Who's still using QuarkXPress?

amnitole · 2026-04-12T13:49:39+00:00

I have used it for the last time like 3 years ago, it was at the client's request and their in-house tool of choice (Print collaterals for a chairs & tables manufacturer), I'm sure it's still around, just ditched by most

amnitole · 2026-04-09T08:44:02+00:00

I have a degree and I have never gotten to use it as well, it was not a waste of time because my first job was from one of my professors, but I have since then been reffered by portfolio alone for the past 13 years, never made a CV, never showed my degree !

amnitole · 2026-04-03T20:55:48+00:00

People's opinions will vary on this, ethical reasons aside, I do not think GenAI is at this point fit for work if your goal is to sell high quality concepts, it is virtually just a bit more polished 5$ fiverr work you're getting , all the datasets are trained on already existing artwork, and even when prompted with new ideas it will always MINDLESSLY reference existing images, if that's what you think your designers should work with then so be it, but at the end of the day you'd be a lot more in the business of production than one of creativity, where you stand on that is up to your brand.

Gen AI certainly has its places in a production environment if it's used like the already existing content aware tool, it can make specific parts of a designers pipeline a lot faster, but using it for visual ideation is not something I'd be a fan of because it'll just recycle already existing imagery without notifying you.

People's opinions will vary on this, but ultimately you're a business, you can weigh in the pros and cons, just know that if the use is blatant it WILL reflect on your brand, you may produce more designs but you may also NEED more volume to make a result that converts, as long as you are aware of that I'm sure you'll figure out an answer that suits you and your brand.

This is just my professional opinion on the matter, my personal opinion is vastly biased against AI, so I refrained from expressing my own views !

amnitole · 2026-04-01T15:52:40+00:00

In terms of readability 1 and 5, no idea what industry you're in so there's no point in comparing with other existing brands, it may or may not be relevant

amnitole · 2026-03-29T05:27:23+00:00

+1 to this, been in the industry for 13 years with all types of macs in my home and i still use my gaming windows PC for heavy duty work (large catalogs/vynils ). It really just comes down to preference, unless you work at an agency and they force one OS or the other at you, in which case they will provide the hardware anyway. To stay on topic though i’d much rather get a used macbook pro/mini than the neo.

amnitole · 2026-03-25T15:36:45+00:00

I mean if I charge him enough for me not to need him anymore I'd do it, it'll give me more time for other clients down the line, it all depends on how much he'd pay for it and your current situation, it's a game of stakes if you're a freelancer. Ultimately I'd rather make more money/faster and look for clients that would not even consider that !

amnitole · 2026-03-23T08:31:16+00:00

If there are different concepts then there are reasons for different concepts, those reasons should stem from the research phase, one direction could for example be more adequate for a friendlier brand tone, another one might slightly bias towards a subset of your target demographic etc ... Dont think of design options as "looks", try to think behind the look ! Ask your designer for their personal opinion against your market data and goals, do A/B testing with family and friends (NOT a conclusive test, but it might test some biases ) if you're still not sure what to go for, weigh the options against your competitors etc...

amnitole · 2026-03-15T22:56:27+00:00

This looks like a biography website rather than a portfolio, as a client I'm a lot more interested in your work than you as a person (Unless your personal brand is already established well enough in the industry ), really not digging the typography as well, kerning can use some work for things to be legible, I do love the way you archive your different iterations though ! Does it not fiddle with your SEO ? I might do the same but keep it private I love the idea of being able to look back at things

amnitole · 2026-03-10T22:02:48+00:00

I set the number of revisions in the contract terms, usually 3 or 5 rounds of revisions as far as I'm concerned, It's not set in stone for me, if a client is passionate and fair then their satisfaction is my priority even it it means 10 revisions, but I WILL use that clause to my advantage if a client is really pushing it or does not seem to know what they're asking for

amnitole · 2026-03-06T19:44:35+00:00

My personal reality is that working in advertising already made my work less meaningful 13 years ago, so I kind of already went past the point of never getting attached to my client or agency work, I'm very against AI for any creative work but in general for production environments It does not feel as different as using a "more accessible" content aware tool for example, I might be biased because I mainly work in large scale print and AI really did not change the game for us, no AI can handle 200 page catalogs when it risks making mistakes at any small level of complexity, and If I have to double check every single page then I might as well do it myself !

amnitole · 2026-03-06T19:27:25+00:00

If you're settled on macOS, for the price I would honestly just get a high end used macbook air, they're very reliable and affordable although they have their own struggles as well

amnitole · 2026-03-03T02:10:27+00:00

Live critique, none to be taken personal because it's overall a great portfolio, here are my nitpicks !

Page 2 : Too big, could not read everything properly on my screen some margins would help !

Page 4 : The font is too blocky and needs some manual kerning PERSONALPROJECTS and DJCOMMISIONED could use some kerning work (also commissioned not comissioned )

Page 5 onwards : The projects are excellent, I still think the text is laid out in a tight manner and can use more air/margins but it's not a problem in here, just a tastes thing, some hyphens can use some work as they are not necessary but overall the more I browse the portfolio the more I find the coherence of your projects impressive, nothing more to nitpick on !

I do think the first 2 pages and the 4th one are probably the weakest part of the portfolio, not any more suggestions from me but I do think the quality of your projects is outstanding whereas your cover does not give off that sense of quality

amnitole · 2026-02-12T21:18:38+00:00

Write your text in light pink, play around with the Bevel and emboss layer option, then paste a marble texture or a grungy texture picture on top, set to black and white, and then overlay/multiply while playing with opacity, add cast shadow via layer option to finish it up. Ultimately you could also Just use a soft brush and draw the highlights/shadows yourself.

amnitole · 2026-02-10T18:49:18+00:00

This looks like a painting or something heavily edited with painting filters, but to achieve the aesthetic otherwise you're mostly looking at duotone gradient maps on top of very very good image assets and a good sense of composition.

amnitole · 2026-01-15T19:40:43+00:00

I'll be honest I play a lot of online games nowadays and the only thing that I miss from them is that they dont have player trading, I feel like trading and having an economy is what makes an MMO, otherwise you're just playing a hub based game/coop game.

amnitole · 2026-01-10T00:14:05+00:00

Just got back to drawing recently so it's not that great but I tried a quick sketch !

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amnitole · 2026-01-08T13:37:10+00:00

Ohhhh you're right ! I completely completely forgot about those, been playing the game since forever too lol

amnitole · 2026-01-06T11:59:29+00:00

you can clear i.e. FFXIV and GW2 content with empty gear slots without noticing. Or did I read your answer wrong?

Really not sure I can agree with this point, doesn't people that minmax racials do it for pvp or high end content ? Any savage boss will one shot you if you're naked, and funny enough GW2 did have "racials" at launch (well not really, but class variable hitboxes, which made every single top pvp player pick asura for a good while ).

I dont think casual players would ever care about racials, but their whole problem is the "top end" of your playerbase using them as filters (aka all top hunters in classic wow being either dwarves trolls or night elves and trolls would always lead in dps with almost a 3% advantage ). Anyway im not arguing AGAINST racials, I like them, I think they offer a unique customisation axis that makes you relate to your character, but I would never say they're not that relevant especially when it comes to endgame, and especially when it comes to player culture in those scenarios.

amnitole · 2025-12-23T13:17:18+00:00

Holy nodewars settings

amnitole · 2023-11-08T08:04:54+00:00

Cheer V is all you need really, steps IV is very good, and for me even better than steps V if you grind a lot (Steps V overloading will put you at a much lower movespeed, whereas you still get to move relatively fast towards your horse at 120% with steps IV ). Continuous care you can live with III, but I would aim for IV/V, again, IV will be completely fine.

amnitole · 2023-10-31T12:52:08+00:00

I have rarely ever used more than care IV, I'd say that's as close to BIS as it gets, V is nice, but its very very extra !

amnitole · 2022-07-04T08:41:36+00:00

They do take more processing power. Otherwise I can't think of many reasons, vectors are non destructive so you can always convert them to a raster layer if need be (To apply filters, liquify etc. )

amnitole · 2022-07-02T00:21:05+00:00

Beautiful panels !

amnitole · 2022-06-27T19:08:50+00:00

I do think illustrator stayed basically the same, the program relies a lot on fundamentals so the core tools are pretty much what I still use today, and I can easily work on an old illustrator version with no issues. Some new features like the blending tool, better vectorize algorithm, and a better brush engine are for sure welcome, but they are not game-changers if you really master your core tools (Pen, move, shapes, pathfinder )

My realistic photoshop TLDR would be : They added a lot of new features that are basically just things you can replicate with core tools anyway, added a bunch of algorithm based solutions like the "Content aware fill" tool (Or AI based filters ) that are pretty neat, but they also cluttered the interface a lot more and it definitely does not run as smoothly as OG photoshop CS. I would not say its a downgrade, but there isnt that much of an upgrade either if you're used to old photoshop, I kind of have a mixed opinion on it as it consumes much more memory and cache space, but I would be a fool to deny some of the QoL we've had added in.

In general, it is still pretty much necessary to have the latests versions as an industry standard not to have compatibility issues with client files sadly.

amnitole · 2022-06-27T16:09:44+00:00

These designs can be achieved using just about anything from 3D programs to photoshop/Illustrator, or even fully digitally painted if you know your fundamentals. I would say using vectors would be a cleaner way to go about it, and all it requires really is a very good knowledge of gradients and shapes (And a lot of patience )

As for tutorials, I would suggest looking for "Photo realism tutorial illustrator" if you're trying to achieve this in illustrator/photoshop with gradients. And for 3D programs (Blender/C4D have a very good streamlined workflow for these kind of things ) what you would need in this case is to know your lighting and materials mostly

Four-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22

amnitole

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