We spent much of Friday down at MATTER Studio collaborating on a t-shirt design, experimenting with the presses and exchanging ideas. Here are a few photos of our outing.

To start, paste your image into a new Photoshop file. Be sure to leave some room at the bottom for your reflection.

Next, duplicate the layer your image is on by right clicking the layer and select: Duplicate Layer.

Now select the bottom layer, and under edit > transform> Flip Vertical

Use the selection tool and move the image down so that the top edge is touching the bottom edge of the top layer.

Still using that same bottom layer, create a new layer mask.

Select the gradient tool, and make sure that your foreground color is black and your background color is white. In the gradient options, select linear foreground to background.

Make sure you still have the mask layer selected (you will see lines bordering the corners). Hold down shift and apply a gradient from the bottom of the canvas to the top of the bottom image.

Apply an opacity to your bottom layer, and you’re done!

NOTE: When working with reflections, it is important to note that reflections SHOULD NOT overlap. This is an example of what NOT to do:

This is correct:

More reflection tutorials to come. Stay tuned.

Okay, I will admit it: graphic designers can be picky. I like to blame it on our artistic soul reaching for perfection… or maybe we’re just shallow (just kidding! Please no angry letters). Well, if you’re looking for the perfect gift for your perfect designer I have some suggestions.

1. T-shirts. More often than not designers work in a pretty laid back work environment. This means that there really isn’t a strict dress code, and I know from experience that designers love parading around in good design. I recommend:
Shirts from Snorg Tees
Shirts from Busted Tees
Shirts from Threadless

2. Sketch book. We run out of them fast and we love having our great looking sketches go into great looking books. I recommend:
Hand-bound books from erinzam
Paper products from MATTERIAL
Stationary from Brigada Creativa

3. Illustrations. As much as we would love to take credit for all the great works on our walls, it’s nice to display other great works for inspiration and diversity. I recommend:
Illustrations from Veer
Illustrations from erinzam
Illustrations from benben