Styles Vazquez

Category: Design Notes

Quick reflections on design culture, process, and inspiration.

  • Smart Typography Tools

    Useful AI helpers for type and layout:

    • Typeface AI: suggests pairings from your installed library; ranks by contrast and mood.
    • Fontshare AI: prompt-based searches (“friendly grotesque”, “condensed display”) with license filters.
    • Runway Gen-1 for animated type textures; keep it subtle for backgrounds.
    • Photoshop Gen Fill for spacing fixes: fill gaps behind type instead of content-aware stretching.
    • Prompt template: “clean sans display, high x-height, soft terminals, no novelty, legible at small sizes.”

    Always lock your final choices into paragraph/character styles so AI picks don’t drift across pages.

  • Firefly and Midjourney for Production Design

    Where generative fits real workflows:

    • Firefly Style Match: keep a reference look locked, then generate variations that stay on-brand.
    • Midjourney upscaler v6: cleaner type edges; better for mock UI screens without heavy retouch.
    • Prompt discipline: specify camera, lens, material, lighting, and negative prompts (“no text”, “no watermark”).
    • Round-trip: generate base art → finish in Photoshop with Gen Fill for cleanup → drop into Illustrator for vector overlays.
    • Usage check: always verify licensing on Firefly outputs if they’ll ship to clients.

    Tip prompt: “studio product shot, 50mm, soft light, matte glass, color-block backdrop, no text, no watermark.”

  • Figma AI for Layout and Content

    New Figma AI tools that help visual designers:

    • “Make layout” on selected frames: auto grids with spacing suggestions; accepts prompts like “hero, 3-up features, CTA.”
    • AI content fill: realistic product names, short marketing copy in your set tone.
    • Summarize file: quick brief of what changed for handoff notes.
    • Icon generation (beta): simple line icons that match stroke weight of your file.
    • Batch rename with AI patterns: rename layers by structure (Section / Block / Element).

    Best use: generate a first-pass layout, then lock styles to your design tokens and iterate manually.

  • Adobe Express for Batch Social

    Adobe Express is now viable for quick social runs:

    • Bulk resize presets (square, vertical, 4:5) in one pass; exports to scheduled folders.
    • Brand controls: lock logo placement and color themes per workspace to keep collaborators on-brand.
    • Motion templates with editable type styles; exports MP4 or GIF.
    • Linked Libraries: pull Illustrator vectors directly and keep them live for updates.
    • Caption assist: clean summaries with hashtag suggestions you can strip down.

    Use case: build one hero, clone to vertical + square, lock brand kit, and hand off to VA with only text editable.

  • InDesign Variable Fonts and Longform

    Speed up editorial work with the latest InDesign touches:

    • Variable font sliders in the Properties panel (no more jumping to Character); save weight/width axes into paragraph styles.
    • Footnote enhancements: multi-column footnotes and custom markers for magazine layouts.
    • Linked content re-link: swap a master PDF/image and retain crop + effects across all instances.
    • Auto-generate TOC by content prefix (great for product guides with codes).
    • PDF export now supports tagged AVIF placement for lighter, sharper inline art.

    Tip: combine variable font axes with GREP styles to auto-italicize pull quotes without manual spans.

  • Photoshop Gen Fill and Smarter Selections

    Photoshop’s latest Gen Fill and selections updates to speed production:

    • Gen Fill v3: better edge fidelity on hair/fur and complex shadows; works on smart objects without rasterizing.
    • Reference Image slot: lock a source look so your fills stay consistent across a batch.
    • Segment Anything-based “Object Selection”: single-click isolate products on messy backgrounds.
    • Non-destructive light matching: apply to a new layer with mask; no baked-in exposure shifts.
    • Export presets with AVIF + WebP alongside legacy JPG/PNG.

    Workflow: run Object Selection > Gen Fill with a locked reference > finish with a curve on a clipped layer for micro-contrast.

  • Illustrator 2025 Updates to Know

    Quick hits on Illustrator 2025 worth trying now:

    • Shape Assist 2.0: auto-suggests shape cleanup and layer naming when you paste rough vectors.
    • Live Blend Grids: responsive blends that maintain spacing when artboards resize; great for motion-ready gradients.
    • Asset Collections: shared libraries that sync swatches + graphic styles per project with a single toggle.
    • GPU preview for 3D materials: faster bevels and lighting on Mac + PC.
    • Export presets per channel: bundle web (AVIF), print (PDF/X), and motion (Lottie) into one click.

    Tip: Pair Asset Collections with library-level color themes so your swatches stay locked across documents.