2009 August | Webdesigner Depot

31 Aug
300+ Resources to Help You Become a Photoshop Expert
Compilation, Photoshop, Web Design
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Adobe Photoshop is arguably the most powerful graphics and photo manipulation software on the market.
You can do virtually anything with Photoshop, from fantasy image collages to complete website designs, and everything in between.
Although while Photoshop is incredibly powerful, it can also be incredibly complicated, especially when trying to perform advanced functions.
Below are over 300 resources to get you on your way to Photoshop mastery.
There’s everything from cheat sheets to brushes to tutorials to action scripts, as well as collections of even more resources and tools. With the resources below, you should be able to do just about anything possible with Photoshop. Read more
30 Aug
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Aug 23-Aug 29, 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.
The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot Read more
29 Aug
BIG THANKS to All Our Sponsors, Aug. 09
Advertising
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Today we’d like to thank all our advertisers for their continued support of WDD.
It’s both thanks to them and to our audience that WDD continues to thrive month after month.
We realize that many of you may not click on adverts as you may feel that they may not be relevant to you, or your business.
Why not try something new today and check out some of these awesome companies?
You might just learn about a useful service or product while at the same time helping to support WDD. Thank you! Read more
28 Aug
50 Incredible Examples of Battle Art
Art, Illustrations, Inspiration
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Today we travel to imaginary worlds created by talented concept artists to experience battles, war and conflict.
This showcase includes three different aspects of a battle: the preparation before, the actual battle and the following aftermath.
The images are extremely dynamic and full of motion and are sure to bring back memories of similar types of movies or video games.
Even when the image represented is not threatening, pay attention at how the slightest detail can represent a silent gesture towards hostility or unforeseen violence.
Here are 50 incredible examples of battle art that we selected for your inspiration. Read more
27 Aug
20 Quick Tips For Aspiring Freelancers
Business, Freelancing, How to
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The last two years have been the most exciting of my life.
I made the jump to freelance work, which has given me the freedom to work when and however much I want.
The transition from a regular job to freelancing was not easy, but I managed it.
This post is meant to help you bypass difficulties and maximize your productivity as you start your own freelancing career.
That being said, here are 20 tips to help you become a successful freelancer. Read more
26 Aug
60 Stunning Satellite Photos of Earth
Compilation, Inspiration, Photography
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Looking at nature from different perspectives can create stunning compositions for your photographs.
This couldn’t be more true than when we look at our planet from outer space and appreciate the reality of its beauty from such an incredible and rarely seen perspective.
The images in this compilation are from the Landsat 7 satellite and were created to introduce the general public to the Landsat Program.
Various combinations of the eight Landsat 7 spectral bands were selected to create the vivid RGB composites that we have featured.
Here are 60 absolutely stunning images of the Earth as seen from outer space. Click on the images for large resolution versions which you can use as wallpapers. Read more
25 Aug
Free Photoshop Brushes: “Sparkling Light Effects”
Brushes, Freebies, Photoshop
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Today we bring you another awesome set of exclusive Photoshop brushes which include 24 high resolution “Sparkling Light Effects”.
The set was created by Grant Friedman from Colorburned exclusively for WDD readers.
These brushes are completely free for both personal and commercial use so you can create any type of project with them with no restrictions, with the exception that we do not allow the redistribution of the brushes in any shape or form.
If you’d like to share these brushes with your friends and colleagues, simply refer them to this page so that they can download their copy.
Below is a full preview of all 24 brushes for quick reference. The download link is at the bottom. Enjoy! Read more
24 Aug
Creating the “Perfect” Portfolio
How to, Portfolios, Web Design
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Many articles are floating around that tell web professionals exactly how to build an online presence.
Techniques, best practices and all the other “what to do’s” can be great motivation, but that is exactly what this post won’t do.
Instead, we’ll go over how to create the “perfect” portfolio, one that suits your individual needs as a web professional and that gets optimal results.
By creating a perfect portfolio, you can gain more clients and have a more successful and sustainable career.
To start with, we have to differentiate between “perfect” and “the right way” to do something. There is no right way.
Read more
23 Aug
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Aug 16-Aug 22, 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.
The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot Read more
21 Aug
The Magical Digital Art of Andy Gilmore
Art, Design, Inspiration
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New York based Andy Gilmore describes himself as a draftsman, designer and musician.
With clients such as Wired Magazine and The New York Times, he has established a solid reputation with his works being featured in countless publications, shows and exhibits around the world.
This brilliant and colorful art takes you on a geometric and kaleidoscopic visual experience.
Being a musician, he’s inspired by the physics of sound and acoustics.
The feeling is surreal, futuristic and feels out of this world. In this post, you’ll find a great collection of over 50 images featuring Andy’s best work. Read more
20 Aug
30+ Dazzling and Interactive Media Facades
Art, Industrial, Inspiration
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Media facades are relatively new concepts however, they have become increasingly popular in recent years.
These uncannily innovative ways of combining modern design and architecture, have proven to be a successful way for businesses looking to attract consumers, or to showcase a specific event.
In this article, we feature a collection of over 30 dazzling, and sometimes interactive, media facades from around the world.
Do you know of any other good examples? Please share them with us in the comments section below. Read more
19 Aug
How to Blog Effectively
Blogging, How to, Writing
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A blog is a great tool with which to express your opinions, build a community, network with others and drive traffic to your website.
However, a lot of designers are not sure how to get started or what to blog about.
I’ve been blogging for a couple of years now, but I’ve been blogging effectively (in my opinion) for only several months.
My blog posts used to go unnoticed, and I’ve now realized that this was because of a lack of structure and commitment.
So, what’s involved in the process of writing an effective blog post?
Read more
18 Aug
250+ Resources to Help You Become a CSS Expert
CSS, Code, Compilation
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CSS is the second-most-important thing you can master when it comes to web design, right after HTML.
And the capabilities of CSS can be staggering (especially with the new CSS3 standard already making appearances in some browsers).
If you can imagine it, it’s likely someone has already figured out how to do it with CSS.
Below are more than 250 resources for mastering CSS. While they’re not likely to make it any less staggering, they can help you master the techniques that will help set your designs apart from the crowd. Read more
17 Aug
How to Effectively Organize your Photoshop Layers
How to, Photoshop, Productivity
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We designers tend to get frustrated with developers when they take liberties with our work.
But we have to understand they’re not entirely at fault.
Put yourself in their shoes: imagine what it’s like opening a Photoshop file (PSD), only to find a jumble of poorly labeled layers and folders, plus a heap of unchecked hidden layers and other half-baked ideas that didn’t make it to fruition.
The following tutorial outlines how to create organized, designer and developer friendly PSD files.
This is in no way the only solution, but hopefully it will encourage better practice in the web design world. Read more
16 Aug
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Aug 9-Aug 15, 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.
The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot
Read more
14 Aug
40 Absolutely Stunning Dark Ads
Advertising, Design, Inspiration
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Photographers and artists alike are always looking at light as the key element in any composition, which is certainly extremely important for dark advertisements.
Dark ads are usually used to portray a scary situation, or a serious issue, creating a dramatic impact.
Surprisingly, there are many dark ads that are humorous, creating a strong contrast between darkness and humor.
In the post, you’ll find 40 absolutely stunning ads with dark singularities and creative lighting effects.
Click on the images for larger previews. Read more
13 Aug
Freelancing and the Power of Partnering
Business, Freelancing, Marketing
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When a business decides to outsource, it is looking for a solution.
It has a pressing project but lacks the internal resources to do it itself.
Chances are, some poor marketing director has walked out of a boardroom meeting, faced with a recurring problem: the deadline has been set, the work laid out in front of him and he has no way to get it done.
At this point, our poor marketing manager doesn’t want to spend hours searching the Internet for the right web designer, review another pile of résumés for the perfect copywriter and plow through stacks of portfolios for a graphic designer…
In this article we’ll review 5 useful tips that you can use to harness the power of partnering. Read more
11 Aug
17 Techniques for Creating Designs Inspired by Nature
Inspiration, Nature, Web Design
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Many great designers derive their inspiration from nature, and we can find tons of examples showcasing this type of inspiration online.
Looking at the world we live in and finding a way to integrate it into a design requires seeing nature from a new and very different perspective.
Here are 17 great techniques for creating original, beautiful, nature-inspired design.
If you know of any other ways to draw inspiration from nature, please share them with us by leaving your tips and comments at the end of this article. Read more
10 Aug
5 CSS3 Design Enhancements That You Can Use Today
CSS, Code, Development
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Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is the language of Web design, and the next generation of CSS design properties are just chomping at the bit to be released.
Are you eager to start using them, but don’t know where to start?
Although many of the new properties are not yet “official”, some browsers have already implemented many of the features of the coming CSS Level 3 specifications.
The problem is that many browsers—most notably Internet Explorer—have not.
The trick to using these new CSS3 features is to treat them as design enhancements. Read more
9 Aug
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Aug 2-Aug 8, 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.
The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot
Read more
7 Aug
100 Striking Examples of Grunge Photography
Grunge, Inspiration, Photography
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Grunge photography goes far beyond what the naked eye perceives and brings with it a dimension of frightening and powerful emotions.
These images are usually heavily edited and enhanced in order to create the grunge effect.
This effect can be described as dark, dirty, old, gloomy and definitely has an eerie vibe to it.
You’ve probably spotted plenty of examples of grunge photography as movie studios use it a lot when promoting their horror and scary movies, giving the viewer a feeling of dread and fear.
In this post, we’ll take a look at 100 striking examples of grunge photography that are sure to make you cringe and keep you in suspense.
Read more
6 Aug
20 Tips on How to Write for the Web
How to, Information, Writing
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There are really only a few tricks to writing properly for the web. If you know how to write, you are already 95% of the way there.
These are some of the more common mistakes that I’ve seen in web copy and some tricks that I use every day to write effectively, from e-mails to site pages.
You don’t need to be an English major to understand any of this advice either. It is written in plain English that everyone can understand.
These are tips based on my own experience and education as a writer, and particularly as a writer specializing in the web.
If you’ve got some tips of your own feel free to share them in the comments section. Read more
4 Aug
50+ Sleek, Funky and Weird Chair Designs
Design, Industrial, Inspiration
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Chairs have evolved tremendously for thousands of years, as they shifted from being a symbol of state and dignity, to an item of ordinary use.
Chair design considers intended usage, ergonomics (how comfortable it is for the occupant), as well as non-ergonomic functional requirements such as size, stackability, foldability, weight, durability, stain resistance and artistic design.
In this article, we’ll leave their function aside and take a look at chairs purely from an artistic point of view.
Here are 50 examples of great chair design, from the sleekest you’ll ever see, to the funkiest and the just plain weird. Read more
3 Aug
The Do’s and Don’ts of Dark Web Design
Color, Design, Web Design
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Dark web designs are very popular and can have an elegant and creative appeal.
They are also perfect for many types of client work however, they are not suitable for every website and should be used only when appropriate.
In spite of the striking visual impact that these dark designs can have, many designers don’t know how to effectively pull them off without turning off the visitor.
With a dark design comes less readability, less appeal for most readers and less opportunity for conventional design elements.
In this post, we’ll discuss a few tips to make your next dark website design appeal to a broader audience, while letting you, the designer, express your creativity. Read more
2 Aug
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Jul 26-Aug 1, 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.
The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot
Read more