Watching Anime Can Improve Your Designs
There are countless sources of design inspiration to be found everywhere. Even for ones directly unrelated to visual and web design. Music, films, video games, architecture. Well, one more item you can add to that list is watching anime – Japanese animation. In fact, there are 8 ways watching anime can improve your designs.
Logos of The Year 2010
This year has been a very good one for logo designers, the biggest proof being represented by the increased number of logos posted in diverse website galleries or on websites that allow the presentation of personal artworks. This richness is determined by the fact that the public has become more aware that a logo is a necessary thing in the making of a successful brand but also by the launching of HTML5 and CSS3, bringing a breath of fresh air in design and development. Making a top with the most interesting and beautiful logos of 2010 is a very difficult job, especially because there is an impressive number of special accomplishments, not to mention the numerous websites where logo designers can present their works of art but also because of the author’s subjectivity.
Here, you will find the best logos of 2010 and it is very probable to have omitted logos which are at least as interesting but these which are presented here are 100% impressive. I genuinely appreciate any link that sends the person clicking on it to a very beautiful logo (please use the comment box for that). I hope that you will enjoy yourself!
Definitely, one of the hottest colors of the year 2010 was green and, due to the global movement for a health nature, the trend will keep on in 2011. This logo is created for a company which has connections with the idea of a clean environment so the decision of making everything green is wise.
A strong logo for a strong team; this has been made for the 30th anniversary of the Zenith Sankt Petersburg football team. The blue color offers an air of freshness but it is also a sign of a positive attitude, things which are very necessary whereas this sport is concerned.
2010 represents a turning point in the evolution of television, given the fact that more and more companies in the field have announced their plans concerning television and television sets. It seems that the moment in which 3D television will be accessible at a global level is coming near. This logo has been built with this idea in mind but it has been included in the top also because of the way it was made.
Normally, a logo should not be made using gradients but the effect making of this logo cannot be so easily surpassed. A lot of design rules can be sometimes neglected if the final product is well built or very original and this is a good example.
A logo is as funny as it is well made. The simplicity of this logo is doubled by a minimalist design which seems to target persons involved in house-related activities. It is very interesting how the elephant plays a double part: his power is compared to the cleaning power but the hilarious construction sends a warm message.
How To Avoid Less Inspirational Moments
For a designer creativity and inspiration are the most important tools. No human being can work for hours at a time with the same efficiency doing multiple tasks; it is a well known fact that some parts of the day turn out better work whiles others less or in the worst cases efficiency is close to zero.
On the other hand clients don’t have time to wait for you to regain your inspiration…meet the deadline or you won’t receive the money. Because the Universe respects Murphy’s rules a designer or developer will always receive more projects at those exact moments when inspiration and creativity are down and out. The natural question that arises is: “How to avoid these moments of less inspiration?”
Read more: How To Avoid Less Inspirational Moments
Make Your Designs Stand Out with Unconventional Color Combinations
Want your visual design to stand out? A simple way to do that is to find and use a unique color scheme. And this article will show you how to easily find unconventional color combinations using the color wheel.
Regular text and shapes will stand out more when using a unique color combination. Much more so than if you used standard color combinations like black and white, red and blue, yellow and green, and so forth. And luckily, there’s an easy way to find unconventional color combinations and make your visual design stand out: use the color wheel. This way, you won’t have to blindly guess combinations or use trial-and-error.
Specifically, use the color wheel systematically. Look at the color wheel, cross out the obvious color combinations, and you’ll be left with the unconventional ones. In other words, use the process of elimination to hone in on the more unique color combinations. Yep, those color combinations will be the ones that are “wrong” – but that’s what makes them unconventional. It’s when you break the rules that innovation, remarkableness, and just general uniqueness happens.
Here’s how to use the color wheel to find unconventional color combinations and help make your designs stand out…
1: Identifying Primary Colors
The elementary forehead-slapping-obvious first step. But identifying primary colors is in this guide for completeness sake. Here are the three primary colors:
- Blue
- Red
- Yellow
Okay, that was Colors 101. Why does this matter? It helps to cross out the first list of conventional combinations. Don’t use any combination of primary colors if you want an unconventional color scheme. Any of the primary colors go well together, so no unconventional color combinations are possible here.
See more: Make Your Designs Stand Out with Unconventional Color Combinations
30 Creative Album Cover Arts for Inspiration
Some time ago, we published a post about creative album cover artwork. Since there are so many great album covers which haven’t been featured so far, and due to some reader requests, we decided to publish a sequel. Enjoy!
See more: Creative Album Cover Arts for Inspiration
20 Awesome WordPress Typography Themes for Writers
If you are a great writer who enjoys writing, you should find a great blog theme and let the content does action. In this case, there are no styles better than a minimal design which focuses on typography because the minimal style is more appropriate for the content and it’s audience.
I’m bringing you here the list of 20 best free WordPress themes that are best for typography and reader-respected if you are considering to go minimal for your upcoming writing WordPress blog.
Continue reading: 20 Awesome WordPress Typography Themes for Writers
Black and White – The Enduring Craze In Website Design
The capabilities of the Internet have gone further than we could have ever imagined; people practically live on their computers, relying on them for everything from communication to shopping to entertainment. Because it is a popular forum for exchanging ideas and information it is ever changing, and keeping ahead of the trends is hard to do. The more easy solution is to go with the old standards, such as the use of black and white in website design.
This is a style of layout that uses a basic two-tone scheme to give a more poignant, attractive look to a site. Though it is often a popular choice, it seems to be trending heavily this year, especially with sites related to creative endeavors. Bands, artists, web designers and writers have been opting for a black and white look for their personal sites.
Continue reading: Black and White – The Enduring Craze In Website Design
Logo Trending for 2010
The purpose of a company logo is to represent the company’s products, services, and business philosophy in a single image. Quite often a company’s logo is the first aspect of the company a consumer encounters, and therefore creates a lasting impression in the consumer’s mind. For this reason, it is imperative that a company’s logo provides an accurate representation of the services and products it offers. It is also important for the logo to be physically appealing to the company’s target consumer base.
For example, consider the Gerber baby logo:
While the color of the logo has changed over time, the essential design—featuring an appealing portrait-style picture in a circular frame—has remained the same, and continues to be effective. The reason for the success of this particular logo has to do with its visual appeal to the current or expecting mothers that make up Gerber’s target consumer base. A logo with sharp lines and a crying baby would hardly be as effective as the featured circular portrait of a happy baby.
Now consider the evolution of the Firefox search engine logo, as shown below:
While the original Firebird logo was somewhat cartoonish and even a bit threatening, the original Firebox logo—which emerged at the same time the search engine changed its name—draws the viewer in and resembles the circular motion signally the loading of a web page. Nonetheless, the coloring of this original Firefox logo is somewhat dark and potentially foreboding, whereas the current Firefox logo is lighter and brighter, and suggestive of optimism. This evolving shift from dark to light is one of the more prominent logo trends of 2010.
View more: Logo Trending for 2010
Creative Album Cover Arts for Inspiration
Apart from their influence on the buying behavior of people, album covers also provide a place where both musicians and designers can express their art. But the music is always more important than the packaging – as it should be. Enjoy the great examples of album cover artwork design which are really useful for inspiration.
See more: Creative Album Cover Arts for Inspiration
500+ Social Media Icons for Free to Download
This is a newest collection of social media icon sets that were published around design community. Enjoy downloading them and use it in your creative designs. Most of them come with non-commercial license, but you can use them in your own personal projects without any restriction.
BBC GEL Social Media Icons
A set of social media icons in light color and style
3 in 1 Social Icons Pack by Nouveller
Download them all here: 500+ Social Media Icons for Free to Download
The Anatomy Of a Business Card
Nowadays the means of obtaining a good publicity campaign are numerous and someone who needs this is kindly advised to ask for the services of an expert. The birth of the Internet simply increased in an exponential manner all what depends on marketing and publicity. I can’t imagine someone who wants to promote, but didn’t use Internet for that.
An item that is very important in establishing a good visual identity is the business card. Most people consider it being only a small piece of paper, but in fact a business card could give you more pieces of information than only the possibility of contacting the owner. A good first impression is given by a well designed business card; in some regions of the world the importance of it considerable: in China it is a severe mistake to write on a business card or to put it in a wallet! It is true that we are living in a digital era, but it is wrong to totally neglect the power of paper or of the “conventional” modalities of promoting (conventional means here all besides the Internet).
- Red: anger, love, danger;
- Black: elegance, power, death;
- Yellow: concentration, hope;
- Grey: conservative, formality;
- White (you will not see this text if it’s in white color): cleaness, purity;
Read full article here: The Anatomy Of a Business Card
50 Fresh Portfolio and Blog Design Interfaces for Inspiration
Let’s start this week with a showcase of 50 totally fresh web design interfaces hand-picked from Deviantart – a great design community. This showcase focuses on portfolio and blog design mockups only. Web designers would be inspired from this list. There are many more of them but these are the most beautiful and, off course, they really caught my attention. Hope you will enjoy the list!
Check the original post for more web design mockups: aext.net/2010/08/portfolio-blog-design-mockups/
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2010-06-22 01:08:37