Showcase of Sketches and Doodles in Web Design
Published August 30th, 2011 in Galleries - 16 Comments
Using a hand-drawn style of design is one way to create an interesting web design that visitors will remember. There are a lot of different approaches to using doodles and sketches, and in this post we’ll showcase examples for your own inspiration.
Some designers use hand-drawn elements like arrows and lines, while others use the hand-drawn style on text or even the background of the website. As you browse through the sites showcased here you’ll see a lot of creativity in how the doodles and sketches are used.
5,000+ Free Photoshop Gradients for Designers
Published August 29th, 2011 in Design - 19 Comments
Gradients are commonly used in web and graphic design. Having a large collection of gradients already prepared will allow you to try new gradients quickly, speeding up your design process. Of course, there will be times when you want to create your own gradients, but for other situations a library of gradients can be an effective tool.
In this post we’ll showcase 35 free sets of gradients that are being offered by various designers. If you see something you like, click through to the source where you’ll be able to download the gradients.
Web 2.0 Gradients (1,000 gradients)
9 Reasons for Freelance Designers to Blog
Published August 25th, 2011 in Business - 18 Comments
Blogging can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some, blogging provides a way to communicate with friends and family. For others, blogging provides a way to grow a business or advance a career. For freelance designers blogging can serve many different purposes depending on where you are in your business and what direction you want to go.
In this article we’ll take a look at 9 reasons for freelancers to blog. Not all of them will apply to you, but hopefully a few of them would serve you well. Depending on what you want to get out of your blogging efforts there could be a number of different approaches that you take.
For some designers a blog is simply a place to document their thoughts and to share what they are working on or what they are learning. Posts may be infrequent because there is no need to publish content just for the sake of posting something new.
Others who have specific goals for the blog may take a different approach. One of the great things about blogging is the flexibility that allows you to adjust your approach to your own situation and your needs.
If you’re not sure how your work as a designer can benefit from maintaining a blog, here is a look at 9 possibilities.
Magic 3D Photoshop Action
Published August 24th, 2011 in Tools - 55 Comments
Today we have a free Photoshop Action for easily creating 3D effects. The action was created by Damian Watracz for the readers of the Vandelay Design blog. With the help of the action you can easily give 3D effects to layers, vector shapes, and text.
Damian has also created a video to demonstrate how to use the action.
Download the action and associated files (1.3 MB zip file).
Design Trend: Ribbons, Badges and Banners
Published August 23rd, 2011 in Galleries - 13 Comments
If you browse around many websites, especially design galleries, you’ve probably noticed the trends of using elements like ribbons, badges, and banners in web design. Ribbons with a 3D look are especially popular right now. In this post we’ll showcase 30 websites using these types of elements.
100 Sets of Free Photoshop Brushes
Published August 22nd, 2011 in Design - 8 Comments
Photoshop brushes can be extremely useful for designers by making it quick and easy to implement different effects, textures, and elements into your design. There are a lot of brush sets out there but it’s sometimes difficult to find what you’re looking for. We have collected 100 sets of free Photoshop brushes and categorized them according to type.
Watercolor Brushes:
Unique Selling Proposition as It Relates to Freelance Designers
Published August 18th, 2011 in Business - 6 Comments
A product’s Unique Selling Proposition (also known as Unique Selling Point or USP) is what makes it different from competing products, and more importantly, what leads customers to buy it.
For those in marketing, USPs are extremely important because in order to sell more of a product you need to know what will motivate customers to buy your product instead of the competition’s product, and then you need to effectively communicate that USP.
A large percentage of freelance designers struggle to land as much business as they would like. If this is the case for you, have you taken time to think about what makes you unique in comparison to other designers out there? Why will clients want to hire you instead of another designer? It’s critical that you identify what it is that separates you from other designers, and you must be able to communicate that or make it apparent to potential clients.
Why USPs are Important for Freelance Designers
Knowing your Unique Selling Proposition is an important step for freelance designers for a few reasons.
25 Useful jQuery Tooltip Scripts
Published August 17th, 2011 in Tools, Web Development - 9 Comments
Tooltips can be a helpful way to provide information to visitors without creating clutter in a design. If you would like to add an attractive tooltip to your website it doesn’t have to be difficult. There are plenty of quality scripts available for use that will allow you to set up tooltips without coding it from scratch. In this post we’ll present 25 different jQuery tooltip scripts.
You may also be interested in:
- 25 jQuery Slider/Image Gallery Tutorials and Plugins
- 25 Excellent jQuery Sliders Tutorials and Plugins
- 25 jQuery Drop Down Menu Scripts
- 35 jQuery Animation Tutorials
Easiest Tooltip and Image Preview Using jQuery
30 Examples of Amazing Character Design
Published August 16th, 2011 in Galleries - 15 Comments
Character design and illustration is a skill that many designers attempt to master. If you’re working to improve your own skills in this area it can be helpful to gain inspiration from the work of others. In this post we’ll showcase 30 character illustrations from various designers. You may also be interested in this post from the archives, 30 Tutorials for Designing Fun and Creative Characters.
Showcase of Skyline Photography
Published August 15th, 2011 in Galleries - 17 Comments
Skylines and cityscapes are a common subject for photographs, and they are even frequently mimicked in web and graphic design (see Web Design Trends: Skylines and Cityscapes). Each city has it’s own unique characteristics, and in this post we’ll showcase 22 photographs of various skylines. This showcase includes HDR photos, night photos, water reflection photos, and more.
