DIY'ers What design programs do you use?

[kochdalton87]

Hey guys, like the topic says. What programs do you use to design your advertisement items, specifically business cards? Any answers including websites are welcome. Thanks ahead of time. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[b0b]

Hey guys, like the topic says. What programs do you use to design your advertisement items, specifically business cards? Any answers including websites are welcome. Thanks ahead of time. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I took advantage of the "free" adobe cs2 licenses that are available through adobe's website. While it's not the newest version by any means it still has tons of features, plenty for doing advertising. I use either photoshop or illustrator for all the work.

[WillWashesCars]

Photoshop, fairly light learning curve but has tons of potential.

[grupeproject]

I used to run a screen printing business and everything was done with Adobe creative suite. Photoshop and Illustrator.

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[kochdalton87]

Okay guys thanks for the replies! I do have some experience on both programs mentioned but am never satisfied with my results. I'm not necessarily asking for instructions on the programs but if you would have a few tips for designing what would they be? Other than KISS... Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Romans5.8]

I don't detail professionally but I do have business cards for my profession. I use vista print. They are A) Cheap, B) They come out great, and C) Their built-in business card maker has a lot of nice templates.

Now, photoshop, et al (And I do know how to use them!) will give you a lot of power and flexibility if you know exactly what you need. But I, personally, am a fan of simple, sleek business cards. And the vistaprint templates and designer allows me to do just that pretty easily.

[kochdalton87]

Thanks for the reply! I have heard of vista print a few times before but it looks like I need to check them out a little more. Thanks!

[varga740]

I went with Moo for my photography business cards. A little pricier but cards are very high quality and come in a nice box. I came up with a few designs using illustrator but I wasn't very satisfied with them so I scraped them. I went to moo, chose a template, inserted my own images, changed the colors, customized the text, placed an order, and was done with it.

[Kengo123]

I use paint.net which is like Microsoft "paint" but with layers like Photoshop. It's also free!

It's pretty dope! I'm new to designing, but I just made my own logo a few weeks ago. I designed a business card with it.. A Facebook cover photo. I edit my detailing pics with it... Add watermarks to my pics... Blur out license plates with a plugin. I save the files in a high quality format and ppi. I may eventually upgrade to photoshop, but for now paint.net is sufficient

[Extreme Radiance]

Free Adobe CS2 is here.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 Free Download - TechSpot (http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html)

You will need this key for the installation. Windows Serial number: 1045-1412-5685-1654-6343-1431

[KMG]

Dalton,
My wife (a graphic designer) put my card together in photoshop. She then uploaded the design to vista print for it. If you want you can PM me , and I will check with her if you would like her to put something together for you?

[215Detailing]

Dalton,
My wife (a graphic designer) put my card together in photoshop. She then uploaded the design to vista print for it. If you want you can PM me , and I will check with her if you would like her to put something together for you?
Nice website simple & plain like that business card as well has me thinking,lol

[kochdalton87]

I went with Moo for my photography business cards. A little pricier but cards are very high quality and come in a nice box. I came up with a few designs using illustrator but I wasn't very satisfied with them so I scraped them. I went to moo, chose a template, inserted my own images, changed the colors, customized the text, placed an order, and was done with it.

I did come across them in my brief search and was impressed by there designs. Thanks for your recommendation!


I use paint.net which is like Microsoft "paint" but with layers like Photoshop. It's also free!

It's pretty dope! I'm new to designing, but I just made my own logo a few weeks ago. I designed a business card with it.. A Facebook cover photo. I edit my detailing pics with it... Add watermarks to my pics... Blur out license plates with a plugin. I save the files in a high quality format and ppi. I may eventually upgrade to photoshop, but for now paint.net is sufficient

Thanks for the recommendation. I was not aware of this but will be checking it out.


Free Adobe CS2 is here.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 Free Download - TechSpot (http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html)

You will need this key for the installation. Windows Serial number: 1045-1412-5685-1654-6343-1431

Thanks for the link! It's downloading now along with Illustrator. THanks


Dalton,
My wife (a graphic designer) put my card together in photoshop. She then uploaded the design to vista print for it. If you want you can PM me , and I will check with her if you would like her to put something together for you?

Kevin,
Thank you for the gracious offer. I will definitely keep that in mind but as of now I want to still mess around with designing it myself because I enjoy design work and have a very open schedule over the winter. I do have a question for you if you don't mind me asking. Where does your wife get her photos to use on her design work free of copyright? I am aware of Creative Commons but was wondering if she would mind sharing any other sources. If not that is 100% understandable too.
Thanks