Tag Archives: button builder

Button University Lesson 7: Button Template Guidelines

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Good afternoon! In yesterday’s Button University lesson, we let you in on the small differences between the beginner button making system and the professional button making system. Our hope is that the information is helpful for you as you decide the best system for your needs. Today we are going to be talking about Button Templates and Guidelines for using them. Let’s get started.

As you can imagine, the last thing any of us wants is to spend a lot of time designing a button, only to find out that all the dimensions are off and the photograph of Uncle Larry seems to have him missing an arm once you put the poor guy in the button. So, in order to help you avoid unnecessary frustration and to help Uncle Larry keep his arm, here are the tools for your templates.

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Free Button Making Software

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People are always asking us is it really that easy to make a pinback button? The quick answer is, absolutely! The next question is, where can I get free button making software? The most challenging thing to accomplish when making a button is designing the artwork, everything else is a piece of cake! If you want to design a pinback button on a computer, then you need some sort of graphic design software. People are always looking for free button making software that works well and is simple to use.

Update: Speaking of button making software that works well and is simple to use, make sure you check out the Build-a-Button Online Design Center, developed and managed by ABM!

There are some different choices you can make for free button making software like Gimp, however we believe in the old adage, you get what you pay for.  While Gimp is free and works for many people, it can be challenging to set up and use for a novice. This being said, if it is challenging to learn, you might as well spend a little money on Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw as these are professional software packages that do not have the problems you might encounter with free button making software such as glitches and printer driver issues.

If you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw, then you already have the button making battle won. Adobe Photoshop is the primary market leader for graphics, however we find Corel Draw much easier to work with for most people as it seems to be more user friendly for non-graphically minded individuals. You can buy a scaled down version of Adobe Photoshop called Photoshop Elements for about $100 and it will probably do everything you need in the Button-World. Adobe Photoshop does have a long learning curve. However once it is mastered your imagination is the only limit to creating incredible graphics.

Update: Since writing this post, ABM has made it even easier for you to create button graphics on your computer using Photoshop and Corel.

First of all, you can take advantage of special deals for Photoshop that Adobe has made available through us. Click on the following link to save $20 to $30 on NEW Adobe Elements 8 products with mail-in rebate. (Exp 10/31/2010).

In addition, we have created video tutorials and free Photoshop templates for a variety of sizes to make your Photoshop experience even easier.

[Note: Corel video and templates coming soon.]

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