Spun » magazine

Eight Helpful Rules for Logo Designers

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:15:15 +0000

A logo is a simple representative graphic that allows people to remember with ease who you or your company is – That is its purpose. It should never be underestimated, it does create that memorable first impression, and even if this may not be fair, most people are pretty fickle… read more

Concert Photography – Lessons From the Pit

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:13:03 +0000

This is a guest post by concert photographer, Tez Mercer. Check out Tez’s blog for more awesome concert shots and tips on how he got them.

So, you want to shoot a concert? You get the OK to shoot your favorite band at your favorite venue. Now what?… read more

What Apple’s Guideline Changes Mean for Developers

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:49:14 +0000

Five months after declaring that iOS apps developed with a cross-compiler would not be accepted into the App Store, Apple has eased up on its policies and reversed course.

Beyond just being less stringent about what sorts of tools can be used to build apps, Apple has also published an App… read more

Dissecting the New Vogue.com: How One Magazine Did the Web Right

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:40:47 +0000

Vogue is one of the biggest, glossiest names in magazine publishing, and it’s just given its website a huge facelift.

The site has grown exponentially in glamor and functionality with its latest iteration. Colors and typefaces are dramatic, images are huge, social sharing features are discreetly accessible and interaction opportunities are… read more

70 Amazing Examples Of Surreal Digital Paintings

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:00:57 +0000

70 Amazing Examples Of Surreal Digital Paintings

Senior Portrait Design in Photoshop, Part 1

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:27:55 +0000

In this two-part tutorial, use Photoshop to create a multi-layered design including multiple pictures, fonts and layer styles.

50+ High-Quality Free Magento Themes

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:37:27 +0000

Magento! is the eCommerce software platform, which enables you to build online stores, Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Magento the most popular eCommerce software available. Best of all, Magento is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone…. read more

Upcoming Web Design and Development Conferences in 2010

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:05:48 +0000

At the end of last year, we published a comprehensive list of web design and development conferences that might be of interest to Smashing Magazine’s diverse readership. Many readers commented and added links to other conferences and events that weren’t listed, some of which were added to the post. Using… read more

Web Design Podcasts Which Will Improve Your Life

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:30:23 +0000

Last year we published a post on 7 Great Podcasts for Web Designers which went down well with our readers.

Since then, several of the podcasts have dropped off the radar including arguably the most famous one of all time: BoagWorld.

At the same time a whole load of new web design… read more

30 CSS and Javascript Tabs Solutions

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:42:13 +0000

Tabs have been around for a long time, they are nothing new, but with so many sites (blogs, ecommerce sites, web apps…) needing to show as much content and navigation as possible, they have never been so relevant.
They are the perfect web page tidying up solution for organizing cluttered… read more

3 iPad Apps that Reinvent News Reading

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:32:49 +0000

As news consumption shifts to the personalized social news stream, the platforms we use to consume the news are also changing.

With its media-friendly design, the iPad is the first mobile device to create an environment perfect for real-time news consumption that maintains the sophistication and style of traditional print magazines… read more

Tools and Resources for Grammar, Copywriting, Spelling and More

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:32:29 +0000

By Cameron Chapman

So much of the web is based around written content that it’s important for anyone who works online to have a good grasp of language, including grammar and spelling. But it’s not always easy to find reputable sources that can teach us these things if we didn’t learn… read more

Designing and Producing Creative Business Cards: Techniques and Details

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:34:17 +0000

Plenty of creative business card showcases are available out there. Many of these are beautifully done and well thought out, and they serve as inspiration for those who would like their business card to be more than the standard rectangular piece of paper. Yet little explanation accompanies these examples, and… read more

Wix $150 Premium Plan Competition Winners

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:48:19 +0000

Two weeks ago we published the competition, Win One of Three $150 Premium Unlimited Plans from Wix, it is now closed and it is time to announce the winners.

Thanks to everyone for the comments, they were all great. But we did have to pick three winners, which was not easy…. read more

100 Beautiful Examples Of Landscape Photography

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:00:43 +0000

100 Beautiful Examples Of Landscape Photography

Interview with Tony Chen of Looks Good Design Magazine

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:00:08 +0000

Interview with Tony Chen of Looks Good Design Magazine

DesignChat Guest: Armin Vit

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:57:48 +0000

Wednesday, September 8th at 9pm CST — This week’s conversation is supplemented by the thoughts and opinions of our guest, Armin Vit — one half of the dynamic-duo known to most as UnderConsideration (Armin Vit + wife and co-conspirator, Bryony Gomez-Palacio). We have him about a week before his talk… read more

10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:09:20 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

There are a lot of WordPress themes out there. Whether you’re looking for a souped up, paid premium template or a free alternative, it seems everyone and… read more

InDesign CS5: Layers Panel Rebuilt

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:32:29 +0000

Jeff Witchel explores some of the changes that InDesign CS5 has made to the layers panel, including the ability to affect individual objects inside layers.

Showcase of Interesting Navigation Designs

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:12:22 +0000

Everyone is always looking for interesting and effective ways to organize their website and allow users to move about and find things. But there’s a fine line between unexpected and unusable. Three points to consider in any navigation scheme are consistency, user expectations and contextual clues.

If page is long and… read more

30 Unusual Blogger Themes

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:00:22 +0000

One reason blogs become so popular so fast is the availability of a variety of themes, both free and paid. Themes have aid people in developing an identity and voice. All the blogging platforms out there have an extensive collection of themes, templates & skins to spice up your content…. read more

The Ultimate Photoshop Toolbox

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:34:29 +0000

By Robert Bowen

For years now, whenever designers have been asked about their go-to program for image editing and creation, one of the top answers that comes back, is Adobe Photoshop. Its generations of evolution has centered around the growth of any number of digital imaging professionals and has made this… read more

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.54)

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:47:11 +0000

This is our weekly column in which we share our favorites posts, articles and resources with our readers all from the previous week.

If you would like to be kept up to date with loads of fresh design news and resources, you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook or even… read more

Best of AppStorm in August

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:00:21 +0000

We’ve collected the top five reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in April. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, or Web apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month.

Now would be a good time to explore a part of… read more

Keynotopia Wireframing Set: Free Wireframing Templates for Apple Keynote

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:01:01 +0000

Lately, Apple Keynote has been gaining popularity among designers as a wireframing and prototyping tool. Features like multiple slide masters, styles, grouping, animation and hyperlinks make it ideal for crafting interactive prototypes and UI narratives. Today’s freebie, Keynotopia, is a free set of interface elements for Keynote that makes it… read more

The Best of the Business Blogs: August 2010

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:30:48 +0000

At the start of every month, we’ll be rounding up the best posts from the business network of blogs and directing you to them. Here’s the best of business in July, including articles from WorkAwesome, the Netsetter and FreelanceSwitch.

The Netsetter

An Effective Marketing Plan: Getting Started

A well-conceived and properly implemented marketing plan is… read more

The Ultimate Round-Up of iPad Wallpapers

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:51:11 +0000

By Aquil Akhter

Everybody is talking about the iPad. We see more creative applications designed for the iPad, and we see more magazines and publishers experimenting with the new medium. Also, we see more users interacting with the tablet, and integrating it in their daily routine. And because you may be… read more

Modern UI and Layout Tutorials for Photoshop

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:20:54 +0000

It would be very hard to find a situation where Photoshop does not have the perfect solution for any web (or print) design problem. With Photoshop you can pretty much design a web page just as you envisaged mentally, with virtually no creative restrictions and with a pixel-perfect result.

Web design… read more

Fight The System: Battling Bureaucracy

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:13:40 +0000

If you work as part of an in-house Web team, you have my sympathy. If that in-house team is within a large organization, then doubly so. Being part of an in-house Web team sucks. Trust me, I know. I worked at IBM for three years and now spend most of… read more

Graphic Design Inspiration by Mike Harrison

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:05:36 +0000

Mike Harrison is a 25 year old graphic designer and illustrator, currently residing in Southwest UK. For the past 7 years he has honed a variety of skills in the fields of graphic design, illustration, motion and photography. It turned into more than just a passionate hobby for him many… read more

The Keys to Minimising Noise in Your Photographs

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:53:41 +0000

One of the largest problems many folks have with digital photography is the amount of noise that ends up in the final image. Noise basically presents itself as graininess or speckles, usually most recognizable across larger areas of uniform colour such as sky. While sometimes it is… read more

Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration – N.57

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:22:30 +0000

This is our selection of our favorite web designs from the past week or so, some sites we discovered, but the most of them have been recommended by our readers.
Thanks for all your recommendations, and we hope you like this selection of sites as much as we do, feel… read more

Linkswitch #34: Finances, Style Guides, Press Releases

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:30:53 +0000

Blogging For Web Designers: Editorial Calendars and Style Guides

A few years ago, you might not have pointed out during a meeting with a potential client that you maintained a blog. Over time, though, blogs have evolved from the being a personal hobby to a serious work tool. In… read more

65 Beautiful Photographs From Our Everyday Life

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:00:27 +0000

65 Beautiful Photographs From Our Everyday Life

Wallpaper of the Week #116 by Mike Speero

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:04:01 +0000

The wallpaper of this week is an image created by Mike Speero, a graphic designer and digital artist from Gothenburg, Sweden. Mike has been featured in several galleries, exhibitions, books, interviews, magazines, blogs, websites, prints and the list goes on and on.

For more information about Mike Speero visit his Website… read more

This Week in the Digital Photography Forums (29 Aug-4 Sep ‘10)

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:33:27 +0000

Weekly Assignment

This week we photographed a subject that is near and dear to me, Books. A good book can create a story, transport you to somewhere new, help you relax, give you a laugh, or make you think. And we had all of those in our winners this week. Our… read more

Best of the Week #135

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:58:31 +0000

It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more

77 Beautiful Examples Of Conceptual Illustration

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:00:02 +0000

77 Beautiful Examples Of Conceptual Illustration

Daily Inspiration #605

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:48:02 +0000

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it,… read more

HOW TO: Score the Best Fashion Deals on the Social Web

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:09:20 +0000

Mollie Vandor is the Product Manager for Ranker.com and Media Director for Girls in Tech LA. You can find her on Twitter and on her blog, where she writes about the web, the world and what it’s like to be a geek chic chick.

Just because the economy is still depressed… read more

InDesign and Bridge Contact Sheet

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:46:13 +0000

Assemble a photograph contact sheet in InDesign.

40 Awesome Works of Art Made From Paper

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:29:45 +0000

By Tim Mercer

Paper is a humble medium. It’s often cheap and you probably have some within 20 feet of you right now. Most of us just use it for jotting down ideas, writing notes or doodling but some resourceful artists out there use it to create stunning works of art.

Often… read more

50 Fresh and Beautiful Ecommerce Websites II

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:56:39 +0000

Well-designed ecommerce and shopping cart websites are regularly referred to for web design inspiration by creative and experienced web developers. They are also being featured on various CSS website galleries, and in fact there are more than a few gallery sites that are solely dedicated showcasing beautiful and standards compliant… read more

Web Design Checkmate: Using Chess For Success in Web Design

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:49:39 +0000

The business of building websites is one of constant change, adaptation and strategy. The way designers and developers build websites is often informed by the methods of others and their own trial and error. In light of this, we can draw a number of parallels — some philosophical, to a… read more

8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:18:43 +0000

This post originally appeared on Dyn.com, a world leader in managed DNS, powering the best brands on the web including Gowalla, Mashable, Twitter, Wikia and more. Follow @DynInc on Twitter.

Taking a business from idea to reality involves a good deal of attrition, ingenuity, and compromise. But no matter how much… read more

Free Book Competition “WordPress 3 Site Blueprints”, Comment to Win

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:44:44 +0000

It has been a while since we last ran a good web design book giveaway, and if you are a WordPress developer or you are currently learning WP, you will certainly love this competition. What we have on offer is the chance for two of our readers to win one… read more

Artistic Expressions: Needlework

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:17:05 +0000

Some things can be so complex. Isn’t it great that Photoshop makes them easy? All you need to know is how things work and you can do whatever your imagination conjures up.

One of the billboards in my Times Square painting contains a model wearing an intricate, crocheted top. I’ve no… read more

10 of the Web’s Most Insightful News Infographics

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:40:37 +0000

A picture is worth a thousand words. But if you include an entire database, make it interactive, and add filtering options, the word-to-picture exchange rate is even better.

Infographics at their best are more than just pictures — they can provide new understandings, succinct summaries, or just plain old fun.

In that… read more

45 Fantastic and Splendid Digital Painting Tutorials

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:21:22 +0000

We all have our spirit of imagination from our childhood — we give a shape to our thoughts by drawing image on school yard, on a piece of paper or on a digital tablet. Photoshop, Wacom and Illustrator are beautiful tools that help us transform our imagination into beautiful drawings…. read more

30 Fantastic and Splendid Digital Painting Tutorials

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:21:22 +0000

Showcase Of Appetizing Restaurant Websites

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:54:23 +0000

They say the first bite is taken with the eye. If so, these appetizing restaurant websites succeed in whetting our appetites, inviting us to a savoury next bite. In these designs, color scheme and introductory copy show vastly different aspects of the restaurant experience. Moody warm tones create atmosphere, vibrant… read more

20 Useful Free PDF ebooks for Designers and Bloggers

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:50:44 +0000

Over the years I have a saved a decent sized library of useful design and blogging related PDF ebooks, I love them. I have voraciously collected them, and all stored on my mobile for whenever the chance of quick read arises. In this post I would like to share my… read more

iCandies Icon Set: 60 Free Icons For Your User Interfaces and Apps

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:08:48 +0000

Today we are glad to release iCandies Icon Set, a set with 60 high quality icons in 64×64px, 48×48px and 32×32px, available in .EPS, .AI and .PNG. The set is designed by the talented folks from IconEden on a sole purpose of giving your projects a sleek and geeky style… read more

Daily Inspiration #603

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:46:03 +0000

HOW TO: Follow the US Open with Social Media

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:37:19 +0000

It’s US Open time in New York, which means tennis fever has officially hit the city that never sleeps. As the final major tournament in professional tennis, the US Open always draws a healthy audience, nationally and abroad.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for the US Open tennis tournament since Wimbledon ended… read more

Everything You Wanted in Illustrator CS5 Artboards

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:42:29 +0000

Explore the new artboard panel in Illustrator CS5 and learn about some of the new features.

Creative Bookmarks: Best of August 2010

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:45:50 +0000

August was another awesome month with great tutorials and articles oozing from everywhere. Here’s Creative Bookmarks August!

Quick Nav:

Photoshop TutorialsIllustrator TutorialsWeb/Blogging TutorialsFreebies, Inspiration, & ResourcesPhotoshop TutorialsHow To Create The Expendables Winged Skull Poster Art

In this tutorial, by Chris Spooner, you’ll learn how to re-create the sinister and gun-crazy poster for the… read more

Beautiful Beach and Palms Wallpapers for Your Desktop

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:18:08 +0000

We love to spice up your desktop with nice wallpapers, and sometimes with nature photography. It all depends on your mood. In this post, we’ll be showcasing Beautiful Beach Wallpapers. You’ll get to see the detail, skill, and dedication that go into creating these incredible wallpapers, and how they… read more

The Case For Open-Source Design: Can Design By Committee Work?

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:08:43 +0000

In celebrating the merits of free software and the excitement over this radical networked production method, an important truth is left unspoken. Networked collaboration shines in the low levels of network protocols, server software and memory allocation, but user interface has consistently been a point of failure. How come the… read more

Illustrator Template Toolbox for Web, Mobile and App Developers

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:46:07 +0000

For today’s post we have an extensive selection of UI templates, all in Illustrator format, and all perfect if you are a web, mobile or app designer who prefers to use Adobe Illustrator rather than the more commonly used Photoshop.

It was mildly surprising how difficult this post was to put… read more

Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:56:54 +0000

ADD CREATIVE EFFECTS TO YOUR IMAGES BY SOFTENING THE FOCUS

The creative folks at Lensbaby have been busy coming up with more lenses for their innovative Optic Swap System. According to Lensbaby, the Soft Focus Optic “…creates a velvety soft image perfect for portraits, flowers, landscapes, or any subject that… read more

40 Tutorials and Techniques for Creating Business Logos

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:09 +0000

A logo alludes to its company’s identity in its appearance and visual impact; that’s how it starts branding. Seeing how important it is, we designers must not underestimate the potential of this simple graphic, and instead hone our skills as much as possible in creating and polishing logos,… read more

Social Network Unites Writers and Fans of Short Fiction [INVITES]

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:59:15 +0000

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Fictionaut

Quick Pitch: A social network for writers that doubles… read more

HOW TO: Incorporate Your Startup at the Right Time

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:34:59 +0000

Nellie Akalp is the CEO & Co-Founder of CorpNet, her second incorporation filing service company based on the simple philosophy of truth in business and her strong passion to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs. Follow her on Twitter @corpnet and Facebook.

Now that we’re nearing the home stretch of… read more

Print Tutorial: Creating A Magazine Cover

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:58:57 +0000

By Cameron Chapman

Graphic design in a print environment can be a nice change for someone who normally does web design. It’s a slightly different skillset, but still incorporates a lot of the same concepts. Print projects can be an exciting new challenge, something that lets a designer stretch their creativity… read more

Best of the Vector Web – August 2010

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:01 +0000

As you know, each month, we search the web for the best vector-related content and showcase it here for you all to enjoy. This month, we found some really great tutorials on vector character design, creating charts in Illustrator, and vector skulls among others. We’ve also expanded this month’s offering…. read more

The Robust Collection Of (50) Mindblowing Icon Sets For Your Next Design

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:17:36 +0000

Icons can be useful to furnish users with unforgettable images and examples if used properly, and this is the reason why Icon sets always come in handy. You will find the huge collection of recently released icon sets which are believed to assist you in bettering your designs on websites… read more

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: September 2010

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:04:18 +0000

Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months. And to make them… read more

350+ Beautiful Drawing Brushes For Photoshop

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:56 +0000

350+ Beautiful Drawing Brushes For Photoshop

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.53)

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:26:55 +0000

This is our weekly column in which we share our favorites posts, articles and resources with our readers all from the previous week.

If you would like to be kept up to date with loads of fresh design news and resources, you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook or even… read more

Digg v4: Refreshing Social News Discovery

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:02:29 +0000

How many times has your blog or website been brought down by traffic from Facebook or Twitter? Even with their combined audience of few hundred millions, no other site other than Digg has the power to bring a blog massive surge in traffic and the much deserved attention. While links… read more

How CEOs Will Use Social Media in the Future

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:36:54 +0000

This series is supported by Gist. Gist provides a full view of the contacts in your professional network by creating a rich business profile for each one that includes the most news, status updates, and work details. See how it works here.

Today’s CEO is not social. So says Forrester… read more

Interactive PDFs

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:08:26 +0000

InDesign CS5 now offers a choice of exporting for print and a brand-new interactive PDF format to fulfill your interactive needs. The interactive PDF format supports a robust export function that takes advantage of the ability in InDesign CS5 to create multiple page sizes and includes a range of interactive… read more

An Interview With Professional Nature Photographer Jon Cornforth

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:24:52 +0000

I was blown away the first time I saw Jon Cornforth’s images. Even more so because many of the images were taken in my native Washington State. While we have many talented photographers in our fine state, I was also impressed with how personable Jon was on Twitter and… read more

Writing and Web Design: Editorial Calendars and Style Guides

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:38:04 +0000

Promoting Yourself To… GASP!… Live People!

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:11:46 +0000

By Speider Schneider

A friend of mine started an organization named “Creative Connect,” a twice a month get-together for anyone in the creative field. He said it was to, “get people away from their computers and to get them talking at least twice a month.” Mostly designers, programmers, illustrators and photographers… read more

The Perfect Office #52

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:39:15 +0000

We’ve seen some great gadgets and equipment for designers. So many cool stuff, that we could actually assemble infinite perfect office spaces! Every week we’ll assemble a perfect office, and we’d like you to help us. What equipment would the perfect office have?

Not only gadgets and equipment, but also furniture,… read more

50 Refreshing CSS Tutorials, Techniques and Resources

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:58:21 +0000

In this CSS (2 & 3) round-up article we have focused on highlighting as many varied techniques covering as many aspects of web, mobile and application development as possible. And believe me, it wasn’t easy!
Due to CSS3s current popularity, the volume of new tutorials and fresh ideas has jumped… read more

7 Services That Will Suggest Things You Like

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:15:26 +0000

“Unlimited choice” can “produce genuine suffering,” argues Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice. His research basically sums up what your mother has been telling you for years: You don’t even know what you want.

Thankfully, the Internet does know what you want — or at least its algorithmic recommendation services… read more

Academica: Free WordPress 3.0+ Theme For Educational Websites

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:04:01 +0000

In this post we release a yet another freebie: Academica WordPress Theme, a free WordPress theme designed specifically for educational websites such as universities, schools etc. It’s a flexible and versatile free theme that can be easily customized and branded for any university, academy or non-profit organization. The theme is… read more

44 Spectacular Examples Of Conceptual Photography

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:00:34 +0000

44 Spectacular Examples Of Conceptual Photography

Best of the Week #134

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:18:06 +0000

This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (22-28 Aug ‘10)

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:48:53 +0000

Weekly Assignment

This week we got up close with some creepy crawlies in our Bugs or Insects assignment. I have to admit, sometimes it wasn’t too nice looking through the assignment, but there were some amazing details captured. And who realized that bugs were so colorful? Our winners this week were… read more

Profile: Getting into Character with Cartoonist George Coghill

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:00:49 +0000

From bad jokes to sultry devil girls, Cartoon Character Designer George Coghill knows how to inject some fun into life. He set aside some time to talk with us about everything from the importance of knowing how to run a business to what it’s like to see his characters come… read more

Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration – N.56

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:02:28 +0000

40 First-Class Premium Magazine Style WordPress Themes

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:00:44 +0000

40 First-Class Premium Magazine Style WordPress Themes

800+ Beautiful Grunge Brushes For Photoshop

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:00:44 +0000

800+ Beautiful Grunge Brushes For Photoshop

Advanced Layer Blending

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:44:32 +0000

Learn to use the Blend If sliders in the layer options and avoid having to create complex selections or masks.

Interview with Tim and Bram Vanhaeren from Into1

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:11:27 +0000

Tim and Bram Vanhaeren, belgium based artists, run a creative studio focused on graphic design. Read how the brothers get along working together

1. First of all we would like to thank you both for taking the time to provide abduzeedo.com with this interview. Please tell us more about your art… read more

40+ Elegent Free CSS/(X)HTML Templates from 2010

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:59:56 +0000

Today we present some useful free CSS/(X)HTML templates which are available for free download and use. You may want to consider using them for your next projects or build upon them, creating more advanced themes from these basic templates.

Free CSS/(X)HTML Templates

Blue Jeans (Demo | Download)
Stand out from… read more

100+ Free High Quality Icon Sets for Web Designers and Developers

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:45:27 +0000

Icons are the basic requirement of any web related projects and good icons are like a treasure for web designers.

The demand for good icons are too much in these days and finding the best icon sets from the pool with tens of thousands of packs is not a easy job… read more

Free Wireframing Kits, UI Design Kits, PDFs and Resources

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:07:54 +0000

To mock-up the user interface of a website, software or any other product, you’ll need some basic UI elements. And this is where wireframing kits and UI design kits come in handy. When you want to create a low-fidelity prototype for your projects, you can use these kits to give… read more

How To Trace a Sketch with a Vintage Comic Style

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:00:41 +0000

You can find the vintage comic style in newspapers, magazines, and in animation. In this tutorial you will learn several techniques for tracing a sketch, including how to make custom brushes, how to combine shapes and brushes and how to combine multiple brushes. You will also learn how to simulate… read more

Photography Inspiration: 50 Amazing Aerial Photographs

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:32 +0000

Photography Inspiration: 50 Amazing Aerial Photographs

The Best Free to use Posterous Themes

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:21:19 +0000

Don't mistake Posterous as another micro-blogging service, it is much, much bigger than that. There are no limits to what you can do with it and there are seemingly no limits to what you can post to it – photos (auto resizing), audio files and links, documents and video (auto… read more

In Defense Of A/B Testing

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:34:30 +0000

Recently, A/B testing has come under (unjust) criticism from different circles on the Internet. Even though this criticism contains some relevant points, the basic argument against A/B testing is flawed. It seems to confuse the A/B testing methodology with a specific implementation of it (e.g. testing red vs. green buttons… read more

HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your Business Facebook Page

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:32:01 +0000

Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an Internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.

So you paid attention to what everyone is saying and you created a Facebook Page for your business. You’ve got your press… read more

Eos Converge

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:31:50 +0000

WIRELESS MUSIC SYSTEM OFFERS VERSATILITY AND QUALITY

The Eos Converge audio system lets you play your music in any room from any source—without wires. The Eos Converge Transmitter ($99.95) comes with a USB cable, 3.5mm stereo mini audio cable, and a power adapter. When using the USB cable with a… read more

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:35:11 +0000

HIGH ISO DIGITAL SLR

Veteran Canon EOS-1D and 1Ds shooters will feel right at home with the new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera, built on a dust- and weather-resistant magnesium alloy body. Upgraded features include increased sensor resolution and ISO, reduced noise, an increased frame rate, a new medium-sized RAW… read more

Typography as Art

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:07:20 +0000

Typography is one of the cornerstones of good graphic design. Selecting and manipulating typefaces is an art unto itself. Therefore it’s no surprise that classic typography regularly makes its way into famous paintings and sculptures.

Below are some inspirational images of typography used in the fine arts to help give you… read more

45 Free Applications For Designers And Developers

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:04:42 +0000

By Callum Chapman

Whether you’re just starting out in the graphic or web design industry, or you’ve been in it for years, the chances are there will occasionally be a time where you want to get a feel for a particular type of application (maybe something similar to Cinema 4D or… read more

jQuery Plugin Checklist: Should You Use That jQuery Plug-In?

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:42:54 +0000

jQuery plug-ins provide an excellent way to save time and streamline development, allowing programmers to avoid having to build every component from scratch. But plug-ins are also a wild card that introduce an element of uncertainty into any code base. A good plug-in saves countless development hours; a bad plug-in… read more

Wix Competition: Win One of Three $150 Premium Unlimited Plans

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:04:45 +0000

Today we have great pleasure in offering our readers the chance to win one of three Premium Unlimited Plans, worth $150 each, from our friends Wix.
We do have a lot of love for Wix, they were our first long term sponsor and do hope that our readers will show… read more

Nik Announces HDR Efex Pro

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:16:34 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was out in San Diego hanging out with the folks over at Nik Software, playing around and giving feedback on their newest piece of software HDR Efex Pro. Today, they formally announce it! Want to see some cool pictures done with it?… read more

100 Free High Quality Wooden Texture Packs

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:14 +0000

100 Free High Quality Wooden Texture Packs

Art of Type: Out of Scale

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:24:17 +0000

There was a time when few designers dared to venture into the murky world of the Adobe InDesign justification controls. The good news is that more and more users are starting to take charge of them. The bad news is one of them—the powerful glyph scaling control, unique to InDesign—is… read more

50 Stunning Examples of Photo Manipulation Art

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:02:51 +0000

By Obaid ur Rehman

Now almost everyone knows that Photo Manipulation is art with which you can create digital miracles. Yes, you got me right! If you know how to manipulate your pictures, you can do whatever you want. Photo manipulation is one of the most creative art forms today, but… read more

Corporate Website Design: Creative and Beautiful Solutions

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:51:16 +0000

What do corporate websites have in common with other people’s children? Three things: they have their charm, like finger-paintings on the refrigerator; they can be useful, if infrequently; they are usually admired only by the people who created them.

While designers know that a user’s experience on a website has a… read more

20 Web Dev Events, 20 Beautifully Crafted Web Designs

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:58:11 +0000

The initial idea for this article was to highlight all web design related events and conferences up until the end of 2010. As the article evolved, the primary focus and direction changed – no longer were we only highlighting some important and essential conferences, we soon realized we were privy… read more

Polaroid: A Free Magento Theme For Your eCommerce Website

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:18:42 +0000

Today we are glad to release a yet another freebie: Polaroid Magento Theme, a professional design skin for the shops powered by the popular open-source ecommerce web application Magento. The theme was designed by eCommerce-Themes and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. As usual, the theme is absolutely free… read more

Six New Features in Dreamweaver CS5

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:34:55 +0000

Every upgrade brings something new, but Dreamweaver CS5 brings more goodies than most previous upgrades, and you can put these new features to use right away. Here’s how to use some of the coolest new features, from troubleshooting CSS with the new inspect option, to adding advanced Ajax and jQuery… read more

Top 5 Ways Big Brands are Using Foursquare

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:46:49 +0000

This series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. Click here to learn more.

Unlike other more mainstream social networks, the business potential of Foursquare may not be immediately apparent. At present,… read more

Beautiful Woodwork Art

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:15:49 +0000

By János Rácz

In the age of the Web, with personal computers and tablets, we tend to forget that art has been around for a really, really long time and that this digital field is just one of the many media in which art and design have a form. Fortunately, there… read more

Improve Your E-Commerce Design With Brilliant Product Photos

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:12:04 +0000

Product photography could well be the single most important design aspect of any e-commerce website. Without the ability to touch, hold, smell, taste or otherwise handle the products they are interested in, potential customers have only images to interact with. Ultimately, the softer, tastier, flashier and more attractive your products… read more

Creating a Mobile Version of Your Site

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:32:24 +0000

Despite the obvious explosion of the mobile market some website owners feel like very few, if any users will decide to browse their site using a mobile device. Well it is time to wake up and realize that there never has been a better time to ensure your site is… read more

Amazing Digital Work by Craig Shields

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:00:39 +0000

Digital artists are doing an great job lately. We’ve seen some beutiful pieces of digital work during this last month, and I’ve just found the amazing digital work of Craig Shields.

He’s an designer from the United Kingdom and has got some great pieces at his portfolio. I’ve chosen some of… read more

20 Cool Twitter Accounts for Daily Fun and Inspiration [PICS]

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:23:20 +0000

Twitter is an ever-expanding source of fascinating information. More than just news and updates, there is also another, more fun side of Twitter that is sometimes overlooked.

You can use the real-time micro-blogging service to get a daily dose of education, entertainment, or something in between. Whether you want to expand… read more

70 Beautiful Examples Of Black And White Photography

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:00:34 +0000

70 Beautiful Examples Of Black And White Photography

Inspiration: Interesting & Unique Typographic Book Covers

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:46:22 +0000

Books offer graphic designers, illustrators and typographers a great way to expand their portfolios. There are endless possibilities that can be explored when designing for book covers, and often are explored, as can be seen in this post.

I’ve had an increased interest in book covers recently after putting together another… read more

Why You Can’t Block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:17:49 +0000

This weekend the web discovered that Mark Zuckerberg is unblockable on Facebook, and while many assumed that was an Easter egg created by Facebook developers, it turns out that’s not the case. Rather, Zuckerberg is unblockable because of an automated system that kicks in when too many people try to… read more

Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:14:48 +0000

MOVE OVER MOUSE, THERE’S SOMETHING HANDIER

When the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch arrived for review, I tore into the beautifully designed packaging, eager to give it a test drive on my laptop. I quickly found that this sleek little tablet shines in its intended use—as a consumer-priced tablet for travel… read more

Cubicle Spy: At Work with Steve Rubel of Edelman [PICS]

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:19:29 +0000

As part of the ongoing “Cubicle Spy” series here at Mashable, we’re taking a look inside the coolest, quirkiest, and most gadget-laden offices of people who work with social media.

For our second peek into the cube, we scoped out the office of Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President and Director of… read more

DesignChat Guest – Erin Loechner

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:40:13 +0000

This week, Erin Loechner welcomes US to the conversation as she has been writing about design on blogs for longer than most. Erin is a freelance design writer/blogger whose work has been featured in Glamour, Dwell, Lucky and Nylon magazines. She muses daily on her award-winning website Design For Mankind,… read more

100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Conferences and Events

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:10:43 +0000

Every week, Mashable puts together a calendar of upcoming social media and web events, parties and conferences. Would you like to have your conference or event listed here? If so, please contact us at least one month before your event to establish a media partnership. For more upcoming listings, check… read more

4 Things to Consider When Creating a Business Logo

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:59:04 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

With all the noise on the web today, good branding is more important than ever. Even if your business is not a cutting edge tech startup, the… read more

How Limitations Improve Design

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:30:59 +0000

We often complain about the multitude of limitations which we’re faced with every day as designers.

From browsers, to screen resolutions, to user interactions, we seem to constantly be struggling to find some way of thinking outside the tiny little box of “best practice” which we’re constrained by.

Limitations are abundant but… read more

40 New And Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:27:24 +0000

The Internet is bursting with knowledge. Whatever you want is available at your fingertips, and learning new techniques is so easy with the load of useful tutorials that guide you step by step. Adobe Illustrator is powerful indeed, but when used right, it can perform feats that humans will marvel… read more

A Design Is Only As Deep As It Is Usable

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:55:33 +0000

There are well-known proverbs that imply (or state outright) that beauty is superficial and limited in what it can accomplish. “It’s what’s inside that counts” and “Beauty is only skin deep” are a few simple examples. Because the Web design industry is now flooded with a lot of raw talent,… read more

50 Awesome New jQuery Plugins

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:55:33 +0000

The jQuery community never ever fails to let you down. Its constantly evolving, constantly improving and, thankfully, constantly releasing a tidal wave of fresh and powerful freely available plugins for every possible requirement.

Today we round-up the best and most powerful jQuery plugins from the last few months. You will find… read more

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.52)

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:09:17 +0000

This is our weekly column in which we share our favorites posts, articles and resources with our readers all from the previous week.

If you would like to be kept up to date with loads of fresh design news and resources, you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook or even… read more

70 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt Shift Photography

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:00:58 +0000

70 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt Shift Photography

Daily Inspiration #594

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:58:11 +0000

Wallpaper of the Week #113 by Perttu Murto

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:01:38 +0000

The wallpaper of this week is really cool design by Perttu Murto, a 24-year-old graphic designer, art director and illustrator from Finland. Pettu has been involved in graphics for almost 8 years and was also selected as the Young Advertisement Designer of the Year for 2007 in Northern Finland. His… read more

Best of the Week #133

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:55:38 +0000

Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration – N.55

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:42:00 +0000

Interview with Ricardo Gimenes

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:00:03 +0000

You may already know about the blog, Behind the Websites. In today’s interview we’re going to meet Ricardo Gimenes, illustrator and founder of the site. Ricardo is a São Paulo based Brazilian designer and illustrator who has worked with variety of clients around the world. He says he has… read more

Modernist: Free WordPress Theme with Focus on Typography

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:19:30 +0000

Today we are glad to release a yet another freebie: a beautiful Modernist WordPress theme, designed by Rodrigo Galindez and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The theme is based on the design ideas of Jan Tschichold, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Dieter Rams, and other modernists. Beautifully built yet transparent, it… read more

Layer Basics with Photoshop Extended Video

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:57:04 +0000

Dave Cross reminds Photoshop Extended users that they can still use some of the basic layer functions to make adjustments to their video projects.

Balancing Inspiration and Individuality

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:46:27 +0000

I love it when a good story is broken down so that even the simplest of minds can understand. I’m not the smartest, fastest or most creative person in the world, so I don’t like using a lot of big words or fancy jargon to try and impress you —… read more

The Classic Portrait: How to Build and Use Your Own Portable Portrait Studio

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:46:10 +0000

Ed Verosky is a professional photographer and author based in New York. In this article, Verosky explains how to create classic portraits with minimal lighting equipment. To learn more about achieving great lighting in any situation, check out Verosky’s popular eBook, “100% Reliable Flash Photography.“

In photography, there are… read more

Morning Brief: Nokia Acquires Analytics Co, Apple Shutters Quattro, Dell & HP Post Earnings

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:45:55 +0000

This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in… read more

40 Beautiful Examples of Bird Photography

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:00:13 +0000

Bird photography is one of the most challenging types of nature photography. Since the subject is usually small, may not stay still, moves rapidly from branch to branch, sits in less than favorable lighting conditions and is extremely aware of an approaching photographer. So bird photography… read more

Google Docs Templates for Web Designers and Developers

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:42:38 +0000

“>

If I am honest, I don’t really know how popular Google Docs is within the freelance community, but I have found that I have been using it a lot more recently. To the extent that I seem to have more documents stored online that I do on my hard drive… read more

Five Great Photography Magazines You Should be Reading

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:02:36 +0000

The Internet is an amazing thing, and we take pride in providing you with content to help you with your passion for photography. There is however, something to be said about printed material, just like it’s a different experience in holding a photographic print compared to looking… read more

People Magazine Launches iPad App

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:25:47 +0000

People magazine launched its iPad app early this morning despite reports it would be delayed due to issues over photo licensing agreements.

Photographers were reportedly upset with People’s assertion that the magazine shouldn’t have to pay extra fees when it uses agency photos already featured in the print issue on the… read more

Facebook Places: What’s Foursquare’s Next Move? [INTERVIEW]

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:17:56 +0000

With the launch of Facebook Places, many are questioning the survival of the location services who pioneered the place checkin. As the head of the startup class, Foursquare is taking a majority of the punches.

Headlines like “Facebook Places Will Crush Foursquare” from PC Magazine have not been uncommon sightings. Even… read more

Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends To Watch

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:16:24 +0000

The mobile trends series is supported by Samsung. Read more about the Samsung Galaxy here.

Mobile advertising is increasingly important, as cell phone adoption rates, especially smartphone adoption rates, soar. With a range of mobile advertising options, including SMS, WAP, mobile app display ads, search ads, rich media, video and push… read more

Design Makeover: S Virginia Higher Ed Center

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:14:52 +0000

A Smarter Logo

Client:
Southern Virginia Higher Education Center www.svhed.org

BEFORE

The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center’s logo is based on an abstract representation of the building itself, which stands on a hill overlooking a river.

The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center calls itself an “educational connector,” in the words of Communications Manager… read more

30 Creative and Inspiring Golf Logos

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:30:48 +0000

Sport logos are fantastic to work with – some of the world’s greatest brands are sport-related (think Nike, Adidas, ESPN and Everlast). Golf is a popular sport with wealthy and successful people – as such, golf businesses (such as golf clubs, golf courses and golf websites) can be extremely… read more

The Perfect Brainstorm: A How To

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:22:01 +0000

By Robert Bowen

Given our fields of interest and chosen professions, most of us have at least once in our lives had to brainstorm for one reason or another. But for those of us who apply this mental tool in our creative pursuits much more regularly, learning to do so effectively… read more

100 Free High Quality WordPress Themes: 2010 Edition

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:14:30 +0000

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since our last WordPress theme collection, but there you have it — the time has come again. Once a year we feature the most useful and interesting WordPress-themes that we are collecting over months and present them in a nice quick… read more

6 Tips for Budding Live Concert Photographers

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:02:26 +0000

A Guest Post by Viennese Concert Photographer Matthias Hombauer

Being a concert photographer can be very exciting. Imagine yourself standing 6 feet away in front of your beloved idol and taking portraits of them. Not only do you have the ability to shoot one image but can take hundreds of pictures… read more

10 MooTools Image and Content Sliders

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:11:31 +0000

With CSS3 stealing all of the design headlines recently, and with jQuery as popular as it is, it is very easy to forget about any other image and content slider/gallery options you may have. And as such, in this post, we take a look at the best of what MooTools… read more

People Magazine iPad App Launch Stalled by Photographer Disputes

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:10:55 +0000

Publishers are clamoring to get their magazine titles onto Apple’s iPad, but many may be facing a new challenge: photographers.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Time Inc. has been forced to delay the release of its People magazine iPad app, in part because of disputes with photo agencies over licensing agreements… read more

Trapcode Particular 2

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:48:58 +0000

GREAT PARTICLE SYSTEM PLUG-IN GETS EVEN BETTER

Regarding Red Giant Software’s Trapcode Particular 2.0, I could basically end the review with an emphasis on the “2” (meaning 2 is better than 1) but I’d really get in trouble with the layout team. Seriously though, if you use Adobe After Effects, you… read more

Animated Taiwanese News Story Shows Google’s Plight [VIDEO]

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:04:08 +0000

Those geniuses over at Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Next Media Animation have done it again, creating an animated video depicting Google’s current woes in the privacy and net neutrality departments.

We all know that Google’s been having some issues of late when it comes to customer feedback — that whole deal… read more

Tweeting While Driving Cited in Celebrity Surgeon Death

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:12:12 +0000

New reports indicate that Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to Heidi Montag and other celebrities, was tweeting just before his fatal car accident on Monday.

Ex-girlfriend Charmaine Blake told People Magazine that the plastic surgeon “lived up in Malibu on a tiny street and he was texting while driving and he… read more

50 Remarkable Free Icon Sets Released In 2010

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:41:50 +0000

Today we present a refreshing collection of free icon sets. In the past, we posted a huge collection of icon sets and due to the increasing users’ demand, we decided to showcase a yet another collection. Everyone knows that a suitable icon can help users with nice metaphors (if used… read more

The Web Design Community Offers Advice To Beginners

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:27:44 +0000

At one time or another, we are all newbies. That’s right: you can deny it all you want, but not one of us got into this game with a full deck stacked in our favor. We entered as newbies, born fresh after the start screen loaded. However, unlike in a… read more

Self-Motivating Through Creative Blocks

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:30:14 +0000

As designers, we need to be creative in order to be successful at our jobs.

Coming up with ideas and creative solutions to problems is what we do on a daily basis. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to do so.

Sometimes we get blocked creatively, and it seems like no… read more

33 Stunning Sci-Fi Photo Manipulations

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:00:53 +0000

33 Stunning Sci-Fi Photo Manipulations

22 Awesome 404 Error Pages

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 06:00:26 +0000

22 Awesome 404 Error Pages

Useful and Free Pictogram Dingbat Fonts

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:16:37 +0000

Pictograms are essentially a graphical idea, sign or simple instruction that has been stripped down to its bare and basic details, yet is still recognizable as the original idea. There versatility and simplicity offers an universally easy to understand language that can be seen in anything from road signs and… read more

Color Stream: a Free iPhone App For Web Designers

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:35:08 +0000

Today we are glad to release Color Stream, a free iPhone App, created by Sahil Lavingia (@slavingia on Twitter) and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Color stream lets you create and store color palettes that are either created from scratch or generated from a photo, or even generated… read more

Python blur by booq

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:23:02 +0000

TOUGH PHOTO BACKPACK HOLDS EVEYTHING FROM YOUR LAPTOP TO THE KITCHEN SINK

The Python blur by booq is a photo backpack designed to carry all of your digital camera gear plus up to a 17″ laptop with accessories. Booq is known for the quality construction of its bags, and the Python… read more

Recession Survival Tips For Online Businesses

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:31:15 +0000

In a recession, companies go one of two ways: either they become the cautious cat, adopting a wait-and-see attitude, spending carefully on their marketing and less overall, cutting back, or they become the ferocious lion, bold, taking advantage of their competitors’ caution to seize opportunities in the tough market.

Whatever your… read more

Some Reasons You Might Not Want To Become A Web Designer

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:07:36 +0000

By Cameron Chapman

Web design is often an appealing career choice for artistic and creative people. It’s seen as a potentially lucrative opportunity to be creative on a daily basis. But there are drawbacks that many people don’t realize going into the field.

While most of these wouldn’t deter people who really… read more

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.50)

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:52:04 +0000

This is our weekly column in which we share our favorites posts, articles and resources with our readers all from the previous week.

If you would like to be kept up to date with loads of fresh design news and resources, you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook or even… read more

Web Standardistas Book Giveaway

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:05:01 +0000

HTML & CSS Web Standards Solutions – A Web Standardistas’ Approach is quite possibly one of the most authoritative books that you can learn XHTML & CSS through. This book makes learning easy opposed to monotonous reading and technical jargon. Even if you are an absolute beginner in web design, this book… read more

How People Are Signing In Across the Web [STATS]

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:06:20 +0000

OpenID company Janrain has just released its latest usage study detailing what social networks and services people use to sign in and share activities across the web.

As in its last report back in April, Google and Facebook continue to dominate websites that offer third-party login options. Across the 250,000 sites… read more

Kid Receives 26,000 Texts After Justin Bieber Tweets Phone Number

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:55:15 +0000

On Saturday, Justin Bieber broke a sacred rule: He tweeted “everyone call me [number] or text” to his 4.5 million followers. The number wasn’t his, though, and the boy it did belong to was inundated with thousands of calls from Bieber’s fans.

Bieber deleted his tweet shortly after publishing it,… read more

Design a Price Tag in Photoshop

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:52:42 +0000

Design a price tag that can be used in print and web advertisements.

Hand Painting Art by Guido Daniele

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:28:04 +0000

Guido Daniele was born in Soverato (Italy) and now lives and works in Milan. He graduated from Brera School of Arts (major in sculpturing) and he has been painting and participating in personal and group art exhibitions since 1968. In 1990 he… read more

DesignChat Guest – SamataMason

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:26:24 +0000

This week on DesignChat we’re speaking to 2 of the partners from SamataMason, a heavily decorated design firm in West Dundee Illinois. If that name sounds familiar, its because I say it every week on the show. SamataMason is where I broadcast from, and they have been great supporters of… read more

The World Of Signage Photo Contest: Join In and Win a Digital SLR Camera!

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:43:22 +0000

This one’s easy: take a shot, send us the image and win a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS digital SLR camera. Typography and icons are everywhere: they surround us, guide us, help us find the right path every day. As Web designers and graphic artists, we can learn from observing… read more

25 Awesome Examples Of Abstract Drawings

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:00:43 +0000

25 Awesome Examples Of Abstract Drawings

40 Highly Effective FaceBook Business Pages

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:34:10 +0000

Facebook is huge. With the average user connecting to 80 community pages, groups and events and with over 900 million (!) objects that users love to interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages), Facebook pages are massive and with a well thought layout they will prove to be a… read more

Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration – N.54

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:43:47 +0000

15 Great Geeky Web Comic Strips [PICS]

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:10:21 +0000

There are hundreds of great web comics out there, which means if you’re new to the format, diving in can be difficult. We’re narrowed the many options down to 15 sure-fire funnies that will give you a regular smile.

In the tradition of the social media web comics we recently brought… read more

25 Useful Videos and Presentations for Designers

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:40:35 +0000

With the huge number of design-related conferences and events around the world, the Web gives those of us who cannot attend them a great opportunity to listen and benefit from their great and talented speakers. To aid in this, here we present some of the best videos, interviews and presentations… read more

Best of the Week #132

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:52:15 +0000

Linkswitch #31: New Business Ideas, Facebook Ads, Design Tips

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:30:11 +0000

Can You Make Ends Meet on a Single Income?

My wife and I made a conscious decision roughly 20 years ago to live on a single income. At the time, we just had our first child and we didn’t feel right leaving her at day care all day long. Also,… read more

Mashable Hosts #SummerMash in Chicago [PHOTOS]

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:53:03 +0000

The 2010 Mashable U.S. Summer Tour came to a triumphant close Wednesday at the Crystal Ballroom of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency hotel. Hundreds of guests from all over the Midwest joined us in the Windy City to cut loose, have a few drinks and put the “Chic” in Chicago. Mashable’s NYC… read more

Four Indesign CS5 Tips

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:07:30 +0000

RC Concepcion goes over 4 invaluable tips for document dimensions, placing images, and resizing frames automatically in Indesign CS5.

Can Flash Move Forward?

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:38:55 +0000

There has been a long debate about Adobe Vs. Apple, or even Flash Vs. HTML5. Whatever side of the fence you are on—you probably won’t be changing your mind anytime soon. Flash brings a lot of features and creativity for web designers, but then again the promise of HTML5, CSS3… read more

50 Stunning 3D Car Renders

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:23:47 +0000

Computer graphics has become truly remarkable about re-creating and illustrating reality. And while most artists still face major obstacles when it comes to rendering organic material, there’s a small subset of 3D images that have been scratching perfection for many years now: 3D vehicle renders.

There are so many realistic and… read more

Lightroom Pro Q&A with Nat Coalson

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:02:08 +0000

Hi everyone. Here’s another in a series of mini-interviews with some of the Lightroom pros out there where they’ve answered a short series of questions about how they use and feel about Lightroom:

Today’s Guest: Nat Coalson.

Bio/Intro: Nathaniel Coalson is a travel and fine art photographer, teacher and writer based… read more

80+ Stunning Photographic Portraits

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:03:49 +0000

In this post I would like to introduce a new topic on photography. Its surprising that I have never made a post on photography considering that photographs are used in everyday design such as campaign ads, posters, magazine covers and photo compositions just to name a few. In this article… read more

30 New Free High-Quality Fonts

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:34:33 +0000

Every now and then we look around, select fresh high-quality free fonts and present them to you in a brief overview. The choice is enormous, so the time you need to find them is usually time you should be investing in your current projects. We search for them and find… read more

5 Free to Use Freelance Design Contract Templates

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:47:37 +0000

The most important and essential document a freelance designer should have is a rock solid and reliable contract. The worst thing is though, freelance web designers or graphic designers, especially when they are just starting out, can ill afford the expense of paying a lawyer to draw up a decent… read more

Photoshop Web Design Layout Tutorials from 2010

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:11:04 +0000

Web layouts are crucial for every web design. Whether it is a simple design or an advanced one, Photoshop can often come handy in creating such layouts. We have collected some really creative and helpful recent tutorials that display the process behind creating web layouts in Photoshop.

Photoshop Web Design Layouts

How… read more

30 Effective Logo Examples Featuring Animals

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:46:40 +0000

Animals have appeared in art throughout history. Some are revered as gods in some cultures while others have been long associated with particular traits and attributes. Animals are a great symbolic tool that designers can use for inspiration. The perception of animals in regard to business identity are no longer… read more

How Starbucks Plans to Capitalize on Free Wi-Fi

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 05:03:24 +0000

Starbucks stores nationwide now have free Wi-Fi, but details around the second piece to the coffee retailer’s digital strategy — the Starbucks Digital Network — have been slim. Here’s how Starbucks plans to cater to digital consumers and premium content providers through its Digital Network.

The Starbucks Digital Network (SDN) will… read more

Watch #SummerMash Interviews From Chicago [LIVE]

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:50:11 +0000

The Mashable team is hosting its final stop on the U.S. Summer Tour in Chicago tonight. In case you can’t make it, you can still participate in the event via our live video and chat stream. We’ll be joined by Rachel Sklar, who will be interviewing attendees on our Watchitoo… read more

Desuade Partigen 2

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:23:18 +0000

POWERFUL PARTICLE EFFECTS ENGINE

When I need particles, I reach for Partigen 2. Though it only works inside Flash, I export its animations for After Effects and Premiere Pro projects. Why am I gaga over Partigen? Because it gives me total control over every facet of particle creation, emission, and lifespan…. read more

HOW TO: Pick the Right Social Media Engagement Style

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:39:12 +0000

Matthew Latkiewicz works at Zendesk.com, customer support software. He writes for and edits Zengage, Zendesk’s blog about customer engagement. He also writes about wine for McSweeney’s and imagines stuff at his own website, youwillnotbelieve.us.

What’s your customer engagement style? It’s a question reminiscent of those light-hearted quizzes that… read more

Toss Your Camera (Photography)

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:36:35 +0000

Camera toss photography is a relatively unknown technique, but its title alone is a good explanation of the photography technique. Yes, photographers literally throw their camera in the air after doing necessary shutter adjustments to achieve beautiful and original images.

In this post we present original examples of camera toss photography…. read more

The Future of the Internet

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:25:31 +0000

“In only a few short years, electronic computing systems have been invented and improved at a tremendous rate. But computers did not ‘just grow.’ They have evolved… They were born and they are being improved as a consequence of man’s ingenuity, his imagination… and his mathematics.” — 1958 IBM brochure

The… read more

29 Useful Things You Can Do With CSS3

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:00:58 +0000

29 Useful Things You Can Do With CSS3

Spun » magazine

Eight Helpful Rules for Logo Designers

Concert Photography – Lessons From the Pit

What Apple’s Guideline Changes Mean for Developers

Dissecting the New Vogue.com: How One Magazine Did the Web Right

70 Amazing Examples Of Surreal Digital Paintings

Senior Portrait Design in Photoshop, Part 1

50+ High-Quality Free Magento Themes

Upcoming Web Design and Development Conferences in 2010

Web Design Podcasts Which Will Improve Your Life

30 CSS and Javascript Tabs Solutions

3 iPad Apps that Reinvent News Reading

Tools and Resources for Grammar, Copywriting, Spelling and More

Designing and Producing Creative Business Cards: Techniques and Details

Wix $150 Premium Plan Competition Winners

100 Beautiful Examples Of Landscape Photography

Interview with Tony Chen of Looks Good Design Magazine

DesignChat Guest: Armin Vit

10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses

InDesign CS5: Layers Panel Rebuilt

Showcase of Interesting Navigation Designs

30 Unusual Blogger Themes

The Ultimate Photoshop Toolbox

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.54)

Best of AppStorm in August

Keynotopia Wireframing Set: Free Wireframing Templates for Apple Keynote

The Best of the Business Blogs: August 2010

The Ultimate Round-Up of iPad Wallpapers

Modern UI and Layout Tutorials for Photoshop

Fight The System: Battling Bureaucracy

Graphic Design Inspiration by Mike Harrison

The Keys to Minimising Noise in Your Photographs

Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration – N.57

Linkswitch #34: Finances, Style Guides, Press Releases

65 Beautiful Photographs From Our Everyday Life

Wallpaper of the Week #116 by Mike Speero

This Week in the Digital Photography Forums (29 Aug-4 Sep ‘10)

Best of the Week #135

77 Beautiful Examples Of Conceptual Illustration

Daily Inspiration #605

HOW TO: Score the Best Fashion Deals on the Social Web

InDesign and Bridge Contact Sheet

40 Awesome Works of Art Made From Paper

50 Fresh and Beautiful Ecommerce Websites II

Web Design Checkmate: Using Chess For Success in Web Design

8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea

Free Book Competition “WordPress 3 Site Blueprints”, Comment to Win

Artistic Expressions: Needlework

10 of the Web’s Most Insightful News Infographics

45 Fantastic and Splendid Digital Painting Tutorials

30 Fantastic and Splendid Digital Painting Tutorials

Showcase Of Appetizing Restaurant Websites

20 Useful Free PDF ebooks for Designers and Bloggers

iCandies Icon Set: 60 Free Icons For Your User Interfaces and Apps

Daily Inspiration #603

HOW TO: Follow the US Open with Social Media

Everything You Wanted in Illustrator CS5 Artboards

Creative Bookmarks: Best of August 2010

Beautiful Beach and Palms Wallpapers for Your Desktop

The Case For Open-Source Design: Can Design By Committee Work?

Top Articles On The Web Design Billboard In August’10

Illustrator Template Toolbox for Web, Mobile and App Developers

Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic

40 Tutorials and Techniques for Creating Business Logos

Social Network Unites Writers and Fans of Short Fiction [INVITES]

HOW TO: Incorporate Your Startup at the Right Time

Print Tutorial: Creating A Magazine Cover

Best of the Vector Web – August 2010

The Robust Collection Of (50) Mindblowing Icon Sets For Your Next Design

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: September 2010

350+ Beautiful Drawing Brushes For Photoshop

Weekly Design News – Resources, Tutorials and Freebies (N.53)

Digg v4: Refreshing Social News Discovery

How CEOs Will Use Social Media in the Future

Interactive PDFs

An Interview With Professional Nature Photographer Jon Cornforth

Writing and Web Design: Editorial Calendars and Style Guides

Promoting Yourself To… GASP!… Live People!

The Perfect Office #52

50 Refreshing CSS Tutorials, Techniques and Resources