25 Clever, Inspiring & Beautiful Logos Using Negative Space
Published June 18th, 2013 in Galleries - 0 Comments
Logos are more than a wise combination of text and graphics. They represent the brand. The three vital attributes of a functional logo are – that it must be easy to interpret, simple in design, and of course attractive. Many times logo designers get caught up in the rush to add many frill elements to build robust logos. Well, in my opinion, you must never do that. Remember the rule – K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid).
One of the techniques you can implement is to wisely make use of ‘negative space’. When done properly, this space adds more depth and perspective to your brand logo. If you are struggling with the design of your logo or want some improvisation just scroll down this list of 25 clever, inspiring and beautiful logos that use negative space.
Nexcite
By Amore, Blair Thomson
This is one of my favorite because it is simple, cute and uses basic colors to seek attention. Nexcite’s brand identity is aptly conveyed via the logo – a refreshing beverage that kicks energy in you as soon as you consume it. The heart and the red color in the logo states that the drink is often marketed as a romantic drink from Sweden with love.
Generating an Automatic Table of Contents from an InDesign Template
Published June 17th, 2013 in Design, Tutorials - 1 Comment
Once you get the hang of it, the Table of Contents generator in Adobe InDesign is a breeze to use, and if you’re using an InDesign template, most of the work is already done for you, making your job flow that much easier and faster.
Here’s why:
InDesign’s Table of Contents generator works with Character Styles and Paragraph Styles to generate a Table of Contents. The generator searches your document for Styles of various titles, subtitles, headings, and subheadings, as specified by you, the user, and generates a Table of Contents based on these Styles, along with certain formatting options that you choose from the generator dialogue.
Your InDesign template most likely comes with a handful of Styles predefined, and you can make new ones easily by formatting your text with the Character and Paragraph palettes, highlighting your text, and choosing New Paragraph Style from the dropdown menu in the upper right hand corner of the Paragraph Styles palette. Be sure to name your new Style by double clicking it in the palette’s list and entering a name that you can remember.
Design Trend: Sticky Headers and Navigation Menus
Published June 14th, 2013 in Galleries - 3 Comments
Today we’ll take a look at a trend that you have probably noticed, websites using sticky or fixed position headers. When a visitors scrolls down the header will remain in view at the top of the browser rather than moving out of view at the top of the screen. The sticky header can help to make it easier for visitors to navigate through a site as they can quickly access the navigation menu rather than having to scroll back to the top of the page.
Here we will showcase 25 different websites that are making use of sticky headers. The screenshots show the headers as they appear after scrolling down. Visit any of the example sites to see them in action.
Popular Design Trends for Responsive Navigation
Published June 13th, 2013 in Design, Galleries, Web Development - 3 Comments
The mobile responsive website layout has become a very common apparatus for designers. Building a layout is never easy and each website generally requires a unique solution. Responsive design incorporates both desktop and mobile devices to provide a uniform browsing experience. I have seen a lot of fantastic examples showcasing responsive web design trends.
In this article I want to focus particularly on navigation menus. To build a responsive navigation you need a technique for handling the resize down to lower resolutions, or consequentially handling the expansion for wider desktop monitors. Check out these various techniques which are my choices following the most popular ideas for responsive navigation. There are obviously some other solutions out there, but this collection should give you ideas for getting started with your own responsive designs.
Block-Level Menu Links
Consider navigation menus which are using single box-style links in an orderly fashion. As you resize the window, these boxes either need to shrink or re-organize themselves. Block-level responsive menus are those which are designed to always keep the links showing in various positions on the page.
13 Resources to Design for Bootstrap
Published June 12th, 2013 in Tools, Web Development - 6 Comments
Twitter’s Bootstrap has rapidly grown into one of the most popular frameworks for web designers and developers. Bootstrap aims to make web development faster and easier, and a growing number of designers and developers are working with Bootstrap.
There are a lot of benefits to using a framework like Bootstrap, most of them focusing on the increased efficiency for building modern and responsive websites. If you’re a Bootstrap user, or if you are interested in giving it a shot, there are several resources that can help with the visual design aspect of working with Bootstrap, and we’ll look at them in this article. There are far more resources that useful for working with Bootstrap in one way or another, but in this collection we are focusing on those resources that help with creating a visual design.
Bootstrap 2.0 Photoshop Template
This free PSD file includes loads of elements that can be used to create your own Bootstrap-based designs in Photoshop. It come with things like buttons, form elements, typography, navigation elements, tables, and much more. It’s also available for Fireworks.
The Best WordPress Plugins for Growing Your Mailing List
Published June 10th, 2013 in Marketing, WordPress - 15 Comments
If you’re looking to build any top of business online, growing a mailing list should be a priority. However, with so much spam and unwanted email in most inboxes it can be a challenge to convince your website visitors to subscribe to your list. Fortunately, there are some really effective tools that can make your list building efforts exponentially more effective.
If you’re a WordPress user there are a number of quality plugins available that have been created specifically to help with building a mailing list. In this article we’ll take a look at some of the best plugins that can turn your list building frustrations into success.
Looking for hosting? WPEngine offers secure managed WordPress hosting. You’ll get expert WordPress support, automatic backups, and caching for fast page loads. Visit WPEngine.
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27 WordPress Mobile Themes
Published June 6th, 2013 in WordPress - 10 Comments
Responsive web design gets plenty of attention, and rightfully so, but in some situations you may prefer to use a separate theme specifically for mobile visitors rather than going with a responsive design. WordPress users have a number of themes available that have been specifically created with mobile visitors in mind.
These themes will not replace your desktop theme, instead the mobile theme will only be seen by visitors on mobile devices. This setup typically includes a plugin to determine what device the visitor is using, and then it will display the appropriate theme. In this post we’ll showcase 27 different options for mobile sites on WordPress. Most are themes, but some are plugins.
Handheld is a plugin from ElegantThemes that will display a mobile-friendly version of your site to visitors on mobile devices. Visitors who are not on mobile devices will see your regular theme. It is available to ElegantThemes members with a Developer membership level. The cost of that Developer membership level is $89 per year, and it also includes more than 80 themes in addition to the Handheld plugin.
20 Amazing Free Fonts for Headlines
Published June 5th, 2013 in Design - 8 Comments
Fonts and typography are critical aspects of graphic design, and most designers can never have too many quality fonts in their arsenal. Using the right font for a headline can also help to make it stand out and grab the readers attention. In this article we’ll showcase a collection of 20 fonts that are excellent options for use in headlines, and they are also free to download.
Next time you need to design a bold headline that will capture the interest of readers, consider using one of these free fonts.
25 Clean Web Designs for Inspiration
Published June 4th, 2013 in Galleries - 19 Comments
When it comes to the style of a website’s design there are all kinds of options. Part of having an effect website involves having a design that helps to prioritize the right content and elements on the website, which results in users/visitors pay more attention to those important elements.
One of the best ways to control the parts of the website that will get the most attention from visitors is to remove things that are unnecessary and might cause a distraction. In recent years the minimalist design approach has drawn a lot of attention, especially from designers who appreciate the beauty of simplicity. However, designing a website to avoid clutter and distractions doesn’t mean that it has to be completely minimal with very few images and visual elements.
In this post we’ll showcase 25 sites that use a clean layout and design, eliminating unneeded clutter. Some of these sites are more minimalistic than others, but they all showcase the power of a clean design.
35 Outstanding HTML Email Newsletter Templates
Published June 3rd, 2013 in Marketing - 9 Comments
Email marketing and newsletters are a critical part of the marketing plan of many businesses large and small. If you’re not already using email marketing for your own business or offering services for your clients, this is certainly an area to explore.
One of the aspects of email marketing is the design of the email itself. While text-based emails can be effective in certain industries, most businesses prefer to have a newsletter or email template that will present the message in an attractive way.
While most email list managers will offer some free templates and/or a WYSIWYG editor for designing your own email, there may be times when these options don’t meet your needs. In these situations your options will be to design and code a custom template on your own, outsource the work, or purchase a template that does meet your needs. Custom designs are often preferred, and for good reason, but they don’t always fit within the budget.
