What design tips can retailers use to clean up graphics or create original artwork for personalized awards?

Don’t make it complicated. Refine your customer’s vision into the simplest form. Learn to use the Pen tool well in all of these programs – it makes selection easier when working with a graphic. Be patient and organize your layers.

When personalizing awards with custom graphics, I recommend honing in on the small things that make up the whole of the event or person. Recently, our co-worker, Tom, retired and we wanted to get him something better than a gift card to a local restaurant chain. He likes wine, travel, grandkids, and fishing (and not necessarily in that order); so we took all those things into account, and we came up with a fishing net with a plaque that read, “Tom, The one that got away, Your team at Gyford.”  And we chose a font that was elegant and playful at the same time.

-Brad Wass, Gyford StandOff Systems