Brusheezy Blog Posts

New Design Launched!

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:40:45 -0500

Today we are announcing the launch of the new and improved Brusheezy.com!

We have worked very hard to improve the site over the past few months and we hope you find it much more useful now.

Foremost, we want to thank you all for being such active members of the Brusheezy community, and helping make it what it has become. We love you guys! There are so many awesome new things about the improved Brusheezy, and we invite you to search and explore the upgraded site to make it your own. Check out that new design and layout! Should make it easier to look at and to use.

Like we said, we've created the new Brusheezy to house features that will create a greater sense of community and enhance the quality of your membership here. The new design offers an eezy (he he sorry) and convenient navigation through the whole system of searching and browsing to find that perfect resource much quicker. With the enhanced community aspect on the site, you will now be able to create your own profile and page, where resources will be automatically linked back to so other users can find out more information on who you are and what you do. We will even periodically feature members who are establishing themselves as up and coming artists and Brusheezy citizens. Once a member, you will be able to vote and promote files and resources you love and have found creative and useful, and also be able to save each download you make and tag your favorites so you won't have to search for that awesome little freebie you need again. Now, we all love Facebook and Twitter, and with the new site, all members will be able to upload resources they love to those networks and share with the world what they have found! Shout it high and shout it loud, promote creativity!!

Along with all these new things, Brusheezy still offers all the greats - you can still freely browse, upload and download awesome Photoshop brushes and Photoshop patterns for free. Only now you'll have noticed we now also offer Photoshop textures, PSDs, Photoshop actions, Photoshop shapes, Photoshop styles and Photoshop gradients too! We also have a whole new set of features that we plan on adding in the months to come, so stay tuned.

We hope we have peaked your interest to get more involved. If you're reading this, it means you care! Thanks so much for being apart of this little site! When we launched Brusheezy a little over three years ago we had no idea how big it would ever become. Photoshop brushes suddenly became "cool" and traffic went through the roof. We're now getting over 1.2 millions visitors a month! Our hope is that we can continue to grow this site while adding new features that everyone finds useful. Please don't hesitate to contact us and let us know if you come across any problems or have any comments or suggestions as to how we can improve the community. Thanks so much!

Happy exploring and happy creating!

Photoshop CS5 Review

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:00:46 -0500

Today Adobe releases Creative Suite 5, the newest version of its popular suite of applications. Included with this suite is Photoshop, the industry standard app for editing and manipulating images and the most popular app among design professionals. Photoshop CS5 marks the 12th version of the popular software package and is the latest version in the application's 20-year history.

Weeks ago, Adobe gave us the opportunity to test out their latest product and some of the exciting new features that come with it. Like you, we were impressed with some of the teaser videos that we saw in the lead up to the launch so we were excited to finally test them out for ourselves and see if the new version lived up to the hype.

Ultimately, we found that Photoshop CS5 is the most powerful version of the app to date, but, is it worth an upgrade or is this just another attempt to from Adobe to raid our wallets? In the following Photoshop CS5 Review we will summarize some of the new features available in Adobe Photoshop CS5, try them out, and see if an upgrade to Photoshop CS5 is really worth the hefty price tag.

Content Aware Fill

The Content Aware Fill feature was by far the most impressive and talked about feature in the lead up to the launch of Photoshop CS5. Like you, we saw the videos demonstrating this feature at Photoshop World 2010 so we were really excited to try this feature out in particular.

If you are just now hearing about Content Aware Fill, Content Aware Fill is sort of like a combination of the Patch Tool and the Spot Healing Brush; except on steroids. It examines the area around a selection and replaces it based on what it decides is a good match. For instance, let's say you wanted to remove an object from a photo. In the past, you would have had to use the Clone Tool, the Patch Tool, or the Spot Healing Brush to manually remove that object. Those tools work really well if the object is surrounded by similar textures and surfaces but if there is a lot of overlap, you may be in trouble. Content Aware Fill does this automatically.

After a bit of experimentation we found that we really liked this tool. It is exceptionally easy to figure out. Just create a selection with the Lasso, Marquee, or any other selection method and hit your Delete key. Photoshop will throw up a dialogue box, which will enable you to choose Content Aware Fill. Once you hit OK, Photoshop will automatically detect the content surrounding your selection and produce a fill based on your selection.

While we did like this feature, we did find that it's not quite as infallible as the demos from Adobe suggested. There are limitations. Content Aware Fill doesn't always work as expected and will sometimes produce fills that are not what you expect them to be. We also found that like its predecessors; the Clone Tool, Patch Tool, and Spot Healing Brush, Content Aware Fill will sometimes produce seams in its results. Don't misunderstand us however, we really liked this feature, it works great! Just understand that you may need to perform a certain amount of clean up after its use.

New Brush Types and UI Improvements

While many people in the community were focused on Content Aware Fill, one of the new features that we were most excited about here at Brusheezy were the changes made to Photoshop's Brush Tool.

At Brusheezy, we love Photoshop brushes; but one of the biggest gripes that we have had with Photoshop Brushes in the past is the fact that brushes in Photoshop have never really behaved like brushes are supposed to. Sure, you can use them to paint color into a specific area; and with enough skill you can create some really nice works of art, but in order to get your brushes to really behave like real-life brushes you have to get a bit creative with some of the other tools that Photoshop has to offer; like the Smudge Tool, for instance.

With the release of Photoshop CS5 however, all that is history. Photoshop CS5 made some major improvements to the ways brushes work. New brush tips allow you to paint and even interact with your brushes in ways that you never could before. By default four types of brush shapes are available to you; flat, pointed, angled, and fanned. These four types of brushes work in much the same way as their real-world counterparts and they come with many new settings that will allow you to replicate just about any type of brush that traditional artists use every day. The Bristle Brush Preview window will even show you the shape of your brush in real time which will allow you to twist, turn, and interact with your paintings in ways you never could before.

In addition to new brush tips, Photoshop CS5 also has changed the way in which paint behaves. Before CS5, true blending in Photoshop was spotty at best. The new Mixer Brush Tool changes that. The Mixer Brush Tool works in much the same way as you would expect. It will allow you to mix and blend colors together in the same way as you would with a real paintbrush and canvas.

As if the changes that Adobe made to the Brush Tool weren't enough, Adobe also made some improvements to the Brush Palette itself with some minor UI enhancements as well as the addition of a new Brush Preset Palette. These Palettes are linked to make it easy to switch back and forth. They have also added a Restore to Original Size icon, which makes it very easy to go return a brush back to its original settings. Check out this video:

We really enjoyed working with the new Brush Palette and had a lot of fun painting with this new feature. The Brush Tool is one of Photoshop's more popular and useful features and we are really excited to see how this new feature plays out within the community.

Puppet Warp

The next feature that we will be talking about is the new Puppet Warp Transformation. This is another one of the features that Adobe teased us with prior to the launch of the new suite. Basically Puppet Warp allows you to add control points to an image and transform it using those control points as guides.

As a practical example, imagine that you were working with a photo and you wanted to place the model's hand on her hips, but in the photo, her hand was actually above her head. From a theoretical standpoint this would be possible using the Puppet Warp feature.

While this may sound exciting, we found that the results from such an edit looked a tad unrealistic. This wasn't terrible unexpected however. We know enough about photo editing to know that the technology to do something like that really isn't quite there yet and that a more realistic example of this feature in action might be to correct perspective lines or to straighten a person's posture; not to make wholesale edits to their body's position.

HDR Toning

HDR is a photographic technique that stands for High Dynamic Range. HDR Photos are typically created by combining multiple photos taken in succession from a camera on a tripod. HDR Photos are characterized by intense light and shadows and are often very beautiful in appearance. HDR Toning in Photoshop CS5 is an adjustment that allows you to replicate that effect using just one photo as a base. We have to admit that this adjustment was quite fun to play with. Turning ordinary scenic photos into extraordinary, borderline fantasy landscapes was quite satisfying and we give Adobe “a thumbs” up for proving this new feature to us.

Refine Mask

If you work with Masks often, this is a tool that you will most-likely love. While working with Masks, it is commonplace to make quick edits or changes on the fly. Often times our Mask is too hard, soft, and maybe even a bit large. The Refine Mask Tool will allow you to make these adjustments in real time. We spent a few minutes working with this feature and found it to be quite useful.

3D Palette and Repoussé

Photoshop has been dabbling with 3D for a while now. Each new release it seems as if Adobe add a few more 3D features. In CS5, Photoshop added a new 3D Palette to its arsenal of options. The 3D palette contains many of the options that were previously available in the 3D File Menu in CS4 and even a few new ones.

Our favorite 3D feature has to be the new Repoussé feature which finally allows us to extrude 3D objects directly in Photoshop. This is great because it finally allows users who don't have a copy of 3D Studio Max or Maya to create 3D objects without having to rely on Illustrator.

Lens Correction Filter

We saw this filter in action during Adobe's big CS5 announcement at Photoshop World 2010. This filter works by correcting the distortion that may be created by various photographic lenses. It actually contains a library of lenses and the proper setting for each correction. We played around with this filter a bit and found it to be a fantastic way to manipulate and distort a photo but unfortunately, we didn't have any photos on hand to test this functionality properly but from what we saw at Photoshop World 2010 (3:30 minute mark), it appears to work nicely.

Mini Bridge

The Mini Bridge Feature is a new Extension available in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Just like the standalone version, Mini Bridge allows you to browse the files on your computer without actually having to leave Photoshop. This extension is very similar to the Kuler extension released in earlier versions; in that it allows you to keep working without having to minimize the application in order to get what you need.

Conclusion

Adobe Photoshop CS5 is quite an impressive software application. In our opinion Photoshop CS5 is the best version yet. The new features available in CS5 are quite nice and will certainly expand your tool set.

We really enjoyed working with the Content Aware Fill feature, and the new brushes are fantastic. The HDR Toning, Refine Mask, and new 3D features were all nice additions as well. While we do think the Puppet Warp feature was nice, in our opinion it was a bit of a disappointment. Mini Bridge and the Lens Correction Filter were also notable new features but not exactly a massive leap forward.

In all, we like CS5. Do we recommend that you upgrade? Well, that depends. If you're still using CS, CS2, or CS3, the new features in CS5 combined with all of the advances since might make the cost worthwhile. For those of you still using CS4, an upgrade is probably not necessary. However, if you feel the new content aware and brush features will really help your workflow and you have some money to spare, then go ahead and get it.

UPDATE: Get Free shipping on Photoshop CS5 with Coupon Code: adobecs5

Are You A Freelance Designer Superhero?

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:00:19 -0500

Being a freelance graphic designer is tough work! You have to keep on top of everything, from maintaining clients, chasing unpaid accounts to finding new work. Then you have to actually do the designs and make your clients happy! Here are some routines that Design Superheroes use to be more organized and efficient with their time. By following these seven essential routines of a freelance designer, you too can become a Design Superhero to your clients and make more money doing what you love!

1. Keep your Workspace Tidy

When it comes to freelance designing, getting into the routine of work is half the battle. Have a dedicated desk. This is your career, take it seriously and designate an area to be your office. As a designer you need a good chunk of space so ideally you have one desk for design work and another desk for everything else associated with your business.
Decide in advance which hours you will work. Eat, shower and dress. If later you find you are struggling to maintain a good work ethic, come back and read those three words again: Eat, shower and dress. It is very important to make the distinction to yourself that you are at work. Keep your work space clean and organised.

If you have children and you are a sole carer then your strategy depends of many, many factors. Your aim is to get a good chunk of uninterrupted work time. If the kids are old enough, teach them that you are 'working' and to only interrupt you if it's urgent. Prepare something for the kids to do while you are working. If possible work in regular time slots so they learn the drill. For example you could work or two hours after breakfast while they watch a DVD every week day.

2. Manage your Time

Time management is stress management. Use a calendar. I know everyone's mad keen about being all electronic, but nothing beats a big whiteboard wall calendar. Draw in your work and other commitments so you can see exactly how busy you are. It makes it a lot easier to turn down a social invitation if you can clearly see your deadlines. If you really do work on the road then Google Calendar will do just fine. But use something and get into the routine of maintaining it constantly. You calendar will become your best friend!

3. Control your Quality

Your reputation is everything in the freelancing world. A good reputation takes time to build up but silly mistakes can quickly spoil it. Always proof your work. If there's actual copy then proof read it. Go back and check any specifications and be confident that what you are delivering is what the client asked for. Don't allow yourself to make any significant changes at this point. You are picking up errors, not trying a whole new strategy. Get into the routine of finishing your work but then putting your self in the shoes of the client and look at it through their eyes. If you outsource, you must check the work before it goes to the client.

4. Keep Records

Keep track of the work you do for each client, how much you got paid, the essential dates, if the client was happy and any issues that arose. It is human nature to believe you will always remember the details of something that is currently in your head. You won’t. And this data is essential. This can be kept in a spreadsheet. On one sheet, maintain a list of your clients, their names and contact details. On a second sheet, keep a list of jobs done, with a reference to the respective client on the first sheet. You'll only appreciate this once you get in the routine of doing it and using it. You’re always going to want to know what work you've done for a client when it comes to quoting the next job.

5. Maintain a Rate Card

Quoting is the hardest part of freelancing. It has to be done right. It means the difference between a can of baked beans for dinner or shouting yourself a decent meal at a restaurant. A very good routine to get into that will help with quoting is to maintain a rate card for yourself. This is only for you and is not intended for client viewing. This is a list of different types of work you can do and how much you normally charge. If the client wants a break-down then you can easily give it. It also helps you maintain consistent quoting from job to job with an individual client. If you want to do a job cheaply for a client, do not reduce your rates. Quote at the full rate and then give them a discount off the total. If you want to charge more then let the client know that you are increasing your base rate.

There is one thing that really effects your reputation with a client, and that is inconsistent quoting. An up-to-date rate card is the first step towards getting this right. Get into the routine of maintaining it and using it!

6. Market Yourself

Your portfolio website is the number one element of your marketing. Prospective clients will click through to it. It needs to be updated and maintained regularly. Is the SEO all good? Are all the relevant keywords in there? Is your contact information clearly visable? Keep the site up-to-date with all your latest work!

Maintain your presence on networking sites, particularly Linked-in but also Facebook. Use Twitter too, as this is where the design scene is buzzing. Even upload some Photoshop brushes to our gallery to get you name out there and establish a presence in the design community.

Use the facilities at freelancing sites. There are freelancing forums that allow you to get known. Post comments or small articles. Start threads. You can learn a lot from doing this, like where the jobs are and what's paying good money. Maybe even what clients to avoid.

Set aside a small amount of time to do these things each day. If you’re lucky enough to be able to see your client in real life then get them to spend time with you. The more time they spend with you the more they feel committed to using you.

7. Invoice!

You have to invoice. And you really have to invoice straight away, as soon as the client accepts that the project is complete. The client has to receive the invoice when the completed project is happily in their mind. If you send it a month later then a busy client will have forgotten the warm glow of a well delivered project. Make sure the invoices are professional and reflect that they are paying for your professional work. This maintains your reputation.

You must keep a record of the invoices you send. Some great apps you can use for this are, Simply Invoices, Harvest, and Blinksale. If you send an invoice twice then it will hurt your reputation. If you are in the routine of keeping on top of your invoicing then so many other aspects of the business will fall in line. And the most important thing is that it reduces your stress.

If you get into the seven routines above, and you also produce some good designs, then you're well on your way to becoming a Design Superhero and making a real career out of freelance designing. Feel free to leave a comment below to share any additional tips you personally use to make your workflow more organized and efficient.

Good luck out there!

The New Decade of Web Design

Wed, 05 May 2010 10:05:21 -0500

The new decade got off to a great start in 2010 with fresh styles in the web design arena. With the emergence of the new CSS3 and HTML5, designers and developers had a whole new set of cool effects and tools at their disposal. From textured backgrounds, drop shadows, rounded corners, RGBA transparency, to modal boxes designers came up with a set of new design trends that took us nicely into 2010.

With the surge of new technology in smart phones we will also see mobile websites become a big thing, perhaps to wrap up 2010 with some cool websites mirrored into mobile web trends. But for now we will focus on the web design area, as there are many great new trends that are creating a new fresh look for us to explore.

Big Headers, Introductions and Huge Images

As the title suggests this section looks at the trend of big header areas, big introductions and huge images! Here people use the top fold of the browser to wow you with a statement about them, or a header image – much like a splash page, but they are so 2009! With the ease of bigger screen resolutions web designers are giving more room to growing header widths and utilizing this area for some great product or illustration showcasing.

The main focus with the big header spotlight is for brand exposure and to get that first message in. This keeps the viewer browsing through out the site.

Rich Texturized Backgrounds

The emergence of richer interfaces has introduced some interesting textures to the web-space. Using textures creates some great depth and with the right elements this trend is growing for those that want more pop to their website.

Here the main focus is creating depth and to give a unique touch to the overall look and feel of the website.

Sleek, Eye-Popping Icons!

Sites are now incorporating icon based navigations more and more. With the range of premium stock icons at a low price, people are including them for a richer user experience. These little (or sometimes big!) icons can create a great way to explore and understand the meaning that the website is trying to convey. We all know that most of us will skim large areas of text, sometimes even missing the point to a piece of text, and so icons are a great way to break down concepts that might have otherwise been bland without some visual cue. We see the emergence of icons used heavily in feature rich companies and services/product based websites.

Now the main focus of these awesome icons is to make the focus point of the text more easily conveyed and also creates a rich navigation source for the person browsing.

Full Screen Background Images and Videos

In 2010 trends are bigger and better, and I mean literally! Here the use of full screen images and video give the user an immersive experience with the image eating up the content of the site. This trend of 2010 is related to the fact that screen resolutions are getting bigger and better. With these better screens websites can display ideas and actions and demonstrate a point in bigger images and video. Full screen video especially will be able to interact and engage with the user, immersing them in the website. A good example is Futuretainment by Mike Walsh. His website conveys and immerses the users and coupled with the easy navigation makes for a unique user experience.

The main focus here is engaging the user in a unique way, immersing them in the image or video to create a rich experience.

Typography Based Websites

Fresh in 2010 typography only websites give us a new light on creating website layouts. With the emergence of technologies such as Typekit, sFIR and Cufon which uses Javascript and Flash, a designer can embed some typography richness to the site. Another technology is HTML5’s method of uploading a font to the web server and if the user is lacking the font then HTML5 will automatically have them download it.

The days of Arial, Tahoma and Verdana are over; web safe fonts move aside! With such tools at our disposal, typography rich sites are going to embrace new ideas and approaches to web design. With the use of huge fonts, letterpress type and font replacement methods, typography layouts are coming out in full swing, but can it last? And with it create new inspiring ways for users to experience the web. With strong use of grid based designs bordering on magazine layouts, typography has a whole new playground to explore in the web for creating great user experiences.

What is the focus of typography in web? Well, it’s creating a new outlook, fresh design and an experimental new canvas to explore the web and create some unique user experiences.

Other Cool Trends Coming Your Way…

Modal boxes/light boxes – Great ways to keep the user on the same page, basically replacing those annoying pop-up windows, but so much better! Triggered by a user action they are a great way to bring up extra information that serves to enhance the user experience.

Grid Based Web Design – Grids are the new canvas. Here we will see more and more websites being driven by grids, with clean easy to view layouts, grids will shape the sites to come.

Carousels – Originally used for just images, these nifty carousels are now being used in for much more! Breaking out of tradition, people using carousels are able to integrate information, videos, and images in a more creative way.

Ribbons, Retro, Handwriting and Watercolor – How many sites out there have you seen using one of these elements? Ribbons that break out of the normal navigation and create a depth for the user are being used much more frequently. As is handwriting elements, typography or illustrations integrated into the interface giving it a nice personal touch. Watercolor splashes here and there, from backgrounds to navigations to adding texture to the page, watercolors’ are here in 2010, but will they still be big at the end of the year amongst all the other competition?

Mobile Website Designs – Starting to become something big, mobile websites are emerging as a whole new playground for people to design new exciting layouts on. With a smaller interface and different set of users controls (swiping for touch screens), designers are faced with not only the prospect of designing an intuitive website but a mobile site as well.

What do you think? – Any trends or strong recurring themes in the current state of web design that we missed? Please let us know in the comments below!

iDraw for iPad Review

Fri, 07 May 2010 08:59:14 -0500

We've had the opportunity to play and test out the new iDraw app for iPad and we thought it would be a good idea to share our thoughts and experiences here on our blog.

If you're not already familiar, iDraw is a powerful, mainly vector-based layout and design application for the iPad. (We thought this might be a more appropriate post for the Vecteezy blog, but that's not quite ready yet, sorry!) The app has a clean interface and a host of features that allow you to create and then modify shapes, drawings, type, and image elements.

While the app does have a clean user interface, there are some controls and properties that seem to be located in some not-so-logical places. However, with the amount of controls and properties for each object, screen real estate is limited on the iPad and the developer (Indeeo) obviously tried hard to make everything fit in a somewhat reasonable location.

In terms of what this app can do, it allows you to create lines, shapes, vector paths, and text. The user has full control over the fill color, stroke color, line widths, shadows, and even the insertion of photos into vector shapes from your iPad photo library. The app also offers some design and layout shortcuts including the ability to align objects horizontally, vertically, and justify them left, right, center, top and bottom.

There are two aspects of this app that took us by complete surprise, because they are so elementary to the iPad and multi-touch screens. First, the app does not allow for two-finger pinch zoom. In fact, there is no zoom at all. Second, the app does not support landscape mode; only portrait. This is just silly! While you can, of course, rotate the iPad and create your image in landscape, the user controls and interface do not rotate. These are clearly two elements that iPad users will expect to find and use inside of apps.

What we do like is that this is a perfect app for a quick layout of a document, flow chart, graphic, or any other vector-based image. The response is quick and the controls for each element are intuitive and allow the user to quickly modify the vector elements on screen. Another aspect we like is the load/open document setup-- basically swiping through full-page previews of each document with the ability to quickly rename and share them, without having to actually open them.

In summary, if you are an InDesign or Illustrator fan who's looking for something similar on the iPad, this app comes very close. With similar features found inside both apps, iDraw brings the best of vector-based imaging, type, and even photo-insertion to the iPad with a great looking interface and excellent usability.

Pros:
- Ability to control stroke, fill colors and add photos
- Powerful align controls and drop-shadows
- Easy organizing of images via the load screen
- Save & Export to PDF to edit anywhere

Cons:
- No image zoom/pan
- Landscape mode not supported
- Some controls/properties not in expected places

Indeeo is also selling iDraw for $8.99 via iTunes. Personally I feel it's not something that will replace Photoshop or Illustrator but it's a fun app to have for another way to express your creativity on the iPad.

Thinking about buying it? Already have it? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.

Grid Systems in Design

Mon, 10 May 2010 11:19:47 -0500

A hot topic these days are grid based designs. Why you may ask? Well, grids create a solid structure for which to lay a strong visual layout, not only this but a great grid based website can make a more usable site. Below we will discuss the beginnings of grid layouts and where they will lead us.

We will look at effective uses of grids, and why and how they are used within web design layouts. We will also uncover some great resources that will help you along the way, as well as some awesome grid based websites out there today.

Introduction to grid design

Grids have been around for longer than you might imagine. Remember Leonardo’s Golden Ratio? Or perhaps the Rule of Thirds in photography? You might ask what this has got to do with grids. Well they are all based on ratios and a solid foundation of which to base a structure on. Knowing your ratios can be the difference between a good site and a great site. When constructing a design not only do you have to take into consideration aesthetics, but also proportions and grids can help you order your graphical elements of text and images.

Where did grid based designs come from?

Grid based designs were happening long before you may realize, with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Golden Rule essentially working with ratios, proportion and grids. This has shaped the way for such designs based around structure and form.

Then there was an art movement called Constructivist Art which originated in Russia. In this movement grids were redefined and restructured, the movement brought more geometric themes that were broken down to their most basic forms. Around this era grids were emerging into a bigger art space where it would affect typography and commercial design through giving us a better understanding of the fundamentals of ratios.

Effective uses of Grid designs – Why use grids and why are grids so good?

While grids where being used effectively in print through the typographic grid, web designers and developers were struggling with inconsistent design and code practices. With this the grid came an effective way to strengthen our skills and grids are being suggested for use in design more and more each day.

You might feel that grids have nothing to offer but it can help speed the design process and assist you in making decisions such as how wide should I make this column? Or where shall I place the icons?

Why Use Grids?

Some might think the grid restricts their designing ability leaving no freedom for creativity, no fluidity. That may be the case, but then you might be looking at grids the wrong way! The grid is there to help you create logical structure for which it creates aesthetic value in your work. It’s a framework for you to find that balance between a formal structure and the freedom of creativity.

Grids can be used for any design aspect, from photography to typography to even scrapbooking! The grid facilitates creativity by giving designers a foundation on which to assist in the development process. Grids are becoming a big movement within web design, with such CSS frameworks as BlueprintCSS and 960 Grid system, they have reduced development time and created a better framework for designers to work with in creating a more wholesome, balanced, aesthetically pleasing website.

For the designer, grids help organize our elements by creating a balance between our elements and distributing everything in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Grids also help us design for growth, updates and additions to the site. They allow us to organize the sections better for development while also allowing for fluid designs to break through.

For the viewer what grids achieve is an easy structure in which to absorb the content and message by allowing for easy usability throughout the site. Sites that many have a lot of content especially benefit from grids such as Newspaper websites like, BBC or NY times.

Grid design resources – the know how sites

There many resources for designers and developers to access for grid systems and templates, some sites include:

1. The Grid System
2. 960 Grid system
3. BlueprintCSS
4. Golden Grid CSS
5. 1kb Grid

These sites provide information, templates and CSS frameworks on which to work on for great grid foundations. Let me explain a few of these resources so you can grasp a better understanding of each of their strong points.

Now the main difference between the grid systems in the list is that they can be separated into CSS frameworks and general resources and grid templates that you can follow. One main point that each serves to illustrate is that grids are there to assist in your creation of a wholesome site, not to curb the fluidity of the design and creativity but to enhance it via the use of a foundation to work upon.

One great resource to start with is TheGridsystem.org. Here you are provide with not only great advice and articles but a whole range of templates in which you can download and start to work with in Photoshop, Illustrator or Indesign. I found this site valuable in the knowledge it gave to enlighten me on the uses of grid design.

960 Grid Systems is great if you are essentially working with 960px. It provides templates, CSS framework, HTML layout generator and helpful advice for implementation for your site. A good quote from the site explaining their purpose is:

“The premise of the system is ideally suited to rapid prototyping, but it would work equally well when integrated into a production environment”

Blueprint is a CSS framework. Its main purpose is to cut down development time, similar to 960.gs. Its ease of use is great for those wanting only a quick easy CSS framework to grab and use.

The Golden Grid CSS, is a CSS tool for simple, easy grid based websites. It works off a 960px, 6 or 12 column grid system, another easy to use tool.

Lastly there is the 1kb grid, and you guessed it its lightweight (1kb) but packs the punch of a hearty, full on grid system for you to work with. Its great slider tools let you adjust the column width, number of columns and the gutter width before you unpack the code so it’s easier and less of a hassle for you to change the measurements of it in the code.

Examples of Awesome grid based sites

Before you start your next Grid based website layout, we've rounded up a collection of totally awesome grid based websites that you can use for your inspiration. Take special note of how they layout their elements on the page and align everything to a grid.

Bunton

Converge SE 2010

Creative Sessions

Dribbble

Eric Steuten Design and Concept

G 1

Mark Boulton

RVLT 2010

Snagly

Sohtanaka

The Import

Typographic Posters

What do you think?

Do you have any other awesome examples of beautiful grid based design? Anything we missed? Please let us know in the comments below!

Whiten Teeth in Photoshop Tutorial

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:37:15 -0500

Interested in knowing how to Whiten Teeth in Photoshop? Adobe Photoshop is a powerful tool and many times there are multiple ways to approach and accomplish the same effect. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to enhance teeth as we whiten and brighten them using a method that I believe offers the most flexibility-- using adjustment layers and masks. When you're done with this tutorial, the person in your photo will have 30% whiter teeth in just 3 minutes!

Step 1 - Create a Mask

The first step is creating a mask. A mask allows Photoshop to only apply certain effects and adjustments within a particular area. We're going to create a simple mask for the teeth.

1. Select the the brush tool and a brush size between 10-20 pixels.
2. Click the "Quick Mask Mode" icon at the bottom of the toolbar.

3. With the "Quick Mask" enabled, carefully draw around and inside the teeth. If you mess-up, switch to the eraser tool.

Step 2 - Create an Adjustment Layer

We want our adjustments to only take place inside the mask we created. To do this, we'll create an adjustment layer tied to the mask we just created.

1. When you're done painting the mask, click the "Quick Mask Mode" icon at the bottom of the toolbar to turn it off.
2. You'll notice that the mask is now selected. However, the selection is for everything outside of the painting (i.e. pink colored) area. We did this to save time, instead of painting everything but the teeth. To invert the selection, type "cmd+shift+i" (Mac) or "ctrl+shift+i" (Windows). Now the teeth are selected.
3. At the bottom of the layers palette, click the "create new adjustment layer" drop-down icon and choose "Hue and Saturation." You'll notice that our adjustment layer has our mask attached to it, only affecting the areas inside the mask.

Step 3 - Adjust the Hue and Saturation

You've often heard of "yellow teeth" because many times people's teeth have a…well…yellow color to them! What we're going to do is take out that color and adjust the "whiteness" making the teeth shine.

1. In the Hue and Saturation adjustments, we're going to turn the saturation down, removing the color. If you want to concentrate on just the yellow or any other color that might be stained on the teeth, you can click the "master" drop-down, select a color range and then turn the saturation down.

Note: turning the saturation down all the way makes the image black and white-- which will look fake. Be sure to choose an amount that looks realistic. The art of 'Photoshopping' is making the image look un-Photoshopped.

2. You can adjust the "lightness" to add a white overlay on the image. Slight use of this can make teeth look brighter and have more of a shine to them. Again, don't over do it.

And there you have it-- 30% whiter teeth in just 3 minutes. Sure beats those whitening strips you have to wear every night for a month to start seeing results!

As I said earlier, there are multiple ways to approach and accomplish this same effect. If you have any other suggestions how to whiten teeth in photoshop, then please feel free to speak up in the comments below!

How to Turn Your Boring Type Into a More Interesting Art Piece: Part Two

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:38:52 -0500

And now, the much anticipated Part Two of the tutorial for turning some static type into a more interesting art piece! If by unfortunate chance you missed Part One, it is on the Vecteezy Blog! Once again, for this tutorial, you will need: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Phtotoshop, an ink jet printer, printer paper, a scanner, and a cup of water. A hair dryer will also help speed things up. Here is where we were when we left off:

Part Two

Now to begin part two, print out your typography using your inkjet printer. Notice how the paper feeds into your printer. Pick up your printout and feed it through your printer the same way three or four more times. The point is to get the ink really saturated on the paper. I use a pretty standard HP Officejet Pro L7580, but any inkjet should work fine. I’ve never had a problem re-feeding the same printout multiple times, but here’s my disclaimer: **Do this at your own risk!!! Hopefully it won’t screw up your printer with paper jams, etc.**

Now that you are living life on the edge, it’s time to get your hands dirty. Literally. Before the ink on your printout dries, go over to your sink and drip some water on it.

Smear the ink around with your fingers and let it drip and run all over the place. The more thrashed it looks, the more interesting your piece will be. Get a hair dryer and dry off your new creation. You can even use the hair dryer to move the ink around as it dries for some cool effects.

Once the paper is dry, you can go back in and enhance areas with a pencil. I really like to use a black Prismacolor pencil for shading and a white Prismacolor for highlights. These pencils let you lay down a lot of color and good gradients. Here you will notice that I added in shadows where the type loops over top of itself to give more dimension to the piece. Next, you are ready to scan your image back into the computer.

In Photoshop, change the image to grayscale mode. Then go to Image>>Mode>>Bitmap and select Halftone as your Method. Here I chose a round halftone pattern. You can experiment around to see what you like best.

I didn’t like the round halftone pattern, so I went back and chose ‘Line’ as my halftone method. I was pretty stoked and settled on this look.

I have a little trick for quickly putting gradient color into bitmap images like this. Still in Photoshop, I went to Image>>Adjustments>>Invert to flip out the black and white areas. I saved it as a bitmap Tiff image and placed it back into Illustrator. When you place a bitmap tiff into Illustrator, everything that is white in the image shows up transparent. And you can assign anything that is black to be any color you choose. So I selected the image and assigned it to the color white. So it basically becomes a white ‘mask’ with transparency. I then placed an orange-red gradient vector square behind the bitmap and the result is what you see below.

I hope you dig it.

-Ray

Free T-Shirt Giveaway!

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:04:28 -0500

**Update! Update! Read all about it! T-shirt Contest Winners have been selected!**

Winners have been selected, so watch out for your prize! Thanks everyone for participating in this giveaway, thanks to BlueCotton, and we hope all the winners enjoy their shirts and wear them proudly!

And the lucky winners are...

From the comments section of the blog:
design3edge from India
vampfan from USA
satanskid from the Philippines
kremalia1 from USA, and last but not least,
tobig from USA

From Twitter:
@StormySeaStudio from USA
@ScrappinCop from USA
@Shiftygraphics from the Netherlands
@izarbaik from Indonesia
@dubtastic from USA

And, from the RSS feed:
cpccgirl from USA
Nate from Germany
blaze_it from Indonesia

Congrats to all the winners!! To everyone else, definitely stay tuned, because Brusheezy will have another great freebie or giveaway before you know it!

Happy Monday everyone! Today we're announcing our first ever ("official") T-Shirt giveaway! In the past we've given away a few free T-Shirts on our Facebook Fanpage, but nothing this big. With the help of our friends from BlueCotton we're giving away these Brusheezy T-Shirts to 15 lucky winners.

The Prize:

The T-shirts are 2001 American Apparel Fine Jersey T-Shirt (4.3oz) and you can choose which color you want (black or royal blue) as well as which size you want.

Three Ways to Win:

1. Leave a comment below telling us what size and color you want (Blue or Black)

2. Tweet this contest by clicking the retweet button above in the header or copying and pasting this line into twitter. RT @brusheezy Free T-Shirt Giveaway http://bit.ly/cahx8B

3. Subscribe to our RSS Feed via email.

The Details:

5 winners will be randomly selected from the comments below. Also, 5 winners will be randomly selected from twitter and 5 winners will be randomly selected from our RSS Feed. The winners will be announced here on our blog on Thursday July 1st, 2010 and will be contacted directly by our community manager Erin. If you have anymore questions please leave a comment below and we'll get back to you asap. Good luck everyone!

Bonus Update:

We're also running this same contest over on Vecteezy too! Feel free to enter over there too and increase your chances even more. Remember if you already have an Eezy ID you don't need to create another account. You can login with your Brusheezy username and password. Good luck!

Introducing Eezy Premium

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:25:40 -0500

When I first launched Brusheezy back in 2006 it was just a simple gallery of photoshop brushes. Nothing more, nothing less. A few months later I teamed up with Kennon and redesigned the site and launched Vecteezy as we expanded into vector graphics. As the sites slowly continued to evolve and grow, we realized we needed to do a complete overhaul and launched the redesign you're looking at right now. We added user accounts, cleaned up the interface and made it much easier to share and promote your freebies. It's always been a work in progress as we've continued to refine the system making it as simple as possible.

Today we're excited to announce our newest launch. We're calling it Eezy Premium and I'm very excited about it. Many of you have asked about the direction we are heading so I just wanted to outline a few details.

First off, the Eezy sites will always be, first and foremost, a platform to share free design resources. We're well aware that there are plenty of freebie sites out there, and if you're reading this, we're glad you stopped by. We have no plans to merge the sites into one big corporate stock graphics site and start charging users. We're proud to be a "little guy" and have no intentions to charge money for content we don't own.

The Premium content is a result of things we've found people searching for on our site that wasn't readily available. We teamed up with some extremely talented professional designers to create an ongoing collection of resources to fill the gaps where content was needed. Our goal is to provide the best overall user experience possible by providing exactly what our users are searching for. We hope this will help.

In the coming weeks we hope to double and triple the size of our collections on both sites by adding more High Res Photoshop Brushes, Premium Textures, Patterns & Vectors. We also have a large collection of exclusive coupon codes that we plan on releasing soon too. Unfortunately the more content we create, the more our costs increase, so those prices may go up real soon. Current subscribers will lock in their pricing until they choose to cancel so if you're looking to get some premium quality graphics at a redonkulously low price, now is the time to join.

Thanks again to those of you who have already subscribed and we can't wait to bring your more free and premium resources in the months to come!

Enter to win an iPad from LightCMS

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:26:54 -0500

LightCMS, the friendly CMS for designers and their clients, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary by giving away ten iPads in ten days! And while setting up a free account on LightCMS is easy, entering the giveaway to win an iPad is even easier! All you have to do is tweet the following message:

Win 1 of 10 iPads from @LightCMS - RT to enter or read more http://www.speaklight.com/ipad

That's it! Tweet it and you'll be entered in that day's contest. To enter on multiple days, you'll need to tweet the content each day you wish to enter. Contest days are Monday, September 13th through Friday September 24th, 2010. One winner will be chosen at random at 4pm CDT (GMT -5) each day, excluding weekends (if you tweet the content over the weekend, it will count as an entry for the following Monday).

In order to be eligible, you have to send your tweet from a public (non-protected) Twitter account, and you must have a mailing address in one of the eligible countries listed on the official giveaway page. You don’t need to follow LightCMS on Twitter to enter, but they will be announcing and contacting the winners via Twitter so following is a good idea. For more information and to read the FAQ, please visit the official giveaway page at http://www.speaklight.com/iPad.

Free Eco-Friendly Business Card Giveaway!

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:49:57 -0500

***UPDATE | WINNER ANNOUNCED!***

We Have A Winner!!!

Ahem, drum roll, please... We have a winner for the 1,000 FREE business cards, and the winner is....

Lucky Comment Number 7! "Hello! I am a recent graduate in Graphic Design, which means I've got bills to pay! So these business cards would help me get my name out there and get me a job! Cuz I'm tired of printing my business cards on 11x17 and cutting them each out individually! So help my tired little hands...please!"

Liusy, you are our winner! Congratulations! We'll be in touch to get started on getting those free cards to ya. Congrats!

***THE END***

Announcing the very first ever Free Business Card Giveaway! If you liked our last giveaway with Free Brusheezy T-Shirts, or our giveaways on our Facebook Fanpage, you will love this next one! JukeBoxPrint.com knows how important business cards to helping you promote yourself and the work you do, so they are generously giving away 1000 (yep, you heard correctly - one thousand!!) Ultra Thick 24 Point business cards shipped right to your door. They sent us some samples and these things are sweeeeet!

This contest is open to anyone! Anywhere! JukeBoxPrint will gladly ship internationally so this contest is open to everyone.

The Prize:

The one lucky winner will get 1000 ultra thick printed business cards - the most prestigious business cards around. Learn more about them over at JukeBoxPrint.com!

Two Ways to Win:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post and tell us something interesting about the kind of work you do - are you a student? Small business owner? Freelance designer? And the big question: how will these business cards help you and your business? If your comment is only "Thanks!", etc., we won't pick you. We like following the rules around here, at least the ones we make.

2. Retweet this post to all your Twitter followers! Let's get the word out!

The Details:

We will select the winner randomly and notify you of your prize on September 28, 2010, so have your design ready to give to JukeBoxPrint before then. You will also be notified about how to submit your design and address to them as well. *No entries accepted after Sept. 27.*

More notes on these cards: they are printed on a eco friendly 92 brightness SFI® certified stock card. You can even get metallic 877 silver printed on both sides! Yay for silvery goodness.

Good luck!

Advanced Photoshop Brush Techniques Video Tutorial by Axeraider70

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:30:36 -0500

Xavier Durand-Hollis Jr. aka Axraider70 is one of the most popular members of the Brusheezy community. The advanced techniques he uses to create his brushes are some of the most sought after within the community and judging by the comments on his profile, there is clearly a lot of interest. His brushes alone are approaching close to 3 million downloads and he is the second most popular member of our community out of over 375k user accounts.

His brush sets have also been featured in multiple print publications such as Photoshop Creative Magazine and Advanced Photoshop Magazine.

Today we're excited to share with you a video tutorial where Xavier shows us the techniques he used to created some of his most stunning brush sets! The video is over 18 minutes long so go grab a cup of coffee and sit back and relax. It will be time well spent if you're interested in learning how to expand your skill set with these awesome effects.

You can view more of Xaviers work at his DeviantArt page or at his website http://www.axeraider.com.

Additional Resources:
http://www.wacom.com/intuos
Glow Tutorial
Link to Ultimate Pack 5
CS3 Photoshop Brushes

Check Out Some of the Latest Eezy Premium Files!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:51:02 -0500

We've added a ton of brand new Premium files to our huge stash lately, so we wanted to take a tiny second and highlight some of the ones we think are the most unique, useful, and the ones that have become the most popular. Check 'em out - they're all for sale for the rock bottom price of $2.99 each OR you can Join Premium and download them all as much as you want for a low monthly rate of $19/month!

The Most Popular

1. Etched Ornament Brush Pack Two
This Hand-Etched Ornamental Brush Pack has quickly become one of the most popular brush downloads, we think for obvious reasons. It's a huge pack with thirteen different extremely detailed banner and ornament brushes that have that old timey print making look. Take a look and get them while they're hot!

2. Blue Organic Brush Pack
Filled with more brushes than you could possibly count, this Blue Organic Brush Pack has grown to popularity with its beautiful plant brushes, delicately outlined floral brushes, and many other organic forms.

3. City Scenes Brush Pack
Straight from the big city, this urban scenes and elements brush pack's popularity has risen right along with its skyscraper brushes. Download this pack for all your urban design needs!

4. 10 Etched Banner Brushes
Got an announcement to make? New baby... new job... getting married? Shout it loud and proud with these beautiful vintage style etched banners.

The Most Unique

5. Feathered Frames Brush Pack
An unusual brush pack filled with eleven feathery scroll ornaments and frame and border brushes.

6. Leafy Frames and Ornaments Brush Pack
Immensely detailed frames and ornament brushes decorated with flowing vines and hand etched leaves.

7. Earthy Ornaments Brush Pack
A down to earth brush pack filled with trees, laurels, and bird brushes.

The Most Useful

8. Detailed Crowns Brush Pack
Nice regal crown icon brushes. You'll be royalty with this pack!

9. Food Icon Brush Pack
Run a food blog? Just love food? You'll be good to go with these food icons brushes.

10. Education Icon Brush Pack
Whether you're designing a school's website or preparing your next powerpoint, these educational icons will help to get your point across.

So what do you think? Comment below with your two cents - we'd love to hear what you all think about the quality and pricing and even content of our Premium program. After all, it's here to serve you, so let us know how we're doing with that! Anything new you'd like to see? Requesting new Premium content is one of the perks of being a Premium Subscription holder, so let us know what you need and we will do our best to get it rolled out!

We'll keep uploading hot new brush, pattern, and texture files, so be sure to follow us! All our files are exclusively created for our site and it's members, so when you download from us, you'll get totally unique resources you won't find anywhere else.

Remember, we've got tons and tons of other files in our Premium Section, and all these files in vector form over on Vecteezy.com! Check out all our Subscription options here!

Win $300 in Custom Die-Cut Stickers from StickerMule.com!

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:46:51 -0500

****
Update!!! New winner announced!!

And the winners of the Stickermule giveaway are......
(drumroll, please....)

bobbydues
His_Girl
MainlySports

Congrats to you three!! We'll be contacting you, so check your email to claim your prize!
****

Sticker Mule is a custom sticker printer with a whole lot of love for graphic designers. They'll print your designs in full color on high quality vinyl, and die cut them to any shape. They'll even help make your artwork press ready for free and send an online proof with every order.

Sticker Mule wants to say “hi” to the Brusheezy community by giving 3 lucky winners $100 in store credit. That's enough for a totally free order of stickery goodness!

To Enter:

Just comment on this post. We'll pick 3 winners at random. Double your chances of winning if you retweet this too.

Contest Ends:

July 14, 2011 at 12pm EST.

BONUS!! Sticker Mule is launching a complete redesign shortly, and wants to give everyone 20% off during launch week. Just sign up here.

Enter for your chance to win $100 in custom printed stickers from Sticker Mule!

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:25:01 -0600

If you're in love with stickers as much as we are, you'll definitely want to check this out. Sticker Mule prints custom stickers and has just announced a relaunch of their site, and to celebrate that milestone, they have partnered with us for a huge giveaway!

To Enter:

Head on over to the Vecteezy Blog to find out all the details about the giveaway and enter to win!!

1,000 Custom Business Card Giveaway! Print your own with UPrinting.com!

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:24:20 -0600

***WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!***

Welp, the day has come! Drum roll, please.... and the four winners of 250 business cards each are...

samsdigitalia
mohikan8
dcescott
tedZilla99

Congrats, all of you! You'll be receiving an email shortly, so please respond ASAP. If you do not respond quickly, we'll have to choose another winner.

Congratulations!!!

Who needs a new sky high stack of business cards? Oh, you do? Well you're in luck. UPrinting.com has come to the rescue and is teaming up with Brusheezy to give you all a chance to win 1,000 free custom printed business cards!

UPrinting.com is a pretty sweet online printing company that has lots of eco-friendly printing options, and even free templates for UPrinting business cards, so be sure to check out their site!

The Loot:

Four lucky winners will receive a whopping 250 custom die cut business cards printed and shipped to your door for FREE!

Cards will be printed on 14pt Cardstock Gloss / Matte / High Gloss (UV), or 13pt Cardstock Uncoated, your choice!

**must be US resident to win**

The Ways to Enter:

1. Comment on this blog post! Simple as pie.

2. Retweet this blog post to enter a second time. Get the word out!

3. Add us to your RSS feed so you can keep an eye out for our next awesome giveaway.

That should do it! Enter all three ways if you'd like to boost your chances. We'll announce the winner on Friday, December 30th. Good luck to all!

Enter to win 5 Futurico UI Pro Packs from Designmodo.com!

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:37:34 -0600

***UPDATE!! WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!***
Hey everyone, sorry for the late announcement! Congratulations, here are the winners!!!

marketer301
cucogut
Rigter
zrageburn
Gilluin

Congrats everyone! You'll get an email shortly, so check your inbox and make sure you respond to claim your prize!

DesignModo is a great resource of informative material for designers, web developers, graphic artists or just curious folks looking for inspiration. They provide design, web development and art-oriented articles and promote the works of talented artists from all over the world, and now they've joined with Brusheezy for a stellar giveaway!

DesignModo is offering Brusheezy and Vecteezy users the chance to win five (5) Futurico UI Pro Packs! Futurico UI Pro is the world’s biggest user interface elements pack. It contains more than 200 web design elements that can be used in any project, no matter the style or the concept. The pack contains a set of elements compiled into one extraordinary collection, and now you have the chance to win this amazing pack!

To check out the sample freebie pack, download this Free User Interface Elements pack! Enjoy!

How to Enter to Win:

1) Follow us on Twitter: @designmodo and @Brusheezy or Like on Facebook! Search for DesignModo and Brusheezy!

2) Retweet this blog post or share it with your friends on Facebook!

3) Leave a comment on this post below and tell us what you love the most about Futurico UI Pro Pack. Be creative, fun and most importantly unique!

We'll announce the winners on Friday, February 3rd, 2012. Good luck everyone!

How To Utilize Texture Successfully In Your Design Projects

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0600

One of the most ubiquitous problems that web designers have to solve is that pervasive look of flatness and vector overload. One of the easiest ways to overcome this issue is to add some texture; whether it’s a subtle stippling or a striking pattern, it really helps to add dimensionality, as well as emphasize certain elements and add originality.

Due to a recent history of overbearingly grungy styles, sometimes texture is maligned as a fad that should be put to rest. But a thoughtful use of texture makes a big improvement to a design; it’s all in how you use it. It’s a tool that will yield great results if you have a firm command of the right principles to employ, so make sure that you’re using it in the best way possible for your work.

What is Texture?

Textures are occasionally confused with patterns and background images; for the most part patterns should be seen as small units that repeat seamlessly, and images as having more focal points and details than textures. However, all three of the terms sometimes overlap. Patterns and images can work to add texture to a web design, so although they’re not part of the classical definition of the word, they can be included in many discussions of the use and importance of texture.

Noise

One of the most understated ways to add a bit of texture is to add a noise effect to flat fields. Often done on the backgrounds of sites, this technique is great for when you want to add texture without sacrificing a clean look. Web Design WordPress Theme demonstrates the extremities of subtlety you can take texture to, by just barely adding some interplay of shades in the blue surfaces of the design. On the other end of the spectrum, this website provides a good example of how even a slight texturing technique like noise can be too much when it’s used on every element. The typography and images would stand out much more from the background if one or the other were smooth.

Natural

Another common type of texture is the imitation of recognizable surfaces, like wood grain or fabric. This technique is applied to good effect with this website, which would look sterile and boring without the addition of a soft paper-grain effect. Wood textures are also a popular choice, although they’ve become popular enough that a straightforward treatment looks dull and unoriginal.

Try mixing it up to keep your designs looking fresh.

Grunge

Although it’s gotten an understandably bad rap in the past, the new grunge is different; the understated, vintage-style descendant of past versions. For example, this website shares many similar attributes with the first example, including the color palette, and use of texture in both the typography and background. Its success lies in the low contrast of the background, that makes the texture just a light finishing touch, and the readability of the typography; it isn’t hindered by its textural quality.

Effective Techniques

The examples above have shown that many different types of texture can work really well, if used with consideration and restraint. But there are plenty of other design elements that can benefit from the addition of texture:

On logos, headlines, and other header elements: This can look especially good when paired with a contrasting background; the texture really helps to make the logo look interesting.

Paired with other dimensional qualities: This website uses a letterpress effect (you can use this letterpress tutorial to make your own) on its navigational elements, which ties in nicely with the textured background.

On icon sets: There are far too many icons that look exactly the same as every other vector out there. Adding texture to your icons can make them striking and memorable.

As long as you keep in mind that a little texture goes a long way, it’s safe to say that almost any style or combination can work. You’ll find that if you add subtle textures to your design arsenal, it will result in work that has that extra little something that makes a site feel more vibrant, interesting, and unique.

Create Pastel Designs That Pop

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:05:37 -0500

With buds forming on the trees and buttercups emerging from underneath the green blanket of soil, it’s no wonder the new season inspires us to incorporate soft hints of pastel colors into our designs. But when exploring this lighter color scheme into your designs, you still want your design to “pop.” Here are some tips to creating light designs that still grab the attention of onlookers.

Tip #1: Set the mood

The use of color is powerful! They are the aspect of art that evokes and sets the overall mood of a piece. So that’s why it’s so important to take the time to decide which feelings and emotions you wish to convey to viewers before creation of your piece has even begun. Many times, pastel designs are created to provide a bright, refreshing feel. But the pastel colors present can further define the emotions felt. Here is a list of the emotions generated from select pastels.

• Blue: Conveys trust, patience, peace, stability
• Yellow: Provides a feeling of liveliness and happiness
• Orange: Shows cheerfulness and creativity
• Green: The color of nature; inspires life and growth
• Purple: Associated with wisdom, royalty, or magic
• Pink: A very feminine color that evokes romantic or tender emotions

Tip #2: Refine your color scheme

Depending on the mood you wish to set, it may make sense to create your design solely around one color or center your design around two or three. If you decide the use of one color will work best for your design, then try using three or more shades in the same color family to add interest to your piece. You can also use overlapping layers of the same color, each set in a different transparency, to create the look of multiple colors.

If you wish to convey a set of emotions, multiple colors are the way to go, and pastels naturally compliment one another. For most designs though, we suggest using a maximum of three colors in your design to ensure the calm, cohesive feel of pastel designs is preserved.

Tip #3: White space is essential

Incorporate lots of white space along with your pastel colors. Pastels are best used in small concentrated amounts. Think about it – colors are much more eye-catching when kept to sections rather than scattered throughout in small amounts.

Tip #4: Add punches of color

Avoid a “washed out” appearance in your design by incorporating darker shades of the primary pastel hues present. But preserve your light design by utilizing these darker shades in very small amounts. These varying degrees of shades will work together to make your design “pop.”

Tip #5: Have fun!

Remember to have fun. Putting too much pressure to abide by design rules can sometimes cause our creative thoughts to come to a halt. So relax and enjoy your time designing! We promise – your designs will thank you.

Check out these soft and subtle pastel Premium packs to get started with these tips!

View More Premium Pastel Files Now!

Pick up pastels with these free art files available to use:

Exclusive iStock Promo Code

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:12:41 -0500

Our friends at iStockphoto reached out to give us an exclusive promo code only available to our members for a limited time.

Click any of the links below to unlock an exclusive istock promo code to save 10% on your next credit pack purchase. Once you have selected the package you would like to purchase, the promo code box is located at the bottom of the checkout page.

Enter your promo code into the field and click "next" to be taken to the final page to review your savings. How much did you save? Please let us know in the comments below!

*UPDATE* For more iStock Promo Codes please visit our other site Vecteezy.com.

Design Bundles on a Budget

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:59:54 -0500

Many designers enjoy the independence of designing full time as their private business. Other designers may be up-and-coming on that road to success as they dive into their college studies. What do you these two stages of the design life cycle have in common? They both need quality design resources on a budget.

Zero Bundle is a new site that provides free resource bundles for designers. Each bundle is available as a free download for 30 days at a time and offers a wide variety of design resources in each.

Their latest bundle, Zero Bundle 3, includes fonts, cards, icons, textures, bootstrap templates and other great design resources. Here are just a few of the items from this new item:

5 Business Card Templates

20 Photoshop Actions

Long Shadow Icons

Bootsraptor Templates

50 Flourishes

12 Office Icons

Plus a lot of other great freebies! So grab this bundle while it’s still around.

Check Out Zero Bundle 3 Now

How To Earn More From Your Website This Holiday Season

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 17:26:45 -0600

Did you know that you can earn extra cash from Brusheezy and Vecteezy? And during the holiday shopping season, when somehow you get wrapped into buying a present for everyone from your great-aunt Velma to the mailman, if you’re like us, you could use all the extra cash you can get your hands on.

If you already own a website, blog or even a simple webpage, you can start earning extra cash in less time than it takes to get to “Five Golden Rings” in The Twelve Days of Christmas. You can do so by taking part in the Eezy affiliate program. To join in on the earnings, all you need to do is place banners and/or links to Brusheezy or Vecteezy on your website, in your blog articles, in your email newsletters or even social media profile, and when one of your visitors clicks and purchases through our site, you earn cash!

All of your earnings keep racking up until you decide you need some extra change. Then, you click to receive a payout, and your funds are transferred within 1 business day. So you choose when and how you get paid!

So put your website to work for you this holiday season, and take part in the Eezy affiliate program. We’re currently paying 20% commission on every sale, so the earnings can really add up quickly!

To get started, simply login and visit Member Settings > Affiliate Program, then grab your unique links and banners and place them on your website, blog, webpage, and wherever else you can think off. Then watch the earnings roll in. If you have questions, let us know–we’ll be happy to answer them.

Start Earning Now