# graphic design software? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926 "2011-11-05T02:28:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/21 "2011-11-05T23:22:08Z")
If you want to watch me make a logo in 3D (after drawning up the vector in Illustrator, then using Cinema 4D), [check this out.](http://gallery.me.com/kevsnyde#100093/Dragons_C4D_LogoCreation_720p&bgcolor=black) It’s me working for about 3 hours, compressed into 14 minutes. It has a funky beat to dance to, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/22 "2011-11-05T23:24:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Or worse: I once had a client who demanded that I actually design the logo in Word . . . so she could make changes in it now and then. I could not convince her that this was a bad idea, and had to turn down the job. ::shudder:: I would’ve just vomited, and let that stand as my response. > [@panache45](#): > > On the other hand: I once designed a cardiology text book. The author/editor was a world-renowned cardiovascular surgeon. At some point in a long meeting dealing with design decisions, he said: “I don’t know how you designers can know so much about so many things.” I could have kissed him. HA! Gotta love it. I’ve always maintained that art and science are really just two sides of the same coin. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/23 "2011-11-06T00:49:41Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > I don’t think anyone’s telling you not to try – here’s Inkscape for free: [Download (old) | Inkscape](http://inkscape.org/download/) – just that you seem to be vastly underestimating how difficult the production step is for someone starting from scratch. How much is your time worth? You are right, of course. And I’ve downloaded inkscape and plan on giving it a test drive tomorrow. My time is worth a lot, and like anyone else sticking their toe in the deep water for the first time, I expect to have a bunch of problems. I’m not sure I’m vastly underestimating how difficult this is going to be. I truly have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/24 "2011-11-06T01:33:46Z")
Man, this thread seems like my old job… 🙂 But I’m thinking of one outfit I dealt with that, as far as I know, had NO corporate style guide, branding handbook, or even Word templates for their letters. After ten years with the likes of FrameMaker, Illustrator, and Photoshop, I was faced with an environment where all of the manuals were basically printouts of the PowerPoint presentations. And they just got a new copier, and didn’t know how to set up jobs on it yet… guess what I got to do… I was lucky to get a decent vector drawing of their logo. (Why yes, the job of technical writing has a lot of overlap with the job of graphic design, at least in the production and prepress area.) Speaking of tutorials, though… I second **cmyk** ’s recommendation to search the net. There’s a LOT of learning material out there, both free and pay. For example, I wanted a font that looked like credit-card numbers. I was doing an Illustrator [drawing](http://www.flickr.com/photos/komiksulo/6316410607/in/photostream/) of a fictitious banking card. But I also wanted to do a raster image in Photoshop. A search on embossing letters in Photoshop led me to [this banking card drawing tutorial](http://alfoart.com/new_credit_card_1.html), which I used last week to create [this card front](http://www.flickr.com/photos/komiksulo/6316950778/in/photostream/). Last night, I used the techniques to create [the back of the card](http://www.flickr.com/photos/komiksulo/6316432581/in/photostream/). Now I’m going to take that and incorporate it into a larger artwork. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/25 "2011-11-06T01:41:26Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > If you want to watch me make a logo in 3D (after drawning up the vector in Illustrator, then using Cinema 4D), [check this out.](http://gallery.me.com/kevsnyde#100093/Dragons_C4D_LogoCreation_720p&bgcolor=black) It’s me working for about 3 hours, compressed into 14 minutes. It has a funky beat to dance to, too. > > 😉 This video was awesome. The music was tough to listen to, but watching you create that logo was very eye opening. (the music was too, but I was falling asleep. ;)) I think I now understand why folks that do this were thinking ol’ **Stink Fish Pot** bit off more than he could chew. Yes, if I agreed to create a logo in 3D, I would be emailing the executive management team that they are on crack if they think I could pick this program up in a weekend. If they give me any grief on Monday, I’ll show them this video. I’m simply going to make a 2D drawing prettier. It may be easier for me to do it in another program. But I have a very strong desire to learn that program now and how to create logos that are 3D, rotational, etc. That was a very cool video. Thanks for posting it. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/26 "2011-11-06T02:18:33Z")
Well, yeh, dimensional 3D logos are more of a niche in graphic design, mainly done for product branding, or entertainment based products and events (such as my example). What you seem to be interested in doing is called corporate logos, and are usually clean and bold (but subtle and balanced), and a clever ‘not-too-literal’ twist hidden in the logo is always a nice touch, like FedEx’s arrow, or NorthWest Airline’s old logo that looked like an N, a W, and the corner of the combo-letter was the compass point of NW. Also, more times than not a “simple” logo is more difficult to pull off than a busy, complicated one. You want to shoot for the former. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/27 "2011-11-06T02:25:52Z")
Just a couple of comments: There are some really good Inkscape tutorials on the web - my wife learnt really quickly using them. You can import your scanned image into Inkscape and either trace it using the builtin trace tool or use it as a guide to place your lines. This can be pretty fast to get you going initally. Si ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/28 "2011-11-07T03:14:43Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > Just a couple of comments: > > There are some really good Inkscape tutorials on the web - my wife learnt really quickly using them. > > You can import your scanned image into Inkscape and either trace it using the builtin trace tool or use it as a guide to place your lines. This can be pretty fast to get you going initally. > > Si Thanks for this tip. I am going to do exactly this. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926/29 "2011-11-07T03:22:29Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > What you seem to be interested in doing is called corporate logos, and are usually clean and bold (but subtle and balanced), and a clever ‘not-too-literal’ twist hidden in the logo is always a nice touch, like FedEx’s arrow, or NorthWest Airline’s old logo that looked like an N, a W, and the corner of the combo-letter was the compass point of NW. > . This is exactly what I’m interested in. What you did was amazing, and I have a feeling that any 2d logo would be turned into a 3d logo eventually if the company hung around long enough… but yeah, if I could make 2d corporate logos, that would be great. I don’t need it to be rotating and flipping right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-design-software/601926.md?page=1)