​​Communication in Slack

Worse than communicating in Slack with our colleagues is communicating in Slack with foreign colleagues. Any message in the channel starts with three paragraphs of greetings, compliments, tags, emojis, otherwise it sounds like a command:

Hey team! @steblina Happy Friday! 🎉️️️️️️As we're finishing up the project, here is the implementation plan. I'll let you know if there's anything additional needed from your side! ⚡️️️️️️️Please don't hesitate to send me a message if you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer them! [And only then the useful part begins].

First, my time is spent quickly reading through the pleasantries in the email. Then, you need to go to Slack to check the context and the thread. Again, you scroll through all the messages with compliments. When you realize that it's not even in the right thread or that it had nothing to do with you, you close Slack with irritation for the week.

My ideal work communication looks like this:
— What's this nonsense?
— Fixed.
— Cool.

The rules of good manners are not about following the rules of good manners; it's about not bothering people and not wasting their time.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Tony's Chocolonely

It turns out, the logo of this company is not a typographic inscription but the entire chocolate bar. Very cool.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7143375299039154177/

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Ew

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Default style #illustrator #ai

By default in Illustrator, objects are drawn with a white fill and a black outline. Any object can be recolored in the same style by selecting it and pressing D.

Create your own style, save it to the Graphic Styles palette, then drag it with Alt onto the default style. Now, in the current document, your new style will be the default.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Stroke thickness #ai #illustrator

Just a reminder, changing the stroke thickness with a step of ten is done by holding down Shift; with a step of 0.1, it's done by holding down Cmd.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Save selection #ai #illustrator

The feature has now moved to the Layers palette and become a bit more convenient. You can add and remove from the selection.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

QR code #indesign

In InDesign, you can easily add various presets of QR codes (link, text, email, contact card).

Go to Object—Generate QR Code, enter the information, and in the Color tab, choose the color. If you change your mind, right-click on the QR code, select Edit QR Code, and update the information.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Monobloc chair

The most popular design archetype. Thanks to its solid molded form that requires no assembly or fastenings, as well as its cost-effective production, the monobloc chair appeared everywhere around the late 1950s.

It is inexpensive (around $10), easily replaceable, quickly available, and ready for recycling. Its stackable design makes it convenient for transportation, and it is resistant to temperatures, moisture, and rowdy patrons.

While predecessors like the Pantone Chair and Bofinger existed, the Fauteuil 300 is considered the closest precursor to the modern monobloc chair. In short, its authorship is challenging to trace.

(The cover is drawn based on the poster by Olga Severina for Chekhov's play "Three Sisters.")

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

I'm not sure about others, but this is how I draw a pin. #vector #illustrator #ai

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

In the main release of Illustrator, they rolled out the Dimensions Tool. Update your software! #illustrator #ai

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Maximalism 2.0

I've noticed a design neologism known as Anarchism (or Maximalism 2.0). The goal is not to convey meanings but to bombard the viewer with noise from images and deconstructed typography.

Previously, this was called anti-design, and I haven't quite figured out how the new direction differs. However, even in anti-design, the author must know the rules to consciously break them.

In my design youth, there was a magazine called SHO (https://shoizdat.com), which was laid out and designed in the spirit of anti-design. Are there similar publications now?

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Blend brush #ai #illustrator

A regular blend on complex paths behaves unpredictably, creating uneven steps in intervals and requiring a large number of steps for a smooth transition.

You can work around this by turning the blend into an Art brush and specifying Stretch only in the interval between objects in the settings. Move the Stretch guides to adjust the color distribution along the curve.

Why not use a gradient?

1. Because gradients rasterize after flattening, while the blend remains a vector.

2. On sharp turns, the colors of the blend overlap, creating a foreground and background effect, which is not present in a gradient.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Refine hair #photoshop #psd

If you need to refine the selection of an image with hair, use Refine Hair.

Click on Select Subject, then Select and Mask for fine-tuning the selection. Press Refine Hair, and if there are still parts of the background in the hair, use the Refine Edge Brush tool to go along the edges. In the "+" mode, the brush more aggressively cleans up the hair, while in the "–" mode, it brings back detached ends of the hair.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Coffer illusion

Among many illusions, this one is my favorite because in my childhood, pictures with a similar effect were popular on the back covers of diaries. But even after years of practice, I couldn't immediately see 16 circles here.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Now #illustrator supports external, internal, and central positioning of the light source on open curves.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Theory

Theory is the justification of phenomena that have already been confirmed and proven. It is not a hypothesis requiring proof (theorem, hypothesis). Therefore, the phrase "In theory, yes, but in practice, no" is devoid of meaning, as theory reflects everything that has happened in practice.

"Saying 'I could theoretically go there' is also an incorrect formulation. It is more accurate to say 'hypothetically.'

Darwin's theory is not the author's fantasies and wishes with a hope for truthfulness. He first deduced regularities, proved them, and then structured an explanation based on them.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Quite a sobering thought. What do you think about the Reddit redesign?

https://www.pentagram.com/work/reddit?rel=discipline&rel-id=1

I like the typography aspect of the project, but the rest seems to lean more towards ICQ than fitting with Reddit.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Quickly fill a photo with a decorative rosette pattern. #psd #photoshop

Pattern with diagonal lines:
1. Create a document 200x200, draw a diagonal line in the center with a thickness of 50-80 pixels, and convert it into a smart object. Apply desired blur.

2. Duplicate the diagonal line twice and add Offset effect to the duplicates. Set an offset of 100 for one and -100 for the other. Don't forget to check Repeat Edge Pixels.

3. Select all with cmd+A, go to Edit—Define pattern, and save the pattern.

Next, go to your photo and create a Fill layer—Pattern above it. Choose your pattern, adjust the scale as desired. Set the pattern layer to HardMix blend mode.

For fine-tuning, you can add a Curves layer beneath the pattern layer to adjust line thickness and a gradient map layer on top for coloring.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Bitmap flick #ai #illustrator

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Bitmap shadow #ai

If you like bitmap shadows, creating them in Illustrator is easy, especially editable ones.

1. Place a gradient layer above the base color.

2. Add the Rasterize filter to the gradient in Bitmap mode with a very low ppi, transparent background, and the Clipping Mask option enabled. The higher the ppi value, the finer the grid.

3. If you have the Astute plugin, you can color the shadow using Phantasm—Shift to Color.

4. If you don't have the plugin, you can rasterize the shadow and then apply Trace, converting it into a vector.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Fidelity #ai #illustrator

If you notice that the shape of the object doesn't align well with the Envelope Distort Mesh, drag the Fidelity slider in the distortion options all the way to the right.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina