Hey guys. I know, I’m a day late with this week’s Echoes post. Sorry about that. I was buy with a million and one other things this weekend, which caused everything to get a bit delayed, but here I am again, with more awesome finds from across the internet!
I also had my first article published over on MyInkBlog this week, which was pretty awesome. It’s called Getting to Know Clipping Masks and Layer Masks in Photoshop, and goes into detail about Layer Masks and Clipping Masks, their primary differences and when to use them. If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it out!
I was also really happy with the general response to my 8 Reasons Why You Probably Shouldn’t Start a Design Blog post, which saw a lot of comments. Thanks to everyone who responded. It was really great to see!
Anyhow, on to this week’s Echoes!
Logo – The Design Cubicle
The Design Cubicle is a fairly well known design blog by Brian Hoff, and this is one of the previous logos for the site. This logo is no longer the active, but can still be seen in Brian’s design portfolio.
Design Cubicle Logo
I’m not entirely sure why Brian changed his logo. The current one is very nice, but I personally like this one better! It’s a very clever little design, with the two incomplete squares being obviously and intentionally reminiscent of cubicles themselves (from a bird’s eye view), while also forming the letters D and C.
I also really love the minimal simplicity of this one, which is something that you can see all through Brian’s logo designs. Like this design, they are all carefully crafted so that, even when the colour is stripped from them, they are still just as effective. And in my book, that’s one of the tests for a good logo design.
If you like this logo, you may also want to check out Brian’s creative process.
Art – Mercy
This week’s artwork comes from an incredibly talented artist – Isaiah Stevens. Isaiah has a ton of different drawings on his deviantArt gallery, so many that it was actually quite difficult to decide which image to feature. I eventually ended up choosing this one:
Mercy by Isaiah Stevens
The artist’s comments on this piece indicate that it was done with graphite and mechanical pencil on an 11 x 14 bristol board. The detail and the technical ability here are absolutely astounding. I can’t even conceive of being able to draw this realistically, especially with just a pencil.
One thing that strikes me as really cool about this piece, though, is that the realism is mostly limited to the actual flesh of the woman. If you look closely at the dress she is wearing, and even parts of her hair, you can see that it still has a very sketchy appearance. This gives the entire piece a sort of polished but unfinished feel that I totally dig.
It’s just a generally awesome piece of work. If you like it, be sure to check out the rest of Isaiah’s gallery, which is full of other awesome drawings.
Tutorial – How To Create Great Typographic Wallpaper In Photoshop
This week’s tutorial teaches you how to create a really cool looking typographic effect for desktop wallpaper. Basically, it shows you how to create one word out of multiple other words… If that doesn’t make any sense, just check out the preview below and you’ll understand what I mean.
How To Create Great Typographic Wallpaper In Photoshop
Final Effect Preview
The tutorial is pretty simple, though it may move a bit quickly for some readers. There is really not a ton of in depth explanation of the steps, so a certain familiarity with Photoshop is definitely assumed. Still, it’s a great effect and I downloaded one of the finished wallpapers and set it as my own desktop background!
What I think I like the most about this tutorial is the way it get you thinking about typography as more than just a means of presenting content. It can actually be a design element all on its own, and look pretty darned cool. Obviously, there is nothing all that original here. Using typography as a design element is nothing new, but it never hurts to be reminded of what’s possible. It can help redirect your thinking.
Like I mentioned already, this is a pretty simple tutorial, so why not give it a try yourself and make your own awesome typographic wallpaper?
Website – Squarespace Blog
Speaking of awesome typography designs, let’s take a look at the Squarespace Blog, which contains a typographical design element that leaves absolutely no doubt as to what kind of site you are on. I normally use a square and slanted preview for theses posts, but for this particular site, I feel that just a normal old screenshot is probably more appropriate!
Squarespace Blog
Any idea white kind of site this is? I have the sneaking suspicion that it might be a blog… Okay, excuse the sarcasm. It’s true that the design here certainly makes it impossible to mistake this site for anything other than a blog! I absolutely love how bold they make the word, without letting it become obnoxiously in your face.
I also enjoy the prominently monochromatic and minimalistic feel of this one, which contrasts very nicely against the bold typographic element in the header. It also lends a strong sense of sophistication to the entire design, as black and white is often known to do. I think the same can be said of the nice ruler effect that runs down both sides of the content area.
And speaking of the content area, I love the narrow, left aligned feel of this element. It takes up less than half of the space on my screen, yet nothing feels crammed or crowded. And, it makes for a nice break from the vastly more frequent trend of centered blogs (not that there’s anything wrong with these, of course! Just look at my own design).
Well that’s it for this week’s Echoes. Hopefully next week’s will be on schedule. As for this week, which ones were your favoirtes? As always, if you know of any designs, tutorials or art that merits being included in a future post, feel free to let me know about it!
great list, thank you.
Enjoy reading your Echoes. They are a great read and inspirational. Thank you!