Need help with a logo

JC
Posted By
Jenise_Cox
Jun 6, 2005
Views
711
Replies
19
Status
Closed
I am photoshop-impaired, but have to get a logo ready to get some business cards and letterhead printed. I designed one that I am fairly happy with, but I did it with MS Word Draw (ok all you professionals…stop giggling). Of course, crisp isn’t exactly an adjective you’d use on the result. I have photoshop elements 2.0, and I could probably do it myself if I could figure out how to use the software but I am having a really hard time figuring out what to do. Is there someone out here that, for a reasonable fee, can clean this thing up for me so I can go to the printers’?

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DM
Don_McCahill
Jun 6, 2005
The problem probably is that your Draw image is at 72 ppi resolution, and this will print very poorly. Almost any Graphic Design shop, from Kinkos on up will be able to take your design and create a vector graphic from the image. However, your expectation of "reasonable fee" and theirs may differ. If we are talking $50 to $100, yes, if you are thinking five or ten dollars, probably no.
CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Jun 6, 2005
Or if you have Illustrator CS2 try the "Live Trace" feature…it’s amazing what it can do with raster to vector transformations…
PC
Philo_Calhoun
Jun 6, 2005
I’m not familiar with MS Word’s draw feature. If it creates vectors (wmf or emf would be likely), it is better to use that rather than bring your image into PS which will convert them to bitmaps. What program are you using to actually make your business cards?
J
jenisecox
Jun 6, 2005
I think is 72 ppi. I originally copied it from Word into MS Paint and saved it as a bitmap and also saved it as a jpeg. Regardless of how I saved it, even after I erased the pixels that were scattered around the edges, it still looked horrible. Is there a way with my Photoshop Elements 2.0 for me to convert it to a vector myself? Fee wise I guess I was looking for something between $20 and $50, although the more I try to figure out this photo software, the more I’m gaining respect for anyone who can understand it… it is so confusing to me.

I don’t have CS2. And once I get the logo the way it needs to be, I was planning on having a commercial printer do the business cards and letterhead, and I’ll just use the logo in my email and on my QuickBooks invoices, and some places in the reports that I publish (I’m a commercial real estate appraiser, reports are usually 100-150 pages).
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 6, 2005
Jennie,

The draw faeture in MSWord is quite a decent vector diagram drawing app and is capable of some very good work in skilled hands. Your problem sounds like it started when you imported it into MSPaint a bitmap application, hence the "jaggies". I’ve seen some very profesional looking business cards done in MSWord, try building your card up with text boxes; all the align, distribute and group comands are in there. Also,if you have MSPublisher, this actually has BC templates, so all you need to do is put in your text and graphic(s).
JC
Jenise_Cox
Jun 6, 2005
Wow…I took your advice and you’re right…it looks pretty good. Do you know if there is a way for me to put a beveled edge on the triange from MS Word?
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 7, 2005
Jenise,
Sorry about the Jennie….getting old 😉 I’m glad to have been of help. One way to put a bevel on the triangle would be to go to autoshape in the draw menu, select line, then free form. This will allow you to draw a thin rectangle (enlarge your view and follow the slope of the triangle at the corners)around, first two sides of you triangle, say, base and RHS and fill with a darker colour to that of your main triangle colour. Then draw a similar thin rectangle down the remaining side and fill with a lighter colour. This should give you the effect you seek. Perseverance is the key.
You could also superimpose a slightly lighter copy triangle over the bigger, darker one for a similar effect, but this would lack the paleness on one side. Use the arrow keys to fine tune positioning. You can also apply 3D effects to any shape with the 3D icon, then you can light it and colour and adjust the amount of depth. Have fun.

How are you going to get your opus major turned into cards? If the printer is going to scan the finished article to produce the cards check with them to see if they want your sample to be actual size or would they prefer a larger to reduce for you? You should get a better image from a larger one that has been reduced to that from one that has been scanned at finished size (UK experience).

Hope this has helped and saved you a few bucks 😉

Regards
Mike H
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 7, 2005
Jenise

Forgot to add; for a seamless effect select your triangle/drawn rectangle or whatever; right click on it and select format and then colours and lines and select no line in the colour box.
Just had a thought, you could also use this feature for your bevel if you chose a thick line to surround your shape and go over one of the lines with a similar line of a lighter colour. The corners wouldn’t be as belivable as with the rectangle method though. (don’t forget to remove the outline if using this method)
Regards
Mike H
JC
Jenise_Cox
Jun 7, 2005
Thanks…. I haven’t tried your recipe yet but will soon. This whole experience has really heightened my respect for you Photoshoppers. Geesh…. I’ve never run into a program with so much to learn.
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 7, 2005
Jenise,
Don’t know about Photo"shopper" I’m more of a "window gazer" as far as PS is concerned, but slowly getting there with the help of this forum.
Also I don’t know how this Word help will be viewed, using Adobe servers, bandwith etc., for a rivals software 😉
If you have any problems, "meet me" at the following ng, adobe.photoshop.windows. regards
Mike H
DM
dave_milbut
Jun 8, 2005
psst! word’s not really a photoshop rival… 🙂

use the right tool for the right job. if word works use it.
JC
Jenise_Cox
Jun 8, 2005
How stupid is this?? I don’t know how to get into a newsgroup. Never needed to I guess so….
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 8, 2005
Dave,

Agreed on both counts. Rival maybe was the wrong choice of word (pardon the pun);-)I was referring to the manufacturer, though even then there isn’t much overlap, hmm definatly wrong choice of phrase.
I’ve seen a lot of applications put to uses they may were not originally intended e.g., essays in Excel, art work in Word, but it was with what the user was comfortable. Haven’t seen a spread sheet in PS though;-),
With regard to the news group, when I first discovered this forum it was from within adobe.photoshop.windows, and postings to this ng seemed to be ignored. It wasn’t until I started to post from within the forum that the advice and help started to flood in. Would I be correct in assuming that the majority of contributors do no monitor this ng?
regards
Mike H
P
Phosphor
Jun 8, 2005
I think the admins have said that the majority visit the Adobe forums via web browser interface.
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Jun 8, 2005
P,
I thought as much, I use the ng to read the posts as I find it quicker to get into and the forum for help etc.

Regards
Mike H
L
LenHewitt
Jun 8, 2005
Mike,

The Newsgroup is a mirror of the web forum. However, for your posts to be seen you need to connect directly to adobeforums.com with the same username and password that you use in web view.

If you access via, say, Google Groups, any messages you post will not be seen from web view.
J
jenisecox
Jun 8, 2005
ok….here’s where I’m at with this. Honestly, if my cash flow was better, I’d be paying someone to take this headache away.

I played with it in Word but could not get the precision needed to put a bevel on it. But I was able to get the gradient that I liked, so I did that in Word and then pasted it into Elements. In playing with it, I have been able to bevel the edge and get the monogram in the center but then I can’t make the fill in the triangle gradient, and can’t put a shadow under the entire logo. I know it probably sounds like EGADS WHAT ISN’T SHE PUTTING IN THERE… and when it’s all done, I probably won’t have a beveled shadowed gradient monogrammed triangle, but…. shouldn’t I be able to get all these elements in there just to see what they look like. AAarrrgggh. I HATE this… And what the &^(*^ is a layer anyways???

This photo stuff makes number crunching look so dang easy.
P
Phosphor
Jun 8, 2005
"This photo stuff makes number crunching look so dang easy."

Eh..it’s just a left brain vs. right brain thing. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

Jenise…is there a way you could upload a ZIP’ed version of the logo you’re working on to a server somewhere, then provide a link here? Even better, a ZIP’ed folder containing the original + any version(s) you may be working on in Photoshop. (Alternately, you could send a ZIP’ed folder to my SpyMac email address…click my username.)

I’ll be happy to help, but since there seems to be a bit of a technodeficiency barrier between you and us, it might be best if we could get our hands on the actual files.
JC
Jenise_Cox
Jun 9, 2005
That’s a great idea. It’ll be a day or two more before I get around to doing that…I am ousted from my house while my air conditioning gets repaired.

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