InDesign template resources

Starting an InDesign layout from a template can be useful in many ways. They can be a way for an inexperienced InDesign user to create a complex project quickly. Deconstructing a well-designed template can be a good way to learn more about InDesign. Templates can be a useful way for non-designers to take advantage of someone else's good design sense. They can even be useful for experienced designers who need to create a project very quickly with a very low budget. Here are five sources for InDesign templates:

1. Your hard drive: If you have InDesign CS3 or CS4 installed, choose File > New > Document From Template. This will launch Adobe Bridge, and a directory full of templates that come with InDesign will be displayed. If you no longer have CS3/CS4 installed, the templates may still reside on your hard drive in Hard drive/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Templates/en_US/InDesign (Mac) or Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Templates/en_US/InDesign (Windows).

2. InDesignSecrets.com: Adobe stopped including templates after InDesign CS4. But InDesignSecrets received permission from Adobe to post all the templates on InDesignSecrets.com.

3. The InDesign Ideabook by Chuck Green is a CD-ROM/Book that contains 315 high-quality templates. Nicely designed with Chuck's clean and simple style, these templates are all well-constructed.

4. Stocklayouts is a resource for templates that are highly designed for specific uses, such as a golf tournament brochure, a brew pub menu, and an accounting services brochure for example. Stocklayouts include high-resolution, royalty-free artwork.

5. GraphicRiver is a "micro stock" site for templates. The templates here are user-submitted, and generally sell at a low price. Since the templates are user-submitted, the design quality (and presumably the file construction) varies in quality.

Free t-shirt mockups

So you've designed the next killer t-shirt design (like the one below!), but you want to preview what it will look like on an actual shirt? A new web site lets you do this in a couple of clicks...free!

ShirtMockup.com lets you choose from a variety of t-shirt styles, upload your artwork, position it on the shirt, change the shirt color, and download a jpeg of the results.

Other options for mocking up t-shirts include Photoshop templates from Arsenal, or some of these free resources at SpoonGraphics.

Free stock images and video clips

Crestock.com Creative Stock Images offers a Daily Free Stock Image. Every day they give away a new high-res stock image or vector image completely free. They make it completely simple with an RSS feed, so you can have a link to each day's free image appear in your in box.

Crestock is running a special deal for the month of March: a 6 month, 10 image/day subscription for $499, or a 12 month, 10 image/day subscription for $699.

Artbeats Royalty-Free Stock Footage offers a free high-quality video clip each day on their Web site for registered users. The clip is available in HD, NTSC and PAL formats. A great way to build a selection of clips for use in Flash animations, Powerpoint presentations or video projects.

* Full disclosure: I'm an affiliate of Crestock. This means that if you visit Crestock from here, and eventually buy something, I might make a few bucks.

Free Stock Photography

Free is good. Here are a few thoughts on where to obtain free high-quality, high-resolution stock images and artwork.

Freerange Stock is an advertising-supported site that encourages photographers to upload their content, and ad revenue is shared with the photographers.

Flickr is the granddaddy of all photo-sharing sites. The site contains millions of images, ranging from really bad to really good. If you need an image for a commercial project, limit your search to images with a Creative Commons license. Instead of using Flickr's slow, cumbersome search engine, try Compfight, a blazingly fast search engine for Flickr images.

Shutterstock* claims to be the "largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world." They offer a new "Free Photo of the Week" and "Free Vector of the Week" every week on their front page.

Crestock* has a large collection of both photography and vector images that cost from $5-$15 each. They also offer a new photo or vector image free to download every day.

morgueFile is another popular collection of user-submitted photography with a clear license and a good variety of images.

* Full disclosure: I'm an affiliate of Shutterstock and Crestock. This means that if you visit either site from here, and eventually buy something, I might make a few bucks.

Resource for scientific stock photos

There are myriad vendors of stock photography. But if you need images about scientific topics such as Medicine, Genetics, Pollution, Physics or Microscopy, browse the large image collection at the Science Photo Library. They sell both Royalty Free and Rights Managed images, and have a team of in-house researchers to help you locate the right image for your needs. They bill themselves as "the world's leading provider of science photos covering all aspects of science, health & medicine, space exploration & astronomy, technology & industry, earth science, satellite imagery, and nature & wildlife."

LiveSurface Image Templates

Here's a cool resource that I've been evaluating: The LiveSurface Image Template Library. These are not just stock photos. They're pre-masked, multi-layered high-res photos of billboards, stationary, packaging, vehicles, etc. that contain built-in 3D surfaces. What this means is that you can use the photos to quickly visualize what your designs will look like in context, create high-quality client presentations, or create final high-res images for use in print or Web marketing materials.

The images take advantage of the vanishing point feature of Photoshop CS2-CS4.

The layers and masks are well-labeled and well-organized, and instructions are included.

It took me just a matter of minutes to create the images below.

Free image every day

I've mentioned Crestock.com Creative Stock Images before, on 2/27/09 and 3/30/09. It is a wonderful source for both stock images as well as vector artwork.

Today, though, I want to point out one of the neatest features of Crestock: The Daily Free Stock Image. Each and every day they give away a new high-res stock image or vector image completely free. And they make it completely simple with an RSS feed, so you can have a link to each day's free image appear in your in box.

Enjoy!

Certificate borders

The term "Guilloche" (architectural ornamentation resembling braided or interlaced ribbons, New Oxford American Dictionary) is sometimes used to describe the intricate engraving-style backgrounds that appear in stock certificates, currency and awards.

Both Crestock and iStockPhoto are good sources for vector versions of Guilloche borders, ornaments, and backgrounds. Try searching for "Guilloche" or "Engraved Image".

This post was inspired by an article in the latest issue of Design Tools Monthly. If you're not a subscriber, you should check it out. Highly recommended.

Beautiful seamless Illustrator patterns

I had a small project this week where I needed a seamless vector pattern, a "tiled" pattern that can be used to fill a shape in Illustrator to create a "wrapping paper" or "wallpaper" look.

My searching led me to the work of "Tolchik" on Crestock.com. She has an amazing array of high-quality vector illustrations, backgrounds, and these amazing seamless vector patterns.

I ended up using Image 496941 for my project.

A search for "seamless vector pattern" on Crestock turned up more than 1000 patterns from other artists. What a great resource!

Crestock is an alternative to the popular iStockphoto. If you use iStockphoto, you should also include Crestock in your searches for stock photography and vector illustration.

(By the way, if you don't know how to work with pattern fills in Illustrator, see this resource from Peachpit)

Adobe Stock Photos service to be discontinued

Adobe announced today that Adobe Stock Photos is being discontinued, effective April 1, 2008. I'm sorry to see this unique Web service go, as it integrated the Stock Photo search, comp, and purchasing experience seamlessly with Adobe Bridge, InDesign and Illustrator. More information and a utility for uninstalling the Adobe Stock Photos features from the Creative Suite can be found here.

Free Illustrator symbols

The Integration and Application Network at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has developed a set of free Illustrator symbol and swatch libraries of environmental and life sciences topics. There are over 1500 symbols of agriculture, plants, fish, reptiles, birds, animals, insects, boats, buildings, mapping, weather and more, as well as 100 custom swatches. These high-quality color vector symbols and swatches can be used in Macintosh or Windows Illustrator 10 or newer.

If you work in a life sciences-related field, you definitely need these. If not, you still will probably find a few things you can use here. More information about working with symbols in Illustrator can be found here.