Illustration Features

Design Successful Logos

Three logo designers discuss what goes into designing a logo, including typeface choices, inspiration, and overall branding messages.

Set Them Free!

Find and use the free images and photos hidden in common applications.

Efficiency: It's Not Just for Production Monkeys

With a few free tools from software companies and other users, you can carve out more time for what you really love: creativity.

Who Goes for this Logo?

What do you think about the brand for the 2012 Olympic Games?

Illustrator Q and A's

Want to snap to guides accurately, or anti-alias only one of many objects in your document? We've got your answers.

Will You Be Lost in Translation?

By the end of 2006, all new Macs will use Intel processors. Find out whether your favorite applications run on the new machines.

Gift Guide 2005, Part II

Still searching for that perfect gift? Then check out this, the second installment of our annual parade of presents.

Gift Guide 2005

Ah, the holidays. Time for love, laughter, friends, family, and the frantic search for a present that pleases the recipient while it shows how cool you are. Relax! In this, part 1 of our annual gift guide, we recommend gifts every creative pro (even you!) will love.

Creativeprose: Tippy the Turtle and Pirates Too

Do you remember the ads on matchbooks and in comic books that invited you to draw pirates, fawns, turtles, and other pen-and-ink characters?

Sometimes a Logo Is Just a Logo

Quark's new logo is strikingly similar to several others. Is it theft? A global conspiracy? Or a failure to follow basic design principles? Gene Gable gives you the dirt, including ways you can sidestep the same type of predicament.

Heavy Metal Madness: The Art of Labor Day, or is it Leisure Day?

Labor movements have often been an inspiration for artists, who are typically sympathetic to workers and their struggles. In this installment, Gene Gable looks at the graphics of the American labor movement and explores why the country celebrates Labor Day with barbecues and trips to the mall.

The Rodney Dangerfield of Software Turns Twenty

Corel has survived decades of ups and downs to reach the venerable age of twenty. With the competition shrunken by mergers and acquisitions, Corel is poised to become a strong number two in the graphics market.

First Look: Macromedia Studio 8

Macromedia didn't let a little thing like a merger stop its engineering team from creating a whole new version of its Studio software. Creativepro.com gives you a first look at the beta software.

Plug-Ins and XTensions: What's New for Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, and InDesign

Are you interested in alien eye candy? How about the big picture? Or perhaps you want just a teacup full of software. Here's the news on all this and more.

dot-font: Fun with the Push Pin Legacy

Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser set the graphic-design world on its ear in the late '50s with the "Push Pin Graphic."

Plug-Ins and XTensions: It's a Plug-Inpalooza!

Create Brushes, Backdrops, and Engravings in Photoshop; Correct PDFs; Add Maps and Automate Data in Illustrator; Relink Pictures in QuarkXPress and InDesign; and Record QuarkXPress AppleScripts.

Creativeprose: To Upgrade Or Not to Upgrade; That Is the Question

We asked if you were going to upgrade to the Adobe Creative Suite 2, and you answered.

Plug-Ins and XTensions: What's New for Photoshop, QuarkXPress, InDesign, and Acrobat

Do you have the wrong colors? Too smooth a bevel, or too noisy an image? Inconsistent tables? Is your printing out of control? We've got the software solutions for you.

Heavy Metal Madness: A Focus on Hocus Pocus

Kids may no longer dream of growing up as magicians, but at one time magic was not just a popular hobby, but a thriving business opportunity. In this installment, Gene Gable unearths a secret cache of magic tricks from the days before David Copperfield.

Inside CS2: MetaDesign Shares Its Secrets

Creative Director Brett Wickens reveals the process behind the packaging for Adobe Creative Suite 2. While we might not all have the resources to x-ray a bus, we can all benefit from this case study in brand evolution.