First, when WordPress offers an updated version of their software, don’t hesitate to download it and begin using it immediately. Yes, we know that WordPress may release a version that may have security holes, but usually those holes are discovered within 48 hours (at least, that’s been our experience). They then release another version that usually remedies the situation. The latest version is 2.8.4, and it works beautifully if you haven’t yet been hacked.

Secondly, always – and we mean always – back up your site before you upgrade to a new version of WordPress. The past couple versions have been problematic for some people, because images were lost or uploaded images were forgotten in backups and code has been generated between new WordPress upgrades and some servers that has baffled people until simple solutions remedied the situation.

We realize that many people who use WordPress are not programmers. So, backups may seem confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with MySQL. A simple tutorial on how to backup your database(s) is offered by WordPress. Another tutorial on how to restore that database from a backup is easy to understand as well. Additionally, we’ve learned that a backup of the database is not all there is to saving everything on your site.

For instance, you may have uploaded PDF files, images and other items onto your server. In some cases, the database backup can be strengthened by downloading your entire Web site via FTP, if you have access to those files. The FTP download will assure you that you have every bit of information that you uploaded onto that site over the months (or years, etc.).

Finally, from what we understand, if you do not upgrade a site to WordPress 2.8.4, your site may be subject to an attack by a worm that registers a user, uses a security bug to allow evaluated code to execute through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users’ pages. It then attempts to clean up and goes quiet while it inserts hidden span and malware into your old posts.

You may first notice the problem if links begin to stop working and – worse – when Google removes your site for containing malware and spam.

But, this worm also looks for typical folder names. So, you might think about changing the name of your uploads folder to ‘fool’ the worm into thinking you have nothing of interest. It seems – from our experiences (yes, we have had more than one incident) – that this worm (or another worm) likes to habitat or mess with the uploads folder, where you store images that you upload to WordPress through the site upload function.

Lastly, be aware that when you upload or restore your site, you may also be uploaded files that have been damaged by a hacker’s attack. Be careful about what you open up on your hard drive and be careful about what you restore to your site. In most recent cases that we’ve heard about, however, the site seems to be clean once the new WordPress version is installed and the database is restored.

Moving forward, there are a few steps you can take to rest assured that something like what happened to us doesn’t happen again.

• First, there are WordPress plugins that build a ‘firewall’ around your site and that warn you when attempts are made to hack your database. This WordPress Firewall Plugin Security Filter not only warns you about an attempted attack, it also tells you where the attack has originated and the type of attack that was attempted.

That’s just one of many new plugins that you can use to detect attacks and to block them. In most cases, if you don’t want to know about the attacks, then you can turn off the notices. But, you can rest easier knowing that an attempt to mess up your site has been thwarted.

• Secondly, back up your site at least weekly. This way, you’ve only lost a week’s worth of blog entries if anything. You can do an automated backup if that’s your cup of tea, and you can have that backup emailed to you. Be forewarned, though, that your backup may be corrupted. Therefore, it’s a wise idea to save several weeks’ worth of backups in case you discover a problem.

At Worldlabel, our focus is on labels. We offer this blog as a way to help you learn how to use labels to your advantage in the least expensive way possible. We hope to keep meeting our goal in an effort to help you, so please forgive us for our lack of attention to all things hacker. The images and PDF files will be restored (we did do something right!), but, in the process, we also are fulfilling label orders – which is the most important process for our customers.

Primary Colours

The three primary colours are red, yellow and blue. These are the base colours that every other colour on the colour wheel is produced from.

Secondary Colours

Mix two primary colours together and you’ll get a secondary colour. So, if you mix red and yellow and you’ll get the secondary colour orange. Likewise, yellow and blue will give you the secondary of green.

Tertiary Colours

Mix together a primary and a secondary and you’ll end up with a tertiary colour, and there are countless variations that make up the huge spectrum of colours we see.

Warm and Cool Colours

The colour wheel is divided into two halves, warm and cool colours. Generally speaking warm colours are more upbeat and energetic, while cool colours are calmer and more soothing.

Examples of warm colours are orange and yellow. Whereas examples of cool colours are blue and green.

COMBINING COLORS

Notice how the three primaries appear in a triangulated position on the colour wheel, with the secondary colours in between. The colour wheel can be a handy tool when developing simple colour schemes.

Complimentary Colours

A complimentary colour scheme is a selection of two colours from each end of the wheel, for instance red and green. Despite the word complimentary, they look pretty terrible if used together, as the extremely high contrast produces some garish effects.

Analogous Colours

Analogous colours on the other hand, are colours that appear next to each other on the wheel. Taking a colour scheme of analogous colours is a great start to any design, as they harmonize really well.

Triadic Colours

As you might guess, triadic colours take three samples from the colour wheel that are equally spaced. Triadic colours are quite vibrant, and often troublesome to work with due to their high contrast.

Split Complimentary Colours

As with complimentary colour schemes, a split complimentary takes samples from opposite ends of the colour wheel, but with the split not being directly adjacent, there’s less contrast and tension.

COLOUR TINTS | SHADES AND TONES

Each colour also has a range of variations depending on its tint, shade or tone. A tint is when white is added to the colour, making it increasingly lighter. Tints can produce bright pastel colours that are easy on the eye.

Shades are when black is added to the colour, and produces darker versions of the colour.

Tones are when grey is mixed with the colour, which takes away the colour value making it more neutral.

COLOR MODES
Depending on the nature of the design you’re working on, you’ll either be working in RGB, CMYK, or even using Pantone Colours.

RGB colours are used when the design is viewed on screen, such as a website or computer application. The colours are produced by the mix of red, blue and green lights inside the monitor.

CMYK colour refers to the four inks used in the printing process. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black inks are mixed together to form a wide spectrum of colour.

Pantone colours are a collection of pre-mixed colours, unlike CMYK printing, the colour reproduction is exact, and are pure in colour.

We hope this introduction to the basics of colour gives you a head start when producing your upcoming design work!

This tutorial will demonstrate how to create a business card template using Inkscape. The steps in this tutorial will work for Inkscape versions 0.46 and 0.47.

1. Creating The Template
   1. Importing the PDF template
   2. Converting to Guides
   3. Configuring Snapping
   4. Creating the Rectangle
   5. Creating the Clones
2. A Sample Business Card Design
   1. Creating the Background Gradient
   2. Creating the Background Pattern
   3. Adding Text

Creating The Template

Importing the PDF template

For the purposes of this tutorial, the stock for our business cards we will be the Worldlabel 3.5″ x 2″ Business Card.

Download the PDF template from the Worldlabel website: http://www.worldlabel.com/Templates/wl-ol244PDF.htm.

Launch Inkscape, and open up the PDF template using the File > Open... menu item. After opening up the file, the PDF Import Settings dialog box will appear. As illustrated below, use the default settings and press OK.

Your document should now have the template visible, similar to the image below. Now, go to File > Save As... and save your document in the native Inkscape format, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics).

1.2. Converting to Guides

The next step is to convert the lines that make up the template into Inkscape guides. The template object that was imported from the PDF may be in a group. To convert the template to guides, we first need to ungroup the lines that make up the template. Go to Edit > Select All to select all the objects, then choose Object > Ungroup twice. The document should look similar to this:

Now, keep the lines selected, and choose Object > Objects To Guides from the menu. The original black lines have now been replaced with blue guide lines:

The next step is to double check the Inkscape’s snapping preferences.

1.3.1. Configuring Snapping for Inkscape 0.46

Open up the Document Properties dialog by going to File > Document Properties... in the menu. Select the Snap tab and configure the preferences as per the screenshot below:

With these preferences configured properly, when an object is moved or resized near the guides, the object should “snap” cleanly to the edge of the guide(s).

1.3.2. Configuring Snapping for Inkscape 0.47

Open up the Document Properties dialog by going to File > Document Properties... in the menu. Select the Snap tab and configure the preferences as per the screenshot below:

The main difference in Inkscape 0.47 is that a Snap Controls Bar was introduced. It is essentially a bar of toggle controls that control the snapping options. Having the buttons toggled as per the following screenshot will create the snapping behavior needed for this tutorial:

1.4. Creating the Rectangle

1. Select the Rectangle tool from the Inkscape Toolbox on the left hand side of the main Inkscape window.

   

2. Draw a small rectangle on the canvas within the guides of the top left Business Card area of the template.

   

3. Choose the Select tool from the tool box, and select the rectangle that you drew with it. The rectangle should have arrows around it like the following screenshot:

   

4. Resize the rectangle to fit the business card shape defined by the guides. While resizing, the rectangle should automatically snap out to the inner edges of the guides.

   

   

5. For the clones that we are going to create to function properly, our rectangle needs to be in a group. Select the rectangle using the Select tool.

   

   Now place the rectangle into a group with Object > Group from the menu. The statusbar at the bottom of the Inkscape window should now read:

   Group of 1 object in layer OL244. Click selection to toggle scale/rotation handles.

1. Select the rectangle (which is actually a group), and create a clone of it using Edit > Clone > Create Clone from the menu. This will create a linked clone of the object. Make sure the clone is selected by checking the statusbar for the following message:

   Clone Of: Group of 1 object in layer OL244. Use Shift + D to look up original.

2. Now move the newly created clone to another business card slot on the template. The clone should snap cleanly into place:

   

3. Go back to the original rectangle that was created, and repeat the cloning process until all 10 slots of the template have rectangles in them. Try to always keep the original rectangle in the top left slot of the template.

   

   

   When you have finished this step, the document should look like the following screenshot:

   

4. Now check that the clones have been created correctly by entering the group, and changing the color of the rectangle. First, select the original (it should still be in the top left slot) and double click on it to enter the group. After double clicking, the selection cues (the bounding box and arrows) will disappear. Click on the rectangle again and the statusbar message should have changed to: (the “#G1234″ value will be different):

   Rectangle in layer #G1234

   Now change the color of the rectangle using the palette at the bottom of the screen. If the clones have been created properly, the color of every object should change automatically.

   

   

2. A Sample Business Card Design

The second section of this tutorial will outline a sample process for using the newly created template to Design a Business Card.

2.1. Creating the Background Gradient

As was done in the final step of creating the template, select the original (it should still be in the top left slot) and double click on it to enter the group. After double clicking, the selection cues (the bounding box and arrows) will disappear. Click on the rectangle again and the statusbar message should have changed to: (the “#G1234″ value will be different):

Rectangle in layer #G1234

Now, select the gradient tool from the toolbar:

Now, click and drag a line on the rectangle, creating the gradient:

Click on the top node of the gradient. (This selects the node, making it blue like the screenshot below).

Open the Fill / Stroke dialog (Object > Fill / Stroke from the menu), and choose the fill color for the top node of your gradient. (in this example, the color that is used is #cc0000ff)

The gradient color will have changed:

Follow the same process, and change the color for the bottom node of the gradient (in this example, the bottom color that is used is #a40000ff). The canvas should look like:

2.2. Creating the Background Pattern

In the next step, a striped background pattern will be added to the business card.

Choose the select tool from the tool bar:

Next, duplicate the rectangle (Edit > Duplicate from the menus), and open the Fill / Stroke dialog again. In the Fill / Stroke dialog, choose the pattern fill type, and set the pattern to “Stripes 1:1 White”. In the same dialog, set the “Opacity (%)” slider at the bottom to 10%:

The result will look similar to:

2.3. Adding Text

The final step in the business card design is to add text.

Select the Text Tool from the side Toolbar:

Click once on the canvas to insert an unflowed text object, and type in some text.

After entering in the text, choose the select tool, and use the arrows that surround the text object to resize it.

The letters in an unflowed text object can be manually kerned. Choose the Text tool again and place the cursor between the letters that need to be moved. Next, hold down the ALT key, and press an Arrow key. Use this technique to manually fine tune the position of the letters:

Repeat this process to add multiple text objects to fill out the business card:

Finally, zoom out, and admire the finished business cards, ready to be printed.

Author is Ryan Lerch of http://ryanler.wordpress.com/

One of summer’s pleasures is its abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. If you’re the grower, then along with the joy of eating summer’s bounty is the responsibility of making sure nothing goes to waste. Because we often harvest more than we can eat, canning is a common way to store summer foods for use later that year. After all, who doesn’t love receiving a nicely wrapped can of home-grown tomatoes or a jar of fresh strawberry jam?

For home canners with modest graphic design skills, such gifts can be easily enhanced by the addition of custom labels. Following in the fine tradition of labels from the past, designing your own label is simple to do and adds a lot when personalizing your presentation.

A few years ago while visiting my friend Tom Sims in Portland, Oregon, I was asked if I could help design a label for a batch of garlic dill pickles he was putting up. Figuring I’d be repaid in crunchy dills, I jumped at the opportunity.

Choosing the Label

The first step is to make a quick survey of possible labels, and choose the one best suited for the job. For this project I chose World Label’s WL-OL150 shipping labels, which measures 4 x 3.33 inches. My next step was to do some research on the history of fruit labels. Typing “Vintage fruit labels” into Google’s search field brought up hundreds of images of old-time labels. After a quick study of the genre, I was ready to begin designing Tom’s label.

I decided that a picture of Oregon’s famous Mt. Hood would make a great visual for the pickle label. For the image I went to my favorite source of free images, MorgueFile.com. There, I found just what I was looking for (Figure 1).

Figure 1: this photo of Mt. Hood and Lost Lake would be perfect for my label

To make the Mt. Hood image match the style of those vintage labels I’d seen, I used a Posterize adjustment layer in Photoshop. Posterize takes the millions of colors we normally see in an image and converts them to a handful. For the Mt. Hood image I experimented and found that eight levels of color worked best (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Posterization of Mt. Hood

Afterward, I softened the entire effect by applying a slight Gaussian Blur. Before applying the blur I converted the layer to a Smart Layer by choosing Filter > Convert for Smart Filters (Figures 3 and 4).

Converting an image for Smart Filters turns it into a Smart Object. Smart Objects keeps a non-destructive copy of your file in its original state, which allows you to adjust the intensity of a filter (in this case the Gaussian Blur) even after the file has been saved, an important step when making creative choices.

Building the Label

Next we’ll build one label in InDesign using our posterized image of Mt. Hood and Lost Lake. In InDesign go to File > New > Document. In the New Document dialog box, create a document that’s the size of one label in the WL-OL150 World Label template (Figure 5).

Format your type and label size

According to information on the website, the dimensions for each label are 4 in wide by 3.333 inches high.

Once you’ve created your document, choose File > Place from inside of InDesign, and navigate to the posterized file named Lost_Lake.psd. With the image loaded in the InDesign place gun, click once to place the image on the page at 100-percent size.

Afterward, use the standard InDesign tools (black and white arrows) to move or scale the image into proper position on the page.

Add the Type

After the image has been placed and scaled into position, it’s time to add type Click and drag with the Type tool (press letter T on your keyboard to access the tool) to create a text frame. With the text cursor blinking, type in whatever information you want to appear on top of the background image

Format your type using InDesign’s standard type formatting tools for fonts, size, leading, and alignment (Figure 5). For a more detailed explanation of these tools refer to page 50 in my book, Professional Design Techniques with Adobe Creative Suite 3 (Adobe Press, 2008). Take advantage of the Optical Kerning feature of InDesign to insure that letter spacing is even and consistent throughout your type.

Add your type

To create curved type as I’ve done you have several options. One is to set type on a path in InDesign. Alternately, the same effect could be achieved by creating curved type in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. Only experimentation will tell you which method works best.

Finally, save your layout and name it MyLabel.indd. Now close the open window.

Creating the final labels

The last step is to import the label we just created and lay it out on the WL-OL150 template page. From the InDesign File menu, choose New > Document. Create a one page US letter size document with all four margins set to zero.

Again, from the File menu choose Place, and navigate to the World Label WL-OL150 pdf template. Click to place the template so that the edges of the template align with the edges of your page. Open the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and click to lock the template layer. This will prevent it from being selected accidentally.

Click on the Create New Layer icon at the base of the Layers panel to create a new, unlocked, layer. Drag this layer beneath the locked template layer so you can make sure your artwork goes slightly beyond the perimeter of the label wherever possible.

Label layout

With the new layer targeted, go to File > Place and select the InDesign MyLabel. indd file. (Note: placing an InDesign document into another InDesign document only works with InDesign CS3 and above. If you’re working with an older version of InDesign you’ll have to export your label first as a PDF before trying to place it into a new document.) Position the label so it aligns precisely with the upper left area of the template. Once in place, drag the label holding the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and Shift keys to copy the first label into the upper right corner.

With the top two labels in place, select both and Alt/Option drag another pair downward to the next row. Repeat this process one more time to complete the template (Figure 7).

When it’s time to print, just make sure to hide the locked template layer. Test for alignment by printing first on plain paper. Once you know everything is correctly positioned, replace the plain paper with your World Label labels and start printing!

by Scott Citron, Adobe Certified Expert, InDesign

Visit Worldlabel.com to check out all our popular size labels

Supplies:

• Stamp set (I used Dream Silhouettes by Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
• Rubber Brayer (for info about brayers visit this site)
• Worldlabel (or other brand) mailing labels: any size will do really, but for this particular card I used 1″x 2 5/8″ inkjet mailing labels
• Kaleidacolor Ink pad by Tsukineko (I used Royal Satin) or other spectrum type pad (a solid color would work too if you don’t have the other kinds)
• Black Ink (I used Memento Tuxedo Black by Tsukineko)
• Cardstock: neutral and various colors to coordinate with your ink Embellishments

Step 1. Stamp images in black ink DIRECTLY on sheet of Worldlabel (or other) mailing labels. I stamped my images across four labels as you can see here.

Step 2. Ink up your brayer with the Kaleidacolor ink being sure to lift your brayer with each pass. Don’t just roll it back and forth because you won’t get even ink coverage.

Step 3. Roll inked brayer over your stamped labels starting with the label just before or after your stamped labels again lifting your brayer to be sure you get even ink coverage. If you don’t start with the label before or after your stamped image you may get unwanted lines from your starting or ending point.

Step 4. Peel off your stamped, brayered labels and adhere them to your neutral cardstock matte being careful to line them up properly.

Step 5. Trim, mount and decorate your card as desired

by Korin Sutherland of Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps
All images copyright Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps.

Visit Worldlabel.com and check out the selection of Laser and Inkjet labels.

]]> http://blog.worldlabel.com/2009/how-to-create-brayered-labels-cards-by-korin-sutherland.html/feed 0 http://blog.worldlabel.com/2009/how-to-remove-labels-from-boxes-and-jars.html http://blog.worldlabel.com/2009/how-to-remove-labels-from-boxes-and-jars.html#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:00:59 +0000 wlmanager http://blog.worldlabel.com/?p=2237 Do you like to recycle boxes and jars? If you do, you probably have been through the “I’ve gotta remove this label” routine at least once. You don’t want others to know your address if you reuse a box for mailing, and you want to use new labels on jars that you reuse for canning or storage. To help you out, we’ve included some tips below that will make this label-removing task a bit easier for you.

Boxes

The most meticulous job we’ve seen on removing labels from boxes was from Chica and Joe. They have the task of removing labels from boxes down to a ‘T.’ They will show you, step by step, how to use an eXacto knife to remove labels, logos and anything else you want to remove from boxes.

But, if you’re afraid of sharp knives, the next best way to remove a label from a cardboard box is to use paint thinner (a non-flammable, “unaggressive” solvent). Use a brush to lightly cover the label, and the liquid will liquify the glue that holds the label to the box. Allow the thinner to get under the edges of the label, so when it dries (in about two minutes), you can peel the label right off.

If the label is covered with tape, then you’ll need to resort to a knife again, according to the Idea Bank. To get away from paint thinner and knives, try what this thrifty woman did – she used her blow dryer to make the glue soft, and she peeled the label off immediately.

Jars and Bottles

The following information had us rolling in the floor laughing. We laughed at the means used to remove the labels, but we also had to laugh about how the labels were attached to the jars in the first place. If something is this difficult to remove, why? And, does anyone get really attached to their job at the label-attaching part of the factory?

1. The first solution is simple. Just wash the jar with the label on and dry it totally. Then, place the jar between your legs and blow dry the heck out of it. We suggest two things: Wear a towel between the jar and your legs, because that jar will get hot; and, wear gloves for the same reason.
2. The second solution applies our suggestion and uses a towel between the legs. This method is exactly like the one above, but, then – “Spread a thin layer of peanut butter over any remaining label and glue. Allow the oils of the peanut butter to penetrate the glue and paper for about 30 minutes.” Once the peanut butter (even recalled varieties, by the way) has dried, then “scrub the peanut butter off with a piece of steel wool and watch your recycled jars come clean.”

Frankly, there is no easy way to remove labels from many jars, but we like this suggestion because we know it’s true. Don’t ever remove the label before you remove the glue – you’ll really have a mess on your hands then.

Good luck!

Although I no longer bother to print letterhead or envelopes for my design business (thank you, email!), I’d be lost without a business card. Not only are business cards still traded in the real world, but often it’s the business card itself that helps generate business. Plus, if you’re a graphic designer like me, having a good looking card acts like a mini-portfolio of your skills.

With this in mind, in this tutorial I’ll show how simple it really is to create an effective card that will impress potential clients and help them to remember your name. All this with just a small rectangle of paper. Here goes.

Although business cards often come in many shapes and sizes, for this exercise we’re assuming you want to create a standard U.S. cards measuring 31/2 x 2 inches. Before we get to working with the WL-OL244 template (Download the Template [PDF]), we’ll start by creating one card only. Once we’re happy with the card I’ll show you how to bring it into the eight-up template.

by Scott Citron

Start by opening any version of Adobe InDesign. From the File menu choose New Document. In the New Document dialog, make your settings match mine below.

If the measurements I used are confusing or don’t match yours, that’s okay. I’m working in Picas (12 points per pica; 6 picas equal 1 inch), which is InDesign’s default measurement system. Fortunately, you can use any measurement system you want (inches, millimeters, agates). Simply type in the value, remembering to add after the amount i for inches, mm for millimeters, and so on. InDesign will accept the value and translate it to the application default setting.

In my case I typed in 3.5i for the width and 2i for the height. InDesign converted these values to 21p x 12p, which is the same size in Picas. By the way, to avoid this step altogether, just go to the InDesign Preferences and choose Units & Increments. If you do this with no open documents, InDesign will remember your preferences and from now on apply it to all new documents. From here click the OK button to create the document.

For my card I’ve decided on a gray background, which will lend a cool and sophisticated feel to the design. Because we don’t want to accidentally select the background once we’ve created it, we’ll put in on a Master Page. Items placed on Master Pages are locked by default and can’t be overridden without apply a specific command. From the Pages panel, double click on the A-Master icon.

Choose the Rectangle Frame Tool, and draw a rectangle that covers the entire page. Start at the upper left corner and drag down to the lower right corner. With the frame still selected, open the Swatches panel and click on the default Black swatch, which will flood your frame with 100 percent black. With the frame still selected, go to Swatches panel menu in the upper right corner. From the fly-out menu choose New Tint Swatch. Create and add a 50 percent black tint and a 30 percent black tint swatch. Click OK to close the dialog.

Now click the [Black] 50 percent swatch to apply it to the card background. When you’re done, double-click the Page 1 icon in the Pages panel. (Note: this is a very important step. If you forget to return to page 1 all your work will end up on the A-Master page, which, although not fatal, will make you crazy later on. Trust me. I’ve done it many times!)

Now that we’re back on page 1, we’ll set up a simple grid that will help organize what comes next. From the Layout menu, choose Create Grid. In this dialog set the number of rows and columns to three. Both gutters (the space between rows or columns) should be zero.

A moment first about the grid. Whether you use grids or not is up to you. Many great works of art were created without grids, but for those learning their way in graphic design, a grid like this is a good practice to follow. When we’re done you’ll see that the design will hew very close to the grid, which will provide continuity and structure to your design. For more information about grids, consult books on photography for the “Rule

of Thirds.” I also cover grids from a historical perspective starting on page 10 of my book, Professional Design Techniques with Adobe Creative Suite 3 (Adobe Press 2008).

The next element will be a large letter C, which will act as a graphic anchor to my design. A key component to good design is the element of contrast and balance. Simply put, a business card where everything is the same size and color is boring. This doesn’t mean you want every element a different color and size (well, you might, but that’s a different story), but by adding some variation your business card will look less passive and more active.

With the Type Tool, draw a large frame on the InDesign pasteboard. With the cursor blinking, type the first letter of your last name. I used uppercase, but you could also try a lowercase initial. Afterward, highlight the initial and change its size to about 225 points. This will probably cause the letter to disappear because it’s too big for its frame.

Type that doesn’t fit in a text frame is know as overset. If this happens to you, simply enlarge the frame with the Selection tool (black arrow) until the letter reappears. Continue using the selection tool to now position the inital cap to your liking. In my case I allowed the cap to bleed slightly off the top, bottom, and left edge of the card. From a design perspective, doing so helps to lead your eye off the page, which counters the boxy quality of working with, and inside of, rectanges.

At this point, experiment with applying different colors to your initial cap. Even though I chose to stay within a black and white theme, I still had trouble deciding whether to make my C black, white, or a shade of gray. For now I went with black.

I also chose Minion Pro Regular for my typeface. Of course, there are tens of thousands of beautiful fonts these days. Because there are so many, choosing the right one is often a difficult task. What’s important in choosing a font, is being sensitive to its personality. Fonts can be serious, playful, conservative, cutting-edge, bashful, or loud. Which

one you choose says a lot about how you see yourself and how you’ll be seen by others.

When in doubt, stick with tried and true fonts that have withstood the test of time. Minion is such a font. Others might be Futura, Bodoni, Baskerville, Univers, Caslon, Garamond, or many more. Like a simple black suit or dress, classical typefaces go with anything.

Next up is the rest of the card’s information. Continuing with Minion, I roughed in my address, telephone, and email information. Depending on your card you might want to add your name and title or position. Since my business is my name, I decided not to include my name on the card. See below.

Do you see how both the SCOTT CITRON | DESIGN and 112 W 27th St #700 lines both hang from the two ruler guides we created earlier? Although not intentional, it’s curious how both text blocks just naturally felt more comfortable at those intersections.

A few additional points worth mentioning. To give my company name a bit more elegance, I applied 140 pts of tracking to the text. This is done by highlighting all three words (SCOTT CITRON DESIGN) and nudging the amount using the keyboard shortcut of Alt/Option + Right Cursor Arrow. Tracking can also be set using the tracking field in the Control Panel, below.

Also, the vertical line (known as the pipe character and found under the delete key on a Macintosh) sat a little low when originally inserted. To bring it up, I highlighted the character and applied a 1 pt baseline shift. Often the at sign (@) in one’s email address sits too high and needs, by the same token, to be baseline shifted downward a touch. Regardless, it’s this kind of attention to detail that separates good typesetting from great typesetting.

Lastly, do you notice how all the numbers on the card look a little different, with many of them hanging below the baseline of the font? These numbers (known technically as figures in typography) are classified as Proportional Old Style. Not all fonts have proportional old style figures, but Minion Pro does. To access these figures, first type them normally. Afterward, highlight the figures (these are, by the way, known as proportional lining figures) and click on the fly-out menu in the InDesign Control Panel. There you’ll see an OpenType submenu.

Although I don’t have time to go into detail here about OpenType, suffice it to say that OpenType fonts, particularly those with the word Pro at the end, tend to have extended character sets which often include proportional old style figures.

When you’re done tweaking your type and layout, don’t forget to evaluate it in Preview mode (View > Screen Mode > Preview). Preview mode will hide all invisible guides and frames, allowing you to concentrate on the design itself. Preview also hides anything bleeding off the page edges like, in my case, the big C on the left.

Now that one card is done, laying out eight up on a page using the WL-OL244 template is a breeze. To do so, follow these steps…

From the File menu choose Adobe PDF Presets > High Quality Print. After choosing where to save your PDF, make your Export to PDF settings match mine.

Assuming your PDF looks right, create a new, letter-size document in InDesign following the settings below.

In the new document, double-click on the A-Master page. Go to File >

Place and navigate to wherever on your computer you’ve stored the eightup template, titled OL244.pdf. Click to place the template on your master page, making sure it lines up properly with your pre-set margins.

With the template still selected, choose Window > Attributes. In the Attributes panel click to select the Nonprinting checkbox. Doing so will insure that the guide lines act only as a reference, and won’t end up on the final output. As a further confirmation that nonprinting items are in fact nonprinting, notice how these items disappear when viewing your work in Preview mode (View > Screen Mode > Preview).

Next, double-click on page 1 of your Pages panel. By putting the template on the A-Master page you’ve automatically locked it, as well. Now is the time to place the eight cards.

1. From the File menu choose Place.
2. Navigate to the PDF you created of your single business card.
3. Click to place the PDF in the upper left corner of your template grid, making sure the card’s frame is exactly the same size as the card (31/2 x 2 inches).
4. Select the card with the black Selection tool. Holding the Alt/Option key, begin to drag the card to the right. As you drag, add a finger to the Shift key to constrain your drag so it goes straight across. Release the card when it snaps into place in the upper right box of the template.
5. Click to select the top two cards.
6. Again, holding Alt/Option, drag copies of the two cards downward, adding the Shift key as you drag.
7. Release the cards when cards 3 and 4 snap into place. You should how have four cards on the page, all touching edge to edge.
8. To repeat what you just did, choose Object > Transform Again. You should now have six cards.
9. Choose Object > Transform Again one more time. You should now have eight cards on the page, or “eight up.”

Now that all the cards are placed, you’re ready to print. You can either print from this document, or create one more PDF (File > Export > PDF) and print from the eight-up PDF. Either way yields the same results.

My recommendation is to do a test print using normal paper, before printing on the Worldlabel WL-OL244 template stock. This will give you a chance to make sure everything is properly lined up before wasting valuable template stock.

Assuming everything goes well in your test, you should then replace your normal printing paper with the template stock. From there you’re home free!

By Scott Citron of scottcitrondesign.com

Blank labels for Wine Bottles on US letter size paper are available from WordLabel.com with a permanent acrylic adhesive backing and being printable by every day laser and inkjet printers. Let’s take a look at designing our own Wine Label in Adobe Illustrator.

For this project, we’ll be using the WL-OL475 sized label which is perfect for 750ml wine bottles. Download the EPS template and open it up in Adobe Illustrator.

The key to any good design is a suitable color scheme. Draw out a group of swatches to base the design around.

Fill the background of the label using a light beige color.

Copy (CMD+C) and Paste (CMD+F) the background rectangle back into place, then draw a separate shape covering two thirds of the object. With both objects selected use the Pathfinder Subtract from Shape Area option to trim down the rectangle to a thin strip. Add a darker color, along with a subtle highlight using the Gradient Mesh Tool.

Draw a thin rectangle across the width of the label, align it with the top of the colored strip and give it a slightly lighter fill to act as a border.

Drag in guides from the edge of the artboard to provide a 10mm margin around the edge of the label. Also draw a guide to highlight the center line.

Write out the name of your wine in your chosen font, here I’m using the classic Bodoni typeface to give a sophisticated appearance. Pay attention to the tracking and kerning of the letters to give the perfect layout. Add a fill that compliments the color scheme of the label.

Continue adding the secondary details on to the label, using the same typeface at a smaller size and wider tracking helps balance out the words. Set any secondary text in a lighter color to provide main focus to the important elements.

Lay out the text according to the grid lines to provide structure to the label design. A variation in size and weight can provide variation to the typographic elements.

Ornamental swirls tie into the upmarket and sophisticated theme; download a vector resource from a site such as FreeVectors.net and use it on your label. Position the element onto the design so that it flows in from the label edges. Choose a slightly darker shade of the label color so that the ornament sits subtly in the background. Use the shortcuts CMD+[ and CMD+] to adjust the stacking order of the objects.

To trim down the overlapping area of the ornament duplicate the background label and position it on top. Select both the rectangle and the ornament and use the Pathfinder to crop down the shape to the outline of the label.

The label design is complete, so select all the elements and Group them together. Select all the text and go to Type > Create Outlines to render the fonts as shapes.

Duplicate the label onto the template and accurately move into position. Save the design as an EPS, PDF or high resolution JPEG, and it’s ready for printing.

by Chris Spooner of spoongraphics.co.uk

Resources:

Understanding Wine labels
Design your color palettes
Worldlabel.com’s Bottle Labels
Free illustrator alternative Inkscape Wine Library Network

To follow this how-to, open the blank business card template. This template is standard size business card 3.5″ x 2″ and you can use our WL-OL244 to print it.

Place your cursor in first field, choose then > Insert > Picture > From File. Move the image to the desired position by left clicking on the image and dragging it. Once in position, right click on image and choose Copy. Place then the cursor in the next field to the right and paste the copied image using the Ctrl + V keyboard shortcut. This insets the image in the exact same spot as in the first field. Repeat this action for the rest of the fields.

Now we want to enhance the business card with some graphics. Go to View > Tool bars and select Draw. You should see the following window pop-up at bottom of User Interface:

Select Rectangle, create the desired shape and then move the rectangular graphic to desired position by left clicking and dragging. Right-click on graphic > Area and choose a color you want. Use the copy/paste technique described above for the rest of the template.

Back to the Draw tool bar, select Text and create the desired size text box.

Enter your information. Use options available in the Formatting toolbar to specify the desired font type and size. To change the font color, highlight text and choose > Format > Characters > Font effects. To edit the effect of the background of the text box, right click on it > Area

For this business card design we used Light grey > Gradient: From: Light Grey to To: White at 105 degree angle

Right click on text box > Copy, place cursor in next field and choose Paste (or use the Ctrl+V shortcut). Repeat this for other fields.

> PRINT.

Here is the predesigned business card template openoffice. Please feel free to modify it using the described techniques.

There are certain steps to follow no matter which printer you own. First, collect a soft cloth, cleaning fluid made for plastic (water is the best) and find your printer manual. Your manufacturer may provide specific instructions for cleaning your printer. If so, you can stop reading now. Otherwise, continue to learn how to make your printer look and act like new.

No matter which printer you use, ink-jet or laser, you’ll need to turn off that printer. You can take the extra step of unplugging the printer as well. Then, dampen the cloth with water and wipe the outside of the printer. Make sure you don’t drip water inside your printer.

Now for the steps to take for the specific printers:

Ink-Jet Printer: Cleaning Cartridges or Ink Nozzles

1. Use the cleaning process on your printer if your computer has that option. Click on “start > “printers and faxes.”
2. Open the printer software by double-clicking on a printer icon or by right-clicking on the printer icon.
3. Click a button labeled Options, Troubleshooting, Clean Print Cartridges, Toolbox, Printer Utilities or something similar (This varies by manufacturer.)
4. Click a button labeled Head Cleaning, Run Nozzle Check, Clean Print Cartridges or something similar to begin the process.
5. Follow the instructions on your screen.
6. Repeat the cleaning process if the results aren’t satisfactory.

Some ink-jet printers don’t have this option. In that case, follow some of the tips below:

More tips

• On some inkjet printers (HP’s for instance) the ink cartridge contains the print head, so changing the cartridge gives you a new, unclogged printhead.
• An Epson’s print head is part of the printer itself, and can only be replaced by a service technician, and the cost is usually very close to the price of the printer itself.
• Isopropyl alcohol is a great solvent for dried ink.
• Soak the base of the cartridge in WD-40 to see if it can work again for you.
• Use tweezers and/or compressed air to clear out the debris and paper snips from inside your printer.
• If you refill an inkjet cartridge, you should clean the cartridge nozzles immediately after the refilled cartridge has been reinstalled.
• Read this article by Northlight Images to learn more.

Laser Printer

Go to your printer manufacturer’s Web site for detailed instructions on manual cartridge cleaning and interior cleaning. Otherwise, there are a few other issues to consider before you begin cleaning a laser printer:

• Laser toner is messy, toxic and easily airborne. You don’t want this stuff in your lungs. So, make sure the air in the cleaning area is stable (no fans, no open windows) and wear a disposable mask and latex gloves.
• Leave the printer area for several minutes after cleaning to let the fine toner particles settle. Then you can vacuum up the mess, open windows, etc.
• Read the U.S. Pollution Prevention page to learn more about toxic laser toner precautions.
• Most laser printers are fairly expensive, and opening the case to clean it may void the warranty.

Extra equipment you’ll need to clean the laser printer:

1. Toner vacuum to vacuum toner from crevices and paper paths.
2. Toner cloth to clean up excess toner after vacuuming. Use the cloth outside the case in the paper path. Do not use inside the case because you could leave remnants of the cloth inside.
3. Lint-free cotton swabs to clean the corona wire. Use in conjunction with alcohol.
4. Isopropyl alcohol. Use pure alcohol to clean the corona wire gently.

If you’ve decided at this point that you don’t want to clean your laser printer, we don’t blame you. Hire a professional or read more details at Dummies.com (How to Clean Your Laser Printer). Otherwise, here you go:

Manually Clean Inside the Printer

1. Remove the internal paper trays.
2. Remove the toner cartridge and place it on a piece of scrap paper.
3. Clean inside the toner cavity with the dry, lint-free cloth and brush.
4. Clean the printer mirror gently with the brush. Don’t touch the mirror if a brush isn’t provided.
5. Wipe away dust and spilled toner. Remove paper fragments.
6. Clean the rollers, but don’t touch the sponge roller.
7. Replace the toner cartridge.

Initiating Automatic Cleaning Through Printer Software

1. Open the printer software by double-clicking on a printer icon or specific printer utility program, or opening a document and then selecting Print from the File menu.
2. In the printer software, look for a button labeled Options, Troubleshooting, Toolbox, Printer Utilities or something similar. (This varies by manufacturer.)
3. Follow the instructions on the screen.
4. Repeat the cleaning process if the results aren’t satisfactory.