Fashion / Costume Design

This stunning, original outfit was a design collaboration piece by Kattaca and Paco Peregrin.

Illustration

This hauntingly dark tshirt design by Haydex Li, is an amazing illustration set off by the subtle inclusions of red.

Photography

With so many beautiful photographs to choose from in Joanna Kustra’s gallery, we had a difficult time just selecting one.

Print Layout

Balsam Studio’s portfolio was uniquely styled into a book layout, and this typography heavy entry was an immediate favorite of ours.

Packaging / Product Design

This product and packaging innovation is a collaboration between Burak Kaynak and Cem Has, that takes a toasty approach to taking notes.

Architectural / Structural Design

Blue Crystal designed by Sven Sauer, is such an amazing concept of structurally combining water, light, and sound into a breathtaking floating enclosure unlike any other.

Make-Up / Hair Design

This minimalist look crafted by Aimee Graham, turns the model into a soft, snowy blank canvas with poignant inclusions of black to set off the eyes with contrast.

Web Design

Rotondo Pizzeria and Cafe’s website combines a subdued monotone color scheme with a clean, minimalist layout that makes the site both user friendly and easy on the eyes.

Logo Design

The Coca-Cola script was designed by an amateur, Frank Robinson, the fledgling company’s bookkeeper. He devised both the Spencerian script and the brilliantly concise words beneath: “Delicious and Refreshing.” This is one of the most timeless logos ever created. Follow the link to see what we mean.

Coke vs Pepsi

Interior Design

It is not often that we come across an interior design that makes us long to occupy the space that has been put together, but this design by Stefan Boublil does exactly that!

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Inspiration from Across the Design Spectrum

So to help make sure this little transitional phase runs as smooth as possible, we’ve collated a list of top tips to ensure you’re fully prepared and equipped to take things mobile.

Image: williamhook

1. Recognize The Difference

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when designing for the mobile web is that it is a completely different format than that of the desktop browser. As a developer, it is important to get into the mindset of treating the mobile web world separately.

For example, lazy or slack coding that may go unnoticed on a large scale could be crucial when dealing with the much more concise mobile format.

2. Simplify Your Design

A key principle to bear in mind is that when it comes to the mobile web, simple is always better. Whether it be the visual design of the page, the actual coding or the content itself, trimming it down to its most simple is always most effective.

Simply taking a web page and downsizing it to fit on a mobile screen will look cluttered and unreadable. Follow the example of sites like Digg and keep your page lean and stripped to the bare bones.

3. Be Flexible

Just as the mobile format differs from the desktop, a level of flexibility is needed within the format itself. For example, when designing graphics, consider screen size, shape and resolution: designing one uniform graphic and expecting it to fit every phone type would be a grave error!

4. Test, Test, Test

With so many different formats to consider, regular and effective testing is an absolute must. It doesn’t matter how you do it, whether it be renting time, buying a range of phones to experiment with or simply asking your friends and colleagues to give up their phones for a few minutes, there is no substitute for real time testing.

5. Prioritize Your Pages

The amount of time people spend browsing on phones is minimal compared to on their home computers or laptops, so you need to make sure the page gets the most important information across first. Users often only tend to browse for minutes at a time, so if they can visit your page and get the information they need in seconds they will be sure to visit again in future.

6. Know Your Audience

If you’re going to prioritize your pages, you’ll need a good grasp of your target audience. For example, if your page is a general blog mainly used for casual browsing, you will want to keep most of the detailed information off the front page, looking more for a general overview.

It may seem overkill, but it’s these seemingly trivial issues which can a separate and average page from a very good one.

7. Keep Up To Date

Like most forms of modern technology, the mobile phone is constantly developing, and as a developer, it’s your job to keep up with the latest advancements. Take the iPhone as an example. It completely revolutionized mobile browsing, and its thousands of applications mean you can do pretty much anything from it.

The takeaway here is that as a developer, you simply can’t afford to be left behind by the fast paced progress of the mobile world.

8. Pick Your Domain

When it comes to choosing a domain name for your site, try and keep it as close to your normal domain name as possible. Perhaps the best way of doing so is to simply create a sub domain, which means the user doesn’t have to remember a second domain name and makes advertising a lot easier. Again, simplicity will see you reap the rewards in the long run.

9. Deal With Images

When designing for a desktop browser, a huge, eye-catching image is often a great solution to help improve the page’s visuals. However, images have to take a back seat to some extent when it comes to the mobile web. High resolution images, especially at the top of the page, can cause the page to take an unnecessarily long time to load, so try and keep images small. Image optimization is also a great way to make sure whatever images you use are of a high quality for the format.

10. Reduce Page Length

Many smaller devices actually restrict the amount of screen size that is available for any particular application, so often the ability the scroll both horizontally and vertically can be an issue.

There are a number of ways to get round this problem, perhaps most efficiently by presenting users with an intuitive means of internal navigation where they can quickly access other pages. This way, you can keep the amount of information on each page as minimal as possible.

11. Optimize Graphics

Graphic design for the mobile web requires some real restraint from the designer, especially one who’s used to developing large scale, intricately artistic creations. Their complex beauty often goes unnoticed on the small screen, hence designs often work best when kept particularly clear-cut. Stick to straight lines and contrasting colors to make your graphics stand out.

12. Play It Safe

As previously mentioned, lazy mark up will be much more damaging to a mobile web browser than a desktop. So when it comes to mark up, make sure all tags are supported to ensure your page comes out looking and functioning as well as possible.

For example, features such as tables and nested tables can take much longer to render on a mobile phone because they typically have much less powerful processors, and many casual browsers will just navigate away from your page instead of waiting!

13. Utilize White Space

An error that many inexperienced developers make is to think that because the format is smaller, it’s okay to cram the pages full of a content, so much so that the user can barely make sense of the screen. This is not good.

The right way to do it? Embrace white space. Yet again, the minimalist approach is key. Don’t be afraid of blank spaces: they simply keep the user’s attention focused on the content that really matters.

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13 Tips To Improve Your Site’s Accessibility From Mobile Devices

Nick from Elegant Themes does an amazing job at designing & developing these wordpress themes. I feel, everytime I go to the site there is a new one! So let’s giveaway 3 memberships today!

How do I enter?

• All you have to do is leave a comment below on this post telling us what you’d like to see in one of his new themes.
• The contest will end next Wednesday (or maybe Thursday).
• 3 winners will be chosen at random.

What do I win?

Each winner (3) will receive a one year membership and get all these amazing themes, 5 pages worth!

Updated: Winners

1. Niki Paniki

2. Michael Bubbo

3. Dan Raftis

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Elegant Themes Subscription Giveaway (3) will win! *Updated Winners

Here is a sneak preview of the themes that you can win! Details for entry are below. Good luck!

The Signature Theme: Left Handed

The Signature Theme: Arcade

Theme Options

How to Enter

• Follow @oboxthemes on twitter
• Comment below which theme you would like to win (Arcade or Left Handed)

The Details

• There will be 4 competition winners
• 2 will win Arcade (single user licenses)
• 2 will win Left Handed (single user licenses)
• Contest will end this Friday at 11:59p EST.
• Winners will be announced on or before Monday

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Obox Signature Series Themes Giveaway

The Design Panel

In our efforts to provide quality over quantity, we want to make sure we’re starting off on the right foot. So for each design panel we do we will be focusing on a single topic of discussion. We feel that this way you, the community, will know what to expect from us, and we can better provide you with meaningful content without blabbering on with nonsense.

So for our first design panel this Wednesday we will be focused on discussing the best ways to get started in web/graphic design (both freelancing and in-house). Basically anything is open for discussion; from schooling, websites, best/worst practices, programs, books and more. And don’t think this is just for noobs either, you never know what good tips, tricks or resources you could pick up from us. (-Kyle Steed)

Now what we’d like to do is open up the floor for you all to begin sending in your questions now. That way by Wednesday we should have a pretty good idea of where the discussion will lead. Not that we want to script the whole thing out, but think of it as more of an outline (with room for some impromptu conversations). So please either leave your comment below or send them to chatcreative (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks again for all your wonderful support and we look forward to seeing you all there on Wednesday, July 8 at 6 pm (CST). If you’re not already, please follow us on twitter @chatcreative and join us on Facebook.

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Chat Creative on 7.8.9

1. mos def lyric portrait | Cris Wicks

2. britney | Cris Wicks

3. Thom York in typographic style illustration

4. Neville Brody | Thierry Eamon

5. i give you desire | lupuscrystalus

6. John Lennon in Type | Dencii

7. RickRoll in Type | Dencii

8. Face Typography Style | faisali

9. Type Face | paperairplane

10. Weiland Type | CaliburlessSoul

11. Michael Jackson, Text Portrait | BenHeine

12. Che. | smLLan

13. 007 | saabe

14. Ze Frank Layout in Type | thewalker09

15. CAP Typography illustration | moratlitas

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15 Stunning Typography Portraits

When it comes to creativity, most people would accept the analogy of the creative flow. An energetic form that moves through areas, people and design to inspire and move you towards making that creative leap or simply move you on to the next step in your process. Either way, it is generally accepted that the creative flow is an important element in the overall scheme of design. However, some do not realize that they may be acting to hinder that flow without intending to, because as we said, the flow moves through areas. Areas like your office or workspace.

Keeping the area where you work designed to maximize your creative flow is a responsibility people may be skimping on, but to be fair, they may not realize that this is the case. Honestly, unlike with Feng Shui, there are no specific guidelines set to help improve this flow, for it affects us all individually. The precise setup that we have in our office space, may not exactly keep your creative juices stirring, but for us it works in spades. Our environments play major developmental roles in our lives as we grow and learn, and this idea, is merely an extension of this concept.

Inspiring art, musical immersion, and so many other little elements come together for us to keep the creative flow running wildly through our offices, and keep us in that imaginative mindset. For anyone working in a creative field, the interiors where we hang our work hat, function to fuel and feed us the energy and inspiration we need to fill the shoes of a creative. Making sure that these environs are not working against us, but in tune with us, is a key to the process that interior designers have clued in on and the rest of us need to give this devil its due as well.

Now this is not something that we all have the means, and in some cases the ability, to do anything about. At least not in an immediate, overhauling kind of way, but never fear. This flow can be fueled little by little as you discover which elements you need to alter to fix it. Small changes to your office interior can have monumentally creative impacts, and it is something that we all have to experiment with to find the fit for the our own flow. As we stated earlier, there is no structured set of guidelines for us to follow, because each of us is inspired differently. Here’s hoping that you can find yours!

Your Turn

What elements have you included in the design of your interior to fuel your creativity?

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When Interiors Attack: When Your Feng Shui, Feng Shouldn’t

If you can’t get enough of James White you can follow him via Twitter!

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Featured Artist: James White

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30 Designers 1 Question – Where are you most inspired?

Watch out for this John Neiner, he’s rocking the illustration world! Click here to view his full portfolio.

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Featured Illustrator: John Neiner

How do I win?

All you have to do is leave a comment below with why you’d like to win! We will choose *updated! 3 random winners on Tuesday (16th).

About PSDThemes

PSDThemes is place for people who love webdesign and want to learn how to create webdesign concepts. Here you can find informations, samples, design discussion and tips! Each web design tutorial has its own design brief with step by step screenshots, explanations and source files of design that you can download easily.

PsdThemes Features and upcoming features:

• Webdesign principles and diciplines
• Every week, new design tutorials
• Screencasts
• Every month new personal / blog / portfolio concept creation
• Every month new Corporate/ Business concept creation
• Upload your work, let others and PsdThemes Staff discuss your design
• Share and win Free memberships
• Share and get a chance to win one year MT hosting gift
• Articles about design trends
• Interviews with designers
• Download source files of every tutorial

What are you waiting for? Enter now!

*The contest has been closed. 

Winners Announced!

Congrats to the winners, you will be contacted via email!

1. AndrewR

2. Robin Cannon

3. Arun

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Win a year membership to PSDThemes

Ah, so you know your way around a dark room, eh? Maybe you’ve graduated from the old point and shoot to a camera that makes REAL magic. Nice to meet ya! We like people like you, after all, seeing the world through your lenses reminds us what a crazy world it really is. It’s because we like you that we’ve dedicated a website-Fuel Your Photography- to inspiring you. There are articles, tools and interviews with your fellow lens lovers to get your creative juices flowing and to arm you with the knowledge you need to be able to answer important questions like “does the camera add 10 pounds?” On second thought, you’re on your own for that one.

About the Team

Stacy Christian, Editor

Give Fuel Your Photography Editor Stacy Christian some fresh fruit, chocolate and permission to sleep late and she’ll be set for life. OK, so you may want to throw in her current location in Kaneohe, HI as well. Yes, the rest of us are jealous too. But FYP is lucky to have this talented photographer as part of our team as she boasts many years of experience as a professional photographer who has lived and taken pictures all over the country including in Georgia, Utah and Virginia. As co-Editor of FYP with Thayne Shumway, Stacy is dedicated to bringing all photography creatives the latest information in the photography world including the hottest gadgets to check out and interviews with the coolest cats.

Follow on Twitter: Fuel Your Photography |  Stacy Christian

Thayne Shumway, Editor

As Editor of Fuel Your Photography, Thayne Shumway puts his field expertise, experience, creative vision and his unique perspective on the world to good use. When we found out he has a knack for winning free fast food and charity photography contests…that just sealed the deal! Thayne will be dedicating his time to keeping photography aficionados everywhere informed on the who’s who, the what’s what and everything else in the photography world.  And no, he won’t share any fries. We’ve already asked.

Follow on Twitter: Fuel Your Photography |  Thayne Shumway

A Roundup of New Articles

1. Interview with Casey Templeton
2. The ALICE Experiment
3. Approaching People As A Photographer
4. 5 Steps For First Time DSLR Owners
5. Power Station
6. Blue Helmets and Kevlar Vests
7. Creative Books
8. New Orleans Post Katrina

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Fuel Your Photography

Check it out for yourself.

1. Welcome to Drift TV
2. Episode 1: Infuz
3. Episode 2: Atomic Dust
4. Episode 3: Goodtwin Design

More episodes to come in the next week. Don’t forget to follow @driftcreate for the latest on their trip cross country and see what they had to say about the launch!

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Drift TV

Will you be there?

Austin’s thriving artistic community and general devotion to weirdness make it a natural destination for the HOW Design Conference. With sessions on overcoming creative roadblocks, group brainstorming, living a creatively curious life and “craftivism,” the HOW Conference offers multiple opportunities for exploring and expanding creativity. And seven of Austin’s studios will be opening their doors to give attendees a peek at the chaos and deadlines of someone else’s creative firm.

Many industry experts will present at this year’s Conference, including Michael Osborne of Michael Osborne Design, John Bredenfoerder of Landor Associates, Adobe’sRussell Brown and more.

Attendees can choose from sessions in seven tracks: Creativity & Inspiration, Design Disciplines, Business & Management, Career Development, In-House Issues,Technology & Production and HOW Learning Center. Eight Pre-Conference Workshops will focus on using QuarkXpress® 8 with Adobe’s Creative Suite®, group brainstorming and developing your presentation skills, plus in-depth explorations of Photoshop® CS4, Flash® and InDesign®. Attendees can also take guided tours of six local design studios on the Austin Studio Tours.

The Conference will feature a Design Resource Center—with exhibits on paper, stock photography, computer hardware and software, and other resources for designers—a Portfolio Review for both students and working designers, and a Stock Photography Expo, a day-long mini resource center devoted solely to stock photography.

New for 2009, the Conference will also present the Designer’s Marketplace, a forum for the sale of stationery, paper, jewelry and other products handmade by HOW Conference attendees.

Thousands of graphic designers, art directors, creative directors, illustrators and other design professionals are expected to participate in this year’s Conference.  A variety of registration options are available to fit any budget and any program need.

The 2009 HOW Design Conference is presented by HOW, the creativity, business and technology magazine for graphic designers. HOW is published by F+W Media, Inc. in Cincinnati, OH. For registration information, call (800) 436-8700.

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HOW Magazine Hosts 19th Annual Design Conference

1. The Meringue family

2. Poster series of four for the Oslo based math-metal/hardcore band Manhattan Skyline

3. Valens Energy Drink – Identity

4. Undersized Recession Business Cards

5. Energo-Holding brochure

6. Hugo & Marie Newspaper

7. White city

8. Logo collection 2009 I | David Pache

9. Noveu™

10. Direct mail poster (new website) for design studio Hello Monday

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Top 10 Inspirational Pieces [6.14.09]