CreativeTechs Tips

Last week, Extensis quietly released an update to their excellent Font Management Best Practices Guide. This is the 5th edition of their font management white paper, and it remains an excellent resource for designers who struggle with how to best manage their huge font libraries.

Managing Fonts in Mac OS X – 5th Edition (January 2009)

Simplifying the complex topic of font management in Mac OS X isn’t an easy job. Extensis does a good job describing the underlying challenges designers face when managing fonts on Mac OS X today. Their solutions are expectedly biased towards their own software (Suitcase Fusion 2, or the new Universal Type Server) but not unfairly so.
Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]

Read on for a striking example showing one reason font management is so important for today’s Mac-based graphic designer.

I took a fresh out-of-the-box iMac, and installed Adobe CS4, and Microsoft Office 2008. Then I stitched together a screen capture showing what the InDesign CS4 font looks like. The results speak for themselves.

Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]

I hate it when I can’t find a certain menu item. It happens a lot these days as I jump between multiple versions of different software.

Mac OS X Leopard adds a search field to the top of the Help menu. In addition to various help topics (which I usually ignore) it pulls up a list of all the menu items that include any search terms you type.

Highlight those menu items (using the arrow keys on your keyboard) and the appropriate menu pops up with a floating pointer showing you where the command is located.

With typical Apple finesse, a subtle animation helps draw your eye.
Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]

Once you spend a little time reading and commenting on various blogs, you’ll notice that on certain blogs some people have branded icons next to their comments, while others have a generic anonymous graphic.

These icons are avatars — tiny online logos that represent you on blogs and other online forums. It’s a small detail that plays an important role in your studio’s online social networking.

They are easy to setup. Design a small square graphic in Photoshop; save it as a JPG, GIF, or PNG; and upload it to a free account at gravatar:

Gravatar — globally recognized avatars

The process takes about two minutes. Use a photo, or design a small square version of your studio’s logo. This free service works with all gravatar-enabled sites (including most WordPress blogs, like ours). Test out your new avatar by leaving a comment here! Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 2% [?]

We’re posting a few early video tips from several years ago. This tip came from the February 13, 2006 issue of our weekly Tips email newsletter.

If you find yourself needing to quickly remove the background from an image in Photoshop, take a moment to play with the background eraser tool.

Popularity: 1% [?]

We’re posting a few early video tips from several years ago. This tip came from the February 20, 2006 issue of our weekly Tips email newsletter.

Most of us work with Photoshop’s crop tool every day. Can this basic tool still hold any magic we haven’t already uncovered?

Popularity: 1% [?]

We’re posting a few early video tips from several years ago. This tip came from an unpublished tip from February 2006.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Here is a fun tip for anyone who happened to receive a new iPhone as a gift over the holiday. We’ve written up a short tutorial on how you can build and add your own custom ringtones using GarageBand.

GarageBand is a fun part of Apple’s iLife suite that sits untouched on most designer’s computers. If you’ve bought a new Macintosh recently, GarageBand is sitting quietly in your Applications folder waiting to be discovered.

Pick a few of your favorite MP3 files in your music collection, and use this technique to add a couple custom ringtones to your iPhone. Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]

Our sister tech blog, Make Mac Work, covers the technical side of supporting larger Macintosh networks in corporate environments.

This week, consultant Jordan Bojar collected some of his favorite free tools for Macintosh system administrators.

The list includes a lot of fairly geeky tools that won’t appeal to most of my design-centric readers. But if you have a Mac network geek in your life, pass this list on to them. They may find something to make their jobs easier.

We’ve got some pretty amazing Mac Administration tricks coming up in 2009. If you support larger Mac networks (or know someone that does) I’d recommend you add Make Mac Work to your RSS subscriptions list.

Make Mac Work: Free Utilities For Mac Admins. Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]

A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) provides 5-15 minutes of battery backup should your studio suffer a power outage. More importantly, a good UPS will correct common power problems and provide clean, sufficient, and consistent power for your Mac workstation.

We’ve seen increasing anecdotal evidence that Apple’s new Mac Pros can be especially sensitive to power issues. Adding an inexpensive UPS to your Mac workstation is becoming a standard recommendation for our clients.

Read the Full Tip »

Popularity: 1% [?]