Creatives share their best tips and tricks for making your projects more professional.
The right name transmits what a company does and has communicative value for the user The process of choosing a name for your brand can be summarised in five key points. Xavier Grau (@xgrau) has over 20 years of experience in this field. Today, he presents the questions you need to be asking yourself when you undertake this task.
Natalia Escaño shares some simple tips to boost the position of your pins among the top search results Pinterest is one of the most visual social networks, with a search power comparable to that of Google, but basing its content strategy on aesthetics and being a tool to find inspiration. This makes it a handy tool for creatives, artists, designers, illustrators, photographers, and even companies who want to share their products differently. Natalia Escaño (@nataliaescano) is a designer and illustrator and one of the most prominent Pinterest influencers in Spain, with more than a million followers and a portfolio of clients that includes brands such as L'Oréal Paris and Disney. As a great connoisseur of this platform, at both a user level and business level, she knows what it takes to stand out with attractive, eye-catching, and extremely visual content that will surely resonate with the audience. Here are the 10 fundamental tips from Natalia Escaño to improve the SEO of your Pinterest pins:
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." Forget the boring classic fake text and use one of these instead. A Lorem ipsum, as you probably already know, is a text commonly used in design and layout, which allows you to check that the spaces are well distributed and the fonts work correctly. It is a Latin passage extracted from a text by Cicero, De finibus bonorum et malorum. However, you don't need to stick to it in your projects. New fake text generators are constantly popping up and can help you give your designs a twist, even for provisional text boxes that are not meant to be read. If you are one of those who wants to have fun with Lorem ipsum, here are some ideas: Strangeripsum Our obsession with Stranger Things, the Netflix show that dusts off our eighties memories, has led us to Strangeripsum, a Lorem ipsum generator inspired by some of the show's scenes.
Get inspired, learn to customize your sports garments, and create stylish clothing through upcycling Barcelona-born Krizia Robustella (@kriziarobustella)has been working as a fashion designer for over ten years. Her mother was a fashion wholesaler and named her after the Italian fashion brand she had seen in Vogue in the 70s. Her fate was decided on that day. She presented her recycled 90s tracksuits in the Ego de Cibeles catwalk in 2007. The press called her style Sport Deluxe. From that moment, her collections have been part of the Mercedes-Benz Madrid Fashion Week and the 080 Barcelona Fashion. She also sells them in her shop in the Catalonian capital. Read on to discover how she creates two sports outfits out of an old sweatshirt, using upcycling, and see a gallery of her pieces.
Learn how to make your digital portraits sparkle in Photoshop, with Bearbrickjia The final touches that we add to an illustration can completely transform the end result. Take your digital portraits to the next level and make them sparkle. Karmen Loh (@Bearbrickjia) is a digital illustrator whose surrealist style fuses fantastical worlds with everyday reality. In this video, she reveals how to make your portraits shine in Photoshop. Watch the video below:
This tool will show you which colors you use the most on your Instagram profile Color can be a window to your personality and an essential tool to create visual harmony. Use it correctly, and you'll be able to convey emotions and messages in a much clearer fashion. It doesn't matter if your Instagram account is personal, professional, or you are representing a brand: if you take color seriously, you need to explore Color Kuler, a service that analyzes the most prominent colors in the images you post on your feed, giving you a good idea of what palette represents you, and greater control over what your profile looks like. Try this tool, discover the colors your followers associate with you, and compare it with others.
A good wireframe is the first step to a successful website and these are the different types Wireframes are schematic drawings of a web page that help us plan the distribution of content or communicate to a client how the users will interact with their page. Javier Usobiaga (@htmlboy) is the founder of Swwweet, a web design studio in Barcelona that has worked with numerous companies and institutions. Over the years, Javier has created countless wireframes for his own projects, and he classifies them according to their design and function: Bird's-eye view This is a global view of the website's navigation tree. It explains how users would move through the different pages and approximate the UX elements they'll encounter.
Manage and optimize your brand’s social media activity with top suggestions from an expert Hana Klokner (@hanajayklokner) is a social media marketing specialist who works with major companies like Amazon, the United Nations, GLH Hotels, and smaller personal brands. In her Domestika course, Hana helps build a community management strategy and establish effective relationships with followers and customers using popular social media platforms. To ensure you build a thriving community around your brand and are on top of your social media strategy, Hana recommends using some practical tools and apps to make this job more manageable.
Get expert advice on how to improve your techniques and turn pro People have embroidered for centuries, using this technique to decorate and customize garments and make them more special. Over time, this practice has evolved. Once embroidered pieces were something only the rich and powerful could afford. Now, they are commonly owned by people from all different walks of life. Embroidery is a versatile form of expression with few restrictions, popular across numerous cultures, from east to west, and which has become a very accessible art form. Paula Linard (@paula.linard) has over five years of experience as a professional embroiderer. For her, this medium offers infinite possibilities, from decorating paintings, personalizing clothing–both old and new–to making more elaborate pieces. "There’s a great demand for pieces made for babies or to give as gifts. We just need to develop our drawing skills a little more in order to put our stamp on a piece. We need to focus on the artistic side of this craft, which is a form of expression. It's good to try and create your own drawing, evolve your own line–it doesn't have to be perfect. I like to observe and appreciate the imperfections in my stitches and drawings. It doesn't always look so attractive at first but the final result always makes me happy, because I have created it with my own hands, from start to finish. That is invaluable", she says.
Find out how to gift a Domestika course in a few easy steps Creative people love to learn: for their professional development, to discover new techniques, and to learn new skills. A restless mind will always enjoy the opportunity to learn something new. Find out different ways to buy a Domestika course as a gift, following a few easy steps: Plan your gifts by making lists If you enjoy planning and want to save a list of the courses you would like to purchase for yourself or others, use the option Course list. Simply access the Lists section of your profile page, and click on Add new list. You can make these lists public or private, and make as many as you wish. You can also add courses directly from the Courses page (without needing to go to your profile page) by clicking on the +List icon that appears when you hover the cursor over the course name. You can see some examples of lists shared with you by Domestika teachers on this link.
Find out how you can make the most of Instagram to show off your creative portfolio Customizing your Instagram feed is a great idea if you want to use your account as a portfolio. A well-curated feed can transmit what you do in seconds. If your work is visual, knowing how to order your posts–so that they stand out more as a whole–is key when it comes to attracting new followers and showing off your work. Or maybe you are just interested in experimenting with your personal page. The well-organized and harmonious effects you achieve when you plan your posts in advance are known as Instagram Grid Layouts, Puzzles, or Mosaics. To incorporate them into your feed, all you need to do is follow different publishing methods and try out some of the tools that photographer Pati Gagarin (@patigagarin) recommends in her course, Instagram as a Photography Portfolio.
Ana Victoria Calderón answers what you’ve always wanted to ask about watercolors Ana Victoria Calderón (@anavictoriana) is a painter and illustrator who uses watercolors as her primary medium. She creates art for Hallmark, Papyrus, Demdaco, Galison, and editorial work for Glamour, Vanity Fair, InStyle, and Elle. One of her three Domestika courses, Modern Watercolor Techniques, has just reached 100K students! To celebrate this achievement, Ana Victoria has been answering some frequently asked questions about watercolor materials and techniques and giving professional tips in a live chat for the Domestika Live series. Read some of her answers below:
Discover the storage services you can use to organize and back up your images A few weeks ago, Google announced that it will no longer offer free unlimited photo storage after June 2021. Following then, if you require more than the 15GB of storage space available for free, you will need a sign up to a paid plan (as is the case if you have Google Drive). If that’s not enough or you’re looking for alternative options, we’ve compiled a list of sites that offer image storage services: Amazon Prime Photos If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can take advantage of their unlimited photo storage service and free space for up to 5GB for videos. Other services are also offered, such as the option to share albums with other users or get images printed and delivered to your home. Price For more information on prices, check how much an Amazon Prime subscription costs where you live.
Learn how to define the style of your audiovisual projects with Helio Vega
Top marketing copywriter Carla González shares her vital Dos and Don’ts. Being a good copywriter is about much more than knowing how to write. Copywriting involves creating texts for advertising. As such, it persuades and informs, which is a more complex task. To ensure your words convey precisely what you need to say in the clearest, most direct and entertaining manner, you need to master a series of techniques and learn to apply them on a daily basis. Carla González (@carlagoon) has worked as a marketing editor for brands including IKEA, BMW, Vueling, Banco Sabadell and Casio. She shares her experience and defines her top three key copywriting Dos and top three key copywriting Don’ts. Find out what they are in this video:
Learn how to identify a good logo, with designer Sagi Haviv Your logo is the first image people will associate with your brand. That is a lot to ask of one small graphic, but the greatest designs manage to communicate a company’s identity and ethos in an instant. Few know this better than Sagi Haviv (@sagi), partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, who has developed more than 60 graphic identities, including those of the US Open, Harvard University Press, and National Geographic. In this video, Sagi Haviv reviews different designs, highlighting and explaining their strengths and weaknesses so that you can better understand how to apply these lessons to your own work.
These are Ed Vill's tips for illustrating characters full of personality In the history of illustration and advertising, there are countless examples of characters and mascots designed initially to be used in branding that have become a resounding success, an indissoluble part of a company's image, or, in some cases, even part of popular culture. Sometimes, the opposite happens. Characters fall into oblivion for their lack of charisma and personality. Such is the case of Speedee, the little-known predecessor of Ronald McDonald. With his big hamburger-shaped head, he failed in his mission to become the official mascot of McDonald's. This is just one of the many examples that underscore the importance of creating characters with personality. Ed Vill (@edvill) has some tips that you should keep in mind when drawing your own.
Learn to digitize your letters easily using Adobe Illustrator with tips and directions from Daniel Hosoya Advertising designer Daniel Hosoya (@danielhosoya) specializes in digital lettering and teaches the Domestika courses, Introduction to Lettering in Procreate and Digital Lettering with Illustrator and Photoshop. Here, he tells you how to digitize your lettering designs, an essential step if you want to work on your hand-drawn creations and turn them into more ambitious projects.
Learn to make a French knot, with Kseniia Guseva The French knot is one of the oldest, simplest, and most useful decorative stitches in embroidery. The technique is also known as the forbidden stitch: legend has it that, centuries ago, young Chinese women were not permitted to use the stitch because the fine embroidery it was used for in China would strain their eyesight. Today, in Europe, the stitch is not so delicate: it is typically used to fill particular areas of a piece such as the centers of flowers, or anywhere a single dot is required. Kseniia Guseva (@faimyxstitch) has been embroidering every day since 2016, creating stitchwork cityscapes—an interest shaped by the architecture of her hometown of Saint Petersburg—while also feeding her other passion: upcycling. In this tip, she shows us how to make a French knot:
Discover the possibilities of video and YouTube as a way of showing off your talent to lots and lots of people Although it may not be the most popular platform for presenting portfolios, YouTube can be very effective at showing off your work and creative processes. Juan Bermúdez–better known as Kaos (@estudiokatastrofico)–is a YouTuber, illustrator, and writer with a degree in Fine Art. In his course, YouTube: Creating a Channel from Scratch, he will teach you the advantages of using this social network as a means to make your work more visible and what to keep in mind. Here he lists some of his favorite creative portfolios on YouTube and the strategies they use to showcase their products or their creative process: Little King Goods This channel belongs to a leather craftsman who sells products such as wallets, belts, purses, and watch straps. Their videos give the viewer a unique insight into the creative processes behind making each piece. What makes Little King Goods stand out is that customers can purchase the materials and tools and assemble pieces themselves, in addition to buying the finished product. This YouTube channel also teaches its customers DIY methods, showing them how to make the leather objects themselves.
Josune Imízcoz shows us how to master tone, aesthetics, and emotion in audiovisual storytelling on social media Josune Imízcoz (@josune_imizcoz) has written for newspapers, presented on TV and radio, and is a journalist whose creativity is constantly evolving. Lately, she has been specializing in digital audiovisual storytelling, i.e., videos especially conceived to be shared and consumed on social media. The videos aim to tell great stories in a few seconds, trying to connect with an audience that is overexposed to information on the internet and on social media. It is essential to pay particular attention to tone, aesthetics, and emotion when creating digital content. What are those, exactly? Josune defines them as follows:
Learn how to promote your portfolio and build a community with Juan Bermúdez Romero, aka Kaos With over 700,000 users subscribed to his channel, Kaos (@estudiokatastrofico) knows that using YouTube can be the ideal strategy to promote your career as an artist. A writer and illustrator based in Spain, Juan Bermúdez Romero, better known as Kaos, decided to use his YouTube channel as a personal portfolio and has collaborated with major brands like Disney, Wacom, Fiverr, and many others. In his Domestika course, he teaches you to create your own YouTube channel and share your portfolio with the world. One of the most crucial steps in this process is creating a video portfolio that will be the channel trailer. First, you’ll need to define your goals and values. Then, you can set out to create your channel’s trailer to showcase your portfolio. You must follow three pre-production processes: the idea, the script, and the storyboard.
Learn to create viral content for social media and see your likes and shares soar Social media has become an integral part of our day-to-day lives: we swipe, click, share, like, and save posts every day. Our desire to share content with our friends, family, and followers is what causes posts to reach more and more people and even become “viral.” In the digital world, if a piece “goes viral,” it means it has become incredibly popular in a matter of hours or days, having been shared by thousands, if not millions, of people on social media. The term is used as a marketing strategy to promote products and services. While, in general, viral content has a short shelf life, it’s still very effective. Publicist Renato Farfán (@nato_farfan) is an expert in creating viral content for social media. In this blog, he shares four key points that will help arrive at the best ideas for your next viral post.
What are color values and why should we pay attention to them before creating a color palette? The sentence “color doesn’t need color” might sound strange at first, but all will soon start to make sense. When creating a structure or composition in an illustration, painting, design, or other visual work in which color plays a key role, it is not the color wheel itself that is of key importance, but the spectrum and the values that we apply. Below, illustrator and concept artist Jean Fraisse (@jbfraisse) explains why color doesn’t need color if we know how to apply it using the right values:
Learn how to photograph your artwork for your portfolio Sharing your work online is a great way to grow your audience and take advantage of creative opportunities. But to do that, you need high-quality images of your work. For analog mediums, that typically means having to take photographs. After spending so much time and care on your final artwork, it’s important to understand how to best capture and showcase it. Find below some useful tips on commercial photography so that you can make the most of your work.
Visual poet and photographer Danny Bittencourt shares interesting advice on how to manage your career as a freelance photographer Choosing which themes to explore in your work, developing your own visual language, managing your routine and timetable, being your own boss... Sounds pretty good, right? Of course, being freelance has a lot of benefits, if and when you can avoid the most common problems. Visual poet and photographer Danny Bittencourt (@dannybbittencourt) is an expert in freelancing. In this post, she shares her dos and dont's for freelance photographers. Discover more in the video below:
Alberto Chimal’s best tips on finding inspiration for writing memorable stories You may think that inspiration comes spontaneously and lets authors write incredible stories without interruptions or hesitation, but this is not the case. To write well, you have to practice, and to find the inspiration, you must know where to find it. Author Alberto Chimal (@albertochimal) reveals some of his best tips to find inspiration when writing, and exploit your narrative potential. 1. Set aside time to write Aim to write a little every day, every week, or at least set yourself a realistic goal—that you must keep to and complete—something you can fulfill whenever it is possible. The most important thing is that you respect the time dedicated to writing and make sure others also respect it. 2. Look for the perfect space Find a space where you can write: at home, in your study, or even in a public place or café. It needn’t be a place you use specifically for writing, but it should be comfortable for you to concentrate and develop your stories.
The importance of using mockups when presenting your stationery and brand designs Once you have designed all the elements commissioned, you will need to present them to your client. This is one of the main stages of the project, as the client gets to see the image you have created to represent them to their potential customers and the general public for the first time. Laura Méndez, creative director and founder of design studio Menta Branding (@mentabranding), believes that mockups are an essential element in your branding presentations and stationery designs and tells us why we should always use them.
Learn how graphic elements online should differ from their offline counterparts The rules for online and offline communications are not the same: the things we say and do online are not exactly the same as those we say or do in real life. For companies and brands, this is no different, each space has different requirements that need different strategies to achieve a particular image. James Eccleston (@james80) is a Brand and UX Specialist with over 18 years of international experience working for major brand communication agencies in London, digital start-ups in Latin America, and running his own agency in Madrid. He considers the main different between successful online and offline branding campaigns is attention span, "When you communicate online," he says, "your users have a very short attention span. Usually, it's around 15 seconds." Keeping someone's attention is challenging enough on a desktop, but more so on mobile, when the screen space is smaller, and there are more distractions.
When depicting plants and animals, careful observation is essential. Here are some tips for drawing birds Nature illustrator Antonia Reyes Montealegre (@antoniapajarito) is passionate about birds and their diverse anatomies, something she loves to capture in her drawings. Nothing’s as good as looking out to the treetops and capturing the essence of the colorful birds that live in them. It is necessary to focus on details to recreate a realistic picture of nature. For this reason, we must learn to observe these creatures.
