Board Games and Theme Parks
Sunday, March 15, 2009What thrills would you seek in the Blizzard Entertainment theme park of your dreams? This is your chance to show us.
We're challenging you to design and illustrate your own Blizzard Entertainment Theme Park, including roller coasters, water rides, shows, shopping areas, food courts, game areas, patrons, and whatever fantastic attractions you desire.
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Here's one I'd like to know and this article thinks it can teach me.
How to Design Website which Google Likes?
Here are some of tips listed...
Design and Content Guidelines
1) Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page
should be reachable from at least one static text link.
2) Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the
important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100
or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate
pages.
3) Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that
clearly and accurately describe your content.
Refer to the link above for more.
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Six Revisions had people vote on their favorite web design tools.
Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Panic Coda, Photoshop and Firebug are the top five favorites. I have to admit I'm a little bit surprised by the Adobe products showing up in the top five.
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Into board games?
Design a board or card game that includes a shared component (or components) as a core part of the game with "Wind" as the theme.
One of the core mechanics of the game must have something to do with one or more components being shared between the players.
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Last but not least here is a link where you can download some Zodiac icons.
Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn
It includes 177 AI Files!
Labels: blizzard, board games, contest, icons, theme park, web design
Blogging Design Contest; Don Norman Design Cues
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Do you love blogging? If you love blogging and also got design skills, then I'm sure you'd love to hear about and be a part of this new contest sponsored by WordPress and Infectious, a company that specializes in designing vinyl car decals and laptop and iPhone skins.WordPress have recently partnered with Infectious to launch the "I <3 Blogging" design contest, to create laptop and iPhone skins just for bloggers. The contest is open to anyone, and there is no fixed theme so its basically up to your imagination and interpretation but also, the design should be an image that represents the voice of bloggers everywhere.
Deadline: March 31, 2009
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The key to smart strategic Web design is finding an appropriate and interactive way to display information. One comes upon endless possibilities when searching for ways to display information. One solution, slideshows and sliders, is an excellent way to display information such as images in an organized and compact manner. Slider galleries are excellent for organizing content into a nice clean module.
For more on slideshows in web design click through to Smashing Magazine >>
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Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.
The three ways that good design makes you happy >>
Labels: blog, contest, slideshows, smashing magazine, web design
Lolita inspiration, css trick and web tips
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Oooo I like this article/tutorial on dynamic buttons using CSS.The technique is very simple. If we want to have a dynamic-width button, we have to find a way to stretch it horizontally. We will accomplish this if we create two background images that will define the button: one for the left side and one for the right side.
Click through to Janko At Warp Speed for he complete tutorial >>
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I recently read yet another article about web design mistakes. I think it is important to at least look at these articles because sometimes I do learn something and with web development constantly changing it doesn't hurt to keep informed.
One mistake mentioned is not having a good page title. This is something I know and yet even still continue to forget from time to time when building new sites.
"A good title is critical for getting good search engine positions and the most vital thing - the click-through. With the title, you are always walking a tightrope. You need a title with your most important keyword near the beginning but it should still appeal to the human reading the results."
For the rest of the article head to ThaidoWeb >>
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Lolita is a visual inspiration-bank, full of fantasies, dreams - a filter of colors and shadows, a silhouette in the dark. Hopefully making your pulse beat, body shiver.. The hand-picked images put together are also the basis of the story about a young Lolita, living in Stockholm, Sweden - inviting you to take a walk with her, in silence..
Initially I stumbled across Lolita under a graphic design pretense. I found their "the process" animated graphic which had me cracking up.
But there is a fount of inspiration at this website which goes way beyond graphics. Some of the photography on here is just so thoughtfully amazing that I have spent a great deal of time looking through their archives.
So check out Lolita >>
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And have you seen photos of Britney Spears' new home? It is beautiful and elegant in every respect. There is a library I literally spent time drooling over.
The 7,500 square feet home sports a pool, spa, three garages, 10 bedroom, 10 bathrooms, a bar, cinema and a library.
In terms of architecture and home design this one is 5 stars!
Labels: architecture, css, home, inspiration, lolita, photography, web design
Beer for women, PS brushes, design checklists
Monday, February 23, 2009
Beer for Women Ad Design ContestThere are an array of ads out there that are aimed at men as beer drinkers, and a disparaging lack of ads for women. At the Beer Babe, I challenge you to find creative ways to approach the growing ranks of female beer drinkers in the world through media!
Deadline is March 31, 2009
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850+ Super Cool Tech Brushes for Photoshop
Using circuits,linings,wiring or even blueprints could help achieve a better futuristic results but will take time doing all the details needed.
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Here's a link to a Common Sense SEO Checklist >>
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Signage and color contrast
Contrast between the foreground and background is one of the most important factors for the ease of reading. If coloured text is used on a bright background the contrast will be weak, for optimal contrast results is white text against dark colored backgrounds. In signage & wayfinding design color is the combining factor to harmonize the sign with the environment. Color programs will distinguish signs from each other and can offer an indication of the message without having to be able to understand the language of the sign.
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PSD Fan has a tutorial on designing a "Retro Futurism Space Scene," using a variety of lighting effects and photo manipulation.
It looks a bit rushed to me in terms of the final image, but the concept and potential is definitely there. It could create a cool backdrop.
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Here's a list of 99 Graphic Design Resources everyone should know about, you probably do know a lot of them, but it's always great to have one single page you can bookmark and return to later down the road.
And here is a link to 20 Typefaces To Start A Designer's Career.
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Spunk United Magazine, you might not be able to read it all, but you'll most likely be inspired but what you see from start to end. Definitely make sure to take time and look through the archives.
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For the most amazingly, beautiful landscape photography you will ever see, please go to DesignMags Landscape Photography Showcase. The images are just breath-taking. I'd pretty much like to step into all of them for just a minute.
Labels: brushes, contest, design, photography, photoshop, signs, typography, web design
Design competition, web optimization and tips
Friday, February 20, 2009How many software companies that develop for Windows, choose to brand their websites to look like Vista? Well here are 22 websites that were designed to look like Apple.
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Design a Futuristic Athlete Graphic
Learn how to create a futuristic athlete graphic using a combination of layer masks, brushes, the pen tool and various blending options.
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50 Sure-fire Web Design Tips
Though one of them says, "Optimize your page to be viewed best at 800×600 (the most popular resolution at the time of this writing)." Which I don't believe is true.
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The SDC global design competition is in full swing around the world. This year, the grand final will coincide with the SDC international conference on 25-26 June in Goa, India and, to tie with the theme of the conference, the brief also incorporates an aspect of sustainable thinking within the original design and/or final design application. The main criteria for entries, as previously, will be to demonstrate the creative, imaginative and original use of color in either fashion or textiles; a full set of rules are available to download fro their site. *~*~*
And I'd like to introduce you all to "Design {for} Baby" which is a site I stumbled upon earlier this morning. It looks to be a review site where different writers discuss items they have received. They also host a number of giveaways.
All of the items they blog about are for babies and/or families. Their current giveaway is for a personalized wooden block from a company called Woodgroove.
I can tell you I'll definitely be subscribing to their feed and bookmarking the site.
Labels: contest, design baby, design tips, tutorials, web design
Design and discovery
Saturday, February 14, 2009
What is ether + nick?"My name is Nick Kempinski and I am in media. So, it's only natural to think about media and how we are influenced by everything and anything in the ether. And this is where I put those thoughts."
Most recent ramblings from Nick in video format, Design, discovery and humor >>
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Are floating floors the future of home design?
A floating floor is a floor that is installed without requiring nailing, stapling or gluing to another surface. This is one of its biggest advantages: clean installation, with very little room for mistakes.
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Plants grow too slow to see most of the time - making these videos seem like secret access points to a hidden world that operates at a radically different speed.
12 Time-Lapse Plant Growth Videos
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Be creative with your soda...?
Dr. Pepper lovers rejoice, here's a way to "winterize" your favorite soda by turning it into a delicious hot beverage.
Instructions are from a vintage recipe advertisement published in the 60's.
Easy to prepare–simply heat Dr Pepper in a saucepan until it steams and pour into a glass or cup over a slice of lemon. Perfect for the family or when friends drop in–and take along a thermos of Hot Dr Pepper when enjoying outdoor activities. Hot Dr Pepper–the distinctive Winter Warmer!
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Create a Professional Portfolio Design in 17 Easy Steps
This tutorial teaches you how to create a professional looking portfolio design using very basic techniques. The majority of online portfolio’s appear amateur, yet it really isn’t very difficult to produce a simple design, very quickly that can portray a professional image online.
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Great website from the artist, Rocket Club. The website is actually designed and powered by a band theme service called ebandlive.
I stumbled across it on Design Dosage. Design Dosage is a design inspiration gallery with 7 set categories, each on a set day of the week.
* Icon Monday
* Typography Tuesday
* Wallpaper Wednesday
* Illustration Thursday
* Logo Friday
* CSS Saturday
* Print Sunday
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Eric Mathew and Andrew Ooi's origami light fixtures are made of printed Japanese paper. The print is of wood grain and though the lamps are made of paper they are surprisingly robust, as wood would be. My guide at CUTMR, show curator Jeremy Vandermeij, had this to say about Andrew and Eric; "[they] share a common interest in the elegant versatility of paper as a design material. Their work utilizes paper as a valuable commodity, in contrast to its popular public conception as a ubiquitous disposable resource. Drawing inspiration from traditional Japanese uses of paper in the production of items of everyday use, their work has evolved to include lighting, furniture, and ornament."Labels: eric mathew, floating floors, lights, links, nick kempinski, plants, portfolio, recipe, video editing, web design
Alex Wilhite Oil Paintings; Plus Some Challenges and Inspirations
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Alex Wilhite has been deaf since birth. He has been painting when he was four years old. He attended to Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis at age of 4 until 15 years old. He was awarded B.F.A. from the University of North Alabama and M.F.A. in painting and art history from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. He has had several solo and group exhibitions all over the USA, Japan, and Europe include the White House under President Clinton.He now has an Etsy shop which just opened on February 2, 2009.
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Would you like to get over 1,000 icons for free?
The best of best collections of free icons collected mainly from the icon gallery sites and interesting articles. Webbyarts is glad to display the best list of icon resources for free icon set download. The download icon set includes icons in .png, .icns and .ico-formats. An .EPS vector file is available as well.
They also have a post with "31 Spectacular Logos for your Inspiration" to boost up your inspiration.
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Web Designer Depot has a post with 13 iPhone Apps said to be perfect for Graphic Designers. The applications help with task management, enhance photos, sketching and a whole lot more.
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ARRL announces second homebrew challenge
In 2009, ARRL ups the ante in the Second Homebrew Challenge by upping the power limit to 50 W. All entries are due no later than February 28, 2010.
"Low power (QRP) operation is fun, but often a little more power is even more fun," said ARRL Technical Editor Joel Hallas, W1ZR.
"For our new challenge, we are asking readers to design, or adapt a published design (with appropriate credit), and build a 50 W amplifier to follow a 5 W/40 meter transceiver. This could be used behind one of the radios from the original challenge, or from other QRP radios at similar power level."
There will be two cash prizes for this challenge. In addition to the prizes, the winners will receive the usual QST page rate for published articles.
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Design Is Mine has intrigued me again with their Flickr Friday piece from yesterday. It's called Flickr Friday: Into a Story Book.
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Greenlaunches is offering another chance to win a stylish eco-friendly gift for its ardent readers as well as all those who care for our planet and environment.
Participate in the contest to walk away with a chic, green bag by Matt & Nat.
All you have to do is suggest interesting and innovative ideas to recycle plastic bottles. Anybody from any corner of the world can share their passion for a greener life and grab this $300 bag recycled out of plastic bottles.
Labels: alex wilhite, apple, challenge, design is mine, Etsy, flickr, icons, logo design, painting, web design
Inventor of Playmobil dies
Wednesday, February 4, 2009Would you like the "Ultimate List Of 50 Quality Photoshop Tutorials For Your Inner Designer?" Good, because The Theme Blog has them all in one place at the previous link.
The tutorials include Giving A Mafia-Look To A Business Photo, Creating A Rocking Silhouette in Photoshop and Creating A Stunning Digital Smoke Effect, to name a few.
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Speckboy.com has a post with "16 Usable CSS Graph and Bar Chart Tutorials and Techniques" complete with directions and demos.
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There is sad news in the world of toys: Hans Beck, the inventor of the Playmobil line of toys, died Friday in his native Germany, at the age of 79. Beck created the first Playmobil figures in 1974, and since then helped steer the toy line's development of a huge number of sets and figures based on numerous themes.
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Here is your chance to choose top ten finalists of the current Greener Gadgets Design Competition on Core77. Vote for any of the 50 short listed finalists and help to pick the Top 10 to be judged live at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City on February 27th. Since the competition aims at generating outstanding design innovations for greener electronics, please vote for entries that focus on designs that promise to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product life cycle.
Labels: css, designer, photoshop, tutorials, web design
Poster Art, jQuery and Hotel Lobby or Home page?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Smileycat.com has a really great article called, "Are You Focusing Too Much on Your Home Page?" In a conversation with a client the idea of a website's main page being the most important part is debated. The argument goes on to compare a website to a hotel. An excerpt is pasted below for you to read, but I highly recommend you click the link above to read the full article. I explained to her that she should think of her home page like the lobby of a hotel (an idea coined, I believe, also by Jared Spool).
When visitors arrive at your hotel, certainly they should find that the lobby represents the hotel favorably. It should be attractive, spacious, with elegant lighting, welcoming colors, and the odd feature here and there.
The lobby should make it easy for the visitor to orient themselves - to see where the front desk is and where the lifts are. It should make it easy for the guest to find out any important information at a glance - upcoming events or where the conference is being held.
However, hotels are ultimately judged by the quality of their rooms. The last hotel I stayed in was the W in Seattle. While it has a nice lobby, it's the rooms that really make a stay there memorable.
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Grab a jQuery 1.3 cheat sheet at CSS Clip.
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Kdenlive free open-source non-linear video editor for KDE. Kdenlive is an intuitive and powerful multi-track video editor, including most recent video technologies. It relies on a separate renderer, piave, to handle it’s rendering. Kdenlive is easy to use for all levels of users from novice to advanced video editors. Kdenlive is built upon MLT and ffmpeg frameworks, which provide unique features to mix virtually any kind of media.
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Bitt Box is offering wrinkled paper textures as part of their weekly Texture Tuesday freebies. But you should bookmark and subscribe to the Bitt Box feed every day because it has a wealth of design resources.
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In the mood for some poster art to inspire your new creations or just give you some eye candy to look at? Design Is Mine did a whole round up of favorites with links to the artists which is pretty cool.
Labels: bittbox, jquery, poster design, textures, video editing, web design
Web design predictions for 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Reading through predictions of what is in store for web design in 2009, designers are feeling hand drawn websites will continue to grow. With blogs being more and more popular this is probably a fair prediction. Bloggers create or grab drawings for their blog templates and *poof* it becomes their unique little portal.Other predictions include advancements in mobile web design. Also a fair assumption considering the mass craze of the iPhone. And all the piggy back mobile devices which are cropping up to try and steal the iPhone's thunder.
And then of course there is speculation that social media networks will continue to propel and evolve. I'm not sure if I agree with that prediction however, because I feel if anything they have just plateaued. There are too many branches competing for that market and even if a new network comes into the mix it will inevitably fail within 6 months trying to grab an audience from people who already use Twitter, Facebook and/or Digg.
I'd like to see interactive media becoming more popular. Yes this is selfish since my degree is in interactive media, but my reasons are for the greater good, aren't they? Interactive media design is just so much more fun, it's more like creating a science experiment game type interface to see how people interact with your work. Of course this has been battled because others feel the internet should be for information alone and you don't need bells and whistles. Then of course there is the whole issue of search engine optimization and the fact that rankings are almost completely halted if your site has even one embed of flash. But we'll see. I feel like Google could continue tweaking their web crawlers and perhaps dig into the fantastic realm of interactive design.
Thoughts?
Labels: web design
CommandShift3
Sunday, April 6, 2008
You should only read this post and check out the linked site if you are needing design inspiration or like voting for sites based on their designs. I am. I love looking through CSS galleries for inspiration or just to drool over the talents of other web designers. While I am happy with the index for Bring Me Up, all the inner pages need a lot of work and it's a daunting task. But these type of sites make me want to give it a go.CommandShift3 is like Hot or Not.
Except, instead of clicking on hot babes, you click on hot websites.
Very fun and quite addicting!
Labels: web design
For fellow web designers
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Every day it seems I add new favorites to my "Design" bookmark folder.Do you ever need extra list-style images?
Check out this site: InterSmash
Making a web form and want to secure the e-mail addresses?
You can protect the link with this Online Email Protector
Want to know what the font will look like online?
You can compare screen type side by side with Typetester
Want a place where all that is digital design lives?
Digitalthread selects only the best-of-the-best web design firms, portfolios, studios, books and resources
Share your fave design links with everyone!
Labels: tools, web design
Web design inspiration
Tuesday, July 3, 2007This is the site that is currently being featured on CSS and design sites for web design. Biola Undergrad is part of the Biola University's website. This is a nationally-ranked private Christian university located in Southern California.
I think for a University website it's pretty darn cool. Too often you see those cookie cutter websites for high education because people think they need to be professional and clean. I wish designers were given reign to step out of the box and do something more visually appealing. I think prospective students would enjoy the change.
Labels: web design
Color theory disaster
Friday, June 29, 2007Jinkies...this is just bad. I love bright, vibrant colors. Carrie can attest to that, but it's difficult to read anything on the web when it is placed on top of neon yellow or pink. Color theory professionals everywhere are going to cringe when they see this website. And really, it makes me nauseous.
So why do I care?
Well, because it's the official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. You'd think they would have had more sense than to choose colors other than bright cyan blue atop bright yellow...
I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so mean, but I can't even look at this page, it seriously is piercing my retinas.
P.S. I know I have color issues on my site, but trust me, I'm aware and will fix them.
Labels: color theory, web design
The Strange
Name: Christy Mannering
Appreciating and dancing around to all types of music. Movie mania! Reading fiend! Design queen!
See my complete profile
Bring it on and BRING ME UP!
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