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Souled Out Band

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:00:20 -0700

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The CSS Box Model

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:59:25 -0700

To master CSS positioning techniques you have to understand how the CSS box model works first. This tutorial will help you with that.

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Go HTML and CSS your PSD

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:58:23 -0700

Did you ever needed someone to code your design and never knew where to go? If your answer is yes, let me ask you another question: Do you live in a cave? (no offense) So, here is what I’m going to do for you, caveman: name some sites that do psd to html

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14 Truly Artistic Wordpress Header Designs

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:56:47 -0700

14 truly artistic wordpress header designs that will make you look twice and want to stare at it for hours.

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Collection of Remarkable Logos from Top Logo Design Galleries

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:55:32 -0700

Whenever, we get stuck with our logo design projects, we all know exactly which galleries to check for inspiration. Every logo designer knows by heart, which sites to surf to jump start his creativity when reached a dead end. And, certainly we find food for inspiration…don’t we?

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20 Astounding Artworks Demonstrating the Combined Power of Cinema4D and Photoshop

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:59:35 -0700

In this post, I will show you 20 Astounding Artworks Demonstrating the Combined Power of Cinema4D and Photoshop from DevaintArt.

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15 objects with typography

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:58:05 -0700

In this collection, you will find some objects that do a nice use of typography in their design.

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The Autopsy Of WordPress As CMS With 25 Great WP Plugins & Designs

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:55:50 -0700

WordPress clearly need no introduction for web devotees like us. Starting out from just a humble blogging platform in 2003, it had grow exponentially into a popular platform.

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50 Examples of Vintage Typography

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:53:20 -0700

50 typographic examples that exhibit a range of artistic styles from the last 100 years or so.

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Does Your Design Flow?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:52:04 -0700

Have you ever visited a website, but didn’t know where to look? Maybe there’s so much content on the page it was hard to decide where to start. Or once having started your eye didn’t know where to move next on the page. Before long you probably left the site in a bit of frustration or confusion. The reason is that site had a poor flow to it’s design.

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Tutorials And Tips On Building A Twitter Application

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:50:26 -0700

Almost every user on internet knows about twitter. It’s getting popular day by day, many companies and developers are also producing twitter applications using twitter API.

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33 Inspirational Illustrations

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:53:34 -0700

If you enjoy browsing through excellent work from other designers and illustrators, here is a collection for you. All of these come from portfolios on Behance, so if you see something you like be sure to click through and browse through the designer’s portfolio.

For more design inspiration, please see:

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Design Junction

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:39:19 -0700

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Design Inspiration: Typography in Advertising

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:17:36 -0700

When looking for typographic inspiration, advertisements can be an excellent source. In this post we’ll feature more than 40 advertisements that can provide excellent design inspiration.

For more on typography, please see:

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ReadyPhotoSite

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:07:47 -0700

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Textures Toolbox: 80+ Texture Resources for Designers

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:26:25 -0700

The use of texture can be a very powerful technique for web and graphic designers. The possibilities with textures are endless, and they can have a drastic impact on the overall look and style of a design. Equally important, with the right resources it can be very simple to use textures in your own work. This post will serve as a collection of over 80 resources, tutorials and inspiration for designers who want to work with textures.

If you’re interested in creating your own textures, please see the excellent tutorial that Caleb Kimbrough wrote for us, Ultimate Guide for Creating High Quality Textures.

Places to Find Textures:

Fortunately for designers, there are plenty of great resources for free (or in some cases, low cost) textures to use in web and graphic design.

High Resolution Textures

deviantART

Free 3ds Textures

sxc.hu

Texture Vault

Free Stock Textures

SeamlessTextures.net

Photoshop Tutorials for Working with Textures:

Now that you have the textures, perhaps you would like to learn more about what you can do with them. Here are some helpful tutorials for creating textures, using them in different ways, and even for creating textured website layouts.

How to Create a Grunge Web Design Using Photoshop

How to Create a “Worn Paper” Web Layout Using Photoshop

How to Create a Sleek and Textured Web Layout in Photoshop

Watercolored Design Studio Blog Layout

Create a Nature-Inspired Painted Background in Photoshop

Create a Professional Portfolio Design

Making the “Clean Grunge” Blog Design

Add Visual Texture in 3 Easy Steps

How to Make Patch on Clothes

Create a Cool Music Logo on a Grunge Background

Create an Out of Bounds Fantasy Illustration

How to Create a Grunge Style Illustration with Stains

How to Apply Textures to Uneven Surfaces

Photoshop Paper Texture from Scratch then Create a Grungy Web Design with It

How to Turn a Texture into a Seamlessly Tiled Background

How to Create a Copper Photoshop Text Effect

Adding Texture to the Skin

The Ultimate Wood Texture Tutorial

Photoshop Tutorials – Fabric Folds

Grungy Metal Texture

Creating a Rusty Surface Texture

Texture Roundups:

Earlier we linked to some of the best resources for finding textures, but depending on what you are looking for, a blogger may have already put together a great collection that will help you to find the best textures of a certain kind.

40+ Free Dirt and Ground Textures

50 Free Metal Textures

40 Free Concrete Textures

50 Free Fabric Textures

30 Free Cardboard Textures

101 Free Stone and Rock Textures

99 Free Canvas, Paper, Paint, and Metal Textures

200+ High Quality Paper Textures to Grab

80+ Free High Res Paper Textures

Free Rusted Metal Texture Backgrounds

High Resolution Wood Textures for Designers

Inspiration: Textures in Web Design:

If you’re interested in using textures in your own web design, here you will find some inspiration from other sites that are doing so very effectively.

Corvus Design Studio

Inner Metro Green

Brushes:

One of the best ways to use textures for web and graphic design is to take advantage of Photoshop brushes that are available.

Grungy Paper Brushes for Photoshop

High Res Cracks Brushes for Photoshop

High Resolution Cracked Photoshop Brushes

Grungy Film Brushes

Painted Canvas Brushes

Dirty Spray Brushes

Rust Brushes

Scratch Splat Grunge Brushes

Dumpster Brushes

Dirt Brushes

Grungy Brushes

Demolished Cracks Brushes

Grunge Brushes

High Res Grunge Brushes

SR Grunge Brushes

Other Web Design Toolboxes:

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Sugarless Organic Wine

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:52:42 -0700

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Delta School District

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:48:57 -0700

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Freebie: High Res Fabric Texture Pack

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:41:20 -0700

Today we’re releasing a new pack of 10 high resolution fabric textures for use in your own design. These textures are free for personal and commercial use.

You can get any of the textures individually from Flickr by clicking on the image that you want, or you can download the whole pack of 10 textures at the end of the post.

Download all 10 textures in a zip file (24.2 MB)

For more, please see our other texture packs:

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The Feast

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:54:17 -0700

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Chonchon

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:08:50 -0700

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Causecast

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:08:17 -0700

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Design Inspiration: Watercolors – Part Two

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:03:22 -0700

A few months ago we posted a collection of pieces for watercolor inspiration. Today we’ll take a look at another 35 inspirational works. To create similar effects in your web and graphic design, try using some watercolor Photoshop brushes.

For more design inspiration, please see:

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GoBible

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:12:44 -0700

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200+ Paper Brushes for Photoshop

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:41:55 -0700

Using paper effects in web design is a current trend (see 35 Amazing Paper Made Website Designs at Spyre Studios). Achieving a paper look can be made much easier with the help of Photoshop brushes. Here we will feature a number of free brush packs for creating paper effects.

Grungy Paper Brushes (12 brushes)

Paper Brushes (7 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes (4 brushes)

Paper Brushes (5 brushes)

Paper Brushes (23 brushes)

Crushed Paper Brush (1 brush)

Folder Paper Brushes (6 brushes)

Paper Brushes (4 brushes)

Torn Paper Brushes (11 brushes)

Note Paper Brushes (10 brushes)

Burnt Paper Brushes (23 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes (6 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes 2 (7 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes 3 (12 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes 4 (14 brushes)

Old Paper Brushes 5 (18 brushes)

Torn Paper Brushes (28 brushes)

Paper Brushes (11 brushes)

For more Photoshop brushes, please see:

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Interview with Walter Apai of Webdesigner Depot

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:49:30 -0700

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the popular design blog Webdesigner Depot. In much less than a year WDD has become one of the leading blogs in the niche. I recently had a chance to interview the man behind WDD, Walter Apai.

How long have you been designing and how did you get started?

As a kid, I used to draw cartoons for fun. In 1999, I started designing CD covers for my music compilation CD’s. Almost by accident, I discovered that I have a talent and real passion for design. I’ve always been attracted to art, in all its shapes and forms. Web design was the natural direction for me.

Are you currently doing freelance work?

I wish, but unfortunately, not at the moment. I usually work with other designers designing sites for my own purposes, but I don’t do client work at this time mainly due to time restrictions. I do want to get back to it at some point, but my schedule is pretty full right now.

What was your motivation to start Webdesigner Depot?

A true passion to pour my creativity into something that can be useful to others. I also realized that indirectly the blog can serve both me and others as a means of self expression. So WDD became a shell to pour a lot of ideas and creativity into.

What have been some of the keys to success in taking WDD from nothing to one of the leading design blogs in a very short time?

The blog thrives on great content. I browse through many blogs as well as all types of offline material and try to come up with some really useful and cool stuff.

Although, I try to empower the readers with information, I also like to show them design in all shapes and forms. I want my audience to think outside the box and I try to show them examples of design in the most unexpected places.

I’m also what you would call a type A personality, so I tend to go all out for my projects and I certainly do that for WDD too. I basically give it my all and I think that the audience appreciates the energy and effort that go into this, which seems to make them gravitate towards the blog.

What are some of the challenges that you face in running a multi-author blog and dealing with a lot of different writers?

It’s important for me to be very focused on the goals that I’m trying to achieve. I think that you need to be a true leader, be organized and simply know how to work with multiple people while sorting through all of this effectively.

I get involved with every article and make changes to every aspect from wording to images as well as formatting. I constantly revise every draft until it’s just right. I’m a perfectionist at heart and enjoy putting all the pieces together in order to craft something truly special.

With WDD’s quick growth, where do you see it heading in the next year?

WDD is my first blog ever, so although I’ve brought with me many different qualities from my experience in other professions, this is still very much a learning experience for me. I read all emails and comments people leave on the blog very carefully, but ultimately I trust myself as to what’s best for the blog and the majority of people reading it. The blog is an evolving entity and I constantly tweak things based on feedback and my own instincts.

Can you tell us something interesting that most readers would not know about you?

So many! Well, my Mother tongue is Spanish, I used to host a pop music show on the radio and I’m a true Mac addict.

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15 Essential WordPress Plugins for Portfolio Sites

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:20:10 -0700

With the right plugins and a bit of know-how, WordPress can be used to create almost any type of website imaginable. It’s the perfect platform to use for creating an online portfolio: it looks great, it can be managed remotely from any computer, it requires very little knowledge of HTML and, most importantly, it’s completely free.

Artists, photographers, graphic and web designers can use WordPress to create an online portfolio that perfectly suits their work. Plugins can be used to convert a plain, standard WordPress blog into an interesting and unique portfolio that end-users will be keen to explore.

With the plugins outlined below, you will be able to present your portfolio and the images therein in new and exciting ways, as well as increase levels of all-important traffic to your site.

1. NextGEN Gallery

This extremely popular Image Gallery plugin, which comes with a Flash slideshow option, displays images in a simple, but professional manner. Its comprehensive admin pages and straightforward back-end make managing your portfolio easy.

2. FlippingBook

Tired of boring image galleries? FlippingBook organizes images into individual interactive albums, which can be flicked through just like a book. The effect can be far superior to having hundreds of thumbnails in your portfolio.

3. Image Drop Shadow

This plugin automatically creates a drop-shadow effect for all your images. Simple as that.

4. Thumbnail for Excerpts

Add a thumbnail to accompany any excerpts you might have anywhere on your site, such as in the archive or feed. Adding thumbnails not only improves your portfolio’s looks, it also makes it easier to navigate.

5. Featured Content Gallery

This plugin embeds a customizable rotating gallery of your images anywhere in your theme. You can provide text, like the first few lines of a post for example, to accompany each image.

6. Flickr Gallery

Flickr Gallery makes it easy to create portfolio galleries from you Flickr photos, which is great if you’ve already spent hours uploading images. You can also embed Flickr’s flash movie player into your theme.

7. Word Tube

This plugin lets you embed music, videos and images into your posts and pages. It supports .flv and .swf video files, MP3 sound files, and JPG, GIF and PNG graphic files. You can even run pre-role, overlay mid-roll, and post-roll adverts.

8. cformsII

Add multiple contact forms to your portfolio with cformsII. The contact forms all ask for a name, email address and message, but can be heavily modified to suit your requirements.

9. GD Star Rating

Add a star rating system to the comments section of your portfolio with GD Star Rating, which also provides a system for aggregating reviews. Using GD Star Rating implies a certain level of confidence in your work, but remember, it could all backfire if ratings are negative.

10. Post Templates

This time-saving plugin lets you create templates for the types of posts you publish most frequently, like ‘image of the week’ for example. You can use it to create a standard entry to accompany all of your images, giving details of materials used if you’re an artist, or location and date if you’re a photographer.

11. PhotoQ

PhotoQ instantly converts your WordPress blog into a photoblog. If there’s a theme you desperately want to use, even though it doesn’t make for a great portfolio, then this is the ideal tool for you. Its batch image upload facility lets you upload several images simultaneously. Uploaded images are placed in a queue for use at your discretion. Photos at the top of the queue can even be uploaded automatically.

12. Google (XML) Sitemaps

This plugin generates an XML sitemap of your Wordpress portfolio, making it easier for search engines to find and list your site. The generator is supported by Yahoo, MSN Search, Ask.com and, most importantly, Google.

13. WordBook

WordBook drives traffic to your portfolio by adding all your blog posts to your Facebook wall. The Facebook ‘Boxes’ tab helps you keep track of recent posts.

14. Twitter Tools

Twitter Tools fully integrates Twitter into your WordPress blog. Not only can you add tweets to your blog as posts, you can create new tweets on your posts from inside WordPress.

15. Sociable

Sociable automatically adds links from the best social bookmarking sites onto your posts. Choose from 99 different sites including Digg, Delicious and Google Bookmarks.

About the Author:

Tom Walker is passionate about technology and design who blogs for a leading supplier of cheap printer cartridges for homes and businesses recommended by Friends of the Earth. You can also follow him on Twitter.

For inspirational portfolios, please visit Folio Focus.

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25+ Examples of Inspirational Text Art

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:31:51 -0700

Creative designers can use typography in amazing ways. In this post we’ll feature inspiration text art from various artists. When you see something you like, click through to see more of their work. For more typographic inspiration, see our new gallery TypeInspire.

For more inspiration, please see:

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Freebie: Grungy Paper Brushes for Photoshop

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:40:14 -0700

A few weeks ago Caleb Kimbrough of Lost and Taken released a great set of hand-dyed paper textures. Caleb has allowed me to distribute a set of Photoshop brushes that I made using those textures. There are 12 brushes in the pack, most are 2500 pixels.

These brushes can be used for both personal and commercial projects. No attribution is required, although links are always appreciated.

Download the brushes for Photoshop CS2 (41MB)

Download the brushes for Photoshop CS4 (41MB)

For more brushes, please see:

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R.U.4 Children

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:04:38 -0700

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