Need an Extra Boost?
Whether you are a professional graphic designer seeking to hone your skills or someone who wants to learn more about the ins and outs of Adobe’s InDesign, the 2010 InDesign Seminar Tour is coming to a location near you to help.

Students who are attending graphic design school may find the tips and techniques in this series very helpful in understanding and using this page-layout program.

Graphic designers can gain knowledge in how to boost their productivity by incorporating Photoshop, Illustrator, and Word files to create complex page designs.

Where, and When
These one day events will be held at various locations throughout North America. Click on each of the dates/locations near your area for further details.

March 9, 2010 - Los Angeles, CA
March 23, 2010 - Boston, MA
April 6, 2010 - Milwaukee, WI
April 20, 2010 - Saddle Brook, NJ
May 4, 2010 - Philadelphia, PA
May 18, 2010 - Toronto, Canada
June 8, 2010 - Dallas, TX
June 22, 2010 - Minneapolis, MN
August 10, 2010 - San Francisco, CA
September 21, 2010 - Chicago, IL
October 13, 2010 - Washington D.C.
November 9, 2010 - New York City, NY

Seminar Details
Each seminar session will cover the topics of:

* 10 Tricks Every InDesign User Needs to Know
* Text and Graphics
* Layout Techniques
* InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator: Put ‘Em Together
* Troubleshooting
* 20 Free Scripts, Plug-ins, and Resources You Must Have
* Problem? Solution

The InDesign seminars will be taught by various leading graphics professionals in the industry.

Advanced registration fee for each location is $129. The fee will increase to $149 after the advanced registration deadline. Check your specific listing for the registration schedule.
For a chance at a free pass to the seminar of your choice, click here.

Students in graphic design college and graphic designers can get the information and training they want in this fast-paced one-day seminar.

Are you someone who is interested in fashion design? Then the Marie Claire Fashion Contest IED is a competition that may help you to get additional career training in this exciting design field.

The Contest
Illustrators are encouraged to render a fashion design creation that has the theme of “Ethnic Trends for Spring and Summer 2010″. The submitted design may be for women, men or unisex.

What to Submit
Each entry should have a project title and an accompanying description of what the project is about in 80-100 words.

Format for all submissions should be in JPG, 300 dpi resolution, and no more than 3MB in size. Acceptable media in generating the illustration can be in watercolor, acrylic, felt-tip pen or pencil (or a combination of the two). No collage, Photoshop images, or any computer generated artwork will be accepted.

Awards
According to the contest sponsors the awards will consist of various free courses held at the Barcelona, Spain workshop locations. In addition to the free courses, the first place winner will also receive free accommodations for the duration of the sessions. Those who do not take up their prizes will forfeit all rights.

1st place
100% grant for 2010 summer course on Illustration - Idea, Concept and Image* or Introduction to Fashion Design* (this grant also includes accommodation).

2nd place
100% grant for course on Illustration - Idea, Concept and Image* or Introduction to Fashion Design* (course only).

3rd place
50% grant for course on Illustration - Idea, Concept and Image* or Introduction to Fashion Design*

Dates for summer courses: from 5 July 2010 to 30 July 2010
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*The choice of course will depend on the places available, and Istituto Europeo di Design management reserves the right to change or substitute the course if the minimum number of students is not reached. The course may not be exchanged for money; if winners do not attend the course, they lose the right to the prize.

*Illustration - Idea, Concept and Image: this course is given in English

Other Information
To send in your entry click here. The contest deadline is May 1, 2010. If you have further questions about the contest send an email to concursomarieclaire (at) bcn.ied.es

Poster Clash 2010 is seeking entries for its contest. The theme for this graphic design competition is “Change one thing.”

According to the sponsors:

“From the simplest action of changing to compact florescent bulbs, to more in-depth changes such as political parties and life habits, motivating change in visual communication is one of the most basic and fulfilling aspects of the communication profession.

“Use this poster platform to engage, educate and drive change in your viewer’s world through the use of type and imagery.”

Contest Submission Details
All poster art must be submitted digitally to the official contest website. Click here for the entry form.

* Submissions must have a URL link to a low-resolution and high resolution version of your image. Low submitted images must be formatted in PDF. Low resolution images should be 72dpi while high resolution files should be 300 dpi and be 18″ by 24″ in size.

* The links to your images must be active until the conclusion of the contest.

*Your poster design must include the “Poster Clash” footer bar. The templates for the poster contest can be found by clicking here.

* The student entry fee is five dollars (5 USD) for each entry and ten dollars (10 USD) for non-students. There is no limit to the number of entries you may submit.

* For the official entry form, click here

Judging
According to the official contest rules:

“Posters will be judged on the fulfillment of the entry guidelines and by the execution of the conceptual direction for this year’s contest. All entries will be thoroughly evaluated and considered for the finalist positions by our panel of professional designers.

“After the selection of the final 64 entries by the judges, the voting turns online where the general public will be able to vote for your poster submissions using an online voting system.

“You will not need to be present at the final event to win.”
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Prizes

First Place:

• Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Design Premium ($1799 Value)
• Poster Clash Trophy Belt

Second Place:

• 10 full size professional copies of your poster ($300 Value)

Top 64 Finalists:

• Award Certificate
• Discounted Admission to the Main Event

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Other Details
Questions about this contest can be answered by sending an email to clash (at) aigablueridge.org. The deadline for this contest is February 24^th, 2010.

What a Career in Jewelry Design is All About
A jewelry designer must be skilled at creating new designs through the use of sketches and computer design software and be able to transform the ideas into a physical creation through the use of various materials, specialized tools, and equipment.

Some jewelry designers are also skilled at repairing jewelry, setting and polishing gemstones, and appraising jewelry.

Creating actual pieces of jewelry such as rings, bracelets and necklaces involves the use of creativity, aesthetic sense, and manual dexterity. The making of a piece of jewelry, after it is designed, requires very close attention to detail and concentration.

Career Training and Education
In order to become a jewelry designer many have traditionally learned their skills through on-the-job training and apprenticeships.

But with the advent of computer-aided design, prospective jewelry designers get their training through graphic design schools, online distance learning centers, vocational schools, or community colleges.

Jewelry manufactures who hire jewelry designers prefer those who have graduated through a formal program at a college or graphic design college. There is bachelor of fine arts or master of fine arts programs in jewelry design.

Some jewelry designers enroll in gemology courses that can train them in identifying and grading various gemstones.

The Job Outlook for Jewelers and Jewelry Designers
Job openings for jewelers and jewelry designers are expected to grow approximately 5% in the decade of 2008-2018. Job opportunities will be best for graduates who have training with computer assisted design and computer assisted manufacturing.

The mean annual wage for jewelers is $35,360.

The Contest
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is announcing its poster contest for its 13^th annual film festival.

One winning design will be selected from all entries and will be printed and sold at the festival.

The winning designer will be awarded a special artist “Priority Pass” (valued at $500) for the 2010 festival plus paid hotel accommodations for the 4-day event (April 8-11 in Downtown Durham North Carolina).

Contest Guidelines
All entries must include the following details in the overall poster design:

• Festival dates: April 8-11, 2010
• Location: Durham, North Carolina
• “Full Frame Logo”

To receive the complete guidelines and Full Frame Logo graphic send a request to fullframeposter (at) gmail.com.

What to Submit
The final poster size should be 11″ x 17″ and include a ¼ inch bleed on all sides. The actual artwork size will be 11.5″ x 17.5″. The maximum file size is 5MB and must be in a PDF or JPG format.

For submissions that are non-digital, a scan of the artwork will be acceptable. The original artwork must be presented if selected as the winning entry for reproduction purposes.

Use of the “Full Frame” logo can be displayed in any single solid color. The logo must be at least 2″ in width. To receive the PDF file of the document and full contest guidelines, send a request to fullframeposter (at) gmail.com.

All submissions and artwork must be original and not copied from other published sources, magazines, copyrighted material, books or online sources. No team created entries will be accepted.

The contest sponsors do not have a theme for contest submissions but have indicated the following subject matter that is preferred:

Trees
Anatomical drawings
Scientific illustrations
Collage
Buildings
Wood grain
Blueprints
Ed Ruscha
Gig posters
Silhouettes
Kodachrome
Negative space
European compact cars
Aircraft
Lines
Penguin books
Criterion covers
Kites
Alligator gar
Bikes
Suitcases
Power tools
Letterpress
Telephone lines
Gymnasiums
Tom Waits
Things not made on a computer
Freshwater fish
Semaphore/flags/pennants
Icebergs

The contest sponsors have requested that poster submissions do not contain the following themes:

Deer
Ticket stubs
Cats
Hollywood sign
Sad children
Popcorn
Sprocket holes
David Caruso
Vampires
Snakes

The deadline for this contest is February 15^th, 2010.

Let Your Little Light Shine
Most of us use candles only when the power goes out. But candles are more than a source of light–they can also be works of art as well.

Imageglow Candles is sponsoring the Imageglow Candle Contest and is announcing an open call to all graphic designers to submit their candle graphic designs to its competition.

Imageglow candles, which are made entirely of wax, have unique and artful designs that glow and are backlit when the candles are lighted.

The Contest
Designs can be hand created or generated through a computer.

Give a brief description of how you created the design and why you think it would be appropriate as a Candleglow product. Your entry should be submitted through the official online entry form. This can be accessed by clicking here.

Uploaded entries should not exceed 2000KB in size and should be in JPEG format. For submission tips and the PDF design template, click here.

The Prizes
According to the sponsors the winner will receive:

* A case of six lantern-style candles in their own design! (Retail value $160.+)
* Excellent HomeWorkshop.com recognition and fame.
* At Imageglow®’s option, it will produce and market candles with the winner’s design!!

The winner will earn a royalty of 5% of the wholesale selling price, paid quarterly.

Other Information
Three finalists will be selected by the judging panel. From these three entries, the community will vote for their favorite design. The winner will be the one who receives the most popular votes.

The deadline for this contest is March 17, 2010. The winner will be announced on March 29, 2010 at the following locations:

• on the Web: imageglowcandles.com/
• on Twitter - @imageglow
• on Facebook - www.facebook.com/imageglow