Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Talented Pixels & Icecream



Aren't these beautiful? To top it off, they're free for all designers to use. Check out "Gypsy Garden" and "Berry Birdies" by the talented team of Pixels and Icecream.

For more free gorgeous patterns, here's a list of 200+ Beautiful Seamless Patterns Perfect for Web Design. You'll love this!

40 Super Sleek Fonts for Clean Web Design

It's impossible to love design and not love typography. Here's a list of 40 Super Sleek Fonts For Clean Web Design from Web Design Ledger.

You'll see some used on this blog soon, I bet! :)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Four Basic Principles of Design

I'm reading this wonderful book by Robin Williams. It's definitely a must have for your bookshelves! And the best thing about this book is its slimness. You can finish it on your plane ride to the next An Event Apart conference! ;)

Here's a brief excerpt from Chapter One:



The Four Basic Principles

The following is a brief overview of the basic principles of design that appear in every well-designed piece of work. Although I discuss each one of these principles separately, keep in mind they are really interconnected. Rarely will you apply only one principle.

Contrast

The idea behind contrast is to avoid elements on the page that are merely
similar. If the elements (type, color, size, line, thickness, shape, space, etc.) are not the same, then make them very different. Contrast is often the most important visual attraction on a page -- it's what makes a reader look at the page in the first place.

Repetition

Repeat visual elements of the design throughout the piece. You can repeat colors, shapes, textures, spatial relationships, line thicknesses, fonts, sizes, graphic concepts, etc. This develops the organization and strengthens the unity.

Alignment

Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page. This creates a clean, sophisiticated, fresh look.

Proximity

Items relating to each other should be grouped close together. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they become one visual unit rather than several separate units. This helps organize information, reduces clutter, and gives the reader a clear structure.




Excerpt from The Non-Designer's Design Book, Third Edition, by Robin Williams.

Real Simple's New Face

Ahh finally! One of my favorite magazines ... Real Simple ... is getting a much needed online facelift. It's now simpler and prettier than ever! Thanks to the alert I got today from the always-so-informative Twitter updates of Guy Kawasaki.

Speaking of magazines, I'm trying to cancel 2/3 of my magazine subscriptions since I barely have enough time to read them all. Having a few extra miles with your airlines brings home a few extra dozen magazines that you normally would not even subscribe to.

Mission #1 this spring: to declutter my life. Any tips on this anyone? :)

Monday, February 23, 2009

simple.art

I have so much admiration for illustrators! Check out simple.art!

uppercasegallery.ca

E-commerce sites don't have to look busy and overwhelming. Just take a look at this beautiful collection put together by Vanderlay. And yes, Uppercase is one of my personal faves. Not only is their site clean and beautiful, I love their whimsical creations as well.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Web Development Project Estimator

For all freelance web designers, Astuteo has provided a calculator-of-sort that's so very helpful in helping you tally up the cost of most of your web development/design projects.

My First Tumblog

Blogging is so addictive. And I don't even have that much to say. Mostly just repeating all the great things other people say. But still ... just added another blog to my bag of blogs. Its lovely simplicity speaks volume to me.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

nigella.com & the grid system


Love Nigella's website. It's clean, fresh, fun and again makes me believe wholeheartedly in the grid system.

But then as Molly Holzschlag has eloquently written, London doesn't follow a grid system and look how we all love to navigate that city! Life is full of contradictions!

PS - It's snowing outside as I'm typing! :)

Friday, February 13, 2009

veboolabs.com

I almost went through the day without posting. {Gasp!} It's been crazy busy at work and I haven't had much time for anything else. Here's Veboo Labs ... my favorite site of the day. Vector-based arts are awesome, aren't they? Being a photographer, I wish I could draw like this, meanwhile there is help, here is where we can find lots of good free vector graphics.

Enjoy the weekend, folks! I'm hoping to go on a roadtrip for some much-needed photo shoots. Perhaps squeeze in a movie also!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Wireframe, the Crucial First Step to Designing Websites


Before you can start designing a site, it's definitely recommended that you create a wireframe for the site to give yourself and your client an idea of how contents will be organized. Your client would appreciate seeing your ideas visually also. This can be done using Photoshop, Illustrator, or with just pencil/paper, but there are also specialized software programs to help you do it seamlessly and easily, an example of one is OmniGraffle and its free to download custom graphic sets at Graffletopia.


PS - The above images are from about.com.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

indielabs.com

Check out the IndieLabs site! I'm chalking it up as today's inspiration. :)

The brilliant folks at IndieLabs are now on Twitter too! Go make friends! :)

hugeinc.com

Just collecting at a time ... some of the best web design companies that inspire us designers every day. :)

Bringing the White House into the 21st Century

Not only do we get a new site, we get a new blog as well. Change is good!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

webdesignerwall.com

One of my 2009 goals:

To do more with jQuery. Something this awesome shouldn't be wasted.

Plus bookmark Web Design Wall if you haven't already, it's another great resource site for designers.

PS - Note to self - don't forget to thank Leon! So Leon ... if you're reading this ... thank you!

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02.11.09 - More cool jQuery stuff to soak up: 20 impressive jQuery plug-ins.

Simplify Your Life, Web Designers

My delicious.com subscription always delivers! Today's favorite is "77 Resources to Simplify Your Life as a Web Designer" by Vanderlay Design. And yes, the list does include my favorite colourlovers.com. And talk about colors, there's another great resource to help you find "the perfect colors for your website."

Something quality to read while you're downing that cup of Starbucks ... yah? :)

Monday, February 9, 2009

francescomugnai.com

The other day, I was raving about awesome portfolio sites, here's a few more to add to the list. One of my favorite from this list is Francesco Mugnai's (screen captured above).

Clean & Simple

Isn't "clean & simple" so beautiful?!

Found another great website to pick-up more cool tips for web designers: Design Meltdown by Patrick McNeil, author of The Web Designer's Idea Book. Want to know more about Patrick? Read the interview.