I personally doubt that there is a market for Deluxe Pringles, but I would really like to see those packages in supermarkets. A project by Niklas Hessman.
Archive for the ‘Graphic Design’ Category
Featured design: Darren MacPherson
21
Feb
Darren MacPherson is a talented graphic designer who experiments a lot with type. His typographic work was often awarded by prestigious publishers and institutions.
Make your kitchen cooler with these 10 gadgets
20
Feb
As a designer, whether you do graphic, web or industrial design, your friends will expect to see cool gadgets and designy things when they come visit you. In this article, I picked a few kitchen items that will make you meet your friends expectations.
1. Robot tea infuser
The coolest tea infuser
2. Salt and Pepper ‘Bots
Yep, robots again
3. Yellow submarine tea infuser
Beatles fans rejoice
4. Psshh! Bottle Opener
The first bottle opener
5. Robot Corkscrew
Because we never grow tired of robots, I give the robot that will help you open your wine bottles
6. Jazz ice cube tray
For your groovy evenings
7. Pastasaurus
The cutest possible way to serve pasta
8. Measuring Matroyshkas
This was a clever idea to make some cool measuring cups
9. Pandie panda bear salt’n’tepper shaker
I’m not sure if these salt and pepper shakers
10. Squid Peeler
Peeling vegetables is probably the most boring part of cooking, this squid peeler
Greenpeace “become David” ad campaign
20
Feb
I’m not sure about the efficiency of these ads for Greenpeace, but I can tell you for sure that the illustrations are wonderful. Via Designboom.
A new logo for Windows 8
20
Feb
You probably have already seen the new Windows 8 logo by now. I did see it about a week ago, but didn’t publish an article because I thought it was a fake.
Now, it seems it’s not a fake, but part of Microsoft’s effort to implement it’s new Metro design language. I have mixed feelings about this. I have to say that I like the idea to make the Windows’ logo more minimalist and coherent (aka it looks like a window). The problem is that it seems poorly executed to me.
The thing that really bugs me is the windows icon, the perspective feels wrong and awkwardly placed next to the text. I don’t like the color too, but that’s just a matter of personal taste.
Another thing, is it just me or the Windows text is poorly kerned?
Anyway, if you are looking on more explanations on how this logo was created, you should read the official announcement on the Windows Steam Blog or Pentagram’s presentation of the new identity, make sure to watch the video of the logo in context, that’s certainly the most important use of the logo.
How about you? What do you think of this new Windows logo?
A new logo for Windows 8
20
Feb
You probably have already seen the new Windows 8 logo by now. I did see it about a week ago, but didn’t publish an article because I thought it was a fake.
Now, it seems it’s not a fake, but part of Microsoft’s effort to implement it’s new Metro design language. I have mixed feelings about this. I have to say that I like the idea to make the Windows’ logo more minimalist and coherent (aka it looks like a window). The problem is that it seems poorly executed to me.
The thing that really bugs me is the windows icon, the perspective feels wrong and awkwardly placed next to the text. I don’t like the color too, but that’s just a matter of personal taste.
Another thing, is it just me or the Windows text is poorly kerned?
Anyway, if you are looking on more explanations on how this logo was created, you should read the official announcement on the Windows Steam Blog or Pentagram’s presentation of the new identity, make sure to watch the video of the logo in context, that’s certainly the most important use of the logo.
How about you? What do you think of this new Windows logo?
A new logo for Windows 8
20
Feb
You probably have already seen the new Windows 8 logo by now. I did see it about a week ago, but didn’t publish an article because I thought it was a fake.
Now, it seems it’s not a fake, but part of Microsoft’s effort to implement it’s new Metro design language. I have mixed feelings about this. I have to say that I like the idea to make the Windows’ logo more minimalist and coherent (aka it looks like a window). The problem is that it seems poorly executed to me.
The thing that really bugs me is the windows icon, the perspective feels wrong and awkwardly placed next to the text. I don’t like the color too, but that’s just a matter of personal taste.
Another thing, is it just me or the Windows text is poorly kerned?
Anyway, if you are looking on more explanations on how this logo was created, you should read the official announcement on the Windows Steam Blog or Pentagram’s presentation of the new identity, make sure to watch the video of the logo in context, that’s certainly the most important use of the logo.
How about you? What do you think of this new Windows logo?
This week on Pinterest
19
Feb
I posted earlier this week about Pinterest, and I didn’t change my mind yet: I still find it to be a wonderful source of inspiration. Every week, I’ll be sharing my favorite pins of the week. If you don’t want to miss any pin, make sure to follow me on Pinterest.
Some Comic Sans hate, via Creative Arena.
Great cover for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, via Mr. Nobody on Tumblr.
Mixed feelings, via Creative Living.
Mini-garden mounted on a wall, via Etsy.
Pac-Man on the street, via Street art utopia.
Cute vintage style alphabet, via Simple Song.
Meowoodle icon, via Dribbble.
Amsterdam-Berlin poster, via Michiel Schuurman.
So you want to be a modern poster designer?
18
Feb
Travis Pitts wrote a short rant he illustrated with fake movie posters using stereotype that are too commonly used for this type of posters. If you want to see something a bit different, check out his redesigns of popular movie posters.
Movie poster of the day
17
Feb
If you are going to subscribe to just one site this week, make it’s this one. The Movie Poster of the Day tumblelog, like its title suggests, shares one poster every day. It’s an awesome source of inspiration if you are looking for poster design inspiration, like the stunning Wong Kar-Wai movie poster above.
Featured designer: Demian Conrad
16
Feb
Demian Conrad is a graphic designer based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He works mostly for clients in the leisure industry or cultural field, always paying particular attention to typography.
iOS’ 86
15
Feb
Am I the only one to find these retro icons by Anton Repponen better than the actual iPhone icons?
10 useful htaccess tricks to improve your website
14
Feb
For some reason, the .htaccess file is often overlooked by web designers. If you have no idea what the .htaccess file is, I’ll just give you the Wikipedia definition: “A .htaccess (hypertext access) file is a directory-level configuration file supported by several web servers, that allows for decentralized management of web server configuration.”
But let’s get to it, here are some of the cool things you can do in your .htacces file.
1. Hotlinking protection with .htaccess
Websites that steal your written content can be quite annoying because they can hurt your Google rankings by creating duplicate content. However there is even worst: websites that steal your content AND don’t even make the effort of downloading images and reuploading it on their server. Loading images from your server is called hotlinking, and it’s a bad practice because it steals some of your precious bandwidth.
To preven people from hotlinking your images, just include the following lines in your htaccess file (obviously replace yoursite.com with your site’s URL.
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www.)?yoursite.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .(gif|jpg|swf|flv|png)$ /feed/ [R=302,L]
2. Prevent directory browsing
While directory browsing can be useful, it can also cause some security problems. To make your site a bit more secure, prevent directory browsing by including this file in your htaccess.
Options All -Indexes
Image credits: Sens interdit by Frédéric Bisson on Flickr.
3. SEO friendly 301 permanent redirects
I’ve used this one very often, pretty much on every site where I changed the URL structure with a redesign or server move. To redirect old pages to their new address in a user-friendly way, use this structure in your htaccess.
Redirect 301 http://www.yoursite.com/article.html http://www.yoursite.com/archives/article
4. Display a custom 404 error page
When a visitor tries to access some page of your site that doesn’t exist anymore, your server will display a page with the message “404 file not found”. Some CMS allow you to set a custom page for those 404 errors, but the easiest way is still to include the following line in your htaccess file.
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html
Image credits: 404 room by Raphaël Gotter on Flickr.
5. Setting the default page of a directory
If for some reason you need the default page of a directory to be different, it’s very easy to do with htaccess. For example, if you want the file default.html to be the default page, just add this line.
DirectoryIndex about.html
6. Block unwanted visitor based on referring domain
Usually webmasters will not block traffic, but if you notice in your stats that some sites are just sending you spammers or trolls, you shouldn’t wait to block them, that would just help you preserve your nerves. Just add the following code to do so.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} spamteam.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} trollteam.com [NC,OR]
RewriteRule .* – [F]
</ifModule>
7. Specify upload file limit for PHP in htaccess
This one helped me several times when using Drupal on shared hosting, I had to reset upload file limits to allow my clients to upload bigger files and these lines saved me. The first one is maximum file size for uploading, second one is maximum size of the post data , third one is maximum time in seconds a script is allowed to run before it is terminated by the parser and last one is maximum time in seconds a script is allowed to parse input data such as like file uploads, POST and GET data.
php_value upload_max_filesize 20M
php_value post_max_size 20M
php_value max_execution_time 200
php_value max_input_time 200
8. Compress files
Do your users a favor and optimize the loading time of pages by compressing the files you serve on your website, here is an example of how to achieve this.
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
9. Cache files
More website speed optimization by caching files.
<FilesMatch “.(flv|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|ico|swf|js|css|pdf)$ ”>
Header set Cache-Control “max-age=2592000″
</FilesMatch>
10. Force trailing slash
I cannot prove it, but I’ve read countless time that adding a trailing slash at the end of the URL was good for SEO and page load. If you also believe so just add this code in your htaccess.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /+[^\.]+$
RewriteRule ^(.+[^/])$ %{REQUEST_URI}/ [R=301,L]
</IfModule>
Street art by Nikita Nomerz
13
Feb
Nomerz creates very cool street art by painting faces on walls, using some of the architectural elements to create part of the wall. Check out more of his work.
Join me on Pinterest
13
Feb
A couple of weeks ago I decided to give a try to Pinterest, the rising social network that’s let’s you create collections of images and things. I’m glad I did. Pinterest is the first site that got me so enthusiast in a long time, so I’ll probably be a very active user there.
So far I’ve created 9 boards, the most active being the ones about typography, posters, and art & prints. I’ll probably create many more soon so connect with me there if you have a Pinterest account. If you don’t have an account write a comment after this post and I’ll send you an invitation (I’m not sure how many invitations I can send, so be patient if you don’t receive it right away).
Mouse hole outlet cover
12
Feb
Probably the cutest way to cover an outlet I’ve ever seen. Found at Bored Panda, could’t find the original source.
Street art by Hanksy
11
Feb
Fan of both Tom Hanks and Banksy? Meet Hanksy, a street artist that replicates Banksy’s artworks and incorporates Tom Hanks’ head in it. The result is pretty hilarious and worth checking out. Just like Banksy, he remains anonymous, but he did answer to an interview by The Awl.
Small house frames out of wood by Ted Lott
10
Feb
Ted Lott is both an woodworker and an artist. He recently built some cool wooden sculptures that are a mix of traditional craft and modern architectural structures. Via Design Milk.
An annual report powered by the sun
09
Feb
This is a quite creative use of modern printing techniques by Mathias Nösel and Matthäus Frost. This annual report appears blank when you are indoors, but reveals the content when you get some sunlight.
I just wish they would have given more information on the techniques used to achieve this result.
The Darkest Lord – 25 Spine-Chilling Darth Vader Fan Art
08
Feb
As Star Wars has gone on to become a popular culture phenomenon, much of the credit goes to its characters. Darth Vader, for one, has helped the films achieve massive success. His rise as a Jedi Knight to his fall to the dark side as documented in the six “episodes” of the franchise is not only regarded as one of the most iconic villains in the history of film, but also one of the best characters in cinema.
Despite being billed as the main antagonist in the latter trilogy of the series, one of the reasons for the popularity of Darth Vader among people is his depth and complexity. The Dark Lord may have gotten his moral allegiance twisted along the way, but no one can deny that he is indeed badass when it counted the most.
Heavy breathing and iconic costume aside, the cultural impact of Darth Vader outside film is undeniable, as proven by the tributes and parodies in the media. Expanding on his influence, below are bad-ass graphic artworks made by fans of the former Jedi Knight.
About the author: Benny Benitez has an intense passion for SEO/SEM, undying love for web and graphic design, profound interest in custom sticker printing services, and pledged allegiance with cup of perfectly brewed coffee. Oh, and he handles the PrintRunner Blog when he’s not obsessing over things.
The best movie posters of 2011
07
Feb
I haven’t watched much movies in 2011, so this compilation of best movie posters of 2011 by Mubi.com is very welcome. Personal favorites in the list? Probably Tyrannosaur or Burning Man.
How to convince your clients of the importance of white space
06
Feb
This is a recurring issue for designers around the globe. No matter if you are a graphic or web designer, you will sooner or later run into a client that finds the layout of your design too “empty”. This is a quite natural reaction for a non-designer. I remember in graphic design school, most students would add more elements in their layouts than needed, or they would make these elements bigger because they were afraid of too much white space.
As a designer, you should probably already know that white space helps a lot to create more elegant designs, separate elements better from one another, and allow to focus and make things more readable. You client doesn’t know all that, so the best way to teach him is to explain him with examples that ring a bell for him. If you know your client well, you may find one of these examples fitting, who knows?
Food
This is the first example that I ever gave to one of my clients, maybe as an european I’m a bit too concerned with the presentation of food. Tell your client that he should remember the last time he went to a high-end restaurant. What did he see? A plate full of food like in a school cantine? Obviously not. What he saw was some food delicately dropped on the plate, with some color arrangements and… a lot of white space!
The white space in that case, just like for graphic design, helps to create a layout with the food, putting a strong emphasis on the meal.
Use of white space? Check. Looking yummy? Double check. Image by William Schmitt on Flickr.
Gardening
Gardening is a bit different, you cannot tell your client to just think about a garden, because many gardens are full of flowers and look beautiful that way. In that case, you will need to give him the japanese zen gardens as example. These gardens are very minimal, and the position of every rock or plant is studied to create a calm atmosphere.
A zen garden. Notice the white space? Image by Tess on Flickr.
First class vs second class
Travelling in 1st class from time to time is a great way to understand the importance of white space, although in this specific example talking about empty space would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, travelling in 1st class is much more expensive mainly for one reason: you have more room for your legs or for reading your newspaper. That might ring a bell to your client and help him understand how a design can become more comfortable if you allow more white space to fit in.
Second class seats in an airplane. Image by Vik Cuban on Flickr.
First class seats, notice a difference? Image by S. Yume on Flickr.
Where is Charly?
Remember that guy with the white and red stripes? Finding him in a double-page layout was often a pain in the ass because the illustrator drew tons of other little characters with features similar to Charly.
Try to explain your client that his logo might become a bit like Charly if it is layed out in the middle of 50 other pictures and two tons of text. Trust me no client wants his logo to go unnoticed.
Where the hell is Charly? Not in the white space for sure.
Famous ads
Last but not least, you can use some famous ads to make your point. Try to find examples in your client’s industry. For example, if you work for a garage you can take some advertising made for Volkswagen, Mercedes or Mini Cooper. Seeing that succesful brands are not afraid of white space should assure your client that he can get away with it.
Following are a few examples of car advertising making good use of white space.
Featured illustrator: Malika Favre
05
Feb
Malika Favre creates wonderful vector-style illustrations. She uses color and white space perfectly.
Vårdapoteket identity
03
Feb
I wish we could see more visual identities like this one. For Vårdapoteket, a swedish pharmacy chain, Stockholm Design Lab created a colorful infography of the human body that serves as the base for the whole branding. The result is a colorful and coherent looking style for the shops and promotion material.
How to take charge of clients who want free work
02
Feb
When you are conducting your own business there will become a time when a person feels you should do certain work for them and not get paid. Relatives and ‘friends’ are notorious for this and it is not uncommon for others who simply feel they are close enough to you to enable them to extract the same ‘favours.’ There are also others who damn well have no intentions of paying for anything unless they are somehow forced into doing so.
How you handle your friends and relatives is up to you but there is no way a virtual stranger should have any work done for them and not expect to have to pay at the finish. No business can sustain giving away free products or services for too long and if you want to be successful you too must ensure that your efforts are rewarded. Why? There will be a cost involved in running your business and in order to survive you will need to make a profit over and above that cost. It is really that simple.
What is not so simple however is how to get a serial bad payer to cough up as many play on the fact you will eventually give up asking for compensation and they will then have got what they wanted.
There are some basic rules about lowering the risks of not getting paid and if you cover all these bases you may avoid building up too large a list of debtors. Debtors than can put you out of business, even when, on paper, your enterprise looks quite sound.
Rule Number One
Be upfront right form the beginning. Don’t undertake any work unless you have an agreement in place of how and when you are to be paid for the work you are about to embark on. This need not have to be a long winded policy statement full of small print and traps. It can be quite brief and straight to the point. The main thing being that you both know where each other stands before you you get started.
Rule Number Two
Insist on part payment as a show of goodwill. If you are fortunate enough to be in a business where you can insist on payment before you start any work you will be very lucky. If this is not possible try to get a deposit paid. By doing this it indicates the client can and will pay when required. It is not always possible but if you are able to be strict in this area right from the beginning you can save a lot of future heartache.
Rule Number Three
Hold back on delivery. When you have finished what you have been requested to do and it is all ready to be passed over, have a policy whereby you will only send the product once you have received payment. Once again, when you are first starting out this might be hard, but give it a go and you could be surprised how many people these days are willing to pay in this way.
Rule Number Four
Don’t be too willing to offer credit. There may be a situation where giving credit can be beneficial but this is not to be treated as being normal. Only give credit if you are getting something in return but under normal business circumstances you should be able to be paid before you hand your finished work over. If you are dealing with other business people they will all understand this and if it is an individual you are dealing with there is no reason why you should have to carry them financially. They should have access to their own banks and credit cards to pay when they have to. If they can’t do this it could indicate they are a bad risk.
Rule Number Five
Readjust your attitude to monthly billing. It is still commonplace to bill many clients at the end of each month but in this fast moving modern world you should not need to adhere to such protocols any longer. Much work can be undertaken in a month and a lot of money can pile up during that time. Unless your business is such that monthly billing is desirable, such as when you produce a large number of small products to the one customer, it is not generally to your advantage. If your client in not going to promise ongoing business on a regular basis there is no reason why that client can not pay as soon as the product is finished.
Rule Number Six
You have got caught out and your client is not paying. It will happen, have no doubt about it, you won’t be able to escape the odd debtor but when it does occur don’t pussyfoot around. Before the end of the month send out a demand for your money. If the month comes around and no payment has been received call him or her by phone and ask if there is any reason why their account with you can not be settled. At this stage you can make fresh but firm new conditions and if this is not complied with send out a debtor notice. If the second month comes around and no payment has been received don’t hesitate to put the account in the hands of a debt collector.
There are many ways people try to recover money owed to them for services and products delivered. Don’t get yourself too involved in these tricks. Keep everything you do professional and don’t waste time chasing money. You are far better off making it. Leave the chasing to the experts, even if it costs you something in the process. Eventually you will be able to add this cost to the prices you charge.
About the author: Kristy is a freelance designer and writer for Life Insurance Finder where she helps other freelance designers compare income protection insurance policies.
Win one of two sets of flyers from online printer Next Day Flyers
02
Feb
Calling all Designer Daily readers who are interested in winning free printing, Next Day Flyers is celebrating the grand opening of their second printing plant by offering a giveaway. This offset printing company has been operating out of Los Angeles for the past 13 years. Due to a growing business they’ve added a second printing facility in New Jersey. From flyer printing to business cards, this new location gives them the opportunity to pass on savings in shipping costs and greatly reduces shipping times to those customers in the East Coast.
As you may have guessed by their name, Next Day Flyers offers next day printing turnaround. This is great when you’re in a bind and can’t wait several days for your materials to come off the presses. Speaking of the presses, both of their locations are equipped with state of the art presses to ensure your digital files are transformed into printed pieces that look just as great in tangible form as they did on your computer. Next Day Flyers utilizes a stringent quality control process and has some of the lowest prices you’ll find in the industry.
Now on to the prize details. Two Designer-Daily readers will win a set of 100 ¼ page flyers. They are 5.25 x 4.125 inches in size, printed on 14 PT card stock in full color on both sides. Shipping within the United States will be included. These flyers are great for event promotions or marketing a small business. To enter just leave a comment at the end of the post stating how you’d use the flyers if you won. For an extra entry leave a comment on Next Day Flyers Facebook wall and mention Designer Daily sent you. Good luck everyone, the contest will be open for two weeks.
Is your website secure?
01
Feb
Have you ever come across a website that has been infected with malware? If not, chances are you will. Even worse, there is a chance that your own website or blog can be targeted. Hackers aren’t always interested in money – even small websites or personal blogs are prone to attack as hackers tend to learn their skills on smaller websites and blogs like yours.
To keep your website or blog free from any malware or hacker activity, I highly recommend WebsiteDefender.com, an online service that ensure your website security. This security monitoring service (currently free to use in Beta) notifies you of any security leaks or threats that might target your website or blog. WebsiteDefender will also provide clear instructions on how you can fix any security issues it finds.
Don’t worry if you are new to website security – WebsiteDefender makes the entire process easy. You don’t need to install anything, there’s no need to be trained and all maintenance is carried out by the WebsiteDefender Team. Also, once you’ve registered and activated the service, there will be no impact on your website or blog. In fact, your users won’t even notice that WebsiteDefender is regularly running security checks!
Among other things, WebsiteDefender is designed to:
- Detect Malware present on your website and/or blog
- Audit your website for security issues
- Make sure your website isn’t added to the Google Blacklistor any other search engine blacklists
- Keep your website content and data intact
- Alert you on any suspicious hacker activity
- Help resolve found issues with informative solutions
Hackers have also taken a liking to WordPress. WordPress has become one of the most downloaded open-source projects, and it powers millions of blogs around the world. Designers and developers also use it very often as a CMS (Content Management System) for their clients.
Unfortunately, great success also attracts people with bad intentions. WordPress sites are being attacked and hacked frequently and people lose their important data when hacked. Let’s not forget that WordPress is open source, so are the plugins you’re installing. Knowing this, how do you know which plugin to trust and install?
To put it simply, are you absolutely sure that your WordPress website or blog is secure?
If not, I strongly suggest you download and install the most powerful security plugin,WebsiteDefender WordPress Security, which has been created by the WebsiteDefender Team to ensure that your WordPress installation remains safe. To be honest with you, the WebsiteDefender WordPress Security plugin works best when combined with the WebsiteDefender service.
The plugin is a free and a comprehensive security tool that scans your WordPress installation for vulnerabilities, checks if your installed plugins are safe and suggests corrective measures, such as weak passwords, secure file permissions, database security, version hiding, WordPress admin protection and lots more.
I’ve been using the WebsiteDefender WordPress Security plugin for several months now and I’m greatly satisfied with my website security. I know I said it above, but when you combine the plugin and the WebsiteDefender service, you can have real peace of mind when it comes to being secure against malware and hacker threats. WebsiteDefender sends me important email reminders when I forget to update WordPress or my plugins and lets me know of any vulnerabilities that may exist.
Trust me, it doesn’t matter if you run your website or blog on WordPress or not, you should definitely sign up for the WebsiteDefender online security service today!
Anatomical cross-sections made with quilled paper
01
Feb
Stunning artworks by Lisa Nilsson. She takes rolled pieces of paper and assembles it to create anatomical drawings. These pieces take forever to create and look absolutely gorgeous. Via Colossal.
Background Artworks
01
Feb
Guimaraes Jazz 2011 posters
01
Feb
iBondi
01
Feb
This is one of the coolest gadgets I’ve seen recently. This little item will serve as iPhone stand, door holder, book mount or book mark, and much more. You can see more uses on the iBondi website.
Featured artist: Pat Perry
01
Feb
Pat Perry creates very detailed surrealist art and illustrations. Make sure to check his portfolio.
The pothole gardener
01
Feb
Urban gardening at its best. A guerilla gardener’s gardening efforts around potholes of East London.
Lid sid
01
Feb
A small item that fulfills a very specific need for people cooking, keep the top of your pan closed, but not totally. You can buy it on Monkey Business.
A new interface for Adobe Photoshop CS6
01
Feb
Adobe recenty released a sneak peak video on Youtube to demonstrate a couple of features of the upcoming version of Adobe Photoshop CS6.
The first part of the demonstration showcases the new capabilities for processing RAW images. With that new version you will be able to be very detailed when working on the shadows and lights, with very accurate colour control.
In the second part, they introduce the most visible new feature: a dark interface. The interface can be customized to other colours, so if you don’t like the dark one fear not, you can switch back.
In the video they make no mention of when this new version will be released, but the sneak peak has a number 1 in the title, so there should be some other features presented on Youtube soon.
Browse Email Marketing Campaigns on Emailium for Inspiration and Ideas
07
Dec
Emailium, an inspiration database for designers who create email marketing campaigns, opened their public beta today. The site is free to join for now, although it makes no mention of what the prices might be once the public beta is over.
The company describes itself as “A filterable, sortable, categorizable, global database of email campaigns for competitive research, design inspiration and industry analysis.” In other words, Emailium is to email marketing what cssmania.com is to web design. (…)
Read the rest of Browse Email Marketing Campaigns on Emailium for Inspiration and Ideas
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Featured studio: Bunch design
07
Dec
Bunch is an international design studio based in London and Zagreb. They create great graphic design work, from logo design to corporate identity.
9 Email Designs for Content-Heavy Newsletters
07
Dec
I’ve recently been working on a project to design a daily email newsletter that will be powered by MailChimp’s RSS to Email option. In some ways using RSS limits the design, however by automating the email campaign the site owner can focus on creating content rather than delivering content.
The challenge for this email campaign is to create a template that can accommodate between 4 and 8 articles with photos and summaries, a spot for advertising, branding options and of course space for all the “required” information to be can-spam compliant. Oh yeah, the content all needs to fit together elegantly and encourage users to take action by visiting the site, bookmarking an article, etc. What’s the best way to fit that much information in an email and keep it organized?
I went looking for inspiration on Emailium, and found a collection of content-heavy email designs proving that it is indeed possible to fit a mountain of information into a document no more than 600 pixels wide. Want to be inspired, too? Check out this list of email designs for content-heavy newsletters and publishing sites.
(…)
Read the rest of 9 Email Designs for Content-Heavy Newsletters
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Furniture design by Lotty Lindeman
07
Dec
I really like Lotty Lindeman‘s furniture, I do hope that she’ll make her website a bit more usable though.
9 Stand-Out Real Estate Themes for WordPress
07
Dec
A friend of mine just earned his real estate license and now he’s in the process of setting up office online. He’s already familiar with WordPress, so he came to me and asked if I had any advice on using WordPress for a real estate website. WordPress is really the hot ticket for building real estate site right now, which is both good and bad.
On the one hand, the demand for real estate themes and plugins has encouraged innovation among developers and they’re coming up with some pretty neat tools for agents to use when managing their properties online. On the other hand, you want to make sure that your website stands out from the crowd of similarly-themed websites so that you can attract clients and impress them with your marketing skills and web savvy. For an agent, a good website shows potential clients that they have 21st century skills and can do what it takes to sell a home in this tough market.
So, in answer to his question I rounded up a list of the top WordPress themes for building a real estate website that is sure to stand out in a crowd and help you—and your listings—get noticed.(…)
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Illustrations by Telegramme Studio
07
Dec
Whether it’s editorial illustrations, posters or cool lettering, Telegramme Studio can do it all with style. Check out their portfolio.
4 Reasons You Should Add Photos or Illustrations to Every Blog Post
07
Dec
Humor me for a moment and go dig out a copy of the White Pages — you remember, it’s that 10-pound behemoth gathering dust under the sink. Now, flip it open to any page and tell me the truth? Are you pulled into the content? Do you have any desire to continue reading or have you already closed it up and moved on to the next thing?
Online or offline, people constantly come across content and make a split-second decision about whether to stay or go. Often, the decision is made before the content is even assessed. It’s a sub-concious decision to leave based purely on looks. (…)
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Inorganic Flora by Macoto Murayama
07
Dec
The first solo exhibition of japanese new media artist Macoto Murayama, who layers the worlds of biological investigation, artistic design, and historical study in his collection of digital prints. Read more about the process of creating these pieces on Designboom.
Free WordPress Plugins and Add-ons to Promote Your Blog On Autopilot
07
Dec
There are WordPress addons available for just about any function — including automatic promotion of your blog posts! This article is specifically aimed at folks who are new to blog promotion or want to start their first website marketing campaign but aren’t sure where to begin. The great thing is, these plugins are so simple to set up, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be using these tactics to increase your blog’s following.
Here’s a guide to some of the best WordPress plugins for automating your blog promotion tasks without spending a lot of money. (…)
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A London street scene
07
Dec
A 1840 painting by John Parry that attracted my attention, thanks to John Coulthart. This artwork is a delight for the typography lover in me, so much attention is given in the posters’ lettering. Via Coudal.
How Can a Marketer Take Advantage of Facebook’s New Send Dialog?
07
Dec
Back in April, Facebook rolled out the Send button, a function that provided a simple and direct way for users to privately share content through the platform. Though it has not garnered as much attention as the Like button, this feature can be viewed a huge success considering that the social network says it has already been installed on more than 100,000 sites. Nearly two months later, Facebook has followed up the Send button with a new feature called Send Dialog. In this article, we will discuss the feature in more detail and explain how a marketer can take advantage of the Send Dialog to engage their audience. (…)
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Blue D1653: contemporary Dutch porcelain
07
Dec
Traditional Dutch porcelain company Royal Delft had the good idea to ask some contemporary designers to create a new line of products, the result is Blue D1653, a beautiful line of porcelain. Via Dezeen.
Acid Over Easy by Zach Johnsen
07
Dec
Some illustrations that will make your head explode, created with mixed techniques by Zach Johnsen. Via Colossal.
Twitter Advertising: How to Get Promoted on Twitter
07
Dec
After years with no clear path to monetization, Twitter now offers three different methods for advertising or “promoting” your business: Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends, and Promoted Tweets. Which service is right for you will vary depending on the type of campaign you’re planning. Do you want to acquire followers? Build buzz around a new product? Or, just spread your message as far as possible through the Twittersphere?
The first step is understanding how Twitter’s Promoted advertising works and the benefits of each service. Once you know how Twitter can promote your business, you will be able to choose the best strategy for your social media campaign. So, let’s begin with an overview of each type of Twitter Promotion. (…)
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