Sound like a familiar story? So you've got a great concept or idea but you just can't seem to get it on paper. You have been working on your computer for hours, days, weeks but just can't seem to accomplish anything concrete. STOP. Think about it! How can you realistically create any design if you don't know what you are trying to create.

What colors shall I use? What typography (fonts) should I go with? What graphic message am I trying to communicate? These are the basic questions you need to address before you can begin your graphic design. A good idea for you, in the infancy stage of creating your great concept, is to pickup a pencil and piece of paper and sketch your ideas before you go near your computer. Programs like Corel Draw, Adobe Photo Shop, Quark Xpress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Pagemaker, etc. are the greatest programs for designers on the market. But these great destop publishing programs need to be told what you want. These programs cannot dream for you. So it really does come down to you, your pencil and paper as any graphic designer will tell you... sketch, conceptualize, render, create. Follow these steps for all of your creative graphic designs. Whether you're designing and constructing a colorful website, a full color multi panel brochure, an annual report, an NCR form, a power point presentation, a full color business card, stationery, etc. Keep these guidelines in mind you'll find you start getting better mileage on one set of tires. Listed below are some links that will help you make more educated discussions on the fundamentals of graphic design:

Technically- What do you need to know about color.

Teach Yourself Creative Design With Your Computer - A low cost teach yourself tutoring program. DELIVERY: delivery if your total order exceeds: USA - $50 (orders less than $50 carry a US $4.95 small order charge)

Microsoft Typography- Microsoft's Typography group researches and develops fonts and font technologies, and supports the development of TrueType and OpenType fonts by independent type vendors. We also manage the TrueType rasterizer built into Windows 95 and Windows NT. Our goal is to make text highly legible on any device.

Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) - is the world's leading technical association for the graphic communications industries. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, GATF partners with nearly 14,000 member companies.

Looking for clip art or stock photo images? Thousands of colorful photos, images and textures royalty .http://www.stockphotowarehouse.com/ complete with there own search engine to make it easy to find what you are looking for (select images and use them for you next printing order, ).

did you know...

A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

contains every letter of the alphabet?

Submitted By Robert Kennedy-President