Every Saturday morning, I will be reproducing one of Brad Colbow’s wonderful comic strips from his series The Brads. Kind of reminds me of getting up on early and watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid! Please enjoy! Oh, and don’t forget to check Brad’s website for more great comics!
The Brads – The Social Media Guru
Categories: Saturday Morning Cartoons
Tags: Comics, Saturday Morning Cartoons, The Brads
Posted: 10:00 AM on February 6, 2010
I believe that there is a perpetuated myth out there in the design community. That myth is that today, with the vast array of software options that are available to us, we can fill our OS X Docks or Start Menus with all kinds of “design” software. I’d like to suggest that this belief is fundamentally wrong, and allow this discussion to move us forward to the one design tool that you do absolutely need to be using.
The One Design Tool You Absolutely Need to Use
First, back to the software.
Look at all the programs you are using. Find me one “design” program. Photoshop? Nope. That’s an imaging program for manipulating pixels and basic vector shapes. Illustrator? I don’t think so. It’s a vector program. InDesign or Quark might be closer, but they are layout applications. What about Dreamweaver? Coda? TextMate? All coding/developing tools. Flash is an animation program.
The list could go on and on, but as far as I have been able to tell, there is not a single program or piece of software out there on the market that is an actual a design application. All of the aforementioned programs can help you with design, but they do not encompass design itself.
There are probably dozens and dozens of ways for approaching the initial stages of creating a website. You could sketch out the entire concept on paper, use Photoshop to create a beautifully rendered visual representation of what the site will look like, or cut your teeth right away on some nice HTML and CSS coding. I’ve used all of these different techniques to varying degrees in the past, and they have all proven useful in their own ways.
So, is there one right way to go about this? Yes! The best way to mock up a website is to use the technique that will be the most effective for your particular project.
5 Things to Consider Before Designing Your Next Website
Not a very helpful answer is it?
Well let’s dig a little deeper, then. In this article, we are going to distinguish between creating mockups and building prototypes, and then look at five different areas that can help you determine which approach might be best for you.
Hey all. Here we are with another installment of Echoes, but of course I always start these off by telling you a little bit of what I have been up to the past week. I guess you could say that I’ve been doing a bit of this and a bit of that. I rocked off another Photoshop tutorial for SpyreStudios last week, which was quite a bit different than the others that I have done. It basically outlines the process for creating a bold ring of fire out a photograph of a campfire, and then how to integrate that ring into a cool (if somewhat dark) poster design.
I’ve also been doing a bunch of work on some websites, tidying up a few things for one client while coding up a WordPress theme for another. Oh, and if you haven’t checked out this preview about what’s coming from MediaLoot, be sure to have a look! Yep, those are my watercolour textures. I was pretty stoked to see them included in the post.
Other than that I just spent some more time with my wife and little girl, which is always nice.
Now, on to this week’s Echoes!
It may be a common mantra repeated by designers all across the world, but I am a big fan of typography. For this week’s logo we have a beautiful typographic logo, which makes interesting use of shape and movement in order to create a really unique and wonderful mark.
Kanga
The beauty of this one is all in the details. The most obvious of these details is the custom ascender on the K (though a K doesn’t normally have an ascender), which turns into a lovely looking swoosh. This gives the logo a sense of movement and energy, which is also emphasized by the swoosh/cutout effect on the second letter a.
Every Saturday morning, I will be reproducing one of Brad Colbow’s wonderful comic strips from his series The Brads. Kind of reminds me of getting up on early and watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid! Please enjoy! Oh, and don’t forget to check Brad’s website for more great comics!
The Brads – Design Awards
Categories: Saturday Morning Cartoons
Tags: Comics, Saturday Morning Cartoons, The Brads
Posted: 10:00 AM on January 30, 2010
Today, the concept of freelancing is generally understood to encompass an individual, or sometimes a group of individuals, who work without any particular allegiance to any business or company. They ride the winds of fortune, allowing circumstance and (in many cases) money to determine the course of their immediate future.
It’s a unique kind of life and is not for everyone, but for those special few it offers a gateway to freedom and success – and often a episodic series of interactions with clients that are enough to make many tear their hair out.
The Fictional and Completely Made-Up Origin of Freelancing
But where did it all start?
I honestly have no idea! But that’s not going to stop me from writing about it. So, I present to you the fictional and completely made-up origin of freelancing, following some of the (mis)adventures of the brave and noble knight Sir William Post – the world’s first Free Lancer!
Categories: Freelancing
Tags: Freelancing, humour, William Post
Posted: 10:23 AM on January 29, 2010
