In October 2018, design titan, Aaron Draplin hosted the workshop, “Behind the scenes of the DDC” at the Phoenix Design Week Beyond Design Conference. Attendees of the exclusive event got to hear tips and tricks he uses himself to save time and up productivity. Here’s a bit of what he shared!

QUICK ROUNDED EDGES IN PHOTOSHOP

1. Select your vector in Adobe Illustrator. And copy it with “Command-C”.
2. Go to Adobe Photoshop and start a new document. “Command-N” for new document.
3. Hit “Command-V” for pasting into new document.
4. Paste into the document as a “Smart Object.”
5. Make sure the file is “Grayscale.” Don’t flatten it. Don’t rasterize it.
6. Check the “Image Size,” and make the resolution super high. 888 or 999 or 1111 dpi.
7. Check the “Canvas Size,” and add an extra inch on each side, so the vector has some breathing room.THEN
8. Grab both layers, and drag to “create a new layer” of each. Or grab both layer and hit “Command-J”.
9. Flatten those two layers. “Command-E” flattens the selected layers.
10. Then drag that flattened layer to “create new layer” and make another layer of it.THEN
11. Gaussian Blur that layer, until it’s good and blurry, say, 25 pixels, or whatever feels right.
12. Then go into “Levels” and adjust the black point in, and the white point in towards the middle, until the blurred edge of the vector gets crisp. “Command-L” will take you to the Layers dialogue window.THEN
13. Select the crisp shape with he wand tool to select it. use the Magic Wand Tool.
14. Open up the “Paths” window and click the “Make Work Path from Selection” button. (Hold down option to adjust tolerance.)
15. “Command-C” to copy the work path using the “Path Selection” tool.THEN
16. Go back to Adobe Illustrator…
17. “Command-V” to paste it in to the document!

And then go from there!

ADDING SOME SCRIZZ TO IT

1. If you want to “scrizz it up” some, “Add Noise” to it. Adjust to add as much as you like.
2. Then “Gaussian Blur” that a bit. Just a hair. So it blurs the bits out a bit.
3. Then go into “Levels” and adjust the black point in, and the white point in towards the middle, until the blurred edge of the vector gets crisp. “Command-L” will take you to the Layers dialogue window.
4. Then hit it with the “Stamp” tool in the “Filter Gallery.”
5. Select the crisp shape with the wand tool to select it. use the Magic Wand Tool.
6. Open up the “Paths” window and click the “Make Work Path from Selection” button. (Hold down option to adjust tolerance.)
7. “Command-C” to copy the work path.
8. Then paste it into Illustrator.