William Alexander

The Alphabet: Trick-or-Treat

2011-11-17T06:35:00.002-05:00

The Alphabet: Trick-or-Treat

via Illusion by Adriana de Barros on 11/17/11

Photographer Bela Borsodi has created an interesting editorial spread for Issue 39 of WAD magazine.

Photos © Bela Borsodi Link via designboom

Tremendous Typography

2011-11-15T06:56:00.002-05:00

Typography is the art or process of setting and arranging type. Good typography skills are an essential part of any designer's repertoire, however, there are some who truly excel and take the art of typography to amazing new heights.

More typography here

Earth. Awesome.

2011-11-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

Twelve movie poster trends that are here to stay and what they say about their movies.

2011-11-10T06:44:00.001-05:00

Clever Ambigram Logos

2011-11-08T06:31:00.003-05:00

via Illusion by Adriana de Barros on 11/8/11

There are logotypes that you have probably looked at, but didn't realize if you rotate one in 180º degrees that it still spells the same word. That was the case with "Oysho." I've been to their store many times, however, never realized their logo was an ambigram.

Top: "Filly" by/© BarbaRoja.

"DeLorean Motor Company" by/© DMC.

"Edoga" by/© Arnas Goldbergas (a.k.a. Matto).

"Anouk" © Anouk. Designer unknown.

"Cheap" by/© Peter Orban.

"Philosophy" by/© John Langdon.

"Kasey" by/© Bilebo.

"Oysho" by/© Inditex Group.

50 Most Impressive Photoshop Tutorials of 2011

2011-11-07T07:25:00.001-05:00

Design of Apple Logo

2011-11-03T06:36:00.000-04:00

Fonts: true meaning

2011-11-02T17:11:00.000-04:00

Comic Book Artist: Jim Lee

2011-11-01T06:24:00.002-04:00

Comic Book Artist: Jim Lee

via Abduzeedo | Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials by marcos333 on 10/31/11

I think Jim Lee is one these artists that really doesn't need any presentations. If you already read some of the DC, Marvel or Wildstorm comics from the 80's to nowadays, you probably stumbled with some of his covers and pages. In my point of view, he's the best penciller that ever worked for these major companies, a truly master of his tools, always pushing further on style and concept.

You can see some more artworks form Jim Lee at his Comic Art Community Profile or at his DevianArt.

The origin of famous logos.

2011-10-31T22:46:00.000-04:00

18 Useful Web Based Code Editors for Developers

2011-06-29T09:41:00.000-04:00

Advertise here with BSA

The main tool for developers is of course code editors.Mostly it is a standalone application but you know there are also many online code editors around the internet.There may be times which you are not with your computer so the below web based or let's say browser based online editors

More Editors

Start your own Design Contest today and choose from 50–200+ custom design made just for you.

Design You Trust RSS Feed | Design You Trust on FB | Design You Trust on Twitter | Design You Trust

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/1sqsdmfBKd8/

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Guide to CSS support in email

2011-06-29T09:31:00.000-04:00

Handy guide to CSS support in email by Campaign Monitor.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/veerlesblog/~3/ZX4QZsHfrdE/

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

Fwd: Unique Business Card Templates

2011-06-24T10:21:00.001-04:00

Advertise here with BSA

Business card speaks for your brand identity, and with creative and unique business card you can stand out from the crowd, not boring, memorable and gain a better impresssion from your potential clients.

In this article, we have collected 10 creative and unique business card templates, with featured: fancy die-cut, circle, modern round, camera style, vintage and more. That will help the people always remember your brand business.

Golden popcorn cinema die cut business card

More screenshot

Photographer Business Card

More screenshot

Floppy Disk Creative Business Card

More screenshot

More business card templates, here: 10 Creative & Unique Business Card Templates.

Design You Trust RSS Feed | Design You Trust on FB | Design You Trust on Twitter | Design You Trust

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/wbMUT1vv6Kg/

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

21 Photoshop Web Design Layout Tutorials

2010-10-24T22:29:00.001-04:00

View more tutorials

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/Kjk-X3J4gsU/

500+ Free Professional Photoshop Actions

2010-10-22T00:03:00.001-04:00

Photoshop Actions are recorded series of tasks in Photoshop, such as filters, adjustments and more. When packaged up, it packs all the power of these effects into a single, easy to use action. Actions can significantly improve workflow, particularly for bulk processing of images, but they can also help with graphic design and digital art by enhancing colors, contrast or other aspects.

Designers and photographers are always creating new actions, so this post has gathered up 500+ free Photoshop actions that yield professional results that you can use in your own works. We've included some awesome packs that have a variety of actions, and also some individual ones for specialized effects. Just click on the image and you'll be taken to where you can download it, but please remember to read the terms of use with regards to redistribution and commercialization.

http://creativefan.com/500-free-photoshop-actions/

http://creativefan.com/500-free-photoshop-actions/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/zXzAv09-6BQ/

Creating Cool Abstract Waves in Skateboard Jam via 10steps.sg

2010-10-20T11:18:00.001-04:00

Skateboard Jam is an artwork I created for my personal portfolio, JSK.SG (coming soon). I discovered an easy yet interesting way to make beautiful abstract waves and hope to share with you in this tutorial. We will touch on using common tools like Warp and various brush effects.

Preview of Final Image

The texts and images are copyrighted to 10Steps.SG and their respective owners. You CANNOT copy the whole tutorial, either in English or translate to another language.

Create an A4 size document with 300dpi resolution. Set the Foreground color to white and Background color to #2bbcef. Using the Reflected Gradient tool, create a gradient similar to what I did below.

Open the Brush Settings panel. Click on Brush Tip Shape and enter the values as shown below.

Check on Scattering and enter the values and shown below.

Create a new layer above the blue gradient and rename the layer as Bokeh. Set the Foreground color to white and Brush Opacity to 30%. Select Brush tool with earlier settings to paint around the document area.

Create a new layer above the Bokeh layer. Rename the new layer as Color Bars. Make a rectangular selection and fill it with brown color.

Repeat the earlier step but with orange gradients this time. Experiment around with the brightness and tones of similar colors.

Repeat the same steps again for various tones of blue colors and gradients.

Select the Color Bars layer. right-click and choose Convert to Smart Object. Then go to Edit > Transform > Warp. Bend color bars like the way I did below.

Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate. Turn the bent color bars towards the left.

Duplicate two more color bars and overlaying them the way as shown.

Create a new layer in between the color bars and paint some light shadows on it with the Brush tool.

Download Skateboard Jump from ShutterStock. Crop the man out from his white background and place him on one of the color bars. You may refer to this post for various cropping methods.

Repeat the same step for 2 more person, put each of them close to a different set of color bars.

Duplicate the first man layer. Select the original layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Set the Lightness to -100 so the image will turn black. Go to Edit > Free Transform and scale it the way shown below. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 40px.

Repeat the same steps to create shadows for the other 2 jumpers behind.

Right-click on the first man layer and choose Blending Options. Check on Outer Glow and fill in the settings shown below.

Check on Inner Glow and fill in the settings shown below.

You will get a nice glow effect on every jumper.

Create a new layer and rename it as Light Streak. Make a white rectangle like I did and rotate it slightly.

Using Eraser tool with 500px and Soft Brush type, fade the sides of white rectangle such that only the top border remain sharp.

Duplicate a few of the Light Streak layer and overlay them to form beautiful light crossing effects.

Create a new layer and rename it as Glows. Using the Brush tool with size 200px and Soft Brush type, paint a few glowing dots around the man.

Let us create some 3D objects to fill up the document. You may refer to this post for how to create fake 3D objects in Photoshop.

Position your 3D objects in any manner you like.

And we are done after having all the 3D objects! I hope you find this tutorial useful. Thanks for reading.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/10Steps/~3/rMzlLOxuQac/

Create a Shattering Angel effect in Photoshop

2010-10-13T08:02:00.000-04:00

In this tutorial, we'll be creating a highly dramatic scene with a disintegrating statue of an Angel. The end result would be an intense composition of the Angel seemingly coming to life as Gradients, blends, and a set of unique brushes are used to enhance the image of the Angel statue.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 1200 x 900, a resolution of 140 dpi and a black background. Open and drag into the new document, a statue of an Angel. This one below can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu

Step 2

To extract the Statue from its background, we'll use the Magic Wand Tool(M) and click on the background sky. Hit Delete to clear each selection made. If you prefer, the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) can be used instead.

These result below:

Step 3

Use the Clone Stamp Tool to copy certain areas of statue and have them pasted over the an extension of the left wing of the Angel. Hold the ALT key when selecting plain area, then release and click on the wing to remove it.

Step 4

Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Statue and go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 80.This in effect, defines a lot more the highlights and shadows.

Step 5

We'll now select the cross using the the Pen Tool (P). When done, right-click within the Pen outline and choose Make Selection. Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected cross and then, create a new layer. Hit Ctrl+V to paste the copied the selection into the new layer and name it 'cross.' Hide this layer for now.

Step 6

Select the Smudge Tool and set its Strength to about 50% to 65%. Use increased strengths (about 60%)for extensive
smudge(s).

Step 7

This step I must say would take a little time and series of 'undo' to complete. You need to employ a good eye for details. For the Eraser Tool (E), select a Spatter brush and gnaw away carefully the smudges close to the edges of the statue itself. Try using different brush sizes as well – 14 px to 65 px.

Step 8

Next, go on further to modify the Spatter brush by bringing up the Brushes Palette (Go to Window>Brushes if not visible) and select Scattering Brush Preset. Set the Scatter to 475% to increase its randomness.

Step 9

Now, methodically erase away the edges of the smudges into something like shimmers. The final result should like the statue disintegrating from its edges as shown below:

Step 9

Create a new layer and select the Gradient Tool (G). Go to the Gradient's Options bar and select a Reflected Gradient and click the gradient to bring up the Gradient Editor. On the Gradient Presets, select Spectrum; Type as Noise; increase Roughness to 90% and check in Options, Restrict Colors/Add Transparency.

Step 10

Drag the Gradient Tool from the centre of the Angel Statue. Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Gradient effect.

Step 11

Lighten the rays a little using the Levels command (Ctrl+L) and add a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of 0.7px.

Step 12

On the 'rays' layer, set the Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 13

Make a new layer above the 'rays' layer and select a large Soft Round Brush (#cfd8f6). Follow up with a smaller white brush and paint over the previous one.

Step 14

Set the layer's Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 15

On the 'rays' layer, use the Eraser Tool at an opacity of 75% to erase round the rays.

Step 16

For the fun part (well, for me) download the set of Debris brushes from qbrushes.net. Paint in separate layers on the left, (Brushes – D11 and D14) and a right, (Brushes – D17 and D17). Erase or fade at your discretion excess debris paintings.

Step 17

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and on its Options bar, select 'Add to Selection' to make make multiple selections at points of the debris.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and set the Amount to 5; the Method to Zoom; the Quality to Best.

Step 19

Create a new layer and paint more debris on both sides of the Statue and blur as in Step 18.

Step 20

Download the Odysee brushes by Axeraider from axeraider70.deviantart.com. With a Foreground colour #92a0ea, select the the Odysee brush (Samplebrush 8). When painting a second 'ghostly wing', preferably in a new layer, press Ctrl+T to transform it; selecting Flip Horizontal make it face the opposite direction.

Step 21

In a new layer below all other layers but above the background layer, create clouds for it by going to Filter>Render>Clouds. Set the layer's Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 22

Erase the top and bottom areas of the clouds in a way that the remaining clouds appears as stretch of clouds. The eraser's opacity should be set at 70%.

Step 23

Set the foreground colour to #c0d5dd and select the Custom Shape Tool (U) from the Tools bar. On the Tool's Options bar, select 'Fill Pixels' and 'Circle Thin Frame' from the Shape drop-down menu. Draw the shape in a layer above the 'clouds' layer.

Step 24

Set the blend mode of the drawn shape to Vivid Light.

Step 25

In a new layer above the statute, use a white Soft Round brush to paint around the head of the statue.

Step 26

Set the layer's Blend mode Soft Light.

Step 27

Enable the 'cross' layer we hid earlier. Double-click the layer for a Layer Style. Adjust the values of the Color Overlay, Inner Glow, Outer Glow styles as shown below:

The result:

Step 28

We'll add smoke to the glowing cross using the Smoke Brushes from falln-stock.deviantart.com. I used a combination of two brushes and erased slightly the edges of the smoke.

Step 29

For the 'smoke' layer, add a Gradient Overlay Layer style. Edit the Gradient's Color Stops as shown below:

The resulting effects:

Step 30

Above the 'smoke' layer, paint over the smoke where top end of the cross is, with a white brush. Set this layer's opacity to Soft Light. This adds a highlight to the cross.

And there we have it! TheAngelos! In old Hebrew tradition, there's the belief, though referred to as unauthentic, of an Angel called Uriel that means 'fire of God.' In John Milton's epic poem, Uriel is being described as the 'Regent of the Sun.'

Below is a variation of the same composition.

By David Ella Ella

http://designreviver.com/tutorials/create-a-shattering-angel-effect-in-photoshop/

inspiration vs immitation

2010-10-12T16:58:00.000-04:00

via www.flickr.com

Read these thoughts and look at these images by friend of PSU Jessica HISCHE!

http://gdpsu.typepad.com/commandsave/2010/10/inspiration-vs-immitation.html

50 New Useful CSS Techniques, Tutorials and Tools - via Smashing Magazine

2010-10-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

These are great times for front-end developers. After months of exaggerated excitement about HTML5 and CSS3, the web design community now starts coming up with CSS techniques that actually put newly available technologies to practical use instead of abusing them for pure aesthetic purposes. We see fewer "pure CSS images" and more advanced, clever CSS techniques that can actually improve the Web browsing experience of users. And that's a good thing!

In this post we present recently released CSS techniques, tutorials and tools for you to use and enhance your workflow, thus improving your skills. Please don't hesitate to comment on this post and let us know how exactly you are using them in your workflow. However, please avoid link dropping, but share your insights and your experience instead. Also, notice that some techniques are not only CSS-based, but use JavaScript, or JavaScript-libraries as well.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the Smashing Book?]

CSS Techniques

Now Playing: transitions and animations with CSS
Tim Van Damme showcases a fairly simple CSS design that uses transitions, animations and subtle hover-effects to produce an engaging user experience. Also, notice the use of favicons as background-images for attribute selectors. Unfortunately, the demo works best in Webkit-browsers, but it degrades gracefully in other modern browsers. Unfortunately, we didn't find the documentation of the technique.

CSS3 range slider, checkbox + radio button
A demo of HTML input elements made with CSS3. They include realistic range sliders, checkboxes and radio buttons. The designer used minimal markup, no JavaScript and no images. Downside: there is a ton of messy CSS3 code, and Safari renders the page best. Chrome is close, but the 3D perspective doesn't quite work.

CSS3 Media Queries
CSS2 allows you to specify stylesheet for specific media type such as screen or print. Now CSS3 makes it even more efficient by adding media queries. You can add expressions to media type to check for certain conditions and apply different stylesheets. For example, you can have one stylesheet for large displays and a different stylesheet specifically for mobile devices. It is quite powerful because it allows you to tailor to different resolutions and devices without changing the content. Continue on this post to read the tutorial and see some websites that make good use of media queries.

Proportional leading with CSS3 Media Queries
A fluid layout should be responsive to the width of the columns of text. This problem, of proportional leading, is what holds many designers back from adopting fluid layouts. In this article, Andy Clarke explains how you can achieve proportional leading for your typography using CSS3 Media Queries.

Responsive Web Design
This article by Ethan Marcotte explains how to use fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries to create elegant user experiences with responsive web design. Check out the demo — of course, don't forget to resize the browser window.

Popout Details on Hover with CSS
This tutorial describes a technique that presents details of a content item on hover. The solution is quite simple and uses position: relative and z-index to achieve the effect.

CSS3 Border-Radius and Rounded Avatars
Trent Walton came up with a clever technique to create rounded images (in this case, rounded avatars) with the border-radius property. The solution is simple: create a frame class for your image, and give it a border. Then, round both the frame and image with the border-radius property, and you're done: a simple technique with no additional images or scripts — just an extra line of code. You may want to check Tim Van Damme's similar CSS technique, too.

CSS3 Rounded Image With jQuery
"The other day I was trying to style CSS3 border-radius to image element and I realized that Firefox doesn't display border-radius on images. Then I figured a way to work around it — wrap a span tag around with the original image as a background-image."

The Simpler CSS Grid
Why restrict your layout so that it can fit into this 960gs? A grid is supposed to help you in design, not to limit your creativity. The 978 grid is not just about increasing the page width, but to loosen the gutter space, so users can read it more comfortably.

Correcting Orphans with CSS Overflow
When typesetting, designers try to avoid leaving just one or a few words hanging on a line at the end of a paragraph. Doing so is considered poor typography because it leaves too much white space between paragraphs and interrupts the reader's eye movement (see the example below). A simple typographic solution is to rework the line by adding indented paragraph endings. But the problem is particularly annoying when aligning a paragraph next to an image that exceeds the paragraph's height. Soh Tanaka has come up with a simple and quick solution to this problem with CSS.

Apple-like Retina Effect With jQuery
This tutorial explain how you can recreate the effect displayed on the image below, using jQuery and CSS.

How to create a kick-ass CSS3 progress bar
New features introduced in CSS3 allows developers to create stunning visual effects: this post exaplains how you can create a fancy progress bar using CSS3 and jQuery, without Flash or images.

CSS pseudo-element Solar System using semantic HTML
This is a complete reworking of another author's basic reproduction of the classic model of our solar system using CSS. By using pseudo-elements (again) I wanted to reproduce as much as possible without presentational HTML and JavaScript. In addition, by hooking into HTML microdata I've put together a rough scale model of the solar system that demonstrates some further uses of CSS generated content.

Advanced Columns using the :nth-child(N)
Imagine this task: you have to display product listings as columns laid out in a zig zag pattern. The first instinct is to split each section into its own list, but if the site is running on a CMS, all products had to be spit out in one giant list. Given this scenario, you can use pseudo-selectors :nth-child(N) and a bit of jQuery to help with IE support.

Lost World's Fairs
Trent Walton explains the workflow and design techniques used to create the Lost World's Fairs website to celebrate the launch of Internet Explorer 9. The result is truly remarkable.

New Twitter Design with CSS and JQuery.
This post explains the techniques used by Twitter's new web interface and re-creates its interactivity using CSS and jQuery.

Europe, CSS & jQuery clickable map
CSS converts a simple list of countries into the fully clickable map. Works with disabled style sheets and JavaScript, as well as on mobile devices. A simple code does not require Flash Player or other plug-ins!

Simple Tooltip w/ jQuery & CSS
There are a lot of tooltip plugins out there, but not many of them explain what exactly goes on in the logic of a tooltip. I would like to share how I've created mine today, and am also open to any critiques and suggestions for those jQuery ninjas out there. Lets take a look.

Super Cool CSS Flip Effect with Webkit Animation
Webkit support some fancy transform and animation effects that can really spice up the web experiences for users with Safari or Chrome browsers. Here's a quick look at how the rotateY property can produce a flip effect, and how it can be used to create a Transformers themed top trumps design.

CSS3 Border Images for Beautiful, Flexible Boxes
The CSS3 buzz is in full swing, and many of CSS3′s most useful properties are receiving a fair bit of attention. Properties like border-radius, text-shadow, custom gradients, and even CSS3 transitions have been shown to be quite practical, resolving real-world design issues with minimal markup and maintainable code.

Animated wicked CSS3 3D bar chart
Create a beautiful 3D bar chart. But instead of creating a "stacked" one, several bars are placed under each other. When hovering, the animation shows and the bar grows to the appropriate size.

CSS Border Tricks
Since I released my new redesigned blog, a lot of people have asked me how I styled the pressed effect on my category navigation. I would like to share some simple border style tricks to get various effects for your next project.

The Background Trick With CSS
This page provides links to a couple of examples for the trick used on Design Made In Germany 5 where a couple of layers are used and the middle layer has a fixed background, while other layers have absolute positioning. The visual effect is unique and interesting. Unfortunately, the explanations are in German, but the demos are self-explanatory.

Footnotes With CSS
in their simplest implementation — using sup tags and linking within the page — footnotes aren't very user-friendly. They interrupt the experience, requiring the user to click the link, read the information and then return to the page with the browser's "Back" button." Lukas Mathis has come up with an elegant solution to improve this user experience: his jQuery script shows the content of footnotes as soon as the user indicates that they are interested in it — i.e. when they move the cursor over the footnote symbol.

Why and how to create Microsoft Office Minibar with jQuery and CSS3
Although many will argue that Microsoft products are an example of a good design, Minibar was one of design refreshments that came out with the Office 2007. It is a variation of a toolbar that exposes context-related functionality. In case of MS Word, context is a text selection. Since Minibar always pops up near the mouse pointer it enables users to quickly perform actions related to a selection.

CSS image replacement with pseudo-elements (NIR)
An accessible image replacement method using pseudo-elements and generated-content. This method works with images and/or CSS off; works with semi-transparent images; doesn't hide text from screen-readers or search engines; and provides fallback for IE6 and IE7.

Diagonal CSS Sprites – Aaron Barker
So you've got your sprite created, and it's working great. 30+ icons in one image, and major HTTP connections saved. You have made your little corner of the interwebs a little happier and faster. Steve Souders would be proud.

Sneak — Fixing the background 'bleed'
I recently came up with an issue in Safari where the background colour of an element seemed to "bleed' through the edge of the corners when applying both borders and a border-radius (see the image above). I then found a solution, and it came in the form of the -webkit-background-clip property.

Zebra-striping rows and columns
Zebra-striping tables is certainly not a new thing; it has been done and discussed for years. They (allegedly) aid usability in reading tabular data by offering the user a coloured means of separating and differentiating rows from one another. We can create zebra-stripes using the nth-of-type selector — but we can apply it not only to rows but also columns.

Feature Table Design
"I ran into the feature table design and I was inspired to try and replicate it. First in Photoshop, then in HTML/CSS. Recreating cool stuff you find on the web is definitely an excise I recommend (a few days after, I read this – couldn't agree more). As these exercises typically do, it lead me down some interesting paths."

ShineTime – A jQuery & CSS3 Gallery With Animated Shine Effects
This article shows how you can create an animated Shine Effect with jQuery & CSS3 and then use it to create your very own Shiny Gallery 'ShineTime'. This effect is useful in making your user interface elements look like they're a real polaroid photo (or made of glass) and the best part is, it's not that difficult to achieve.

The Mac-style Skype Application Menu with CSS3 and jQuery
This tutorial re-creates the Skype application menu in the web browser. The final design mimics not the full layout — only the menu where all your friends are listed. For the nifty layout CSS3 is used and jQuery is used for the extra functionality.

Further Interesting Techniques

Object-oriented CSS
All the resources you need to get started are linked from the left navigation. Start by downloading the base files. Exercises one and two can be completed in Firebug if you are comfortable with it. Then you can download the finished file at the beginning of Exercise 3.

clearfix Reloaded +
clearfix and overflow:hidden may be the two most popular techniques to clear floats without structural markup. This short article is about enhancing the first method and shedding some light on the real meaning of the second.

CSS3 text-shadow and box-shadow trick
All browsers that support the CSS text-shadow and box-shadow properties also support the new CSS3 RGBa syntax. Which means you can safely combine them today. That's handy, because it means no worrying about matching a precise hex colour shadow to a specific hex colour background. Instead just let the browser blend.

Data theft with CSS
Mozilla has released security updates to Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 that include defenses for an old, little-known, but serious security hole: cross-site data theft using CSS. These defenses have a small but significant chance of breaking websites that rely on "quirks mode" rendering and use a server in another DNS domain (e.g. a CDN) for their style sheets.

Show Markup in CSS Comments
"Let's say you are creating a CSS file for a modular bit of a webpage. Perhaps you are the type that separates your CSS files into bits like header.css, sidebar.css, footer.css, etc. I just ran across an idea I thought was rather clever where you include the basic markup you will be styling as a comment at the top of your CSS file."

How to Micro-Optimize Your CSS
Minification shrinks file size significantly, by as much as 30% or more (depending on input code). This size-reduction is the net result of numerous micro-optimization techniques applied to your stylesheet. By learning these techniques and integrating them into your coding practice, you'll create better-optimized CSS during the development process. Sharper skills, cleaner code, faster downloads — it's a "win-win" for everyone.

Transparent Borders with background-clip
Have you ever seen an element on a page with transparent borders? I think Facebook originally popularized it giving birth to lightbox plugins like Facebox. I don't think Facebook sports the look anymore, but it's still rather neat.

Showing and hiding content with CSS 3
One very common feature is the expanding/collapsing or shown/hidden box, whether this is a tabbed interface, a content "tray" on the side that can be slid out and then put away again, or a complex tree menu with expanding/collapsing sub-menus. Generally, these features are implemented via JavaScript, however using CSS3 it is possible to create such content using only HTML and CSS — no JavaScript required.

CSS for Blockin' Stuff
If you want to use user stylesheets, ad blockers, flash blockers, or whatever else, more power to you. Here are some CSS projects intended for blockin' stuff.

CSS Tools and Services

ProCSSor: Advanced CSS Prettifier
This online tool allows you to submit your CSS (either copy and paste the code, upload the file or point to a URL) and choose your formatting options. You can save options and reuse them every time you run code through ProCSSor. You can separate properties and selectors across multiple lines, indent up to four levels with either the space bar or tab key and even sort properties. The tool also has a "Columnize" mode, which groups elements into columns, making for a more elegant style sheet; you need to deactivate "Fail-safe mode" to use it.

Selectivizr – CSS3 selectors for IE 6-8
selectivizr is a JavaScript utility that emulates CSS3 pseudo-classes and attribute selectors in Internet Explorer 6-8. Simply include the script in your pages and selectivizr will do the rest. Selectivizr adds support for 19 CSS3 pseudo-classes, 2 pseudo-elements and every attribute selector to older versions of IE. It can also fix a few of the browsers native selector implementations.

CSS Desk
CSSDesk is an online HTML/CSS sandbox. The tool allows you too experiment with CSS online, see the results live, and share your code with others. You may want to check Rendera , too.

The Square Grid
A quite simple CSS framework that is based on 35 equal-width columns. It aims to cut down on development time and help you create well-structured websites. The total width of the grid is 994 pixels – which the majority of modern monitors support. You can use the grid in a variety of columns: 18, 12, 9, 6, 4, 3 and 2. The pack contains sketch sheets for printing (PDF), design layout templates for Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator and source code files with explanations.

Instant Blueprint
Instant Blueprint allows you to quickly create a web project framework with valid HTML/XHTML and CSS in only a matter of seconds, allowing you to get your project up and running faster. You may want to check Project Deploy, too.

HTML5 Boilerplate
HTML5 Boilerplate is the professional base HTML/CSS/JS template for a fast, robust and future-proof site. You get the best of the best practices baked in: cross-browser normalization, performance optimizations, even optional features like cross-domain ajax and flash. A starter apache .htaccess config file hooks you the eff up with caching rules and preps your site to serve HTML5 video, use @font-face, and get your gzip zipple on. You may want to check ">HTML5 Reset, too.

HTML5 Starter Pack
A a very basic HTML5 starter pack with a clean and ordered directory structure that will fit for most projects. The pack contains the most common files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), as well as a basic Photoshop web design template, again with a group's structure that would fit for most projects.

PrimerCSS
Primer undercoats your CSS by pulling out all of your classes and id's and placing them into a starter stylesheet. Paste your HTML in to get started.

Hardboiled CSS3 Media Queries
These hardboiled CSS3 Media Queries are empty placeholders for targeting the devices and attributes that you may be interested in making responsive designs for. The stylesheet covers smartphones in portrait and landscape modes, iPads, iPhone and large screens.

Grid Generator
This tool allows you treate your own custom CSS grids. You can select base unit, number of columns, column width, gutter width and margins and download PNG as well as a CSS source code.

Baseline framework
Baseline makes it easy to develop a website with a pleasing grid and good typography. Baseline starts with several files to reset the browser's default behavior, build a basic typographic layout — including style for HTML forms and new HTML 5 elements — and build a simple grid system.

Gridulator
Gridulator is a quick and easy grid calculator for web designers and developers. You can choose the overall width and number of columns, select the column width and gutter width and download the PNG of the grid.

Dust-Me Selectors
Dust-Me Selectors is a Firefox extension (for v1.5 or later) that finds unused CSS selectors. It extracts all the selectors from all the stylesheets on the page you're viewing, then analyzes that page to see which of those selectors are not used. The data is then stored so that when testing subsequent pages, selectors can be crossed off the list as they're encountered.

zen-coding – Project Hosting on Google Code
Zen Coding is an editor plugin for high-speed HTML, XML, XSL (or any other structured code format) coding and editing. The core of this plugin is a powerful abbreviation engine which allows you to expand expressions — similar to CSS selectors — into HTML code.

Turbine
Turbine is a collection of PHP-powered tools that are designed to decrease CSS development time. It includes packing, gzipping and automatic minification of multiple style files, "CSS variables", selector aliases as well as nested css selectors and OOP-like inheritance, extensions and templating features.

CSS Usage
CSS Coverage is an extension for Firebug which allows you to scan multiple pages of your site to see which CSS rules are actually used in your site.

CSS Reloader
CSS Reloader is a browser extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, that allows you to reload all the CSS of any site without you have to reload the page itself. The goal for this browser extension is to enable developers to become more productive.

CSS Frame Generator
This tool returns corresponding CSS in a line-by-line way indented with spaces to reflect XHTML structure — each selector and all of its properties and values in one line. This may be a bit strange for you at the beginning, but if you get used to it you'll find it much better. It's essential to use a predefined properties order, such as this one:

Switch CSS
Switch is a full featured, production ready CSS preprocessor. It runs under Apache with mod_python, or as an environment-agnostic command line tool.

CSS Tools: Diagnostic CSS
Validation is great, but it won't catch everything. For example, if you have a link where you forgot to add a URL value to the href attribute, the validator won't complain. The syntax is valid, even if it's a broken experience. Similarly, the validator will be happy to let through empty class and id values.

IE Print Protector – ieCSS
IE Print Protector is a piece of javascript that allows you to print HTML5 pages in Internet Explorer. IE Print Protector helps IE render HTML5 elements correctly, both on screen and in print.

CSS reset, CSS framework, Toucan CSS reset
It is a reset stylesheet. Unlike Meyer's or YUI's, it not only removes the default styling of HTML elements, but also rebuilds the new generic rules for the typography, headings, paragraphs, lists, forms, tables etc. It's light-weight, flexible and browser-friendly.

PHP CSS Browser Selector
CSS Browser Selector is a very small javascript with just one line php function which empower CSS selectors. It gives you the ability to write specific CSS code for each operating system and each browser.

CSS3Machine for iPad
CSS3Machine makes the most advanced CSS3 styles simple. Easily create stunning gradients, drop-shadows, and 3D transforms. CSS3Machine also builds, edits, and exports WebKit animations.

minify
Minify is a PHP5 app that helps you follow several of Yahoo!'s Rules for High Performance Web Sites. It combines multiple CSS or Javascript files, removes unnecessary whitespace and comments, and serves them with gzip encoding and optimal client-side cache headers.

Modernizr
Modernizr adds classes to the element which allow you to target specific browser functionality in your stylesheet. You don't actually need to write any Javascript to use it.

Spritebaker: Easy Base64 encoding for designers
This free tool parses your CSS and returns a copy with all external media "baked" right into it as Base64 encoded datasets. The number of time consuming http-requests on your website is decreased significantly, resulting in a massive speed-boost (server-side gzip-compression must be enabled).

My DebugBar
IETester is a free application that allows you to have the rendering and JavaScript engines of IE9 preview, IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE at the same time.

Less Framework 2
This framework is a CSS framework for cross-device layouts. The framework has a minimal set of features, and does away with things like predefined classes. All it really contains are a set of media-queries, typography presets aligned to a 24 px baseline grid and a grid, with its column sizes noted down within CSS comments. You can select what features you want to have in your framework files, and the tool will provide you with a zipped archive right away. Note that this framework isn't related with LESS CSS, another framework that extends CSS with variables, mixins, operations and nested rules.

Last Click

Never Mind the Bullets
HTML5 is coming to modern browsers, and developers are already pushing its limits. To this end, Microsoft has created an online comic to show off HTML5/CSS3's features (SVG background, JavaScript acceleration, etc.) as they function on IE9. It's a fully interactive experience, complete with animations and other features that were until now possibly only with JavaScript or Flash.

The comic is a Western in a fairly traditional comic-book style, but with a lot of extras. It's viewable in other browsers, but not as fully as with all of the features built into IE9. There's also a feature that lets you create your own comic strip using the same characters. We never thought we'd say these words, but the website is actually best viewed in Internet Explorer 9.

Have something useful? Get in touch with us!

Our job is to promote good, high-quality content and resources. If you wrote or developed something useful, contact us — we will do our best to spread the word and help you out.

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http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/12/50-new-useful-css-techniques-tutorials-and-tools/

How To Convince The Client That Your Design Is Perfect - via Smashing Magazine

2010-10-06T22:42:00.000-04:00

As designers who deal with clients, we all have to face one situation, no matter how difficult and uncomfortable, and that is guiding the client to accept that your design is perfect. Now, you already have the project, so this is not a matter of convincing them to pick you for the job. This is about getting them to see that your design satisfies their requirements and contains everything they want. We all have to take on this role of virtual tour guide and lead them through the project's twists and turns, ensuring that the best interests of the client and website are served.

We have to be the lighthouse, guiding the clients to shore. (Image credit)

In the end, the final decision falls to the client, but there are times — and most of us have experienced them — when the client's lack of expertise in the field affect the quality of the design. In such times, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to convince the client that the design is perfect as it is, and that any further alteration would impair the website's ability to communicate everything it needs to. This confrontation is not welcome by either party, but it is certainly necessary.

Many designers want to avoid conflict and, as a result, cave to their clients at the slightest sign of disagreement, rather than spend time trying to convince them that they stand on the right side of the design decision. This is often a mistake and does not serve the design, which should be the paramount consideration. We owe it to our creative work to argue for whatever serves the design beyond all else, even though the client is footing the bill. We may end up having to give in to the client, but at least we tried.

Below is an overview of some tips and techniques you can employ when you find yourself butting heads with a client. These approaches might work individually or in combination, but they all at least offer a launching point to help you put your best foot forward and lead the client exactly where they need to go.

How To Explain To Clients That They Are Wrong
As the title suggests, an article that helps you tell the client they might not be right.
How To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of Clients
Another Smashing post that helps you identify the various types of clients you'll run into and how to handle them.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the Smashing Book?]

Confidence Is King

Whatever the context, in every interaction with both potential and working clients, you want to present yourself confidently. This will make interactions with the client smoother and discourage them from challenging you. This is not a surefire recipe to get clients to comply — far from it. But the more confident we are in our abilities and skills, the less likely we will allow ourselves to get pushed around on a design decision. Some clients — not all — will pounce at the slightest whiff of uncertainty.

Just as the slightest sign of fear puts an animal in danger, in the professional kingdom, the slightest display of doubt could spell danger for the designer if it is detected by the client. We have to maintain an air of confidence whenever we deal with the client, especially if we are trying to convince them that the design no longer needs any tweaking. We know our proper boundaries, and if we are assertive enough, we might be able to keep the clients from forcing us cross them.

Talking Points

Here are a few things you could say to the client that might convey an air of confidence:

"While I think your suggestion could potentially benefit the project, I am confident that going with the design as is will yield much more positive results."
"While I have considered alternative approaches, I am most confident that this route will serve the project best."
"I do understand where you want to go with this design, but I sincerely have more confidence in what this approach offers."

In Short

Each meeting is an opportunity to be assertive and show your passion for the project.
Always exude confidence, whatever the context of the meeting.
Be assertive when discussing any and all design changes.

Remind Them Why They Hired You

Confidence leads to the next tactic for making design reviews go your way. You need to remind the client why they hired you. By that, I don't mean to suggest you carry around your credentials and testimonials, ready to pull them out when your expertise is questioned. Rather, this has to do with constantly projecting the image of a passionate professional who is undivided in their focus on the client's project… even if that is not a perfectly realistic assessment of your situation.

Subtly remind them that you are the expert. Your skills and ability are what made this project come to life. Never give the client a reason to doubt that. Don't let them get the sense that you are distracted from the end game. When they ask you to make a questionable alteration, your know-how and experience should trump their wishful thinking. And it falls to you to remind them why they should listen. It is about establishing trust and making them defer to your judgment. Your skills and abilities will make this process go smoothly.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to remind the client why they should listen to you:

"I see what you're saying. However, given all of the time I have spent in the field and knowing what I do about it, I must say, personally, that I would let the design stand."
"I only want what's best for your project. And from all of the satisfied clients I have worked with in the past, I have a very good feel for the market. So trust me when I say that this is your best way forward."
"Given my extensive background, I firmly believe that this design perfectly satisfies all of your needs."
"In my professional assessment, which is in part why you hired me, any further alterations would be detrimental to the effectiveness of the design."

In Short

Keep your skills and experience at the forefront of their mind.
Show them your single-minded passion for the project.
Foster in the client a trust in your abilities, so that they become comfortable deferring to you.

Comparing Success

If your gentle reminders about your qualifications are not inducing the client to defer to your judgment, then you could always compare the design — or at least the elements that are up for debate — to work of yours that has succeeded in the market. While not always the best approach, most business professionals are receptive to it. Given that their decision to hire you was likely based on your past work, such comparisons might be effective in convincing them to let the design be.

Sometimes, comparisons to your past successes can sell the client on your current recommendation. (Image credit)

This is not always the best strategy because it can come off as a bit defensive to some clients. If they say that the design needs something more, and you respond by recalling a similar project you had worked on that was a clear success, then they might assume this has become a matter of ego for you. Still, if you can tactfully steer the client to the right decision by describing a similar model that they can relate to and that effectively employed the same techniques and approaches, you might be on to something. Offer a comparison that will reassure them, because uncertainty is usually the cause of their resistance.

Talking Points

Here are a few things you can say that will help with the comparison model:

"That is a good suggestion, but if we look at _____, we can see that going in this direction could be counterproductive to your goals."
"While _____ met with moderate success by following that direction, I believe your project will be better served by sticking with the design as is."
"If we look to _____ as an example, you can see how well this approach has worked for them. And I have no doubt you will experience the same success in your own market."

In Short

Compare the design to a previous project of yours that has measurable success and that the client can relate to.
Be tactful, so that you come off less like you're trying to flex your muscle and more like you're trying to address their concerns.

Make It Feel Like Their Idea

A trickier tactic is to make it seem like their idea to keep the design the way it is. Essentially, it will be their idea, but getting them to see it that way is not the simplest of tasks to be sure, especially if they get it in their head that the design is far from perfect and needs revisions. You need to stand your ground. Explain to them why you made the choices you made and how they fulfill what they were asking for all along.

Basically, show them how the design truly realizes their original request, and demonstrate that the design as is, in fact, reflects their idea from the get go. This frees you from having to tell them that they're wrong, and rather just requires you to point out that their new request contradicts the original purpose and impetus of the project.

This is practically reverse-psychology, and it has worked for some designers in the past. With the right type of client, this approach works well. If you think this is the route for you, then ask the clients plenty of questions early on to facilitate the process. You'll be able to sell your case much more effectively.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to make the client feel that the idea was theirs all along.

"While I like the new direction, I think your initial ideas, which spurred this design, are a much more effective approach for your field."
"I would recommend not changing that aspect of the design, or you'll risk losing the _____ idea you originally wanted to convey."
"Implementing that change would almost certainly compromise the promise of your initial request."

In Short

Explain that the design was created from their specs, and point out each way this is true.
Show them how these changes would contradict the mission they adopted at the start.
Ask plenty of questions early on about what the client wants to make this an easier sale.

Don't Get Defensive

Another thing to do during these exchanges that is also a bit difficult is to not get defensive. Ultimately, getting defensive will work against your purpose, and because you may be the only one who is truly serving the design in this case, you need to stay professional and level-headed.

The design will reflect on you and will shape your reputation, so as soon as the client questions one of your choices, your natural instinct is to get defensive. But to react this way would be a mistake, and you know it.

There are times when we have to lay down our shield and not get defensive. (Image credit)

You have no reason to take disagreement personally. The client is not attacking you. They genuinely care for the project — not to mention their bottom line — so do not make it about you. If they see you get defensive, then they will assume that your ego is more important to you than the project and will react in kind. And in that mindset, they will stop listening to your advice.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to help you convince the client without sounding defensive:

"That's a good idea. In fact, I considered something very similar to that before ending up with this solution, simply because this is a more solid means of achieving what you're asking for."
"While I do see the merit of your ideas, implementing them would not only exceed the needs of the project, but could potentially add time and expenses to the bottom line."
"I think your ideas would make for some interesting changes. But I'm not sure those changes would serve the requirements of the project."

In Short

Remain professional, and do not take requests for revisions personally.
This is about what best serves the project, not your reputation.
Getting defensive usually only leads to the client doing the same.

Don't Challenge Them

Another reason not to get defensive when trying to get a client to follow your advice is that you do not want to appear like you are challenging them. Of course, you are not challenging them, and you need to make that distinction clear to them. This situation requires finesse; you want to appear as though you only want what's best for the project, not that you are questioning their judgment or ideas.

Most people do not like to be challenged, especially by people they are paying, because it does not feel to them like the natural order of things. So, tread carefully. They should see that you are distilling their ideas, steering them to their logical fruition, not questioning what they're asking of you. This might sound contrary to the premise of this post, but if at any time you lose the client's favor, then you will be less effective at guiding them through the process.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to keep the client from feeling that you are challenging them.

"While the changes you've asked for are completely do-able, if you re-examine the design I have submitted, perhaps you'll see that it already satisfies these goals."
"You are completely right, that would be an interesting change to the design. However, I am not sure how it would serve the functionality of the website."
"While I would never suggest that you are wrong, I do feel in this case that perhaps I have not fully explained the benefits of the approach I am proposing."

In Short

Impress upon them that you do not mean to challenge their ideas, but rather serve the design as best you can.
Make them feel that you are refining their suggestions and refocusing them on ideas that were already there.

Talk Business, Not Style

As designers, getting hung up on style is all too easy, and when we do, we can lose the client fast. Keep the discussion on the business end of the decision-making process, focusing on why the design serves their business interests, not why it is aesthetically perfect.

They will be focused on their market, and you need to focus the dialog on it, too. Relevance is critical. They do not care whether the design will be the most stylish thing to hit the Web; they care whether the design serves their goals. If you convince them that you are coming from the same place, you'll have an advantage in your disagreements. They'll know that you understand their position and will be more inclined to listen and take your advice. Fight the urge to get caught up in the design when you are explaining why the website is perfect; keep it strictly business.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to show the client that you are focused on business:

"Looking at it from a completely business perspective, I see so much potential in the design as is. The changes you suggested, while good, could potentially disrupt the bottom line."
"I think it is important to note that making those changes could upset the design's ability to perform effectively in the market you are introducing it to."

In Short

Keep them on the same page as you. Always relate the discussion to their business, not the style.
Make them feel like you know where they are coming from.
Focus on their business needs, not on the attractiveness of the design.

Never Be Dismissive

The client needs to feel like you are hearing what they're saying if you are to gain their trust; otherwise, convincing them to opt for your design as is will be harder than it should. Every effort you make to ensure that things go your way will make for a smoother design process.

Just as becoming defensive can make the client defensive, not properly considering the client's position and ideas can make them unreceptive to yours. And then, all of your efforts to convince them that no further adjustments are needed will be futile. So, ensure that they understand that you have heard what they've said, perhaps by resorting again to comparisons. Show them instances of other brands suffering from having been taken in a similar direction.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to help you make the client feel that they have been heard:

"While I hear what you are saying, and I think that could be effective in the right circumstances, I am just not sure that taking that direction would be right for this project."
"I really like the enthusiasm coming from you, but I think at this point that making these changes would hurt the design rather than enhance it."

In Short

Listen to their suggestions and ideas, and discuss them.
Use comparisons to show why their proposed changes would prove ineffective.

Don't Talk Down, Lift Them Up

If you want to assure the client that you have digested their ideas, then this next point will help you do that and convince them that the design is just fine. Don't talk down to them as you explain your case. Instead, educate them on the finer points of the design process and how it can achieve their goals. Sometimes, language is the roadblock that prevents the client from seeing your point.

If you take care to explain the reasoning behind your direction, the client will appreciate it and open up to your way of thinking, a rarity in this field. The client will sense your passion. The best way to help someone see your point of view is by enlightening them on how you arrived at it. The client more than likely lacks knowledge of design, and you must do your best to bridge that divide.

Talking Points

Here are a few things you can say to start educating the client on your view:

"While I get where you are coming from, if I could take another minute of your time, perhaps I could explain how the current design already goes in that direction."
"If I may be so bold, your suggestions tell me that you are missing some of the finer points of the current version. I would love to go over the project's goals with you to show how each is being met."
"I appreciate your uncertainty, and I don't want to diminish your concerns, but if you'll allow me, I can walk you through the current design and hopefully alleviate any apprehensions you might have."

In Short

Educate the client on the design choices you made and the practical reasons behind them.
Break the creative language barrier between you and the client.
Let your passion show through so that the client sees that the design is what matters.

Consider A Different Perspective

The client will have a business frame of mind, which is perfectly reasonable. Perhaps you should balance this with a different viewpoint, one that the client might be overlooking: that of the end user. Whenever you ask a client to compromise on their suggestion, show that you have considered all perspectives, because that shows that you are not just being difficult or defensive. You are acting in the best interest of the project.

In addition to showing that you are truly listening to their ideas, show that you have considered the perspective of the end user as well, who will be the recipient of the design. This makes good business sense, which is hard to argue with, and it reinforces why they should keep the design the way it is. Given their own limited perspective and the fact that you are supporting your viewpoint with consideration of a perspective other than your own, they are likely to hear you out.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to help the client see the user's point of view:

"I see what you are asking for, but from the user's standpoint, I think those changes would be more harmful than helpful."
"Taking the end user into consideration, I firmly believe the changes you requested would create a far less friendly experience overall."
"While I understand what you are saying, I am not sure it makes complete sense from the user's perspective."
"The changes you have asked for are technically sound, but the negative impact they would have on the user's experience makes them unfeasible in this case."

In Short

Consider the design from the user's perspective, and present that side of the coin.
Demonstrates that your advice represents a reasonable business approach, which will make the client more receptive.
Argue the numbers: client's perspective vs. designer and user's perspectives. Two against one.

Contractual Conscience Clause

This last one is not always the easiest to pull off but is certainly worth a shot: the so-called contractual conscience clause. This assumes that both you and the client are willing to sign a contract, which most designers would never work without anyway. At the beginning of the process, try to write in a clause that leaves all final design decisions up to you, especially if you determine that a requested alteration would have an negative impact on the product.

The contract may be the key to giving you final say in the project… if you set it up right. (Image credit)

Not every client will agree to this, but in the right circumstances and with the right client, this is an effective way to avoid headaches when you see a design as being finished but the client wants more. Try to get the client on board by reassuring them that you would exercise this clause only to protect the best interests of the product. Allow them to add stipulations if that would make them feel more comfortable surrendering the final cut to you.

Talking Points

Here are a few things to say to help the client see the benefit of including a contract conscience clause:

"Of all of the clauses in the contract, this one does the most to make the best interests of the project paramount in importance."
"Without this clause, I feel like the design would be open to potentially being damaged by unnecessary additions or inclusions."
"If you want to ensure the most effective design for your project, then this clause is nothing to worry about, because that is its only purpose: to serve the design."

In Short

Write a clause into the contract that gives you final say on all design decisions.
Give the client the option to amend the clause until they are sure it will work.

That's All I Wrote

That wraps up all of the advice and approaches we have to get this discussion started. If you have any comments about what I've said so far or any words of wisdom on the subject, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.

100 Best Illustrator Tutorials of All Time (From Newbie to Pro)

2010-10-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

Adobe Illustrator is the most powerful vector software on the planet, and whether you're using it alone, or in a workflow with other tools such as a 3D program, Photoshop, InDesign, or something else, it can be a great asset to any designer's arsenal. However, Illustrator is also one of the most daunting programs to learn how to use, with a vast array of tools and features at your fingertips. Some high quality tutorials will go a long way to easing the process, and get you up and going on your own vector creations.

In our sequel to the Best Photoshop tutorials of all time, today we have the 100 best Illustrator tutorials ever created and showcased on the web. Whether you want to learn the basics, or something a bit more advanced, this list has it all, from vector characters, icon tutorials, coveted infographic tutorials (which are in high demand), or graphic-design illustration tutorials.
http://creativefan.com/201-best-illustrator-tutorials-of-all-time/

http://creativefan.com/201-best-illustrator-tutorials-of-all-time/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/9ajzMGdz3UI/

The Art Of The Film Title Design Throughout Cinema History

2010-10-05T07:11:00.000-04:00

Have you ever thought of what makes you remember a certain movie or TV show? Of course, it's the story being told, you'll say. But what about movies such as Goldfinger, Seven and Snatch? What's the first thing that comes to mind? We are pretty sure their opening title sequences stick out for many of you.

Today we'll take a closer look at that short space of time between the moment the lights go down and the first scene of a film, the part that so often sets our expectations of a movie, that sequence that speaks to our creative side: the art of the film title. We'll look at the evolution of title design and some particularly interesting titles from various periods in the history of cinema and animation.

Film titles can be great fun. In them we see the bond between the art of filmmaking and graphic design — and perhaps visual culture as a whole. They have always served a greater purpose than themselves: to move the overarching story forward. Whether you are a motion graphic designer, a digital artist or a connoisseur of design, we hope you are inspired by these film titles and the ideas they suggest to your own creative endeavors. At the end of this post, you'll find a listing of relevant typefaces and Web resources.

For this post, we reached out to David Peters, a San Francisco-based designer and media historian who, more than a decade ago, began a project called Design Films to research the subject. David generously contributed to this article.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.]

Titles In Silent Film

Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context. These cards were the responsibility of the lettering artist, who collaborated with the scriptwriter and director to create narrative continuity so that audiences could follow what they were seeing. Distinct from these inter-titles was the film's main title, a vehicle of particular concern to film producers because of the legal, copyright and marketing information this footage had to bear.

Here is the main title from D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916), which many reviewers and historians consider the greatest film of the silent era. Note that variations of the director's name are featured in five ways:

Film titles and letter cards had to provide essential information to the viewer. For reasons such as ease of production and clarity, artists favored mono-stroke letterforms or characters with small serifs. White lettering on a black background is another characteristic of this era, because titles simply looked better this way when projected with live-action B&W film.

The following inter-titles are typical of silent movies. A shot from the comedy The New Janitor (1914) featuring Charlie Chaplin is on the right, and the silent western West of Hot Dog (1924) is on the left:

In addition to hiring lettering artists, the biggest film studios began to employ typesetters in the production of title cards. Among the fonts often adopted for titles and inter-title cards were Pastel (BB&S, 1892), National Old Style (ATF, 1916) and Photoplay (Samuel Welo's Studio, 1927).

Regardless of the method followed, we see the emergence of typography that seeks to match letterforms with the subject matter and even the zeitgeist — including typefaces inspired by art movements such as art nouveau, art deco and expressionism — as well as the commercial vocabulary of packaging design and advertising.

The main title from the American release of "The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari" (1920) is much less expressive than the title from the influential original German film (restored original version):

The sans-serif title (for a later restored version) of the classic horror film "Nosferatu" contrasts with the art-nouveau treatment of the film's promotional poster of the time. The font, Berthold Herold Reklameschrift BQ (digitized version) was created by German typesetter Heinz Hoffman in 1904. You can see the original German version of the title still from Nosferatu here.

Animation effects like the ones you see in rotoscopes actually pre-date film. But the power of filmmaking was enormous, and it tempted thousands, including many artists, to try their hand at this new medium. One of the earliest known title animations is seen in the work of J. Stuart Blackton.

"Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" (1906) — video on YouTube — was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, who many consider to be the father of American animation. Not only is it one of the first animated films, it is among the first to feature an animated opening title, making it a precursor of the modern title sequence:

Other important early filmmakers such as Emil Cohl and Winsor McCay were accomplished draftsmen who dedicated years of their lives to discovering the dramatic potential and practical techniques of animation. Their focus was more on character development and story visualization than on title animation per se. So, while we see innumerable novelties in main titles and inter-titles during this period, the big innovations of title animation and motion typography don't really emerge until well after the Second World War.

The Silence Is Broken

As movies grew more popular, their titles evolved. Movie producers invested considerable sums in film production and sometimes resorted to fixing a dog of a film by rewriting the inter-titles. For a time, "film doctor" Ralph Spence (1890–1949) was the highest-paid title writer in the industry, earning $10,000 a picture for his one-liners.

During the 1920s and '30s, European cinema was deeply influenced by modernism, and aspects of this visual sensibility were brought to the US by filmmakers who were fleeing the Nazis. Meanwhile, the studio systems operating in Europe and Hollywood also delighted in creating titles that featured vernacular graphic novelties. As much as possible, they liked to convey the tone of a movie through the "dressage" of its main title. Thus, blacklister fonts in the opening credits were used to evoke horror, ribbons and flowery lettering suggested love, and typography that would have been used on "Wanted" posters connoted a western flick.

Here is a title still from the oldest surviving feature-length animated film "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) by German animator Lotte Reiniger:

And here is the opening title in the talkie "B" Western Outlaws of Boulder Pass:

Hollywood animation studios, including Warner Brothers and MGM, did give some license to their artists to indulge in title antics. But one can also see that life for the titling crew at Disney was strained by the weight of its foreign-language versions and that film exports rarely encouraged innovation in titling.

The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, circa 1929, features both Mickey and Minnie, but its main title, "Plane Crazy," is lackluster:

Over time, the very appearance of white-on-black title lettering became a visual trope, recurring as it does in practically every Woody Allen film. Allen relies on the device primarily to build a visual identity, although its economy is a practical advantage, too.

Allen uses the Windsor font for most of his films, as illustrated below in "Annie Hall" (1977). Read more about typography in Allen's films and also an interesting story about how the renowned director chose this typeface:

The incorporation of audio into movies — making them "talkies" — didn't revolutionize how film titles were handled, at least not immediately. However, we do see one avant-garde animator and painter of German origin, Oskar Fischinger, give serious thought to the relationship between visual effects and music. Fischinger's practice of subordinating the visual rhythm to the audio was repeated often in motion graphics and title design.

The concept of score visualization first conceived by Oskar Fischinger in his film "Studies" anticipates the effects created by Saul Bass in "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955) and later by Susan Bradley in "Monsters, Inc" (2001):

The (True) Birth Of The Title Sequence

Breakthrough ideas in titling, such as timing the typography to interact with metaphorical imagery or to create its own world, were largely innovations that came from outsiders to the Hollywood studio system. Figures such as Saul Bass, Pablo Ferro, Maurice Binder and Richard Williams arrived on the scene in the 1950s, at a time when the studios were starting to flounder in their fight with TV. At that time, independent filmmakers made commercial headway by doing things differently, spreading utterly fresh ideas about the possibilities of title sequences. This is the era in which the discipline of film title sequence design was actually born.

Maurice Binder worked on the title designs of 14 films about Agent 007, including the first episode, "Dr. No" (1962). Binder created the famous gun-barrel sequence, which became a signature for the Bond series:

If there were a hall of fame for film title design, Stephen Frankfurt's sequence for the 1962 film "To Kill A Mocking Bird" (below, upper row) would have a seat of honor. Cameron Crowe referenced it in "Almost Famous" (lower row):

Experimentation on the fringes, where title sequences really thrive, have led to all kinds of innovation in what a title can be and how it can serve the story and the director's intent. Perceptive directors like Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Blake Edwards and Stanley Donen embraced these innovators and gave them the reign to surprise audiences from the opening shots. The Bond films, the Pink Panther series, Barbarella: the sequences for such films became enticing and often sexy popular amusements. By the mid-1960s the top title designers were celebrities in their own right, people who could be relied on to deal with the messy business of credits with playful panache.

Here is a still from the Saul Bass' title sequence for "North by Northwest," his first project with director Alfred Hitchcock:

A great draftsman and visual storyteller, Saul Bass ran the gamut of techniques for his title sequences: montage, live action, cut-out paper animation, typography in motion, to name a few. Whatever technique he used, Bass summarized the film as a metaphor that often shone with creativity. (In January 2010, David Peters, Kai Christmann and Dav Rouch, all of Design Films, gave two presentations on the work of Saul Bass at the 12th Future Film Festival in Bologna, Italy.)

In an interview, Kyle Cooper listed three opening sequences that made a big impression on him. Saul Bass' title sequence for the 1962 film "Walk on the Wild Side" (watch on MySpace) was among them:

It could be argued that typography lost importance in this era of title design. The imagery behind the credits received a lot more attention. Still, the interplay of typography and images was by no means ignored. Popular trends of the 1950s were using three-dimensional lettering and embedding type in physical artifacts such as embroidery and signage. In contrast, Saul Bass often approached the lettering of a main title as he would a logo, making it function as the core element in a full marketing campaign. While the variety of solutions increased considerably, their anchor was always the relationship of on-screen typography to the movie itself.

The power of minimalism is shown in the opening sequence for Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979). Credit for this design goes to Richard Greenberg, with creative direction from Stephen Frankfurt:

The main title for the French film classic "Le Dernier Metro" (1980), directed by Francois Truffaut, is austere and modern but has a generic quality not so different from a Woody Allen title:

The Digital Era, And Modern Trends In Film Title Design

Every sphere of contemporary life — and especially the film business — has been affected by computers. For designers, creating film titles meant participating in the apprenticeship tradition — learning by doing, on the job; that continued unabated into the mid-1990s. At that time, dynamic openers by Kyle Cooper and others showed what the next generation of design-educated, film-literate, tech-savvy creatives could do. That apprenticeship tradition has largely been overshadowed by the rise of popular technology, the Internet-enabled archiving of everything and the plethora of schools that propagate countless design disciplines. Most significantly, we see designers working like filmmakers and filmmakers working like designers.

The revolutionary title sequence for "Se7en" (1995) by Kyle Cooper was named by New York Times Magazine as "one of the most important design innovations of the 1990s":

A consequence of this digital era seems to be that modern title design will forever rely on progressive technologies. Yet, in one of his interviews, Kyle Cooper states that while the power of computer graphics is obvious, he still likes experimenting with live action, because there is something special about the imperfection of making things by hand.

While Cooper was working on the sequence for "Darkness Falls" (2003), some glass he was using suddenly split, and the crack cut across the eyes of a girl in an old picture. The incident added suspense to the effect:

In his title sequence for the 2005 crime-comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (watch on YouTube), designer Danny Yount made use of Saul Bass-style graphics to recreate the atmosphere of 1960s detective stories:

The potential of digital graphics and typography has attracted some of the most creative minds to motion design. Pixar and Disney have reserved crucial parts in the branding of their films for the title sequences. Using animated characters to introduce viewers to the story became a popular trend. Such talented graphic designers as Susan Bradley (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., WALL-E, Ratatouille), Jaimi Caliri (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events), Dave Nalle (Corpse Bride), Michael Riley (The Back-Up Plan, Kung Fu Panda) and Michael Curtis (Brother Bear) use all manner of tools to test different approaches to designing titles. One thing these individuals have in common is a drive to find a strong metaphor and tell an exciting story with their sequences.

For the end sequence of "Ratatouille", Susan Bradley (read an interview with her) drew the typography, inspired by the slab-serif typeface Rockwell. For the opening titles, she used a hand-drawn cursive intended to evoke Paris.

The title sequence for "Thank You for Smoking" (2005) is a modern manifesto on typographic style in title design. The idea for using cigarette packaging for the opening sequence was suggested by the film's director, Jason Reitman, and implemented by Shadowplay Studios. Typographica goes through the trouble of pointing out the fonts in the sequence:

In the title sequence for "Up in the Air" (2009), the designers at Shadowplay Studios rely on aerial photography:

The title sequence for the 2009 adaptation of the comic book "Watchmen" drew a loud response from the public. It creates an alternate history, depicting the involvement of superheroes in all major events of post-World War II America. The sequence was shot by the film's director Zach Snyder, while credit for the title's integration goes to yU+Co:

Conclusion

Throughout the history of cinema, film titles has evolved with the film industry, as well as with social trends and fashion movements. But the measure of a title design's quality is the same now as it was in the silent era. Whatever function they perform, titles remain an essential part of film.

Granted, in recent years the business of film titling has been terribly strained by the control of producers over commissions and their persistence in demanding speculative work as the price of admission. Creatively speaking, though, as filmmaking consolidates into the most powerful international cultural phenomenon of the 21st century, ingenuity in titling is a certainty. As designers have always known, the opening moments can make a deeply satisfying contribution to any film.

Typography Resources

Below you'll find links to some downloadable typefaces that were used in or inspired by film titles from cinema history. Please read the legacy notes before downloading.

HPHLS Vintage Prop Fonts

An amazing collection of revived vintage fonts, many of which were used in early cinema. Among them are faces based on the National Old Style, Colwell Handletter and Post Monotone no. 2. Only some fonts can be downloaded for free, although the entire collection is available on CD at an affordable price.

Silentina

The Silentina font family is a great modern take on typography from silent film inter-titles. Designed by Ray Larabie in 2004.

Hitchcock

Hitchcock was created by designer Matt Terich as an homage to the lettering style of the iconic Saul Bass. The font is available as a free download, and you'll find a selection of other typefaces in the same vein.

Movie/TV Related Fonts

Here is a collection of free fonts styled after the main titles of famous films and TV shows.

Waltograph

Waltograph was created by Justin Callaghan in an attempt to capture the spirit of the familiar Walt Disney signage.

The Disney Font List

On MickeyAvenue.com, Justin Callaghan shares a definitive list of typefaces seen in Walt Disney movies and places.

Meyer 2

Meyer 2, originally drawn in 1926 as one of the five fonts cut by linotype to Louis B. Meyer's personal specifications, was revived in 1994 by type designer David Berlow.

ITC Korinna

The Korinna font family has an art nouveau heritage and looks similar to the Pastel font, which was often used for title cards in silent films.

Futura Extra Bold

Stanley Kubrick's favorite typeface.

Gisele

This font looks similar to the one used by Winsor McCay for his 1914 animation Gertie the Dinosaur.

CCMR Mamoulian Blather

A font that recalls the typography in the title of the 1924 animated movie Felix Dopes It Out.

That's All Folks

Here's a cheerful Looney Tunes-inspired font family called That's All Folks

Coolvetica

Coolvetica looks like the sans-serif typeface in the title sequence for Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Resources And Reference Material

The Art of the Title Sequence

A comprehensive and authoritative resource on film and television title design from around the world. Plenty of excellent designs and material available.

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

One of the first online resources dedicated to film title design. You'll find a lot of amazing examples, reviews and interviews with the experts.

Title Design Project

In this showcase gallery are title sequences from both classic and recent movies.

Movie Title Stills Collection

A large and diverse collection of film title stills from between 1920 to the present.

Taking Credit: Film Title Sequences, 1955–1965

An essay by a London-based writer and curator with an interest in graphic design, Emily King.

Letters of Introduction: Film Credits and City Scapes

This essay covers the textuality of film credit sequences and their relationship to the expressiveness of urban life.

Credits

I'd like to thank David Peters, who kindly agreed to contribute content as well as references to this article. David is the founder and director of DESIGN FILMS, a team of creatives committed to researching, collecting and presenting film programs about design, typography and film history. David is also a principal and design strategist at the communication design firm EXBROOK.

(al)

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/04/the-art-of-the-film-title-throughout-cinema-history/

hyperrealistic still lifes

2010-10-01T17:28:00.000-04:00

hyperrealistic still lifes painted with oil on canvas by pedro campos.
more hyperrealistic still lifes.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/efYj-lnklHQ/

Access Fortune 500 Buyers

2010-10-01T13:10:00.000-04:00

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30 Awesome jQuery Navigation Menu Tutorials, Plugins and Downloads

2010-09-30T22:22:00.001-04:00

jQuery can allow for an enhanced user experience in a variety of ways, from image sliders and lightboxes, to tooltips, navigation menus and contact forms. When combined with other upcoming technologies like HTML5 and CSS3, the possibilities are nearly limitless.

We've gathered up 30 jQuery navigation plugins, tutorials and downloads to ease your jQuery development. Whether you're looking for a drop-down menu, a multi-level menu, a menu that floats along the sidebar, an accordion menu, or any other type of menu you can dream of, this post will have some useful tools for you.

http://creativefan.com/30-jquery-navigation-menu-tutorials-plugins-and-downloads/

http://creativefan.com/30-jquery-navigation-menu-tutorials-plugins-and-downloads/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/m_osfiQYgfo/

Creating Graphs With Adobe Illustrator

2010-09-30T06:54:00.002-04:00

Office applications are getting very advanced these days offering all sorts of fancy features for data visualization. Graph generation is a standard feature in desktop applications like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc, but it can also be achieved in non-spreadsheet applications like Adobe Illustrator.

If you're unfamiliar with the process of creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator, this article will help in giving you some insight into the work-flow. It might also help you decide whether Illustrator is the right tool for this kind of assignment.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the Smashing Book?]

What Type of Graphs Can You Create in Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator offers 9 graph types to visualize data. You can choose from the following:

Column Graph
Stacked Column Graph
Bar Graph
Stacked Bar Graph
Line Graph
Area Graph
Scatter Graph
Pie Graph
Radar Graph

There is also the possibility for making combinations from the existing graph types to achieve greater diversity. The only graph type that can't be combined is the scatter graph.

Creating graphs in Illustrator is as simple as selecting the Graph Tool (from the Tools panel), clicking on your Artboard and dragging and thus forming the area size of the graph. It is also possible to type in the width and height of the graph, which is useful if you want to create graphs with specific dimensions. If you decide to type in the dimensions of the graph, you should bear in mind that those dimensions are applied to the whole graph object (including labels, legend and x, y values), not just the graph chart.

Once you create this graph size and shape you will see that it's available as a single element (layer) in the Layers panel, usually with the name <Graph>. This might seem confusing at first but you'll get used to it very quickly.

The Two Faces of Illustrator Graph Functionality

Creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator is generally a straightforward task but once you get into advanced techniques of graph design, functionality can get quite annoying. You'll be surprised to discover that basic tasks like scaling and aligning are not instantly applicable on graphs.

Face 1 (Graphs as Objects)

The reason for the initial exceptional lack of functionality of the graph objects in Illustrator is that they are quite simply, 'objects'. That is to say, they are special groups of sub-elements that have a limited number of attributes the user can control. Graph objects are less flexible than usual Illustrator layers, layer elements and groups of layer elements.

Here are most of the limitations of Adobe Illustrator's graph creation functionality that are instantly noticeable:

Transform panel is not available for graph objects.
No transform controls are available for selected graph objects, thus no instant scaling or rotation is possible.
Graph objects cannot be aligned to other objects nor can other objects be aligned to them.
Two or more graph objects cannot be grouped.
It's not possible to create a clipping mask from a graph object.
A graph object cannot be transformed into a symbol.

Maybe it's not really wise to initially dig for limitations, as you may get the impression that you're left with very few things that you can actually do to graphs in Illustrator. Of course, that's the wrong impression. As noted, creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator is generally a straightforward task.

But through knowing the limitations of your tool can actually help you plan early and work smarter.

Face 2 (working with sub-elements of the Graph Object)

Illustrator Graphs have sub-elements. The sub-elements are the brightest aspect of the graph creation process in Adobe Illustrator. They are flexible and you can do all sorts of modifications to them. From repositioning, scaling, mirroring, adjusting opacity and offsetting paths to applying special effects like brush strokes, glowing edges, pixelation etc. Sub-elements are your true friends as long as you don't make further changes in the graph data!

The appearance of the following sub-elements can be modified:

lines
labels
data points
graph legends
graph shadows
value axises
columns
pieces of pie graphs

However, if you make a change in the graph data, you instantly loose the control over the sub-elements' appearance and reset it to the bare minimum – fill + stroke. Actually, you reset the appearance of sub-elements with any action that causes the graph object to regenerate. That's why, as even Adobe advises, the sub-elements in graphs should always be styled as the final design process of a graph.

What about ungrouping Illustrator graphs?

Is it possible? Absolutely. As long as you're aware that ungrouping graphs removes the possibility of further changes in the graph data. Having this firmly in mind, it is only useful to ungroup a graph object once you're sure that you won't have to revisit its "Graph Data", "Graph Type" or "Graph Design" windows.

Graph ungrouping means simultaneously an increase AND a decrease in flexibility.

Ungrouping the Graph Object means an increase in flexibility because it makes all graph sub-elements behave like usual Illustrator layers, thus unleashing the full power of layer editing in Illustrator.

It is at the same time a decrease in flexibility because it's a one-way road. After the ungrouping, the graph object turns into a group of layer elements (as funny as this sounds), and looses its touch with the special graph creation functionalities.

So, it's wise to use Adobe Illustrator for designing graphs one step at a time. First prepare graph data, than design the graph. This might seem too obvious, but it's very, very easy to get carried away in the creative process, forgetting about the two faces (before and after ungrouping) of the graph object. I know, as I have made this mistake several times.

What if you want to modify several graphs at once?

That's a very legitimate question and it deserves a decent answer.

You most certainly can select several graph objects at once, and apply various effects and transformations to them. With the help of the Group Selection tool, you can even select sub-elements from different graph objects and style them as you wish. Besides other things, you can also change the Graph Type of multiple graph objects at once.

Unfortunately, what you can't do is change graph data on more than one graph object at once. It's impossible and it's a shame. Instead of being able to change the data of 50 various graphs in an instance, you will need to do 50 separate changes (and waste valuable time).

How do Graphs Perform in Legacy Illustrator Formats?

Every incremental release of Adobe Illustrator offers options for saving working files in legacy formats. This way you can ensure that your designs will work in older versions of Adobe Illustrator.

However, even though the possibility is there, the practical value of this Illustrator feature, for graphs, is minimal.

A personal example

While preparing the final release of "The Graphs²", saving to legacy formats added extra "features" to my designs. For example, while working on a legacy AI file, after editing the graph data on a randomly chosen graph object, the graph object repositioned itself to false coordinates, and made the design appear to be broken. After testing this on other graph objects, I figured that it was a rule and not an exception. I wasn't able to get rid of this "feature" until I decided to minimize the backwards compatibility of my designs and save into Illustrator CS4 format.

Adobe does warn about the consequences of saving in legacy formats, but this is certainly a feature for Illustrator Graphs that could be improved.

What Could Adobe Improve in its Illustrator Graphs Functionality?

It would be really nice not to have to worry about loosing touch with the graph data after graph ungrouping. Why do graph objects have to be limited? In fact, why do graphs need to be generated in the form of objects? Why not serve them in the usual way – as a group of separate layers?

Perhaps Adobe should spend more time modularizing the graph creation functionality and serve them throughout the whole Creative Suite. Data visualization is important and shouldn't be treated as a gray zone, as a pending process in the development of the Creative Suite, especially not in the development of Adobe Illustrator.

Some 'would be nice to have' stuff for Illustrator graphs

In terms of flexibility and accessibility, Adobe Illustrator's graph creation functionalities are not polished at all. The main features are very obvious, but a lot of small pieces are missing for a rock solid graph creation module.

Axes: Though it might be illogical for some, why isn't there an option for generating graphs without value axes? Hiding them manually takes additional time and it's specially annoying if you need to use the "Show All" option for hidden layers, while trying to exclude the value axes from reappearing. An extra option that will allow hiding and showing of value axes is needed in the "Graph Type" window.

Shadows: Why would you implement a shadow sub-element for graph objects if you don't provide proper options to control its appearance? And, who needs rough shadows these days when ray-tracing has spoiled us like children? We need realistic shadows for graph objects in Illustrator. We need to be able to control the light angle, the dens and the opacity of the shadow, the level of softness. We need all things that you normally get when applying a "Drop Shadow" layer style on a Photoshop layer. While saying this, there are manual ways of getting smooth graph shadows, like applying "Drop Shadow" effect on sub-elements or applying "Feather" effect on the default graph shadow sub-element.

Inter-object styling: What's the point of providing styling options for graph sub-elements, when there's no freedom in choosing when to apply them. The appearance reset for graph sub-elements has to go away! Data has to be separated from presentation. We need to be able to make unlimited changes to graph data regardless of the appearance of the graph object or its sub-elements. We need to be able to change things whenever we feel like we want to, not necessarily last.

Summary of Illustrator Graph Features

Here is a summary of the most important features of graphs in Adobe Illustrator.

Graphs are special groups of sub-elements and have a limited number of attributes you can control.
You can create 9 main types of graphs in Adobe Illustrator.
You can import graph data from external files.
You can copy and paste data from spreadsheet applications into graphs in Illustrator. You need to paste the data into Object → Graph → Data window for this to work.

If you ungroup a graph you cannot make changes to its data.
You can apply all sorts of effects to the sub-elements of a graph and not so much to the graph object itself.
Graphs and symbols do not get along quite well. A graph object cannot be converted into a symbol. However, there is an option for importing symbols into graph designs.
It is possible to create graphs with custom designs (by including images and symbols), but we won't explore this in detail in this feature. Maybe you can write a great article on this topic?
You can copy and paste charts from Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc into Illustrator.
Illustrator offers excellent support for exporting graphs in SVG file format. Graph data remains editable in Illustrator, for SVG files created with Illustrator.
If you require advanced graph creation features, make friends with spreadsheet applications in famous Office suites.

Save some time along the way!

Here are a few quick tips (shortcuts) that might come in handy for beginners or may act as a reminder for advanced Illustrator users. These are all obvious things that will help you from wandering aimlessly around Illustrator menus and the workspace.

Instead of going to Object → Graphs → Data…, anytime you need to access the data of a specific graph, select the graph object and double click the Column Graph Tool icon from the Tools panel. Or, you can achieve the same by selecting the graph object, choosing "J" from the keyboard and then pressing the "Enter" key.
Right click a graph and you will find another quick way to access specific options for graph objects, including:
- Type…
- Data…
- Design…
- Column…
- Marker…
Instead of selecting graph sub-elements within isolation mode, use the Group Selection Tool to select them without isolating your view in the workspace.
Click and drag a graph while holding the "Alt" key on the keyboard, to quickly duplicate it.
Delete graph objects with "Backspace" or "Delete" from the keyboard.
If you want to create Line graphs with curved lines apply "Round Corners…" effects (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Stylize → Round Corners…) to line sub-elements.
If you want to create a Pie Graph with empty space in between pieces, apply an "Offset Path…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Path → Offset Path…) to the graph object, and a miracle happens!
If you want to create a 3D graph, apply an "Extrude & Bevel…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – 3D → Extrude & Bevel…) to the graph object. If you don't want to transform the whole graph object, apply "Extrude & Bevel…" effects to specific sub-elements you want visualized in 3D.
If you want to use "Offset Path…" effect together with "Extrude & Bevel…" on a single graph object or a single sub-element, make sure you place the offset effect below the Extrude & Bevel in the Appearance panel and you'll be fine. Otherwise you'll get the offset plane extruded also.
Don't forget to use the "Drop Shadow…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Stylize → Drop Shadow…) as a replacement to the poor shadow feature that's served by default for some graph objects.

Draw your conclusion

I used Adobe Illustrator to create "The Graps ²" and I can say it was an interesting experience. It wasn't as delightful as I would have liked it to be but it sure was challenging.

After reading the above article you may feel discouraged in using Illustrator for graph design. What I would certainly recommend is at least trying Illustrator for creating graphs. It's the only way of getting in touch with the work-flow and making a personal judgment of whether Adobe Illustrator is mature enough for your graph creation needs.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that with Adobe Illustrator you're creating vector art. Vector art can be re-sized infinitely, without any consequences in terms of graphics quality, thus can be fitted in almost any type of medium.

Breaking Down Doors: Promoting Yourself To Dream Clients

2010-09-30T06:54:00.001-04:00

There's a saying that the School of Visual Arts in New York City once used in its ads: "To be good is not enough when you dream of being great." We all have dream clients that we would like to add to our portfolio, but either we don't know how to reach them or have no idea how to even start. Promotion is not a big subject at art school, and I know way too many creatives who stare at the phone and wonder why it's not ringing.

There are many ways to promote yourself, and as with any product, you have to target your audience as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. Let's go over some problems and solutions.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the Smashing Book?]

Seek Out More Work Than You Can Handle

If you want people to know you and consider you a valuable contact, then you must promote yourself. If you look at your career as a business, then as with any business, you must promote it.

What is your brand? Let's not confuse a logo with a brand. Your logo is the visual "name" by which people identify you—your brand is how people remember you as a business. Is your brand personal? Fun? Wicked? Sweet? Choose wisely because you could be married to your brand forever and ever. Use peers and non-creatives as a sounding board. I had a brand that creatives thought was cool but clients just didn't get (which I'll write about in another therapeutic article).

Prepare your brand for all digital and social networks before hitting people with promotions. Essentials these days are a website or blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Apps (if that's your thing), business cards, stationary and envelopes—your business "front" as it were. Don't scrimp, and inkjet print your own cards. If you can't afford what you would spend in an afternoon at the pub for good business cards, then you might want to get a pony and dedicate the rest of your days to riding it.

"Welcome to Rainbow Pony World! Nowhere near Earth!"

Identify Top 100 People To Work With

You could crawl from small job to small job and make a fine career out of it… if riding ponies is your thing. But you dream of a certain caliber of work, so why not go after it?

Write a list of 100 people or companies you would like to work with. You might want to put a few people at one of those companies on your distribution list. How do you find those people? Start by researching the company. Go on LinkedIn and gather the titles of those people. If there's not enough there, click on their profiles to see who they're connected to, or use the "Also viewed" feature to stalk—er, hunt down the names you need. Use Google or a website such as Hoovers to get addresses and more information about the company.

Your city might have a book that list local companies, which could offer valuable information, as might the business section of your local paper. You have to hunt down names, network, steal, ask stray kids if their mom or dad works with designers, and take advantage of family connections (while still refusing to design that idea of your uncle's that he's been pushing at family dinners for years).

Don't forget your own network. Your friends and fellow art school alumni are becoming art directors, creative directors and creative managers, and being on good terms and staying in touch with them is important.

At this point, I hope you're at least keeping all of your contact information in a spreadsheet, because it can be uploaded to a variety of contact managers.

Get a good contact manager. Many programs are on the market, and even some native computer software will give you good contact management. Track how many times and when you have contacted someone, what they said, if you got work, if you got a referral, etc. When dealing with a client, you should be able to recall how you met, when you spoke and so on, so that they feel a bond, rather than feel like a target.

Some people prefer ACT as their contact manager. It's good, but the comments following this article will no doubt suggest more management-oriented programs (after berating my negative comments about pony-riding).

Ready, Set… What Next?

What are you selling? What contact information do you have for your top 100? What promotional material can you send them? Are you ready for a follow-up if you do speak to someone? Are you ready for me to stop asking questions and get to it already?

"The Wright Brothers could never have flown if not for the drive and spirit of innovation among aliens." (by Speider Schneider)

Even if you have print promotional material, there must be a digital component—something you can attach to an email or link to. Some people think you must have a website, and some think the WordPress platform is best… like, say, Smashing Magazine. Whatever the platform, you should have one. And please get a proper domain so that you're not advertising rainbowponyrider.wordpress.com; rainbowponyrider.com is so much nicer!

Also, avoid email@yahoo.com for your email address. While many single-person businesses use Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and (snicker) CompuServe, don't be one of them. For a few dollars, you could have a professional email address with your domain name, like name@yourbusiness.com.

Have you accumulated a ton of email addresses? Here's a fun fact from years of working in a business that depended on communications marketing statistics: only 15% of emails are opened. If you use a mass opt-out email service such as Constant Contact to reach prospects, your costs will go up as your ROI goes down even before hitting "Send." Still, it can be effective for multiple mailings during a one-month period, which is the membership period of such services.

Sending a link gives the recipient a chore. In addition to everything else they have to do, they must now go through the super-human motion of clicking on your link and waiting for your website to load. As sad as that sounds, this is now the world we know.

Snail mail. Believe it or not, what's old is new again. People use to rely on source books and mailings for promotion. In the digital age, mail has gotten lighter. Another frightening figure from the marketing statistics folks: 98% of all greeting cards are actually opened (the 2% is for envelopes with printed labels and metered postage). This approach will run you between 50¢ and $1.50 USD per card when all is said and done. You also have to do it every month, but no more than twice a month, or else it's legally stalking, and your prospects will see it that way. But people love getting cards! I'm constantly told that my cards are up on bulletin boards at companies across the globe. Well worth the money, I say.

Some online printers deliver a good product, leaving you to stuff, address and stamp the envelopes. I use an on-demand printer that comes with a contact manager and allows me to create campaigns and then do bulk mailings using my handwriting font and signature and auto-name-insertion. A few clicks and my 100 cards go off within 24 hours, leaving me with plenty of pony-riding time. Oops!

"I send postcards from vacation spots. What fun for a prospective client!" (by Speider Schneider)

Print-on-demand websites are intuitive, and you can upload images for full-bleed jobs, if you so desire. The fonts on these websites are limited, and you cannot control kerning or leading. Best to create everything in Photoshop and upload it that way.

Advertising And PR… For Free

Blog. An audience that looks to you for information and entertainment makes for good prospects. Write about your design passion. A past article of mine drew a comment from a young man who was upset about the lack of understanding between a designer and developer. There's a blog right there. With a good writing style or by linking to stories on the subject, this person could develop a great promotional tool and really serve his passion for development and respect for its practitioners.

You could turn trends, type, design, fun, foible or whatever you really love can into a really strong promotional channel.

Volunteer. Personally, I've long been fed up with volunteering, but you should give it a try because it does build character… along with anxiety issues (but that's another story). Try a local art organization or art project. Getting out there helps you meet the people you need to be meeting. I know I'm being hard on volunteering, but I've put in more than my fair share of time. Your turn.

Write for something like that "Smooshing Magazine" everyone's been talking about. Even the local paper needs articles on the design of the new town hall or coverage of the next art event. Get your name out there.

Advertising And PR… But Not So Free

Try Google Ads and the like. Michael Muratore, owner of Store44, which represents illustrators and photographers, is the most plugged-in person I know. His work with global companies and a variety of digital sources and tools force me to defer to his knowledge on the subject:

I've been a Google power user for about five years now. As an agency catering to artists and advertising agencies, we can get hundreds of emails a day. The more I used Google for my business, the more beta invitations I received. I use so many Google services on a day-to-day basis that it's a bit mind-boggling: Gmail, Voice, Docs, Analytics, Webmaster Tools… I could go on. However, in seven years of business, we have never bought Google Ads. One day, another invitation from Google arrived: "$100 in free AdWords advertising if you connect your Analytics account to a new AdWords account." A hundred bucks? Sold!
It's brilliant, actually. One hundred dollars is the perfect amount to get started, figure out how it works and experiment a little. Of course, when it's all dialed in, it's time to add more money.
The real epiphany for me came when I started managing campaigns by region. I started with the five regions that generated the most business for us: New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago and Phoenix. With region-based campaigns, I could see where our ads were most successful, based both on clicks and inquiries. As the campaign progresses and as our budget changes, so does our AdWords buying. When money is tight, the campaigns that produce the fewest results can be shut off easily, leaving the best performers a greater portion of the budget. Usually, this means New York and LA, because our most popular artists are in fashion and music.
We use this same regional system when advertising our Facebook page.
Of course, it's not just about regions. Different artists in the group have sets of keywords specific to their media and markets. When they want to promote a series of new works, we simply turn a campaign on for them to drive traffic directly to their new portfolio. We can have campaigns using general keywords to bring people to a landing page that features several artists. For those wanting to explore a variety of illustration styles, for example, they would land here: http://store44.com/illustration.html; if they were looking for something specific, like fashion editorial photography, then they would land right on the artist's page. http://store44.com/irenepena
Costs vary with campaign, clicks and keywords. Because we're paying by the click, we need to ensure that we're not getting bad traffic. We use negative keywords to try to eliminate the irrelevant traffic (words like "schools," "lessons" and "royalty-free"). We keep a base budget of $3.00 a day for a set of general keywords in our best regions. Three dollars is not much, and some keywords are very expensive to get on the front page. "Logo design" often fetches $10 per click. Having a variety of campaigns helps. I can easily adjust a particular campaign's budget if an artist wants to spend the money on traffic.

A weekly graph comparing overall traffic to AdWords traffic.

Bottom line? The AdWords campaigns bring the website's unique views from a usual 500 to 700 a month to over 1,000. When we get a call or email, I always try to find out their source. An active campaign can bring in three to five calls a month for $50 to $100 in ad spending.

The Most Difficult Thing For A Creative: Telemarketing

Cold calling is the hardest thing for anyone to do. If I hadn't worked in telemarketing as one of my various jobs to put myself through art school, I would dread cold calls. Cold calling, for those who aren't familiar with the term, is calling someone you don't know to sell them something. Sounds easy, right? It is. They are just people like you and me. They need freelancers, and you're a freelancer. If they don't need a freelancer, let them tell you so. I've been after a client for three years; they're in my top five of 100 names. I call and leave messages; I email images; I mail greeting cards with images and sales pitches. Why do I keep doing it? Because the prospect hasn't told me to stop and go away. It's sales, not dating.

The trick to telemarketing is to work from easy scripts:

Hello, Mr. Jones. My name is also Jones, and I'm a Web-developing, graphic-designing photographer. I'd like to set up an appointment at your convenience to show you my work. May I set up an appointment with you this week?

Mr. Jones will then either tell you that he is not interested, or ask you to call him the following week or set up an appointment right then and there.

Maybe you'll have to leave a message for Mr. Jones. "Hello, Mr. Jones. This is Mr. Senoj. My number is 123-4567. Please call me at your convenience."

Don't tell him why you are calling or you'll never, ever get to speak with him. Haven't hear back? Call back. After a while, it becomes a guilty pleasure because you'll wonder what they're thinking.

Look at it this way: the client I keep trying to reach probably has a great story about this persistent person who calls, emails and sends cards. I wonder if anyone has ever said, "Why don't you just talk to the guy?"

Another telemarketing ploy is called objection-response, and telemarketers make three responses before they stop asking. Have a script or two for that, too. Here's some classic objection-responses:

Objection: "I don't have time to meet."
Response: "It will only take 15 minutes, and I'll even bring coffee."
Objection: "I really don't have the time."
Response: "May I drop off a packet of my services and keep you on my mailing list?"
(They'll agree just to get rid of you. Take advantage of this by getting more information: "I don't have your current email. Would you update me on that?")
Objection: "I have all the freelancers I need right now."
Response: "I really appreciate your loyalty to your regular freelancers, which makes me want to work with you even more. I understand and wouldn't want to displace anyone, but people move on, and more work than your current pool can handle might come in. I'd like to stay in touch and see what the future holds, if you don't mind?"

Don't forget a thank-you note. A lot is at steak. (by Speider Schneider)

Out of desperation, I once told a person who had uttered those words of rejection to me that the entire pool of freelancers had choked to death. When he stopped laughing, he made an appointment and became a pretty good client. I don't recommend this approach, though.

Think of any objection you might hear, and prepare a response of a sentence or two, printed out in large type in front of you. It really helps.

By the way, the best way to get rid of a telemarketer is to tell them either that you already have the product or that there is no way you could possibly use it. They will apologize, hang up and never call you again.

Not Such Crazy Ideas

Find a mentor. Some established professionals believe they owe it to the next generation to mentor them into replacing them. We teach and write, and then you take our jobs and spit on us as we crawl for safety. You young punks! Still, we do it because it is in the natural order of things to pass on our experience to the next generation, however ungrateful it is.

Socrates had something to say about this:

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Plato had Socrates, and you should be able to find someone who takes you under their wing and introduces you to people and teaches you wonderful things. Ask a teacher for a referral, or just write someone an old-fashioned letter asking if they would be your mentor. You won't look strange, and your good manners will be appreciated, even if the person is unable to mentor you. A referral could hook you up with a terrific mentor, too.

Do work that really impresses. A friend of mine once said that if you ever take on a $200 job that should pay $2,000, do $2,000 worth of work and it will lead to a real $2,000 job. He also told me that he paid $2,000 for his house, so don't take these amounts at face value. But his point is valid. A great job, whatever the pay, might lead to a spectacular portfolio piece.

A wild imagination can come up with some crazy ideas, but think twice before acting on them. Thankfully, my infamous "time bomb" promotional piece, touting "Dynamite service with explosive results," died long before I mailed the first package, or else I'd have faced bomb scare charges and might have been writing this from prison. Be creative, but be sensible. Think of your aim: to be at the front of someone's mind when they have a job to assign. Could you send a toy that sits on their desk or a calendar they keep handy? There are some great possibilities.

Keep moving forward! Sales is the hardest thing to do. You get a burst of energy, make all your calls and then get depressed when people aren't beating down your door. It's natural. Keep up your task of calling, emailing or whatever you do on a regular basis. Do something fun to break the mood, surprise your prospect, and don't take rejection personally. A rejection today could be a job tomorrow and a repeat client further on. Just keep moving forward with the sucky part of the creative business.

(al)
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I Want To Be A Web Designer When I Grow Up

2010-09-28T07:28:00.001-04:00

Editor's Note

This article is a rebuttal of "Does The Future Of The Internet Have Room For Web Designers?," published in our "Opinion Column" section a couple of days ago. In that section, we give people in the Web design community a platform to present their opinions on issues of importance to them. Please note that the content in this series is not in any way influenced by the Smashing Magazine team. Please feel free to discuss the author's opinion in the comments section below and with your friends and colleagues. We look forward to your feedback.

— Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine

Last Thursday afternoon, I spent about 30 minutes doing a question-and-answer session over Skype with a Web design class in Colorado. I was given some example questions to think about before our session, which were all pretty standard. "Who are some of your clients?" "What do you like about your job?" "Who is your favorite designer?" I felt prepared. Halfway through the interview, a question surprised me. "So, are there any jobs in Web design?" When a teenager from a town with a population of 300 asks about job security, and the others sit up and pay attention, he's not asking out of concern for my well being. He's asking out of concern for his own future.

My response was, Yes, there absolutely are jobs in Web design. "Web design is a career that will take you far, if you're willing to work hard for it." And that's the truth.

Two days later, I go onto Smashing Magazine and see Cameron Chapman's article, "Does The Future Of The Internet Have Room For Web Designers?" and nearly choke on my cereal. After reading what amounts to an attack piece on my blog, and after corresponding with Smashing Magazine's editors, I suggested that they let me write a counterpoint. They agreed.

We're Not Web Designers

One of the biggest misconceptions about designers (and usually Web designers) is that we're just Web designers — that the scope of our skills begins with Lorem ipsum and ends with HTML emails. This is ridiculous.

Everyone in this industry fills dozens of roles throughout a given day. On a call with a prospective client, we take the role of salesperson. After the contract is sorted, we become researchers, combing through the client's outdated website, looking at analytics and identifying breakdowns and room for improvement. Soon after, we become content curators, wading through the piles of content in PDF format sent by the client, identifying what works and what doesn't.

Then we're architects, laying out content to get the most important messages across, while ensuring that everything in our layouts remains findable. We design the website itself. We manage client expectations and work through revisions. We write code. We introduce a content management system. We carefully insert and style content. We create and update the brand's presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We help to create an editorial calendar to keep content fresh and accurate. We check in on the analytics and metrics to see how the website is performing.

Notice that "design" is mentioned only once in all of that work.

You have only to look at the topics covered on websites such as Freelance Switch and Smashing Magazine to see the range of roles we fill. We're used to adapting and changing; and as the Web adapts and changes, Web designers follow suit. Just as video didn't kill the radio star, Twitter won't kill the original website.

Scrivs wrote a great article on Drawar highlighting some fallacies in the original article on Smashing Magazine. I think he sums up the "You're just a Web designer" issue well:

You can't get caught up in the term "Web designer," because if you do then you are taking away the idea that a great designer can't learn how to translate his skills to another platform. If we are designing applications that slurp content off the Internet to present to a user, then soon we will all be Internet designers. That removes the Web designer burden and changes things a bit.

Content Has Long Been The Undisputed King

Let's make something very, very clear. Good Web designers know that their job is to present content in the best way possible. Period. Bad content on a beautiful website might hold a user's interest for a few moments, but it won't translate into success for the website… unless you run CSS Zen Garden.

In her article, Cameron gets it half right when she says:

As long as the design doesn't give [the user] a headache or interfere with their ability to find what they want, they don't really care how exactly it looks like or how exactly it is working.

I agree. The user is after content, not your gradient-laden design and CSS3 hover effects. Your job is to get them there as painlessly as possible. At the same time, great design can enhance content and take a website to the next level. Great design not only gives a website credibility, but it can lead to a better experience. Mediocre design and great content lose out every time to great design and great content. It just makes for a better overall experience, where content and design both play a role.

Kristina Halvorson, habitual content supporter, giving one of her famous content workshops. (Photo: Warren Parsons)Image credit

You Can Always Go Home

Cameron makes the argument that feeds are taking over the Web and that, eventually, companies will just use them to communicate with customers.

The idea to simply rely on facebook.com/companyname instead of running an independent website where content originates and filters out simply won't take with companies. Companies will always need a "home base" for their content. The change will be in the media through which healthy content filters out (such as Facebook, Twitter and RSS).

Scrivs makes this point in his Drawar article:

In essence, what is happening is that sites have to realize that their content is going to be accessed a number of different ways, and if they don't start to take control of the experience then someone else will. RSS didn't kill website traffic or revenues because there are some things you simply can't experience through an RSS feed Just because how we consume content is starting to change doesn't mean that design itself is being marginalized.

Content isn't just about press releases and text either. Ford would never give up ford.com for content in a variety of feeds and aggregators. Ford.com lets you build a car: where's the feed or application for that? Ford's entire business depends on the functionality of its website. Its Web team has worked hard to create an inviting user experience, unique to the brand's goals and issues. No company wanting to preserve its brand or corporate identity would give up its main channel of communication and branding for random feeds sprinkled across the Web.

In the same vein, no company would suddenly give up its carefully crafted creative and regress to a template. Templates have been around for years, and no company with any kind of budget would use a $49 packaged solution from Monster Template if it can afford to pay someone to address its particular needs and mold a website to its content. A template doesn't take needs or goals into account when content is pasted in. A good designer makes choices that a $49 template won't make for you.

Cameron talks about how businesses will gravitate to standard templates and away from hiring designers:

Companies won't see the point in hiring someone to create an entirely bespoke website when they can just use a template and then feed all their content to Google and Facebook and Twitter.

Web designers don't just add borders to buttons and colors to headlines. Web design is as much about problem-solving as anything else. And part of the puzzle is figuring out how best to deliver and promote content. Not everyone has the same issues.

JulesLt lays out this argument in the comments:

[…] But I don't think any business that would previously have actually employed a designer to create their web presence, brand, will shift over to a standard template. For most businesses, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter may be alternative channels to reach their customers, but they don't want their brand subsumed into someone else's. […] The right way to do this is to build a re-usable core, but understand the differences between platforms — and make sure your clients understand any trade-offs.

Nick adds to this argument about templates:

Templates have no business in a world where personalization trumps everything else. Prospective clients are going to a website not just for content, but for the experience that the brand is willing to offer. Not to mention that if you're in the business of selling yourself, a high profile custom website speaks volumes about your dedication to your chosen niche market.

Andrei Gonzales eloquently sums up the difference between Web design and decoration:

Design isn't about eye-candy. It's about problem-solving. If your Web "design" isn't solving quantifiable issues, then it isn't design: it's "decoration."

And moreover, we're already in Cameron's bleak future scenario where web designers should be a thing of the past. Companies today can buy a template and feed their content to whoever they so please. And yet, they aren't. When the designer created that template eight months ago, he didn't know that their business was having trouble marketing to middle-aged women. That designer didn't know they're a family-owned business in a market where that kind of thing leads to improved revenue and sales. How could he? He's Andrei's decorator, solving the issues between lorem upsum and dolor sit.

In Conclusion

Web design has changed drastically during its brief existence. The changes in the medium year after year are actually quite amazing. The industry looks vastly different than it did in 2005, and we've changed with it. Change is inevitable, and it is the reason you visit websites like this one: to stay current. That hunger is the key to ensuring the survival of our industry.

The bottom line? Web design is a secure and growing job market. Two sources that are something of authorities on jobs and Web design agree on this point. The United States Department of Labor predicts that positions for graphic designers will increase 13% from 2008 to 2018, with over 36,000 new jobs being added. It also states that "individuals with Web site design […] will have the best opportunities."

And in the 2008 A List Apart Survey For People Who Make Websites, 93.5% of respondents said they were at least fairly confident about their job security.

I'll sleep well tonight knowing that the industry I love isn't going the way of the dodo… and that I didn't lie to a class full of eager young designers in Colorado.

(al)
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Bounding box handles in Illustrator

2010-09-28T07:27:00.001-04:00

As most of you probably know, you can easily resize an object in Illustrator using the bounding box handles. It's a fast and effective way, but when you are resizing an object that has a stroke applied to it, the handles appear in the middle of the stroke. For precision work this can be annoying. A better way would be if they appear at the outside border of the stroke instead.

Seek and you will find…

The above image shows the default bounding box handles.

To change this to the outside border of the stroke, go to the Illustrator menu and choose Preferences > General. There you check Use Preview Bounds and click OK.

Now you have the bounding box handles at the outside of the stroke, which makes it easier for precise resizing. Changing this also affects the width and height info in the option bar and the X and Y coordinates.

Reset Bounding box

Another short tip is, that you can reset the bounding box via Object > Transform > Reset Bounding Box. This can be handy in situations where you end up with a bounding box that is really hard or impossible to work with.

Here is an example…

You've created a triangle shape by first drawing square, rotate it 45° using shift, and then you remove the bottom anchor point with the Pen tool, as shown in the different steps in the 2 images below. In this situation, resetting the bounding box is really welcome.

These are small tips, and maybe you've known them already, but in case you didn't I hope you find them useful.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/veerlesblog/~3/JQbb9wP6LuI/bounding_box_handles_in_illustrator

Ferrum College Lead Designer/Web Manager

2010-09-28T07:15:00.000-04:00

Ferrum College has an immediate opening for a Lead Designer/Web Manager in the Public Relations Department. This individual will be responsible for college-wide design services to present a professional and consistent look and feel to all design/PR materials and publications including, but not limited to, Ferrum Magazine, brochures, posters, postcards, and advertisements. In addition, this person will devote an equal or greater amount of time overseeing the relationship between the college and the website hosting service. This person will have responsibility for working in support of the campus community with respect to the website’s content management system. Knowledge of web design, SEO and social media required. This person will also be responsible for some campus photography and videography and will help facilitate/manage the campus’ mass-notification system in the event of campus emergencies.

We offer a competitive compensation package including medical, dental, life, STD/LTD insurances, paid holidays, personal and sick leave, vacation, and a 403(b) retirement plan. Interested candidates should submit a resume, cover letter, and references to Human Resources, Ferrum College, P.O. Box 1000, Ferrum, VA 24088 or e-mail to resumes@ferrum.edu.
Background check required. Application deadline is by October 4th.

Ferrum College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Incredibly Realistic Illustration Portraits

2010-09-14T06:31:00.001-04:00

This is something that makes my jaw drop easily. Every week I search for kick butt illustrations, and I think I'm pretty successful finding awesome stuff, but it's been a really long time I don't see illustrations this real.

Made by various artists these are some of the top illustrations you'll find in DeviantART. We're talking about ultra-realistic illustration here. Of course I love a more loose approach, but this is something in a whole new level (like the girl pointing by Josiel Souza)... and I sure dig it. I know you do too, right? So, for more of these amazing artists' work, you may check out their portfolio by clicking each image. They'll appreciate your visit. Hope you enjoy these. Cheers! ;)

Jordi Joruji

Suzanne van Pelt

June Hardee

Innes McDougall

Dave G.

Hoang Minh Le

Suzanne van Pelt

Jordi Joruji

Josiel Souza

Anastasja Erlenda Irma Y

Josiel Souza

Jordi Joruji

About the author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo Gabriel, a 26 year old designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil. I have worked as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobbie for me since 1999. Here in Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! For more cool stuff, you may also follow me on Twitter.

Great photo manipulation tutorials

2010-09-08T00:14:00.000-04:00

How to Apply Textures to Uneven Surfaces by James Davies

Create frozen liquid effects by Sergio Vichique

Create a Magical Flaming Heart Illustration in Photoshop by zee7

More tutorials here!

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Typographic Sins

2010-09-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

It took three years to Jim Godfrey to realize his dream. A poster printing press (we're talking about real printing press, not digital) to explain to students of graphic design, but also a designer and art director more or less professional, what are the sins of a graph. For the record the thirty typographical sins, venial not all, who has a minimum of familiarity with English and the printing of very fun to read.
Unfortunately the original poster, well printed and produced by Rowley Press is no longer available, but you can download the PDF here.
Grafic designer! Repent!

All sins and photos can be found here…ù

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/akilrFm8490/

Fight The System: Battling Bureaucracy

2010-09-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

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 my days working alongside battle-weary internal teams.

Web designer trying to hang himself.

It's hardly surprising that most in-house teams are worn down and depressed. They face almost insurmountable challenges:

Departmental feuds
Too often, a website becomes a battleground for pre-existing departmental conflicts. Political power plays can manifest themselves in fights over home page real estate or conflicts over website ownership. After all, is the website an IT function or a marketing tool?
Uninformed decision-makers
Rarely does an internal Web team have the authority to make final decisions on a website. Instead decision-making happens higher up in the organization. Unfortunately, although these individuals have more authority, they do not have greater knowledge of the Web. Decision-making is often based more on personal opinion than the needs of users or business objectives.
Committees
Committees are the curse of larger organizations. The bigger the organization, the more the number of people who want their say, and that leads to committees. Unfortunately, committees inevitably lead to compromise and design-on-the-fly. Both are the kiss of death to any Web project.
An inward perspective
Becoming institutionalized is very easy in a large organization. Eventually you speak an internal language and think in terms of organizational structure. This proves problematic when communicating to end users. Not only do most large organizations have their own internal perspective of the world, some individuals even think departmentally, further aggravating departmental conflict.
Endless scope creep
When an in-house Web team is constantly available, calling on their help is easy. This is both a benefit and a curse. The truth is that many Web teams are taken for granted, and websites that should never exist are built and launched because there are no constraints. Worse still, good projects can be drowned as "internal clients" keep demanding additional functionality that the Web team cannot block.
Problem people
The bigger the organization, the higher the chance they will hire a jerk. If you work for a large organization, I can pretty much guarantee you have someone in mind as you read this. These people can really hinder the work of the Web team and prevent a website from reaching its full potential.
Glacially slow progress
With endless red tape and painful committees, getting stuff done in a large institution can be nearly impossible. It is not unusual for projects to grind to a halt entirely because they become dependant on other systems or projects yet to be implemented. I have even seen something as simple as the roll-out of a content management system take years to implement.

With the odds stacked so high against them, I am surprised in-house Web teams get anything done at all. Their success depends as much on their ability to navigate politics and bureaucracy as it does on their skills as designers and developers.

But do not despair. I can tell you from the over-subscription to workshops I have run on the subject that you are not alone. This is a universal problem and one that can be overcome, as I will outline in this post.

Our Web design agency specializes in complex projects. During my time there, I have developed certain techniques that will hopefully help others keep their Web projects moving.

Let's look at four areas in particular:

Improving how your team is perceived within your organization,
Overcoming politics and problem people,
Ensuring that a project gets approval from the powers that be,
Delivering work within scope and on time.

Let's begin by addressing how Web teams are perceived.

[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]

Improving How Your Team Is Perceived

In too many organizations, the Web team is considered the lowest of the low. It looks like something straight out of The IT Crowd.

This is all the more bizarre considering that websites themselves are perceived as being important. Somehow there is a disconnect between those who produce websites and the websites themselves.

This poor attitude toward Web teams boils down to two beliefs:

The Web team is a road block that needs to be detoured.
Many large organizations find themselves frustrated by their internal Web teams, seeing them as people who constantly block their more "imaginative" ideas and set restrictions on what they can and cannot do online.
Web team members are implementers, not experts.
Management perceives Web team members as "techies," there to implement the ideas of others. They are in no way perceived as experts who are capable of advising on strategy.

Fortunately, much can be done to overcome these beliefs. For a start, improve your communication skills.

A disturbingly cheerful Web designer.

Communicate Better

Most internal Web teams are terrible at selling themselves. If they were a Web agency, they would be out of business in a few weeks. Perhaps that is their reason for working in-house. But despite what you may think, most internal Web teams could desperately do with communicating and selling better.

To overcome the negative impressions people have of your team, you need to actively promote yourself and the work you do.

Here are just a few ideas to try:

Hold launch events.
When was the last time you celebrated the launch of a new feature or the redesign of your website? Holding a launch party is a great way to shout about your successes, and it's fun, too. Email colleagues, telling them how excited you are about the completion of your latest project, and invite them to celebrate with you. Everyone loves free food, and it's a great chance to show off your work.
Publish a monthly newsletter.
How will anybody know about the great work you do if you don't tell them? One way to do this is through a monthly newsletter that features work you have been doing and cool stuff happening online. This is a great way to both increase your profile and educate people on the power of the Web.
Report successes to management.
Management needs to be regularly informed on traffic levels, dwell time and conversion rates. If you don't have any calls to action to track conversion, get some. If you have no way to measure success, then the team is simply a drain on resources. Demonstrate that you generate income, rather than just spend it.
Offer training courses and workshops.
Part of your role as in-house Web team should be to educate those in the organization about the Web. I'm talking not just about technical training on using the CMS, but rather more general training about the Web and how it can benefit your business. Sessions like this not only educate internal stakeholders, but also increase your credibility and establish you as the expert.
Hold regular meetings with website stakeholders.
Set up regular meetings with those who most often use the website. Talk to people such as the head of marketing, sales and IT. Meet with front-line staff who answer customer support queries or those who work with suppliers. These meetings build relationships across the organization and demonstrate that the Web team is always looking for ways to help the business.

By improving communication within your organization, you significantly improve the perceived value of your team.

Create Value

There can be little doubt that internal Web teams are undervalued. As an external consultant, if I say exactly the same thing to management as the Web team, management will listen to me and ignore its own people. This is largely because as an external consultant, the cost of my advice is more evident. They listen to me because they are paying me in a very visible way.

Of course, they are paying as much (if not more) for their internal Web team. But that cost is not as evident and so is not valued as highly. The way to increase the value of your team is to make that cost more visible.

People are less likely to ignore your advice or waste your time if they are obviously paying for your advice or time. The way to establish this kind of value is to cross-charge for your work between departments. Have an internal charge-out rate based on salary, infrastructure, training, etc., and then price any new work coming into the department based on that rate.

This not only makes your value obvious, it also makes "internal clients" think twice before asking you to build some ill-conceived project just because you're "free." Nothing will change perception more than making them pay for your time.

Man holding a briefcase of money saying nothing is free, not even your internal Web team.

Of course, you might not be in a position to cross-charge. But that doesn't mean you can't go through the process of setting rates and costing projects. When you receive a request for work, respond with a breakdown of tasks, how long it will take and how much it will cost the company based on your charge-out rate.

While not as compelling as charging for work, it still drives home the point that your time is valuable. It might also make them think twice before suggesting a project, especially if they know that pricing will be included in your report to management.

Finally, keep track of the time you actually spend on projects. This will help with scope creep (see below) and show management how efficient you are.

Of course, cross-charging can be perceived as another blocking tactic, reinforcing people's negative opinion of your team. Therefore, balance this with a positive and helpful approach…

Be Positive

No offence, but most of the in-house Web professionals I meet are a miserable lot. Okay, that was probably offensive. Still, it shouldn't come as a surprise. With so much negativity aimed at Web teams, some of it is bound to rub off on them. It is up to you to keep the website on course, and that involves telling people "No" or putting constraints on what they can do. The problem is that this damages relationships and eventually forces people to bypass you, often by outsourcing to agencies such as mine!

However, you don't need to say no to people or even constrain them with rules. Take my situation, for example. When clients pay me, I don't have the luxury of saying no. I have to be Mr. Positive, or they'll just find someone else.

The next time someone asks you to implement a stupid idea on the website, try to be positive. Praise positive aspects of the idea (if there are any), and encourage the "client" to explain their thinking behind the rest. Often you will find something workable in the idea.

Even when the idea has no redeeming feature, there is still no need for you to say no. Instead, explain the probable consequences of the idea to the client, and guide them to the point that they reject it themselves. The problem with "No" is that it is a dead end. It leads only to confrontation. By focusing on the positive and educating the client on the consequences of their suggestion, you create an open and honest conversation.

The process of educating the client on the potential pitfalls of their suggestion also demonstrates your expertise…

Become the Expert

The ultimate aim of improving your reputation is to establish yourself as an expert. If people see you in that way, then they will listen to your opinions and follow your advice. But if your reputation is already damaged, coming to be seen as the expert is hard.

One way to be perceived as an expert is by association. This comes in two forms: referring to another expert or having an expert refer to you.

Referring to an expert is easy. If you have no credibility in the eyes of internal stakeholders, borrow the credibility of others. For example, the next time a client asks you to put all content above the fold, don't just tut and say that it's a stupid idea. Instead, refer to a study on the subject, such as one of the several by Jacob Nielsen. This lends weight to your argument and demonstrates that you are well read on the subject.

The second approach is to get an expert to back you up. Essentially, this is the very reason why I am hired by many Web teams. I am brought in to reinforce the arguments they have been making all along. Because I am perceived as an expert and support what the Web team says, I add creditability to the team and increase their expertise in the eyes of management. It's ridiculous, but it works.

Web designer suggesting a better way of working.

Finally, don't try too hard. A true expert demonstrates their knowledge but is not afraid to admit their limitations. They are confident enough to challenge wrong thinking, but not arrogant or aggressive. I speak with too many in-house Web developers who come across as sneering and condescending because they believe they are above everyone else.

While improving your reputation will go a long way to pushing your projects forward, it is not the only hurdle to overcome. No matter how respected you are, there will always be those with agendas that interfere with the smooth running of your website…

Overcoming Politics And Problem People

Politics are unavoidable in large organizations, and yet most of us consider ourselves above them. We claim not to play politics, and we moan about those who we perceive do. But in reality, we all do it. We all have an agenda and want our point of view to be taken seriously. To believe otherwise is naive.

Ultimately, having a holier-than-thou attitude to internal politics is damaging. If you refuse to deal with those who play politics and avoid pushing your own agenda, you will only damage the website.

To get things done in a large organization, don't shy away from playing the political game. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

While we're citing aphorisms, another one is, keep your friends close…

… But Your Enemies Closer

One of the biggest mistakes people make with problem people is avoiding them. A far better strategy is to keep them close. The problem with avoiding your "enemies" is that you are entrenching their position. If they know you are hostile towards them (and trust me, they'll know), then they'll become even more hostile towards you. Eventually, the arms race of hostility will get out of control.

A better approach is to keep talking. Meet with them regularly. Ask them what they want from the website? Look for ways to build bridges. Listen to what they say.

Some individuals only want their voice to be heard. As long as you listen and make them feel important, they'll go away happy. Also, let them win whenever possible. It may dent your pride, but that is a small price to pay for winning the war.

A client refuses to sign off a design.

On the topic of war…

Avoid Confrontation

When I suggest that you meet with problem people regularly, I'm not setting the scene for a monthly showdown. In fact, avoid confrontation whenever possible, especially when other people are around. No one wants to lose face in front of their peers, which is why people become entrenched in their views in group settings.

Instead, use the tactics I spoke of in relation to being positive. Use the question "Why" as a way to encourage people to think through their position. Encourage positive contributions with praise, and explain their consequences in the gentlest language possible.

Finally, when you are criticized in a group setting (such as a committee meeting or group email), take a long deep breath before deciding whether to respond.

In my experience, there is little point in becoming defensive or, worse, retaliating. Most of the time I don't say anything at all. It's amazing how often someone else will leap to your defence if given the chance. Better that they say how great you are than saying so yourself!

Of course, it should never come to that, especially if you learn to empathize with problem people…

Learn to Empathize

As Web professionals, we pride ourselves on our ability to empathize. We go to great lengths to get into the heads of our users and understand what they want to achieve and how to motivate them. We have become experts at nudging users towards the goals we want them to complete.

Interesting, then, that we totally fail to demonstrate this ability with our colleagues. Instead, we often dismiss them as stupid or "not getting it." This kind of narrow-minded attitude causes many of the problems we encounter. Take the time to really understand your colleagues. What makes them tick? What problems do they face in their jobs that the Web could solve? What pet subjects could we use to nudge them in the right direction?

If we tried to empathize with our colleagues and understand their psychology, we would find internal politics much less painful.

A Web designer talking to a client about his problems.

Stay tuned for the second part

The second part of this article will be published soon here, at Smashing Magazine. Please stay tuned for our updates: subscribe to our RSS-feed and follow us on Twitter.

You can also check Paul's workshop that he ran on the topic of this article.

via

JQuery (In Comparison To Flash)

2010-09-06T11:34:00.000-04:00

JQuery is a framework for JavaScript which was released in 2006. The whole framework was developed by John Resig, an American Resident, Currently working with Mozilla Corporation as a JavaScript Tool Developer. Although there are many other JavaScript frameworks jQuery has been proven best in all the frameworks. The other frameworks like MooTools, Spry, midori, qooxdoo also allow you to manipulate the client side HTML content, but jQuery became very popular among all these because of its flexibility, easy coding standards and ability to deliver robust outcomes.

In simple language jQuery makes the tasks done by JavaScripts easy, fast and understanding. One can manipulate css, content, images, HTML attributes and even the server side data by implementation of Ajax with jQuery.

Before jQuery whenever it came to animation or sliding, the only thing that came into everyone's mind was Flash. But after jQuery one is totally ignoring using flash wherever possible. The main reason behind this is not that jQuery is the best over flash, but the implementation of jQuery over flash is better, easy and quick. Whenever one needs to place any flash content in their website, the client browser must be supportive to show the content of the flash. i.e. A Flash player is always needed. Now as the flash player is needed, what happens is that the control for that content is given to the flash player by the browser and hence the third party comes into existence costing the speed of the website. So if the browser is not fully able to load the content of a web page by its own, and requires some other application to show some part of the page, it will definitely take more time to load the page. And what about the users who do not have flash player in their browser at all? They will first need to download it as an add-on and then will be able to serf the page fully, which definitely lessens the interest of the visitor.

Where as in jQuery every kind of animations is possible as the Flash gives and need not the third party application to load or run a code and content. Because every browser introduced till date in this world supports JavaScript, also supports jQuery, remember – jQuery is the framework for JavaScript. Look, how easy it is! One more benefit of jQuery over Flash is that any naïve developer or programmer can easily handle it with little sweat, but Flash is not any Tom-Dick-&-Harry's cup of tea. Hence, the ultimate benefit of jQuery is less men power as the developer himself can create the animation and scripting. To use jQuery is also very simple, one just need to add only a single file called jquery.js (jQuery Library) and little code in the HTML page where the magic is to be done. jQuery provides slider, menu bar, image rotation, image fading, text animation, interaction between client side and server side data, and whatever you can think of.

That's the reason you would see the jQuery more and flash less in the recent websites. Flash is totally becoming or I can say became obsolete from the world of Web. Now one would prefer Flash only they have a special requirement of the need of the action scripts. Other than this don't expect the anymore use of the Flash in the websites now a days.

Few advantages of jQuery over flash are:

1) jQuery is compatible with every browsers.

2) jQuery is also compatible with iPhone, iPad, cell phones etc. which Flash is not.

3) jQuery is very less in size and on jQuery can create as many animations and sliding and other effects. But in the case of Flash you will need individual flash files for every animations and sliding.

4) jQuery is a freeware, whereas if someone wants to develop something in Flash they would need to purchase a Flash Development Suite.

5) Flash files are always large in size. Where jQuery file is less than 60kb in size.

6) Flash always need the upmost skill to create even a single simple stuff, but it jQuery any one little familiar with HTML and JavaScript can easily create anything.

These are very few, but the list is very long. There is only two disadvantages of jQuery over Flash are there

1) jQuery does not give high 3D effects and,

2) JavaScript can be disabled from the browser which will disable jQuery too.

Few examples of the jQuery artwork like flash are given below:

1) http://webdesignledger.com/tutorials/13-excellent-jquery-animation-techniques

2) http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/web-development/jquery-animation-tutorials/

3) http://www.queness.com/post/1942/10-stunning-examples-of-jquery-animations

http://designreviver.com/articles/jquery-in-comparison-to-flash/

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How to Create Pepsi Can in Photoshop

2010-09-01T23:59:00.000-04:00

In our tutorial, we'll be creating a shiny Pepsi can. For it to be convincingly realistic, a number of Layer Styles such as Gradients, Inner Shadows and Glows would be applied to a flat can shaped image.The resulting effect would be a 3D-like Pepsi can.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 750 x 850 pixels, a resolution of 140 dpi and a white background. Head on to the Tools bar and pick the Pen Tool (P), then outline a shape of a can as shown below. You may want to enable Grids (pressing Ctrl+'), as guidelines as well. Also, an actual Pepsi can was used as reference for the most part of the tutorial.

The final outline:

Step 2

Right-click the can's path and select Fill Path to add colour to the shape. I must add that, what the colour is, doesn't matter at this point since we'll be applying Layer Styles with a new set of colour.
The path has to be filled for Layer Styles to work or the layer would be indicated as empty.

Clear the path of the can shape with the Marquee Tool (M), by making a selection around the can and hitting Delete. Pressing Ctrl+D clears the selection. Duplicate this "can" layer for use later.

Step 3

Now, double-click on the "can" layer to bring up the Layer Style dialog box.
Select a Gradient Layer Style and edit its Gradient and Style (select Reflected) as shown below:

Step 4

Add an Inner Shadow Layer Style as well:

The final result for the "can" layer below:

Step 5

Select the "can copy" layer duplicated earlier on and below the Layers Palette, click on the third icon from the left for a Layer Mask. Select a Soft Round black brush with an opacity of 80% and paint away some of the mask of the 'can' duplicate.To get straight lines when painting, hold the shift key when painting downwards. Also reduce the opacity of the brush when fading/erasing the central section of the mask.

Step 6

To better blend the reflection we're trying to create, go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 4.0 pixels. And we get the result below:

Step 7

Create a new layer and name it "base." We'll now sketch out the base of the can with the Pen Tool as its been done below:

Step 8

From the options within the Pen Tool, select the add Anchor Point Tool and add more points to the outline and adjust them with your mouse or directional keys on the keyboard until the lines are
acceptably smooth.

Below is the final outline:

Step 9

Right-click within the outline (with the Pen or Anchor Point Tool still Selected), and select Fill Path for as ash colour to fill the base with. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection over the base and hit Delete to clear the base's outline. Press Ctrl+D to clear the selection.

We have the result below:

Step 10

In a new layer above the "base" layer, draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (U) and fill with an ash colour – #e8eaeb.

Step 11

We'll create a brushed metal effect here with this popular technique. Go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise and set the Amount 32.5%. Also have Monochromatic checked.

Step 12

Head on to Filter> Blur> Motion Blur and increase its Distance to 70 pixels.

Step 13

Hit Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Right-click, select the Warp Tool and bend the just slightly the rectangle.

Step 14

Right-click the layer and select the 'Create Clipping Mask' to clip the layer to th "base" layer. Also hit Ctrl+E to merge the two layers as one. The layer should still maintain the name as "base."

Step 15

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style with the parameters below:

Step 16

Follow up with an Inner Shadow style:

Step 17

Still on the Inner Shadow Layer Style dialog box, select Contour and adjust the points of its Mapping as shown below:

Step 18

Add a Satin style and reduce its opacity to 18%, Distance to 15% and Size to 25%.

Step 19

Adjust the Satin's Contour Mapping to something of a slope.

Now we have a realistic looking metallic base for the can. Though the
steps used to achieve this was a bit tricky execute.

Step 20

In a new layer, select a Rounded Rectangle Tool with its Radius set to 5px on the tool's Options bar. Fill the shape with the colour #e8eaeb and clear its outline with the Marquee Tool.

Step 21

Follow Steps 11 and 12 for a brushed metal effect for the "rim" layer.

Step 22

Press Ctrl+T for the Free Transform tool – the Warp Tool to be precised. Bend the rim of our can just a little upwards from the points (handles).

Step 23

For a more polished metal look, burn and lighten the areas of the rim with the Burn and Dodge Tools (O) respectively.

The result produces a shiny metal appearance.

Step 24

We'll also add an Inner Glow Layer Style to the rim as this gives the rim a softer edges without fading.

Step 25

I downloaded a Pepsi logo and positioned it at the middle of the can with the help of Guides. Just enable them by pressing Ctrl+R and with the Move Tool (M), hold and drag the margins (rulers)of the workspace to align the Guides that appear from them.

Step 26

Position the Pepsi Logo within the set Guides. That done, press Ctrl+; to clear the Guides and Ctrl+R to remove the rulers.

Step 27

The logo mustn't be perfectly round and so the Warp Tool (Ctrl+T) would be used to narrow its sides just a little. The aim of this to make the logo appear as if its bent over the curves of the can.

The result:

Step 28

With the Burn Tool (Range set to highlights and Exposure at 25%), darken the sides of the logo.

The logo now blends with the darker shades of the can.

Step 29

For the "text" layer use the Horizontal Type Tool (T), to type out the letters below. But before then, on the Type Tool Options bar, change the font to Myriad Web Pro and the foreground color on the Tools bar to white.

Step 30

This font was chosen because, it came closest in replicating Pepsi's. Anyway, hit the Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and scale the text downwards only just slightly.

Step 31

With the Rectangle Tool (for a new layer), draw and fill a small vertical rectangles with white.

Step 32

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to clip off a part of the "o" letter and clear the selection (Ctrl+D).

Step 33

Draw another small rectangle across the "o" for an "e".

Step 34

Pressing Ctrl+T for the Free Transform Tool, more specifically, the Warp Tool, change the Warp type from Custom to Flag and its Bend to 30% at the Warp Tool's Options bar. The "e" is given the signature shape of the original Pepsi logo.

Step 35

Right-click within the Warp and select Flip Horizontal to change the orientation of the Flag Warp to the way of how the original logo is.

Step 36

Before merging all these shapes with the text, the text must be rasterized by heading to Layer> Rasterize > Type. Then press Ctrl+E to merge the shapes the "text" layer. And With the Free Transform Tool, rotate and scale the text for a flatter look.

Step 37

Still within the Transform mode, have the text Skewed. That is, slanted forward on its axis.

Step 38

Select the Burn Tool, with an Exposure of 10% and darken the lower plane of the text.

Step 39

Type out the weight figures of the can in a new layer.

Step 40

Have the text slanted with the Skew Transform Tool.

Below is the final result:

Step 41

Create a new layer in between the "logo" and "rim" layers. Fill the layer with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and then go to Filter> Pixelate> Mezzotint. Select the Type as Fine dots from the drop-down list.

Step 42

Add a Motion Blur with a Distance of about 230 pixels.

Step 43

From the Layers Palette, set the Blend Mode to Color Burn and reduce the layer's opacity to about 45%. You'll notice that the Blend effects does not show on the white areas of the image.

Step 44

Use the Warp Transform Tool to bend the 'brushed' effects so as to give the can a more rounded appearance.

The can now has a convincing brushed metal appearance.

Step 45

To make the brushed metal look not too distinctive, use the Eraser Tool (E) with a reduced opacity of 5% and carefully fade some portions of the brushed effects – do not erase completely.

The result:

Step 46

Now to create a couple shiny portions of the can at selected areas. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and on its Options bar, choose 'Add to selection' to create multiple selections (in this case, flat
circular shapes).

Step 47

Fill the selection with white using the Paint Bucket Tool and deselect the selection. Select the Smudge Tool at Strength of 50% and smear the white thinly across the can.

Step 48

Use the Eraser Tool to fade edges of the smudge.

Step 49

Create a new layer as the background layer and fill it with any colour; as the colour doesn't matter for now. Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style to the layer with the parameters below:

You'll notice that the previous effects from Step 43 shows
through now and this is a good thing.

Step 50

Erase certain areas of the background layer with the Eraser Tool's opacity set at 80%.

Step 51

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer with a Blur Radius of about 72.2 pixels.

Our Pepsi can now has an enhanced background. Something you'll associate with an Ad for a product in a magazine.

Step 52

We'll now fade the brushed metal effect at some points with the Eraser Tool.

Step 53

Create a "shadow1″ layer and select the Ellipse Tool to draw a flat circle. Fill it with black.

Step 54

Add a Gaussian Blur to the shape with a Radius of about 8.7 pixels.

Step 55

In another layer, draw another circle and fill with a black colour.

Step 56

Blur this circle a lot more than the previous one. This time with the Blur Radius set at 33.5 pixels.

This is the order of the layers so far in the Palette.

Step 57

Create a new layer at the top of the Layers Palette and name it "gloss." Select a white Soft brush and paint the on both sides of the can – hold down the Shift key to constrain your brush stroke to a straight line.

Step 58

Set the "gloss" layer's Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 76%.

Here another image with the "gloss" layer's Blend mode changed to Overlay. I sort of like this blend for it give the Pepsi can a lot more radiance that corresponds with the intense light from the background. Well, we'll stick with the above image – if you prefer.

Step 59

Finally, darken the both ends of the base of the Pepsi can with the Burn Tool for a more solid look. And we're are through! Hope this kick-starts some fella's career in the brand marketing field.

By David Ella Ella

http://designreviver.com/tutorials/how-to-create-pepsi-can-in-photoshop/

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Three Kick-Ass Web Developer Tutorials

2010-08-26T06:42:00.001-04:00

Sometimes to get your development juices flowing you just need a meaty project or an in-depth tutorial that you can sink your teeth into and lose yourself for a few hours in coding bliss. And that's what we have for you today, three tutorials that will satisfy your code craving! They are not only roll-up-your-sleeves and put-on-a-pot-of-coffee good but they will also introduce you to some of the latest CSS3, HTML5 and jQuery techniques.

A jQuery, CSS3 & HTML5 Hover-Based Interface

In this awesome tutorial you will learn how to create a useful hover-based user interface using jQuery, CSS3, HTML5 and @font-face. The project you'll be creating could easily be used for a portfolio or business site and the concepts you'll learn could certainly be used to expand the idea further.
A jQuery, CSS3 & HTML5 Hover-Based Interface

Dynamic FAQ Section w/ jQuery, YQL & Google Docs

In this tutorial, you will build a dynamic FAQ section. The script, with the help of jQuery & YQL, will pull the contents of a shared spreadsheet in your Google Docs account, and use the data to populate the FAQ section with questions and answers.
Dynamic FAQ Section w/ jQuery, YQL & Google Docs

How to easily create charts using jQuery and HTML5

For years, Flash was the only solution to display a dynamic chart on a website. But thanks to modern techniques, the dying Flash isn't needed anymore. In this tutorial,you'll be shown how easy it is to transform a basic HTML table into a profesionnal looking chart using visualize.js, a very useful jQuery plugin.
How to easily create charts using jQuery and HTML5

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

http://designreviver.com/tutorials/three-kick-ass-web-developer-tutorials/

Simple Roy Lichtenstein Style in Illustrator and Photoshop

2010-08-23T09:29:00.000-04:00

I have been playing with the Halftone filter in Photoshop for the past few weeks and trying different things we can do with it. I also discover the Width Tool in Illustrator CS 5 and it was a great surprise because now we have much more freedom when playing with strokes. So with these two things in mind I decided that I had to create an image using them, and then the idea of a design inspired in Roy Lichtenstein.

There are quite a few tutorials showing how to create this type of image, but I decided to try it myself. I haven't checked any tutorial because I wanted to play with the tools, so the technique might be the same as other tutorials but I really don't know. Besides I think a tutorial on Roy's style is always a great add to the tutorials section of Abduzeedo.

Roy Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was a prominent American pop artist. His work was heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the comic book style. He himself described pop art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting". - Wikipedia

Step 1

Let's start the tutorial in Illustrator. Open Illustrator and import the photo you will apply the effect. The one I'm using is courtesy of Shutterstock and you can find it here.

Step 2

In Illustrator, select the Pencil Tool (N) and start drawing over the photo using it as references. I started off with the eyes. I also use the Ellipse Tool (L) for the pupils.

Step 3

Keep drawing with the Pencil Tool (N) and with the Pencil Tool (P) when you need more precision, however it doesn't need to be super perfect.

Step 4

With the Pencil Tool (N) create the contour of her hair.

Step 5

Stll with the Pencil Tool (N) add some details for her hair.

Step 6

Here I have all the vector elements I drew to create the girl. You can add more if you want, it will depend on the photo you are using.

Step 9

Get rid of the photo and start playing with the vectors only. Here you can see all the elements without any color and the same stroke size.

Step 10

One of the best tools in the Illustrator CS5 is the Width Tool (Shift+W). You can change the width of parts of the stroke, it's fantastic.

Step 11

Still with the Width Tool (Shift+W) play with the strokes on her hair and hands. Use the image below for reference.

Step 12

Time to add some colors. I used beige for the skin, yellow for the hair, white for the eyes and black for the details. For her blouse I used green.

Step 13

Now let's go to Photoshop. Open Photoshop and import a paper texture to use for reference. The one I'm using is courtesy of Shutterstock and you can find it here.

Step 14

Import the girl photo too. We will use it for reference for the vectors from Illustrator. It will also be used to create the halftones. Also change the Blend Mode of the layer to Multiply.

Step 15

Mask the photo of the girl so it will be over the paper area only. The best way to do that so we can use the same mask for other layers is to create a group and mask the group in Photoshop.

Step 16

Add a new layer beneath the layer girl but still inside the folder with the mask. Change the Blend Mode of the new layer to Multiply and fill it with Cyan.

Step 17

Copy the vectors from Illustrator and paste them in Photoshop. I used Smart Objects for the option when paste it because that way I can change the vectors anytime I want and see the results in Photoshop. As you can see in the image below I changed the Opacity of the Layer to 70% so I can adjust the position more easily .

Step 18

Once you find the right alignment change the opacity back to 100%.

Step 19

Reorder the layers so the photo of the girl is on top of the vector layer. After that go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. You will have a black and greyscale photo now. After that go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Change the Black Inputs to 60 and the White Inputs to 195. After that change the Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 20

Go to Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone. Use 15 for the Max. Radius and 199 for the channel values. Tip: Depending on the size of your design the Max. Radius will have to be different.

Step 21

Here is the image after the halftone filter. It's almost done but there are a few details to work on so the image gets that old/vintage look. Also the halftones are over the teeth and the eyes so we have to fix that.

Step 22

Duplicate the paper layer and just move it on top of the others. After that Change the Blend Mode to Linear Burn.

Conclusion

Here is the final design. As you can see I clean the halftones over her eyes and mouth and also added a diagonal pattern in the background.

This design was just an experiment using halftones to create a Roy Lichtenstein inspired design. I'm working on some new designs where I go a little bit further with this technique, but as you could see, the halffones and the vectors with the paper textures do a pretty decent job in recreating Roy's incredible style.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.

The Advantages of Using CSS Sprites Along With a Few Tips

2010-08-20T10:05:00.001-04:00

There are many techniques in CSS to achieve certain results in different ways, CSS sprites being one of them. CSS sprites is a technique used where you can have a large single image containing a set of images that can be broken down using CSS to separate the image into multiple.

To better understand this concept, let us look at the following example image:

As you see in the example image, there are three top bars of different colors all separated by some whitespace between them. Instead of having each of these bars as individual images, you can join them into one as shown above, and with CSS, you can separate them so they seem as separate images.

Moreover, let us say you just wanted the left and right corners of the blue bar instead of the entire thing for an aspect of your website, using the CSS sprites method, you can do exactly that without the need of creating separate images.

Who Uses CSS Sprites?

Many people have the understanding that most major companies do not like to use certain techniques and would rather use generic methods. However, this is not necessarily true, and in fact, major companies such as Ask.com and Facebook use the sprite technique as it is the smarter to move.

Now that you understand the concept of CSS sprites and how they work, we dive right into four advantages of using CSS sprites along with a few tips on usage.

Cut Back On HTTP Requests

One of the main advantages of using CSS sprites is that it cuts back on HTTP Requests. When a user visits your website, the browser requests the data from the server, by having fewer images you cut back on those requests, which in essence, cuts back on load time as well. Remember, the fewer HTTP Requests, the better, and using this technique is one-step forward.

Saves Time

By merging relative images all into one larger image, you are saving yourself time from creating individual images. Additionally, it also makes it easier for you to locate the images you may want to edit as it may be grouped with others, instead of the need to flip through a basket of files to find what you may have been looking for.

Flexibility

By utilizing CSS sprites, you are giving yourself more flexibility over your website's design and or layout. For example, if you are not using CSS sprites and you have some gradient bars that you use across your website, grabbing a corner of that bar would mean creating a separate image for the corner and to deal with its hassles.

Instead, by using CSS sprites, you can easily slice the corner you want from the image without modifying the image or creating a new image, giving the flexibility you need while saving time.

Tips

Now that you know the benefits of using CSS sprites, we discuss three tips on improving your CSS "spriting" experience.

Plenty of Space

While it may sound jolly to cram in many images into one to benefit from CSS sprites, it is generally not a good idea to leave small gaps between each image. The reason for this is that sometimes content expands quite a bit which sometimes causes other images to appear within the image you selected from the main image or sprite image, this is caused by having your images close to each other initially in the sprite image. Instead, leave some good spacing between each image to eliminate this issue, even if the images may be icons.

Left to Right, Right to Left

No, we are not talking about languages, but rather image placement in your sprite. If images in your sprite are to be used to the right of an element, place the image to the left of the sprite and vice versa. This helps prevent other images appearing in the background of the image you selected from your sprite, which is usually caused by moving the background image by CSS.

To better understand this concept, let us have a look at the sprite below:

Let us say we wanted to use the green book from the sprite, because we intentionally placed it on the right, we will be using it to the left of an element like so:

Using this concept, if we wanted to use the warning symbol on the left, we would have placed it on the right as well instead of on the left within the sprite.

Repeating Images Should Consume Less Pixels

Many people stick some images intended for repeating across the screen in a sprite. When doing so, there is no reason this repeating image should take much space unless designed in a certain way. With that said, your repeating images should be only a few pixels wide as they will be, well, repeating. This not only saves space within the sprite itself, it also saves bandwidth and indeed, time.

To conclude, using CSS sprites may or may not be the way to go for you as it really depends on the type of application it will be used for. If you are considering using the technique for one of your mainstream websites or services and or for your portfolio site, it will definitely be a great advantage for you to use it accordingly.

One of the key things you need to look at before choosing this technique is what browsers the majority of your users use to visit your website. The reason this question sometimes arises is that it sometimes may be very difficult to make your CSS sprites compatible with many of these browsers depending on the techniques you use.

However, if major companies as mentioned earlier use the CSS sprite technique, it sometimes is a good idea to review how they implemented the idea as they may have found a workaround to have it work across many browsers and platforms. I am not saying you should take their code and implement it on your site, but rather get ideas for your implementation by overlooking what they have done or achieved.

http://designreviver.com/articles/the-advantages-of-using-css-sprites-along-with-a-few-tips/

Create stylish 3D shapes with Adobe Illustrator

2010-07-08T09:08:00.001-04:00

Take your Illustrator skills to the next level, by learning advanced features of Illustrators 3D functionality.
Techniques used in this tutorial can give you pretty spectacular results. Read it here

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/qEjclKHc9us/

Fresh HTML5 Resources, Articles and Tutorials

2010-07-08T09:05:00.001-04:00

HTML5 is gathering more and more momentum, and is looking very likely to be, in the near future, the language of choice for developers, replacing Flash. As such, in todays news round-up we focus on some fresh HTML5 resources, articles and tutorials for you to enjoy. Here they are:

The HTML5 Roadmap, Past and Present

The most publicized reason for the push to build web apps in HTML5 is that Flash is not allowed on the iPhone and the iPad, but the reasons go deeper and more technical than that. This article gives an insightful overview of how HTML5 has rapidly progressed in the last few years.
The HTML5 Roadmap, Past and Present

Build a HTML5/CSS3 Website Layout Without Images

In this tutorial you will learn how to build a decent-looking HTML5 & CSS3 website that doesn't to rely on any images for the layout elements.
Build a HTML5/CSS3 Website Layout Without Images

How to Create a Drop-down Nav Menu with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery

In this tutorial, you'll take a look and see what you can achieve with HTML5 and CSS3 when it comes to the staple of current web sites: the humble drop-down navigation menu. You'll also use jQuery to handle the effects and add the finishing touches.
How to Create a Drop-down Nav Menu with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery

The State of HTML5 Apps

HTML5 Canvas Cheat Sheet

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

http://designreviver.com/tutorials/fresh-html5-resources-articles-and-tutorials/

The Evolution of The Logo

2010-07-06T09:04:00.001-04:00

Logo design has been a controversial subject in the design press lately. One branding professional recently claimed that logo design is "not that hard to do" and another said that "logos are dead;" some rebutted while others concurred. Why all the fuss?

We live in a Brand Era, where branding is in, and for some, aspiring to the Paul Rand style of logo craftsmanship is about as hip and contemporary as writing your invoices with a quill. Yes, logo design is only one facet of the powerful force that we call brand identity. Yes, a branded design environment can communicate sophisticated brand meaning without much (any?) usage of logos. But some 'brand gurus' or 'brand evangelists' (translation: 'bastions of corporate pretension') seem to enjoy making hyperbolic pronouncements just to sound shocking or cutting-edge. Logo design is not dead. The technological advancements and tumultuous industries of our century are causing its role in our culture to evolve.

Perhaps this clamorous debate is cause for a look at where logo design comes from, what state it's in currently, and where it's headed in the future. Where does a logo ultimately derive its power from? If we're so hung up on divining what this Brand Era means for our clients, can we envision a Post-Brand Era?

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

Symbolism

The history of logo design begins with the roots of human expression. In fact, the fundamental power of symbols remains most important element of logo design. A logo has meaning because it draws on centuries of signs and symbols (including the alphabet) in human literary and visual language. A logo designer who uses an image of an apple, for example, is drawing on centuries of potent symbolic usage. For most Western viewers, the image of an apple summons our associations with nature, food, the 'forbidden fruit' in the Garden of Eden, Snow White, Apple computers, et cetera. To design a logo with symbolic resonance is to participate in the lineage of social dialogue.

Fragment of a vase, third millennium B.C. The figures on this vase bear a striking similarity to the cave paintings of Lascaux and even to contemporary imagery like the Puma logo. These similarities reveal the harmony and union of human communication over great distances of time and geographic location.

To communicate effectively with design, it's important to view the big picture of human communication and mythology. Logo design as we know it today is a strategy that rose to popularity with brands and corporations of the twentieth century. However, people and organizations have been identifying themselves with an enormous variety of marks, signatures, and emblems for centuries. In terms of visual communication, a modern company that represents itself with a logo, color scheme, and slogan is not very different from a 15th century royal court that invoked identity and unity through the use of family crests, uniforms, and religious symbolism.

In semiotics (the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation), human communication is discussed in terms of signs and signifiers. Signs can take the form of words, images, flavors, or even odors: things that have no intrinsic meaning until we invest it in them. We perceive, understand, and negotiate the world around us by investing meaning in all manner of signs and symbols. In the West, an image of a snake signifies evil. But without our Western cultural and mythological associations (many of which are rooted in the Bible), a serpent is just a serpent.

Greek signature seals, fifth century B.C. Affluent Greek citizens used these molded stamps to sign or endorse documents. Using an animal image to identify oneself has a long history predating famous animal logos like Lacoste and Penguin.

Symbols are highly subjective and dependent upon cultural reference. The swastika, for example, is a symbol that was used by various cultures across the globe for over 5,000 years to symbolize a variety of positive meanings including good luck, life, sun, power, and strength. In fact, the word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means "good fortune" or "well-being." Sadly, those meanings have all been usurped by the atrocities of the Nazi party. No symbol has inherent meaning of its own, but when maligned by indelible association with war and unspeakable tragedy, a simple symbol like the swastika can be transformed into a potent talisman capable of eliciting an intense reaction from the viewer. Our complex emotional responses to rudimentary images reveals the profound depth of our relationship with the visual world around us.

The meaning of a logo is often an elusive concept, and two top professionals may disagree about whether a particular logo is a masterpiece or an abomination. This subjective nature of meaning in logography is part of the beauty and wonder of the craft.

Historical Identifying Marks

A wide variety of stamps, symbols, and signatures have been used to identify people over the centuries. Here are a few.

Printer's marks, late fifteenth century

The printer's marks above are variations on an 'orb and cross' theme, symbolizing the idea that "God shall reign over Earth."

Aldus Manutius, printer's trademark, c.1500.

This printer's trademark symbolizes a beautiful paradox. It was used in conjunction with an epigram reading "Make haste slowly." Swiftness is visually represented by the speedy sea animal and stillness is represented by the anchor.

Rembrandt 'branded' his authorship on his paintings with a variety of signatures during the course of his career, but the distinctive 'R' and unique personality of the letterforms provide unity to the marks.

Corporate Identity

The industrial revolution profoundly expanded the reach and power of mass production and the marketing used to promote it. Corporations now found that a simple identifying mark was insufficient for distinguishing themselves amongst growing competition in broadening markets. "The national and multinational scope of many corporations made it difficult for them to maintain a cohesive image, but by unifying all communications from a given organization into a consistent design system, such an image could be projected, and the design system enlisted to help accomplish specific corporate goals." (Meggs' History of Graphic Design, by Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis).

In other words, the logo was now being used as one element in a broader system of visual elements used to identify the entire output of a corporation — many of which were becoming larger and more powerful than any had every been before.

Here are some notable developments in the evolution of identity design.

Wiener Werkstätte

The Wiener Werkstätte was a manufacturing and marketing enterprise founded in Vienna in 1903 — decades before graphic designers were doing work that was officially recognized as corporate identity. This group of craftsmen and designers were true trailblazers.

Marks of the Werkstätte, left to right: Werkstätte monogram, rose logo, logo for Galerie Miethke designed by Kolo Moser

Wiener Werkstätte letterhead printed in 'Wiener Werkstätte blue,' 1914. The group's obsession with squares and grids is evident here.

A trademark was proposed for the Werkstätte, but designer Josef Hoffman proposed a complete graphic identity. The appearance of the group's letters and articles was unified by four elements: the Werkstätte's red rose symbol plus the monogram marks of the Werkstätte, the designer, and the producer. These standard elements, along with the use of the square as a decorative motif, were used to design everything from invoices to wrapping paper.

Now that's dedication to designing an immersive brand environment: the Werkstätte logo forged into the handle of a cupboard key.

Identity Masters

Westinghouse logo and annual report designed by Paul Rand

Extraordinarily influential designers like Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, and Alan Fletcher helped shape the graphic identity of consumer culture during the second half of the twentieth century. Rand, for example, designed many ubiquitous logos and his varied identity work for IBM became a benchmark in the industry. These great designers have been covered in depth elsewhere (check out 'The world's best logo designers?' by David Airey), so we won't spend too much time on them here.

Music Television

"The move of information from the printed page to other media has changed the nature of graphic identity. The MTV logo, which emerges from an unexpected metamorphosis, is probably the ultimate in animated identity." -The New York Times, September 1996

The MTV logo was designed by the now-defunct studio Manhattan Design in the early 1980's. Former Manhattan Design member Frank Olinsky tells the story behind the creation of this logo here.

This logo was a revolution in corporate identity because it adapted to the language of television and shattered standing notions about the 'rules' of logo use. In the early 80's, television had become a ubiquitous medium. The MTV logo adapted to the nature of this medium by exploiting the speed and motion of the moving image: it was regularly animated, shattered, decorated, erased, and reborn in the course of a brief station identification spot. This showed that logos could be adaptive vessels for graphic identity and demolished the notion that trademarks should always be presented in a consistent, static form. The logo had evolved to fit the culture of the television era.

The Brand Era

"In order to be successful multinational corporations, you need to produce brands, not products." -Naomi Klein

Lebron James is deified in a Nike desktop wallpaper ad. The Swoosh is tiny; the brand is huge. For some, Nike epitomizes successful branding. For others, it's the poster child for deceptive marketing, sweatshop labor, and unethical business practices.

Now that the whole world has been branded, the Twentieth Century approach to branding is old school. I'll call our present day in age the Brand Era. The logo has evolved from a mark of quality on a product to a visual distillation of a cultural ideal — one that's capable of accruing or asserting brand equity in a variety of marketing environments and inspiring great allegiance among consumers. "In this corporate formula," says Naomi Klein, "the brand has little to do with the life of the product. Rather, it is a free-standing idea. The goal of the successful brand has become nothing short of transcendence from the world of things."

In this twenty-first century brand space, Nike is no longer a shoe company — it is a concept that represents transcendence through sports. Consider the Nike ad above: Lebron James is deified in a Christ-like pose and with religious language ('witness,' 'believe'), both of which imply spiritual transcendence. In the case of Michael Jordan, the star was granted superhuman powers in Nike ads (picture him achieving flight, suspended midair en route to the hoop). In the corner floats the simple, austere Swoosh. In this context, the logo is a sponge, soaking up the 'brand equity' created by themes of transcendence and flight as well as the basketball star's fame/endorsement/deification.

'Brand evangelists' now use all kinds of lofty language to describe 'brand worlds' and 'branded landscapes.' At best, this kind of language describes creative brand strategy that can provide organizations with an innovative approach to defining themselves in today's corporate culture — a place where tumultuous economies and rapid technological change require constant adaptation. At worst, this kind of behavior is an attempt to pull the pretentious wool over the novice client's eyes, using ostentatious language to leverage the sale of mediocre design and commonplace brand strategy. None of us entered this field to become snake oil salesmen, so don't pitch like them.

A Post-Brand Era?

Ask someone standing in Times Square if logo design is dead. Image: 'Times Square Parade' by Alexander Chen

In this era, the brand is bigger and more powerful than ever. Brands have become so big that some people have logo tattoos (physically branded with a brand) while celebrities like Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey have successfully developed themselves into personal mega brands. Brands like Nike have transformed themselves into lifestyle choices that consumers can integrate into their own identity. How much further can we go? What comes next?

Naomi Klein has noted that the many successful brands have already achieved "transcendence from the world of things," meaning that the dissemination of a brand's identity has become more valuable than its production of physical commodities. Technology will soon liberate brands from the visible world even further, as companies enter the fields of nanotechnology, synthetic life production, virtual space, and more. What will 'brand identity' mean for a person who has branded cells injected into their body to eradicate cancer? And you thought the favicon was small. Brands will occupy startling new environments (like the bloodstream) in the 21st Century.

The MTV logo famously introduced a logo that could undergo a costume change during every performance. How else can a logo break the rules to adapt? Is there a way to explode the logo, to decentralize it? What about a logo that consisted of separate elements that could be displayed on their own or joined together to create a unified whole? If branded products exist on a molecular level that's invisible to the naked eye, could they project external holographic brand identity?

The role of brand identity in the future remains to be seen. But it appears as though — barring the apocalypse or some Naomi Klein-inspired activist revolution — brands will continue to expand into new areas. Just as most industries are dealing with abrupt transitional periods due to the disruptive effects of technology, so is ours. In fact, their transitional periods become our transitional periods, because they are our clients.

As brand identity designers, merely designing a logo for a client is not good enough. It is also unacceptable to stand on the cultural sidelines or design with our heads in the sand. We must be students of the changing cultures around us. We must take active roles in the use of design to strengthen and navigate the futures of the industries, people, and causes we believe in.

The Road Ahead

For now, brand identity design is thriving. Branded design environments (like a website with an integrated design strategy expressing brand qualities) can coexist with traditional logo design. In the future — as always — it's creative thinking that will lead the way. One valuable asset will be the willingness to take a risk when it comes time to develop a strategy for a brand's visual persona. The faster technology propels our culture, the more design risk-takers we're going to need.

Whatever changes may come, one thing will remain. As graphic artists and designers, we possess the power (just as any two year-old with a crayon does) to ascribe meaning to the world around us. We put an expressive face on raw information. The fundamental desire of humans to understand the world in visual terms is a desire that we can understand and foster. Graphic design's ability to provide meaning and useful information will prove more valuable than ever during uncertain and challenging times.

Partial Bibliography

Typography and Graphic Design: from Antiquity to Present by Roxane Jubert
Meggs' History of Graphic Design by Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis
Graphic Design: A Concise History by Richard Hollis
No Logo by Naomi Klein
Wiener Werkstätte: Design in Vienna 1903-1932 by Christian Brandstätter

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/06/the-evolution-of-the-logo/

Adobe Photoshop What the Wow!?

2010-06-28T15:34:00.000-04:00

Itching to get started using Adobe Photoshop? You've seen the images from worth1000.com and are ready to put your bosses head on a walrus body? Want to clear up some acne in your high school yearbook photo? Need to Photoshop that "special someone" out of a few years of photos? This Photoshop Fresher/Refresher will give an introductory overview of Photoshop's most useful and fun tools, as well as include workflow and efficiency tips and tricks for those with some experience but who still feel sluggish or lost. Beginners encouraged to attend, even users with moderate experience should leave the classes having learned new and valuable material. Advanced users? Let's play tennis.

1pm – 4:45pm July 21st – August 11th. Class #35844 ART-195-A2

Call the Workforce office for more information. 857-6076

http://www.virginiawestern.edu/bulletin/?p=2769

The Perfect Sites and Resources for Freelancers

2010-06-23T09:03:00.000-04:00

Whether you're in the process of setting up your own freelancing business or are still not sure is freelancing right business for you, these sites and resources surely will help you to make right decisions. Please enjoy in this post and if we've missed a crucial site or resource, please add it to the comments. Thanks…

View full post at The Design Buzz

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dyt/~3/VziH2--2KLI/

Applying Interior Design Principles To The Web

2010-06-21T06:25:00.000-04:00

Web, industrial, interior… You name it and there are designers for it. We're all trained in our particular areas (as we should be), but it would do us some good sometimes to look beyond our borders for new approaches to design problems. For a fresh perspective, here we'll apply several principles of interior design to Web design and see what ideas would help change some of our stuck-in-a-rut design practices.

[By the way: The network tab (on the top of the page) is updated several times a day. It features selected articles from the best web design blogs!]

Balance

How It Works

In interior design, balance breaks down into two kinds: formal and informal.

Formal balance is simple. It is achieved in a room when objects on one side of a room are a mirror-image of the other side of the room. It focuses on symmetry (creating a mirrored effect) and is the easiest to create — just think of two nightstands on either side of a bed or two sconces on either side of a fireplace. However, it can become overwhelming with too many objects or a busy color palette. Too much can make a good design concept ugly.

Informal balance is an asymmetrical approach based on visual weight. You don't have to use identical objects to achieve balance; rather, use objects that are different but have similar visual "weight." For example, you could balance a large couch by putting a large TV in the same room. In Web design, we also seek balance: large type can balance large imagery. Play with informal balance; it can lend intrigue to a seemingly simple design and add quirkiness to a vintage look.

Why It's Important

Balance is one of the first things we notice in a design, often subconsciously. If something seems off-kilter, it may have to do with balance, and it can be difficult to move on and appreciate the design's other aspects. Balancing color, images and textures gives a look of completion to a design and shows the user that you have an eye for detail.

Hint for Designers

Balance isn't limited to being either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Try radial balance too: center a circular image and add smaller images "radiating" away from it (an example from interior design would be a circular dining table and chairs). Radial balance designates a focal point and almost effortlessly provides for a sense of rhythm or momentum.

Examples

Travis Gertz Experimentationalism
Here, the designer uses visual weight to achieve balance. The word "analog" is extremely big, but it balances out the larger width and length of the camera image — a point-size smaller and the word would have been lost. Below the image is smaller type, but it works because the paragraph spans the same width and height as the image.

Ethno Port Ponzan
Ethno Port Ponzan's design uses radial balance, having the sub-page links placed on rings around a central focus. Though the links are placed at different distances, the ring design lends the balance because they lay equidistantly from the center logo. Radial balance can be one of the easiest, fastest methods of achieving balance, and Ethno Port Ponzan is an example of using such balance successfully.

Zee
This is asymmetrical balance using text as the design. Here "Always in the loop" is the focal point, and the designer uses the visual weight of heavier fonts, large punctuation and smaller images for balance.

Proportion

How It Works

Proportion has to do with how the sizes of objects in a room relate to each other. For instance, a large couch shouldn't be in front of a 16″ TV, and a large bed shouldn't be between small end tables. The same rule goes for Web design; a large font shouldn't be put beside a small focal point. We could also consider this when doing "scene" designs, such as a wall with frames and landscape illustrations.

Why It's Important

Proportion is like balance: if it feels off, it's hard to focus on anything else. Proportion is vital to recreating an environment. If a coffee mug is too big for a desk or a cow too large for the landscape, it's hard to believe the setting. True-to-life proportion makes a scene believable and a font-graphic relationship appealing.

Hint for Designers

Most of us think that flamboyantly large text beside a large image is overbearing, and we tend to "fix" the problem by making one of them smaller. For proportion, though, we should keep large with large and small with small; that keeps the design believable and balanced.

Examples

Foxie
Foxie's design is a great example of effective proportion because the bookcase area features objects that are generally in proportion and therefore "believable." The various items in the bookcase (such as the remote and trophy) are meant to establish a whimsical atmosphere, so we can be somewhat lenient in accepting the scene as realistic. That is, despite the few inconsistencies in proportion, we still "buy it."

Work Awesome
Much like Foxie, our eyes move naturally from the meat of the design to the information area because we aren't distracted by disproportion. This scene's main objects — keyboard, coffee cup, computer mouse — are realistically proportionate. Like the last example, it's believable.

RZMota
Unlike Work Awesome (in which a large part of the design focuses on the information area), RZMota's design relies heavily on the believability of the scene. Making all of the objects proportional is not easy, especially with so many of them, but RZMota shows us that it can be done.

Rhythm

How It Works

In interiors, rhythm is created by placing a unifier in the room, such as a color, pattern or texture. A sense of movement is created when the unifier is repeated throughout the space; the eye doesn't stop on one piece but rather alights here and there on pieces of the unifier. We can do this in Web design as well by taking a texture, pattern or form and repeating it throughout a design.

Why It's Important

Rhythm keeps the room cohesive and allows the eye to move easily about the room to experience all parts of the design. Rhythm is as important to Web design as it is in physical places. In a unified design, finding information happens naturally and at a rhythmic pace.

Hint for Designers

The single most important thing to remember is to add variety to the repetition. If the color white is your unifier, then use it in textures, images, CSS, etc. A little variety is healthy and keeps a website from becoming boring.

Examples

Interaktionsdesign
The rhythm on Interaktionsdesign's site extends past the yellow accents. Rather, the careful repetition of the small arrows allows the eye to flow around the page and lends cohesiveness to the design. By using small arrows in the header, sub-headers and as links in the bottom left corner guide the visitor to the information they need. The yellow acts as a supplement, a highlight to these areas and backup plan in case the arrows didn't catch visitor attention.

Digital Podge
Like Clandrei, Digital Podge's repetition of shapes creates cohesion and makes the eye move about. But this website showcases another perk of rhythm: no matter what is being repeated (i.e. no matter what the unifier), it can be used to highlight links and other information that is imperative to the user experience. On Digital Podge, the circles either indicate links to other pages or showcase an area that the visitor needs to see.

Bard Hole Standal
The yellow color and slanted lines give this website its rhythm by dancing around the website to attract attention. This shows that a website can have more than one major repeating feature to create rhythm. The yellow is present in a variety of elements, which themselves repeat.

Emphasis

How It Works

Emphasis is the same thing as focal point. TVs, fireplaces, artwork: we all have an idea of what qualifies as the focal point of an interior space. It is typically in the center of the space and is the first thing to catch your eye. In Web design, as in interiors, we sometimes create focal points unintentionally. This can be caused by a central or large object in a design, or a central or large text area in a code-heavy layout. Try to complement your focal point with other features such as color, form and texture.

Why It's Important

While focal points are often chosen for their aesthetic value, they serve a larger purpose in design. The focal point is the anchor of the space, and the item around that should influence all other design decisions.

Hint for Designers

Your secondary pieces don't have to fall behind. By choosing a large focal point and centering it, you give the space its foundation; this allows the surrounding images to be quirky, without altering the atmosphere or making the design seem "hodge-podge." Use different border colors to your advantage, or place your surrounding images in a way that appears random.

Examples

Kobi Benezri Studio
The focal point here — the typewriter — is the first place most of us will look. This happens for two reasons. First, it is one of the largest images on the page and so demands your attention. Secondly, there is more white space in that image than in any of the others, which creates contrast. The surrounding images are set in the same monochromatic palette, which throws them into relief.

Marc Ecko
Ecko's name and photo are the central points of focus. They act as the anchors in this design and make the rest of the images look haphazard and cluttered but still thoughtfully chosen and professional.

Pretty Production

The emphasis here, the dog, does not act as an anchor or hover around the middle, as many points of focus do. But it's multi-colored brightness and size demand instant attention, as well as act as a break from the gray tones in the rest of the layout.

Color

How it works

Colors work together in many ways. The countless combinations influence our thoughts, opinions and feelings. Because color does so much, our discussion of it has to be limited here: we'll talk about what it does to the amount of space in your design.

In interiors, the use of warm or cool colors is dictated by factors such as how much light the room gets, how much time you spend in it and how big it is. We Web designers don't have to worry about these determinants, but we should consider color's spatial influences when working with heavy or lighter layouts. If your layout is heavy with text, texture, images and the like, go for cooler tones, such as blues, aquas, turquoise and sage. These will make the space seem larger and balance the heaviness. Use warmer tones (red, orange, yellow) to create the appearance of extra space in a minimalist design.

Why It's Important

The color in our home offers a glimpse into our personality. Our websites are our technological homes, so why would we put any less effort into their color scheme?

Hint for Designers

If you'd like to know whether certain colors go together, look to nature. Think of the beach, and you'll realize that turquoise, beige and cream go together. Think of fields in autumn, and you'll think of red, orange, brown and green. Purple, brown, magenta and green are eggplant-themed, while violet, navy and green remind us of hydrangeas. Grays, blacks and browns will always anchor other colors and provide relief. In addition, because of their neutrality, anchor colors don't have to be included in the palette count; they allow for diversity. The color schemes of our websites also influence users by making them feel calm (with cool tones) or energetic and upbeat (with warm tones). For more information on color combinations and schemes, check this out.

Examples

Saskia Music
Saskia's layout is wide and has a fair amount of information and graphics. The blue background makes the amount of information less daunting by "expanding" the space. Imagine this website in red — wouldn't the space have looked smaller and more cluttered?

Octonauts

The Octonauts site is very busy: We have a patterned background, busy header image and two columns of featured news. However, what cools this business are the blue tones throughout. In addition, aside from the few bursts of warm tones, the layout uses mostly cool tones: sage green, light gray, teal and white. Featuring the same layout in warmer tones would have amped up the busyness, and with this much going on on the site, cool tones were a necessity.

ft designer
ft designer uses black as its anchor color, which allows it to incorporate multiple colors (blue, green, white and yellow-green) without becoming overbearing and rainbow-esque.

Texture

How It Works

The key to success is to mix different textures. This is as true for the Web as it is for interiors. Pair rough with slick, patterned with plain, coarse with fine, fuzzy with silky and shiny with matted. Don't be afraid to experiment with unlikely combinations. You'll be surprised how well textures bring out the best in each other.

Why It's Important

Texture is a strong determining factor in a user's emotional response to a design. Balance, proportion, rhythm, emphasis and color are the basic principles, and texture is a necessary enhancement; it's the cherry on top.

Hint for Designers

The need for texture almost doubles when using a monochromatic palette. Monochromatic palettes can easily become boring, whether in interiors or on the Web. But they can be intriguing and multi-faceted, and one of the easiest ways to make them that way is to give them plenty of texture.

Examples

Coraline

Coraline features a variety of textures, but the diversity doesn't take away from the concept. Running with an old-world, grass-roots advertisement motif, Coraline uses stained papers, the look of 'placarded' posters, a run-down suitcase with velveteen lining and thin brass nameplates. In so doing, Coraline shows that designers don't have to sacrifice a strong theme for variety.

Five Cent Stand
At Five Cent Stand, the layering of old papers and pictures with a soft patterned texture is interesting, not overbearing.

Rose Fu
Rose Fu uses multiple textures in its monochromatic palette. Had there been more colors, so many textures might not have been necessary.

Lines

How It Works

Popular places for lines in a room are the floor, upholstery and, more notably, the walls. They're a simple addition, but lines say a lot about a space. For instance, horizontal lines often give a casual vibe, while vertical lines express formality. Curvy lines can add grace or whimsy, while diagonal lines provide rhythm and movement. You can get creative by using atypical methods to create lines, as seen in the image on the left.

Why It's Important

Lines help create a mood in an interior space and can provide the same benefit online. The best thing about lines is that they can be as understated or as powerful as you'd like, so it's one of the less daunting design choices you'll make.

Hint for Designers

Don't be afraid to combine lines to find a good balance. For instance, adding horizontal lines can calm the strong formalities of vertical lines, just as curvy lines can add playfulness to casual horizontals. In addition, verticals and horizontals can be applied in a grid-like pattern for the appearance of structure and cleanliness.

Examples

Vyniknite
Vyniknite uses curvy lines to represent blowing wind, giving a whimsical feel to the design.

Daniel Kusaka
Kusaka's website uses diagonal lines around the square images, creating movement in a layout that could have easily felt stagnant. This simple alteration is enhanced by the various colors of the lines, making them more noticeable and therefore more effective.

What's Up Cupcake?

What's Up Cupcake? isn't about adding a combination of lines to combine or ease certain vibes. Rather, the site uses lines to add to an already formal feel: While ornate picture frames and formal curves around the logo and link area supply the formality, and the vertical lines emphasize it.

Showcase

Resources And Further Reading

Design Rules by Elaine Griffin
Discovering Home with Laurie Smith by Laurie Smith
Domino, The Book of Decorating by Needleman, Costello and Caponigro
House Beautiful: 750 Decorating & Design Ideas by House Beautiful
New Decorating Book by Better Homes and Gardens
Ready, Set, Decorate by House Beautiful
Simple Home by Mark and Sally Bailey
iStockphoto, an image resource for interior pictures
Discover Interior Design, a blog by interior designer Kristen Warbington
Paula Grace Designs, a blog by interior designer Paula Grace
Interior Decorating: The Basics, an article by "The Interior Design Society"
The Principles of Design , an article by Joshua David McClurg-Genevese at "Digital Web".

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

Mickey Mouse, amphetamine shill

2010-06-20T13:18:00.001-04:00

In the 1950s, speed was legally sold as "pep pills" to help improve your mood and vigor, and Mickey Mouse got in the act with a series of strips in which Mickey pimped amphetamine to kids and grownups who needed a little pick-me-up.

Mickey Mouse on Speed (via IO9)

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ySch0OHTJj8/mickey-mouse-ampheta.html

William Alexander

The Alphabet: Trick-or-Treat

The Alphabet: Trick-or-Treat

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Preview of Final Image

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inspiration vs immitation

50 New Useful CSS Techniques, Tutorials and Tools - via Smashing Magazine

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