9

Conclusion

Which topics did we cover in this book? What type of project did you complete? What did you leave out? Hopefully, this short summary will help you conclude everything you read and learned in this book.

In this chapter, we are going to cover these main topics:

• Conclusions of all the projects
• What’s next? Make your own!

Conclusions of all the projects

In the following section, we will go through all the chapters in the book to refresh what you learned. These short conclusions will be reminders about the tasks you completed, the tools you used, and the methods you learned in that chapter. Apart from a simple summary, we will also emphasize the goal of each project.

Chapter 1, Inkscape Is Ready for Work – Design a Business Card as a Warmup!

Most of the first chapter was not focused on a specific project, but on the usability and usefulness of Inkscape. During the chapter, we showcased a handful of new tools and features to show how Inkscape matured into being a professional tool.

Because the first chapter was mostly theoretical, it contained only a short warmup project: designing a simple modern business card. The role of this exercise – apart from being a warmup for the style of this book – was also to assess your level of Inkscape.

Chapter 2, Design a Clever Tech Logo with Inkscape

This chapter started with a small amount of logo design theory, with thoughts about simplicity, creativity, and message. Then you started to create a real logo for a made-up tech company called CloudUsers.

It started with planning and sketching, and how to import your sketch into Inkscape. Then you moved on to designing in Inkscape, focusing first on shape, and then on color. Shapes were created with the Node tool (Path editor tool) and Boolean operations, while the colors were implemented via gradients.

You also learned about how duplicating helps the creative process, before starting to add text to your logo design. Finally, you created different logo versions and exported them into different formats. At the end of the chapter, we also learned about the most common formats used for logo design.

The goal of this chapter was to give you a step-by-step guide you can follow to create your own logos in Inkscape!

Chapter 3, Modular Icon Set Design with the Power of Vector

When the logo was finished, the fictional company, CloudUsers, remained with you for this project as well. This time, you created a whole set of icons in the style of the previously designed logo. After a bit of theory again, you created the first icon of the set, and with it laid down the rules to follow for the rest of the icons: colors, strokes, and style.

The longest – and most creative – part of the project was to design the remaining icons from this modular set of rules. While creating them one by one, you practiced working with the Bezier tool, modifying paths with the Node editor, and organizing the icons with groups.

Then, after all the nine icons were finished, you learned about exporting multiple icons to different formats.

This project was geared towards UI designers and aimed to set you up for modular thinking while designing with Inkscape. Set your rules, create your building blocks, and repurpose and reuse elements creatively.

Chapter 4, Create Detailed Illustrations with Inkscape

Creating the illustration was one of the longest projects covered in the book. It needed to be long because we went into more detail than with the icons and the logo design projects since we were trying more tools and methods.

The project in this chapter focused on the workflow of creating a business illustration with many details. The complexity of an illustration is only dictated by the details added by the illustrator. And where there are a lot of details, there are a lot of chances to develop your skills.

You started with sketching in Inkscape, an easy way to focus on ideas and form before everything else. Then you built the basic color palette for the illustration. After this, you drew your first character, based on the character shapes in the logo.

You learned the Sandwich method, an easy way to create shapes that perfectly match the edges of the shape under them. Then you added two more characters and added a cloud and a giant laptop as background elements.

You colored the elements and the characters, both applying the original color palette and mixing new ones using the Color picker tool. Finally, you added shading to the characters and background objects, adding another level to the illustration.

Chapter 5, Edit a Photo and Create a Hero Image in Inkscape

The aim of this project was to shed light on the photo editing capabilities of Inkscape. During the project, you created a hero image, an image banner that can be used on websites or social media.

In this typical graphic designer task, you first practiced creating a depth-of-field effect in Inkscape using Blur, Clip, and Mask. You learned that within limits, Inkscape is good for covering and retouching parts of bitmap images and photos. Then you repurposed graphics from the icons you created earlier to add a network illustration over the photo, and after that, you learned a simple trick to draw into the photo using Clip and saw how to trace parts of the image.

Chapter 6, Flexible Website Layout Design for Desktop and Mobile with Inkscape

The project in the sixth chapter was based on what you created earlier, and so it helped you hone real-life designer skills. You had to create a website design using the logo, the icon set, and the illustration you drew in the previous project.

To achieve this, you first created a simple wireframe layout of the website, relying mostly on the Rectangle tool, alignment, and guides. Here, you set all the building blocks of a simple contemporary website: the position and size of the menu, the header, the product cards and icons, and the footer.

Then you only had to assemble the desktop version of the site, using the layout with the colors, fonts, and vector elements you created earlier. After this, you had to realign and reassemble the desktop website design into a mobile version of itself.

The goal of this project was not only to show you how to create a basic website design, but to focus on the flexibility of vector design too. Designing something new and coherent with the given brand elements is a common task every designer has to tackle.

Chapter 7, Combine Inkscape and Other (Free) Programs in the Design Workflow

This chapter took the focus away from working solely in Inkscape and instead looked at combining it with other programs. The goal? To use Inkscape as a part of your real-life workflows and make them more effective. Using the power of the SVG format, you followed three different applications for three short projects:

• You first learned how to enhance your vector illustration in Krita. Adding textures and soft shadows with freehand raster brushes is something that can really elevate a simple vector image.
• Then you used Scribus to create a flyer using your SVG illustration and the logo you created earlier. Scribus is also a great tool to export your Inkscape creations in CMYK format; you practiced using that tool as well.
• Finally, you took a short tour of Blender, a 3D modeling and animating tool. You used a simplified SVG version of the CloudUsers logo and learned how to turn it into a digital 3D object.

Chapter 8, Pro Tips and Tricks for Inkscapers

This chapter was not a single project to follow step by step. This chapter was about situations you might encounter using Inkscape, and about the tips, solutions, and workarounds for those situations. First, we took another look at the basic tools of Inkscape and saw what you need to learn and practice to get strong vector skills.

Then you learned about the usefulness of Live Path Effects (LPEs), a set of tools that help you save time and effort while modifying your paths in real time. LPEs are really helpful, so it is wise to try more than the two we examine in detail during the chapter!

After that, we looked behind the scenes and utilized the SVG format Inkscape works in. This XML-based format is easy to navigate. You learned how to find and replace the properties of multiple vector objects at once.

Then we looked at another solution for the CMYK export problem, this time using Inkporter, an Inkscape extension. The next tip was wrapped in a small project about creating and using custom Inkscape templates. You practiced this by designing an Instagram post template.

In the final tip, we addressed the dreaded moment of Inkscape crashing. You first learned about preventing losing your work, then about recovering it, if an accident occurs.

This chapter is a collection of tips that help you to use Inkscape every day as your main design tool.

What’s next? Make your own!

After completing all the projects in Inkscape by Example, start implementing these projects in your own design work. But the question remains: what’s next?

Copy, try, learn, and then make your own versions of the projects. That provides a better understanding than just following the projects or simply reading through the chapters.

The final conclusion is this: after creating the advanced projects, you will be able to tackle any task related to Inkscape. You will have a design blueprint you can look into, whether it’s logo design, icon design, or illustration. Each chapter was written in a way to make them easy to scan through if you are looking for a special solution that was explained during that project.

This could be the slogan of this book: make your own! As you can see, there is more to Inkscape than just learning the tools. You need to practice and build your own projects, modify the examples of this book, and create your own designs!

Open Inkscape, continue practicing, make your own!