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Another downside with so many tabs open is that your computer’s memory will reduce considerably as each website uses resources from the browser even when you aren’t viewing that page. In the past I’ve tried Chrome extensions that ‘turn off’ tabs when they haven’t been used for a certain amount of time which can help but I’ve recently found a much better solution called OneTab.

I found about this little gem when it was recommended by Joel Hughes on Twitter. The ideas is simple: If you’ve got too many tabs open to deal with but you don’t want to lose them you simply click the OneTab icon and every tab (apart from pinned tabs) will disappear and be saved in a list for when you need to restore them.

The list of tabs is organised by date so you can easily find things you need when you want them. There is also an option re-open all the tabs at once to effectively restore them to their state before you closed them. You can re-order the tabs in your list and even delete them if you don’t think you’ll need them again.

In addition to the clear benefits of reducing tab clutter the main benefit for me is giving your computer a little speed boost. OneTab claim you can save up to 95% of your memory when reducing the tabs. This number is perhaps a little high but there is no denying you’ll see a vast drop in how much memory Chrome is using when you click the OneTab button to remove (at least temporarily) your open tabs.

OneTab is free to use and simple to setup and is by far the most useful Chrome extension I’ve used to date!

http://www.one-tab.com

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The Pocket Guide series are eBook only releases and can be read in just a couple of hours. The layout and design is classic Five Simple Steps and compliments the bite-size topics very well. Each title has additional resources and links to help you continue learning about the subject from other sources.

Yesterday the second two titles in the first collection were released (The Craft of Words – Part One: Macrocopy by The Standardistas and Psychology for Designers by Joe Leech) and I’ll be publishing a full review of these titles shortly.

If you’ve already purchased Collection One you will receive these two titles free of charge. If you haven’t purchased Collection One you can get it for just £6.00 (VAT will be added for UK customers) or you can buy each individual title for £2.00 each which is incredible value for money.

Learn more at: http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/collections/books

If you’ve read the previous two Pocket Guide series titles please leave a few words in the comments section below.

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Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business is a weekly podcast focusing on the business side of being a web designer or running a creative business. Andy and Anna tackle taboo subjects like pricing, rates, deposits and payments.

If you run any kind of creative business I highly recommend subscribing. Episode 2 is all about pricing and is well worth a listen.

Presenters: Andy Clarke and Anna Debenham

Link: http://unfinished.bz

Subscribe: Subscribe | RSS

Twitter: @unfinishedbz

Happy Monday Podcast

If you are looking for an informal and short industry podcast then Happy Monday Podcast will be perfect for you. Typically around 30 minutes long, each episode focuses around a web industry guest and mixes informal chat with news from around the internet. Perfect to listen to while easing yourself in to a busy working week!

Presenters: Sarah Parmenter and Josh Long

Link: http://happymondaypodcast.com

Subscribe: iTunes | RSS

Less Than Bang

Described as “A show by and for young & attractive web people”, Less Than Bang is a podcast aimed at developers presented by two very talented guys. After two episodes this has potential to be a great podcast covering all manner of code and development topics.

Presenters: Tom Ashworth and Paul Adam Davis

Link: http://lessthanbang.com

Subscribe: iTunes | RSS

Twitter: @leessthanbang

The Back To Front Show

The first episode of The Back To Front Show has just been published covering industry subjects like the recent New Adventures in Web Design conference and the pros and cons of co-working.

Presenters: Keir Whitaker and Kieran Masterton

Link: http://backtofrontshow.com

Subscribe: iTunes | RSS

Twitter: @backtofrontshow

Port80 Podcast

I’ve been a fan Joel Hughes’ Jojet blog for a while because his posts are a great mixture of design and business advice. Joel’s Port80 conference also has an occasional podcast which features an interview with a member of the design community.

Well worth a listen!

Presenter: Joel Hughes

Link: http://blog.port80events.co.uk/category/port80-podcast

Subscribe: Web

Twitter: @poort80events

Upfront Podcast

The Upfront Podcast only launched 3 days ago and there isn’t a iTunes link for it yet but it has a lot potential. The podcast’s two presenters Ben and Jack are both really talented front-end developers so it is definitely worth keeping your eye on. We’ll publish the iTunes link as soon as it is listed.

Presenters: Ben Howdle and Jack Franklin

Link: http://www.upfrontpodcast.com

Subscribe: Web

Twitter: @upfrontpodcast

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The idea behind them is simple: each notepad contains 192 pages of very high quality 104gsm stock paper. Each page has equally spaced dots (in Pantone Warm Grey 4, colour fans!) which aid wireframing and sketching. The front and back covers are on thick 350gsm matt laminated cover with a small dotgrid.co logo on the cover.

Since ordering my notepad it has become my first port of call when planning website layouts and have increased the time I spend wireframing designs. The grid format is perfect for measuring and aligning shapes for your designs with plenty of room left for notes. It’s a great format for designing and the dots don’t get in the way of the design like a traditional grid may do.

Another nice touch is the use of the wire bind which means you can have the notepads open flat when designing which makes all the difference.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Dot Grid notepads for anyone working with design or planning. The generous number of pages, thick paper stock and wire bound pages are all nice touches that compliment the designer-friendly dot pattern perfectly.

My Dot Grid notepad is already half full and I look forward to using it for many more mockups and wireframes. High recommended.

You can learn more or purchase a Dot Grid at http://dotgrid.co

The notepads were created by Callum Chapman

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1. Design Is A Job

Mike Monteiro’s book Design Is A Job was my favourite book of 2012 for many reasons. It’s so good I would argue it has something to teach any business owner, not just in the creative field.

I read this book on iBooks and took advantage of the highlighting feature to let me know which parts I thought were interesting and worth going over again. By the end of the book the text was almost entirely yellow due to the excessive highlighting I’d been doing – it really is crammed full of wonderful advice. The tips it gives on working with clients and how to present your work to them was particularly useful to me.

The book is only about 150 pages long and it won’t take you long to read but every sentence has been carefully considered and straight to the point. If you run any kind of business and deal with clients I really do recommend you pick up a copy, you are sure to learn something from it. Actually, buy two copies and give one to someone you know – they’ll thank you later.

Below are three quotes from Mike’s book to give you an idea of the kind of thing you can expect from the book:

“Selling your work directly to clients is extremely important. Not only should you be able to explain why you made the decisions you did, but you’ll get first-hand feedback on where the work needs to go next.”

“Clients are the lifeblood of a healthy business. They are the oxygen in your bloodstream that keeps everything going. No matter how good you are at what you do, without someone willing to pay you for that service you will have to close your doors. Lack of clients is the number one reason design studios fail. The number two reason? Who cares.”

“So how much should you charge? You charge as much as you can. If you can stand in front of a client completely confident and explain why you are worth the amount you quoted, you should charge it. The problem with designers isn’t that they don’t know how much to charge; it’s that they’re afraid to charge it!”

Link: Design Is A Job from A Book Apart

2. The Icon Handbook

The Icon Handbook by the mega talented designer Jon Hicks was actually released in December 2011 but I’m squeezing it in to this 2012 list because it is well worth your attention.

Jon is a very well known icon, mascot and web designer who has worked with many leading brands online including Mailchimp, Opera and Mozilla. As you’d expect from Jon Hicks, The Icon Handbook is as beautifully designed and presented. The quality of the print from publishers Five Simple Steps also deserves a special mention. The book feels like a quality coffee table book and is presented in a square format.

As well as advising on the best practices for designing icons Jon also provides an interesting history of iconography at the beginning of the book. You can dip in and out of the book to learn more about the craft of icon design. This really is a book that looks and feels like it was lovingly created.

Link: The Icon Handbook from Five Simple Steps

3. The Shape Of Design

Frank Chimero’s The Shape of Design really is a work of art. Rather than being a traditional guide on how to design, Frank’s book details the more subtle and hidden methods behind the world of design.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, the book will leave you with a warm glow when you’ve finished reading it. There are so many lovely little touches both in terms of the design of the book and in the thought provoking content it contains. A breath of fresh air for designers.

Link: The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero

4. Client Centric Web Design

Paul Boag’s Client Centric Web Design is an eBook written to accompany series 3 of the new Boagworld Podcast. It promises happier clients, better websites and improved job satisfaction and if you follow the book’s advice it should certainly deliver on these claims and make any designer’s life easier when it comes to working with clients.

The book encourages designers to embrace clients and their feedback and not to shy away from the advice and guidance they can contribute to the project. At the same time Paul advises on how we can appear more positive and professional when dealing with clients leading to much better collaboration and results.

As with all of Paul’s eBooks this one is full of screenshots, diagrams and real world examples to expand and explain the advice clearly.

Link: Client Centric Web Design by Paul Boag

5. Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS

Jonathan Snook’s Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS (or SMACSS for short) presents a new way for designers and developers to write and manage their CSS. The ideas put forward in the book will help you streamline your CSS process for both simple and complex websites.

The layout ideas are logical while being easy to integrate in to your workflow. Unlike a rigid framework you don’t need to worry about completely change how you build websites, you can pick and choose the parts that are relevant to you and your workflow. Since reading SMACSS earlier this year I have changed how I write and organise my CSS code which has resulted in a much more logical structure with very little effort.

Link: Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS by Jonathan Snook

Conclusion

If you’ve got a favourite web design, development or business related book that you’ve read in 2012 please leave a comment below with your recommendations!

An honourable mention must also go to The Mobile Book by Smashing Magazine which was released in December 2012. I’m only half way through reading this but I’ve already learned so much about planning and building websites for mobile browsers. This area has always be something I’ve wanted to learn more about especially with more and more of my web design clients becoming keen to embrace responsive and adaptive designs.

Let’s hope 2013 provides just as many quality design books. I’m already looking forward to Joel Hughes’ book that is in the early stages of planning and due to be released next year.

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When I first tried the app it immediately reminded me of a similar app by Boonbits called Captio that I’ve been using many times every day since Jon Hicks wrote a blog post about it. I’ve had this app on my iPhone since October 2010 and I use it many times every day. It’s such a simple idea but has been executed to perfection. Like the Squarespace Note app you write a note and send it to your e-mail address. Sounds simple on paper, and it is, but it is so handy. The simplest ideas are always the best.

Captio only sends notes to an e-mail address but that is the main purpose I want it for so that is absolutely fine by me. Both apps store a history of the notes you view within the app and other than that the apps have refreshingly few distractions on the screen. I’ve set it up so that when an e-mail from either app arrives in my Gmail inbox it is given a label called “notes” so I can easily organise and find them again.

Buttons or Gestures

One difference is the way you interact with the apps. Captio uses a simple button to send notes and has another button to view previous notes. Squarespace Note requires you to swipe to the left or right to view notes and accounts and swipe up to send a note. I haven’t found the Sqaurespace Note gestures to be as fast or responsive as the simple button system used by Captio but I can imagine a gesture based system may be preferential to some.

UPDATE: Squarespace have just informed me you can access the application settings in your iPhone settings panel that lets you enable a small button to replace the gesture sending.

Summary

The main reason I will keep using Captio is the speed. I’ve found the startup speed, note sending speed and overall responsiveness a lot faster with Captio. I’m using an iPhone 4 so it may not be the case on newer iPhones but overall Captio seems so much faster and responds almost instantly – exactly what I want when jotting down quick ideas or reminders to send to my e-mail inbox. Everything is done in 3 steps: Launch Captio, type your note then click send. Much faster than composing an email in Mail which takes 6 to 7 steps. It’s all about speed!

Both apps do their job very well and are very handy indeed. Squarespace Notes is free of charge and ideal for users wanting to send notes to several sources while Captio is just 69p and perfect for sending yourself quick email reminders and notes so I’d recommend you give them both a go.

Further reading:

http://boonbits.com/captio/

http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/captio

http://blog.squarespace.com/introducing-squarespace-note

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Many congratulations to our three winners, chosen at random, who will soon receive an e-mail from Zyma.com with details on how to setup their 12 months free web hosting!

1. Chris Lever
2. Pars Fanavaran
3. Brian McGloughlin

Thank you to everyone for taking part.

Each free account would last one whole year and the main features of each Zyma.com account is shown below:

• Unlimited Web space
• Unlimited Traffic
• Unlimited Email Accounts
• Unlimited SQL Databases
• Unlimited Addon-domains
• 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
• Free Google Vouchers
• Free Transfer & Setup
• Free Tech Support
• cPanel Web Hosting
• Fantastico De Luxe
• Softaculous Premium
• Attracta seo tools via cPanel
• CloudFlare CDN Support

Zyma.com launched in 2010 and have won multiple awards for their web hosting packages which a comprehensive list of features.

To be in with a chance to win one of the free hosting packages simply leave a comment and contact e-mail in the comments section below (your e-mail address won’t be published and will only be used to contact you if you are one of the winners). The 3 winners will be chosen at random and notified by e-mail.

The closing date is the 30th September 2012 so be quick!

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Envato’s Sixth Birthday Bundle

I’ve been a fan of Envato’s marketplaces for years now, there are so many great graphics, themes, resources and icons available for very low prices. Every now and then they put together a bundle of some of their author’s best items all for a single low price. I recommended their last bundle back in February and I’m pleased to see that they’ve launched another great bundle today for just $20!

You can click here to see their latest bundle which includes $500 of resources for just $20 or click the image below which shows a summary of the great items included:

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Planning

From experience, I find the best place to start is a mood board. This is a collection of images, screenshots, photos, snippets, notes, textures and styles that you can work with alongside your client to map out the plans for the final design. Don’t feel restricted by having to use examples from other businesses in your industry; a mood board can be made up from anything. You’re sketching out the mood and character of the logo to use as a starting point for developing your own ideas.

Sketching

Once you’ve got some inspiration and basic plans in your head it is time to take out your sketchbook. Put down your mouse and step away from the computer. Grab a notepad and let your imagination run wild. You are not drawing the final logo right now, you are planning how it could look and, more importantly, how it won’t look! I say this because you will most likely sketch 50 things and only be happy with 1 or 2. That’s fine, the sketching process is designed to get ideas out of your head (even if you haven’t thought them through fully) and on to paper.

Reviewing

Once you’ve exhausted your ideas on paper is is time to review what you’ve done. Is there anything worth keeping and developing? Have you drawn a couple of different things that could be combined to create something better? Is there a tiny glint of gold in amongst the crude pencil lines that could form the basis of the logo?

By now you should have an idea of where you are heading with the design so it is time to start more sketching (remember to stay away from the computer for now!). Refine your ideas, develop the sketches you think show potential. Aim to come up with 2 or 3 key concepts that you can work with. Sketch, erase and repeat.

Designing

Now that you’ve planned, sketched and refined it is time to turn on your computer and step in to the digital world again. Using your graphics software of choice (something like Adobe Illustrator is ideal for vector work and allows you to resize easily) you should form the first semblance of the final logo. When I create the first draft I am thinking along the lines of basic geometric shapes, typefaces and colours. The fine details and touching up comes later.

The beauty of working digitally is you can make changes in a matter of seconds. Make sure you tweak the colours, try different typefaces, rearrange elements of the design until it looks good enough to show to others.

Polishing

The final stage is to apply some polish to your designs. A logo can vary in style and it is important to consider this throughout the design phase. Is it going to be a basic single colour design? Does it suit lots of details, gradients and the dreaded drop shadow? Will the logo be displayed at various shapes sizes? If so, you may consider creating several versions to suit the plethora of uses it may have (websites, business cards, advertising boards or favicons). Your logo needs to look great under close up scrutiny too.

Presenting

Once you’ve finished the logo design and are satisfied with your creation it is time to show your client. Don’t just save it as a JPEG and e-mail it to them with a summary of what you’ve done. Show them and explain to them why you’ve designed it in this way. Emphasise why you’ve chosen a particular colour scheme. Tell them why you’ve chosen that typeface. The client won’t know the process you’ve been on to plan and refine the logo so you need to explain this and make sure they understand the benefits to them.

Lastly, when presenting to a client you may want to consider creating mockups of the logo being used on business cards, on shop signs, on the side of vans or any other use that the client may have for it.

You can buy some very good Photoshop actions from Graphic River that will take your artwork and create these photo realistic images for you. Whenever I’ve presented these to a client it has always gone down well because the client can see their potential logo in real world situations.

Your Logo Design Tips

If you’ve got any tips or advice for creating logos or if you’d like to share your design process please feel free to leave a comment below.

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