It's no surprise to budding designers that before you can bring your designs to life, you're going to encounter some challenges along the way that can really bog you down. For those of you with design skills and experience using Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw it's not such an issue, but for the real beginner it's good to know that there are tools out there that can help you on your way.

One great tool with neat features for newbies is Inkscape, a free download available online. Why is it so very awesome? Well for starters:

A: It's FREE!

B: It runs on Mac OSX and Windows, and both versions appear to be reasonably similar – no platform disadvantage here!

and C: It's FREE. Seriously, what's not to like?

Usability is important in software programs like this, and the best way to test it is to have a go at using the program without looking too much at the manual. You'll soon find out if it's intuitive or too advanced for your level.

If you are that way inclined and would like to get a quick win with Inkscape why not try tracing an image using the video at the bottom of this post?

Here are some simple points that can make your 'play around' time easier for you to get the results you want without spending too much time working with trial and error.

1. Make sure you choose a simple image – as tempting as it is to go crazy you need to work on something achievable for a first go. Follow the video below for some extra helpfulness.

2. In order to use your design on the Ponoko website you need to make sure that the lines are particular colours and widths so that the laser cutter knows to Cut, Raster or Engrave. It's easiest to do this AFTER you've put everything together, otherwise you'll just slow things down.

3. As a matter of practicality, designing everything first is easier as otherwise you'll need to magnify the work to an unusable level. Yes, the little details are important, but so is the big picture!

4. When converting you lines to the right color and width for the Ponoko Laser you'll need to set the RGBA values in the "Fill and Stroke" window. Within the Starter Kit it currently mentions only the RGB values. This only gets confusing if you start setting the A to 0 when thinking it's the B. This causes your lines to disappear. You need to keep the A at 255.

http://designyourown.ponoko.com, design and build anything you can think of!