When you have an online business you end up using graphic design tools all day long. You're editing photos, creating graphic elements for blog posts, sprucing up your Facebook banner, designing a new logo, laying out ebook pages…the list goes on. If you could sit next your favorite creative business owners and watch them work, you'd see them open and use tons of different websites, software programs, and shortcuts as they go through their work day.
I love learning about new graphic design tools and tricks that will save me time while also making my site and products looks more attractive and professional. With that aim in mind, I invited two creative business owners to join me for a podcast episode to share our favorite graphic design tips and tricks.
Stacey Trock and Mollie Johanson are my guests on this episode.
One of my guests on the show today is Mollie Johanson. Mollie is an illustrator and designer of incredibly cute embroidery patterns and printables. Her business is Wild Olive and she also has a background in graphic design. Mollie’s first craft book will be out in early 2015 and she has a super successful seasonal stitching club going on, as well as a wonderfully inspiring blog.
And my other guest is Stacey Trock. Stacey designs patterns for crocheted stuffed animals and her business is FreshStitches. Stacey is the author of three craft books. She teaches her craft nationally and online and she has a very successful blog, too. Stacey has a really joyous approach towards living a DIY lifestyle and will inspire you to learn all sorts of things besides crochet, too.
Each of us compiled a list of our favorite graphic design tools and then we had a round robin style discussion about how we use each one in our creative businesses.
Mollie talks about:
Stacey talks about:
- Powerpoint’s curvy line tool
- Microsoft Office clipart and the ungroup tool
- Using Pinterest to find Photoshop tutorials (and to collect great logos)
And I talk about:
This episode is packed full of useful information. Find out why Stacey is missing a vital punctuation mark, what I did with a rejected Hanukkah present, and how Mollie made the adorable logo for her seasonal stitching club in just a few minutes.
You can listen right here, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you never miss an episode.
Enjoy the show!