Thank you for subscribing to my email list! I am excited to share tips, tricks and of course FREE goodies with you!

Recommended Posts
My favorite aspect of design is fonts and typography! The possibilities are endless especially after learning how to download and install fonts. All fonts are unique and can easily set a good design or project apart from a bad design or project. By default every computer comes with standard fonts, but when it comes to design and making fun projects the default fonts are very limiting. There are thousands and thousands of fonts available to use online. They are easy to install and use which makes them even better! In this tutorial I will point you in the right direction to find new fonts, walk you though downloading and installing the fonts you have found, and making sure they work properly. Where to Get Fonts There are loads of places to download fonts. Some of my favorite places are: Dafont.com Font Squirrel Creative Market 1001 Free Fonts Font Space Please keep in mind when searching for the perfect font that there are different rules for every font. While most fonts are free for personal use, a lot of them require the purchase of a commercial licence if they will be used on a product that is being sold. Please make sure to do your research when using fonts for commercial purposes. Step by Step Instructions: How to Install a Font Step 1: With your browser navigate to a site with fonts. I am going to use Font Squirrel. Fine a font you would like and download it to your computer. For this tutorial I am going to download Open Sans. To get started click the Download button. Note: Some sites have multiple download buttons to ensure you are downloading the font file you are expecting hover over the download button and watch for some text to pop up in the bottom left corner of your browser window. Make sure that the first part of that text matches the site you are on. If the browser button that first part will not match the name of the website you are on.   Step 2: With a file browser navigate to where your download saved. Mine saved in my downloads folder.   Step 3: To extract the files right-click on the zip folder and select extract. A new window will appear like the image below. Use the browser button to adjust where the files will be extracted to. Once that is set to the correct place click the Extract button at the bottom right. Step 4: Navigate to where you just extracted the files. With all of the font files selected using your mouse right-click on one of the selected fonts. A menu will pop up. Towards the top of the menu click on the Install option. Step 5: After clicking the Install button the Installing Fonts window will momentarily pop up. Making Sure Your Font Installed There are several ways to make sure your font installed properly. Here are a few: The easiest and quickest way is to go to https://wordmark.it/. This website will pull up all of the fonts that are installed on your computer. It will even let you type in words or a phrase to see what it looks using the different fonts. You may have to install/enable cookies to see fonts that aren’t your default fonts (fonts that came on your computer). If you have Microsoft word you can open it up, type some text on the page and change it to the font you recently downloaded. Download a font organizing program like Nexus or SkyFont. The possibilities are endless after you find a few good fonts! They are easy to download and fun to play around with. What are you favorite fonts to use? What projects have you used new fonts for? [...] Read more...
Logo design is a big part of our ever day life even if we don’t always realize it. We see logos on the grocery’s we’ve purchased, appliances in our home, vehicles we travel around, billboards and stores we pass on the way to our destinations and websites we browse throughout the day. The logo mark is one of the most important parts of branding a company. Logos can tell your customs a lot about your company at a first glance. They are the best way for a company to build awareness, loyalty, and give customers an idea of what the company is about. 1. Keep Your Logo Simple Since we see logos everywhere all day long it is important to keep logos simple. For example it is much easier to memorize the title of a book vs the summary on the back. The title is easier to remember because it is short, simple and in most cases describes what the book is about. There is a lot to be said about simple logos. Simple logos are easier to remember and recognize from a distance. In the long run they are more likely to create a lasting impression. 2. Always Design in Black and White First One of the most important rules of logo design is if your logo looks good in black and white it will look better in color. Textures and colors may not always be visible when printed or applied to different mediums. Logos defendant on color or texture it will lose their recognition when printed in black and white. Deigning logos in black and white will also help keep focus on the overall design. 3. Design With Scale In Mind In today’s world logos are placed on a wide variety of mediums from products, receipts, marketing ads, mobile apps, websites, store fronts and billboards. It is important for logos to be legible whether they are put on something as small as a chap stick container or as large as a billboard. 4. Take Time to Sketch Your Ideas Now that we have some rules to follow get out a piece of paper, pencil, eraser and tracing paper. Even if you are terrible at drawing do your best. Sketch every logo design idea you can come up with even if it doesn’t seem like a good idea. Sketching all ideas will help clear your mind and come up with new ideas. Once several ideas have been drawn look at them and see if elements or concepts can be combined to create new versions of the logo. Tracing paper is very useful in this phase of the process. It allows you to trace an element or concept and put it over the top of other ideas to see if different ideas will work 5. Design Logos in Vector Having a vector version of your logo ensures that it will follow the scaling rule outlined in #4. Vector is different from pixels because unlike pixels vector is mathematically calculated so that no matter how large or small your logo is it will always have smooth lines. Vector file formats are AI (Adobe Illustrator), EPS, and SVG. Whether you design your own logo or have a designer create a logo for you make sure a vector version is provided. 6. Use Legible Typography Typography is an important part of logo design.  Make sure that the font(s) you choose match the demographic you are targeting. The font must be legible from a distance or when printed on a small product. Another aspect of typography is the spacing between letters. Make sure that your letters have enough spacing between them but not too much. Having the right amount of spacing increases legibility. Designing logos is a fun but challenging aspect of design. Good logos require a lot of  time, trial & error and strategy. Since logos are the initial face of a company having a simple, easy to read, and memorable logo will help create customer trust. Customer trust in turn results in a successful business. Following these 6 rules of logo design will put you on the path to designing a strong recognizable logo. View logos I have designed [...] Read more...
With Valentine’s Day around the corner I am always at a loss as to how to celebrate it. Having a tight budget and a young family makes it hard to exchange gifts or even go out to dinner some years. One of the simplest yet most effective Valentine’s Day gifts is a card with a love note or uplifting message. I had a co-worker that told me her and her husband decided that instead of spending money they didn’t have on Valentine’s Day they each picked out a nice Valentine’s Day card once and just exchange the same card every year with a new note on a separate piece of paper inside it. What a brilliant idea! Just think if you faithfully wrote a yearly note and saved it in the card. Over time wouldn’t it be so cool to get lots of love notes from over the years? It always feels good to receive a hand written love notes or cards. Cards are also the perfect way to express love and appreciation while on a budget. Sometimes with the chaos of life and kids it is hard to make a handmade Valentine’s Day card. In an attempt to try to make Valentine’s Day easier for myself I designed these free printable Valentine’s Day cards! How They Work These cards can be easily printed a home or at a print shop like Kinkos (Fedex) or Staples if you want a higher quality print. Printing them on card-stock paper would make them feel a little sturdier and feel more like an actual card, but any paper will work. These Valentine’s Day Cards are designed to not take up too much ink, but still look cute and thoughtful. The cards are in 3 separate PDF files. After these cards are printed and folded they are a 5×7 card. Card #1 & #2 are basic 5×7 cards. Once they are cut out, fold them in half and they are ready to use. Card #3 is a tri-fold card. It will take a little bit more effort to make, but turns out super cute! Using the guide marks on the margins of the card fold the two sides into the middle of the card. Once the card is cut out fold the 2 sides into the middle. A second page of hearts is provided. Cut out the hearts and glue them along the right side of the outside of the card. Downloading the cards is easy! After filling out your name and email an email will be sent to the address provided with a link to your FREE printable Valentine’s Day cards! Get all 3 printable Valentine’s Day cards and other FREE goodies delivered right to your inbox! * indicates required First Name * Email Address *     [...] Read more...