AI Template

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Word Templates for School

Create calendars, class schedules, seating charts, and classroom signs with free Microsoft Word templates. Download a Word template for doing book reports or making team sports rosters.Microsoft Office Online Back-to-School Template CollectionsAt Microsoft Office Online browse different categories for teachers, students, parents, and administrators. You'll find Microsoft Word templates as well as Publisher, Excel, and other Office templates. Download templates for flash cards, calendars, letters, lesson plans, school newsletters, and more.zSB(3,3)InZones, Inc.For business and school use, there are a few free Word templates including ones suitable for a school newsletter, book reports, and other reports.SuccessCertificates.com

Many styles and colors of certificates for school and more. Available in Microsoft Word as well as PDF.

Brainy BettySome are old but you'll find several Microsoft Word templates from Brainy Betty for a school newsletter, signs, lesson plans, reading log, and other forms appropriate for educational use.Mactopia Microsoft Word School Report TemplatesThese Mactopia templates for Word 2004 include formats for a book report, essay, and other types of school report projects.Mactopia Microsoft Word Schedule TemplatesAmong these Word 2004 templates for Mac are a bus schedule, homework schedule, and game schedule.Microsoft Office Online Divider TemplatesUse some of these dividers for book reports, school event programs, and other multiple page school projects. There are Word, Publisher, and other formats of divider templates for both school and business use.Mactopia Microsoft Word Writing TemplatesIn addition to a class newsletter template, there are Word 2004 templates to assist in taking notes, doing an outline, and other writing tasks.zSB(1,2)var nr_manual=true;var nr_domain='about.com'nRelate.setup({plugins:{related:{widget_id:178}}})if(zSbL

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Web Design

Definition:

While design is the art and process of combining individual elements of design (lines, shape, texture, color) into a pleasing arrangment, Web Design is the art and process of creating a single Web page or entire Web sites and may involve both the aesthetics and the mechanics of a Web site's operation although primarily it focuses on the look and feel of the Web site - the design elements.

Some of the aspects that may be included in Web design or Web production are graphics and animation creation, color selection, font selection, navigation design, content creation, HTML/XML authoring, JavaScript programming, and ecommerce development. Web design is a form of electronic publishing.

"Graphic design, desktop publishing, and Web design are different and not-always-distinct disciplines in the broader field of visual communications." — Desktop Publishing and the Internet

"Although desktop publishing and Web design have a common ancestry, they aren't the same. Yes, there are certain similarities — such as text, graphics, color, page composition, and the need for clear navigation -- but Web design has its own set of challenges and design parameters." — Similarities and Differences in Print and Web Design

"While it is possible, with CSS, to get very precise layouts, but it will never be as precise as print." — Web Design is Not Print Design

"Most designers don't try to cover all of it. Instead, they focus on one or two areas where they can excel and work with other people on the rest. But the good news is that there is always going to be something new to learn." — What is Web Design?

"When building a website there is a process that most designers use. This process covers all the steps from deciding on a website to building it and putting them live." — Web Design Process

Also Known As: web publishing | web production | internet publishing | graphic design | electronic publishing

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Keeping Up With Ever-Changing Technology

Even if you don't upgrade to the latest and greatest software version every year there are still plenty of things to keep on top of if you make all or part of your living doing graphic design or web design. Depending on your focus you may need to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in fonts, logo design, or printing techniques, and new tools that may help you do your job better. How do you keep up with it all? In The Top 5 Techniques for Staying Up to Date in an Ever-Changing Field, Kayla Knight offers a few specific ways to do it from teaching others to networking.

And of course if you do upgrade your software there's a lot of new features to explore and master. Follow these steps for learning to use desktop publishing software that apply to ?new users and those simply upgrading or wanting to dig deeper into what your software can do.

What methods do you use? Do you take refresher classes? Set aside time periodically for some self-paced training? Read certain books, magazines, or blogs? Share in the comments, below.

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