Graphic Design

Most blogging packages have a “caption” tool, but if you want to add a beautiful caption then you need to get creative and use an image editing programme.

Now for my creative work I tend to use Adobe Photoshop (for web and creatively editing images) or Adobe InDesign for the print work. I’m going to show you how to add a gorgeous caption using Photoshop. If you have Photoshop Elements (which is a great non-pro tool at just £50ish) then the workflow is likely to be very similar.

Here’s what we’re creating.

Step One: Pick your font

I like to pick a font that works with the image and with my brand. If you have a strong brand identity you’ll probably have a range of fonts that you know work for your business. It’s a good idea not to go ballistic, especially with the really fancy fonts. Hundreds of fonts peppering your blog posts can get a bit overwhelming if you’re not careful, so go steady, but don’t be afraid to mix it up.

These deer are very elegant creatures and I shot the image in Royal Richmond Park so I’m going to go with something that feels a bit elegant without being prissy.

2. Add the opaque band to help the text stand out

Create a new layer in Photoshop and draw a rectangular marquee about the shape you want (don’t worry about perfection, we can fiddle about with it later). Add some colour using the paint bucket tool and deselect your marquee.

Excuse the vile shading – I wanted to highlight the important area to you (the un-shaded bit). Let me know if it’s helpful or not as I’ll take a view in the next tutorial.

3. Move the shape beneath your text

Move the rectangular shape layer beneath the text layer (see image below) so that you can see your text again. To do this simply click on the relevant layer and drag down below your text layer. At this point your shape will still be a solid colour. You can choose any colour you like – I’ve gone for white.

Then knock back the shape to an opacity you’re happy with. To do this simply move the slider in the appropriate layer until you have a look that you like. It’s a bit of a personal thing and often depends on the colours used and the image that sits behind it.

The finished article. Over to you now.

And that really is it! Easy when you know how. Let me know how you get on, and please do post links to your own experiments on your blog. I’d love to take a look!

Tagged as , Photoshop tutorial in Blogging, Graphic Design, Tutorials

So you can just slap your images into your blog and be done with it. And if you take beautiful photographs then that’s a good start. But if you’re anything like me you’ll like things to look nice, and just slapping in your images probably won’t cut it. So here are a few inspirations that I hope get you thinking about how to make your blog images look just gorgeous.

In my next posts I’ll do a bit of a tutorial on how to achieve some of these effects using photoshop. In the meantime, hold on tight for a bit of creative eye candy!

1. Polaroid Style

I love this. It’s simple and effective although it can get a little wearing if you use it too often.

2. Numbered Scrapbook/ Editorial Style

One of my favourite treatments of inspirational editorial images. I love the style of the numbers and the clean lines. I love how she’s pulled this together with a cohesive colour palette. Something I have on the Full Bloom development list.

3. Add some text

Easily done in Photoshop and looks gorgeous. I’ll be showing you how to do this very, very soon.

4. Watermark a caption

How gorgeous is this? It works because the font works with the image, the colours have been thought through and the subtle transparent band really makes a difference. I’ll show you how to do this very soon… (Image credit: the very talented Simple as That)

5. Montage by colour

Am I allowed to tell you I love this again? Or is it getting a little boring?! The fact is that I love the way all of these treatments work (just don’t use them all at the same time…). This works because of the fact that the images are pulled together by a very clear colour palette. And of course, because they just look gorgeous. (Image credit: Snippet and Ink)

6. Subtle black border

A favourite with photographers this always looks fab. Just a word of caution from my detail attentive friend and award-winning photographer Matt Pereira – make sure the spacing between your images is even. I don’t always do this on my blog and he’s right, it doesn’t look right unless the spacing is pixel perfect. My wrist is publicly and officially slapped Matt!

7. Montage with white spacing

A bit of white spacing always makes a selection of images look amazing – but do see my note above for caution! (Image credit: All Things Lovely)

8. Scrapbook Polaroids

A variation on a theme is never a bad thing is it? This keeps things fresh with the fun and quirky font and the coloured background. (Image credit: Decor8)

Now there have to be about forty other treatments that you could do with your blog images. Please do post your favourite methods below and I’ll pick a few to run some tutorials on and show you how to do them using Photoshop. Enjoy!

Tagged as in Blogging, Graphic Design, Online Marketing

I’m delighted to share these deliciously dinky business cards that we’ve just had printed for Gray’s Dairy. Do you remember a very long time ago I shared with you the logo designs for the new business? Well I’m delighted to say that things are moving forwards with the business (there seems to be a lot involved in setting up a dairy company!).

We love the cow on the back with her fun and friendly stance and the bold-Autumnness of the colour palette and logo. What do you think?

Tagged as , business card design in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Graphic Design, Logo Design

Six years ago Joules was a niche equestrian retailer with just two shops. Fast forward to 2011 and they are an international multi-channel retailer with 32 shops and a booming wholesale business resulting in more than 500 concessions and outlets worldwide. From my own experience Joules have gone from the sort of business I looked [...]

Tagged as , engaging ecommerce design, joules, powerful ecommerce in Branding, Graphic Design, Inspirations, Powerful Ecommerce, Web Design, Websites

It’s a long time since my mum ever uttered those time honoured words “You’re going to attract the wrong sort of attention in that“. Well times move on and it’s going to be less than a decade (much less than a decade, scarily) than I’m saying those things to my own daughter. But have you [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Graphic Design, Marketing

If my post yesterday remotely inspired you about the art of letterpress then I thoroughly recommend you rush out and buy yourselves a copy of Reinventing Letterpress: Prints by Contemporary Practitioners by Charlotte Rivers. Caroline and I discovered the book at our field trip to the Design Museum a couple of months back and I [...]

Tagged as in Graphic Design, Logo Design, Recommended Reading

I’ve been going to bed late a lot recently. Audrey has been a bit poorly and we’re getting her back into her normal uninterrupted sleep pattern. So I’m tired and consequently inspiration seems that bit harder to find on occasion, the old creative juices fogged by mild fatigue. But I can always turn to the [...]

Tagged as in Flourish Stuff, Graphic Design, Inspirations

Finding a good design agency to work with on your logo design, rebrand or website isn’t easy. Even if we start with the premise that no one sets out to do a bad job (I really believe that’s true), there’s more to finding a good design agency than randomly picking the company that tops the [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Graphic Design, Logo Design

Sysco Guest Supply provide amenities for hotel rooms. To you and I, the plain English version of that is that they supply all the fancy bubble bath miniatures you get in your boutique hotel (amongst many other things). You might remember me blogging about our mood board session with the lovely Alice from Sysco back [...]

Tagged as in Case Studies, From The Studio, Graphic Design

Powerful design enables you to connect with your ideal clients. It’ll help you attract, engage and seduce them into buying from you or working with you, and of course, it’s a wider thing than just design. It’s about your powerful design fitting into a powerful brand strategy. Next week I’ll be sharing with you how [...]

Tagged as , powerful branding, powerful design in Branding, Colour Psychology, Graphic Design