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To prevent possible rendering artefacts.
Without the notches you're likely to see the edges of the bottom shapes where they meet the edges of the overlaying shapes (on screen anyway, it's not really a problem when printing).
You can see examples and explanation of the possible artefacts here:
Image looks embossed when converted to SVG
How to put one object ...
64
Understanding rasterization and the painter's algorithm might help.
One way of rendering vector graphics (graphics defined by polygons, instead of pixels) to pixels is to rasterize the polygons while running the painter's algorithm.
The painter's algorithm is a bottom-up process where you first put down the background, then draw on top of that background ...
56
In many fonts you will indeed find hardly any difference between using the Unicode characters for Roman numerals and just composing them from stardard Latin letters. For example, the following shows Louis VII (top) and Louis Ⅶ (bottom, using codepoints for Roman numerals) rendered with FreeSans:
Apart from a tiny difference in spacing, which was propably ...
51
Cai is correct. I thought I'd add a visual answer as well.
The reason this happens is that it's an SVG. Unlike a raster image where you control each rendered pixel, the rasterization of the SVG happens in the browser...so the browser makes these decisions.
One of the decisions the browser has to make is when to do anti-aliasing. It will typically do this ...
33
It depends on the logo and how it's done. You should avoid reversing the logo, but it may make sense in rare cases to reverse it. For example, Nike reverses their logo on their high socks when their logo is on the ankle (but PUMA doesn't seem to). As mentioned in the comments, it's pretty common practice for airlines to mirror their logo on their planes as ...
32
This might not answer your question completely, but as part of my workflow, I use this technique sometimes.
When trying to pick a colour palette (at the very beginning of the creative process), I try to recall from my memory an image or painting that fits the "mood" or "content" of the project. Then I take that image and, using Photoshop, I apply a Pixelate-...
28
The basics from Favicons - Best practice for 2013:
ICO favicon.ico (32x32)
PNG favicon.png (96x96)
Tile Icon tileicon.png (144x144)
Apple Touch Icon apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png (152x152)
And a "painfully obsessive" cheat sheet to favicon sizes/types on GitHub.
Always worth a read: http://www.jonathantneal.com/blog/understand-the-favicon/
27
TL;DR The Unicode consortium recommends using the latin letter where possible and not the numeral, which where included for compatibility with East-Asian typography.
The full story : (with justification of the above assertion)
Unless you are doing some East-Asian typography, using the (non-archaic) Roman numeral characters from unicode (U+2160 — U+217F) is ...
24
In a sentence ending with a bold or italicised word, does the period need to be bold/italicised too?
The older convention was that the style of punctuation matched the immediately preceding context:
That's the Chicago Manual of Style (3rd edition, 1911), but the same convention can be seen in a French equivalent: Désiré Greffier, Les règles de la composition typographique (Paris: A. Muller, 1897), pp. 54-55.
And it's not only an older convention, as the ...
22
Clients have the final say. Even if you disagree with it.
Disregarding that there maybe technical reasons why uppercase is a bad idea. And disregarding the fact that upper case lowers readability and often has the opposite effect of "emphasis"... Client direction is always the deciding factor.
If the client doesn't like it, don't do it.
If you are ...
22
I would let it go 100%.
Answer all their questions and put a deadline date after which you are no longer taking requests. I will gladly help with this information, but you need to take over internally asap. They will figure things out sooner than you'd expect.
I had a client like this. Similar story.
Worked for about 8 years on pretty much everything ...
21
There are two types of ligatures.
Type 1: The reason ligatures exist is to prevent spaces between some letters which could disturb your reading flow. For example in some fonts "fi" overlap each other or especialy "fl". In order to find a solution for this problem, ligatures were invented, each becoming just one letter on the typeblock:
Normal letters vs ...
18
The simple answer here is use both.
The fact that you've named SVG as an option, means we can rule out photo graphics as an intended use case - because SVGs are only good for line-art graphics such as logos, icons and clip-art-like illustrations.
If you are considering this choice for photo graphics, there is no choice; PNG will probably always be better. ...
18
Logo consistency is more important. Don't alter the logo for the vehicle wrap.
Having two logo variants, regarding something such as movement, on one item will dilute the branding, even if there's sense in why there may be a variant.
My general stance on logo variation is (sometimes limited) color , size, etc, is okay. However, don't alter the inherent ...
17
No One Rule Fits All Situations
This is all somewhat complicated, because it ties in with kerning support and font selection, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer that will serve for all situations. In my experience, ligatures are more apt to be needed in a tightly set serif roman or italic, not so much in a sans font.
For more discussion and ...
17
Printing in multiple colours requires accurate registration to avoid unsightly gaps and is a concern when artifacts are composed from multiple sources. Similar concerns can occur even in digital products where limited precision arithmetic necessarily introduces error.
The problem being avoided is one of inverse trapping - where deviation from the intended ...
16
This actually sounds like a question more about creativity and getting out of a comfort-zone than about technique but I will answer the technical side.
How do you determine what colors work well for what objects? (i.e. "bright red on a canary yellow is too bright for good readability", etc.)
This question is a little general, but to address your example: ...
16
I wouldn't give them or any client really anything if its one of your sources.
"Thank you for your inquiry. My sources and vendors are part of the value I bring through my X years of experience. Just as you have your sources for Y and Z (whatever they do) and wouldn't want to be disclosing that. I cannot provide you with this information as it will cause ...
15
In a sentence ending with a bold or italicised word, does the period need to be bold/italicised too?
I think it's great that you're being so detailed. The smallest of details are noticed by the reader, even if it's just subconsciously. I'm sure there are a lot of different opinions, and I'm sure that in the end it comes down to personal preference, but I would say you only include formatting on elements that are part of the nested statement.
This isn’t ...
15
Professional courtesy
Whenever I work with other designers my number one priority is to make their life as easy as possible, and not just because I'm a nice guy ;)
I've already been paid for the work I did, so making their life harder by flattening the art-work wouldn't achieve anything except making them have a worse day.
I would also take the extra five ...
14
I'm only advising this on the basis that it's used for short snippets of text and not paragraphs.
The formatting of headlines can and should be controlled as much as possible within reasonable limits. JavaScript, or extra unnecessary elements are not quite "reasonable limits".
Non-Breaking Spaces on the other hand... &...
13
What to include?
The Minimum
<!-- Desktop browsers (including 16x6, 32x32 & 48x48 PNGs) -->
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico">
<!-- Modern browsers (196x196 should cover all modern browsers) -->
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon.png">
<!-- iOS & other mobile devices (ideally 180x180, at least ...
13
From a perspective of how it looks there may not be much of a difference. So if you publish only printed material then no difference, except in some fonts as Wrzlprmft points out in his excellent answer.
Semantics are important
The semantic difference is huge. By using roman numerals it makes it blatantly clear that you're talking of the number 5 instead of ...
13
HAVING A EMAIL ADDRESS IN UPPER CAPS IS A REALLY BAD IDEA. USING THEM AS "EMPHASIS" IS SOMETHING FROM THE TYPEWRITER ERA WHERE YOU DID NOT HAVE OTHER OPTIONS.
Sorry for that.
As commented by others, while the user name in an email address is case-insensitive, the domain name is not. In some extreme cases, YouCouldUseCamelCase use of capitals. They are used ...
12
Think critically about designed objects around you
Nearly everything in the man-made environment has some sort of design behind it, whether it’s a graphic, a website, or a fashion accessory.
Notice how well the design functions for its intended purpose, as well as how it looks.
Think of design as a way to fill a need or solve a problem
While it strives ...
12
At my current workplace we use a version control system. To be exact, we use Git + Bitbucket with the LFS (Large File Storage) extension. We also use a graphical diff plugin that lets us see a quick preview of the differences between 2 versions of a given PSD. It does a pretty good job at keeping files safe, knowing who modified what and when, and retrieving ...
12
I don't think any of this has anything to do with Illustrator specifically. Illustrator is a fine tool for business cards just as InDesign, QuarkXpress, etc would be.
9pt type is small. Using Illustrator has nothing to do with that.
For good readability using around 11pt type may be better. I do not think 9pt type is too small. It is generally fine for ...
11
In my opinion, this depends on which version is more brand consistent and less visually disconcerting in the context of a vehicle wrap. What's worse, the logo pointing the wrong way, or people noticing something slightly "off" ? Context is important; something that might look out of place on a business card might look very natural on the side of a van.
Here'...
11
To answer your question, yes, Illustrator is accurate for the size of a business card, or any print document.
The problem: 100% zoom is not the physical size of your document on-screen. Selecting that zoom level will not display the physical size, and even the "Actual size" zoom will not display the right size. The reason for this is that Illustrator knows ...
10
Good question.
I've never done web design in multiple languages. Well, not manually. I've used some multi-language CMS template packs like Smarty. I honestly don't know how well they work though. And it ultimately wasn't any concern. I've never had a client specifically ask for web design in a language other than English.
However......
I have done print ...
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