BRU Graphic Design

CBX Shell – Thumbnails for Zip files

BRU Design — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:21:53 +0000

CBX Shell turned out to be the program I didn’t know I needed. Working with zip files may be difficult in the design world. Whether they’re from WeTransfer or previous downloads of graphic design files, it’s easy to lose track of what you have and what they’re called.

CBX Shell is a game changer, making life easier by producing thumbnail previews for zip files. When presented with a lot of zips to filter through, this tool makes the process much easier. The only drawback? It is specific to Windows. While there may be comparable solutions for Mac users out there, as a PC aficionado, I cannot comment on them.

If you find yourself drowning in zip files and unsure of their contents, CBX Shell is highly recommended. It’s quite useful for keeping your digital workspace tidy and efficient.

Greenshot – Great Screenshot Software

BRU Design — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 07:09:28 +0000

What is Greenshot?

Greenshot, given its name, you might think it would be something to do with gardens, but it’s actually a screenshot tool which allows you to specify exactly what you want screenshotted. It’s a simple but powerful utility that makes capturing and sharing screen content incredibly easy.

Why I Use It

Greenshot helps with that problem we have in our modern life, the sharing of screenshots from your computer. Sure, you can just use print screen, paste it in Word or MSPaint, but Greenshot makes the process so much easier.

Pressing the Print Screen button brings up the software with a grid where you can select exactly what you want screenshotted. Once that’s done, it gives you a variety of options, from saving the image to uploading it to multiple service providers to store the image.

Key Features I Love

Makes it easy to make screenshots: The software is amazingly easy to use, it makes taking screenshots a breeze
Multiple screenshot methods: Don’t want to take a screenshot of just a part of the screen? No problem, Greenshot has multiple methods available. Want to capture a window? Check. Want to capture the whole screen? Check.
Instant workflow integration: Greenshot is something I feel is almost a must on any new computer, especially when working with Windows.

How It Makes My Work Better

Greenshot makes my life easy, especially when I need to copy colour palettes to CorelDRAW, or if I need to make a screenshot quickly of a design to share with a client. It makes it easy to even take visual notes when you need it, without interrupting your creative process.

Who Should Use This?

If you have a work or a life where you need to screenshot items, designs, or whatever else, I can strongly recommend this program. It’s particularly useful for designers, developers, or anyone who communicates visually.

Price

Free Version: Free
Paid Version: There is no real paid version, but you can support the developers of this program.
My Recommendation: Greenshot is free, but the developers’ time isn’t. If you use it a lot, consider giving them a few bucks.

Alternatives I’ve Tried

I have tried ShareX, but I feel the user experience of Greenshot is far superior (for me). It’s simpler and more intuitive for my daily workflow.

Final Thoughts

Greenshot is almost one of the first programs I always put on my computer. I cannot see myself not using it at all – it has made my life so much easier. For something so simple, it adds tremendous value to my everyday work.

Want to know more about the tools that help me deliver quality designs to my clients? Contact me for a free quote on your next project.

Why it’s great to sell your designs on teepublic

BRU Design — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 08:14:30 +0000

Why it’s great to sell your designs on Teepublic

POD (Print on demand) sites have revolutionized the way people who design artwork can market their creations online. Rather than investing a lot of capital in mass printing and stockpiling, designers can post their designs and only manufacture the products when someone buys them. Teepublic is one such platform that has grown in popularity with designers, and this article will discuss why it is a great choice for selling print-on-demand designs.

1. Teepublic offers designers a great selection of items to feature their designs on. From t-shirts and hoodies to phone cases, stickers, tote bags, and home decor pieces, Teepublic has something for everyone. This extensive range of products offers designers the opportunity to reach more people and increase their sales.

2. Teepublic utilizes top-notch printing technology to make sure that your designs look great on the items they sell. The colors are intense, and the prints last for a long time without becoming dull. As a result, customers are satisfied with their purchases, leading to positive feedback and repeat orders.

3. Teepublic offers a user-friendly platform for individuals to upload their artwork and generate products. Users can select which item to print on, pick the colors they want, and preview their designs before publishing them.

4. Affordable Costs: Teepublic has some of the most competitive rates among other print-on-demand platforms. They offer a base price for each product and designers get to set their markup, which will eventually determine the amount of profit they make from each sale. This gives designers the opportunity to make more money from their sales compared to other platforms with higher fees.

5. Teepublichas a great group of designers and customers who appreciate art and design. This platform promotes the connection between designers, allowing them to exchange work and team up for projects. This community environment helps designers progress and hone their talents.

In conclusion, Teepublic is a great platform for designers who want to sell their print-on-demand designs online. With a wide range of products, high-quality prints, a user-friendly design tool, low fees, a strong community, and marketing support, Teepublic offers everything designers need to succeed in the print-on-demand industry. So, if you’re an artist or designer looking for a platform to showcase your work and sell your designs, Teepublic is definitely worth considering.

Graphic design resources – MightyDeals

BRU Design — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 07:41:27 +0000

Graphic design resources – MightyDeals

MightyDeals is an online design course, tool, and resource discount website.

MightyDeals provide a wide range of design-related resources, including:

-Design courses
-Graphic design tools
-Web design tools
-Logo design tools
-Fonts
– stock photos

MightyDeals are an excellent resource for all levels of designers.

MightyDeals provides something for everyone, whether you are a newbie just getting started or an established expert seeking new tools and resources.

This is a really useful graphic design marketplace for fonts, textures, Photoshop actions, and more, and I especially like their bargains on fonts and Photoshop actions, which allow me to produce my designs faster and more appealing to my clients.

MightyDeals is an excellent resource to check out if you’re wanting to add some new tools to your graphic design toolset.

They provide discounts on a variety of design products, ranging from typefaces and templates to software and training.

You can also get great savings on hardware and other supplies for your next design project.

Print on demand for beginners – Sell your designs on Teepublic:

BRU Design — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 07:33:37 +0000

Print on demand for beginners

Sell your designs on Teepublic

Sell your designs on Teepublic for an easy way to make money as a graphic designer.

This post won’t delve into the fine gritty of finding niches to target for your design, but it will show you how to get started with print on demand for beginners.

Designer Sign-up Link

After selecting sign-up, enter in some information about your store, such as your name and the email address you’ll use to log in.

After you’ve created your store and signed up for an account, you’ll need to confirm your email address before you can start uploading designs to teepublic.

It’s time to post designs to teepublic once your email has been confirmed.

You’ll be asked to name your store on the upload screen; you can always change it later, but it’s a good idea to pick a name you like now because changing it later will change the URLs of your store to where your designs are.

Once you’ve decided on a name, you may either upload multiple designs at once or one design at a time.

I’m just going to upload one design for this example.

Once your design has properly uploaded, you will be taken to a screen where you must provide all relevant design information:

Design title–What do you want the title of your design to be?
Description– how would you best describe your design to someone, is it a cute cat sitting on a fluffy ball or is it a typography design with the words I love print on demand on it?
Main tag–What is the main tag someone will find your design, for my example the main tag would be print on demand.
Supporting tags–what are the supporting tags for your design, example merch, YouTube, colourful, typography, etc.
Is this mature content?–and finally is this mature content, if your content doesn’t contain violence or designs of an adult nature, then this can be set to no.

Then you must decide on the colors for your design; remember brighter colors stand out more, but I prefer black t-shirts, so I use black as my main background color.

When you click publish, your design will be uploaded to Teepublic for the rest of the world to see and possibly buy!

Please keep in mind that having only one design on your online store will cause a lack of sales, and from personal experience, I recommend having at least 100 designs on your teepublic store to gain any traction.

When writing descriptions for your designs, keep SEO in mind, since this will make it simpler for people to find them.

Frequently asked questions

BRU Design — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:41:13 +0000

Frequently asked questions

Do you offer on-site printing services?

There are currently no plans for on-site printing.

What is the cost of printing X?

I’ll have to collect quotations from a variety of printing companies for you, depending on your needs.

Is it possible for you to find out the cost of printing my design and have it printed for me as well as deliver it to us?

Yes, please be aware that I will charge a modest fee for my time and gasoline spent driving, retrieving, and delivering the prints for you.

Can you update and upgrade our companies outdated website?

Absolutely!

Please contact me so that I may assist you with updating your existing website

Is it possible for you to update our previous logo?

Certainly!

Please get in touch with me so we can talk about your needs for a new logo.

We’ve misplaced our original logo; could you please recreate it for us?

Yes, I’ve done this before and have a lot of expertise redrawing logos when the original design is no longer available.

What is user experience (UX)?

The term “user experience” refers to how a person feels while using a product.

It’s how a website, application, or app makes you feel as a user.

What do you need regarding to create a website for us?

I’ll need the following information: as much information as possible about your company.

As many high-resolution photographs of your items or company as possible.

I may request that certain text be written on the page, depending on the needs of the website.

Best free or opensource software

BRU Design — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 12:03:43 +0000

Best free or opensource software

a selection of great free or open source software for designers & photographers

The best free or open source software for graphic designers, photographers, or others who work in the creative media.

Greenshot

Greenshot is the one tool from the list of software that I can suggest to almost everybody.

It’s an understatement to say I use this virtually every day.

It’s one of the most basic pieces of software, but the amount of usage I get out of it is incredible.

Greenshot is a screenshot application that works like this: press print screen, and you’ll be given an area to screenshot, along with options to save the file, copy it to the clipboard, or post it to other image hosting sites.

Greenshot is fantastic if you have a job that requires you to take screenshots.

Get Greenshot

Everything

The search function in Windows is terrible.

They tried to address that with Windows 10, but it’s not very good, especially if you’re looking for a file that’s distributed across multiple hard drives or storage media.

Enter Everything is a search tool that indexes your whole hard disk, network drives, external drives, and other storage devices so you can find your content fast and effortlessly.

This is a fantastic piece of software to have, especially if you’re hunting for something you’ve misplaced or lost on your computer.

It comes highly recommended.

Get Everything

Sagethumbs

Thumbnails do not always display appropriately in Windows; sometimes a file just refuses to open and displays the file’s thumbnails.

Adobe PDF and Photoshop PSD files are good instances of this.

Sagethumbs is a tool that generates thumbnails for nearly anything.

It creates thumbnails for a wide range of picture and document formats.

If you’re experiencing difficulties with Windows thumbnails, Sagethumbs is a great solution.

Get Sagethumbs