30 Poster Design Tutorials for Photoshop
Published September 14th, 2011 in Design - 17 Comments
Photoshop allows designers to create amazing posters that can be used for a variety or purposes like movie promos, product promos, event promos, as well as just for fun and practice. There are a lot of quality tutorials out there that teach the process of designing a poster in Photoshop. In this post we’ll feature 30 poster tutorials from a variety of different designers. In this collection you should find at least a few tutorials that teach something that could be helpful in your own work.
Create a Vibrant Space-Themed Poster in Photoshop
39 Beautiful Email Newsletter Templates
Published September 13th, 2011 in Marketing - 15 Comments
Email newsletters are an important marketing and communication tool for many businesses. The appearance of your newsletter can be enhanced with an attractive design, but having a custom design isn’t the only option. Templates are available for newsletters, and many of them are provided by companies that manage mailing lists like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor. Those two providers market towards designers more than competitors like AWeber, so as a result they tend to have better quality and quantity of templates available.
Here is a look at some of the templates available.
MailChimp Templates:
These templates are free for use on paid accounts. Free accounts are limited to more basic templates.
Design Inspiration: Green Websites
Published September 12th, 2011 in Galleries - 11 Comments
Last week we published a collection of blue websites for color scheme inspiration, and this week we’ll take a look at green websites. Green is a very common and popular color for web design, and as you will see in this showcase, there are a lot of other colors that can be used in combination with green. If you’re designing a site with a lot of green, take a look at the sites shown here and you’ll get some ideas of other colors that could complete your color scheme.
How to Find the Clients That YOU Want
Published September 8th, 2011 in Business - 13 Comments
Many web designers find that they don’t have trouble attracting clients, but they do have trouble attracting the right clients. The work that you do can be far more rewarding, fun, and profitable if you are able to work with the types of clients that are a better fit for your services. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to make yourself and your services more noticeable and more appealing to the right kinds of clients.
In this post we’ll present some tips that you can implement to help you to attract the types of clients that you want.
1. Identify Your Ideal Client
The first step in attracting the right kinds of clients is to identify specifically what types of clients and projects you want. If you’re struggling with this, think about the clients that you’re currently attracting and why they are not right for you. Once you know the types of clients that you would like to work with you can develop a plan to promote your services specifically to those people.
Some examples of the types of clients and projects that you might want to target could include e-commerce websites (or more specifically, Magento, Shopify, etc.), WordPress themes, Drupal development, band websites, photography portfolio sites, church websites, and so on. You may also want to work with clients in a particular budget range, geographical location, or company size.
How you identify your ideal client is up to you, but the more specific you can be the easier it will be to target that type of client.
19 Resources for Getting Design Feedback
Published September 7th, 2011 in Design, Tools - 11 Comments
Designers have a constant need for feedback, whether it be from clients, users, or team members. Gathering and organizing feedback can become quite cumbersome without an organized approach. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps and resources available to help with this issue, and we’ll look at many of them in this post.
As you look at the resources covered in this post you’ll see a great deal of variety. Some are intended to assist with feedback from clients, while others may be intended for team members or users. Some focus on simplicity and ease of use while others have extensive feature lists. Find one that works well for your needs and you’ll find that you have a much more efficient process for managing feedback.
The Best Resources for Getting Design Feedback
ProofHQ
ProofHQ is a full-featured web app for managing feedback and collaboration. You can upload and manage over 50 types of files that can be commented on and marked up by reviewers. You can manage multi-page files, easily share your proofs with anyone, manage contacts and groups, and more. Prices start at $17 per month with a 14-day free trial available.
Design Inspiration: Blue Websites
Published September 6th, 2011 in Galleries - 16 Comments
I find that when I am looking for inspiration on a color scheme and I know the primary color that will be used, it helps to browse other sites of the same color. So today we’ll be showcasing blue websites, and hopefully this can serve as a source of inspiration for your own work. In the future we will be publishing other similar showcases featuring other colors. Blue is one of the more popular colors in web design, so there is no shortage of inspiration available.
Showcase of Still Life Photography
Published September 5th, 2011 in Galleries - 16 Comments
In the past we’ve featured photography showcases of all kinds, including action photos. Today in this showcase we’re going in a different direction, showcasing still life photos. Still life photography can be quite amazing because of the photographer’s ability to turn an ordinary object into a beautiful photograph. The composition, lighting, and colors can serve as excellent sources of design inspiration.
Here is a look at 30 still life photos from various photographers.
Photo credit: Jack Ambridge
Exposing Common Myths About Blogging
Published September 1st, 2011 in Blogging - 20 Comments
There is no shortage of content available on the topic of blogging, but many who are interested in the subject still have misconceptions about making money through a blog. This is in part due to the fact that so many people are publishing content about blogging and a lot of those people have different views and opinions. Also, it’s often difficult to determine how much credibility should be given to the source.
In this article I’d like to present 8 myths that are commonly associated with blogging. If you have blogging experience of your own you’ve probably already disproved several of these myths. If you don’t have experience blogging, maybe this information will be helpful to see things in a different light.
Myth #1: It’s Easy to Make Money Blogging
Many people see articles or hear stories of others making money through blogging and they assume that it’s easy to do. They assume that within a matter of a few months they should be able to earn a significant income and then it is just smooth sailing from there. The vast majority of people who have believed this myth and have decided to start their own blog as a result have quickly realized that it is in fact just a myth.
The truth is that making money from a blog involves a lot of work, just like having any other type of job or running another type of business. There are plenty of success stories out there, and some of the bloggers who have managed to do very well with their blogs are able to work fewer hours than they would with another type of job. However, for every person like this there are hundreds who have tried and given up without success.
30 Gadget Design Tutorials for Photoshop
Published August 31st, 2011 in Design, Photoshop Tutorials - 7 Comments
Gadgets like smartphones, mp3 players, and tablets have become a part of our everyday lives, and they are often incorporated into designs. There are a lot of quality tutorials available that will show you step-by-step how to design a great-looking gadget. In this post we’ll showcase 30 of the best gadget design tutorials from various sources. They’ll have you designing stunning gadgets to use in your own work.
Create a Photo Realistic iPhone in Photoshop
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.
