Published September 2nd, 2009 in Galleries
A few months ago we launched a network of five niche gallery sites. For a long time this blog has included inspirational posts that showcase the work of various designers, so it seemed like a natural extension to launch the galleries. During the past few months the archives have been growing at each of the galleries, and they are becoming more valuable resources for designers who are looking for inspiration. Each gallery now includes between 185 and 350 items on display.
In this post I’d like to showcase a brief sampling of the inspiration that is available at each of the galleries. There are ten items shown from each of the galleries. The text links will lead you to the source, and by clicking on the images you will be led to the pages on the galleries.
Folio Focus:
Folio Focus currently includes more than 300 portfolio sites on display from various creative professionals. There are around 20 new sites added each week. To stay up-to-date with Folio Focus you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.
Galan
Published August 31st, 2009 in Design
Advertisements often display a lot of creativity in design, and Photoshop is an excellent tool for those who are designing advertisements. Fortunately there are a number of tutorials specifically for designing advertisements, and others that demonstrate techniques that are effective for advertisements. In this post we’ll feature 17 different tutorials that can help you in your own advertising design.
Create an Amazing Ad in Photoshop
Published August 27th, 2009 in Galleries
Using lighting effects in design is a common trend at the moment. Designers who want to add some flare to a design can use Photoshop to create interesting lighting effects. In the past we have showcased examples of sites with lighting effects, and today we’ll feature 25 more. Although all of these sites make use of lighting effects, you will see different approaches and different types of effects from some of the sites shown here.
Design Slurp
Published August 24th, 2009 in WordPress
All bloggers would like to get more interaction and participation from their readers and visitors. In this post we’ll look at nine different things you can do to your WordPress theme to add the possibility of some type of interaction. Some involves comments, social media, and other ways of getting readers involved.
1. Show Most Recent Comments
One of the most important ways that blogs can encourage readers to get involved is through the comments. There are a number of different strategies for increasing comments and participation from readers, and many of them involve placing extra emphasis on the comments. By displaying the most recent comments (in the sidebar for example) you may be able to encourage more comments because visitors will see that you value their participation.
Published August 20th, 2009 in Galleries
“Green” and eco-related effects and design styles can be used with typography for impressive results. Additionally, this style does a great job to help communicate a message or intent. In this post we’ll showcase a number of pieces for your typography inspiration.
Source: Marian Albu
Published August 16th, 2009 in Galleries
When I re-designed this blog recently I decided to move from a two-column layout to just two columns because I felt that it made the layout cleaner and the content more readable. However, there are some well-designed blogs that make effective use of a three-column layout. In this post we’ll look at 25 examples.
Most of these blogs have been showcased at our gallery Blog Design Heroes.
Lord Likely
Published August 13th, 2009 in Reviews
A few days ago this blog got a re-design, and in the announcement post I mentioned that the coding of the WordPress theme was done by WPCoder. Today I’d like to publish a review of their services for those of you who may have an interest in using them in your own work. For disclosure purposes, this is not a paid review or an advertisement, but I did receive discounted services for the review. However, there was no requirement to publish a “positive” review and the situation has not affected anything that is presented in this post.
Published in WordPress
One of the great benefits of designing and developing for WordPress is the amount of quality resources that are available from others in the WordPress community. Many times these resources can wind up saving you time in your own development. The only problem is that there are so many resources available that it is difficult to know about them all and sometimes to find what you are looking for.
In this post we’ll feature 15 resources that may be of help to you while you are designing and developing WordPress themes. If you have suggestions for other resources, please leave a comment.
Frameworks:
Thematic
Thematic is a very popular WordPress theme framework created by Ian Stewart. This framework can be used as-is, or is excellent for using with child themes. In fact, a number of child themes for Thematic are available for free or as premium themes, including the free gallery theme distributed by Smashing Magazine.
Published August 10th, 2009 in Galleries
Travel websites often feature large, attractive photos because of their emphasis on visual appeal. In this post we’ll look at 37 well-designed sites from the travel industry for your own design inspiration. Some are state or government tourism websites, and others are for hotels or business involved in the travel industry.
Experience Washington
Published August 9th, 2009 in Site News
Today Vandelay Design has a new look! Other than some minor changes, it had been over a year since the blog was re-designed and it was time to give the theme some attention. While this re-design attempted to keep a similar feel, there have been some changes worth pointing out.
For those of you who are reading this post via RSS or email, here are screenshots of the blog front page and of the website home.
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