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Earlier this month we hosted a giveaway with the good guys at Elegant Themes, giving away 3 x 1 year developer accounts.

The winners

missneatz
Mark Bottomley
Prayag Verma

The winners will be notified by email so he can claim their prize. A big thanks to all who participated and don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed if you didn’t already.

Top 10 : Tips for Creating Beautiful Logo Designs

Alice Freriksen — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:37:36 +0000

Creating a logo is one of the most difficult processes for a designer, because it must be able to find the right mix between graphic symbols and typographic that is able to identify a company or product in order to differentiate it from its competitors on the market.

The design is not stops at the graphics, but it requires a study on a communicative level, because the logo should convey a message unique, safe and precise, but it must also be original, compact and adaptable.

Here are 10 basic rules that I suggest you follow for the creation of an effective logo.

Designed in black and white

The choice of colors is not important in the early stages of design, indeed it can be misleading.

Ensure a good readability logo in black and white is one of the basic features for a quality logo. The brand must be recognizable in all conditions so even in the case of monochrome prints (for example in facsimile or photocopies).

Beginning is much more important than the form. The colors can always be chosen later, unless they have already been indicated by the customer.

Take all the time necessary

Creating a logo is process that can take weeks (sometimes even months). Customers always have too much haste, but in this case you have to make him understand that urgency does not bring anything good. Starting with one or more sketches on paper until you get to the final choice must try, try and try again at every stage. And between one phase and another is better to take breaks and to spend some time to see if the result is appreciable even after days and cool head.

Inspired by the galleries, but do not overdo it

The galleries of logos are excellent resources where they take inspiration and engage with other designers, but do not overdo it. The dividing line between inspirations from plagiarism is very thin and it could happen to be affected to the point of not being able to be creative and copy without even meaning to.

Do not just think of the logo but to the identity

Even if the customer has requested it, consider that the logo could be used as part of a system of global identity. This usually leads to development of a more relevant design, making the logo flexible and adaptable to all contexts.

Listen to the customer’s requirements

From the beginning, look for customer’s feedback and insert them in the creative process. No one better than the customer knows his target audience and in this way the design will immediately in the right direction. In addition, the customer who feels part of the process is much more likely to be satisfied with the final result.

Focus on a few ideas

Less concepts you want to focus, the more you will be able to put them into prominence.

It’s always more effective to focus on one or two ideas develop in depth and propose them to the customer, which produce five or ten trivial ideas.

Subtract, do not add

The process of creating a logo is typically a reduction process. During the design does not have to think about what to add to make it better but what synthesize in order to make it more communicative and easily remembered.

Simple = Memorable

As a general rule, the more the logo is simple the more memorable. Think of the most famous logos like Nike, Apple, and McDonalds. The logo must be a simplification; it should be immediately recognizable and remembered over time, using symbols that alone may allow the identification of the brand.

The size of the logo makes the difference

A good logo should be easily produced in various sizes, from very small to very large.

Logos extremely complex therefore may not make it good if shrunken, especially if placed on letterhead or business cards, or promotional items (pens, pencils, key chains).

So when you design a logo make sure it is readable regardless of size and print media.

Do not neglect the typography

Choose the right font is critical to the success of a brand.

Choosing the font has to be the right mix of communication needs, clarity and readability. Too often we are very committed to the choice of a pictogram and then you maybe alongside the logo written in a simple font and not relevant. It should be considered instead of the lettering in many cases can be used alone and be equally effective.

Study Case : 10 Inspirational Product Page Designs

Rob Toledo — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:27:47 +0000

There’s no longer any doubt that ecommerce is the shopping experience of the future. More and more brick and mortar stores see the potential of jumping into the online market, and new ecommerce shops are opening left and right. The only problem is that there’s a whole new set of considerations that come with setting up a store online, and a lot of businesses fall short of what they could be doing.

The most important component of any ecommerce site is its product pages; they’re where customers spend the majority of their time on the site, and they’re the pages that need to convey all the information necessary for a prompt purchase. Suffice it to say that if you haven’t pored exhaustively over your product descriptions, layout, imagery and navigational paths, you might want to now. But first, take a look at some examples of ecommerce sites that are doing all the right things when it comes to product page designs.

Zara

Website : zara.com

This retailer does a wonderful job of maintaining a minimalist design while still letting customers access all the information they need. Rollovers and shadowboxes are used to minimize the amount of information that starts out on display, and images are scrolled through, rather than clicked on. All of these choices de-clutter the page and make it easy to identify the right information.

Vanmoof

Website : us.vanmoof.com

This company also features rollovers in its product pages, but in an entirely different way. The design here is maximalist, meant to convey a sense of how many options you have for customizing your bike. But it’s not confusing, because all the rollovers and buttons are immediately identifiable by their bright yellow backgrounds.

Stella McCartney

Website : stellamccartney.com/us

Suggestions that pair a product with accessories are a great feature to add, as long as they’re relevant and appealing suggestions like the ones shown on this product page.

Steve & Co.

Website : steveandco.com/en

A great little feature on this product page shows you a diagram of how to tie a bowtie. Little touches like these make a site feel specialized and accommodating.

Winestore

Website : winestore-online.com

Another example of additional details making a big difference to the feeling of the page, this webstore includes a key to describe the tasting notes and pairing suggestions for the wines it sells.

Sony

Website : store.sony.com

Most product detail pages benefit from standardization; it makes it easy to find the relevant information quickly. But for special circumstances, there need to be special treatments. This product page lets you compare all the aspects of different laptop models side by side.

Farfetch

Website : farfetch.com

When your webstore is selling expensive luxury goods like this one, it’s very important for customers to be able to evaluate every detail of their possible purchase. This site has full-page zoom that allows you to view products larger than life.

Luhse Tea

Website : luhsetea.com

Almost all good product pages are clean, white, and minimalist. While the minimalism is key to having an easily navigable structure, there are ways to meet this goal without defaulting to white. This site has illustrations, glow effects, dark tones, and textures, but it’s just as easy to use as any other example.

IWC

Website : iwc.com/en

This site lets the user try out an interesting and functional feature, where you can view the front and back of their products simultaneously. It’s not essential, but it’s a clever and intriguing touch that makes the shopping experience feel just that little bit more tactile and real.

Le Coq Sportif

Website : lecoqsportif.com/uk-en

This ecommerce site has a great feature where it conveniently groups its guarantee information together into rollover icons, instead of making the user wander all over the site, trying to find delivery schedules and return information.

Any website can have clean and functional product detail pages; it’s just a matter of thoroughly organizing and minimizing information. But the design really gets good when special details and features are added that contribute to the function and interest of the page.

As many of these examples have shown, a lot of the details that set a great page apart from the rest are specific to the brand and the product, and might seem like they’re beyond the scope of most ecommerce sites. But with plenty of comprehensive services like Amazon’s ecommerce software available to streamline and upgrade your site, a customized solution to your particular product detail pages could be well within reach.

Hairdresser Business Card Template

Alex — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:45:09 +0000

We are continuing the business card templates freebies series by releasing an elegant hairdresser business card template, free to download from our design shop, We Sell Design.

The download archive includes 2 PSD files, for both the front and back sides of the business card. The font size makes use of some hair styling vectorial shapes and brushes and the font used is Brush Scipt MT.

Features

print ready
fully layered
fully editable
CMYK
300 dpi
3.75 x 2.25 inch, including bleed edges.

Preview

Download

Download from We Sell Design.

[Giveaway] Win 10 Shock Bundles

Alex — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:10:10 +0000

Today we are giving away thanks to the guys at Theme Shock 10 of the largest design bundles available, including WordPress themes, logos, vectors, icons, JQuery goodies and PSD templates.

The prizes

10 readers will each get 1 Theme Shock Bundle, which is the largest design bundle assembled. The pack includes : 308 responsive WordPress themes, over 1 million design elements (business card templates, UIs, textures, fonts, illustrations, patterns, badges, text styles, icons), 500 logo templates, thousands of icons and mobile-ready icons, 99 PSD templates, a beautiful JQuery slider and more. You can see a glimpse of what’s included in the preview’s below.

Preview

Full previews can be found here.

The sponsor

The sponsor for this giveaway is Theme Shock.

How can you participate ?

Step 1 : Subscribe to our newsletter (to the right of this article in the sidebar)
Step 2 : Leave a comment for the guys at Theme Shock to see

Notes

The Giveaway ends on May 26nd 2013, 00:00 CET. All comments submitted after that date won’t participate.
The winners will be determined randomly using the random list generator at Random.org.
Be sure to enter your email correctly (Register with Disqus section). Do not use Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to login to comment as we will not be able to contact you. If you already have a Disqus user name just login with that.
Comment only once. Multiple comments with the same email address will not be considered.

Elegant Themes Giveaway – Win 3 x 1 Year Developer Licenses

Alex — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:00:49 +0000

Today we are giving away 3 developer accounts for one of the best premium WordPress themes websites, Elegant Themes.

The prizes

3 readers will each get 1 developer license to Elegant Themes. This will get each winner full access for 1 year to all Elegant Themes products including updates and support.

The sponsor

The sponsor for this giveaway is Elegant Themes, in our opinion, the best premium WordPress themes gallery. Their portfolio includes 82 beautifully designed WordPress themes with more added every month.

What sets Elegant Themes apart is the attention to detail, the feature rich themes and amazing tech support. If you are looking for a great affordable WordPress experience, with top-notch support, Elegant Themes is the way to go.

How can you participate ?

Step 1 : Subscribe to our newsletter (to the right of this article in the sidebar)
Step 2 : Leave a comment for the guys at Elegant Themes to see

Notes

The Giveaway ends on May 19nd 2013, 00:00 CET. All comments submitted after that date won’t participate.
The winners will be determined randomly using the random list generator at Random.org.
Be sure to enter your email correctly (Register with Disqus section). Do not use Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to login to comment as we will not be able to contact you. If you already have a Disqus user name just login with that.
Comment only once. Multiple comments with the same email address will not be considered.

10 Awesome Masks to Transform a Plain Looking WordPress Theme

Brian L — Thu, 09 May 2013 07:22:40 +0000

The WordPress theme industry is packed with highly functional themes. Talk about responsive design, custom headers, page templates and powerful theme options, it is no longer tough to find a theme that fulfill your functional requirements. However, most of the feature-packed themes tend to look plain and basic in graphic design.

With the mask idea, a theme can be transformed into an attractive design without sacrificing all the functionality inherent in the theme.

To demonstrate the concept of a theme mask, we take the Meeta theme as an example. As you see, the original design is simple. By masking it with nice images in the header, background and footer, the results can be stunning as shown in the examples below.

Original theme (before)

Demo and Download

Agri Mask

This gorgeous mask is perfect for sites related to the outdoors and nature. The header consists of a large image of a field at sunset, while the background and footer make the content area appear underground.

Vector Mask

This mask features abstract design in the header and footer, combined with vector images of computers and monitors, make it an excellent choice for tech sites.

Music Mask

Music mask features a beautiful violin in the header. The background and footer are designed as a single sheet of musical parchment which surrounds the content area.

Art Mask

Art is an excellent choice for Meeta sites with topics that don’t suit more specialized masks such as Music and Kids. It features a subtle but attractive color scheme, as well as water paintings of flowers. While the mask is an obvious choice for an art related site, it could also work well with a variety of other niches and subjects.

Animal Mask

If your site is related to animals or pets, especially exotic species, then Animal mask could be an excellent choice. The rainforest theme provides an attractive backdrop for a variety of animals, including a parrot and deer.

Kids Mask

As the name suggests, this mask is designed to appeal to children. The mixture of children’s toys, garden fencing, crayons and a stylized blue sky makes this mask one of the most interesting in this list.

Nature Mask

Another nature related mask for Meeta that deserves a mention. Nature mask is one of the most beautiful in this list, with sunlight peaking through trees and a woodpecker in the footer.

Education Mask

This mask features graphical representations of test tubes, planets and motivational images in the header, as well as a picture of a famous scientist. The subtle blue color scheme has a calming effect on Meeta, while the images make it a great choice for sites related to learning, teaching or motivation.

Gardening Mask

Gardening mask features ivy climbing a garden sign in the header, while the footer contains overgrown grass, gardening tools and fallen leaves.

Personal Mask

Personal mask is another option for Meeta that could fit a range of site topics. The jigsaw based header is one of the most interesting designs of any mask in this list, while the jumping people add energy and excitement.

25 Minimal Business Card Templates

Alex — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:02:41 +0000

In might surprise you, but minimal business card templates (or at least good minimal business card designs) are pretty hard to find, and that is because it actually is very hard to make a beautiful and elegant design with few design elements. This is despite the fact that having a minimal business card projects elegance and style. This applies to both free and premium minimal business card templates.

Minimal designs have another great advantage, of being easier to modify and adapt to your needs, especially for those without advanced Photoshop skills. This article features a showcase of several free and premium PSD minimal business card templates you can use to create stunning elegant business cards for you and, why not, for your clients, friends and family.

Free minimal business card templates

Beautiful white and brown business card template in PSD file format.

Minimal white with red inserts business card template and a dotted background.

Black and yellow minimal business card template. The front side is simple, mono-color (yellow) and includes the company name. The back side includes all the details.

Simple and elegant business card template, and as simple as it can be. The card is in full white and the details are in bright blue … quite a good color scheme.

This template includes an elegant minimal badge on both sides of the business card.

Simple white minimal business card template with a yellow star logo. The business details are nicely and “minimally” placed on the back side of the card.

Minimal template based on a dotted font, making the card look like it’s perforated.

Minimal business card template with a black outline.

Elegant black and white business card template with a black front and white back or maybe you prefer a white front side and black back side.

Minimal card template available in multiple colors (blue, yellow, red, orange, pink).

Another black and white business card template. The business details are on written on a diagonal and both front and back sides include an elegant circle design.

Simple and elegant business card template that includes a QR code section to the bottom of the front side.

Premium minimal business card templates

More info

Do you know any good minimal business card templates? We are waiting for your suggestions in the comments below.

Design Coolness #36

Alex — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:27:02 +0000