FAQs
Latest questions I received from clients & students and my answers to them.
August 31, 2021
Where do you get good fonts?
I have a ton to say about fonts and the evolving subscription versus buying individual fonts, but I will keep it short for now. If you have an Adobe Creative Suite license, you have a sound font library you can use for personal and professional use. However, some heavy-hitter fonts (like Frutiger and Palatino) are not in that library, and you must purchase them separately. I use Myfonts.com; they have the entire monotype library (linotype and other great fonts). They used to have an affordable subscription for solo designers, but no longer. Also, "renting" fonts is a bit difficult when designing material you will use repeatedly. Therefore, I think buying fonts in perpetuity is the best bet. Also, read all end-users licensing carefully no matter where you get or purchase your fonts. Another GREAT option is buying the Adobe Font Folio 11.1 library (which has linotype fonts). You can buy this collection for a fair price if you are a small business or are a department within government or education. Adobe does not sell Font Folio directly on their site (it’s an older product) but has authorized resellers such as Genesis Technologies (https://www.genesis-technologies.com).
August 1, 2021
What does my web developer mean about wireframing?
This is a phase of the web design process. Before a site can be developed with code, it is essential to mock up a blueprint of what content will go where. An agreed-upon wireframe of the site architecture and its pages is critical for the success of the web design process. Web designers do this after getting input from their clients; however, I encourage stakeholders to begin this process before they sit down with the developer.
August 1, 2021
We have only been using RGB colors for our company logo and website; how do we choose the best color match for printing?
This is something I get asked more and more from folks of smaller firms. Often, businesses or individuals have logos provided to them by outside designers and only have an RGB version in a jpeg or png format. The first question to ask is can you get your hands on the original design. If so, there is likely a CMKY (process color for print) or Pantone (color matching system) logo version. If not, you can ask the origin designer to choose one. If not, then you can assign these matches. The Pantone website and products can help you match. You can also manually input your own color in a graphics application, such as Adobe Illustrator. Please email me for my class tutorial on how to do this.