Carrie Cousins

PowerPoint Templates / 11 Sep 2019

How to Convert PowerPoint to Video

Did you know that you can turn a PowerPoint deck into a video that plays automatically? This can be a great option for online sharing or creating a video loop to play at events or as a background collage.

The best part is that you don’t have to have extra tools because you can convert your slides right into a video file from PowerPoint.

We’re going to walk you, step-by-step, through how to convert a PowerPoint template to a video. We’ll also pay special attention to video settings, formats, and conversion options to make sure you wind up with just the right type of video for your project.

Business / 9 Sep 2019

How to Make a Personal Marketing Plan (With Examples)

You probably understand that everything you do online – and in-person – contributes to your personal brand. But did you know that having a personal marketing plan to establish, maintain, and promote that brand can be equally important?

Particularly for freelancers and anyone working in the gig economy, both full-time or part-part, having a distinct personal brand can impact your design work. Your brand will attract a certain type of potential client and work. Do you have a plan to draw in projects that are most appealing to you?

It can start with a personal marketing plan. Here’s how you do it.

CV & Resume Templates / 3 Sep 2019

What’s the Best Font for Your Resume or CV?

It might sound a little silly at first, but the typeface you select for your resume design can speak volumes to potential employers. The font represents your design style and professionalism. It can also impact how the person looking at your resume perceives the information at hand.

The typeface you select makes a first impression with every person you might meet in the interview or hiring process. (They’ll likely see your resume before they ever meet you.) Make sure to set the right tone from the start.

We’re exploring the best free fonts for resumes today. Here are a few top-notch font choices that are resume-ready, and all completely free!

Typography / 3 Sep 2019

What’s the Deal With Em and Rem?

With all the talk about designing for responsive websites, two little words keep cropping up – em and rem. But what are they?

Em and rem, along with pixels, are units and methods to measure and resize type. Em and rem are relative, rather than static, units and are being used more and more for responsive web design schemes. Let’s dive into this concept today and explain things a little more clearly!

Lightroom Presets / 2 Sep 2019

What Are Lightroom Presets? (+ 10 Useful Examples)

If you’re looking for a shortcut to help speed up your photo editing workflows, Adobe Lightroom presets could be the answer. We’re covering what a Lightroom preset is, how they work, and featuring some of our favorite examples!

Adobe Lightroom Presets can help you perform certain effects and edits with one click. It can be a great way to apply the same edits repeatedly and save time with mundane editing tasks.

Here’s everything you need to know about Lightroom presets work with some cool examples you can download and use.

Brochure Templates / 29 Aug 2019

How to Make a Brochure Quickly & Easily

Creating a simple brochure can be a quick and easy design project once you have the assets and content you need ready to go. Today we’re walking you through how to make a brochure quickly, and easily!

While brochures can get complicated with fancy folds, cuts, or finishes, most beginners can make a brochure that looks good and can be printed in house or from an online printer.

The trick to making the process as simple as possible is to create a brochure-making routine and follow the steps in a logical order. It also helps to have all the right tools.

Here’s how to make a brochure.

Photoshop Actions / 28 Aug 2019

How to Export Actions in Photoshop

Photoshop actions are a great tool for creating and recreating sequences of edits or tasks. You can save actions to reuse later and even “export” actions to use on another computer. Here’s how!

If you have tasks that you perform regularly, such as edits to images or cropping and saving to a certain location, actions can be a lifesaver.

Here, we’ll look at how to create an export actions in Photoshop with a step-by-step guide. This is a great way to move Photoshop actions between computers, or for sharing them with other people online.

Logo Templates / 26 Aug 2019

What Is a Logo Template? (And Should I Use One?)

If you’ve ever needed a logo in a pinch, you know how stressful that can be! For a quick design, a logo template can be just the tool to help you develop a logo fast and even show potential ideas off before a design gets too far along.

If you’ve never used a logo template before, a good template comes in vector form with everything you need to tweak and play to get the right logo design fast.

Here’s how it works, and a few tips on whether it is the right choice for you.

Keynote Templates / 21 Aug 2019

How to Embed a YouTube Video in Keynote

If you’ve ever wanted to embed a YouTube video in Keynote to create a more engaging slideshow for in-person or recorded presentations, don’t worry. It’s not complicated at all.

We’re going to take you through how to embed a YouTube video in Keynote step-by-step, and share a few tips for how to use video to supercharge your presentations.

You don’t need any special software, and you’ll be all set with a video-packed presentation in minutes!

After Effects Templates / 19 Aug 2019

What Is Adobe After Effects (And What Is It Used For?)

Adobe After Effects is a video and animation-based tool that’s used to add elements to moving pictures and animations. Most designers use it to create titles, intros, and transition between clips for more seamless video production.

After Effects is part of the Adobe Creative Suite of products and is included in cloud plans. Full suite users already have access to this tool, or you can get it on its own if that’s all you need.

As with other Adobe tools, the great thing about using this set of tools is that functions and interacts have a look and feel that you are probably already used to, making it easier to learn on the fly.

Here’s a look at Adobe After Effects, what it is, and how to know if you should use it for projects.

Layouts / 14 Aug 2019

10 Ways to Use Mapping in Web or App Design

Almost everywhere you look these days, you find a map or location-based nugget of information. Almost every app asks for a location, and their presence is becoming more and more common on desktop websites as well.

But if you have not branched out into the world of mapping or location data, it may seem a little intimidating.

How can you effectively use mapping services for your website or app? We’ll take a look at ten ways you can integrate a map today.

Premiere Pro Templates / 14 Aug 2019

What Is Adobe Premiere Pro? (And What Is It Used For?)

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the go-to editing tools for video, including film, TV, and clips for the web and social media. If you are an Adobe CC subscriber and have seen this tool but haven’t given it a whirl, what are you waiting for?

While Premiere Pro can look a little intimidating at first, functionality is rooted in the same principles as other Adobe products and with a little tinkering, you should figure it out pretty quick (and there’s plenty of documentation and online help available).

So, what is Adobe Premiere Pro and how can you make this most of this video-editing tool? Let’s take a look.