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

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

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Bitmap flick #ai #illustrator

——
KnowHowToDesign
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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
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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
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Corners #ai #illustrator

You can adjust the shape of corners while drawing by using the ↓ ↑ keys.

——
KnowHowToDesign
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Polar grid #ai #illustrator

A fantastic tool in Illustrator. To adjust the number of rings and dividers, press → ↑ ← ↓ while drawing.

If you need to adjust the density of the rings towards the center or edge of the shape, press X or C. To shift dividers back and forth, use F and V.

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

Why I don't use a dark theme

If you read white text on a dark background for 2 minutes and then open a white website, your brain may experience a slight disturbance. Reading on a dark background is simply impossible.

Approximately 95% of software just invert their icons for a dark background, making it extremely challenging to discern them. While modeling on a dark background is okay, dealing with a small interface is not.

I also find it difficult to quickly see the boundaries of the palette and document, small inputs, and toggles, so I exert additional effort when working with a dark theme. In this sense, Spline3D is endlessly irritating.

For me, the ideal setup is a white working surface and a slightly gray interface. If I need to see how my colors look on a dark background, I simply draw a black rectangle underneath the artwork.

Approximately several guys, influenced by my gentle persuasion, have switched to the light side and are already expressing distaste towards the dark and black magic.

Greeking and Live Screen Drawing #indd #indesign

And here are some useful InDesign settings for you in the evening.

1. Preferences→Display Performance→Greeking Type Below. When you have a lot of text (book, magazine), the system will consume a lot of resources to render everything. This feature turns text into strips when you zoom or pan the document. I usually set values for the body, so headers remain readable. Works in High-Quality Preview mode.

2. Preferences→Interface→Live Screen Drawing. When set to Delayed, InDesign shows the new position of a dragged object with a frame. When set to Immediate, the object is visible throughout the dragging process. It also saves resources.

That's why, when I layout complex documents, everything runs smoothly for me, even though it's loaded with gigabytes.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
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Style Pack #indd #indesign

Earlier, I wrote about the new Style Pack feature in the InDesign beta, but back then, it was not working so well. Now that it has been rolled out in the release, it works better. It can differentiate between lists, headings, empty paragraphs, and subheadings.

You just select your text and apply a style from the presets. The ready paragraph styles drop into the palette, and you can customize them.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
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Keith Cottingham

The guy who once designed the glass Apple logo and metallic screens for Autodesk. This happened around the early 2000s.

https://www.kcottingham.com/apple
https://www.kcottingham.com/autodesk

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
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​​Data Visualization

Guys who can flawlessly visualize data fall somewhere between Einstein and Le Corbusier in my value system.

The rest of the folks, for some reason, seem to settle for "gastrointestinal tracts" or "pies" when attempting to represent data. In the image below, there's a fantastic theme for visualization—data on storm warnings. It's executed in a rather unclear form, generating more questions than answers.

Why does it start from the right instead of the left (the usual reading direction)? The thickness represents the number of events, but what does the vertical position of the curve signify? What happens at the turns of the curve? Why do 1990 and 2010 merge the upper and lower date bands?

Why not mark leap years instead of just bolding every fifth year? Why not use the width between the years to show something interesting? And what about color-blind individuals? What is the number of warnings related to: the imperfections of measuring instruments in 1980 or the number of storms?

If you were to create a similar visualization but in the form of a population pyramid, you could extract much more interesting information. When creating data visualizations, try to find cool relationships and hidden answers to questions, then it will be organically beautiful and informative.

Clients often agree with my solutions, but sometimes, after seeing images from competitors, they are afraid to do something different. It becomes challenging to convince them otherwise. So, I have to feed them good examples.

Examples:
http://hint.fm/wind/
https://unhcr.github.io/dataviz-streamgraph-explorer/#types=1-2-3-4-5-6-7

By the way, I used to spend a lot of time on this site until the number of mediocre visualizations outweighed the quality ones. But occasionally, you can find good solutions:
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/.

——
KnowHowToDesign
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The significance of fonts

https://steblina.notion.site/The-font-is-more-powerful-than-the-color-c6e30b6e0add4cf7a81e02984e03da23?pvs=4

——
KnowHowToDesign
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