Blog Posts - Author: Kelley Olmedo

I’m a Graphic Designer, so naturally, design apps are the bread and butter of my career. But, on the heels of our Five Helpful Chrome Browser Extensions, from an Account Manager blog, I would like to share smaller niche apps that have managed to become indispensable in my daily life.   Clear When we made the jump to work from home we lost the one simple item that helped me organize my job load: job jackets. Without that stack of jackets I found myself lost on a daily basis. I tried keeping a

The start of a New Year tends to bring health to the forefront of our collective minds, and after the last two years I think I am not alone in saying the subject of health has been both consuming and exhausting. Nonetheless, as most of us here at Texas Creative (as well as many of our colleagues, clients, and vendors) continue to learn to navigate a new normal of working remotely full time or on a hybrid schedule -- I feel it’s important to stop and assess how your behaviors can help keep you

Ask any designer which program is their least favorite to work in, and chances are it’s one of the Microsoft 365 apps (see Michael’s blog here). But, given that it’s a program that our clients probably use, it is one we are destined to have to deal with. Now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, just because it is yet another PowerPoint presentation does not mean it has to look like just another PowerPoint presentation. Here are some tips on how we can help you dress up your PowerPo

We all fall into ruts in our daily lives. As responsibilities pile up, we become machines of routine that eventually can lead to monotony. It is hard to be creative within monotony. I get it, I have three kids and there are plenty of days where efficiency is the only goal of the day, so when I read an article telling me to “break routine” in order to be more creative, I just laugh. But, there are some tips I can offer that I find helpful. Not all of them are pandemic-proof, but we can possib

I find myself surprised when I discover that various InDesign features that I use religiously are features unused by other graphic designers. Enter the preflight panel. Combing through your InDesign documents for errors used to be a long and tedious process, but the preflight panel can automate the entire process based on presets that you can create. Starting with InDesign CS4, there has been a somewhat secret, but powerful, preflight panel. It’s usually turned on automatically, (but I tend to

I am told on a regular basis by a client or coworker that they are “not creative” as a way to casually dismiss the ideas they have come to me with. It is true that not all ideas work when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of design (i.e. Craft), but the process of sifting through your mental history to conjure an idea is creativity whether you realize it or not. The first two dictionary definitions of the adjective word creative are: 1. having the quality or power of creating 2. resulting fro

It’s been noted before by my previous blog that I am an obsessive font fiend, but I have never delved into the world of font creation (though I have edited fonts here and there when a character pestered my design). As a “creative” my brain naturally gravitates towards learning new skills, new programs, and new ways to be creative, so it was inevitable that I would find my way to trying my hand at designing a font eventually, and then here we are... In approaching font design, I discovered

There are fonts for just about every mood or message, and the right font can completely make your message. But, finding the right font isn't always so easy. The problem comes when you have thousands upon thousands of fonts, and your font library becomes an overwhelming black hole to search through. Up until a few years ago, I found myself using the same fonts over and over, and only using new ones I just happened to stumble upon or saw in a coworker’s design. I found it very difficult to scro

Lots of things go in and out of my head on a daily basis. Creatives can be strange like that. With an all-encompassing thirst for challenges, inspiration, and knowledge and an ever-shrinking ability to read and pursue my many interests, I have found that podcasts are perfect for easy access to constantly be able to fill my head. So today I am going to share with you the podcasts that have been inspiring me lately. Some are ones that I have loved for years and then there are some that just happen

You may remember that in an earlier post I talked about “How To Get The Most Out Of Your Designer” and the four building blocks to helping me be the best designer I can be for you. I outlined a brief methodology of design and we took a look at the type of information I, as a designer, want to review and study before the design process begins. Next, I want to explore the steps that follow, which is sometimes where the REAL fun begins! Once discovery sessions, organizational goals and creative