Concept Dezain

10 Websites to Download Free Fonts:

Louise — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:45:23 +0000

We all now how hard it is to find that perfect font for your graphic design project but whatever your needs you can find a personal use or commercial use font with our handy list of free font websites.

Font Squirrel

Font Squirrel has done the hard-work for you by collecting together free fonts that are licensed for commercial work. You can filter for TrueType or OpenType fonts and search for free @font-face kits.

Font Space

With 16,182, you are bound to find a font that you want to use. These fonts have been shared by designers around the world. Featuring an easy-to-use layout, with new and most popular fonts on the homepage. When browsing you can filter whether you want a font for personl or commercial use and you can even customise the font with your own text to preview it.

Free Premium Fonts

This free font website has collected fonts that were selected by popular votes and most downloads. They are listed alphabetically and by popular categories. You can preview any of the free fonts by typing in your own text and selecting its size. It also allows for comments for each font, helping you to choose the perfect one to use. Offers free and commercial font editing software.

Search Free Fonts

There are over 13,000 free fonts to use and over 91,000 commercial fonts on Search Free Fonts. So whatever graphic design project you are working on yu are bound to find one to suit your needs. You can sort it by category and search for a specific font name.

Da Font

1001 Free Fonts first came to life in 1998 and since has grown to become one of the most popular free font sites online. They receive more than 50,000 daily visitors and have received over 150 million visits since their beginning, since when 3,000,000,000 free fonts have been downloaded

1001 Free Fonts

Urban fonts have over 8,000 freeware fonts for visitors to explore as well as free dingbats. While it may not be the largest collection of free fonts out there, it does have a easily navigable website.

Urban Fonts

With Acid Fonts you can download the free fonts via the navigation menu. You can browse through categories or directly search for the font that you want by name. They also have some great help and information pages which help with the conversion and installation of the fonts.

Acid Fonts

On FontStock you will find downloadable True Type font libraries. The front page features the Top Ten most popular fonts which is a great place to start. You can navigate between categories, new fonts and top free fonts. You can even submit your own font if you wish.

FontStock

Fonts 500 features the web’s top 500 fonts. So you can’t sort and select by category but it does give you the most popular fonts. The Top 500 is calculated based on download counts from some of the web’s biggest free font archives. All fonts have been collected from around the web, and are maintained with all files intact.

Fonts500

With our handy list you‘ll never waste time again looking for that free font that you need. Just look at the websites and see which font takes your fancy.

Next Day Flyers Business Cards Winners

Franco Averta — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:04:54 +0000

A couple of weeks ago our friends at Next Day Flyers gave us 2 sets of 500 biz cards for two lucky readers!, celebrating the opening of their new production facility. (if you need inspiration to design your own Biz card, check out this article: Business Card Showcase Sites and more)

The Winners

Congratulations to Charlie Hargrave and Luis Ramirez, you Won! You’ll be contacted via email. Thank you all for participating in the giveaway, don’t forget to suscribe to our RSS Feed to stay updated.

So You Want to Start as a Web Designer

Adnan Qaizar — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:56:17 +0000

Planning to start up a new career? Or changing your career path? Well it is not a piece of cake… there are a number of things which needs to be thought of before you jump into that particular field which you are planning to take up as your career.

Before entering it is important to know what you are getting into before you decide on a job including how much it pays, what the hours are, and what will be expected of you; your goal must be defined, at least a vague idea should be there. However, the most important thing to be remembered is that ALL the career paths are challenging in the beginning… one needs to be patience.

One such challenging career path is that of designing….WEB DESIGNING. Well this title, web designer, could mean a lot of many different things. From a graphic designer to someone who is responsible to run the entire web site. However in most cases a web designer gets the task which is a mixture of graphics, texts, coding, scripting and many other elements of a site to create an appealing layout.

If you are planning to become a professional web designer then there are a number of things that needs to be considered, first and most important is, do you want to be a freelancer or you want to work in a firm?. If you are contract based, that is freelancer then you could be subject to sudden or capricious ideas which just pop up in your clients mind, because if you do not have clients … you have no business.

Trust me, being a web designer, is not fun and games at all times. Make sure you know what the job entails. Finally, getting certification or other education is a great way to make sure you’re prepared.Well if you are seriously considering web designing as your career, then below are a few tips for you:

Job Description

Well a web designer is required from the root stage of the web designing project. In fact they are the most important people in such projects. They need to meet the client even in their first meeting, for discussing the requirement of the web site and other such important issues.

At this stage the web designer needs to show different types of layouts, colors and sometimes logos depending up on the nature of the business or product for which the web site is being made. Sometimes the client comes up with their own designs and the web designer employed has to make a similar kind of web site. This is the brief description of what the designer has to do.

Training

It is better for a web designer to have a background in graphic designing or fine arts along with a grip on using computer. Many web designers learn HTML and other computer skills on their own, while their educational background may vary but every web designer should have proper training in computer graphics package.

Updated knowledge of graphic packages like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver is very important. A web designer should be a quick learner and should be keep himself updated as technology is changing every day. And training on some technical skill, like:

Working knowledge of FTP (file transfer protocol)
Skills in graphic designing and functionality of software.
Knowledge I computing language
Strong communication skills to work with clients

Looking for a Job

The final or last step after training is finding a job, with a number of firms launching or redesigning websites, job opportunity is not an issue. A number of web designers begin their career as layout artist, graphic designer and then, gradually, become a web designer. Many professionals opt for freelancing and start by offering free website templates for download and use.However when these templates become popular they start selling their templates and become professionals.

Web designing is emerging as a promising career for young generation. A balance between the technical, creative and communication skills will help you grow as a web designer.

Sticker Mule Giveaway Winner

Franco Averta — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:38:32 +0000

Sticker Mule gave us $100 in free custom stickers for one lucky reader. If you’re a designer, the folks at Sticker Mule are good people to know. They make cool stuff to promote your business or just to have fun.

The Winner

Congratulations to HE Media, you Won! You’ll be contacted via email. Thank you all for participating in the giveaway, don’t forget to suscribe to our RSS Feed to stay updated.

Win 500 Business Cards from Next Day Flyers

Franco Averta — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:10:57 +0000

Today our friends at Next Day Flyers are giving away 2 sets of 500 biz cards for two lucky readers!, celebrating the opening of their new production facility.

“Note: We have extended the giveaway until Monday 30 cool or what?”

About Next Day Flyers

Next Day Flyers is an online printing company that delivers top-quality printed marketing materials with one of the fastest turnaround times in the industry. They specialize in full color printing of custom business cards, brochures, greeting cards, postcards, as well as specialty die cuts and other marketing materials. They believe all businesses, no matter their size, deserve easy access to custom promotional and direct mail material.

Twice the Capacity, Double the Print Power!

Their bi-coastal positioning not only enables them to reduce shipping rates for the East Coast, it also means double the print capacity and more opportunities to provide superior quality prints to customers all over North America.

The Prize:

2 sets of 500 business cards

Size: 2″x3.5″

Printed in full color (4/4)

14 PT card stock.

The cards will be printed with 2-4 day printing turnaround time and shipped anywhere in the U.S.

The winner can upload a print ready file or use our Online Design Center to create their layout.

2 sets of 500 business cards (1 for each winner).
Size: 2″x3.5″.
Printed in full color (4/4).
14 PT card stock.
The cards will be printed with 2-4 day printing turnaround time and shipped anywhere in the U.S.
The winner can upload a print ready file or use our Online Design Center to create their layout.

How to Win!

All you need to do is leave a comment in the post.

Restrictions:

Limited to US residents

The giveaway will end on Monday 30 (January) 2012 24:00UTC/GMT – 3 h. and the winners will be selected using the random.org service and will be announced on Tuesday 31. Winners will be chosen from the comments below! Please enter a valid email address so we are able to contact you. Good Luck!!!! Remember to suscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest updates.

Custom Sticker Giveaway by Sticker Mule

Franco Averta — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:32:18 +0000

Today our friends at Sticker Mule would like to give one lucky reader $100 in free custom stickers. If you’re a designer, the folks at Sticker Mule are good people to know.

They make awesome die cut stickers, with a super easy ordering process. Just upload your artwork and they’ll take care of the rest. These guys can cut your stickers to any shape or size. They’ll even make your artwork print ready for free, and provide a free online proof with every order.

Check out their work:

How to Win!

For a chance to win all you have to do is post a comment below!!. That’s it! Easy isn’t it?

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions, the giveaway is available worlwide
UPS ground shipping is free for US customers.
Non US residents will just have to pay for international shipping (but they can use the store credit that they’ve won to pay for this too).

The giveaway will end on Thursday 19 (January) 2012 24:00UTC/GMT – 3 h. and the winners will be selected using the random.org service and will be announced on Friday 20. Winners will be chosen from the comments below! Please enter a valid email address so we are able to contact you. Good Luck!!!! Remember to suscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest updates.

Six key principles to design a 404 page

Lief — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:02:01 +0000

The Internet is an environment where any error is important and sometimes these are severe punished by the users. The richness of the opportunities and the lack of time are the most important factors that cemented these high standards which simply destroyed the less competitive and make the rest online stars.

In spite of that, the creative minds of the designers developed some methods that proved efficient in maintaining the visitors even the website isn’t fully working. A broken link is something unwanted but as long as these are from other webpages, having other administrators is almost impossible not to have one. A broken link is annoying or irritating for everyone but here comes into the stage the 404 error page.

The 404 error page or “the file not found” is the message that appears when a page or a post isn’t located. Having a common and boring 404 error page won’t attract any visitor and quite probable they will search for another website. A customized page to show where any links are broken impress the visitors and they are giving a second chance to the website, much more, a very good one may attract people. The web design blogs offers lots of inspirational posts with the best 404 error pages, hence having exposed the creation on these is an honor and a chance of being visited by the readers of the respective posts.

Briefly, we should accept that all of us are humans and the mistakes are written in the DNA, hence is better to be prepared for these and a customized 404 page is a good start for web designers. The creation of such a page is different from a normal layout, there are fewer aspects to take into account but the final realization should have a stronger and a more effective message. Here are presented and explained some vital tips to pay attention when designing a 404 page; anyone who has other tips is begged to share with us via comment form, any opinion is welcomed.

1.Let people know what kind of page is

The designers perceive in a different manner a webpage than a normal Internet user but the websites are created, in an overwhelming majority, for non-designers. Being aware of that, a designer should create pages that are self-explicatory; people don’t have the time and patience to guess what a page is for. A 404 page isn’t something usual for common individuals and to create a successful one is highly recommended to have a clear message, maybe obviously that let them know, with no doubt, that the page they wanted to access isn’t located.

In the case the designers want to share other information with the potential readers the best practice is to make it clear and obvious, the viewers adapted for online presences and almost developed another touch, they are scanning the websites and not classically read as a book or a newspaper.

2.A 404 page must impress the viewers

A 404 page must be regarded as a gift from the website administrator because a links is broken and the visitors can’t see the respective page. A banal gift isn’t definitely liked by people while one apart is surely impressing them and the same principle must be applied in creating 404 page.

You, the designer are guilty for this issue and to really be forgiven, there must be a complete shift of perspective, from “what is wrong with this page” to “wow, this is a nice work”. The idea is simple, in spite of letting people became uninterested, the page 404 should make them impressed by it and therefore, by the entire website.

3.An original idea is mandatory

This tip may be considered as an extension of the precedent one but it’s too important not to be presented separately. The originality is a must in creating a 404 page. How could be easier, but powerful impressed a viewer otherwise than having a stand apart creation.

In order to create the most original pages are required many years of experience and practice, a study of other similar 404 creations, and talent. It will be great to may offer more tips that are practical but the matter of originality is very subjective and there is no magic formula, it’s all up to you.

4.The imagination must be free

A 404 page shouldn’t have so much information as a normal page of a website and it’s equivalent of a higher level of freedom of the imagination, everything is allowed if people are liking it. This page may be ironical or humorous, and many of them are, or lacking almost any text. No matter which solution is adopted, only the final result is important, to be enjoyed by viewers.

5.Design it as a future landing page

A common conception of the designer is to believe that the users will run away from the 404 page even if it’s simply awesome. It’s true in many cases, but it shouldn’t make designers not to focus on creating good works. A more beneficial conception is to consider a 404 work as a new kind of landing page. Once the user is amazed by, he would probably want to see the other pages/posts.

6.Study other qualitative 404 pages

Studying the competitors is compulsory in any design fields and 404 isn’t an exception. The study must be complete but when creating pages isn’t a solution to get too “inspired” from other sources. The purpose of the study is to get in touch with the latest updates, see the trends, observe the common features and so on. This is the reason why I inserted here some amazing examples of creative 404 pages, I hope to enjoy them and let me know which your favorite is.

Jamie Huskisson

Ferdaze

Acro Media

Agens

Limpfish

5 Famous Brand Logos You Can Create With Geometric Shapes

Nora Reed — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:53:59 +0000

Looking back at your college days, you wish you had paid more attention to your math and arithmetic class. I say this because of the immense importance that geometry plays in graphic design.

One of the subcategories of graphic designing is logo and identity development. Most people assume that geometrical knowledge has nothing to do with designing and creative art. But if you cite examples of famous logos for major brands, you will observe that it is otherwise.

Hallmark of famous logos is simplicity and creativity. Brands like Nike, FedEx and Pepsi all have logos that are simple looking yet highly effectual. Creating effective logos comprise of expressing the company message to the intended customers in a clear and understandable manner. You must be wondering how these famous logos were created with so much complex shapes and symbols. But in reality, most of them were designed using simple geometric shapes like circles, rectangles and triangles.

In this post, I shall reveal the tricks through which you can also create 5 famous logos like Pepsi, Chanel, North West Airlines, Cargoline and Ubuntu logo using just basic geometric shapes. But do assume that the concept behind these logos was trouble-free too. Through this, you will realize the significance of knowing your basic shapes and symbols.

Chanel Logo:

You must be familiar of the France-based fashion brand, Chanel. Its logo design is one a creative combination of 2 ‘C’ mirrored alongside each other. You can re-create this logo in a matter of minutes using just a few circles and triangles. Start by creating a black circle and a smaller white circle on top of it to give it a ring shape. Repeat the same and inter-loop the two rings. To achieve the letter ‘C’ effect, place two white triangles on each side.

North West Airlines Logo:

A prominent US-based airline named Northwest Airlines Inc. was established in 1926. Its logo reveals a perfect example of how to create hidden logos. The design cleverly shows the letter ‘N’ within ‘W’ using a red triangle in the upper left corner. But you can effortlessly re-create this logo by placing a white rectangle onto the letter ‘W’ to give the negative space effect and also reveal letter ‘N’.

Ubuntu Logo:

Microsoft Windows’ major competitor is Linux Ubuntu. Its logo is another perfect example of how simple shapes and symbols can create a memorable logo. You may think that it is created using complex shapes and characters. But it is simply a combination of circles and rectangles. The central loop was created using 2 circles while the three gaps on the ring are designed using three white rectangles.

Pepsi Logo:

Even though the new Pepsi logo was not much like by the public, its old “bottle cap shaped” logo was extremely memorable and popular. You might think that the wavy effect is difficult to re-create, but it can be easily made using simple geometric shapes. Simple illustrate two half circles (red and blue) and position a white colored ‘~’ sign, found on your keyboard, sandwiched between both semicircles.

Cargoline Logo:

Another complex looking logo that can be easily re-created is Cargoline logo. As you can see, the logo cleverly slots in a ‘K’ within the letter ‘C’. Even though the concept behind this is truly a work of genius, it can be created using only rectangles and circles. Start by creating a ‘C’ using a red circle and another smaller white circle within to create a ring shape. To form the ‘K’, diagonally place a white rectangle on the ‘C’ and then place two red rectangles that represent the legs of letter ‘K’.

Our Best Articles from 2011

Franco Averta — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:50:21 +0000

Once again we got to the part of the year were we do a round up of the year best articles, I thought it would be a nice idea to make a round up of our own articles, this is becose in the last couple of month we are getting a lot of new visitors, and I want you to read our older post.

Promoting Your Brand On-site and Off

+20 Excellent 3D Typography Tutorials

Tips for Using Light Fonts in Web Design

The Team Behind a Blog

The Amateur Freelancer Guide to Attract Clients

Print Ad Campaigns That Boomed Thanks To Great Graphics

Minimalist Movie Posters

12 Free Design Tools for Newbie Web Designers

Minimalist Movie Posters part 2

Positive Use of Negative Space in Logo Design – Room for Creativity!

Usability vs. Accessibility

Cross Cultural Usability in Web Design

Idea Behind Naming of 6 Major Brands – Weird Philosophy!

Nora Reed — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:54:48 +0000

It is rightly said that brands are like human beings. They have their own set of personality traits and attribute that tell apart from one another. Just like we known and remember each other through our names, brands also generate memorability through their etymology.

One of the biggest reasons to correctly name your brand is that “first impressions are always the last ones.” We live in a world where nothing sells without a name tag and logo design. Customers favor purchasing products/services which are trademarked rather than nameless merchandise. For instance, people don’t just buy jeans; they purchase a ‘Denim’ or a ‘Levis’. But how are brand names actually generated? Are they randomly formed out of nothing or is there a philosophy behind them?

Here is the philosophy behind naming of 6 major brands of the world that you will find weird and interesting to learn:

1. Caterpillar – The Similarity:

The manufacturer of heavy industrial machinery, Caterpillar, was named after something which has practically no weight at all. The incident behind naming of this corporation is an interesting one. The idea came up one day when a company photographer shouted from a Holt tractor that the movement of the machine is quite similar to a caterpillar squirming on the ground. From that day forward, the name was adopted.

2. Google – By Chance:

The search engine that we all religious rely on is also responsible for a major blunder in their naming. Would you believe that the world Google came out of a typing mistake? The company which was known as “Backrub” initially decided to change their name in 1998 to ‘Googol’, a word for the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name was erroneously written as “Google” and the owners like it better.

3. Adobe – Riverside Inspiration:

Who would have thought that riverside inspiration could be the idea behind naming of a large software corporation? Adobe, commonly known for its creation of Photoshop and Illustrator software for logo designers, was named after ‘Adobe Creek River’ alongside which resided the co-founder John Warnock.

4. Häagen-Dazs –Foreign Appeal:

Most people consider Häagen-Dazs to be a brand originating from a Scandinavian country. But in reality, it is an American brand. The name itself has no meaning nor is it derived from any German or French language. As a matter of fact, these digraphs were made-up just to make the company look Scandinavian to the US consumers. The owner of the brand, Mattus opted for foreign branding, with the philosophy that since Denmark is renowned for its dairy products. Hence the ice-cream brand would appear good in front of the American consumers.

5. Hotmail – Nothing Hot:

Most people assumed that Microsoft owned mail service Hotmail was named to connote hotness. But as it turns out, there is nothing HOT about Hotmail after all. The name “Hotmail” was named using the acronym HTML. Since the mail server was based on HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language, it was named as HoTMaiL originally. But this was later converted simply to Hotmail.

6. Apple – Newton Theory:

We certainly do know how gravity was discovered by Newton. Sitting beneath a tree, all of a sudden an apple dropped over his head. This story purportedly inspired late Steve Jobs, then owner of Technology giant Apple inc. Even though the name of the fruit has no relevance to the nature and scope of the business, the logic behind its naming is fascinating. Much similar to apple motivated Newton into inventing gravity, the company Apple Inc is also in a constant thirst for invention and technological advancements.