Vandelay Design Blog » Design

40 Excellent Fonts to Use Through Google Web Fonts

Steven Snell — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:12:18 +0000

In recent years the possibilities for using a wide variety of fonts and typefaces in web design has come a long way. There are now several different options for approaches that you can take when you want to use a font other than the basic, standard web safe fonts. Google Web Fonts has quickly become one of the leading options.

With Google Web Fonts it is quick and easy to implement a wide variety of fonts into the websites that you design and code. There are currently more than 500 fonts that are available through Google Web Fonts, and many of them are of sufficient quality to use in professional designs. In this post we’ll feature 40 fonts that you can start using today.

Droid Sans

Droid Serif

Oswald

Lobster

Lobster Two

Yanone Kaffeesatz

Ubuntu

Arvo

PT Sans Narrow

Open Sans Condensed

Dancing Script

Francois One

Arimo

Tangerine

Shadows Into Light

Shadows Into Light Two

PT Serif

Vollkorn

Amaranth

Architects Daughter

Nunito

News Cycle

Copse

Bevan

Neuton

Tinos

Bad Script

Goudy Bookletter 1911

Maiden Orange

Just Another Hand

Signika

Nixie One

Kameron

Merienda One

Berkshire Swash

EB Garamond

Bangers

Coustard

Brawler

Patua One

5 Designs that Have Been Optimized for Conversions

Amy Fowler — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:59:06 +0000

When you’re building a website it’s all well and good embracing a fancy design and making plans for strategic SEO, however what’s also vital is that you ensure your site is built to convert.

Below we take a look at five high-converting sites and investigate what it is that makes them so successful.

Schwan’s

In 2010, premium food retailer Schwan’s was reported to enjoy a conversion rate of nearly 42%. With most ecommerce sites reporting rates of around 3%, what is it that Schwan’s are doing that means nearly half of all their visitors leave having made a purchase?

The layout is simple and attractive, with the categories and subcategories neatly organized towards the top of the page.
Product information is highly detailed and includes nutritional information and the number of servings the product can expect to provide. In addition each product is accompanied by a high quality image and a flurry of genuine customer reviews.
Towards the top of the page is a clearly placed banner citing an enticing offer – including the offer of a coupon book; great for encouraging return purchases.

Which brings me onto the next point: Schwan’s focuses heavily on ensuring those who buy from them once, come back and buy from them again and again.

They make it very easy for customers of their catalog to order online: they simply need to search for a product number.
They also offer a ‘rewards scheme’.
Upon logging in, previous customers can see clearance items that are supposedly tailored ‘just for them’.

ProFlowers

As well as the bright and enticing homepage, ProFlowers benefits from a clearly placed toll free telephone number, a stand out call to action, and a well organized menu. However ProFlowers has also utilized one huge converting factor – the option to buy without registering.

Whether it’s because of the hassle or a fear of handing over their details, many consumers have an inherent dislike of registering with websites. To put it into perspective, Forrester Research Reports stated that 23% of consumers abandoned their shopping carts upon being forced to register.

Despite the fact that Schwan’s does not currently offer the option to buy without registering, it’s safe to say that ‘guest’ purchases make it simpler for people to ‘impulse buy’ and will therefore give a much needed boost to any site’s conversion rate.

Amazon

Seeing that Amazon is the biggest ecommerce site on the net there’s no doubt that they must be doing something right. But just what is it that helps make Amazon so successful?

Free delivery on most purchases – cleverly called ‘super saver delivery’.
The ability to refine product searches according to category.
Highly detailed product descriptions.
Product suggestions made in accordance with goods the consumer has shown an interest in.

However, they also use a few clever tricks when it comes to registering:

Since Amazon don’t offer the option to buy without registering, they make it appear as easy as possible to register.

In fact, they don’t even use the word ‘register’. Consumers simply enter their email address and select whether they are a new or returning customer. Either way, they click the button that says ‘sign in’. That same button also mentions their ‘secure server’; a very good way of increasing the customers’ faith that Amazon can be trusted with their details.

In addition, you’ll see that under where it says ‘I am a new customer’ it says ‘you’ll create a password later’; this is a very clever way of making the customers’ mind gloss over the act of creating a password – as if creating a password just doesn’t really matter.

Woman Within

Woman Within sells a vast range of plus sized clothes for women, at affordable prices, and enjoys an impressive conversion rate of around 25%. So what’s it doing that works so well?

The homepage is very well designed, with the largest proportion of the page being dominated by bright images of clothing, accompanied by low ‘from’ prices. Showcasing their lowest prices is an excellent method of enticing the customer to investigate further.
They also very cleverly embrace upselling during the buying stage. Before reaching the final stage of purchasing, the site brings up a number of ‘recommendations just for you’ for which were the consumer to choose any of the products, they (and supposedly, just they) will receive an additional 20% discount. This works thanks to the classic sales method of making the customer feel special; as if a ‘deal’ is ‘exclusively for them’.
Once again, customers don’t have to register to buy, making online shopping as simple as it should be.

Debenhams

Debenhams’ website is one of the biggest and best performing ecommerce sites in the UK; something that comes as no surprise considering the detail that’s gone into designing a site that converts.

So what does it do that’s so good?

A large proportion of the homepage is dedicated showcasing the site’s current discounts.
Menus are well organized, with a highlighted ‘sale’ section in each category.
Below the menus, we can see three vital conversion factors; ‘free standard UK delivery on all orders’, ‘free collect from store’, and ‘now delivering to 40 countries’.
Towards the bottom of the page are images of every payment accepted by Debenhams – a proven conversion factor.
Debenhams have also included an image of the flag of each country they deliver to. A great way for consumers to see at a glance whether or not they’re wasting their time going any further – brilliant for reducing shopping cart abandonments.

And to finish…

While there is far more that goes into creating a site that will convert at its best than we’ve discussed in this article, there are a few key points that can be taken away:

People like discounts, so if you’re offering any, highlight them on your homepage.
Include detailed product information and lots of high quality images; remember that people can’t see or touch an item like they can in store, so you need replicate the feel of hands on shopping as much as possible.
Offer a rewards scheme to encourage repeat purchases.
Make it as simple as possible for people to make their purchase. If you just aren’t willing to let people buy without registering, make the process appear effortless.
Make delivery cost clear from the get-go and ideally, offer free delivery.
Include customer reviews – it’s great for SEO and helps increase customer confidence.
‘Suggest’ products to visitors in a bid to upsell and increase the value of each conversion.

About the Author:
This is a guest post written by Amy Fowler of UK online marketing agency, Boom Online Marketing. Boom specialise in services including SEO, PPC and conversion rate optimisation.

23 Design and Development Job Boards

Steven Snell — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:02:44 +0000

With so many designers and developers competing for jobs, finding work can be a challenging task. Fortunately, designers and developers can benefit from being in an industry that has a number of quality niche-focused job boards.

While major job sites can still be a source of job leads, smaller and more focused job boards are often a better use of your time. Many companies have found that industry-specific job boards typically produce higher-quality candidates, which has resulted in more job listings on these job boards.

In this post we’ll break down the leading job boards into a few different types or categories. First, we’ll show those that list mostly jobs for designers. Second, we’ll show those that list mostly development or programming jobs. Third, we’ll show those that have a good mixture of listings for both design and development.

Job Boards that Focus on Design:

If you are looking for a job in web or graphic design, here are a few job boards that tend to have job listings in these fields.

Krop

Coroflot

AIGA

design:related

Behance

Job Boards that Focus on Development:

The job boards listed in this section tend to have a higher percentage of job listings for development or programming positions.

CrunchBoard

ReadWriteWeb

Ajaxian

Dice

WP Hired

Mashable

ITJobsConnect

Slashdot

Ars Technica

Job Boards that Focus on both Design and Development:

These job boards offer a good mix of both design and development jobs.

Authentic Jobs

37signals

Smashing Jobs

FWA Jobs

Your Web Job

For more resources please see:

25 Outstanding Photoshop Photo Manipulation Tutorials

Steven Snell — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:32:08 +0000

Photo manipulation can be one of the most fun things to do in Photoshop, and it also provides for an excellent creative outlet. The process of creating a detailed photo manipulation can be intimidating if you are new to the process or if you aren’t very familiar with Photoshop’s tools, but fortunately there are plenty of good tutorials that teach you how to create a sample photo manipulation.

One of the great things about photo manipulation tutorials is that you can follow along with the sample creation, but you’ll also learn techniques that can be used on your own original photo manipulations as you are experimenting.

In this post we’ve collected 25 tutorials that will lead you through the process of photo manipulation in Photoshop

Lonely – Manipulation Tutorial

Pure an Energetic Photomanipulation

Create a Surreal Apocalypse Photo Manipulation Photoshop Tutorial

Create a Surreal Out of Bounds Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

Create a Surreal Landscape Using Photo Manipulation

Trip Home – Summer Scene Manipulation

Tribal Fighter – Manipulation Tutorial

Professional Widow – Manipulation Tutorial

One Moment – Manipulation Tutorial

How to Create a Retro Surreal Photo Manipulation Using Photoshop

Human Scarecrow – Manipulation Tutorial

Create a Dramatic Photo Manipulation of a Whale Stealing from a Seagull

How to Create a Sci-Fi Giant Tortoise Shelter Photo-Manipulation

Create This Amazing Fashion Photo Manipulation with Abstract Smoke and Light Effects

Let Me Sink – Emotional Rainy Scene Photo Manipulation

How to Create a Photo Manipulation of an Assassin with a Flaming Arrow in Photoshop

Create a Fantasy Space Photo Manipulation Using Photoshop

Create a Serene Fantasy Photo Manipulation

Create a Dark, Conceptual Photo Manipulation with Stock Photography

How to Create a Photo Manipulation of a Flooded City Scene

Create a Surreal Smoking Photo Manipulation

Create the Emotional Photo Manipulation Firing Heart

Photo Manipulate an Artistic Cloudscape Scene

Design the Retro Futurism Photo Manipulation ‘Cosmic Rocker’

Create a Surreal Desert Scene in Photoshop

For more Photoshop tutorials please see:

25 Photoshop 3D Effects Tutorials

Steven Snell — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:10:38 +0000

Photoshop allows designers to do a lot of amazing things, including 3D effects. If you’re not familiar with Photoshop’s 3D effects or if you are interested in improving your own skills in this area, we have compiled 25 of the best tutorials that teach and demonstrate how to accomplish different things.

Many of the tutorials focus on 3D text effects, and others show various objects designed in 3D. Whatever you are looking to design, you should be able to find a tutorial here that will show the steps needed.

Easy 3D Globe in Photoshop

A Basic Guide to Photoshop’s 3D Tools

Design a Retro Postcard with 3D Text

Create Stunning 3D Text in a Grungy Landscape

Modern 3D Text Effect

Glossy Snow Globe Text Effect

“Pie of the Artic” Pie Chart Photo Manipulation

Create “Take a Break” 3D Text Composition

How to Create a Clean 3D Notepad in Photoshop

How to Create a 3D Leaf from a Texture Photograph

Draw a Classy 3D Poker Chip in Photoshop

Photo Strip (Photoshop Tutorial)

Enhance Your Ad Designs with 3D Splashes

Retro 3D Movie Effect in Photoshop

Create a Cereal Box Cover from Scratch Using Photoshop’s 3D Tools

Real Apple Logo in Photoshop

How to Create a Remarkable 3D Text in Photoshop

Colorful Plexi Text Effect Using Photoshop

Metal Text Under 12 O’clock Spot Light

How to Create a Realistic 3D Typography in Photoshop

Create an Extruded Glossy 3D Text Effect in Photoshop

How to Create a 3D Text Photo Manipulation

Integrating 3D Elements Into Your Designs

Rendering a Striking Matchbox in Photoshop

Create a Spherical 3D Puzzle with Photoshop

For more Photoshop tutorials please see:

25 Tutorials for Learning Character Design

Steven Snell — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:03:27 +0000

If you would like to be able to design awesome characters that could be as mascots or in illustrations, this post is for you. There are a lot of excellent tutorials out there that show how to design characters. In this post we’ll link to 25 character design tutorials. Some of the tutorials use Illustrator and others use Photoshop. Whatever your preference, you’ll be able to pick up some new skills and techniques from these tutorials.

Create a Cool Vector Panda Character in Illustrator

Create a “Minion” Character from the Despicable Me Movie

Draw a Pirate Character in Photoshop

Create a Textured Female Robot in Photoshop

How to Create a Fun, Red-Haired Boy

Milk Monster and Chocolate Splash

How to Create a Vector Soldier Character in Illustrator

Create a Cute Vector Reindeer Character in Illustrator

Create a Simple Mechanic Character in Illustrator

Create an Elegant Patterned Vector Owl in Illustrator

How to Draw a Cute Vector Dog Character in Illustrator

Draw a Character Concept Using Drapery in Photoshop

Create a Cool Vector Yeti Character in Illustrator

How to Create a Cute Gooey Blob from Scratch in Photoshop

Character Design for the Boomrock Saints

How to Create Vector Mascot Characters Using a Graphic Tablet

How to Create a Stinking Zombie Flesh-Eater in Illustrator

Create a Simple Character Face with Vector Shapes

How to Make an Animated Paper Robot

How to Design a Cheeky Koala Mascot Head

Create a Dirty Water Drop Character

Create a Happy Sun Character

Create the Face of a Greedy Monkey

Create the Face of a Grumpy Bear

Create a Simple Penguin Character

For more Photoshop tutorials please see:

25 Helpful Tutorials for Lighting Effects in Photoshop

Steven Snell — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:54:11 +0000

Photoshop allows designers with unlimited possibilities when it comes to creative effects, including lighting effects. There are plenty of different ways to create lighting effects in Photoshop, and there are equally as many different possible uses for them. If you’re interested in learning more about how to create awesome lighting effects in your own work, here are 25 tutorials that can help.

Create a Glowing Superhero

Show Me the Light – Digital Art Tutorial

Fly High – Light Effects Tutorial + Video

Making a Color Wizard in Photoshop

Dance – Photoshop Digital Art Tutorial

Master Stylish Light Effects in Photoshop

Quick and Effective Lighting and Decoration Techniques for Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

Create a Magical Photo Manipulation with Flowery Effect in Photoshop

Create a Unique Surreal Photo Manipulation with Nebula Effect in Photoshop

Design a Retro Futurism Space Scene Poster

Design the Retro Futurism Photo Manipulation “Cosmic Rocker”

Create This Amazing Fashion Photo Manipulation with Abstract Smoke and Light Effects

Create a Dynamic Portrait with Light Effects

How to Create a Dazzling Dance Photo Manipulation

Using Custom Photoshop Brushes to Create an Immersive Lighting Effect

Using HDR Toning to Create a Fantasy Forest Scene

Painting with Fire Using Photoshop’s Liquify Filter

Making of What Are They Staring At?

Digital Illustration Tutorial

Create Realistic Laser Beam Effect

Give a Portrait a Cosmic Makeover

Create an Abstract Golden Circle with Smoke Brushset in Photoshop

Make a Colorful Retro-Themed Space Scene in Photoshop

Flaming Car in Photoshop

Create Revolutionary Cosmic Art

For more Photoshop tutorials please see:

13 Photoshop Tutorials for Learning About Smart Objects

Steven Snell — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:23:26 +0000

Smart Objects allow Photoshop users to do some powerful things, but if you haven’t used them before it can be challenging to understand how to use them. Adobe describes Smart Object this way, “Smart Objects are layers that contain image data from raster or vector images, such as Photoshop or Illustrator files. Smart Objects preserve an image’s source content with all its original characteristics, enabling you to perform nondestructive editing to the layer.”

Like anything else in Photoshop, the best way to learn about Smart Objects is to start using them and experiment. The tutorials featured in this post will show some examples of what is possible with Smart Objects, and they’ll provide a good starting point for you. Once you’ve worked through a few tutorials you’ll probably have some ideas for how you can start to use Smart Objects in your own projects.

Be Smart and Use Smart Objects

Get Smart About Smart Objects

How to Use Smart Objects

Get Smart with the Photoshop Smart Objects

Work Flexible in Photoshop Using Smart Objects

Working with Smart Objects in Photoshop

The Wonders of Camera Raw and Smart Objects

Smart Objects from Illustrator to Photoshop to Dreamweaver

Create a Complex Pattern by Nudging Smart Objects

Create a Stylish Coffee Cup with Smart Objects

Create a Smart Object Photo Template

Genius Ways to Use Photoshop Smart Objects

Making Custom Labels the Smart (Objects) Way

For more Photoshop tutorials please see:

25 Useful Photoshop Background Tutorials

Steven Snell — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:05:33 +0000

Photoshop offers countless possibilities for creating stunning backgrounds for websites, posters, flyers, wallpapers, and any other type of design. Fortunately, there are a lot of good tutorials that show step-by-step how you can create a specific type of background. In this post we’ll link to 25 different tutorials for creating backgrounds. We recommend that you find a few that look interesting to you and work through the tutorial to see if you can learn something new.

Create Bright Abstract Diagonal Lines Background

Creating Unique Grunge Patterns for Your Website Backgrounds

Awesome Digital Bokeh Effect in Photoshop

Create a Wavy Blackberry Style Wallpaper Design

Creating a Mac-Type Background in Photoshop

Abstract Lines Background

Calculations and Colorization

Abstract Lighting Effects

Creating the New Retro

Quick, Easy, and Scalable Photoshop Backgrounds

Windows Vista Aurora Effect Photoshop Tutorial

Quickly Build an Abstract Background of Colored Bars

Digital Star Effect

How to Create an Abstract Kaleidoscope Poster

Create Abstract Colorful Balls Illustration in Photoshop

How to Create Abstract Colorful Rainbow Background

How to Create Mosaic Effect in Photoshop

Wave Texture Background

Create a Light Burst Background

Create an Awesome Background Using Patterns

Create a Wood Background in Photoshop

Creating Smoke

Photoshopping Apple’s Aqua Wallpaper

Create a Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop

Hexagon Bokeh Effect in Photoshop

For more Photoshop Tutorials please see:

13 Tutorials for Working with Colors in Photoshop

Steven Snell — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:18:00 +0000

One of the down sides of working with a program as powerful as Photoshop is that new users often want to jump into things like advanced photo manipulations or designing an amazing website layout. Unfortunately, getting a firm grasp of the basics and fundamentals often gets overlooked by all of the cool things that you can learn to do.

Designers who want to be able to use Photoshop effectively will need to be able to master the fundamentals. Working with color is one of those things that you must learn to do effectively in Photoshop. In this post we’ll link to 13 tutorials that will help you to learn more about working with colors in Photoshop. If you’re already experienced with Photoshop, maybe some of these tutorials can serve as a refresher.

You may also be interested in our post Learn Photoshop.

Color Modes and Bit Depth

Working with Swatches in Photoshop

Working with Colors and Establishing a Color Palette in Photoshop

Look Under the Hood: Photoshop Color Settings

Creating a Color Scheme

Using Adobe Kuler to Enhance Your Photoshop Color Workflow

Create Your Own Gradients

Digital Color Mixing in Photoshop

Colorize a Comic Strip with Photoshop

Color Correction Basics in Photoshop

Color Correction in Photoshop with the Curves Adjustment Tool

Add Ultra Realistic Colors to Any Gray-Scale Photo

Selective Color Photoshop Tutorial

For more Photoshop tutorials please see: