Stock photo sites

Here are a couple in case you need a generic photo for your designs. They are royalty-free, which is a bonus. In addition to these, you might consider starting your own stock photo file of textures, backgrounds, architecture, people (ask for volunteers) and so on, and store them on your computer or an external drive.

The Stock XChng - http://www.sxc.hu/
The Morgue File - http://www.morguefile.com

One person's logo design tutorial

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/dache-logo-design-process/

Some examples of symmetrical and asymmetrical design

Here's a nice, concise definition of asymmetrical design with examples: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/l/aa_balance2.htm

Here's an actual school project about asymmetrical design with several examples: http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/asymm.html

There are some pretty neat symmetrical and asymmetrical design examples at this link. I agree with the author that while symmetrical designs are easier, asymmetrical designs can be far more interesting.

http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2008/03/symmetrical-vs-asymmetrical-design-that-is-the-question/

Also check out http://www.artlandia.com/ where there are loads of examples, books for further reading, and links. Although this site is a specialized program for pattern designers, you can look through the examples they post using their design program. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns are represented. There's an interesting segment on camouflage patterns also.

Vintage Expo '70 posters and tickets

 There's some really nice stuff here - classic 70s photography with the always-necessary addition of Helvetica. Enjoy!

http://blog.iso50.com/2010/05/12/expo70-paraphanelia/

Vintage Posters

http://vintageposterblog.com/

There's lots of cool posters to study at this link. Enjoy!

Illustrator's Shape and Pathfinder tools

These tools are a bit perplexing, but if you have some time to experiment, you will see what they can do and what they can do for you in whatever you design.

Below you'll find two cheat sheets I put together to illustrate each component of both the shape tool and the pathfinder tool.

First, the shape tool:

Now, the pathfinder tool

Some calendar samples

At this link, you will find a terrific selection of 2010 calendars from the Grain Edit blog. You can look at them to get inspiration for your own calendar project or just admire them.

I urge you to check Grain Edit often, as it almost always has great graphic design - both recent and past - on it.

http://grainedit.com/2010/01/13/the-future-is-today-2010-calendars/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GrainEdit+%28Grain+Edit%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher