The Ultimate Round-Up of Print Design Tutorials

• Learn about four-color process printing (CMYK)
• Find out the differences between plain & rich black

Making a Print-Ready Business Card (Ps)

• Set up CMYK documents in Photoshop with bleeds
• Use textures to spice up your backgrounds
• Create custom shapes using the Polygonal Lasso Tool

Create a Magazine Cover Design (Id)

• Use the Fill Frame Proportionally Tool to save time
• Create custom shapes with the Pen Tool

Design a Super Cool Retro Poster in 10 Steps (Ps)

• Create custom type in Illustrator
• Use textures to add depth to your artwork

Create a Five-Color Magazine Cover using a Spot Metallic (Ps, Ai, Id & Acrobat Pro)

• Learn how to print spot metallic inks
• Create custom shapes using the Shear Tool
• Use textures to add depth to your artwork

Create a Grid Based Resume/CV Layout (Id)

• Use grids to create a professional page layout
• Work with text settings to align paragraphs to grids

Create and Print a Business Card with UPrinting (Ai)

• Use templates to assist in setting up documents for print
• Create outlines of text to prevent problems in pre-press

Create an Impactful Magazine Headline (Id)

• Learn the process of designing a page layout
• Use several tools to learn professional page layout techniques

Designing for Print - Setting Up Crops and Bleeds (Ps, Ai & Id)

• Correctly set up bleed margins in Adobe CS
• Correctly set up crops in Adobe CS

Combining Special Finishes (Ps, Ai & Id)

• Turn sketches into process ready vectors
• Design complex sculpted embosses
• Prepare artwork for foil-blocking

Create an Intense Movie Poster (Ps)

• Use curves, color adjustments & the burn tool to manipulate photographs
• Use brushes & the Pen Tool to create new light sources
• Work with different blur tools to create a spooky text effect

Design & Print Bold Promo Cards in 60 minutes (Ai)

• Set up Illustrator print documents with bleed margins
• Learn about different kinds of blacks used in CMYK printing

Design a Print-Ready Business Card Design for Designers (Ai & Ps)

• Set up CMYK documents in Photoshop with bleeds
• Use Illustrator vector images in Photoshop
• Exporting files as print-ready PDFs

Business Card Design Walkthrough (Ai)

• Set up CMYK documents in Illustrator with bleeds
• Use the Gradient Mesh Tool to add depth to print products

Design a Print-Ready Beer Label (Ai)

• Work with Warp Tools to create realistic shapes for labels
• Use the Threshold and Live Trace Tools to create interesting vectors

PreparingMultiple Instances of a Bumper Sticker for Print (Ai)

• Add Crop Marks to your artwork
• Set up a page of multiple copies of the same artwork for print

Designa Print-Ready Ad (Id)

• Learn how to correctly place images into your InDesigndocuments
• Use the Placeholder Text Tool to fill areas with mock-text
• Add custom CMYK swatches to InDesign

CreateStunning Printwork using Overprinting (Ps)

• Experiment with unique CMYK color combinations
• Learn how to create an overprinted composition

Howto Create a Music Magazine Cover (Id)

• Set up CMYK documents in InDesign with bleeds
• Use the Rectangle Tool to make your work more interesting

Createa Grungy Poster (Ps)

• Work with textures to create interesting backgrounds
• Use the Brush Tool to add depth to your artwork
• Combine stock photos to produce the images you want

Design an Abstract Business Card (Ps & Ai)

• Set up CMYK documents in Photoshop with bleeds
• Use vector shapes from Illustrator in Photoshop
• Use textures to increase your artworks visual interest

Create and Print a Brochure (Ps & Id)

• Learn why you should export PDFs in InDesign
• Set up CMYK documents in InDesign with bleeds
• Work with text and character styles in InDesign

Design a Ready to Print Brochure (Ps)

• Set up CMYK documents in Photoshop with bleeds and column guides
• Work with images to create grungy textured backgrounds

Designa Six-Panel CD Package (Ps & Ai)

• Use cloning, burning and dodging to manipulate photographs
• Work with TIFF images and text in Illustrator

Gig Poster Design: The New Sex (Ps & Ai)

• Combine stock photos to produce the images you want
• Use the Live Trace Tool to produce vector images
• Produce custom patterns to add distress to your artwork

Inspiration & Further Resources

To get your imagination running wild we’ve collected a few round-up links which are all jam-packed full of stunning print work! You’ll also find a link or two for the beginners just stepping into the world of designing for print.

• The Art of the Business Card: 187+ Creative Examples, Tutorials & Resources A huge collection of creative business cards, and tutorials on how to make your own.
• Creative Print Typography Layouts A showcase of 40 different typography page layouts for print design.
• Beautiful Brochures and Booklets A showcase of interesting and visually appealing brochures and booklets.
• Beautiful and Expressive Packaging Design Some excellent examples of beautiful, attractive and communicative packaging designs.
• 15 Delightful Brochure Designs A collection of superb brochure designs that look great and read well.
• The Web Designers Guide to Print Design The basics of print design, from choosing the right software to different kinds of printing.
• Pantone: The Official Website The official site of Pantone, offering Pantone colors, products and guides.
• RGB versus CMYK A beginners guide to the differences between RGB and CMYK color modes.
• The Top 15 Magazine Covers since 1960 Striking photography and creative typography at it’s best in the top 15 mag covers.
• 40 Examples of Beautiful Typography in Advertising Design A collection of some beautiful typography based advertising campaigns.