Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Top 10 Sites for Illustrator Tutorials
Published July 22nd, 2008 in Design - 37 Comments
Photoshop gets most of the attention when it comes to tutorials and blog posts, but Illustrator is also an excellent tool for designers. If you’re interested in brushing up your skills, here are my top ten (taking both quality and quantity of tutorials into consideration).
1. VECTORTUTS
Tutorial – Create Your Own Custom Del.icio.us Badge
Published July 13th, 2008 in Design - 15 Comments
For a long time I used the Del.icio.us Tagometer Badge on this blog. If you’re not familiar with the Tagometer Badge (shown below), basically its purpose is to show visitors how many Del.icio.us users have bookmarked a particular page, what tags are commonly being used for that page, and it makes it easy for them to bookmark the page themselves.
Learning from Other Designers
Published July 10th, 2008 in Design - 22 Comments
One of the things that I like about web design is that there’s always plenty to learn, regardless of how experienced you are. I know that my knowledge really only scratches the surface of web design and development, and I appreciate the fact that seemingly unlimited resources are available to allow me to become a better designer.
40 Photoshop Tutorials for Lighting and Abstract Effects
Published July 7th, 2008 in Design, Photoshop Tutorials - 218 Comments
Photoshop gives designers the ability to create some amazing effects that can accomplish just about anything you can image. Fortunately, there are plenty of Photoshop experts who are willing to write detailed tutorials to show off the potential. Here is a look at some of the best tutorials for using various lighting and abstract effects.
Adding Light Streaks to a Photo
7 Ways to Increase Your Creativity in Web Design
Published June 25th, 2008 in Design - 29 Comments
For all types of designers inspiration and creativity are vital to success. If you read many blogs in the web design community I’m sure you’re familiar with posts of inspirational designs and, of course, CSS galleries . We’re so used to seeing the 100+ CSS galleries that exist to the point that many designers tend to rely on them too heavily.
While it’s productive and helpful to see excellent examples of work from other web designers, basing to much of your inspiration on other sites can lead to a lack of variety and innovation in design. Fortunately, there are countless other ways to improve upon the creativity of your designs. Let’s take a look at 7 of them.
Vandelay Design Has a New Look
Published June 21st, 2008 in Design - 62 Comments
I’m happy to unveil the new look here for Vandelay Design! The new design is quite different from the old one, and I hope that it will provide a better home for the content of this blog. If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or in your email I encourage you to visit and see what you think (and of course if you’re already on the site please click around a little bit to check things out).
There were a few main goals with the redesign, which I’ll touch on in a minute, but ultimately I hope that it makes the blog a more comfortable and welcoming place for readers. Please leave your feedback, positive or negative, if you have a moment. Also, I’ve tested things myself, but if you see anything that’s not working please let me know.
Understanding the Mentality of Your Visitors
Published June 18th, 2008 in Design - 13 Comments
Understanding the mentality of your visitors is critical. Their opinion of your website is more important than having a pretty design . Why do they arrive at your website? How do they arrive? What are they looking for? What will make-or-break their visit? What will make them come back?
If you understand why someone is visiting, then you can do a better job of giving them what they are looking for and you can make their visit more fulfilling. To really understand why someone is visiting, you really need to have an idea of who they are and what situations surround them. Knowing your target audience is crucial and it should impact just about everything that you do.
Designing and Formatting Blog Posts for Readability
Published June 11th, 2008 in Design - 27 Comments
Most of us probably put a great deal of thought and effort into the design of a blog, but once it’s launched there is a tendency to type a post and hit publish without giving much thought to the visual elements of the post. I know I fall into that trap quite often, and I don’t think I’m alone.
The heart and soul of the blog post is the content itself, however, the design, layout, and formatting certainly impacts the attention that visitors give to the content. For the current re-design that’s in the works for this blog, this is a factor that I would really like to improve.
40 Excellent Photoshop Tutorials for Textures and Backgrounds
Published June 2nd, 2008 in Design, Photoshop Tutorials - 119 Comments
Photoshop provides designers with unlimited options for creating unique and attractive backgrounds. One of the most popular approaches is to create some type of textured background, and fortunately there are a number of helpful tutorials to teach you all the tricks you need to know.
My Favorite Sites for Web Design Tutorials
Published May 28th, 2008 in Design - 30 Comments
For those of us who are interested in always learning new tricks and improve our design skills, we’re fortunate to have a number of very valuable websites and blogs that regularly publish high quality, informative tutorials. In this post I’d like to take a look at some of my favorite places for tutorials, and I encourage you to share your favorites in the comments.
PSDTUTS
While there are plenty of blogs and websites for Photoshop tutorials, PSDTUTS is the king. In recent months their team of writers have been publishing a new tutorial almost every day. You’ll find very high quality work here in a variety of different areas. I frequently work through their tutorials and always learn a lot from the process.
From the Archives: Create a Dark Themed Web Design from Scratch, Creating a Stunning Digital Smoke Effect.
