In the not so distant past, we were learning about revolutionary techniques to save HTTP Request and KBs alike through the use of image sprites. These sprites consisted of tens or even hundreds of icons arranged in an image file that was later spliced and served in a variety of ways throughout a website.

We’ve made good use of the technique, and virtually every site concerned with scalability employs it.

Thanks to the advent of CSS3’s Transform and Transition properties, we can take this a step further, and using a few concise lines of code, transform base icon templates into new icons for future use – and even throw animation into the mix for an added bonus!

The technique is as simple and intuitive as was image sprites, and allows use to rapidly deploy new icons without ever having to alter the image sprites.

Even if you’ve never heard of Andreas Shabelnikov, you’ve almost certainly seen some of his work.

Originally from Latvia, he’s a freelance interactive designer and photographer who’s been involved in a number of high-profile site designs, including Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Last Airbender, Sweeney Todd, and the Stardust movie site.

Here Andreas talks about how he got started designing for such large studios, what his favorite projects have been, and his design process.

And he offers up some tips for new designers who would like to follow a similar career path.

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

[Editor's note: As we approach the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on 9/11/2001 in New York City and Washington, DC, and the failed attack that resulted in a plane crash in Pennsylvania, we feel that it's worth discussing the role designers have in relation to companies attempting to profit from tragedies such as this.]

I remember the morning of the attack as if it was yesterday. It almost was. I was walking into work at a well-known greeting card company when a coworker asked if I had heard that a plane hit the World Trade Center.

I joked that some idiot pilot in a private two-seater probably got too close and smashed into the side, shattering some glass and causing extreme embarrassment.

I had worked in the trade center south building. It was a massive structure and the engineering was considerable. The toilets on the 85th floor would slosh around in high winds because the building was engineered to sway with the wind and not to break.