Creating stunning print collateral for production is much different than designing for the web. Many industries can benefit from tools that allow the production of on-demand print reports, brand-consistent dynamic advertising, and variable data sublimated materials. This can be a challenging integration without the proper expertise in print production. A valuable print production platform will be able to generate print ready PDF documents in short order that are vibrant and engaging for readers.

Free Vector Maps and Country Outlines

March 27, 2008

This site has some great vector outlines of countries that are very useful for web/print design and reports.



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Searching for Stock Photography

February 18, 2008

Generally during a design project I will look to Getty Images or iStockphoto for photography to incorporate into the web site design. Getty hands down has the best image search feature available and I often uses their tools to distill the terms of my search even if I take those terms to another stock image site. A case in point is last month I was looking for photos of oil field workers for a client that is in hydraulic fracture stimulation.

I first turned to iStockphoto because they have better pricing and if a search there turns up some quality graphics, I save the client a few bucks. After seeing limited results for "oil field worker" and "oil worker", I eventually turned the terms of "worker" and "workman" to find the type of photos I required. When I enter the original terms into Getty's engine, it immediately retrieved the term "roughneck". Of course! Roughneck! I returned to iStockPhoto with the keyword "roughneck" which revealed more suitable images than I was able to find initially.