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For old logos or labels that exist only in analog form the best approach is scanning an authentic print of it in a flatbed scanner and then using the scanned image as a guide to re-build a vector-based version of it. But, yeah, the process can be time consuming. Auto-trace filters are only good...

I use a Dell XPS desktop system at work and an Alienware X17 notebook at home. Good NVidia RTX graphics boards, 64GB of RAM and NVMe SSD boot drives in both. On the Windows side I have NOT been a fan of kit-built PCs. And those seem to be a favorite of many IT guys and local computer stores...

Yeah, gradients can be a real can of worms. Normal linear or spherical gradients can be enough of a pain. I wish the Gradient Annotator in Adobe Illustrator worked more like the one in CorelDRAW. The one in CorelDRAW is a lot easier to control. You can snap either end of a linear gradient to...

The only designers you're going to be able to hire that are ready to hit the ground running are people with previous sign company work experience. And not all of those people are any good either. Our industry does tend to be a catch-all for f***-ups. You'll need to look at examples of their work...

It's not Impact either. The vertical strokes on Impact are wider. The "5" is different. What is "405 Unified?" Something to do with the Oklahoma City area code?

The only thing that seems to be publicly available is re-creations of the older Detroit Lions font used prior to 2017.

It's custom lettering for the updated Detroit Lions branding scheme.

Spot colors are not good to use in a gradient fill, not unless the gradient is merely varying percentage tints of one single spot color. Mixing different spot colors in a gradient fill or mixing spot colors and CMYK/RGB colors in a gradient fill will lead to unpredictable, unreliable results...

Heading Now Variable can get very close, but the "4" is wrong.

We have Onyx Thrive driving two HP latex-based printers in our shop. I don't have any complaints. The RIP has an Adobe certified PDF "engine" that (when kept up to date) can process any of the native effects that can be baked into an Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop file. There are other RIPs that...

Welcome to the forum! If you haven't already been doing so, look at a LOT of signs. Not just to admire the ones that look really good for inspiration, but to break down what makes a good sign effective. I've seen really cool looking signs that are sadly ineffective because they're not legible...

Straight up and down apostrophes and quotes are what some call "dumb quotes." The apostrophes and quotation marks that curl to the left or right are typographically superior in appearance. Applications such as CorelDRAW usually have those kinds of marks override the dumb quote marks by default...

Mileage is going to vary on third party vectorizing services. Fans of Canva won't learn until they have to trouble-shoot the artwork in real graphic design applications to get it ready for production.

That all depends on a couple of factors. If you have plenty of spare time to spend on piddly crap like fixing/converting amateur artwork then, yeah, it's a money making opportunity. When you're busy you can make even more money with that time doing more productive things. Let's also not forget...

I see that stunt at least a few times a year. They literally think re-naming a pixel-based image with the word "vector" in it will make it so. It's a digital form of gaslighting.

That's one of the growing problems. Some office workers get tasked with graphic design related chores by higher ups. So they just figure out something quickly as possible, even if it means cobbling together some junk in MS Word, Powerpoint or (lately) using an online thing like Canva. Then...

There is no easy to get it into their heads. Every one of these amateurs has to learn the hard way. I see the same thing over and over again. Someone emails a copy of their "logo." The file is basically the first JPEG image they find on their computer or on the Internet. We respond asking for...

I'd tell him to go ahead and use his label maker. If the guy is that unprofessional about things then he is very likely not ethical or trustworthy either. When these kinds of clients get busted by the higher ups for violating brand standards and are forced to remove and replace the signs they...

I've been using Wacom tablets for a long time on my home computer setups. They're great for some tasks. But the steaming pile of crap known as Windows Ink has ruined any tasks involving pressure sensitive functions. For some stupid reason I don't understand Wacom's tablet drivers require Windows...

I've seen a lot of guidelines documents for regional or national brands. I've never seen any of them state it was okay to stretch or squeeze a logo out of its normal proportions. Most of us have seen the pages in these documents where they show illustrated "do not do this" examples of their...