How-Tos

Construct a Color Wheel in Photoshop

The color wheel is a simple yet powerful tool for understanding how colors work and how colors relate to each other. It can also be a gorgeous graphic you can use in print and Web design projects.

Create Picture Frames in Photoshop: Part 2

In Part 1 of this tutorial, you learned how to create a picture frame, fill it with a photo, and change the perspective so the framed photo faces right or left. Now discover how to apply all those steps to any photo with one simple click. The secret? Automation courtesy of Photoshop's Actions and Droplets.

Create Picture Frames in Photoshop: Part 1

Using Photoshop, you can create a silver, gold, or wood-grain picture frame, fill it with a photo, and transform both frame and photo so that they're skewed in different perspectives. The realistic results are easier to achieve than you might think!

Create a Table of Contents in InDesign

Don't create a table of contents (TOC) by hand! Let InDesign's automatic TOC feature generate it for you. The big bonus (besides no human errors): If your document changes, one click updates the entire TOC!

Make Text Look Like Chrome

Using nothing more than a gradient swatch in InDesign, you can change text from a flat and boring object to a shiny metallic material that reflects the surfaces around it.

Get Rid of Red Eye

In this one-minute video, you'll learn how to remove red eye from any photo using a hidden tool in Adobe Photoshop.

Lights, Camera, Action, and InDesign!

While you may not think of InDesign as a video tool, you’ve actually been able to place video into InDesign since CS2. Here's what you need to know to place video in InDesign and output the results to PDFs, SWFs, ePUBS, and iPad apps.

Photography How-to: Learning to See in Black and White

Everything from portraits to landscapes can be more powerful when they're black-and-white photos. Once you know how to recognize tonal contrast, texture, shapes, and patterns, your monotone images will be anything but monotonous.

Align and Space Objects with InDesign's Smart Guides

Everyone who has InDesign CS4 or CS5 can benefit from Smart Guides, which automatically pop up as you drag out or move objects on the page. Learn how to use them to align two or more objects to the page and to each other. You'll also be able to space objects equally, rotate them equally, and more. It's smart to use Smart Guides!

Plumb the Depths of Your InDesign Layout

When an InDesign page gets complicated, knowing the tricks for selecting overlapping and/or grouped objects will save you time and frustration.

Introduction to Illustrator: Part 2

See how easy it is to customize Adobe Illustrator with tweaks to Preferences and graphic styles. Once you know how to use these and keyboard shortcuts, you're on your way to making the program fit your working style like a glove.

Make Holly and Berries that Shine in Photoshop

Whether you're scrambling to put together a last-minute Christmas card or are a planner who's already thinking about 2012 projects, this Photoshop how-to is just what you need. In it, you'll learn how to create a Yuletide composition of berries and a holly leaf. And to add a bit of sophistication, you'll give the elements a glassy sheen.

Introduction to Illustrator: Part 1

Get back to basics with a tour of Adobe Illustrator's 12 core tools, which you can use to build precise vector graphics.

The Merits of Uneven Leading

Just because your page-layout program says your leading is consistent doesn’t necessarily mean it looks that way. Here’s how to spot the problem and how to fix it.

Five Tips for Choosing the Best Webfonts

Learn how to evaluate typeface readability, legibility, optimization, character set, and weight and thickness variety when choosing fonts for a website. Plus, I'll throw in a bonus tip!

Photoshop How-To: Fill a Face Full of Words

Using one photo and three layers of text, you can create a powerful image in Adobe Photoshop.

Get to Know InDesign's Glyphs Panel

Some people never even open InDesign's Glyphs panel, and that's a shame. It can reveal alternate characters in your typefaces; help you quickly select and enter unusual characters, such as currency or math symbols; and find and change glyphs instantly no matter how long your document is.

Photography Fundamentals: Work the Scene

To create an image that provokes an emotional response from your viewer, you usually need to work the photo. See how one professional photographer hones his shots.

Add Scrolling Images or Text to a Tablet App

When you want the iPad or Android app you're creating in InDesign to show more content than will fit on one fixed screen, use the Pan and Zoom feature of Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite to create a scrollable frame holding anything you wish.

Spacing Out

Exaggerated spacing between characters may be eye-catching, but controlling it can be a tricky business. Here's how to do it in InDesign and QuarkXPress.