I am not much of a graphic designer. In fact I have the artistic talents of a blind hedgehog trapped in a paper bag. I suck when it comes to colours, designing logos, photo editing and drawing.

This is why in general I will outsource any graphic elements I need for my websites, flyers and posters.

However I do still use graphics tools. Why?

Like the HTML editing stuff I was talking about yesterday, you don’t need to be a graphic genius to edit and adapt graphics.

I never start from a blank canvas, and neither should you.

When getting graphics created for your website or flyers, always ask the designer to provide the final result in PSD format, as well as JPG or GIF.

PSD is PhotoShop Design format, which is a fairly universal image file format used by designers. It can be a “layered” image file which means each element of the image can be edited. It allows you the ability to change the text, move or remove layers and change fonts, colours etc without having to completely redesign the image.

You’ll need a tool such as Adobe PhotoShop or CorelDraw to do this editing, but these tools will become an important part of your toolkit. Saving you time and money in the long run, for getting minor changes made to graphics.

So the next time you are getting your graphics, logos, flyers or posters created by a graphic designer, make sure you ask for a “layered PSD file” as part of the delivered package.

—————————————————————————

Photo editing is a different aspect entirely and something I cover in more detail in the new Group Training Success System program. Including how to do high quality photo editing with a freely available tool