http://www.cryativa.com.br/daniel

http://markdearman.com/

Portfolio site showcasing work by Mark Dearman Digital Designer Art Director based in Bristol (UK)

http://iamrahul.com/

Hello, iam Rahul, a Web lover, Proud Indian from a beautifull village in Calicut, Kerala. Ilove to create Usable, Memmorable and Creative Websites. This is my online Portfolio Website

http://tejpotter.com/

The Portfolio of Belfast based freelance web designer, Tim Potter. Specialising in clean, standards compliant websites with a focus on simplicity, usability & accessibility.

http://www.epicstudios.ca/

Epic Studiosis the boutique design shop of Michael Bedioui, a freelance designer with a passion for creating awesome websites, brands, and print work for small and medium sized companies.

http://designofficial.com/

The Blog & Portfolio of Jonathan Lochhead

http://www.razvangarofeanu.com/

Hi, I’m Razvan Garofeanu! the not so famous web/graphic designer

http://wakwaw.com/

We are a Creative Designer & Developer Team with a heart of passionate about what we do, and how we do it. We create clean, smart and effective websites and applications. We believe that creativity blended with technology is the key to unlocking ideas and delivering results. Homes in Tangerang and Jakarta, Indonesia.

http://www.weightshift.com/

Weightshift: We craft engaging interactive experiences on sustainable and open platforms.

http://enstyled.com/#blur

The portfolio of Emil Nikov, freelance web designer & developer.

http://www.cornerd.com/

Specializing in designing and building websites for small businesses.

Are you the kind of person that — no matter how many job interviews you attend — you’re a ball of nervous energy? You’re not alone! In the following article I will share a few tips on how to be prepared and sail though your interview like a professional.

Do Your Research

Before you even apply for a job, you should do some research into the company or business advertising. A few years ago this would have been a time consuming task, but now, with the popularity of “online marketing”, all the information you need is just a few mouse clicks away. Before your interview, you should have a clear idea about the size of the company/business, the kind of work or clients they have and what role they would expect you to work in. Knowing a bit about the company or business that is interviewing you will always come in handy. There’s nothing worse than being asked “so… do you know much about our business” when the answer is no!

If you find out that the job you have an interview for isn’t really what you’re looking for, there’s no harm in attending the interview anyway… practice makes perfect.

Dress the Part

Having conducted many interviews in the past, I can honestly say, leave the suit and tie at home. In creative fields a suit is too rigid and old fashioned and you don’t want to appear that way. This doesn’t mean that you should turn up in your jeans and sneakers either (unless you’re a freelance Illustrator with an outstanding portfolio… they seem to be excluded). Try to dress a little bit better than what’s expected from the staff, this way you will show that you’re putting in some effort, but also that you’re not a bad match for the workplace. If you’re really stuck, try on your outfit the evening before and ask a friends opinion.

Arrive on Time

Always arrive at the interview on time. If you’re nervous beforehand, you’ll be a mess if you’re running late. Arriving on time is good for other reasons too. Sometimes it’s all that separates you from the other applicants and every little bit helps.

Take a Printed Resume

You may not need to take along your resume, but having a few copies on hand doesn’t hurt. Just the simple act of offering your resume in printed form shows that you’re the kind of person who is prepared when they step into a meeting. It also gives you something to do when you first arrive (rather than shuffle your folio and look terrified).

Show Your Best Work

If you’re a web developer or digital animator, you may want to display your work as a digital portfolio. If you do, you need to make your portfolio in a universal format (I use a full screen interactive PDF) and have a good laptop computer with you in case you need to use it. I have a 17″ Macbook Pro, so showing my work in digital format is easy. If you don’t have a decent laptop and work with images rather than animation or web, then a printed portfolio is still your best option.

Printed portfolios should have a nice display folder with good quality plastic sleeves. Always print your work at the highest quality possible as a bad print will make you look unprofessional. No matter what format you use, remember to show your best work, not all your work. No more than 10 pieces should do the trick. Always start with your second best piece of work and end on the best.

Listen

Try not to speak over the person who’s interviewing you and listen to what they have to say. It’s sometimes hard to fight the urge to say as much about yourself and your skills as possible, but the same as with your folio, it’s not quantity it’s quality. If you listen and answer questions thoughtfully you’ll be able to slow down and think clearly about what you want to say. You don’t want to leave an interview wondering if you said the wrong thing. On the flip side, coming across as arrogant or overbearing can reflect badly on your ability fulfil the job.

Be Yourself

Try not to act like someone you’re not because chances are, when you’re hired you will slowly turn back into the person you are. This means, don’t talk endlessly about your “Typography Skills” when you don’t really have any. Tell it like it is. There’s no point selling yourself as something you’re not, you will only end up in a job that you don’t like with colleagues who think you’re unprofessional.

Avoid Negativity

When someone asks you how your day has been, don’t tell them the truth (unless you have something nice to say). Creative types like us have a tendency to over dramatize things. Don’t let this be your downfall! Keep the conversation “light and fluffy”, save the grumbling for the bigger issues (crazy deadlines, broken computers, buggy software, the coffee running out).

Stay in Contact

Once you’ve survived the interview itself, be sure to send a “Thank you email” no later than a day after the interview. Keep it short and sweet, anything too long or gushy will make you look obsessive or pushy. Simply thank the person who interviewed you for their time and considering you as a candidate.

Try, Try Again

More often than not, your first interview won’t be your last. Think of it as a process and with every job missed a new one comes up, sometimes even better than the last. Never lose hope and always have faith in your own talent. As I always say, a happy designer is a good designer!

Do You Have an Interview Tip or Story to Share?

Do you have any advice or stories to share about your own experiences with job interviews? If so, we would love to know about them. Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

Further Resources

• From a Logo to Business Card, How to Make a Self Promotion Set
• How to Create a Captivating, Self-Promotion Kit
• Selfless Self-Promotion: How to Promote Yourself Without Talking About Yourself
  
• Promoting Your Work with Vector Art Wallpaper Giveaways
• Design and Print Bold Promo Cards in 60 Minutes

Vectortuts+

Ideally, accessibility should be considered as part of every web project in order to increase availability to the widest possible audience. In the real world however, it can be easily overlooked. In this article we will look at easy ways that you can improve the accessibility of your site without having to make drastic or time consuming changes.

Introduction

“Unfortunately, the power and adaptability of the Web is not always fully utilised”

The World Wide Web is an incredible resource and it has opened up exciting new possibilities. Many more people are now able to access information and entertainment previously unavailable to them through traditional forms of media. The World Wide Web is especially significant for those with disabilities as the vast amount of digital information stored can be manipulated to meet differing requirements. Unfortunately, the power and adaptability of the Web is not always fully utilised and those with disabilities can find it difficult to navigate websites and have a negative experience with the Web in general.

There are numerous reasons why you should aim to improve the accessibility of your site, one of which is that it is the law in many countries. In the UK for example, web accessibility falls under the Disability Discrimination Act and if your website fails to comply, legal action could be brought against you. Legal issues aside however, why would you not want to open your site to the widest possible audience by making it accessible to everyone?

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was set up by the W3C to promote accessibility on the Web. The WAI attempts to educate people on how those with disabilities use the Web and has created guidelines for web designers and developers to follow. You will find that many of the guidelines are easy to follow and implement. Below we will discuss some easy methods that will help you meet these guidelines and improve the accessibility of your site.

Tip 01: Consider Your Colors

It is estimated that around ten million men suffer from some form of color-blindness in the U.S. The most common types are Protanopia and Deuteranopia; and those who suffer from these have trouble distinguishing between red, green and similar colours. With such a high prevalence of this condition, it really is worth considering when designing and coding your website.

For the most part, there are no radical measures that need to be taken when designing with color-blindness in mind – as is the case with the majority of the suggestions within this article. A well designed website will generally not cause any major problems for color-blind users. It is worth taking extra consideration however, when designing interactive or call-to-action elements. For example; a simple text link, styled red with no other decoration may be impossible to see if it is within a block of grey or black text. No one is suggesting that you need to stick with default link styling, but it is helpful to use more than one type of decoration such as an underline or background-color.

A useful tool for designers can be found at colorfilter.wickline.org which provides several different filters that mimic how different types of color-blind users would perceive a website. Simply type in the URL of a website and select the filter you wish to use – it does take a bit of time to load however so you will have to be patient.

It is also worth taking into account the level of contrast between foreground and background elements of your website. A high level of contrast will benefit everyone, not just those who are visually impaired. The Web Accessibility Guidelines suggest a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 and an ideal ratio of 7:1 for standard sized body text. Obviously the safest option is always black text on a white background or vice versa.

You can check the contrast ratio of multiple elements on a site using Juicy Studio’s Color Contrast Analyser Firefox extension. It will analyse each element on the page and provide a report on whether or not it conforms to the WAI’s guidelines.

Tip 02: Contextual Links

Those who use screen readers will often have the option to navigate a web page by skipping through the links to find something of interest. In the case of text links, the user would simply hear the word in isolation, regardless of the content that surrounds it. It is therefore extremely unhelpful when all that the user hears is ‘click here’ or ‘more’ – these types of links provide no information of where they direct the user or to what they are referring to.

A much better option is to provide a more descriptive link. A link that takes the user to the complete article on a blog could read ‘learn more about S.E.O’ or ‘click here for the full article on S.E.O’.

Tip 03: Alternative Content

One of the core principles of the Web Accessibility Initiative is to make content on the web available to all regardless of any disability they may have. There are a number of techniques, such as the ones discussed in this article, which will help towards the WAI’s goal. There will always be some types of content however, that cannot be made accessible to some users, such as audio to those who are deaf. In this scenario, you should always provide alternative content where possible.

Web Content Accessibility Guideline 1.1:

Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need such as large print, Braille, symbols or simpler language.

For example, if you have a video of an interview on your site, you could consider including a transcript of the conversation for users to download or read on the site. Another method is to add captioning to the video – a method that YouTube is experimenting with using speech recognition software.

An even more complete approach is to provide a link to a text-only version of your website. This method will also make your site a lot more accessible to those with slow internet connections such as those still using a dial-up connection or browsing for a mobile device.

Tip 04: Tab Indexes

The Tab Index basically establishes the order of elements that a user will cycle through when using the ‘Tab’ key. In the majority of cases, if a page design follows a logical order and establishes a strong hierarchy using headings, sub-headings etc. then you need not worry about this too much. It is with the use of forms however that this function is really valuable.

Forms can incorporate many small elements such as checkboxes and radio buttons that can require precise movement and clicks of the mouse. Someone with a motor disability may not have the control needed to perform such precise actions. With a correct Tab Index established a user will be able to cycle through and interact with each form element using simple presses on the keyboard. A Tab Index will also benefit those who do not have access to a mouse and rely solely on the user of a keyboard to navigate a website.

Tip 05: Proper Use of the Alt Attribute

We all know about alt text. It’s that text that we need to add to images in order for our site to validate. Everyone uses them right? Actually there are plenty of websites that don’t and those that do often use them incorrectly. In fact, there is much debate about the correct use of the alt attribute.

The alt attribute serves three main purposes:

• Assistive technologies such as screen readers use alt text and read it aloud to the user.
• Alt text is displayed instead of the image when images have been disabled by those with a slow internet connection or those using a text-only browser.
• Search engines also use alt text to store information about the page as they cannot read the content of images.

“The truth is that alternative text for images depends on the context in which it is placed”

So essentially alt text is the text equivalent of an image or other media source and it is used when the image cannot be accessed for various reasons. So what information exactly do we use for the alt attribute? Some people place detailed descriptions of the image while others load it up with keywords in an effort to help their search rankings. The truth is that alternative text for images depends on the context in which it is placed.

For example, it is common for a relevant image to accompany a blog post, such as a typewriter for an article about freelance writing. The article itself makes no reference to the image so therefore it is pretty superfluous. Some people may give the alt attribute the value of ‘typewriter’ or ‘image of a typewriter’ or perhaps they would give the value of the title of the article. All of these methods are wrong however. Let us see why.

Firstly we need to imagine that we cannot see the image. So if the value of the alt attribute was ‘typewriter’ we would see the title of the blog post, the word ‘typewriter’ on its own then the main text of the article – this makes no sense when viewed as text and it would be even more confusing if you were using a screen reader and randomly heard ‘typewriter’.

As a general rule, it is best that you do not use phrases such as ‘an image of’ or ‘a picture of’ when providing alt attribute values. The alt attribute will only benefit those who cannot see the image for various reasons so therefore telling these users that there is an image there offers no real value other than clearing up some of confusion caused by the above method.

Lastly, giving the alt attribute the value of the title of the blog post would only result in the title being displayed twice as text or repeated twice when using screen readers. Alt text should not repeat any information that is already provided as text, it is simply unnecessary and potentially confusing.

The best option in this scenario is simply to provide a blank alt attribute value. A blank value ensures no potentially confusing or irrelevant information is communicated and there is no detriment to the understanding of the article as the image is not essential to this. Some may argue that since the image is purely aesthetic, then it is not content and therefore does not belong in the HTML and should be displayed using CSS, there are differing views on this however.

As you can see, providing correct alt attribute values can be tricky and very much depends on the situation. The best advice is to asses each scenario individually, deciding on whether the image is required for understanding and use your best judgement.

Tip 06: Access Keys

Like Tab Indexes, Access Keys are a valuable feature for those users who rely on a keyboard to navigate a website. Unfortunately, Access Keys are one of the least used HTML elements, primarily because a lot of people are not aware of them and those who are choose not to implement them despite it being extremely simple.

Access Keys are basically keyboard shortcuts that help a keyboard user navigate to certain sections of a website quickly. Access Keys can be used by holding down a function key (usually Alt on Windows or Ctrl on Macs) and pressing a specific letter or number key that corresponds to a section of the site.

As I mentioned earlier, Access Keys are incredibly simple to implement. All it involves is a simple piece of HTML code added to the navigation anchor tags of your site –

Home

Simple.

A problem with Access Keys is that there is no universal set of assigned keys that users can expect to be utilised and combined with no real standard of informing users of the ones that have actually been used results in Access Keys being pretty ineffective.

The UK government does however have a set of recommended Access Keys to assign, they are as follows:

• S – Skip navigation
• 1 – Home Page
• 2 – News/Updates
• 3 – Site Map
• 4 – Search
• 5 – Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q)
• 6 – Help
• 7 – Complaints Procedure
• 8 – Terms and Conditions
• 9 – Feedback Form
• 10 – Access Key Information

Final Thoughts

As you can see, many of the above methods are very easy to implement and only require a basic knowledge of HTML. Making your website more accessible need not be time consuming, require massive modification or be detrimental to the appeal of a website.

I believe it is important for designers as well as developers to be knowledgeable about accessibility and consider it within the various stages of building a website. The earlier in the design process that attention and thought are paid to accessibility, the easier it will be to incorporate these methods and achieve better results.

It is also important to remember that the majority of the methods detailed above will not only help those with disabilities, but will benefit all users of your website. Some of the tips may even improve your rankings with search engines.

We have discussed just a few tips that will make your website more accessible, but if you are really committed, you may want to check out how you can conform to the full list of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Webdesigntuts+

http://www.digitalgunner.com/

Digital Gunner – The Portfolio of Patrick Toribio – Graphic Design – Web Design – Front End Development – Flash Design – Animation – Actionscripting

http://www.alexanderkryska.de/

Alexander Kryska, Ihr Kommunikationsdesigner aus Duisburg. Webdesign, Corporate- und Branddesign, Interfacedesign, Grafikdesign & Logo Design.

http://www.petergranfors.com/

Passionate graphic designer born in Vasa, Finland. Currently I’m living in London and looking for work.In June 2010 I finished my studies at Middlesex University with a Bachealor of Arts in Graphic Design. I did a 6 months Erasmus exchange programme at Middlesex before I transferred.

A nice collection of creative business cards you probably haven’t seen.

Join DesignersCouch.org

Designer Fabio Sasso, best known to be the mind behind Abduzeedo, is a busy guy. Between the blog, his design company Zee and personal projects, Sasso shows that he’s a master of time management- and Photoshop.

The Perfect Crime

The ancient Roman poet Horace once said, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” Which begs the question, if it weren’t for an office robbery that left Fabio Sasso without any computer equipment, would the well-known design blog Abduzeedo even exist?

Even an event like that wouldn’t keep Sasso down since one of the first thoughts that he had afterwards was how he was going to continue to work for the rest of the day. He borrowed his mom’s computer in case you were wondering. It’s this work ethic coupled with his design abilities that have given him the immense exposure of which he’s now reaping the benefits.

According to the “About” page the site name is a tweaked spelling of the Portuguese word “abudzido” which means “abducted.” Sasso changed the spelling in order to cleverly incorporate his web design company’s name – Zee. Needless to say, it’s a fitting name for a site that was born out of the abduction of some computer equipment back in 2006. Sasso began the site the day of the robbery out of frustration from the fact that all of his design resources were lost. He wanted an online repository of the design and creative lessons he’s learned over the course of his career.

The Art of Problem Solving

Sasso, 31, currently lives by himself in a small, simply decorated apartment in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This self-described “regular guy, nerd and computer geek” stays physically fit by going to the gym at least four days a week and running every day. His runs serve the dual purpose of being a source of inspiration: “Running is something that really helps me to get new ideas” he says. Other than that, he gets many of his ideas from books and magazines, and as one would expect, the web is his biggest source for ideas. And not just for browsing other design sites, either. “It’s from the web that I find and purchase the books and magazine so, the web is the most important tool I have!”

The most important tool for inspiration, that is. It’s the other tools he uses, mainly a Macbook Pro 17 with SSD and a 24” Apple Cinema Display, Adobe CS5 for general design projects, CSSEdit and Espresso for web design projects. Regardless of the tools and gadgets that he uses to physically create his designs, Sasso’s favorite part of any project is when it first starts:

“[My favorite is] the research part in the very beginning in which you have to come up with ideas and organize [your] thoughts. I love that part especially when we have to deal with audiences made out of people we are totally different from in terms of taste, we have to understand their needs to come up with something that will solve their problems and surprise them.”

Practice Makes Perfect

It’s no surprise, however, that Sasso ended up doing something creative as a career. He was an adventurous, slightly shy child whose parents were the most influential role models growing up. They were supportive of anything Sasso wanted to pursue as a career, even if it meant him being a professional surfer or skateboarder. Though he was always physically active, Sasso also enjoyed artistic activities. “In elementary school [I loved] drawing and creating little paper objects.” Being a young boy in the 1980s meant that Sasso loved the action movies that were popular during that time. His favorites include Rocky, Rambo, Top Gun, Back to the Future and of course, The Goonies. His taste in movies has remained pretty much the same as the last film he watched was the Brazilian action flick Elite Squad 2. He thought it was “incredible,” by the way.

One would think that between running the uber popular design blog and running Zee, Sasso would have no time to enjoy life. Such is not the case, though. While the number of hours he works a day fluctuates anywhere between two and 12, the weekends find him relaxing on the sofa watching movies with his laptop and iPad. He admits that he’s usually working when he’s doing it, but being on the sofa has to garner him some relaxation points, right? His iPod is full of is audio books, interestingly enough. The last one Sasso listened to was “Mandela’s Way” by Richard Stengel, which is a collection of 15 lessons on life that the author learned while spending many hours with Nelson Mandela.

Lessons are an important part of Sasso’s life and career. Sasso’s official education commenced with a Bachelors degree in Industrial Design yet his unofficial education never ends. He believes that it’s only through making mistakes- and learning from them- that one can be the best they can be. “Keep learning, practicing and sharing as much as you can. That’s the best way to evolve and become a better professional and person,” “We learn during the years from mistakes and success. Experience always requires time.”

I love [the research] part especially when we have to deal with audiences made out of people we are totally different from in terms of taste, we have to understand their needs to come up with something that will solve their problems and surprise them.

Speaking of experience, Sasso has plenty of that. His portfolio is full of projects he created for big-name clients such as MSNBC, Wired Magazine UK, Tangible, Editora Abril, Envato and Digital Arts Magazine. In fact, Sasso was one of the original contributors to PSDTuts+ and his tutorials are some of the most well-received and highest viewed on the site.

Most of his work nowadays comes because of the exposure he gets from Abduzeedo. His favorite project, however, remains Abduzeedo because “It’s personal and I can try different things because, even though we have a big audience, it’s a big laboratory for new ideas.” New ideas are something that the site never has a shortage of either. He is currently working on a new feature that will allow users to have a profile on the website where they can post information about themselves so they can exchange information with others. Or as he puts it, “sort of an Abduzeedo ID.” Another project they’re in the midst of is called Mentaway which he’s been working on with his brother and two other people.

Whatever the project, Sasso always follows the same process and that begins with thoroughly discussing the topic with the client ahead of time. This helps him avoid situations where the client asks for changes that are not the right ones based on their design process. “We try to be as professional as possible and show to the client that the solution we are providing is the most effective for the problem they have. I believe the most frustrating thing is choosing the wrong clients,” he says, “The most important thing we have to learn is to say no and not try to be heroes. That saves us from giving the wrong estimate times for projects, keep our feet on the ground and make the right decisions.”

Only when there are clear expectations does he start sketching some ideas. From there he goes on the computer and starts the actual creation process. He typically starts with a number of options but narrows it down to the one to show the client. “This part is the most important because you will have to show where the ideas came from and why, that’s the business part of it, and what makes design different than art, in my humble opinion,” he says.

Humble. Something you might think is the opposite of Sasso. But regardless of his professional successes and the fact that his blog continues to be an insanely popular go-to site for designers of all genres, Sasso is just a regular guy. A nerd. A computer geek.

More of Fabio’s Tutorials

Take a look at some more of Fabio’s tutorials.

Psdtuts+

As you know, each month, we round up some of the best Photoshop-related content from around the web. This month, there were some excellent Photoshop tutorials, articles, and freebies to choose from; including some awesome Tron-inspired typography tutorials, beautiful holiday patterns, and  some fantastic inspirational and educational articles. So please take a moment to review our favorites from December 2010.

Tutorial Wrap

• 

  Tron Legacy Tutorial

  Tron Legacy was probably the most anticipated movie of 2010.  The design community has been eagerly awaiting this sequel to a 1980’s classic for a long time. In this tutorial, Abduzeedo demonstrates how to create the Tron Legacy logo using Photoshop, Cinema 4D, and Illustrator.

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• 

  Create a Colorful Aged Poster With Special Lighting Effects

  This cool tutorial from Tutorial9 demonstrates how to create a cool retro-cosmic poster design using textures and adjustment layers.

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• 

  Peak of Dawn – Beginners Manipulation Tutorial

  This basic photo manipulation tutorial from Psdbox demonstrates how to use brushes and lighting to add a female model to a beautiful grassy scene.

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• 

  Create a Vibrant Conceptual Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

  This very unique tutorial from Pixel Tango demonstrates how to create a really cool, vibrant photo manipulation using several elements. The result is something surreal and kind of creepy.

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• 

  The Enchanted Forest – Fantasy Photo Manipulation

  Creating fantasy photo manipulations can be a lot of fun. This tutorial from Pure Romance88 demonstrates how to take several stock images and combine them to create a bright and glittery scene in Photoshop.

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• 

  Create a Dark & Grungy Digital Art Piece in Photoshop

  This tutorial from Spoon Graphics demonstrates how to combine a female model with a range of grungy, dark textures and abstract elements to create an eye catching and interesting design.

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Free Downloads

• 

  Vintage Wallpaper Textures IV

  Vintage wallpaper textures can be a welcome addition to any design. High resolution textures are even better because they can be used for print or web. This set of vintage textures from Lost and Taken is part 4 of a really nice set of textures that you can download and use for free!

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• 

  Free Icon Set for Web Developers: Coded

  While Psdtuts is no longer focused on web design, we realize that many of our readers are web designers and can use icons in their work. This set of icons for web developers can make a really nice addition to your design arsenal.

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• 

  Free Candy Cane Patterns

  Christmas is already several days behind us but hey, there’s always next year. This set of Candy Cane Patterns from Echo Enduring can be used as a background or as part of an illustration for your holiday designs next year. Enjoy!

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• 

  Christmas Seamless Photoshop And Illustrator Pattern Set 2

  Did you download the set of candy cane patterns above and realize that you still need more Christmas-themed patterns for next year? This set of seamless Christmas patterns from Creative Nerds might do the trick.

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• 

  Free Vector Repeat Patterns – Christmas Santa Hats

  So you downloaded the candy cane patterns and the Christmas patterns listed above and you’re still not satisfied? This set of Christmas Santa Hat patterns from Pattern Head has to satisfy you. If not, you’re out of luck because those are all the ones we’ve got listed this year. Happy holidays!

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Articles and Inspiration

• 

  Awesome Illustrations and Sketches by Mike Henry

  If you browse through the design community enough, eventually you will be able to tell the difference between a good and great illustrator. Mike Henry is certainly a great illustrator. This round up on Abduzeedo showcases some excellent examples of Mike’s work. Definitely check them out!

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• 

  Design Inspiration: Text Art Showcase

  When most people think of text, most of them probably don’t have the works featured in this showcase in mind. Here, Vandelay Design showcases some beautiful works of art using text as its main feature. Enjoy!

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• 

  20 Excellent Examples of Photo Manipulation

  Photo manipulations are always fun to look at. Sometimes, they can be confusing, other times, hilarious, often creepy, photo manipulations are always a hit amongst the design community. This showcase from Web Design Ledger is a lot of fun. Take a look.

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• 

  Farming Out Extra Work: Thoughts and Considerations

  Have you ever thought about farming out some of the work you don’t have the time or desire to do? This article from Design Shack explains their thoughts on hiring some help for your design business.

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• 

  20 Magnificent Dark Fantasy (Landscape) Digital Painting for Your Inspiration

  Dark, fantasy digital art is a favorite amongst many designers. This round up from Psd Vault showcases some really nice digital paintings to help keep you inspired. Enjoy!

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Psdtuts+

The last time we had an essay from Speider Schneider, it was Halloween and he told us about his why art directors should never run with scissors. Today, as we celebrate the new year, we have another article from Schneider that takes a look back… waaay back, at the dawn of web design in the 1990′s. Get ready to gasp in horror at just how archaic things were in the Stone Age of Web Design.

The Dawn of Web Design (Queue the Jungle Drums)

While volcanoes spewed molten lava and Velociraptors roamed the earth, the early 1990s was a frightening place for web design. HTML confused the tribe of humans and those of us who understood it were burned as witches for our understanding of the evil devil’s tongue.

It was, of course, true. With a few tippity-taps on a keyboard, which was made from mud and sticks, we could make pages with pictures, message boards and links that once clicked upon, would take you to other pages and places. Wav files of our favorite TV themes, songs and sound bytes were free for the taking and for MAC tribe members, and there was demon software that would change them to system sounds. It was black magic to all as fire had just been discovered and we still feared the dark and the high-pitched squeal of dial-up connecting to the internet. Oonga-boonga!

As with the Bronze Age, suddenly there appeared another magical tool – PageMill. It was intuitive, although still not quite drag and drop technology. It was beyond the understanding of all but a few humans who could read and comprehend the pages of instructions. Today it would be laughable to most five year-olds… but it gave me the courage and ability to label myself as a “web designer.”

The Discovery of (Angel)Fire

My first site, thanks to another disciple of the netherworld of Hades, Angelfire.com, was a site for my newborn son. Angelfire.com offered free sites with a whopping 4 MB of space. It was almost the size of the universe! How could anyone ever fill such a vast space?!

All one had to do was allow them to place a banner at the top of each site. The banner, of course, was easily removed simply by going into the source and deleting the HTML that linked to the banner. Angelfire, probably web mastered by one person, would never catch the revised code… those were the good old days.

The site for my newborn son was simple but fun. There were links, images, animated gifs and it allowed friends and family around the world to see pictures of my son as he grew (granted that they had access to this mystical tool called the internet).

For your enjoyment (and my own humility), here are a few images from that first site:

Each month had a new picture, but I had to somehow make them out of the ordinary. My mother-in-law hated it, and honestly it was all pretty silly, but that was the nature of web design back then. Designers (if you could call us that) were mostly rogue hobbyists and publishers with too much time on our hands and access to early versions of graphics software… which were barbaric compared to 2010.

I had to have a section with “nice” pictures for Grammy. It was balanced with a section of the same photos with snarky comments called…

I had also found that by scanning images from a book and using “Gifbuilder”, I could create moving animations from Edvard Muybridge photos.

Going Viral…

What was shocking was the number of hits the site received; The number of incoming visitors far out numbered my friends and family. My son was getting fan mail from around the world. It seems people were so taken by the cyber magic, they were passing links to others and it became “viral.”

Taking full advantage of my growing network of followers (words such as “followers,” “viral” and “network” hadn’t actually yet been coined yet), I started to create other sites on Angelfire.

Victims of my hot and spicy chili always wanted the recipe…more in an effort to destroy it to save future generations, I suppose… so I created a site just for the recipe:

I think the animated gif flames and dancing skeletons really made the site! They certainly made up for the typos. Fink fonts were also just introduced to the market by House Industries and were getting a big workout from every designer on the planet.

Once again, the site became viral. There wasn’t much to garnering a huge audience as there were about 78 web sites back then and 24 of them were mine. More importantly – I was starting to get e-mails and phone calls about creating sites for other people and businesses. It was hard to settle on a price for a site. I didn’t know anyone else who was doing web design.

People Paid For This?!

For about 0, I started creating sites for small businesses and such. It was exciting, but frightening as no one really knew what we were doing. There was no way of telling if they would be successful at selling a service, and 0 seemed like an outrageous fee for something so new, so unknown, and so strange as a website. Would people even see the site? How would they find it? What was a mouse?…

Here are just a few of my earliest examples… mind you these were stellar “Portfolio Pieces” back then, and clients and visitors were impressed beyond words at the time:

Above: A doctor wanted something people who traveled to New York City could use to find her. That sounded great… except no one had a laptop back then. The one model on the market weighed 87 pounds and it was too big to take on trips.

Above: A small museum in Massachusetts wanted a site to highlight their collection and encourage membership. As with the neighboring town of Salem, the board accused me of witchcraft and burned the site.

Above: A glasses frame wholesaler wanted a “sophisticated” site with a page for each line they represented. This was the big time and I made several thousand dollars on a half dozen pages and updates. All I had to do was size photos and fill tables with color blocks.

Above: Simply placing a JPG onto an HTML document worked as a landing page for a company that wanted a web presence. They never even finished the actual site, but the landing page was more than any local business had at the time and the e-mail button and contact information was enough to impress potential clients who stumbled onto the page.

Above: An early attempt at e-marketing in the mid 1990s; A simple JPG was sent to over 300 people via email. Over 200 responses were, “how did you do that?!”

The official response from Mattel was to cease and desist. Legally, it was covered under the Spoofing Law, but in the wild west of the internet, no one really knew what was right or wrong and most big businesses feared the internet as much as they were curious about it. Note the nod to the CD-ROM portfolio. This was just another “new” way to show work in a digital format.

32×32 Icons and the American Museum of Illustration

Thanks to some icon creation program (which name I have long forgotten), I started creating 32×32 icon sets. While they were pitched as giveaways (most companies wanted to sell them). The idea of digital marketing was unheard of and no one could understand the idea of viral free content.

Having created dozens of icon sets, I was invited to show them at the American Museum of Illustration in New York City. The show was entitled 32×32 – Pixelations. The reaction was either negative (as people didn’t consider the computer able to do “illustrations”) or the often repeated statement, “I guess someone has to make these things!”

Yes, someone did have to create them… and the new site iconfactory.com was one of the first with six whole sets of icons for, gasp…free! Nowadays, of course, you can find thousands upon thousands of icons for free.

Finally, the last phenomena worth mentioning from the “dawn of web design” was the discovery of custom desktop graphics (usually saved from the web). Desktop patterns and posters were as easy as creating a .PICT or .JPG, but the impact was huge and they became ridiculously popular in offices. Exhibit A:

Conclusion

So, children of the digital age, that is how it was done almost 20 years ago… when a MAC Performa computer cost ,000 (with a 14 inch monitor) and 8 MB of RAM was 0. We were astounded at Zip drives holding almost 100 MBs of files and a Syquest disk could be erased just by shaking it like an Etch-A-Sketch! Jazz drives would be a whole new universe of storage and make great drink coasters once CD burners became available!

It’s amazing how far things have come in under two decades… now you can get 16GB on a drive the size of a thumbnail, and all of the “amazing web designs” we created back then are laughable by today’s standard. Then again, maybe it hasn’t gone far enough? Where the heck are those flying jet packs we were promised in the 1970s!?

We hope you enjoyed this little retrospective essay! What were your earliest memories of experiencing web design?

Webdesigntuts+

2010 has been an incredibly verdant year for web designers. Mobile has hit the mainstream; Web typography has reached new levels of sophistication; New coding techniques have vastly improved our ability to get creative with design (without compromising stability). All in all, it’s been a year that’s moved fast, even by the standards of the web, so let’s dig in to our first annual post covering the state of web design as 2010 turns to 2011.

The Death of the Fold

The traditional “fold” (the imaginary line on a screen that designates what content is visible before a viewer needs to scroll) became vague, unimportant, and nearly irrelevant in 2010.

Why? Because the traditional “screen” that people view the web through has undergone an explosion of variety… no longer can we expect web-surfers to be on something close to a 19″ monitor with a resolution somewhere between 1024×768 and 1280×700. Screens nowadays come in all shapes and sizes, from iPhones (and smaller phones) to 60″ HDTVs. It’s not just resolution that can vary wildly though; the very aspect ratio of a screen (even on the same device like the iPhone) can change with the flick of the wrist. Sure, web designers will always be advised to keep the most important messages of a site near the top, but with so many new ways for web-surfers to view the web, there’s no longer a defined height for where content must be above.

We’ll be discussing this topic in a lot more detail this month, so subscribe (it’s free) to stay tuned

Mobile Sites

Sites have been being designed for mobile scenarios since the inception of mobile devices… but 2010 has seen a huge push towards entire sub-sites that are designed specifically to be viewed on small, handheld screens. You can thank the iPhone for starting this trend, but the wave of “mobified” sites is spreading like wildfire…. and come this same time next year, I’m sure you’ll be hard-pressed to find a major publishing site without a mobile companion site.

What’s neat about mobile screens is that it forces designers to get creative with a relatively small amount of real estate. Succeeding in the mobile environment isn’t tough if you keep a few rules in mind: Messages need to be conveyed quicker and with more efficiency; Links have to be designed for a touchscreen environment; and text needs to become legible (or at least effectively zoomable). Here are just a few examples of mobile sites:

SubTrend: Tabletified Sites

Just like 2010 saw an explosion of mobile site designs, it can be expected that as consumers pick up tablets more often, major websites will follow suit by creating sites (and apps) designed specifically for a medium sized touch-screen environment.

A Typographic Explosion

Alright, I guess you could make the claim that “typography will explode” each and every year… but 2010 has seen a few major changes to the underlying technology that actually make this claim legitimate. Primarily, the huge amount of growth of font-replacement technology over the last year and the mass adoption of “fonts as services” where third party companies host fonts (and licenses) that designers can use in live development environments. You could also say that designers are getting a lot more bold with typogrpahy as well… with more and more designs coming out lately that blur the line between print-4design and web design.

You can read more about this how to navigate the wide variety of these awesome new typography solutions here. Let’s check out some examples (some using font replacement, others using other methods):

SubTrend: Print Design Inspired Sites

This was all the rage in 2009 – 2010, but the “print revolution” is alive and well on the web, and more and more sites are being designed to mimic great print designs, such as magazines, posters, fliers, and more.

Desktop Application UI Influence

If I were a betting man back in 2009, I would have put all my money into apps… iPhone apps, Android apps, Apple apps, PC apps, web apps… the software environment seems to have gone completely berserk over the past year or two. All of this excitement over creating applications has trickled into the web design style-lexicon in an interesting way: where once the web looked, well, like a website, nowadays it can often look more like an application. Everything from modal windows, context menus, OS inspired buttons, and more are being brought into the web design environment in new and exciting ways… the end result: sites that feel more user friendly and natural.

Grid Intensive Layouts

Grid layouts aren’t new to 2010 (or even 1980), but web designers are starting to break away from traditional web layouts (header, content column, sidebar, footer) in favor of more unique, grid driven layouts. What started out with the 960.gs movement has quickly spread to grid systems that can actually adapt to the viewers screen resolution.

Massive Images

Here’s another trend that’s been happening for more than just this last year. Massive images were once taboo for web designers, but thanks to better image optimization, faster internet connections, and smarter loading methods, designers can gain a lot in some sites by pushing image sizes to the max.

More than just “big images”, we’re beginning to see more trending towards sites that use vast illustrative (and photographic) backdrops that are as a part of the actual experience as they are simply additional artwork.

Immersive Script Integration (jQuery Sliders, etc.)

Coded plugins used to be an afterthought in most web designs… you would finish a mockup, then replace an image with a slider if you could find a great plugin for it. Nowadays, entire designs can be based on scripts and plugins that do more than “add something” to a design… they can define the entire website experience.

Here are just a couple examples of sites that don’t just add script interactivity, they make it the foundation of the site:

CSS3 Hits the Mainstream

If I had a dime for every CSS3 article I saw in 2010, I’d be swimming in a pool of them. While CSS3 mass adoption is still a little ways off (here’s a handy link to see what browsers have adopted what parts of CSS3), designers haven’t hesitated to start using some of the fantastic new features. Everything from rounded corners, box shadows, glow effects, CSS3 animation, @font-face, and more have started popping up in designs all over the place. here’s just a handful of examples:

Texture, Texture, Texture

Textures aren’t new, but as each year passes we see it being integrated in new and interesting ways. 2010 saw a lot of the “subtle noise” texture, but more than anything, we’re beginning to enter a style phase where more designs are starting to feel “touchable”. This doesn’t necessarily mean that big, file-heavy textures are being used… instead, we’re seeing more subtle, well designed textures that repeat naturally.

Infographic Driven Designs

I’ve always been a huge fan of infographics, so it’s nice that we’re starting to see them being integrated into web designs as more than just attachments. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for new and exciting ways of infographic site integration, so keep an eye out for these designs in 2011.

Single Page Sites

3D Environments

This is more of a novelty than a trend… 3D based sites are fun to use, but aren’t entirely accessible from some browsers and devices. That said, there are some fun new things happening in the way of three dimensional environments, so they’re worth checking out, even if you won’t be seeing them on your iPhone anytime soon

Social Media Convergence

The last trend that I’m going to mention isn’t one that requires much in the way of screenshots… mainly because the shift is more strategy than substance. While this trend has been happening for years, things seem to be coming to a head at the moment… and the fate of the future of the internet is going to be decided.

What I’m talking about is “social media convergence”, or rather, the pattern of brands and businesses focusing their efforts on social media sites (rather than their own independent sites). Instead of individual domains, we’re beginning to see more and more businesses moving to strategies that either are based on sites like Facebook, or are at the very least integrating social features in a way that is 100% reliant upon the social media sites.

…instead of an internet composed of millions of different and unique sites, we could end up with a handful of “mega-sites” that everyone (individuals and businesses alike) simply have a page on…

This makes sense for a number of businesses; it’s a whole lot easier to get people to discover and visit your Facebook or Twitter page than it is to have them stumble upon (pun intended!) your own domain (ie: myownawesomewebsite.com/me). The winners of this trend are, of course, the big social media sites who gather up more and more traffic. The losers? Well, if this trend continues, the losers could very well be anyone who doesn’t jump on the bandwagon… so instead of an internet composed of millions of different and unique sites, we could end up with a handful of “mega-sites” that everyone (individuals and businesses alike) simply have a page on.

Let the Discussion Begin!

Alright, so I’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg for all of the great trends happening in 2010, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m sure I missed something. Post your comments, thoughts, trends, and anything else in the comments section and I’ll be taking any really great comments into account when it comes time to edit this post later on!

Happy 2011!

Webdesigntuts+

Below i collected world best of best visiting cards. I hope you guys not even Enjoy this collections but also inspire aswell.
If you like Collect / Share & Enjoy!

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Print / Web Design Company India

Philip Tseng is an illustrator from San Diego, California. He works as a 2D artist for an online game company. Philip says he loves vector art for it’s versatility and simple, clean and crisp design. He is an animal lover and his favorite source of inspiration is food. He loves to personify the food through his illustrations which can make you smile.

Hi. I’m an illustrator from sunny San Diego, California. By day, I’m a 2D artist for an online game company and by night, I draw little doodles on my computer of things I find funny.

I graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Psychology. After a year of being a research assistant, I decided to go back to school and received a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Arts from The Art Institute of California-San Diego.

I’ve been drawing since I can remember, drawing comic strips in grade school to designing flyers for friends’ bands in high school. Professionally and career-wise, I’ve been designing and illustrating for over six years.

I’m a full-time 2D artist for an online game company and my typical work day usually consists of creating 2D art for our games, testing some games, and going to meetings.

A typical workflow starts with getting inspired by something that I might have seen, heard, or dreamed. I would quickly rough out the idea and jot down notes so I remember what I want to try to incorporate into the design. If I’m already on my computer I would go ahead and start working on the design in Illustrator.

I do not always sketch out my designs by hand before working on it in Illustrator, unless the design is really complex.

What fascinates and what I love about vector art is how versatile it can be. I can create a simple, clean and crisp design with a few clicks of my mouse or I can add some textures and create a different piece of artwork.

Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop are the two tools I use the most and probably can’t live without.

I get inspired from random things around me, jokes with friends and family, and situations I find myself in. I can be standing in line at the grocery store and be like: “Wouldn’t it be funny if the fruits and vegetables on the conveyor belt think they were on a treadmill or in line for an amusement ride?” Weird stuff like that gets my imagination going.

My favorite source of inspiration is food. I love food and I love giving food personality.

My first PhotoVector design was actually an accident. I was working on an illustration of a bear and needed an image placeholder. I ended up liking the contrast between the realistic photo and vector elements.

I try to photograph my own images, but sometimes I don’t have the access to, like, a tiger or a bear. I use free stock images or ask for permission from photographers on Flickr for those.

The tedious parts about the PhotoVector designs are finding an image with the right pose and isolating the image out from the background. Sometimes I have to Photoshop together pieces to get what I’m looking for. Once I cut out the image, I convert it to black and white halftones in Photoshop, and then place it into Illustrator to add the vector elements.

I am an animal lover. I find them easier to put in funny situations because you wouldn’t expect a polar bear wearing roller skates and listening to a Walkman.

I don’t think I have a favorite animal to work with, it’s more about which animal best fit the situation and design.

I love creating T-shirt designs — it’s wearable art. The first T-shirt design I ever made was a hand drawn iron-on design for my friend’s band back in high school. But it wasn’t until 2006 when I saw my friend Sebastian wearing this really cool T-shirt and I asked him where he got it. He introduced me to Threadless.com and how you can submit your own designs, have people vote on your designs, and potentially have them printed on T-shirts if you win. So I started submitting to Threadless and was fortunate enough to have gotten a few wins. The exposure through Threadless has led to many other great design opportunities.

Oh man, this is a hard question.  I think it might be “Catburger” because it combines my love for food and animals.  And because it’s just a ridiculous illustration.

I’m pretty happy with how my “Fruit and Vegetable AlphaDeath” series turned out. It was my first time attempting such a large series and I’m happy that I stuck with it.

The series was part of a project called “Make Something Cool Everyday” back in 2009 that my friend Olly Moss started on Flickr and got me to participate. The project was simple — be creative and make something cool everyday for a year. For twenty-six days, I illustrated each letter of the alphabet as either a fruit or vegetable dying a horrible death.

Some current projects include T-shirt designs, editorial illustrations, and little personal projects here and there.

I would describe my style as simple, clean, cute, and sometimes with a bit of dark humor. My friends have all said I should illustrate a children’s book, so that is something I would like to accomplish.

Thanks for the opportunity. My advice for aspiring designers and illustrators is to be open-minded and thick-skinned. What we do is very subjective and we’re always being critiqued. So, don’t give up. Oh, and learn how to use the Pen Tool — you won’t regret it!

Philip Tseng on Web

• Portfolio
• Flickr

Vectortuts+

Are you in the mood for something different? I’ll guide you in the process of creating design of Stuff – horizontal-oriented blog and portfolio. Make sure you visit Stuff online version to see the final result!

Step 1 Create A New Document in Photoshop

Make it 1300 x 800 px. All that space isn’t really necessary, but it’s good to feel the panoramic character of the design while we work.

Step 2 Creating The Background

Create a new fill layer using the solid color #bfc6cd

Adding Noise To The Background

Convert new layer to a “smart object” (right click > Convert to Smart Filter) and apply the filter > Add Noise (you can adjust it later if needed thanks to smart filters feature). Lock the layer. To keep the project clean and organized, you can delete the layer’s mask and make it the default background layer (optional).

Step 3 Creating The Big “Stuff” Arrow

Create a new arrow shape using the “shape tool” preset. Then use the Direct selection tool adjust shape to make it look nice (move the points around as you see fit).

Select Free transform tool, move the arrow 310px from top, then grab and move the horizontal ruler to create new guide. Snap it to the middle of the arrow. From now it will represent the main horizontal axis of the site.

Add 4 styles to the arrow (by double clicking on the layer): drop shadow, inner shadow, outer glow and gradient overlay (from #cbcbcb to #ffffff).

Add a new text layer above the arrow layer.

Add styles to text: inner shadow, gradient overlay and stroke. For a better depth effect, make the stroke visible only on the bottom half of the text by using a “gradient” stroke with the alpha settings of the top half set to “0″ opacity.

Outer and inner shadows give the arrow more 3D look, but to make it even better, let’s create a simple glossy light effect. Create a new rectangle and use the Convert point tool modify its shape to create a slight curvature. We’ll mask this over the Arrow layer to create a glossy effect.

Set this layer fill to 0% and add gradient overlay style with subtle vanishing white.

To avoid the light layer go beyond the arrow: ctrl+click on the arrow layer to make a selection add layer mask to the light layer

Step 4 Adding backlight

To focus viewers’ attention to the logo, make a light to stand the arrow out of the background. You can use a primitive method which is:

• Create new layer (ctrl+shift+N)
• Select gradient tool
• Reset (D) and reverse (X) colors
• Select white-to-full-transparency radial gradient

• While holding shift drag a line creating the gradient

• Make the gradient layer opacity 80% (8)

Step 5 Create the Content Holder Template

Create a white 240px width rectangle (the height should be a bit taller than the document).

• Duplicate it (ctrl+d) and change the color – it will represent an image in blog post,
• Transform it (ctrl+t) – set size to 216 x 130px, and move its center to page axis,
• Add vertical guides to mark borders of the future content

Step 6 Add Text

Above the photo, create new text box and fill it with blog title. Use a condensed font like League Gothic (free at the League of Moveable Type). Below the photo, create another new text box for the general content.

Step 7 Styling the Content Holder

Make a selection for the content and create a new mask layer for the big rectangle. Change the mask density to 80%

Add outer (black) and inner (white) glow styles to the strip layer for the more 3D look.

Step 8 Adding Meta Text

Add meta info text above the post. I’ve used 12px Georgia italic, 17px line height. Remember to make use of guides to keep texts in one line

Step 9 Creating the “Read More” Button

Create “read more” text below the post

One layer below it, create new rectangle to be a read more button.

Add gradient and stroke styles to it. Tip: make the stoke inside, to have perfectly sharp corners of the button

Add a subtle gradient to text layer too.

Step 10 Creating a Post Badge

To create the badge use another rectangle, add text (I’ve used Arial), and rotate both layers together 45 degrees.

Add mask to rectangle layer to hide unnecessary corners

…and add 2 small rectangles as an illusion of the badge going under image.

Add a subtle shadow to the badge. Tip: for shadow blend mode use Normal instead of default Multiply, so it will take effect even if you use the badge as the transparent PNG file

Step 11 The Menu

Create a new text layer. Instead of black color (which can feel unnatural on light backgrounds), use dark gray to achieve more natural look.

Tip: To create horizontal lines instead of using line tool create not anti-aliased text using underline glyph “_” It will be always pixel-sharp and spaces between the lines will be easy to control thanks to line-height parameter. Use the same line-height as in menu text and create as many lines as menu items, minus one. Make the lines longer then needed.

Set this layer fill to about 15% and add a white shadow.

Add mask to lines layer and paint with smooth brush on it to achieve vanishing edges.

Step 12 Create the Search Form

Create rectangle with rounded corners (3px) for a search input.

Add inner shadow to the box and make layer’s fill to 70%

Above it add search text and create custom shape as a submit arrow. Add inner shadow to the box and make layer’s fill to 70%

Step 13 Where to Get Social Media Logos

As vector images are recommended for this purpose I suggest to find needed logos in www.brandsoftheworld.com service. In most cases it’s the fastest way. Open the logo in the Illustrator, copy outlines and paste in Photoshop as shapes. You can also use the Buddy Icons from Orman Clark.

Set layer’s fill to 0% and add styles (drop shadow, inner shadow and color overlay) to achieve the 3D look. To get the logo in the active (lightened) state, change color and intensity of the Color Overlay style.

Copy this style and copy to other logos (right click on the layer / Copy Layer Style)

Step 14 Creating the Comment Box

To add comment box, create another rounded-corners rectangle about 520px wide and add Drop Shadow style.

Select the bigger part and add mask to this layer.

Duplicate the layer and invert it’s mask. Make the new layer’s fill 25%.

In the blending settings check “Layer Mask Hide Effects” option, to avoid inconsistency in the shadow line of both layers.

Create black vertical line on the border between these boxes, make it’s fill also 25% and add 1px white shadow directed right.

Add some sample avatar and texts using previously used colors.

Step 15 Creating Arrows for a Portfolio Slider

Create circle shape and paste layer styles from the logo arrow. Cut the arrow shape from the circle using Custom shape and cutting mode.

Below this button layer create another circle – same size or smaller, and paste the gradient style from logo. Tip: If some layer has many styles, and you want to copy just one, you can drag the style while alt pressed and drop it to another layer.

Add light (the same way as above to the logo arrow).

If you want to make some small improvement, which nobody will notice, create separate lights for button and arrow-shaped hole, and move the second one a little down. And if you already have two separate lights, you can easily (without additional masking) make the button light stronger to be better visible on the very bright button.

Select all button layers and create Smart object of them.

Duplicate layer, move and flip horizontally. Now if you edit one arrow (double click smart layer) both will change.

That’s It!

All other elements can be done by copying, pasting and resizing the existing elements that we’ve designed.

Tip: League Gothic font and other cool freeware fonts with web designer-friendly licenses can be found at www.fontsquirrel.com

Would You Like to Create the HTML or WordPress Version of Stuff?

OK, so you have PSD more or less ready, and would like to go further. As Stuff needs some different approach to content, because of its horizontal character, it’s really tricky to code it properly. I don’t know many horizontal websites which managed to avoid common errors (e.g. not working mouse scroll). Please leave a comment if you would like to know the best ways of coding this design and we’ll see if we can’t bring the tutorial to the site!

Anyway, if you want to save some time and have it all on the silver plate, you can download HTML template or WordPress version of Stuff for a few dollars. Thanks!

Webdesigntuts+

In this design tutorial, we’re going to create the portfolio design “Smart Portfolio” by Curt Ziegler, available on ThemeForest as a WordPress or HTML theme.

About the Author: Curt Ziegler, also known as Cudazi, is a web designer specializing in WordPress theme development with 10 years of design experience, a number of highly successful products and over 6000 sales at ThemeForest! You can also find more of his work at cudazi.com.

The Smart Portfolio theme design has sold nearly 1000 combined times, and helped pave the way for many other minimalist template designs. This template will walk you through how to create the design yourself, but more importantly, we’ll also be discussing why it works. Once we’re done, we hope you’ll be able to create your own version of this sleek, professional design using your own style, fonts and colors!

Step 1

Start by creating a new Photoshop document. 1000px wide, 1200px tall, 72 pixels/inch. The height may be a bit excessive for our home page but I would rather have too much room vertically than not enough and have to go back and adjust.

Step 2

Set the foreground color to f3f5ec and fill the background layer by pressing Alt+Backspace.

Step 3

Let’s create a guide mid-way across the page to help keep things aligned. Instead of manually dragging a guide onto the canvas with the move tool, let’s be more exact.

• Go to View > New Guide…
• Select Vertical
• Position: 500px

Step 4

At the very top of your canvas, create a rectangle using the Rectangle tool in the vector shapes area of the toolbar. Create it as wide (or wider) than the canvas and 7px tall. Since this is using the vector shapes tool, double click on the colored thumbnail to set the color to 51767c, a nice green.

Step 5

Add a simple line to the bottom by double clicking your layer above and adding a stroke in the Layer Style window.

• Size: 2px
• Position: Outside
• Color: 8baaaf

Since your header line is full-width and at the very top of the canvas, you are only going to see the lighter green line at the bottom – just what we wanted to accomplish.

Why not just draw another line below the 7px line? There’s no right or wrong way but I prefer to use the same shape, if I want to change or move this area, it is one less layer to track down.

Put your new header line in a folder called Header to keep things organized.

What’s with the vector tools and layer styles? Using layer styles and the vector tools is one of the many ways you can apply styles, colors and shapes with the freedom to change down the road.

Step 6

The logo for this site is standard, editable Photoshop text with a few different layer styles applied.

Start by choosing the text tool and click on your canvas, typing out the words: Smart Portfolio.

Highlight the text and apply the following settings in the character tools:

• Font: Georgia
• Weight: Regular
• Size: 58pt
• Tracking: 0

Color (left side): 51767c

Color (right side): 514829

Step 7

Now, let’s apply some layer styles to turn things up a notch, double click on the text layer and add the following:

Apply a Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay and Stroke:

Step 8

Now we need to center the text on the page to align with the center guide we placed at 500px.

As with anything, there are many ways to accomplish the same task. One failsafe way is to use the align tools.

Choose the move tool from the main toolbar.

Click once on your text layer to be sure it is active.

Press Control+A (select all) – your entire canvas should have a selection around the perimeter.

In the align toolbar, select align horizontal centers.

Your text will jump to the center of the page, now we need to place it 40px from the header.

Step 9

Choose the move tool from the main toolbar.

Double check that your text layer is still selected in the layers panel. If not click once on it.

While holding down the shift key, click on the text and carefully move it up so it rests up against the bottom of your header lines. (Holding down shift ensures you will stay on your vertical center line)

Now, with the move tool still active, hold down shift and press the down arrow on your keyboard four times. This will bump the text down in 10px increments totaling up to 40px away from the header.

You could have set another guide and measured but this is a very quick way to get things where you need them. Again, there are many ways to accomplish the same task.

Place the logo in its own folder titled Logo to keep things organized.

Step 10

Now it’s time to add a tagline under our logo.

Using the text tool, add the following text:

Welcome to the online portfolio of Jane B Doe,
Ph.D. student, designer in Cityname, State.

The text settings are:

• Text-align: center
• Font: Georgia
• Weight: Regular
• Size: 26pt
• Tracking: 0
• Leading: 38px
• Color: 51767c

Step 11

Using the same techniques as the logo above, we first need to center this text on the page and move it to be 40px below the bottom of our logo.

Place the tagline in its own folder titled Tagline to keep things organized.

A bit of a side note here: It’s important to be consistent with your spacing of elements both vertically and horizontally.

If your elements are different distances apart, they should be that way for a reason. Elements that are close together imply a sense of relation to one another where items placed farther from one another feel independent.

Step 12

The divider bracket is what it appears to be, a gigantic bracket, rotated on it’s side.

This specific one is ImprintMT Shadow but feel free to use any style you feel appropriate if you do not have that specific one installed.

For ImprintMT Shadow, the font-size used was 440pt.

The color of the bracket is 51767c with the layer opacity set to 10% to tone things down, otherwise the bracket dominates the page and is intended to merely lead your eye down to the lower sections of the home page.

You have two options when adding the bracket, choose the standard type tool and rotate the text 90 degrees with the transform tool (Control+T) or to use the vertical type tool. I prefer the first option since it’s just a single element on the page and rotating it isn’t that big of a deal.

Step 13

Center the bracket on the page and place it 40px below the tagline just like we did with the logo and tagline above.

Place the bracket in its own folder titled Bracket to keep things organized.

Step 14

Now we can create some small items to lead visitors into the various sections of our site. In my example, I used three columns, each with its own icon but you can add more or even two rows if need be.

The icons I used can be downloaded free of charge from wefunction.com.

Step 15

Since we’re getting used to centering items on the page, let’s start by creating the center column and work our way out.

Using the standard text tool, create the first item, Education. The font settings are:

• Font: Georgia
• Weight: Bold
• Size: 24pt
• Tracking: 0
• Color: 51767c

Before we get to centering anything on the page, we need to also add the icon.

Step 16

There are multiple ways to get an image in your project but I like to use File > Place.

Choose one of the icons downloaded from wefunction.com, I chose paper_content_pencil_48.png.

When you place the icon on the page, you will notice the resize handles, while you see those, you can set the width and height to 70% since they are a bit large for our design.

You can always go back and do this by selecting the layer and pressing Control+T to use the transform tool.

Step 17

We need to align the text with the icon before aligning both overall with the page.

Make sure your layers for the icon and text are next to one another in your layers panel and then select both by clicking and holding down shift.

Now, in the align toolbar click align left edges and then click align vertical centers. We’re almost set.

Select your icon layer and using only the left arrow, move it 10px away from the left edge of your heading.

Place your heading and icon in their own folder titled Section to keep things organized and to use for additional alignment.

Step 18

Now we need to align the “Section” folder with the page.

Click once on the folder titled Section to select it.

Press Control+A (select all) – your entire canvas should have a selection around the perimeter.

In the align toolbar, select align horizontal centers.

Your text and icon in the folder will jump to the center of the page.

Using the same techniques as we have all along, move this folder 40px below the divider.

Step 19

The sections I show also have a small description on the home page. Inside the section folder, add the following text as an example:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.

Proin molestie posuere.

The font settings are:

• Font: Arial
• Weight: Normal
• Size: 13pt
• Tracking: 0
• Leading: 22pt
• Color: 858872

Step 20

Center this text on the page and move it 40px below the title and icon.

We now have a completed section we can duplicate for the other areas.

Select the Section folder, it should contain the icon, title and text we just added. Under Layer, choose Duplicate Group… and enter a name. Do this once more so we have three total, all stacked on top of one another.

Step 21

Select one of the duplicated layers above and using the arrow keys, move the layers an equal distance from the center. This distance will vary depending on how wide your sentences are and how long your titles may be but keep the distance between the three columns consistent.

Swap out the icons and text in each section to customize further.

Step 22

Now that we have an idea of how “tall” this page will be, we can add in the background.

Click on the background layer so the next layer created will appear just above this, otherwise it will appear above all our content.

At the very top of your canvas, create a rectangle using the Rectangle tool in the vector shapes area of the toolbar. Create it as wide (or wider) than the canvas and tall enough to go behind all the items we have created so far, mine is 620px tall. Ideally, it will be 40px taller than the bottom of the three sections we just added. Use the ruler tool in the main toolbar to check and adjust the background height accordingly to hit 40px.

Rename this layer body solid background.

Step 23

Double click on the colored thumbnail to set the color to ffffff. (White).

Double click on the layer to bring up the layer styles window and apply the following settings:

Drop Shadow and Gradient Overlay

This will create a nice fade at the top edge of the background.

Step 24

Now we can add some simulated paper-like texture.

Create a new layer above the background we just added and fill it with solid color: f5f7ed.

Double click on the layer and add a Pattern Overlay layer style. (Pattern library: Artists Surfaces > Granite)

Set the opacity to 15% and hit OK to apply, you will notice the pattern takes over the entire page – let’s fix this in the next step.

Rename this layer body texture overlay.

Step 25

Select the body texture overlay layer and then click add a vector mask from the bottom of the layers panel.

Now, select the gradient tool from the left toolbar and double check you are using the default white-to-black gradient from the toolbar.

Layer masks don’t “see” in color but instead use black and white to determine what to hide (mask) or what to show in the layer the mask it attached to.

Step 26

While holding down shift (to keep it perfectly vertical) drag down on the canvas from the upper green bar at the top of the page down just about 100px. This will fade out the granite pattern into a solid page background, adding a touch of paper-like texture to the site without becoming distracting.

Place the body solid background and body texture overlay layers in their own folder tiled Body Backgrounds to keep things organized.

Step 27

The social media icons are not from a set but created from the actual logos. A great source of the icons and logos is www.iconfinder.com – find the ones you would like to use and apply the following changes to each item:

Set the layer mode to Luminosity
Set the opacity to 10-40% depending on the logos used
Resize each so they are all of equal height.

Step 28

Add the footer text centered and placed 20px below the social media icons with the following settings:

• Font: Arial
• Weight: Normal
• Size: 11pt
• Tracking: 0
• Leading: 22pt
• Color: 858872

Final Product

Bonus!

The PSD download also includes a bonus portfolio style page!

Conclusion

That’s it! I tried to keep everything as simple as possible for those of you just starting out but with any design there are multiple ways to accomplish the same results. If you are interested in the final HTML or WordPress versions stop over to my ThemeForest portfolio!

Webdesigntuts+

I started this collection in collecting brilliant logos but then saw that all over the web blogs have been featuring logos so I decided to college some of the bests featured in 2010 – well, the ones I like.

Join DesignersCouch.org

In this interview we meet Cathy Martin aka flashparade, a vector artist from Canada. Her style of illustration is simple yet attractive with an appealing color scheme. Cathy talks about how she got started with vector art, her design process, ideas and inspirations. Read more about this artist who loves to create some amazing modern, sassy and cute female characters.

Well I was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and have lived there most of my life, though I did live in Halifax Nova Scotia for awhile. I have been married to my awesome husband for 6 years and we have a 2 year old son together who keeps me busy most of the day. I also have 3 kitties and 3 cute bunnies.

In the run of the day I can be found doing so many different things! Besides chasing my son around I have a part-time job at a craft store to feed my addiction to my many hobbies, such as scrapbooking. When I’m not immersed in one of my hobbies I’m usually sketching or working on an illustration while listening to whatever song I’m currently obsessed with, or watching my favorite cartoons over and over again. God bless DVD box sets!

I don’t really have a single moment of inspiration when I decided to pursue art, it was something that I had always done as a child, but as I got older I set my artistic nature to focus on school and studying. By the time I graduated High School art was the furthest thing from my mind, and I hadn’t drawn in years.

After going to University for a year I decided I wasn’t enjoying it, and after taking a year off I went back to school, but this time I went in the completely opposite direction of my studying and went into a Graphic Design program, and I immediately fell in love with it. I now have two diplomas in Graphic and Digital Media design, but besides a class in character design I have no formal illustration training. I’m pretty much self taught.

What fascinates me the most is just the possibilities that are out there for me. My mind is always working, and I’m constantly coming up with concepts or ideas, and being able to actually get them out of my head and onto paper is unbelievable. I would say the best and definitely most fun part of illustration for me is coming up with the concepts of what I’m going to draw, though the most difficult is also the execution of those ideas. I’m always worried that my skills won’t add up to what I see in my head and I won’t be able to properly convey what I want.

My work flow is not always the same, but I usually either start out with an idea or I start pursuing art sites or images, looking for inspiration. Sometimes my inspiration comes from the music I’m listening to, or the mood I’m in. I then sketch out my idea using animation pencils. I love drawing in different colors and since the lines never fully erase I can always go back and redo something.

After I’m satisfied with it I scan in and then I use a tablet and pretty much the pen tool exclusively to line/color my piece. The majority of my time spent on a piece is in selecting a color scheme or deciding on a background, I’m always so indecisive about those two aspects of my art. Though I’ve been using Illustrator for years I haven’t really ventured beyond the basic tools, which can sometimes be hindering, but I always figure out a method to achieve what I’m looking for.

Coloring my art is a huge part of my process, though it’s one of the most difficult parts of it as well. I go through many color choices when I am working on a picture, selecting and re-selecting colors until I’m happy with their harmony.

I tend to go for more subdued and somewhat retro colors. I’m always drawn more to artwork that has subtle colors, rather than bright or bold colors. Coming up with colors combos and palettes is something I find I tend to have a knack for. It’s something that I find comes naturally, and I think my studies in Graphic Design helped me have an eye for it.

For the most part I draw females because I find there’s so much more I can do with them. I can make them beautiful, vulnerable, strong, ugly, whatever takes me. I’m a role-player and I always play a female character because I just find them more interesting then the male characters.

Most of my inspiration comes from viewing artwork with females and when I come up with a concept it almost always appears in my mind as a woman. There is a fluidity to their lines and bodies that you can’t quite achieve with a male character. I also tend to draw females because I struggle drawing male characters. Since I was always drawing for myself I never bothered to really delve into drawing men, though it is something I have wanted to do, if I can ever tear myself away from drawing cute girls!

Oh my god 5 words! I have trouble defining my style in a paragraph! Well I would have to say (in no particular order) retro, simplistic, unusual, hip, cute. I find those tend to be the words I use the most when talking about my art.

When it comes to upcoming projects I’m still in the midst of trying to really find a style that I’m satisfied with, so I’m doing a lot of sketching and experimenting. I’m currently still working on my stockings series, as well as my ugly pretty series. I have a tendency to want to draw art series as opposed to just single pieces, though it doesn’t always work out that way! I have a ton of finished sketches in my sketchbooks just waiting for me to color, all I need is the time and drive. I’m also currently designing stamps for anitabestampin.com. It’s a terrific little site for anyone who likes to make cards or scrapbook and wants a cute pinup or something a little different in a stamp. I absolutely love creating stamps for her, it’s so much fun to come up with pinups.

My list of artists I look up to is always changing and expanding and the majority of the artists that I draw inspiration from are on Deviantart. Currently my role model is Julie West, I am absolutely loving her style, but I have so many artists and friends that I love on DA. Camilla d’Errico, Beth Spencer, Jason Levesque, Jenevieve Broomall, Aleksandra Marchocka, Anneli Olander and so many more it would take up the entire page to name them all.

I have many other obsessions in my life hehe. For one I am an avid scrapbooker. I’ve been doing it for over a year and am absolutely obsessed with it. When the mood strikes me I also enjoy doing other crafts, I’ve always got a few different ceramics sitting around half painted. Aside from art and crafts I love geeking out whenever possible. I roleplay from time to time, and I do enjoy a good video game. It’s nice every once and awhile to just numb out and get immersed in an entirely different world.

My advice to aspiring artists out there is not to get discouraged about how much knowledge you have about programs or techniques and just go at your own pace. I myself am still learning new techniques and tricks and while sometimes I wish I knew how to do everything, not knowing makes me use my creativity to come up with my own solutions to achieve the look or style I want.

Cathy Martin on Web

• Portfolio
• deviantArt

Vectortuts+

Navigation is one of the most important aspects of designing for any website, but the challenges associated are more sensitive for a blog or any content heavy site. Some designers take it as a mechanical task and they design the navigation accordingly. However, in my opinion, navigation is as much an art as it is a science, and designers need not limit themselves to default solutions.

The Mission of Blog Navigation

The ultimate mission of any website’s navigation design is to effectively guide readers around the site so that their needs are met. That is why navigation is understood to be the most critical aspect of usability to any type of website.

Designing an effective navigation system for a blog is an especially sensitive matter… owing to the fact that content that is continually being added, increasing the complexity of navigation with each new post.

This is where the mission of blog navigation begins to take on a little more complexity than a general definition. In a blog, the key design goals are as follows:

• Users shouldn’t miss out on anything new or special.
• Users should quickly understand what content is available.
• Users should know how to find the content that they are seeking (if they are on a mission to find something specific).
• Once that content is found, users should be able to find more content that interests them.

This presents some additional challenges for a designer because so much of these scenarios happen after the design is complete. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of “design paradigms” at your disposal to address these challenges to prepare your blog designs for usability success.

To put it simply: the easiest way to make an ideal navigation for your blog is not to leave any surprises for the reader and to put things where they would expect them to be found. Just what this means will be a little different for every project, but we’ll identify some key strategies below. In all of the tips that we’ll be examining, I want you to remember one principle:

The goal for any blog’s navigation system is that the main navigation elements stay the same, even when content changes on a daily basis.

With that in mind, let’s dive in!

The Challenges of Designing Blog Navigation

What follows are some of the fundamental challenges associated with blog navigation, and ways to address them with simple design and content strategies.

Once a blog hits about 40 posts, it becomes unrealistic to expect readers to keep hitting the “More Articles” button as their primary form of navigation. Once a blog hits 100 posts, it’s just plain cruel.

Our goal here is to help you to identify the type of problem withing your design’s navigation… once we’ve done that, solving the problems is actually pretty easy:

Challenge 01: Finding Old Content

When you start a blog, navigating content seems easy… it’s often not until you have several months (or years) worth of content that this challenge begins to show it’s ugly face. As the blog grows further and you keep adding content on weekly basis, finding these older posts becomes harder for readers.

With the blog growing and new content continuously being added to it, there is a great percentage of the visitors who will miss out on some of the best content you have posted on your blog. This is bad for two reasons:

1. Reader’s are missing out on great content that you have to offer.
2. You (or your client) is missing out on traffic from the older posts.

I have seen many blogs which were full of all sorts of interesting stuff; However, when I tried to dig the content deeper to check out the older posts, I was left with no choice but to browse it page by page and hope that I stumble upon a great article. And so, I realized the importance of making the older content findable.

Solution: Design Usable Archives

My suggestion for dealing with the challenge of finding older posts is to integrate archival content into your design. Any WordPress user can include a simple “monthly archives” widget… but in my opinion those monthly archives are silly and archaic.

If a reader can’t find an article using the “Search” tool, what makes you think a monthly index is going to help? It’s not!

My advice is to follow two principles:

1. Categorize and tag your content properly (we’ll cover this in a minute)
2. Use a search system that actually works (for people who know exactly what they are looking for).
3. Integrate smarter types of archival content than simple monthly archives.

This can be easily achieved with including the ‘Popular Posts’ panel on your blog. While there really isn’t any harm in opting for archiving and older post plugins, using a manually created list of Popular Posts in the sidebar is the best way to deal with this challenge. This will enable the blogger to highlight older content according to his own choice (and analytics), rather than forcing readers to guess whether or not May 2007 was a good month for articles.

Apart from Popular Posts tip, some other ways to improve older posts navigation are Internal Links and Contextual Links to cater to those visitors who are reading a post and would be interested in related information that the blog has covered in the past. We’ll cover this a bit more in the section on “Related Posts”.

Challenge 02: Category Chaos

Categories are another important aspect of your blog’s navigation. They are useful for organizing the content and to simplify the user experience of your blog. Consider your blog as a complete business set up where the Categories are the cabinets or file folders where the whole data is kept and organized. The sole purpose of the Categories is to organize; however, if the Categories are not organized themselves, then the navigation will become chaotic and confusing.

When addressing the navigation of your blog, take a look at your category list and ask yourself 2 questions:

1. How many main categories are there? (more than a handful can become confusing)
2. Can you easily understand what the site is about from the category listing? (ie: Coffee Beans, Coffee Makers, Coffee Reviews, and Coffee Philosophy – you can guess this is a blog about coffee.)
3. Are the categories relevant and useful for finding content? (or are they just taking up space?)

The underlying issue is one that designers should be aware of, even it it’s someone else’s blog you’re designing: Useless categories create confusion. This not only makes the blog look busy and cluttered but also leaves the visitor confused and disappointed if they open up a category only to find .

The Solution: Design Categories for Usability

To address this issue, my suggestion is to make the category list more relevant, simple and user-friendly. You can start off by removing a few specific categories from the list that either have very few posts or aren’t that relevant to the subject matter. This way the shorter list of categories will be a bit easier to digest.

It’s important for the categories to be intuitive and understandable. When you are initially making the categories on your blog, put yourself in the reader’s shoes and make it as obvious as possible. It is equally important to strike a balance between creating categories that are too specific and too broad, so the reader may not get confused with too little or too much content in the categories section.

Bonus tip: Creating categories based on Search Engine Optimization is another way of doing it right. Using some of your blog’s most popular keywords in your category titles can help boost your search engine results.

Challenge 03: Encouraging Visitors to Keep Reading

At one point of time, reading a blog was a very “active” process – a reader would need to navigate the content to find what he wanted. That’s fine in theory, but it can result in high “bounce rates”, where readers will leave your site the instant they find what they were looking for.

The Solution: Bring Relevant Content Forward

This is one area of blog design that, thankfully, has improved dramatically over the past year. Thanks to a variety of new plugins (available for everything from WordPress to Expression Engine), there are countless pre-built tools to bring relevant content to users on the very same posts that they are interested in.

Many blogs have started using plugins to include a list of Related Posts at the end of each post. The Related Posts plugins are meant to smooth out the internal navigation of the blog by guiding readers to relevant content… but we can still improve on them by manually setting the “related posts” rather than letting the plugin set them for us.

Manually curating posts as “Popular Posts” is a great way to help readers find interesting content.

Call it what you want: Related Posts, Popular Posts, Relevant Articles, etc., but they all come down to achieving one thing: helping users find content that’s proven to be interesting to them. It’s funny, but something as simple as saying, “If you enjoyed this article, you would also be interested to read…”, can encourage visitors to actually move around a site rather than leaving the moment they find what they thought they wanted. If you customize the Related Posts list yourself and manage it according to visitor’s trends, it can prove to be far more successful than automated plugins.

To Conclude…

I’ll conclude by emphasizing the importance of navigation for your blog. The challenges we just reviewed aren’t rocket science, but it’s amazing how a few simple changes to a blog’s navigation design can dramatically improve the user’s experience on a blog (or any other heavy content site).

Just look at Amazon.com for example – part of their success has been as a result of their “customers who bought this product also bought this:” widget (shown below)

Amazon.com does a great job at driving visitors to products that interest them through simple strategies.

This addition to their site seems so simple on the face, but consider how many times you’ve clicked those “related products” yourself. Sure, Amazon.com isn’t a blog – but it makes for a great example of how using simple design and content strategies can improve usability and the overall user experience.

A large number of blogs rely far too much on the wealth of information in their archives… most of which never finds the visitor’s eyes. If you address the aforementioned issues according to the suggested tips, you will be able to maintain a good level of blog efficiency and usability, making its navigation ideal of your visitors.

Webdesigntuts+

http://www.chocolatychandu.in/

Chandra Narayan Gupta, I am purely a creative and enthusiastic web/grahic designer who specialises in Website Designing, Developing and Maintenance with over 6 years of professional experience

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Last month we launched the Flickr Group with a bang! The winner of the group contest is Adam Rotman, a designer out of Toronto, Canada. Today, we’ll be featuring an interview with Adam along with a peek at his portfolio. If you’re just starting out in the field of web design (or you’re just curious to see another designer’s portfolio), this is an interview you won’t want to miss!

Meet Our Contest Winner!

First off, congratulations to Adam for taking the most votes for his work on the Niagara Winery website (below). It’s truly a great piece of web design and it’s a pleasure to feature his work on the site as the contest prize!

Adam Rotman is a designer based in Toronto, Canada. He works under the name of his own agency, Capital Design Solutions, but he gets a lot of his work from LMA Communications, where he’s had the privilege to take on some pretty interesting projects… let’s start by taking a peek at just a sample of his portfolio (you can find more of his work at his website).

The Portfolio

Niagara Winery – The Contest Winning Design!

The winning entry was the website design for Niagara Winery. It’s actually just a design comp at the moment (the client has yet to decide on the final design), but it was enough to garner nearly 70% of the community votes. What I love best about this particular design is the wide open, airy feeling… it really delivers a sense of being at the winery. To counterbalance the wide-open landscape photography, there is a fantastic structure to the informational parts of the design as you move down the page, which helps ground the experience and maintain a sense of sophistication.

Sanction Snowboards

Sanction (@SanctionSkate) is without a doubt, Toronto’s premier skateboard and snowboard shop. With one of the widest selections and best prices in Canada’s biggest city, Sanction has grown it’s online and retail business over the years to be a major player.

Working with my good friend and confidant Vlad (@vladikoff), Sanction is built entirely in ExpressionEngine. Using a combination of some javascript plugins with PayPal Standard, Sanction is able to easily manage all their products and attributes right in ExpressionEngine without the use of any ecommerce modules. The design was intended to be right-to-the-point and allows Sanction to direct traffic to all the right places. An interesting part of the site is the Video section, where users can upload their own skate/snowboard videos and let the community comment and rate the videos.

Grenada Grenadines

Official Website for the Grenada Board of Tourism.

Designed at LMA Communications (@lmacomm), the Grenada Board of Tourism is a huge ExpressionEngine website. Utilizing the power of a whole bunch of robust modules and some custom php, the site features a trip planner, complex event calendar, tour operator locator, interactive map, multimedia gallery, media/travel agent center, huge directory of all accommodations/shops/specials/attractions on the island — and it’s all content managed. The final creative was an adaptation of an original design by Grenada local, Orlando Romain and was developed over time to portray the island’s unique “Rhythms of Spice”.

LMA Communications

Agency website for LMA Communications (@lmacomm) in Toronto. Since 1991 LMA has evolved constantly, adapting to navigate the ever-changing landscape of new medias, technologies and culture. We do this because we are passionate about what we do and want to deliver creative and compelling work, that connects our client’s audience to their brand to show positive results – every time.

The LMA design has a very structured layout which allowed us to top-line a lot of the information about our process, clients, and work. It uses tons of fancy javascript sliding to condense the information into neat stacks. Our services section has a wide range of totally custom graphics, created by our studio to give the site a unique and interesting user experience.

Creative Bag

Designed at LMA Communications (@lmacomm), Creative Bag Co. Ltd. (@creativebag) has been supplying custom bags and packaging to retailers, advertisers, marketing companies since 1983. With several locations across the Greater Toronto Area, they have established themselves as one of the major suppliers of innovative packaging and packaging materials.

The Creative Bag website was fully redesigned at LMA Communications from the ground up in mid-2010 to create a clean, seamless, and consistent user experience. The idea was to keep things as easy-to-use as possible, based on the demographic that visits the site. Many complex UI enhancements were made to the product pages in order to allow users to easily navigate through multi-tiered pricing (between bulk and retail orders), and also having the ability to view all colour options and achieve bulk discounts. Since the launch of the site in mid-2010, we have seen an average increase of traffic of over 120%, hundreds of new followers on Twitter, and naturally, increased sales! At LMA Communications, we consider this project to be a huge success!

Canadian Friends of the Israel Museum

The CFIM is a national organization with representation from coast to coast. It is one of 16 International Friends’ groups that enrich the Museum through gifts of works of art and financial support. Funds raised by the CFIM support “Free Admission” to the Israel Museum for Israeli children of all religions and ethnicities.

The creative incorporated some interesting 3D elements and was designed to be inviting to donors and those interested in attending CFIM events. The site is built entirely in ExpressionEngine1.6.x and is about to be upgraded to ExpressionEngine 2.x in the near future.

The Interview

First of all thanks for having me!

I’m hailing out of Toronto, Canada and I build websites for a living. When I’m not designing and/or coding, I love playing sports, golfing and snowboarding with friends, and spending time with my amazing girlfriend.

At my day job, I take part in the construction of web properties — but what I’m most passionate about is strategizing, conceptualizing and visualizing how websites will ultimately work/feel. I love getting the chance to focus on UX and UI, and eventually getting to see it all come to life. More than that though, I’m obsessed with the idea that great websites/applications can enrich our lives and give us easier access to information. Call it cliché, but like everyone else, I’m hoping to one day be part of a web application that will change the world!

I work full-time for an agency in Toronto, Canada called LMA Communications. We’re a good group of talented people with a nice client roster. The company’s 20th anniversary is coming up next week!

I’ve always been messing around on the web just about as far back as I can remember. I recall one afternoon in the late 90′s getting a phone call from my uncle – and he goes, “I’m soaking wet, dude!” … I was like “Uhhh….what the hell are you talking about?” to which he immediately responded, “…Cause I’ve been SURFING the web all day!” … I got setup real quick with one of those AOL free 30-day trial CD’s (or was it a floppy?!)….and right there, my obsession with the Internet began.

It seemed like one of the few things I could do relentlessly for hours on end without getting restless.

It was actually only many years later that my girlfriend and her sister started a jewelery company that — naturally — needed a website. She didn’t have much of a budget to pay someone to build it, so I figured I could take a stab at it…well…About 100 hours and an ulcer later – a cheesy flash website and my career were born! I was hooked. It seemed like one of the few things I could do relentlessly for hours on end without getting restless.. (or tired or hungry) So in pretty short time, I applied to the web program at Seneca College here in Toronto and took it from there. I was very fortunate to have had some great influences early on; Derek Allard (formerly technology architect for ExpressionEngine) was my teacher and he introduced me to ExpressionEngine — which I work with every single day! It really is the designers best friend.

The first big project I got really excited about was the Grenada Board of Tourism website (the country’s official website). I had just started with LMA Communications and a gigantic spec landed on my desk. Armed with hopes and dreams (and ExpressionEngine of course) I started to map out the project. It was a big boy. From gigantic piles of data to trip planners to interactive (and content managed) maps — there was a lot involved and time was of the essence. A few decisions on the project sparked some incredible debates, but in the end, it all came out right — and we were all better for it. Kinda reminds me of when you get into a fight with someone in sports — and then go for beers after, like it never happened It’s great to get the chance to work on large projects, but it’s so important to be flexible and think several moves ahead.

There’s some really amazing things we can do with modern websites now, but we always need to keep the user in mind…

If you’re strictly a designer and don’t do any of the actual development, I think it’s really important to understand boundaries. There’s some really amazing things we can do with modern websites now, but we always need to keep the user in mind (and especially the lowest common denominator of user — yeah, I’m talking to you IE6 users!). These days, it’s so easy to get carried away with great UX features, but it’s important to have clients, bosses and users understand that with better browsers, comes better experiences — and that’s just how it is. It’s going to be quite some time before we’ll see any kind of ‘boundary-less web’, if ever. Tons of developers out there are waiting for IE6 to die — but what we need to ask ourselves is — who’s gonna croak first, IE6 or it’s users?

Ahhhhh yes, this is a good one. Well…first and foremost, I think it’s becoming more and more important to be able to design and develop. Being capable of both will undoubtedly give you a better idea of how designs will eventually pan out once they’ve been sliced and coded (especially when there’s dynamic content involved)…and I hear the paycheques are nicer too! *wink* *wink*. Luckily, there’s some amazing software out there that makes it so much easier nowadays for strictly designers to cross over into the development world.

Figure out if you’re better suited for freelancing or working full-time at a studio…

Another really important thing for designers trying to get a foothold in the industry is to figure out if you’re better suited for freelancing or working full-time at a studio. This is a tough decision I think we all need to make (or remake) at one time or another. The best thing you can do is try out both, and get a feel for what works best for you. Both sides have their ups and downs!

Lastly, here’s some things you can do to get exposure, great feedback, and ultimately a chance at landing bigger clients:

• Submit your designs to CSS Galleries
• Get involved in design communities where you can get feedback (Dribbble, Forrst, Flickr etc)
• Become an author on the Envato Marketplace or try to submit an article of your own
• Start a design blog — give some tips, show off your work, establish yourself as an expert in the field

Oh yea and one more thing that’s helped me out… drink lots of coffee!

Would definitely be the ability to use the pen tool in real-life. Think of all the places close-cropping would come in handy!

Webdesigntuts+

Do you like exploding planets, energy spheres, ruined cities, telepathic warriors, gloomy nebulas, and light-rays? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In today’s round up we’ve put together a list of some of the coolest dark and futuristic Photoshop effects that we could find. Please take a moment to review some of our favorites.

This post was originally published on Psdtuts in August 2008.

1. Aurora eclipse effect

Top quality tutorial that teaches you how to create a flashy eclipse.

2. Create a ‘Bionic Diver’ using photo manipulation

Create a half-man half-robot diving machine. This effect could easily be applied to any human form.

3. Design a space scene in Photoshop

Learn how to create a realistic space scene.

4. Design a futuristic laptop advert

Create a laptop ad with a modern and futuristic look.

5. Transformers text effect

Learn how to make the cool futuristic text from the Transformer text.

6. Scan-line text

Add a Matrix-style feel to your text with this tutorial.

7. Create a fiery space explosion

Probably your only chance to blow up a planet outside a video game/nuclear warfare.

8. Seamless compositing in Photoshop

Get some top notch advice on blending photos into a realistic surreal image.

9. The making of Mystic

Another high quality tutorial on creating a sci-fi style facial effect.

10. Wicked alien-entity text effect

Add a simple alien type effect to your text.

11. Glowing orb with dial

Create a detailed glowing orb that has a wide variety of uses.

12. Space lighting effects

High quality tutorial that teaches some basic lighting techniques.

13. The Dark Knight grunge wallpaper

Create a dark poster that mimics the design of the new Batman movie.

14. Create a futuristic building interior

Create a futuristic looking interior for a hi-rise building.

15. Make a realistic star field

Neat tutorial that helps you create a realistic star field in outer space.

16. Create a futuristic smoke-like effect

A hyper-modern smoke effect to compliment a dark background.

17. Add speed-strails to a vehicle

The perfect effect to add to a super-fast futuristic vehicle.

18. The magic night

Create the sunset of the future. Learn how to create a surreal landscape.

19. Good and evil photo effect

Another good tutorial on turning people into something else.

20. Create meteoric text

Turn your words into a fiery space meteor bearing down on the viewer.

21. Robotic frog

Create a robot frog of the future with this tutorial.

22. Creating an awesome space effect

This is another cool tutorial for creating a neat space effect.

23. Create a futuristic daytime cityscape

This could easily appear on the cover of a Sci-fi novel.

24. Making of an abstract art piece: “Lonium”

This tutorial will teach you how to create a futuristic abstract image.

25. Creating energy spheres

Turn anyone into a someone with super powers with this cool tutorial.

26. Supernatural text effect

Create a dark and eerie Sci-fi text effect.

27. Transform a person into an alien

yet another good tutorial to turn people into aliens.

28. Reflective bubble

Create some neat bubble with reflections of your alien person from the tutorial above.

29. Windows Vista aurora effect

Learn how to create the spacey windows vista effect.

30. Chroma wallpapers

Create a cool futuristic type wallpaper and learn some neat techniques from a pro.

31. Deep space nebula

Make a slick nebula to add to your space tutorials from above.

32. Space tutorial

Here is another cool space tutorial on creating a realistic space scene.

33. Abstract light rays

These abstract light rays can add a futuristic feel to any advert.

34. Planet with rings

A nice tutorial that helps you create a realistic planet.

35. Create a powerful mental wave explosion effect

Another neat tutorial to turn everyday people into super heroes.

36. Our future

Create a image that depicts an end of the world scene.

37. Create an abstract space image

A sweet abstract image that has an awesome outer-space look to it.

38. Star Wars text effect

What’s more futuristic than the Star Wars text? A great text tutorial.

39. War movie poster

A top quality tutorial that teaches how to do dark well by creating a war movie poster.

40. Create a mysterious nebula

Another good nebula tutorial that will help add spice to a space scene image.

Psdtuts+

A collection of beautiful underwater photography

Join DesignersCouch.org

It’s the holiday season. And to celebrate, we’re launching something special: the Tuts+ Holiday Quiz. Each day for 10 days we’ll publish a quiz question on a different Tuts+ site. Together, the answers will form a secret URL string that will give you access to an equally secret entry form. The prizes we’ve assembled will blow you away!

Read on to learn how to take part in the Tuts+ Holiday Quiz (it’s going to be plenty of fun!) and earn the chance to win a copy of the Adobe CS5 Suite (courtesy of the competition’s lead sponsor, Business Catalyst), a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, a library of Rockable Press books (13 eBooks) , a library of Smashing Magazine books (5 eBooks), licenses for several popular Mac Apps, and more! The prizes add up to thousands of dollars in value, and only dedicated participants will be able to win.

Day #1 Question
Psdtuts+

According to Skellie, her thoughts worth a dime, Mortal Kombat was the _th best video game cover of all time?

Look for the answer using site search. The answer is a single-digit number.

Important: Please do not post answers in comments or elsewhere in public. Entrants found to have shared answers will be disqualified. By sharing answers, you take the fun out of the competition and lower your own chances of receiving a prize!

TIP Getting started

Many of the answers will require you to use the site’s search function. We use the excellent Relevant Search WordPress plugin by valendesigns to handle search. You should find that you can dig up anything you’re looking for! However, we hope that loyal readers might be able to guess some of the answers instantly.

TOP SECRET Finding the Entry Form URL

Once you have the answer to the above question, note it down. This is the first part of the secret URL, which will be in the format of enva.to/############. Replace the hashes with the 12 character answer string.

We will be releasing questions in the following order, on the following days:

1. Psdtuts+ / 20th December
2. Activetuts+ / 21st December
3. Cgtuts+ / 22nd December
4. Webdesigntuts+ / 23rd December
5. Nettuts+ / 24th December
6. Mobiletuts+ / 25th December
7. Audiotuts+ / 26th December
8. Vectortuts+ / 27th December
9. Phototuts+ / 28th December
10. Aetuts+ / 29th December (ENTRY FORM UNLOCKED)
    1. Photoshop CS5 Extended
    2. Illustrator CS5
    3. Fireworks CS5
    4. Dreamweaver CS5
    5. Flash Professional CS5
    6. Flash Builder4 Standard
    7. Flash Catalyst CS5
    8. Contribute CS5
    9. Acrobat 9 Pro
    10. Adobe Bridge CS5
    11. Adobe Device Central CS5
    1. Intuos4 large pen tablet
    2. Intuos4 Grip Pen
    3. Intuos4 mouse
    4. Pen stand
    5. Ten replacement nibs (five standard nibs, one flex nib, one stroke nib, and three hard felt nibs)
    6. Nib extractor
    7. 2.5m USB cable
    8. Quick Start Guide
    9. Installation CD (includes tablet driver software and electronic user manual)
    1. How to Take Great Photos –
    2. Getting Good With Git –
    3. iPhone App Entrepreneur –
    4. Theme Tumblr Like a Pro –
    5. How to Build a Successful Blog Business –
    6. Rockstar WordPress Designer –
    7. Rockstar Presentations –
    8. Photoshop to HTML –
    9. How to Write Great Copy for the Web –
    10. Twitter Up Your Business –
    11. How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer –
    12. Freelancer Statistics Report –
    1. How to Create Selling E-Commerce Websites –
    2. Mobile Design for iPhone and iPad –
    3. Professional Web Design –
    4. Successful Freelancing –
    5. Mastering Photoshop –
    1. Artlandia SymmetryShop plug-in
    2. A comprehensive User Guide
    3. Installation instructions
    4. Quick Reference Card file
    5. SymmetryShop Sampler (patterns created with SymmetryShops—learn by example)
    1. Artlandia SymmetryWorks 5 plug-in
    2. A comprehensive User Guide
    3. Installation instructions
    4. Quick Reference Card file
    5. SymmetryWorks Sampler (patterns created with SymmetryWorks—learn by example)
    1. This competition is not open to Envato employees.
    2. Entries will be accepted worldwide.
    3. If you do not respond within 7 days to a notification that you have won a prize, we reserve the right to select another winner.
    4. All prices quoted are in USD.

This is the same order that you should assemble the answers in order to discover the URL string.

So, for example, if the first three answers are B, 7 and 10, the URL string would look like this: enva.to/B710######## (with the remaining characters in the string to be uncovered with future quiz questions).

Make sure to visit Activetuts+ tomorrow for the second question!

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THE GOOD STUFF Prizes!

We have prizes to appeal to everyone. On the contest entry form, you’ll have the ability to choose your 1st and 2nd preference for which prize you would like to win. This is to make sure that we connect the right people with the right prizes.

If you select a prize as either your first or second choice, you’ll be entered into the running for that prize. A winner will be chosen using Random.org’s random number generator.

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PROVIDED BY:




1 x 99 Adobe Creative Suite 5 – Web Premium

This prize is provided by the lead sponsor of the Tuts+ Holiday Quiz, Business Catalyst. Our friends at Business Catalyst provide a web service that helps you build powerful Online Businesses for your clients. Because their #1 users are designers, they know a lot about what goes into good design!

The Adobe CS5 Suite will be available to the winner in either PC or Mac versions. It contains the following software:

ABOUT BUSINESS CATALYST

Adobe Business Catalyst is a new hosted service that replaces 5 or more separate tools with one integrated solution. Incorporating web hosting, content management, eCommerce features, email marketing and built in customer management tools, Business Catalyst can help you accelerate your projects and increase your profit margins. Try it out for free at businesscatalyst.com.

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2 x 7 Wacom Intuos 4 – Large Graphics Tablet

We have two large tablets to give away, provided by Wacom. The large Intuos4 tablet is perfect for creative professionals who work in large format or who are trained to work from the shoulder or elbow. With 102.5 square inches of working area, this tablet provides a generous workspace. The large has eight ExpressKeys with illuminated displays that provide easy reference for your assigned functions.

Like all Intuos4 tablets, the Intuos4 large features Wacom’s new tip sensor technology to deliver an even finer level of control. You can initiate pen pressure control with only a single gram of pressure and a feather-light touch. With 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity and 60 degrees of tilt recognition, the Intuos4 pen simulates like never before the natural feel and accuracy of working with traditional brushes, pens, and markers.

Professional photographers, designers and artists agree: Intuos4 pen tablets speed production time for photo editing, design and art creation. When working with digital assets, there isn’t a more natural tool than a pen for increased comfort and control.

Included in the large Intuos4 package:

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1 x 9 Rockable Library – 12 eBooks

Get a copy of every eBook ever released by Rockable Press.

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3 x Smashing Library – 5 eBooks

Get a copy of every eBook ever released by Smashing Magazine on the Tuts+ Marketplace.

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1 x 9 Trapcode Form



Our friends at Red Giant Software have provided a copy of industry standard After Effects plug-in Trapcode Form for one lucky winner!

Words dissolve into sand, logos catch fire, and water droplets ripple to bass guitar. All of this is possible with a single powerful plug-in that generates animated 3D shapes to mesmerize and entice viewers. Choose from 61 customizable presets, or tweak your own to get just the look you want. Full integration with After Effects’ 3D environment allows you to fly cameras through and around your animated forms.

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1 x 9 Magic Bullet Looks 1.4



Red Giant Software have also provided a copy of the much-loved Magic Bullet Looks plug-in for After Effects!

Desert sunrise, Arctic tundra, nighttime urban streets: the look of your footage defines the mood. Now you can define the style of your video or film, regardless of on-set conditions, with powerful imaging tools. Choose from 100+ Look presets, to help set the mood for everything from a wedding to the next Sundance original. You also get the standalone Magic Bullet LooksBuilder, for pre-visualizing looks on set or anywhere. Portable presets load into any editing hosts, so the same Looks you create on set are the ones you finish with in the editorial suite: no need for an expensive finishing system.

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3 x .95 Billings 3



Billings 3 is a powerful invoicing app, and we’ve got three copies to give away.

Image is everything.
Your invoices should reflect your professionalism. Billings combines powerful features with stylish designs so you can send elegant invoices right out of the box. Choose from any of the customizable templates, or create your own with the built-in WYSIWYG designer. Either way you’ll send polished professional invoices in seconds.

Track time and expenses easily

Easily track time from any application using the convenient menubar timer. Or use global hot keys to start/stop timers. Any way you look at it, Billings makes it easy to track those valuable minutes.

One click invoicing

Sending your client an invoice is as easy as a click of a button. You can send an invoice for specific projects or send a consolidated invoice for any or all completed work.

… and lots more!

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3 x Pixelmator



Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images. Perfect for when Photoshop is too much horsepower for what you need to do. The makers of Pixelmator have provided us with three licenses to give away.

Precise selection tools
Someone who is editing images must be able to select the right shapes, portions or objects in images. With Pixelmator’s powerful, pixel-accurate collection of selection tools you can quickly and easily select any part of your images. That means you can edit and apply special effects to portions of your pictures, remove unwanted objects or even cut out objects from one picture to put on another. Thanks to the masks palette in Pixelmator, you can even save your selections for later. Now, that’s handy.

Full assortment of painting tools
Another bunch of tools in Pixelmator are painting tools. The real greatness of these tools is the ability to use different brush sizes, shapes, hardness, even blending modes when painting. You can paint with Pixelmator as you would traditionally, play with beautiful gradients or even fill colors with other ones. There has never been a more satisfying way to paint. What’s more, Pixelmator’s painting tools can be used not only for any style of painting, but also for improving your selections with masks or even retouching.

Retouching tools
It is a snap to perfect your aging or buggy photos with Pixelmator. With its advanced retouching tools you can easily blur hard edges or sharpen fuzzy areas of your image. Or paint with a sample of an image to remove wrinkles from faces or scratches in your photos. In fact, you can use any of the adjustment or painting tools to polish or to refine your images.

… and much more!

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5 x .95 Little Snapper



Real Mac Software have provided us with 5 copies of Little Snapper to give away. The app is perfect for people who regularly need to take, edit and organize screenshots. If you have trouble organizing your visual inspiration, Little Snapper can help.

Snap
Built for people who love to capture webpages or their desktop, LittleSnapper is full of great snapping tools. There’s full webpage capture that lets you save a page to your library straight from your browser of choice and the powerful built-in browser that lets you snap specific page elements using the DOM element capture.

Thanks to LittleSnapper’s all-new screen-capture engine you can capture your entire desktop – multiple displays included – and the powerful area and window-snapping tools make it super-simple to capture any area of the screen you require.

Edit

LittleSnapper’s beautiful vector-based annotation tools allow you to mark up your images with text, callouts, shapes, lines, arrows, blurs and highlighting. Best of all, the annotations are all non-destructive allowing you to hide and show them at a moment’s notice.

Marking up images for technical documents, blog posts and customers has never been easier with the useful callout tool that allows you to link text annotations to numbered badges on the page.

… and more!

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5 x .95 Courier



Real Mac Software have also provided us with 5 copies of Courier to give away. Courier allows you to share files, images, photos, movies, and more with all your favourite online services – including Flickr and Facebook. Create an Envelope; drag on the stamps for the services you want to send files to; then just drag and drop on the files you want to deliver! Whether you’re uploading files to one destination or three, Courier can handle it.

Courier has a stunningly simple interface that hides all the unnecessary complexities of uploading your files to the internet, and has been built from the ground-up for Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Anything Goes

Our seven built-in plugins mean you’ll be able to start sharing in under 30 seconds – and with Amazon S3, Ember, Flickr, Facebook, FTP / SFTP, Vimeo and YouTube support, we’ve got the most-requested services in the bag!

Simply drag on the stamps for each service you want to upload files to, and Courier will upload all the items you’ve dropped onto it – whether they’re a photo, movie, document or something else.

Destination Known

Have you ever wondered where your files physically end up in the world? While designing Courier we thought it’d be far more fun to show where your files are actually going – so each upload is plotted on a map with the route showing a progress bar that fills as the files are uploaded.

Once everything’s been uploaded, Courier ensures handy links to the published files are ready for use and we even keep the history of all uploads so you can easily retrieve links to each file.

… and more!

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1 x 5 SymmetryShop

Artlandia SymmetryShop is all you need to do professional pattern design in Photoshop. This plug-in lets you create patterns quickly and imaginatively, with the full power of an automatic pattern builder behind you. Create interlocking patterns, use natural blends, and let your design elements overlap as if in a hand-painted design. Pick up right where you finished when you need to make changes down the road. Here is what comes in your package:

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1 x 9 SymmetryWorks

Artlandia SymmetryWorks, the exciting, powerful, easy-to-use, and most affordable software for pattern design, is just a few clicks away. This Illustrator plug-in is best for working with vector objects, but it lets you use raster images in your patterns too. SymmetryWorks will save you hours on each pattern you make. And it will enable you to create designs that you simply cannot do by any other means. Here is what comes in your package:

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NEXT Solve the Next Question

One you have answered today’s question and have the first character in the URL string, make sure to visit Activetuts+ tomorrow for question #2.

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READ FIRST Entry Terms




Psdtuts+

http://www.trevanhetzel.com/

I’m Trevan Hetzel, a creative graphic and web designer from Glenwood, Iowa. I’m a full-time college student, a graphic designer at Joe Designer, Inc., and a freelance designer in my spare time. I have a sincere desire to create and I love what I do, so I take on every project with absolute commitment and enthusiasm. I love to exercise orignality; to me, every project is an outlet to my creativity and imagination. My passion for design pushes me to always try and learn something new. I’ve been designing for over five years now and with every project I create I gain more respect for the world of graphic and web design.