<p>We know Photoshop’s text tools can create stunning, beautiful, eye-catching text effects. There is no limitation of creativity in terms of typography. Using various techniques and effects we can make texts more realistic and can bring them to life. This article shares with you 10 exciting and creative photoshop text effect tutorials. Just click on the images to get to the original tutorials. &#160; 1. Create a Chrome 4×4 Vehicle Emblem &#160; 2. Brilliant Shine Background &#160; 3. Cool Unusual Text Effect &#160; 4. Ghostly Blur Text Effect In Photoshop &#160; 5. Create a Realistic Metal Text Effect Using Layer Styles</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/10-exciting-photoshop-text-effect-tutorials">10 exciting photoshop text effect tutorials</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/Ud6-mYVUDnE" width="1" />

<p>This post is a part of our weekly photography inspiration series. Each Friday we feature some of the most professional and amazing photographs captured by talented photographers from all around the world. Here are latest photographs for your inspiration. If you like this post feel free to share it on Twitter and Facebook. Photography Quote of the Day: &#8220;The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.&#8221; &#8211; Elliott Erwitt &#160; &#038;nbsp</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/machoarts-friday-photography-inspiration-81">MachoArts &#8211; Friday Photography Inspiration #81</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/Ya-x-XeUAdQ" width="1" />

<p>This post is a part of our weekly photography inspiration series. Each Friday we feature some of the most professional and amazing photographs captured by talented photographers from all around the world. Here are latest photographs for your inspiration. If you like this post feel free to share it on Twitter and Facebook. Photography Quote of the Day: &#8220;What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that&#8217;s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.&#8221; - Karl Lagerfeld &#160;        </p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/machoarts-friday-photography-inspiration-80">MachoArts &#8211; Friday Photography Inspiration #80</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/SvzOwDl5hLw" width="1" />

<p>It’s amazing but true: the majority of photos uploaded to Flickr originate from iPhones! This  explains why so many books and ebooks on iPhone Photography are showing up everywhere. You may wonder why anyone would buy a book on this simple smartphone feature ? Taking snapshots with an iPhone is not really rocket science and if you’re not sure about the various settings, you would just Google them, right? Well, I had the same idea until I got a copy of ‘iPhone Photography: How to shoot, edit and share great phtographs&#8216;  in my hands. Only after reading this book, I realized</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/iphone-photography-ebook-review">iPhone Photography eBook review</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/W_qWCIEzpk4" width="1" />

<p>This post is a part of our weekly photography inspiration series. Each Friday we feature some of the most professional and amazing photographs captured by talented photographers from all around the world. Here are latest photographs for your inspiration. If you like this post feel free to share it on Twitter and Facebook. Photography Quote of the Day: &#8220;There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.&#8221; - Ansel Adams &#038;nbsp</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/machoarts-friday-photography-inspiration-79">MachoArts &#8211; Friday Photography Inspiration #79</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/WjbeuTgQfTs" width="1" />

<p>If you have ever taken a picture and then thought it was not a true representation of the real world scene, then you are surely in need of High dynamic range (HDR) photography. Normal (non-HDR) images are taken at just 1 exposure level which limits the contrast range. Depending on the exposure settings, the photo will lose details in either the bright or the dark areas of the image. Through HDR photography the real life scenes like intensity of sunlight and the shadow effects can be well replicated. &#160; How it works To be able to make the most of</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/what-is-hdr-photography">What is HDR photography?</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/rXRLYfc7S1g" width="1" />

<p>When it comes to marketing your design agency online, you may consider SEO a little overwhelming. This is because there is so much detail to search engine optimization that it may be difficult to pin down the best techniques to use. Additionally, SEO is not a one-time event, but a continuous effort. So, in short, SEO is both time and energy intensive. Yet without it, you will not get the volume of traffic you need to build a successful design agency online. &#160; One way of understanding SEO tactics is to break it down into two simple categories: on-site SEO and off-site SEO. On-site</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/seo-tactics-for-marketing-your-design-agency-online-2">SEO Tactics For Marketing Your Design Agency Online</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/sWvjGXX0D6c" width="1" />

<p>Kervin Brisseaux a self-taught digital artist with a background in Architecture. His work is described with terms like &#8220;Retro-Futurism&#8221;, &#8220;TechnoArt&#8221;, &#8220;Hyper-Galactic&#8221;,&#8230; In this post we feature his project &#8220;MOUNT OLYMPUS&#8221;. Kevin Brisseaux composed kinetic images of famous athletes like Michael Jordan, Venus Williams and Muhammad Ali. Using a mythological theme, the athletes are depicted as Greek gods. The artist performed research on each deity to determine the athlete, mood, color, and aesthetic of each illustration. Kervin also answered some questions for MachoArts! MachoArts: Kervin, please tell us a bit about yourself&#8230;   Kervin: Hey all! My name is Kervin Brisseaux and I&#8217;m considered a</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/amazing-photo-manipulations-by-kervin-brisseaux-meet-the-artist">Amazing photo manipulations by Kervin Brisseaux &#8211; meet the artist</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/_Qd0KGL3bNk" width="1" />

<p>This post is a part of our weekly photography inspiration series. Each Friday we feature some of the most professional and amazing photographs captured by talented photographers from all around the world. Here are latest photographs for your inspiration. If you like this post feel free to share it on Twitter and Facebook. Photography Quote of the Day: &#8220;Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.&#8221; - Henri Cartier Bresson &#038;nbsp</p><p>The post <a href="http://machoarts.com/machoarts-friday-photography-inspiration-78">MachoArts &#8211; Friday Photography Inspiration #78</a> appeared first on <a href="http://machoarts.com">MachoArts | Design, Social Media, Blogging tips</a>.</p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/bEQnZTSctgg" width="1" />

<img align="left" alt="Black Panther Poster" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" height="180" hspace="5" src="http://static.machoarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Black-Panther-Poster-180x180.jpg" title="Black Panther Poster" width="180" />Posters are the great way to show designer&#8217;s creativity. Unlike Print Advertisements, posters can use limitess colors and typography effects. Generally posters are used for offline events, night clubs and Djs, here we have collected 25 different creative poster designs for your inspiration. You can print these types of posters, from Poster and Postcard Printing service by PrintRunner.<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Machoarts/~4/d8Ik6ixA_tc" width="1" />

<p></p><p><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/6/3/blackberry_1_by_sevraj-d5kwngp.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md8iakvoLO1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/314/7/e/blackberry_3_by_sevraj-d5kk73r.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md8i7iLLE51r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>I believe RIM has one of the most valuable brands in its hands, and could have been the Microsoft of smartphones..the model of a leading corporation that has little soul but astronomic income. Long story short, <a href="http://i.thestar.com/images/57/e8/fb6bf2cd4013805f19c243dcc466.jpeg" target="_blank">things have changed </a>,and while clinging for a long time on plastic keys, they struggle to get back into the scene with their infamous (and probably last hope) <a href="http://youtu.be/OfHLjlogDS8" target="_blank">Blackberry 10</a>.</p> <p>All aside, crisis is nothing more than opportunity, as the Chinese wisely put it [<span> ? w?i (danger) and ? j? (opportunity) ] , and Blackberry could choose to stay <a href="http://youtu.be/9PdkcJobt_s" target="_blank">among the living</a>, if they set out to do what no other Apple competitor out there is doing: create a culture!</span></p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/314/6/9/blackberry_2_by_sevraj-d5kk6o1.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md8hvvxnB91r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>Shape-shifting BlackBerry`s core characteristics may seem counter-intuitive, but what (I believe) many big brands do not understand is that there IS life outside Apple`s &#8220;<a href="http://www.adafruit.com/adablog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110302-11112379-img4765.jpg" target="_blank">technology married with humanities</a>&#8221; approach, one that lies inert because everyone is to busy blind-copying their model without substance.</p> <p>Let`s start with its undecided logo. BBry has many iterations of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology" target="_blank">Gestalt</a> generated icon (comprising of many negative space B`s that happen to look like a berry if your imagination allows it), and i must admit they are all nifty ideas . But most non BBry`s users are unaware of it, so they are deprived of the eureka moment that creates psychological impact . Inserting another element not only pops out the fruity composition, but also adds another negative element that further defines the letter B. I also feel that the lack of symmetry adds a dynamic effect that works great with letters. It is not a must have, but I feel every new beginning needs a new symbol.</p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/314/2/1/blackberry_4_by_sevraj-d5kk80q.jpg" target="_blank" title="large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md8ikkNkgq1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>Now lets bring in the big guns. It`s no secret that a smartphone`s heart and soul lies in its software. Blackberry is <a href="http://www.7boot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/120206-30-blackberry-be-bold-ad1.jpg" target="_blank">bold</a> enough to invent one from scratch, in an industry that is already too crowded , and light years in front of RIM`s baby OS. But it needn`t be so.</p> <p>A big advantage Android had over Apple was the possibility of starting fresh. And that turned out great. Windows 8 is doing it right now and they were brilliant in creating a superior OS altogether.  Blackberry can use its late arrival to adopt changes that otherwise Android , Apple or Windows cannot afford to do anymore due to the perils of inconsistency. What about apps? Apps are an outcome of a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/11/this-is-what-developing-for-android-looks-like/" target="_blank">superior system</a>, not a target in itself.</p> <p>So let us use the OS wisely, and understand just a couple of its key characteristics.</p> <p><a href="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/318/c/6/blackberry_10_by_sevraj-d5l1153.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddup00T8m1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/3/4/blackberry_5_by_sevraj-d5kwnsx.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdduq0heTk1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>Now&#8230;if you are lucky enough to be different on some areas, why on earth should you do what everybody else is doing. The  -&gt; big product / simple layout &lt;- thing that we are bombarded with every day was popularized by (you guessed it ) Apple! and when promoted, it relied on the fact that people understood Apples values, and products were just a manifestation of that vision. That`s why they could get away with minimal advertising, or even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_III" target="_blank">crappy products</a>. As I was saying earlier , by copying the style without a belief framework, stuff just turned into visual schizophrenia!<a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/a/a/blackberry_6_by_sevraj-d5kwo2y.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddurhl3is1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>Blackberry can use both the absence it had lately (and the new beginning they strive for) to set things right.</p> <p>I am proposing a communication campaign that uses BB10 to reinvent and restate blackberry`s beliefs. Technology married with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_science" target="_blank">social sciences</a> is the niche I tried to aim for . RIM needs to be humanized while retaining the premium , high class DNA. And it can do that in three simple steps :</p> <p>1. Create anticipation, <a href="http://www.takebackyourbrain.com/2007/the-psychology-of-persuasion-scarcity/" target="_blank">exploit scarcity</a>.  Use semiotics to hint the user into the new interface and break the pattern by not introducing the product.</p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/9/c/blackberry_7_by_sevraj-d5kwo9g.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdduthM5ju1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/4/c/blackberry_7_by_sevraj-d5kwv7n.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdduv5lYJN1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/b/2/blackberry_6_by_sevraj-d5kwvkr.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddv02nFnK1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>2. Use the awareness the ad campaign generated to further mystify the product. State beliefs that will associate with the brand , create a vision that empowers current users and makes potential ones want to associate with it. Stay true to the DNA and generate subtle controversy.</p> <p><a href="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/5/2/blackberry_8_by_sevraj-d5kwvv3.jpg?1" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdduxltjsX1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/3/f/blackberry_8_by_sevraj-d5kww94.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddwbuSuQ01r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/8/2/blackberry_9_by_sevraj-d5kwwos.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddv6lzFlR1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/317/5/7/blackberry_9_by_sevraj-d5kwwxq.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddv7kDwly1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>3. If one must show the product, obsess on details, hide the product behind curtains, reveal just enough to let the viewer associate a form to a strong reference he already has (like the premium <a href="http://sfcitizen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Capture1.jpg" target="_blank">black card</a> that has strong links to a certain social status). Making the buyer curios about getting his hands on products is crucial! Stores are experience incubators , they have control of perception and hold immense power. Ads must just get them in there.</p> <p><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/2/1/blackberry_9_by_sevraj-d5kwx8h.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddv8fLQdo1r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>P.s. I have no idea what RIM was thinking when they named their beloved tablet Playbook. It`s wrong in so many ways I could not resist giving it a different identity..makes me sleep better with myself at night. The moral of the story is : stay consistent with the product line , do not split personalities!</p> <p><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/2/f/blackberry_10_by_sevraj-d5kwxi9.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddv9bdZW81r2eag3.jpg" /></a></p> <p>P.s.s. There is a pattern in people holding on to boxes after buying a device. Be it for practical reasons (one might want to sell it in the future) or pure status symbolism , there is huge potential in this!</p> <p>Re-defining packaging could add tremendous value to the product , brand identity, and even attenuate product value loss on the long term. Making the user feel like there is a higher cause for him being brand loyal is what companies spend billions for. This small collection of bright minded, high class, and prosperous entrepreneurs of the past century speaks for itself, it is the perfect blend of blackberry&#8217;s current DNA and what it needs to become, in order to generate a culture.</p> <p><a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/317/9/e/blackberry_11_by_sevraj-d5kwxrk.jpg" target="_blank" title="Large"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mde699ox4p1r2eag3.jpg" /></a><br /> <em><strong>About the author:</strong> Julian C. Caraulani is a British-romanian designer who recently graduated from Coventry University, UK. His design approach relies on an interdisciplinarity that seeks to gather people with shared beliefs, passion and visions towards professional, meaningful projects. His website is www.caraulani.com and email caraulani@yahoo.com</em></p>

<p></p><p><strong>There is an elephant in the room and you may be sitting on it.</strong></p> <p>The energy that goes into manufacturing our material world is the largest component of our energy consumption and something designers have a direct impact on. Yet few people understand this embodied energy or actively design with it in mind.</p> <p>This struck us as a little scary, so a couple of years ago we started researching our own embodied energy footprints, visualising the data and creating tools that could integrate this data into our design process. The result is an energy driven design process and our <a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/energytrumps/" title="Energy Trumps page">Energy Trumps</a> design tool, we wanted to share some of our insights from this exploration to encourage other people to start designing with energy.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/?attachment_id=1656" rel="attachment wp-att-1656"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="337" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Image-1.jpg" width="550" /></a></strong><span style="color: #808080;">The Energy Trump design tool in use</span></p> <p><strong>Reducing our energy consumption must tackle our largest energy segment; stuff.</strong></p> <p>The largest energy consumption sector in the UK is embodied energy ( <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/apr/21/national-carbon-calculator">The Guardian’s National carbon calculator</a>, <a href="http://www.withouthotair.com/">Sustainable energy without the hot air</a>).This is the sum energy from extraction to production that goes into making our material world. This is the energy that went into making the house you live in, the bike you ride, the phone you talk on and the coffee cup you drink out of.</p> <blockquote><p>“The real issue is not our direct consumption of energy but the greenhouse gases embodied in the goods we buy”</p> <p>Monbiot (2010)</p></blockquote> <p>Energy has been invested in making almost every element of our material world. We need to start looking carefully for ways of delivering these functions for a fraction of the energy.</p> <p><strong>Understanding the energy properties of materials can drive low embodied energy design.</strong></p> <p>Embodied energy data tells us how much energy it typically takes to manufacture a kilogram of a particular material. This data enables us to analyse and interpret the impact of products, leading to a more informed design process.</p> <p>Our own understanding of embodied energy started with a very personal exploration. Having realised I knew next to nothing about the energy implications of all my belongings I attempted to catalogue and calculate the embodied energy of everything I owned. The calculations were very crude but they forced me to get hold of as much embodied energy data as possible and sparked an interest in what could be achieved with this data.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #808080;">Embodied energy catalogue</span></p> <p>The data itself can be confusing as you need to factor in material density to understand the implications for a given material. We found one of the best ways to look at the data is to show the volume of the material that can be produced for 1 megajoule of energy. This gives you a more tangible idea of the energy intensity of a material.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/?attachment_id=1750" rel="attachment wp-att-1750"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1750" height="252" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Image-21.jpg" width="550" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #808080;">Cubes showing the volume of each material that could be manufactured with 1 megajoule of energy.</span></p> <p>The data can also be applied to simple mono-material products, multiplying the embodied energy figure by the weight of the product to give you an estimate of its total embodied energy.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/?attachment_id=1654" rel="attachment wp-att-1654"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="474" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Image-3.jpg" width="550" /></a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong></strong><span style="color: #808080;">Estimates of how much energy it took to manufacture each product.</span></p> <p>Embodied energy data can equally be used to calculate the energy in more complex products, giving you the energy break down of a product’s components. The video below shows one of our studio experiments scaling product components relative to their embodied energy, this allows you to ‘see’ a products embodied energy.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #808080;">Augmented reality experiments to &#8216;see&#8217; embodied energy</span></p> <p>These approaches to visualising and analysing products using embodied energy data have given us a much richer understanding of the numbers. They allow you to quickly understand the impact of materials and assess where there is the greatest potential for change.</p> <p><strong>Simple tools to make energy part of the creative process.</strong></p> <p>Through our own explorations into an <a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/projects/designing-with-energy/">energy driven design process</a> we could see how valuable embodied energy data was as a design driver, but also knew how little it was currently used in the design process.</p> <blockquote><p>“We need numbers, not adjectives“</p> <p>MacKay (2009)</p></blockquote> <p>Adopting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._C._MacKay">David MacKay’s</a> approach, we wanted to move environmental design decisions away from popular opinion or aesthetic associations and put the numbers at the heart of the design process. To do this we created the Energy Trumps, a visual design tool that integrates environmental data into the creative process. The cards allow you to quickly assess and compare materials, enabling you to make more informed material choices early in your design process. The video below shows the cards in action, detailing why we made them and showing some of the products we designed using the data.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #808080;">Energy Trumps video</span></p> <p>Through our <a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/energytrumps/AR/app.html">web app</a> the cards also allow you to explore the data in 3D, showing the different volumes of material that can be produced with 1 megajoule of energy.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/?attachment_id=1655" rel="attachment wp-att-1655"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="311" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Image-4.jpg" width="550" /></a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #808080;">The Energy Trumps augmented reality web app.</span></p> <p><strong></strong>We originally developed the cards to use in our own design process but they became such a valuable way of explaining embodied energy and the impact of design decision that we developed them into a <a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/energytrumps/">commercially available version</a>.</p> <p><strong>Moving towards a low energy future</strong></p> <p>With a better understanding of the energy properties of materials we can use embodied energy to drive design decisions and deliver low energy solutions. However, if you are looking for the products with the lowest embodied energy, look no further than the cheapest items in bargain stores. These products are almost a miracle of cost reduction, reduced to the most minimal amount of material to stay functioning. By their nature they have used the smallest amount of energy to be produced, but they are also prone to failure and very challenging to repair giving them very short life spans.</p> <p>Our future design approach needs to integrate embodied energy with existing design criteria; functionality, aesthetics, longevity and disposal to create balanced solutions that minimize their impact. In our own projects we use embodied energy as a filter through which to assess designs, looking carefully at how much functionality and value is being delivered per megajoule. This pushes us to look for elegant and creative uses of materials that radically reduce energy impact.</p> <p><em><strong>About the author</strong>: Rich Gilbert is a Co-founder of <a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk" target="_blank">The Agency of Design</a>, a London based design studio helping organisations design a better future by re-thinking our digital and physical worlds.</em></p> <p><em>For more information on the project see;</em></p> <p><em><a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/energytrumps/">The energy trumps home page</a></em></p> <p><em><a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/energytrumps/pdf/The_Agency_of_Design-Designing_with_Energy.pdf">Our PDF on designing with energy</a></em></p> <p><em><a href="http://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/projects/designing-with-energy/">The design project that sparked the cards</a></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p></p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/litwinenko/" rel="attachment wp-att-1752"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-1752" height="467" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/showmetheway.jpg" title="showmetheway" width="700" /></a> Photo Credit: Photosapience <p>How great are the big consultancy firms in the world! These guys operate spreadsheets 24/7 (keyboard shortcuts only!) and their analysis and reports do magic for big companies who are in need for just that little bit of extra revenue (and/or the need of solving bigger problems, of course). I think we can assume, that when the consultants are done with a company, better times will come. And it just got better, because they found out about the value of design.</p> <p>The treasure was revealed in the latest issue of the McKinsey Quarterly. <a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Designing_products_for_value_3023">This article</a> ends in a great apotheosis: “<em>By combining deep insights about customers, competitors, and cost, a few leading companies are finding the “sweet spot” in product development: lowering costs while designing better products that customers value more.” </em>I think it is great that smart consultants are starting to think out-of-the-box. I see it as a compliment for the design industry. However, the advice from a designer’s point of view would be to give the consultants a small design-workshop.</p> <p>Do they really need a workshop, or is that just the ego of the designer getting nervous by arrival of the new kid on the block? To be honest, maybe it’s a bit of both. But the main topic in this article is not just good design; it is cost reduction (the word “cost” is in the article 37 times). Co-written by a McKinsey principal, director and consultant, I can see where that comes from. Costs do play an important role in the return on the investment on design, but in order to get people to buy your product, you need to design a product that people will love to use. So, here are 3 tips for our consulting friends.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>1. Consumer insights</strong></p> <p>Getting insights from consumers is the perfect start for product development. McKinsey acknowledges this, but they miss an important factor. Designers read between the lines when they listen to consumers sharing their needs. But the focus is on retrieving needs that consumers don’t know they have (yet). This requires a good focus-group setup; don’t confront consumers with engineers and management, but with designers.</p> <p><strong>2. Interaction is key</strong></p> <p>Cost-effective design is important for the company behind the product. Interaction design is important for the success behind the product. Without losing the perspective of cost-impact on design (and other product properties), the focus should be on a perfect interaction between user and product. If you improve this, you’ll improve their life. And that’s worth quite a lot.</p> <p><strong> 3. Study the competition AND the context</strong></p> <p>A thorough analysis of your competitor’s product is a good reference to improve your own product. But there are much more products your consumer uses. What can we learn from the context of the user? For example, when designing a microwave, let’s not only tear down the microwaves of competitors, but also look at other products this target group uses everyday. For example, if the target group uses a smartphone, shouldn’t a new microwave be equipped with a touchscreen and cooking-apps? Or even better, that you can operate the microwave <em>with</em> your smartphone. Saves the costs of a display, here you go!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>In my opinion, product development is the perfect start for designers and consultants to join forces. From the designer’s point of view: let’s work together, I’m sure together we can achieve a lot for companies struggling with innovation. But let’s focus on our specialism. The consultant needs to consult companies about developing cost-effective products and the designer needs to design good products for consumers that will be successful. In this case a product that people love to use, day after day.</p> <p><em><strong>About the author:</strong> Jelmer Riemersma is co-founder of <a href="http://veeel.wordpress.com/author/riemersma">Veeel </a>designers in Amsterdam with an ongoing interest for innovation and its underlying processes and models.</em></p>

<p></p><p><img alt="" class="alignright" height="381" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Eddy-Yu-and-Hung-Lam-famous-local-designers-look-foward-to-Business-of-Design-Week..jpg" width="253" /></p> <p>Since 2003, designers Hung Lam (left) and Eddy Yu (right) worked together under their company, <a href="http://www.codesign.com.hk/" target="_blank">CoDesign</a>. A few years ago, they started CoLab. CoLab is a result of a lunchtime discussion of finding a way to use their design skills to benefit society. With the chance to spend some time with Eddy Yu and Hung Lam, I found out that at the time, they had encountered social enterprises growing in Hong Kong and were shocked by the (lack of) branding of these groups and organizations. With this revelation, they saw a big opportunity to improve services through brand design and asked themselves, &#8220;How can design improve and change society?&#8221; The pair founded CoLab which stands for &#8220;collaboration&#8221; and &#8220;laboratory&#8221;. Now, with their CoLab platform, young designers are encouraged to provide input on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/codesign.colab" target="_blank">CoLab&#8217;s Facebook Fanpage</a>, where CoLab uses &#8220;Facebook to engage young designers to participate in design&#8221;.  Young designers are excited to get involved.</p> <p>CoDesign is your traditional design studio, branding, and consulting firm which provides services to any client with a budget. CoLab, however, is the organization in which Yu and Lam work together with local, young designers and social businesses or non-profits. With CoLab, Yu and Lam oversee the projects and provide a platform and system to connect the non-profit or social business with young designers to generate new design solutions. Rather than thinking of their projects as &#8220;giving back&#8221; the two gentlemen really see themselves as educators trying to elevate design in the local community and improve the design quality of younger designers. Using CoLab as a platform for &#8220;collaboration&#8221; and  as a &#8220;laboratory&#8221;, they partner with young designers to address projects and solve problems brought to them by their partners (they prefer to form partnerships, rather than &#8220;client&#8221; relationships).</p> <p>CoLab screens for potential young talent to team up with. Yu and Lam saw the need (not only to give back), but also to provide a hands on and practical experience to young designers. Yu elaborates that CoLab &#8220;needs passionate, young designers who can really dedicate themselves to our [social] projects without being too eager to earn money, but to be eager to learn something real&#8221;.  &#8220;We need their creativity&#8221;  said Hung Lam. CoLab manages the young team members on a project to project basis, as if they were freelance designers. CoLab provides structure, guidance, and business sense from their years of experience with CoDesign, while the young designers provide a fresh perspective and design inspiration for the direction of CoLab projects. However, they encourage and embrace a close working-relationship. Past experience has told Yu and Lam that &#8220;the outcome of working remotely is not always as rewarding [as working closely].&#8221; &#8220;We want to have that kind of relationship that explores and discusses in a more casual way to try different things. For that, we need to work very closely,&#8221; says Eddy Yu. CoLab plans to expand this platform through some sort of internship program as an extension of university studies. Yu and Lam aim to provide training as needed, but they currently need more resources, time, and space to make it happen.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/colab-hong-kongs-collaboration-laboratory/print/" rel="attachment wp-att-1699"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1699" height="467" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Imperfect_2-1024x731.jpg" width="655" /></a></p> <p>Not only does CoLab work with young designers, the company is also proudly creating a movement around the idea of &#8220;imperfection equals perfection&#8221;, through a project called <a href="http://www.i-mperfect.org/concept" target="_blank">I&#8217;mperfect</a>. With the theme of imperfection, Lam and Yu partner with other organizations to fully rethink projects and products. One I&#8217;mperfect project was teamed with a ceramics company. Seeing that the ceramic mug manufacturer discards &#8216;defected&#8217; production pieces, CoLab was able to rebrand these &#8216;defect&#8217; products under the I&#8217;mperfect (i&#8217;m perfect/ imperfect) theme and create desirable products rather than more waste. Sold at the local Hong Kong ceramics shop <a href="http://www.loveramics.com/blog/story-imperfect-mug" target="_blank">Loveramics</a>, each mug is unique and special. No two mugs are the same. They are trying to spread this movement beyond product design and branding, they are creating an experience with I&#8217;mperfect. The I&#8217;mperfect movement has hosted yoga sessions and art making. Another I&#8217;mperfect partnership resulted from working closely with a local publisher in Hong Kong to make premium gifts and bring old books back to life with a simple design of the book jacket. With the book jacket, instead of the typical cover design and title, the new cover has one statement about the essence or contents of the book. The goal is to encourage people to see beyond the cover. As the I&#8217;mperfect movement grows, Lam and Yu aim to make the general public more aware of our waste and also show that imperfection is the same as uniqueness, which we all should and seek to embrace. Hung Lam explains that it&#8217;s &#8220;not just making something from imperfect to perfect, we want to change people&#8217;s perception of how they see the world. How to see perfection inside imperfection. This is our main core vision &#8212; to change mindsets.&#8221; Eddy Yu adds, &#8220;to see imperfection as uniqueness, rather than defects. Everything is unique, just like people.&#8221;</p> <p>In addition to ironing out details of a potential 1-year internship program, CoLab has most recently partnered with Hong Kong&#8217;s PMQ (Police Married Quarters) project. In fact, it&#8217;s a perfect partnership. The PMQ is a government initiated project to revitalize the old government police married quarters in Central, Hong Kong to provide a space and studio for young designers to explore and expand their creativity, CoLab offers access to young talent and a bridge of communication between the young design community and the PMQ project. The goal as Yu puts it is that they would &#8220;like to see PMQ become an iconic place for the Hong Kong creative industry, instead of a government project with usually rather restricted policies.&#8221; There will be a kick-off for this partnership and the next step of the PMQ project at this year&#8217;s Business of Design Week. The duo of CoLab, Eddy Yu and Hung Lam will also be <a href="http://www.bodw.com/2012/index.php?lang=en&amp;page=speakersDetail&amp;content=eddy" target="_blank">making a presentation</a> for the &#8220;Design for Society&#8221; track of the conference. Hope to see you there Dec 3-8, 2012!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>About the author:</strong> Tiffany Wan is a designer based in Hong Kong. Her experience includes user-research, industrial design from concept to production, and graphic communications. She is also a correspondent for <a href="http://www.designmuseumboston.org" target="_blank">Design Museum Boston</a>. Connect with her <a href="http://www.twitter.com/tiffanywan" target="_blank">on twitter</a> or through <a href="http://www.tiffanywan.com" target="_blank">her website</a></em>.</p>

<p></p><p>Product design can mean many different things to different people, depending on your circumstance and your perspective. In this article we have looked at it from both sides, creating a product that will help others create their products.</p> <p>You may already know we are creating a Computer Aided Design (CAD) application for the iPad called <strong>cado</strong>, the first we believe that will actually deliver an effective interface coupled with functionality that allow users to fulfill all of their creative and productive needs; remote from their desktop.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/cado_appicon200/" rel="attachment wp-att-1685"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1685" height="240" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cado_appicon200.png" title="cado_appicon200" width="240" /></a></p> <p>If you don’t know about <strong>cado</strong> – have a look at the <a href="http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=06a3131a3140830d9108e3e5d&amp;id=c7b7c353b1&amp;e=087cccd1f9" target="_blank">development video</a>.</p> <p>So lets look at our product design process in delivering <strong>cado</strong>.</p> <p>Our design process started with identifying the need for a CAD app on the tablet format when we couldn’t find a good alternative already available. From there we moved onto the project brief which outlines the functions we wanted to see in the application, with various categories ranging from essential to ‘nice to have’ and those for future iterations.</p> <p>The next step was agreeing the formats, functions and storyboard to define the scope of the project. At this point we needed to recruit the right people to be able to develop the code for the program, and this proved to be one of the hardest parts of the entire process for us. It took almost 6 months of interviewing, testing and trawling on contractor websites before we found our Developer, who is now part of the team at Orange Juice Studios.</p> <p>One of the things we realised very early on in the process is that people who would purchase this application would expect it to just work, and work well. The way in which it worked, how efficient the coding was or the thought processes behind the design decisions would be superfluous to the user – the majority would not be interested in those distractions, but rather how easy it was to use and if it did what it claimed to do.</p> <p>That meant the user interface is critical to the success of the application, the way in which the user will draw, select functions, interpret and use visual or audible feedback requires as much thought as the code development. Here is a typical example of the process we went through. During our development we anticipated the need for a co-ordinate system on the drawing space; this began the design process of where to locate the visual feedback of the system, accounting for when the user would need it in the drawing process, ergonomic factors for the user using their left or right hand, landscape and portrait orientations of the hardware whilst ensuring is was cohesive with the look of the rest of the program. A simple task you may thing, below are some of the design iterations we explored before settling on the final option, exploring the location of the X &amp; Y coordinate bar, and what is visually looks and ‘feels’ like.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig14/" rel="attachment wp-att-1677"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1677" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig14.png" title="fig14" width="516" /></a><br /> Figure 1 Co-ordinate bar on the left, without X &amp; Y designation</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig21/" rel="attachment wp-att-1678"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1678" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig21.png" title="fig21" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 2 Decision made to have the Co-ordinate button on the right hand side and double rows to save space.  Also X and Y description is added</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig31/" rel="attachment wp-att-1679"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1679" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig31.png" title="fig31" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 3 Experimentation with colours</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig41/" rel="attachment wp-att-1680"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1680" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig41.png" title="fig41" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 4 Co-ordinates are given more room for legibility, and made to feel ‘pressable’</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig51/" rel="attachment wp-att-1681"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1681" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig51.png" title="fig51" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 5 Some more exploration on the theme</p> <p>&#8230;&#8230;.. Phew! We’re getting there… promise!</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig61/" rel="attachment wp-att-1682"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1682" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig61.png" title="fig61" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 6 Some refinement of text positioning</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig71/" rel="attachment wp-att-1683"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1683" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig71.png" title="fig71" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 7 Text is given some hierarchy</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/product-design-why-cado-looks-as-good-as-it-does/fig81/" rel="attachment wp-att-1684"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-1684" height="43" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fig81.png" title="fig81" width="516" /></a></p> <p>Figure 8 A little pixel adjustment for aesthetic balancing, and voila! The end result</p> <p>So, now lets look at how tools can influence product design.</p> <p>Being a CAD program, by definition there were a selection of functions that were essential to be called a CAD program. Further to that, various design decisions were taken on what other key features and functions we wanted to include which would assist the user.</p> <p>Drawing is an exercise where the importance of tangible feedback is sometimes overlooked. A great example of this is that most designers and draftsmen always seem to prefer a certain instrument for their craft. This may be a lead pencil or pen of choice; HB, 2B, 4B, Biro and Rotring pens of various thicknesses and certain types of paper to sketch their ideas.  We believe this is based on a mixture of feedback, tactile experience and accuracy. Given the constraints of the touch screen hardware, some of those elements were either not possible or out of our control, hence the ones we could control became that much more important, the most important being accuracy, visual and audio feedback.</p> <p>Another perspective to consider is how we use tools such as <strong>cado</strong> to influence our design process. By interfacing with hardware through the touchscreen device, we feel there is a benefit in the tangible feedback, latency and accuracy of the drawing device and program. However this is balanced by the potential of the hardware hampering or impairing the design process by providing incorrect or un-useful feedback. Frustration does not take long to set in and the program or hardware is quickly resigned to the bin.</p> <p>So what would product designers want with CAD on a mobile hardware platform? Well we think this will give the designer the freedom to sketch on the fly and reduce time moving from sketch through to full CAD mark ups. It’s the step between hand sketching and CAD drafting at your workstation that we feel this CAD tablet program will fit in.</p> <p>Have a look at our website and be sure to subscribe to be kept informed regarding release dates, pricing and included functionality – we look forward to hearing from you.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong> About the author:</strong> Vimal Bhana is an engineer and the co-founder of <a href="http://www.orangejuicestudios.com" target="_blank">Orange Juice Studios</a></em></p>

<p></p><p>The importance of Outsourcing Product Design (OPD) and the inherent challenges in entering an emerging market continue to be discussed in multiple forums. Given the overwhelming benefits of OPD, engineering managers and business owners have come to firmly believe that outsourcing is the strategy for addressing some key business challenges.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/11/six-steps-for-a-successful-opd-engagement/6steps/" rel="attachment wp-att-1622"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1622" height="311" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/6steps.jpg" title="6steps" width="400" /></a></p> <p>However, not many organizations have taken the next steps to develop the substantial benefits of OPD. Research has made it clear that most organizations have not had successful outsourcing engagements in the past.</p> <p>This is evident from the article titled <strong><a href="http://www.outsourcing-center.com/2004-08-what-causes-outsourcing-failures-article-37826.html">“What causes outsourcing failures?”</a></strong> This article details nine principal causes of failure that are common across outsourcing. Upon closer analysis, it is evident that these apply to OPD as well.</p> <p>With over a decade of experience and expertise in handling product design projects coupled with a robust six-step OPD engagement process, we have demonstrated proven success to our customers.</p> <p>Our six-step OPD engagement process successfully addresses these nine causes of possible failure as explained below. Though this may sound obvious, but to ensure success, both the outsourcing organization and the OPD partner need to spend substantial quality time and energy during both the pre and post engagement stages.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What to Outsource?</strong></p> <p>Firstly, the outsourcing company should understand what part of their product design process can be outsourced. To decide this, the company should ideally complete an internal engineering assessment based on the product diversification strategy adopted for the entry into the emerging market.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Defining your Work</strong></p> <p>A well-defined Statement of Work (SoW) or Requirement for Proposal (RFP) can reduce and eliminate many issues that crop up in an outsourcing engagement.</p> <p>After deciding the project scope, the next step is to create a requirements document involving all the relevant project stakeholders.</p> <p>Discuss this requirements document in the light of the outsourcing partner’s proposal document. Does it match one-to-one? Does the proposal explain clearly the project scope, key deliverables, schedule, resource skills, training requirements, roles and responsibilities, and cost terms adequately without any ambiguity?</p> <p>At this juncture, both the companies should be aligned with respect to the project and commercial terms</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Due-diligence</strong></p> <p>This step is critical to eliminate the risk of possible project failure. Take the time to check the following:</p> <ul> <li>Did you define what the outsourcing company should do?</li> <li>Do they have the capabilities outlined in the proposal?</li> <li>Do they have the resources and experience as claimed?</li> </ul> <p>This due diligence enables you to check if the scope of engagement needs to be further refined or the decision to continue with the partner needs to be re-visited.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Contracting Phase</strong></p> <p>This phase is for both companies to contractually agree upon other essential obligations such as:</p> <ul> <li>Who will own the patent for the product designed by the outsourced partner?</li> <li>How will the outsourced partner protect my (outsourcing company’s) intellectual property rights (IPR)?</li> <li>How do I handle product design concepts that are shared or leaked to my competitors?</li> <li>What is the accountability at the partner end if there is a deadline slippage leading to product launch delay?</li> </ul> <p>The outcome is a contractual agreement with a list of Service Level Agreements (SLA) with legal bindings including penalty clause, force majeure, non-disclosure agreements, patent violation acts. This will enable you to safeguard your company rights.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Transition Phase</strong></p> <p>Now that the ball is rolling, build project team counterparts at both the ends. Involve top management (project sponsors), project leads and a project governance document comprising project execution process, project / knowledge transition escalation matrix, documentation, configuration management, audit schedule, and contact information.</p> <p>This step ensures the engagement is intact and limits possible communication gaps.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Managing and Reporting</strong></p> <p>The final step is the value realization step for the outsourcing company.</p> <ul> <li>How rewarding has this engagement for their company?</li> <li>How much value addition has this partner relationship done for me?</li> <li>Can I measure value against reduced product lead time, optimum project costs, repeatability in quality, reduced project management time?</li> <li>Does the partner have creative product design ideas as against the competition?  Typically, the partner will be working in house to come up with this data</li> </ul> <div align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /> </div> <p><em>The writer is handling the business operations for the European Market and provides engineering and design consultancy for the countries strategizing to enter emerging markets like India. You can reach him at <a href="mailto:vivek.maladkar@bwir.com">vivek.maladkar@bwir.com</a> or the below contact number for any queries.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <p><strong><em>About Barry-Wehmiller International Resources</em></strong></p> <p><em>Barry-Wehmiller International Resources (BWIR) is a global provider of business and technology solutions to the mid-market manufacturing domain. With headquarters in St. Louis, MO., and global delivery operations strategically located to meet customer needs throughout the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia and South America, BWIR offers world-class engineering services and enterprise consulting solutions that enable its clients to achieve a competitive edge in their marketplace.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <div align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /> </div> <p><strong>Vivek Maladkar</strong></p> <p><strong>Head Business Development –Europe     </strong></p> <p><strong>Barry-Wehmiller International Resources Pvt Ltd</strong><strong>. </strong></p> <p><strong>101 Lilac Grove | Nottingham, UK NG9 1PF</strong></p> <p><strong>+44 (0) 115 967 8787 | DDI +44 (0) 115 907 9483 | fax +44 (0) 115 967 8707</strong></p> <p><strong>Cell +44(0)7867 505 709</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="mailto:vivek.maladkar@bwir.com">vivek.maladkar@bwir.com</a></strong><strong></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.bwir.com">www.bwir.com</a></strong></p>

<p></p><p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/10/newly-designed-donor-chair-aids-blood-collection/blood-donor-chair/" rel="attachment wp-att-1613"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1613" height="527" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Blood-Donor-Chair.jpg" title="Blood Donor Chair" width="500" /></a></p> <p>If you’ve given blood or were recently approached to donate blood ahead of the Olympic games in the summer then you may well have found yourself laying on one of the newly piloted prototype blood donor chairs designed and built by <a href="http://www.renfrewgroup.com">Renfrew Group International</a> that are currently undergoing national trials in National Health Service practises across the UK. This chair was specifically developed in order to solve and answer some of the problems and challenges faced by today’s health service.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/news/2012/newsrelease140612.html">NHS Blood and Transplant</a><strong> </strong>services have revealed that up to<strong> </strong>“2.38m people with &#8216;super blood&#8217; were asked to donate ahead of the Olympics.<strong>  </strong>Demand for universal blood type O- were expected to be at least 70% higher than donations being made during the games”</p> <p>One particular problem faced by individuals donating blood was the tendency for them to faint during the procedure. The current generation for blood donation chairs were not in any way suitable for individuals who then subsequently needed placing in the recovery position as the two arrangements are distinctly different.  This newly developed chair was designed with this in mind and is said to aid blood donation staff easily handle any situations where individuals need to be physically attended to.</p> <p>In addition to this the newly designed blood donor chairs aid both patient and staff comfort with the ability for the chair to pivot into 3 separate positions aiding the different stages of the blood procurement process.  Members of staff are now less likely to lean into awkward positions when dealing with donors, which will improve their working conditions and physical wellbeing.</p> <p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/10/newly-designed-donor-chair-aids-blood-collection/donor-chair/" rel="attachment wp-att-1614"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1614" height="534" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/donor-chair.jpg" title="donor-chair" width="500" /></a></p> <p>The chairs have been in trials since December 2011 and they will hopefully be well on their way to widespread adoption in the near future.</p> <p><em><strong>About the author: </strong>Renfrew Group international are a leading and established product design consultancy based in Leicester, UK that provide a range of specialist <a href="http://www.renfrewgroup.com/medical.html">medical product design</a> and innovation services in addition to consumer products, capital goods and automotive design.</em></p>

<p></p><p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/10/breaking-the-ordinary-designer-cycle/ordinary_designer/" rel="attachment wp-att-1593"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1593" height="238" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ordinary_designer.jpg" title="ordinary_designer" width="258" /></a></p> <p>Ordinary designers are all around us. Many have a certain flair in their work. But it is hard and challenging for them to break the mould of being ordinary. To achieve top notch quality, it is black magic. Some are capable, others find it beyond them.</p> <p>High craftsmanship is not easy to achieve. Ordinary designers face enormous challenges when attempting to create distinct and strong quality work. So much time is required to learn, practice and develop the required skills. But there is much to learn in the world of design and technology. It is a painful process that so many people will give up very easily.</p> <p>Some people sacrifice months in their room to produce a clean free hand drawing. Some people sacrifice many years at University to scratch the surface of professional standards. I have known many designers who have spent their career moving in and out of the design industry producing only a mediocre standard of work.</p> <p>Everyone was once young, with no skills, experience or knowledge. Even the superstar designer started out without the ability to draw. Yet, with persistence, they have been able to master a repertoire of fine skills in creating truly inspiring work.</p> <p>There are many people who are ordinary and average. This article is about supporting them. Everyone was once a beginner, without basic skills and experience. I am interested in supporting them to break the cycle of an ordinary designer.</p> <p>Do you feel like an ordinary designer, trying to break the mould? I would like to hear your experience. How hard is it for you in your journey? What did you sacrifice?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>About the author:</strong> Huu Huynh is a design &amp; technology teacher with a background in industrial design. If you like this article, follow him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bowlofnoodle" target="_blank">@bowlofnoodle </a>and visit his <a href="http://huuhuy.com" target="_blank">portfolio website</a>.</em></p>

<p></p><p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/10/top-5-criteria-to-select-your-outsourcing-product-design-opd-partner/odp/" rel="attachment wp-att-1597"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1597" height="310" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/odp.jpg" title="odp" width="393" /></a></p> <p>To enter an emerging market like India, a company’s success depends directly on the development of unique and customized products for the end-customer. This holds true whether an existing product is redesigned or a new product is evolved specifically for this market. Both situations demand thorough knowledge on various parameters pertaining to the target market. As described in the previous article <a href="http://www.bwir.com/files/Barry-WehmillerI/FileCabinet/UploadFiles_ESArticle1Final_6229.pdf">“Engineering Design Considerations for Entering India Market”</a>, these comprise five parameters:</p> <ul> <li>Cultural blend</li> <li>Government regulations</li> <li>Industrial standards</li> <li>Competitors’ foothold</li> <li>Prevailing manufacturing ecosystem</li> </ul> <p>Understanding these parameters with less or no presence in the target market is not only a challenge but is an expensive assignment complete with various risk factors.</p> <p>To mitigate these risks, outsourcing of product design has become a strategic initiative. This leads to the importance of identifying and engaging with the right partner as it has the potential to develop into a long term symbiotic relationship built on the foundation of trust, competency, and understanding.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>We present five essential criteria for evaluating the right product design partner:</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Product Design Needs’ “Fit”</strong></p> <p>When evaluating an OPD partner, check that they have the necessary competence in your industry.  This is of paramount importance as it will induce the vendor to deliver a holistic solution.</p> <p>This was evident with one of our customers who needed an alternate design for a rotary filler machine that had limitation in accessing machine parts for cleaning and servicing.</p> <p>We looked at the requirement holistically and designed a concept with a new drive to operate from the top of the machine in contrast to the prevailing industry standard of the drive system being at the bottom. This not only resulted in spacious layout, facilitating better cleaning and servicing but also enabled the customer to integrate this system better with the rest of the production line, in addition to improving reliability and higher production capacity.</p> <p>This innovation design not only met the customer’s requirements but succeeded in ‘customer delight’ as well!</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Experience in the client’s target industry</strong></p> <p>Check if your potential OPD partner has the necessary background in your target market and knowledge about your product(s). This will enable them to develop product concepts which will match with the actual target customer needs.</p> <p>One of our customer manufacturing capping machines wanted us to position their product for India market &amp; requested us to suggest design changes as per the native market need.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Having dealt with many companies in the food and beverage industry, we had proactively suggested a drive specification and indexing mechanism for the machine that reaped a three-fold benefit: 35% reduction in production costs, decreased time-to-market and better market penetration relative to the competition. The quick solution would have been next to impossible if BWIR didn’t have the knowledge on the product speed and through put of these machines as used by the Indian customer as per their market demand.  If you’re looking for additional information on how we can assist you with an OPD challenge, please <a href="http://www.formstack.com/landing/bwir-download_casestudy">register here</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Presence in the geography</strong></p> <p>Check if your potential OPD partner has presence in your target geography – India.  Their presence in the Indian geography will enable you to design a product based on the manufacturing and vendor ecosystem available in India.</p> <p>Your OPD partner will be able to design your product in India for India – based on the availability of the standard material, purchase parts, manufacturing capability, testing procedures and facilities. With thorough knowledge of these considerations, the product designed will be the best-fit for the market, reducing the overall time, effort, and costs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Multi-disciplinary offerings </strong></p> <p>Engaging a partner for entering the Indian market is a long term strategy and is really more of a relationship than a one-time transaction. Hence, it is imperative for you to evaluate the credentials, expertise, knowledge and the multi-disciplinary offerings of your potential OPD partner across the product design area. Your potential partner must be capable of conducting tests to validate the performance of the product in the local market environments.</p> <p>Ultimately an end-to-end product design offering with manufacturing and testing support would be an ideal outsourcing product design partner.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Being a reliable partner</strong></p> <p>A partner’s reliability in a geography ensures the confidentially and intellectual property of any OPD project. This is especially true for product design projects as they are research intensive involving specialists and R&amp;D engineers.  A ‘reliability check’ can be carried out by checking the partner’s long-term customer references. At BWIR, we have customers for whom we have successfully completed product designs, product introductions and followed-up with after-sales and support assignments. We have a trusted relationship with our customers. In addition to the five factors stated above, there are other factors to consider in an outsourcing partnership, such as:</p> <ul> <li>Certifications</li> <li>Availability of best-in class infrastructure</li> <li>Financial health</li> <li>Diverse skill sets and competency of the workforce</li> <li>Compatible systems and processes</li> </ul> <p>While the last few factors are suggestions, the 5 key criteria are must-haves for any outsourcing vendor for your product design and launch to be successful in the emerging market.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p align="center"><strong>Click the below links to download our pervious articles</strong></p> <p><strong><em> </em></strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.bwir.com/files/Barry-WehmillerI/FileCabinet/UploadFiles_ESArticle1Final_6229.pdf">Engineering Design for entering Indian Market</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bwir.com/files/Barry-WehmillerI/FileCabinet/UploadFiles_ESArticle2Final_6230.pdf">Product design challenges for India Entry</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bwir.com/files/Barry-WehmillerI/FileCabinet/UploadFiles_ESArticle3Final_6231.pdf">Outsourcing Product Design for India Entry</a></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /> </div> <p><em>The writer is handling the business operations for the European Market and provides engineering and design consultancy for the countries strategizing to enter emerging markets like India. You can reach him at <a href="mailto:vivek.maladkar@bwir.com">vivek.maladkar@bwir.com</a> or the below contact number for any queries.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <p><strong><em>About Barry-Wehmiller International Resources</em></strong></p> <p><em>Barry-Wehmiller International Resources (BWIR) is a global provider of business and technology solutions to the mid-market manufacturing domain. With headquarters in St. Louis, MO., and global delivery operations strategically located to meet customer needs throughout the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia and South America, BWIR offers world-class engineering services and enterprise consulting solutions that enable its clients to achieve a competitive edge in their marketplace.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <div align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /> </div> <p><strong>Vivek Maladkar</strong></p> <p><strong>Head Business Development –Europe     </strong></p> <p><strong>Barry-Wehmiller International Resources Pvt Ltd</strong><strong>. </strong></p> <p><strong>101 Lilac Grove | Nottingham, UK NG9 1PF</strong></p> <p><strong>+44 (0) 115 967 8787 | DDI +44 (0) 115 907 9483 | fax +44 (0) 115 967 8707</strong></p> <p><strong>Cell +44(0)7867 505 709</strong></p> <p><strong><a href="mailto:vivek.maladkar@bwir.com">vivek.maladkar@bwir.com</a></strong><strong></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.bwir.com">www.bwir.com</a></strong><strong></strong></p>

<p></p><p><a href="http://productdesignhub.com/2012/09/top-3-free-online-educational-resources-for-product-design-students/product_design_student/" rel="attachment wp-att-1586"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1586" height="333" src="http://productdesignhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/product_design_student.jpg" title="product_design_student" width="500" /></a></p> <p>There are a plethora of high-quality online courses and other educational resources popping up on the internet these days. Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, and many other big name schools now provide some of their best undergraduate and graduate courses to online students, for free. Some of the top-notch educational content on the web includes courses, tutorials, and videos for product design students and practicing industrial/product designers. If you&#8217;re a product design student who wants to learn more about your field or you&#8217;re a product designer who would like to brush up on essential concepts, check out these top educational resources:</p> <p><strong>1. <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm">MIT OpenCourseWare</a></strong></p> <p>MIT offers a number of free product design courses on its OpenCourseWare site. Many of MIT&#8217;s offerings are graduate-level courses that are mostly project-based, and they&#8217;re primarily meant for those who already have some knowledge of how products are designed. If you want to take your knowledge of product design to a new level or learn how to design specific products like toys and yachts, don&#8217;t miss what MIT has to offer on its OpenCourseWare site.</p> <p><strong>2. <a href="http://ecorner.stanford.edu/">Stanford University&#8217;s eCorner</a></strong></p> <p>There are a number of educational videos and portions of courses on Stanford University&#8217;s eCorner that are meant for product designers and those interested in learning more about product design. Much of what&#8217;s available on Stanford University&#8217;s eCorner focuses on the entrepreneurial side of industrial and product design. If you&#8217;re interested in learning about which kinds of product designs consumers like and what kind of creative techniques you&#8217;ll need to use to make best-selling products, the educational videos on eCorner will be right up your alley.</p> <p><strong>3. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/expertvillage/videos?query=industrial+design">Expert Village&#8217;s YouTube Page</a></strong></p> <p>Expert Village&#8217;s YouTube page offers a number of how-to videos for those interested in designing and creating simple products. To find these videos, you simply need to search for &#8220;industrial design&#8221; on this organization&#8217;s YouTube page. Expert Village&#8217;s industrial design videos are ideal for beginning designers who want to learn how to make basic products and draw out the plans for those products before they make them. Expert Village is run by the same people who run eHow. As you might expect, its videos are hit or miss, just like much of the content on eHow&#8217;s main website. So, you may have to dig around to find Expert Villages most helpful videos, but they are definitely there.</p> <p>Free online education is just in the beginning stages of development. It will be exciting to see what new educational resources pop up to help product designers optimize what they do. The three resources listed above can serve as valuable tools in the lives of industrial designers. So, give them a try, and expand your mind and skill set!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>About the author:</strong> Angelita Williams is a freelance writer and education enthusiast who frequently contributes to <a href="http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/">onlinecollegecourses.com</a>. She strives to instruct her readers and enrich their lives and welcomes you to contact her at angelita.williams7@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.</em></p>

<p>Enough is enough, guys!</p><p>Let me set this straight once and for all.</p><p>So you have decided to become a web designer, right?<br /> That is just AMAZING<strong>!</strong></p><p>But did someone recommend you to go to college to do that?<br /> That is just HORRIBLE<strong>!</strong></p><p>Whoever said it deserves a slap on the wrist!</p><p>Because college is where you get taught stuff, right?<br /> RIGHT<strong>!</strong></p><p>So, this is where it all gets horribly wrong.</p><p>And now let me explain to you why&#8230;</p><p><strong>+VIDEO At The End</strong></p><p><span id="more-78262"></span></p><h2>Sucking Blood Today,<br /> Makes You a Web Designer Tomorrow</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78264" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/vampire.jpg" title="vampire" width="570" /></p><p><em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/1uk3/">Luke Addison</a></em></p><p>Listen my friend, just in case you have not realized yet.<br /> Web design is something much more than just writing a piece of code.</p><p>It is a very creative process.<br /> It is so creative process, that right now you must listen.</p><p>Just listen&#8230; listen&#8230;</p><p>Can You hear it?</p><p>What does it sound like? Scary? Is it loud?</p><p>Can You even guess what it is&#8230;?</p><p>It is the inner You.<br /> It is the real You.</p><p>The one, who is always thirsty.<br /> Thirsty for curiosity, Thirsty to be naive and Thirsty to be foolish again.</p><p>I do not mean just thirsty.<br /> But really, really thirsty, as thirsty as vampires are for blood.</p><p>And now guess what&#8230;</p><p>Schools kill this thirst for creativity and thirst for curiosity.<br /> And most certainly will not let you stay naive and foolish either.</p><h2><strong>#WeVamps Too Cool For School</strong> <em>- <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/02vuU" target="_blank"><span style="color: #33cccc;">Tweet This</span></a></em></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78276" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/WeVampsTooCoolForSchool.jpg" title="WeVampsTooCoolForSchool" width="570" /></p><p>But do not give up just yet.<br /> Because we vampires are stronger than that.</p><h2>How College Can Make You The Worst Web Designer</h2><p>Now, please do not get me wrong here.<br /> College is not evil, at all.</p><p>It is just a wrong choice for some people.<br /> I personally study psychology.</p><p>And it is certainly a recommended choice for lawyers, doctors and dentists.</p><p>But, Thank You God &#8211; I did not learn web design in college.</p><p>College is a type of factory.<br /> Have you never thought about this?</p><p></p><p>College <em>manufactures</em> everyone using the same standards.<br /> Using the same learning techniques.<br /> And using the same rating systems for everyone.</p><p><strong>But How Dare They?</strong><br /> You are a unique human being, there is no one else like you.<br /> You surely like to learn things different way than your friends.</p><p><strong>And This Is Where It All Gets Wrong:</strong><br /> In schools You get taught stuff &#8211; but You do not need to be taught.<br /> You want to learn and be curious, without being taught.</p><blockquote><p>“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by,<br /> And that has made all the difference.&#8221; &#8211; <strong>Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)</strong></p></blockquote><p>If you learn web design yourself, using your own way to learn, guess what?</p><p>You will become more unique and more original than all the other guys who have been taught using the same methods.</p><h2>This Is What You Get By Choosing To Go To College</h2><p></p><p>This is what you would have to put up with in College.<br /> I personally choose to learn web design the way Vampires do.</p><h2><strong>#WeVamps Too Cool For School</strong> <em>- <span style="color: #33cccc;"><a href="http://clicktotweet.com/02vuU" target="_blank"><span style="color: #33cccc;">Tweet This</span></a></span></em></h2><ol><li>In college it is not always easy to find specific Web Design program, so you end up wasting your time on subjects you do not need.</li><li>Going to college will make it so much harder for you to work on some side projects to gain that so essential experience and earn some extra income.</li><li>Web Design technologies develop so fast, that very often colleges cannot manage to catch up, so you are being taught outdated programs.</li><li>You will not be allowed to learn exactly what You want to learn or in many cases even need to learn.</li><li>Because you will not learn a lot of the practical side of web design, you will not be able to learn from your own mistakes.</li><li>Instead of working as a great team and brainstorming ideas together with real web designer mentors, You will be given a tutor. And most of them are not even web designers themselves.</li><li>You end up paying for being taught web design, rather than getting paid to learn web design in real life situations from real gigs. Horrible.</li></ol><blockquote><p>&#8220;I can tell you I don&#8217;t care which school you came from. I just want seriously smart, passionate and determined hackers on my team.&#8221; -<strong>Peter Chang</strong></p></blockquote><h2>The Story of a Self-Taught Web Designer</h2><p></p><p>This video should make you think about your decision. It is just amazing how a great self-taught Sr. Interactive Designer at a leading financial services provider Wren Lanier started her career.</p><h2>We Vamps Always Stay Curious</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78287" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/curious.jpg" title="curious" width="570" /></p><p>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/purpleslog/">Purple Slog</a></p><p>Everyone who has learned web design using my blood sucking method knows that it is important to stay curious and patient.</p><p>Just remember my words now.<br /> If You stay curious and patient you can definitely become self-taught.<br /> And to back me up I can tell you, that these wise words come from my own experience.</p><p>But come on, how nice would it be if I had something more to back it up?<br /> <strong>Deal!</strong></p><p>Here are self-taught designer Tobias van Schneider’s words:</p><blockquote><p>“Everything starts with curiosity and YOUR first step.<br /> Just listen to your instincts.“ &#8211; <strong>Tobias van Schneider’s</strong></p></blockquote><p>You can follow Tobias on <a href="https://twitter.com/schneidertobias" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://dribbble.com/tobiasvanschneider">Dribble</a> or Like him on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lesavignons">Facebook</a>.</p><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78288" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TobiasVanSchneider.jpg" title="TobiasVanSchneider" width="570" /></p><p>Tobias was born in Germany, but now resides in Austria.<br /> He also writes about <a href="http://bit.ly/VdMkvA">Being Self Taught</a>.</p><h2>We Vamps Stay Hungry and Foolish</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78290" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/hungryandfoolish.jpg" title="hungryandfoolish" width="570" /></p><p>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/62648476@N00/">El Payo</a></p><p>Hey, I have heard this somewhere before!<br /> Is that what you thought to yourself when you read it?</p><p>Probably you did, indeed, and you know why?<br /> Because this is one of the most famous Steve Job’s quotes.</p><p>He also said something very interesting:</p><blockquote><p>“I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.” &#8211; <strong>Steve Jobs</strong></p></blockquote><p>Here is Steve’s speech for Stanford students in 2005</p><p></p><h2>We Vamps Like To Be Naive Again</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78292" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/naiveagain.jpg" title="naiveagain" width="570" /></p><p>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/limaoscarjuliet/">Pawel Loj</a></p><p>I still remember those days in school, when I was called naive.<br /> The problem was &#8211; they meant it in a bad way.</p><p>They clearly should find out more about the way we vampires learn stuff.</p><p>Being naive again.<br /> Yes, again, as naive as when we were little kids.</p><p>Being naive is not being stupid.<br /> It means being able to see a bigger picture.</p><p>In college no one will let you be naive again.<br /> But when You learn web design yourself, you give yourself a permission.</p><p>Yes, a permission to be naive again.</p><blockquote><p>“Every true genius is bound to be naive. “ -<strong>Friedrich Schiller</strong></p></blockquote><h2>8 Young Designers, Naive Enough To Make It</h2><p>These young designers did not think they would need to finish college to make it happen in design industry.<br /> They stayed curious, foolish and naive enough to believe they can do it.</p><h2>1. <a href="http://www.shyamagolden.com/" target="_blank">Shyama Golden</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78297" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ShyamaGolden.jpg" title="ShyamaGolden" width="570" /></p><p>As a child Shyama learned how to write code, because she figured one day this internet thing would help her share her art with nice people all over the world.</p><p>And Today Shyama Already Works With:<strong><br /> NASA, LA Magazine, Computer Arts Magazine, MetaLab, Supreme Cort Of Texas.</strong></p><h2>2. <a href="http://lewisking.net/">Lewis King</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78298" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/LewisKing.jpg" title="LewisKing" width="570" /></p><p>At just 17 years of age Lewis got an incredible opportunity to move to Bath, joining a leading eCommerce agency Blubolt full time.</p><p>And Today Lewis Already Works With:<br /> <strong>The Velvet Chair Company, bluCommerce, Tomorrow&#8217;s Web Meetup, Blubolt.</strong></p><h2>3. <a href="http://gedy.me/">Gedy Rivera</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78299" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GedyRivera.jpg" title="GedyRivera" width="570" /></p><p>Gedy is a self-taught web designer and front-end developer. When she was just a kid, she remembers always wanting to play with electronics instead of Barbies.</p><p>And Today Gedy Already Works With:<br /> <strong>Oasis House Ministries, Owyane Wade&#8217;s Fantasty Basketball Camp, Ivan y AB Music.</strong></p><h2>4. <a href="http://benbate.com/">Ben Bate</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78300" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BenBate.jpg" title="BenBate" width="570" /></p><p>Ben is a self-taught freelance designer from Plymouth in England. He is very passionate about web design and user interface.</p><p>And Today Ben Already Works With: <strong>PixelBits Apps Ltd, MVP Tracker, Pixel</strong> <strong>Clouds.</strong><br /> He also has been approached by both: <strong>Google</strong> and <strong>Apple.</strong></p><h2>5. <a href="http://hellovanny.com/">Vanessa Gonzales</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78301" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/VanessaGonzales.jpg" title="VanessaGonzales" width="570" /></p><p>Vanessa is actually a pastry chef. She graduated with a degree in Baking &amp; Pastry, but then decided to start web design. <em>(great decision)</em></p><p>And Today Vanessa Already Works With:<br /> <strong>Chef E Man, Karie Denny Photography, Roofresh.</strong></p><h2>6. <a href="http://cargocollective.com/circleboxcreative">Callum Chapman</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78302" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CallumChapman.jpg" title="CallumChapman" width="570" /></p><p>Callum is half British and half Aussie. He has been working with Envato, Crowdsource and Geek Store.</p><p>And Today Callum Already Has  Been Approached By: <strong>Google</strong> and <strong>Apple.</strong><br /> He Has Worked With Companies Like: <strong>Starcount</strong>, <strong>Kogan</strong>, <strong>Fancy</strong>, <strong>GPS Plus</strong> and <strong><a href="http://cargocollective.com/circleboxcreative/Testimonials">Many More</a></strong>.<br /> And Callum Also Has Successfully Launched: <strong><a href="http://dotgrid.co">Dotgrid.co</a></strong></p><h2>7. <a href="http://www.amymahon.com/">Amy Mahon</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78303" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AmyMahon.jpg" title="AmyMahon" width="570" /></p><p>Amy taught herself HTML at the age of 12 <em>(wow)</em> and she has naturally progressed from there.</p><p>And Today Amy Already Works With:<br /> <strong>Shoon, Joseph Turner, Whittard, Oliver Bonas, Alphabet Bags.</strong></p><h2>8. <a href="http://ivomynttinen.com/">Ivo Mynttinen</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78304" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IvoMynttinen.jpg" title="IvoMynttinen" width="570" /></p><p>Ivo has never received any formal design training, but he already has been doing design work since he was 15, when he first got his fingers on Macromedia Fireworks 8.</p><p>And Today Ivo Already Works With:<br /> <strong>AppLovin, Kazoo Analytics, The NodeCMS, Socialbit.</strong></p><h2>How Inspiring Was This? And You Can Do It Too!</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78305" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/WeVampsTooCoolForSchool1.jpg" title="WeVampsTooCoolForSchool" width="570" /></p><blockquote><p>&#8220;Like many designers, I feel that my talent has developed from hours of hard work, experimentation and simply from being observant of techniques and styles of others.&#8221; &#8211; <strong>Ronnie Francisco</strong></p></blockquote><h2>Wait, There Is More! Click Play To Find Out!</h2><p></p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=IqDVjl76hgA:Hf0QE8bkeZ4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=IqDVjl76hgA:Hf0QE8bkeZ4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=IqDVjl76hgA:Hf0QE8bkeZ4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=IqDVjl76hgA:Hf0QE8bkeZ4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/IqDVjl76hgA" width="1" />

<p>Responsive design is the process of arranging the layout in a way that all the important information is presented in a user readable way in any kind of device or screen size. Most designers will choose a grid based layout since it&#8217;s easier to handle grid based layouts in different kind of devices.</p><p>It&#8217;s your decision to choose between a fixed or fluid grid to design the layout. Throughout this tutorial we are going to focus on fluid grids and their importance in responsive design.</p><p><span id="more-77663"></span></p><h2>What is a Fluid Grid?</h2><p>It&#8217;s important to know the meaning of fluid grids before we start thinking about the designs. There is no better explanation than the definition given by Wikipedia on fluid.</p><blockquote><p>A fluid is a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied shear stress &#8211; Wikipedia</p></blockquote><p>So I&#8217;ll make things clear by explaining the above definition in simple practical terms. In web design, fluid will be our design or layout and shear stress will be the screen size or user device. Regardless of what the device or screen size is, components in fluid designs are going to flow and adapt to the user environment.</p><h2>Importance of Fluid Grids</h2><p>In adaptive grids, we define pixel-based dimensions. Hence we will have to adjust the widths and heights manually in certain device viewports. Since fluid grids flow naturally within the dimensions of its parent container, limited adjustments will be needed for various screen sizes and devices.</p><p>Mobile devices are getting smaller in size and people prefer using them in their personal work. On the other hand, desktop monitors are getting wider with higher resolutions. So we just cannot plan for smaller devices in responsive design. The advantage of fluid grid is that we can adjust the max-width and it will still work on larger screens due to the percentage based calculations.</p><h2>How Fluid Grids Work</h2><p>We used to design inside fixed grids with the 960px system. Then the layout became adaptive by using different pixel sizes at different screen sizes. It was all about pixel based layout design. Now the time has come to create percentage based designs which are known as fluid designs.</p><p>In fluid grids we define a maximum layout size for the design. The grid is divided into a specific number of columns to keep the layout clean and easy to handle. Then we design each element with proportional widths and heights instead of pixel based dimensions. So whenever the device or screen size is changed, elements will adjust their widths and heights by the specified proportions to its parent container.</p><p>Before we dig deeper into fluid grids, let’s take a look at some cool fluid designs to get an idea about how fluid layouts work.</p><p><strong><a href="http://dustycartridge.com/" target="_blank">Dusty Cartridge</a></strong></p><p><img alt="" height="175" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fluid_grid_sample1.png" title="fluid_grid_sample1" width="570" /></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.palantir.net/" target="_blank">Palantir.net</a></strong></p><p><img alt="" height="176" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fluid_grids_sample2.png" title="fluid_grids_sample2" width="570" /></p><p><strong><a href="http://dressresponsively.com/" target="_blank">Dress Responsively</a></strong><br /> <img alt="" height="175" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fluid_Grid_sample3.png" title="Fluid_Grid_sample3" width="570" /></p><h2>Fluid Grid Systems and Generators</h2><p>Creating a fluid grid from scratch is not an easy task and will require time and effort. Hence it’s wise to choose an existing CSS Grid Framework or Grid Generator as the base for your layout design. The following are some free CSS grid systems and generators.</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.tinyfluidgrid.com/" target="_blank">tiny fluid grid</a></li><li><a href="http://grids.heroku.com/" target="_blank">Variable Grid System</a></li><li><a href="http://csswizardry.com/fluid-grids/" target="_blank">Fluid Grids Calculator</a></li><li><a href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/scaffolding.html#fluidGridSystem" target="_blank">Fluid Grid by Bootstrap</a></li></ul><p>Most of the CSS grid frameworks will come with advanced built in features and have been tested across many browsers. The purpose of this tutorial is to understand fluid grids from top to bottom. Hence it’s wise to generate a fluid grid which will enable you to learn the basics of fluid grids.</p><p>I will be using the  <a href="http://grids.heroku.com/">Variable Grid System</a> to generate a fluid grid according to our preference. Follow this link and adjust the variable values. I’ll be using the following values.</p><p><strong>Column width</strong> &#8211; 60<br /> <strong>Number of columns</strong> &#8211; 12<br /> <strong>Gutter width</strong> &#8211; 20</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/fluid-grids/default.html" target="_blank">Demo</a></h3><p>Then download the fluid version of the CSS file. Now open it in your favorite text editor and search for <strong>Grid &gt;&gt; 12 Columns</strong>. The code below shows the content of <strong>Grid &gt;&gt; 12 Columns</strong> section.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .container_12 .grid_1 { width:6.333%; } .container_12 .grid_2 { width:14.667%; } .container_12 .grid_3 { width:23.0%; } .container_12 .grid_4 { width:31.333%; } .container_12 .grid_5 { width:39.667%; } .container_12 .grid_6 { width:48.0%; } .container_12 .grid_7 { width:56.333%; } .container_12 .grid_8 { width:64.667%; } .container_12 .grid_9 { width:73.0%; } .container_12 .grid_10 { width:81.333%; } .container_12 .grid_11 { width:89.667%; } .container_12 .grid_12 { width:98.0%; } </pre><p>As you can see <strong>container_12</strong> is the main container. Each and every element in our design should be inside a container with the class <strong>container_12</strong> . Then percentage based widths are assigned to classes with <strong>.grid_1 , .grid_2 … .grid_n. </strong>Fluid grids are built using columns that are considered fluid columns. When the screen size is changed, the widths of these columns will adjust proportionally to its parent container.</p><p>We have 12 fluid columns in our grid. So let’s take a look at how the columns are stacked up in our layout.</p><p><img alt="" height="465" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fluid_Grid_Default.png" title="Fluid_Grid_Default" width="570" /></p><p>The code for the above section is given below. You can check the downloaded files for more information.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt; &lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;meta charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt; &lt;meta name=&quot;viewport&quot; content=&quot;width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1&quot;&gt; &lt;title&gt;Fluid Grid with Fluid Columns&lt;/title&gt; &lt;link type=&quot;text/css&quot; rel=&quot;stylesheet&quot; href=&quot;style.css&quot; /&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;div id=&quot;single-columns&quot; class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_1&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div id=&quot;double-columns&quot; class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_2&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; </pre><p>Each set of components is contained within an element with the <strong>class container_12</strong>. Inside the container we can use the <strong>grid_n</strong> class to create fluid columns with specific widths. Using <strong>grid_1</strong> will give 1/12 width of the original grid and <strong>grid_2</strong> will give you 2/12.</p><p>You can load the demo and resize your browser to view the fluid nature of grid columns.</p><h2>Nested Fluid Columns</h2><p>When you have a CSS framework, creating a grid with fluid columns is straightforward. But not all designs are going to be straightforward like the layout shown previously. We might need to create columns and rows inside other columns and rows. Columns contained within a parent column are called nested columns. Let’s see how we can create nested fluid columns using the CSS file we generated earlier.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/fluid-grids/nested.html" target="_blank">Demo</a></h3><p><img alt="" height="407" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fluid_Grid_Nested_Columns.png" title="Fluid_Grid_Nested_Columns" width="570" /></p><p>The layout given above contains 2 rows. The first row is divided into 2 sections of 6 columns and each of the 2 sections are divided again into 4 sections of 3 columns.</p><p>Likewise the second row is divided into 3 sections of 4 columns and each of the 3 sections is divided again into 3 sections of 4 columns. This is how you create nested columns in grids. Let’s see how to code the above layout.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt; &lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;meta charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt; &lt;meta name=&quot;viewport&quot; content=&quot;width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1&quot;&gt; &lt;title&gt;Nested Fluid Columns&lt;/title&gt; &lt;link type=&quot;text/css&quot; rel=&quot;stylesheet&quot; href=&quot;style.css&quot; /&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_6&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_6&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_3&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container_12&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;grid_4&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; </pre><p>First we create the main containers and columns as we did in the previous section. Inside the column we need to create another container with container_12 class for nested columns. Now we get another 12 columns inside the main 6 columns. Then 12 sub columns can be divided as necessary. Now you should have a clear knowledge of creating fluid grids and working with nested columns. Let’s move further in fluid grids.</p><h2>Design Beyond Fluid Grid</h2><p>Most designers that are just starting out think that using a responsive CSS framework will make your design responsive. Unfortunately responsive design is not that simple. Fluid grids will adapt to the change in browser window or device. Unless you plan the design carefully , users will have problems browsing your content on smaller devices when you use fluid grids.</p><p>Consider the screen below.</p><p><img alt="" height="514" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fluid_Grid_Small_Screen.png" title="Fluid_Grid_Small_Screen" width="306" /></p><p>This is how the fluid grid layout discussed in earlier sections will display on small screens. These are just grid columns without proper data. Even in this case the number 1 is not displayed properly. When it comes to real content it’s going to be a total mess. In this scenario we need to adjust the widths of the columns in order to provide better user experience.</p><p>You can use CSS media queries to adjust the widths of columns for different screen sizes. In the above scenario you can double the column width and keep 6 columns instead of 12 to provide better readability of your content. So make sure not to depend only on fluid grids in responsive designs.</p><h2>Testing Fluid Grids</h2><p>Now that we have completed the basics of fluid grids, we can move onto creating a simple demo with jQuery to test the fluid grid for different screen sizes. First we are going to create the page layout and navigation as shown below.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/fluid-grids/index.html" target="_blank">Demo<br /> </a></h3><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt; &lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;meta charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt; &lt;meta name=&quot;viewport&quot; content=&quot;width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1&quot;&gt; &lt;title&gt;Fluid Grid Tester&lt;/title&gt; &lt;script type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; src=&quot;jquery.min.js&quot; &gt;&lt;/script&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;div id=&quot;device_navigation&quot;&gt; &lt;div id='device_panel'&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;javascript:void(0);&quot; onclick=&quot;changeGrid('desktop');&quot;&gt;Desktop&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;javascript:void(0);&quot; onclick=&quot;changeGrid('tab_lan');&quot;&gt;Tablet Landscape&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;javascript:void(0);&quot; onclick=&quot;changeGrid('tab_pot');&quot;&gt;Tablet Portrait&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;javascript:void(0);&quot; onclick=&quot;changeGrid('mob_lan');&quot;&gt;Mobile Landscape&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;javascript:void(0);&quot; onclick=&quot;changeGrid('mob_pot');&quot;&gt;Mobile Portrait&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class='main_wrapper'&gt; &lt;iframe class=&quot;wrapper&quot; src=&quot;media_query.html&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; </pre><p>Our testing page has basic HTML layout with jQuery. Element with the ID <strong>device_panel</strong> will contain the navigation for standard devices like desktops,mobiles and tablets. Once the link is clicked <strong>changeGrid</strong> function will be called with the type device as parameter.</p><p>On the bottom section we have an IFRAME which will be used to load our fluid grid. Fluid grid is contained in the <strong>media_query.html</strong> file. Now let’s take a look at the <strong>changeGrid</strong> function.</p><pre class="brush: jscript; title: ; notranslate"> function changeGrid(device){ if(device == &quot;desktop&quot;){ $(&quot;.wrapper&quot;).css(&quot;width&quot;,&quot;960px&quot;); } if(device == &quot;tab_lan&quot;){ $(&quot;.wrapper&quot;).css(&quot;width&quot;,&quot;768px&quot;); } if(device == &quot;tab_pot&quot;){ $(&quot;.wrapper&quot;).css(&quot;width&quot;,&quot;600px&quot;); } if(device == &quot;mob_lan&quot;){ $(&quot;.wrapper&quot;).css(&quot;width&quot;,&quot;480px&quot;); } if(device == &quot;mob_pot&quot;){ $(&quot;.wrapper&quot;).css(&quot;width&quot;,&quot;320px&quot;); } } </pre><p>Once the function is called, it will check for the device using the passed parameter. Then it will change the width of the .wrapper (IFRAME) to the standard width for the device. Then we will be able to see how a fluid grid works on smaller screens.</p><p>Fluid grid used inside <strong>media_query.html</strong> file will be similar to the examples we discussed in earlier section. You can use the demo files to customize the codes. You should have something like the following screen as the testing screen.</p><p><img alt="" height="355" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fluid_Grid_Tester.png" title="Fluid_Grid_Tester" width="570" /></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/fluid-grids.zip" target="_blank">Download</a></h3><h2>Wrap Up</h2><p>Fluid grids allow you to create responsive designs which suit dynamic screen sizes. The complexity of developing a fluid grid can be minimized by using an existing CSS framework. You cannot depend only on fluid grids to provide the perfect responsive design for you. Adjust the fluid grid when necessary according to your design and try to provide the best browsing experience for the user. Hope you learned something from this tutorial and I&#8217;d like to hear your suggestions.</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=RJ_UuUxR08g:e0iAqr2Im7E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=RJ_UuUxR08g:e0iAqr2Im7E:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=RJ_UuUxR08g:e0iAqr2Im7E:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=RJ_UuUxR08g:e0iAqr2Im7E:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/RJ_UuUxR08g" width="1" />

<p>Howdy! Maybe you&#8217;re one of those who haven&#8217;t updated their Twitter headers yet, or maybe you&#8217;ve heard it already but you&#8217;re not just into creating your own design due to a lack of inspiration? Well, that&#8217;s not a problem at all now, this tutorial is for you. I&#8217;m going to show you how to create your own, and showcase some Twitter headers for your inspiration.</p><p></p><p>Before we get started creating our own design, let&#8217;s take a look at this list of inspiration to boost up your creativity level.</p><p><span id="more-77845"></span></p><h2>Use of Self Portrait</h2><p>Select your best photo and align it properly to with the avatar.</p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/Rosen" target="_blank">@Rosen</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-15.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/RyanSeacrest" target="_blank">@RyanSeacrest</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-16.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/db" target="_blank">@db</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-17.jpg" /></p><h2>Branding</h2><p>Select the best product you own and showcase it.</p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/Starbucks" target="_blank">@Starbucks</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-18.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/krispykreme" target="_blank">@krispykreme</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-19.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/PlayStation" target="_blank">@PlayStation</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-20.jpg" /></p><h2>Vector Illustration</h2><p>Using Vector art is always good to look at.</p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/OrganikSEO" target="_blank">OrganikSEO</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-21.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/Vimeo" target="_blank">@Vimeo</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-22.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/Adobe" target="_blank">@Adobe</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-23.jpg" /></p><h2>Dark Backgrounds</h2><p>Dark background makes the avatar picture and text pop ups more.</p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/VandelayDesign" target="_blank">@VandelayDesign</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-24.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/wpbeginner" target="_blank">@wpbeginner</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-25.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/Behance" target="_blank">@Behance</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-26.jpg" /></p><h2>Creative</h2><p>Very creative how they present their interest by the use of illustration.</p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/laurenonizzle" target="_blank">@laurenonizzle</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-27.jpg" /><a href="https://twitter.com/laurenonizzle" target="_blank"><br /> </a></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/MKBHD" target="_blank">@MKBHD</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-28.jpg" /></p><h4><a href="https://twitter.com/imjustcreative" target="_blank">@imjustcreative</a></h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-29.jpg" /></p><h4>Make it Simple</h4><h4>@twitter</h4><p><a href="https://twitter.com/twitter" target="_blank"> <img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-30.jpg" /><br /> </a></p><h4>@SocialNorth</h4><p><a href="https://twitter.com/SocialNorth" target="_blank"> <img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-31.jpg" /><br /> </a></p><p>Now that you&#8217;ve seen some inspiring Twitter Headers, let&#8217;s create your very own Twitter header. See below how I created my own Twitter header.</p><h2>Creating The Custom Design</h2><h3>Step 1</h3><p>Open Photoshop and create a new document 520px by 260px.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-1.jpg" /></p><h3>Step 2</h3><p>Let&#8217;s setup a guideline where our block will end. To do this go to <em>View</em> &#8211; <em>New Guide</em>. Set the value to <strong>180px</strong> and make sure you select <strong>Horizontal</strong>.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-2.jpg" /></p><h2>Step 3</h2><p>Now let&#8217;s create the blocks. Using the <strong>Rectangle Tool(U)</strong> create a <strong>11px</strong> by <strong>11px</strong> shape, place it from the top and downwards for the guideline and make sure each block has a distance of <strong>5px</strong>. Also adjust the positioning as shown in the screenshot below.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-3.jpg" /></p><h3>Step 4</h3><p>Duplicate all the blocks until you reach far right.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-4.jpg" /></p><h3>Step 5</h3><p>Now that we have all the blocks in place, time to change the colour of each block. The goal is to suit your current twitter background. What if we choose three colours from the existing background? I took two colours from 1WD&#8217;s logo and a one colour a little lighter than dark grey.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-5.jpg" /></p><ul><li>#f58220</li><li>#6d6f71</li><li>#8a8c8f</li></ul><p>The orange squares will be aligned to the avatar image, then the remaining blocks will be filled by the other colours.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-6.jpg" /></p><h2>Step 6</h2><p>Continue filling the boxes with colours until you fill them all. Once you&#8217;re done, you should have something that looks like in the screenshot below.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-7.jpg" /></p><h2>Step 7</h2><p>It feels like it&#8217;s a bit boring that it has the same number of blocks in each columns. What if we remove some blocks on the top and bottom? Let&#8217;s try it.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-8.jpg" /></p><p>It looks more appealing to me. What do you think?</p><h2>Step 8</h2><p>Twitter will automatically darken up bottom part of the image about 50% &#8211; 60%. In this case, 60% of our design will not be enough to make the text pop up more.</p><p>How it looks when we upload it on Twitter.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-9.jpg" /></p><p>Now what we are going to do is add a gradient to the bottom part of our design. Select the <strong>Gradient Tool(G)</strong>, change the Foreground colour to <strong>#8a8c8f</strong>, set the gradient to Foreground to Transparent. Start filling from the bottom towards the centre of the canvas.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-10.jpg" /></p><p>Now that we have finished our design, save it as JPEG, <strong>Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S</strong> to save for web.</p><p>How it looks when I uploaded it to Twitter.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-11.jpg" /></p><h2>How To Set Your Twitter Header</h2><p>Click the settings icon and choose <em>settings</em> from the drop down menu.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-12.jpg" /></p><p>Select Design</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-13.jpg" /></p><p>When you scroll down to the bottom you will see <strong>Customize your own</strong>. Click change header botton and upload the JPEG file we just created.</p><p>When you look at your profile you will see how great it is :P</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-header-img-14.jpg" /></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/_burnstudio">Demo</a> | <a href="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Twitter-Header.zip">Download</a></h3><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>There you have it, we just created our new custom Twitter header design in eight simple steps. Just make sure that your Twitter header is a part of the overall design and describes your personality or brand. Make it as simple as possible.</p><p>Well, that&#8217;s it! I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Make sure to share this to your friends if you like it and don&#8217;t forget to follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/_burnstudio" target="_blank" title="_burnstudio">@_burnstudio</a>. Thanks!</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=7qepoLom_gk:nsD7sw6uGrI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=7qepoLom_gk:nsD7sw6uGrI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=7qepoLom_gk:nsD7sw6uGrI:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=7qepoLom_gk:nsD7sw6uGrI:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/7qepoLom_gk" width="1" />

<p>Today we have really exciting news for you!</p><p>How would you like to see yourself become a better web designer with our help? Do you feel like you are left alone on this journey to become a web designer?</p><p>Do you want to <strong>see</strong> and <strong>hear</strong> how I flunked on camera and do you want to see <strong>1WD&#8217;s new branded microphone?</strong></p><p>Yes, you heard it right &#8211; see and hear!</p><p>We aren&#8217;t seeing you yet, but you can see us and it really feels like we are talking directly to you!</p><p>You are alone NO MORE! Oh, wait! There is much more, watch video now! <span id="more-78081"></span></p><h2>Introducing 1WD TV</h2><p>Just to be sure you know it&#8217;s me, founder of 1stWebDesigner and James Richman talking in this video, you can check his articles <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/author/james-richman/">here</a>!</p><h2>On The Journey To Becoming Web Designer</h2><p>Everything started some time ago when you found out how exciting and full of opportunities the Internet is. You saw all the huge opportunities the Internet is providing, you read all those different stories of young people succeeding online and thought, &#8220;what  about me?&#8221; You sat down on your couch, your whole life ahead of you and dreamed of your very own project, of how it could conquer the world. But there was one little problem &#8211; you wanted to change, but you didn&#8217;t know how you can start out. There was no one there for you to ask for advice, nobody to care for you during your first step!</p><h3>What should I learn first?</h3><p>Should I start with Adobe Photoshop so I can create beautiful looking web designs? Designs which will attract other people, other designers and make them share their feedback and help me improve my web design even more?</p><p>Or maybe I should learn HTML5 and CSS3 &#8211; languages that everybody is talking and raving about? I could create my first responsive web design portfolio to show I am ahead of the competition. New clients would reach out to me, interested to utilise my skills. That would be nice start!</p><p>Oh but then there are more graphic programs, there are more programming languages, then there are many more CMS you could learn using!</p><p>One question remains &#8211; <strong>what should I learn first?</strong> How can I get started?</p><p>And when you finally make a decision, it doesn&#8217;t really get any easier. You may create your first web design, but is there anyone who is willing to give you a creative feedback?</p><p>Well, we have good news for you! You are <strong>Alone No More</strong> and we will work hard to keep our promise to you! We are willing to change, but are you ready to change with us? Are you ready to connect, socialise and help us with your feedback on what we are trying to do here? Are you ready to take this journey with us?</p><p>Are you asking why?</p><blockquote><p> I have a better question for you &#8211; why not? And why not start now?</p></blockquote><h2>Want to know more about what you will get out from upcoming 1WD TV videos?</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78124" height="400" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/graphic1.jpg" title="graphic" width="570" /></p><p>I, Dainis, and James Richman tried to explain what is happening here, but we were a bit stressed so we made quite a few mistakes on the video (I was very stressed, first public video ever for me). Let me follow up here and explain one more time what we are going to cover in upcoming 1WD TV videos!</p><p>You will be able to join us on Google+ Hangout! We are using Google+ Hangout to record our videos for now in order to use the most social way possible with videos. The quality isn&#8217;t what we love, but it works! What do you think about hangouts?</p><h3>What you will hear us talking about on these videos</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-78125" height="512" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/1WDTV1.jpg" title="1WDTV" width="512" /></p><p>The first thing I wanted to explain is when James mentioned we won&#8217;t be covering web design tips in the video. We will not be covering COMPLICATED web design or coding tips &#8211; a few people got confused about that part! Instead you will get easy to implement, simple, yet effective, web designing tips you can use when creating design. Creating design which accomplishes your or your client goals &#8211; professional visual design, better usability, better conversions, more sales, more contracts from new clients, if that&#8217;s what you want!</p><blockquote><p>How can you know if you can trust our advice?</p></blockquote><p>That&#8217;s a great question!</p><p>Well, we will be doing our homework, doing crazy research and we will base our advice on facts and things we have tested ourselves.</p><p>Actually, with the upcoming 1stWebDesigner redesign, we will do crazy A/B split testing, heat mapping, watch how people interact with 1stWebDesigner to see what works and what doesn&#8217;t. And with 80,000 to 90,000 daily unique visitors I think we can get great results that you will be eager to read about! And the best thing for you is that we will showcase each test in a manner that you can use to improve your own web design to reach your goals faster! We will be working hard and sharing with you our research and results and then it will be up to you if you want to improve your web design!</p><h3>Are You Excited About These Upcoming Changes?</h3><p>If you don&#8217;t want to  miss the next video, subscribe to our mailing list or simply circle us on G+ &#8211; <a href="https://plus.google.com/112855603138580222073/posts" target="_blank">Dainis Graveris</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/107906336334505040606/posts" target="_blank">James Richman</a>! Please respond to the question we got for you on the video! And join us on this journey!</p><p>I hope you are as excited as we are! See you in the next video!</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=WhEnwbmeHos:AIRr9a7wtK4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=WhEnwbmeHos:AIRr9a7wtK4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=WhEnwbmeHos:AIRr9a7wtK4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=WhEnwbmeHos:AIRr9a7wtK4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/WhEnwbmeHos" width="1" />

<p>Howdy Folks! In this tutorial you will learn how to convert Artthatworks (if you want to know how to create this design in Photoshop check <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/photoshop-tutorial-beautiful-portfolio-artthatworks/" target="_blank">here</a>!)  from PSD to HTML using Skeleton Boilerplate and make it responsive with media queries. As I mentioned in my last tutorial, I hadn&#8217;t tried using a framework until recently. I found the Skeleton Boilerplate Framework which makes it very easy to convert PSD files into HTML, by calling the right classes you can create a quick responsive layout. Sounds great right? Well then get ready and let&#8217;s get started.</p><p><span id="more-76876"></span></p><p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/1stwebdesigner"><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-16.jpg" /></a></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/Artthatworks/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/artthatworks.rar">Download</a></h3><h2>Resources for this tutorial</h2><ul><li><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/artthatworks.psd" target="_blank" title="PSD Download">PSD Download</a></li><li><a href="http://www.getskeleton.com/" target="_blank">Skeleton Boilerplate</a></li><li><a href="http://slidesjs.com/" target="_blank">SlidesJS</a></li><li><a href="http://tympanus.net/codrops/2011/09/12/elastislide-responsive-carousel/" target="_blank">Elastislide by Codrops</a></li><li>Time and Patience :)</li></ul><h2>What is Skeleton Boilerplate</h2><p>Skeleton Boilerplate is basically like <strong>960 grid</strong> system. In which by calling the right <strong>classes</strong> you can magically create any columns you want that suites your layout.</p><p>What I like in Skeleton Boilerplate</p><ul><li><strong>It&#8217;s Responsive</strong>: We know that websites now a days is aiming for a fluid/responsive layout. So that viewers can view it nicely from a bigger screensize down to mobile.</li><li><strong>Fast to Start</strong>: Skeleton Boilerplate provide us the files that we need for faster developing. We will not be woried about starter layout because it&#8217;s already there and well-structured and also it provide basic styling for form elements, typography, and more.</li><li><strong>Ready set Grid</strong>: What I like the most is the <a href="http://www.getskeleton.com/#grid" target="_blank" title="Grid">Grid</a> by just calling the right class it will do the magic for you.</li></ul><h2>Step 1: Preparation</h2><p></p><ul><li>Open up the PSD File in Photoshop.</li><li>Your favorite code editor. If you ask me, what&#8217;s mine? I&#8217;m using <a href="http://inotai.com/intype/download/" target="_blank">Intype</a>.</li><li>Lastly, open up a web browser to test our layout.</li></ul><h2>Step 2: Getting Files Ready</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-9.jpg" /></p><p>Since we are using Skeleton Boilerplate, the images directory is already prepared at <strong>/images</strong> <strong>/stylesheets</strong> for the CSS stylesheets. All you need to create is a <strong>/js</strong> directory for our JavaScript and <strong>/fonts</strong> directory for our fonts to be used.</p><p>I will leave it up to you to import the images to be used, like the social icons and background patterns. Or if you are really excited to start, just download the provided files in the resource folder.</p><h2>Step 3: Simple Starter Layout</h2><p>To build our HTML layout we should first analyze our design by looking at the Photoshop layout and identify the sections that are unique.</p><p>Pay attention to the naming of <em>id</em> or <em>class</em> in every screenshot, these will be the names we will use when we markup the HTML.</p><h4>Header Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-2.jpg" /></p><ul><li>The header is divided into 2 sections: the first section is for the <strong>logo</strong> and <strong>navigation</strong>, the other section is for the <strong>slideshow</strong>. These two sections are wrapped with a full width because of the repeating pattern that starts from the very top to way down to the slider section.</li><li>For the grayish background with the pattern we will be applying that to our body tag.</li></ul><h4>Welcome Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-3.jpg" /></p><ul><li>Nothing too fancy here, we can see a big <strong>h1</strong> text with a graphic.</li></ul><h4>Service Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-4.jpg" /></p><ul><li>In this section we can see a <em>3 column</em> layout that contains <em>heading title</em>, <em>content text</em>, and a <em>read more</em> button.</li></ul><h4>Recent Projects Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-5.jpg" /></p><ul><li>In this section there are <em>3 images</em> showcasing what we have done. But it&#8217;s kinda boring if we leave it that way right? How about we turn it into a carousel where we can navigate left and right? Sound great doesn&#8217;t it? I&#8217;m going show you how later on using a great jQuery plugin by Codrops.</li></ul><h4>Testimonial Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-6.jpg" /></p><ul><li>In this section we can see a <em>thumbnail</em> photo, a <em>blockquote</em> that contain the <em>testimonial text</em>, <em>name</em> and a <em>link</em> to a website.</li></ul><h4>Footer Section</h4><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-7-update.jpg" /></p><ul><li>In this section there are 2 rows, first is for the <strong>widgets</strong> that contains a <em>3 column</em> layout which is for <strong>about</strong>, <strong>blog</strong> and <strong>twitter feed</strong>. The second row will be for the <strong>copyright</strong> text and <strong>logo</strong>.</li></ul><p>Here is the image of the overall markup that we have done.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-1-update.jpg" /></p><p>Now, based on these notes we create the following HTML layout.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;div class=&quot;wrap-header&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container&quot;&gt;Logo &amp; Navigation content goes here&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container slides&quot;&gt;Slideshow content goes here&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end wrap-header --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container welcome&quot;&gt; Welcome content goes here &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end welcome --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container service&quot;&gt; Services content goes here &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end service --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container recent-projects&quot;&gt; Recent Project content goes here &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end recent-projects --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container testimonial&quot;&gt; Testimonial content goes here &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end testimonial --&gt; &lt;footer&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container widgets&quot;&gt; Widgets content goes here &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end widgets --&gt; &lt;/footer&gt; &lt;footer class=&quot;sub-footer&quot;&gt; Copyright content goes here &lt;/footer&gt; </pre><p>Open up <strong>index.html</strong>, scroll down and you will find &#8220;Delete everything in this .container and get started on your own site!&#8221;, delete everything and copy and paste the code above.</p><p>By calling the <strong>container</strong> class in Skeleton Boilerplate this will center the <strong>div</strong> and have a width of <strong>960px</strong>. So in our markup you&#8217;ll notice we added a class of <strong>container</strong> in every section, except to the <strong>wrapping div</strong> that contains the full width.</p><p>Before we proceed let&#8217;s just style the font in the layout.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> @font-face{ font-family: 'Rokkitt'; src: url('../fonts/Rokkitt/Rokkitt-Regular.ttf') format('truetype'); } * { -moz-box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; }body{ font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Sans-serif; background: #e3e3e3 url(../images/body-bg.jpg); } a, a:visited { color: #67b256; text-decoration: none; outline: 0; } a:hover, a:focus { text-decoration: underline; } p{ font-size: 14px; color: #3b464b; } h1{ font-size: 30px; font-family: 'Rokkitt', serif; color: #23353e; } h2{ font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Rokkitt', serif; color: #23353e; } </pre><ul><li>In the above CSS, we just declared our own font which is placed in <strong>/fonts</strong>, <strong>/Rokkit</strong> directory. If you check the PSD file it has a different font, so we just replaced it with a font that is available in Google fonts.</li></ul><ul><li>Next, we target <strong>*</strong> all elements and styled using new CSS3 <strong>box-sizing</strong> to <strong>border-box</strong>, what this allows you to add a border to a 20px by 20px <strong>div</strong> and the size will remain 20px by 20px.</li></ul><ul><li>For our body we added a repeated background and set our font.</li></ul><ul><li>Then we styled <strong>a</strong>, <strong>p</strong>, <strong>h1 h2</strong> according to its styles.</li></ul><h2>Step 4: Working on Header Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-8.jpg" /></p><p>Now let&#8217;s add the content inside the first <strong>container</strong> div, here&#8217;s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;h1 class=&quot;logo&quot;&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;Artthatworks&quot; href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;Artthatworks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;nav class=&quot;primary&quot;&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;active&quot; href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;home&lt;/a&gt; /&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;portfolio&lt;/a&gt; /&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; /&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;contact&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/nav&gt; </pre><ul><li>In the above HTML, we just added the logo by wrapping it in a <strong>h1</strong> tag with an <strong>a</strong> tag inside it, we also give the <strong>h1</strong> tag a class of <strong>logo</strong>.</li></ul><ul><li>Next we used an HTML 5 tag <strong>nav</strong> and give it a class of <strong>primary</strong>. Inside the <strong>nav</strong> we create an unordered list <strong>ul</strong> which contains our navigation links.</li></ul><p>Open up the <strong>/stylesheets</strong> directory and open up <strong>layout.css</strong>, this is where we will place our CSS styles. Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> h1.logo a{ display: block; width: 183px; height: 32px; background: url(../images/logo.png) no-repeat; float: left; /* Nicolas Gallagher Image replacement technique */ font: 0/0 a; text-shadow: none; color: transparent; } /* NAVIGATION */ nav.primary{ float: right; } nav.primary ul{ float: right; margin-top: 5px; } nav.primary ul li{ float: left; margin-left: 20px; color: #67b256; } nav.primary ul li a{ display: inline-block; padding-right: 20px; text-decoration: none; font-family: 'Rokkitt', serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: 600; color: #67b256; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #090d0f; } nav.primary ul li:last-child a{ padding: 0; } nav.primary ul li a.active{ color: #fff; } nav.primary ul li a:hover{ color: #fff; } </pre><ul><li>In the above CSS, we styled the logo by displaying it to block, giving it a fixed width and height, adding a background image, floating it right and lastly a new way of hiding a text by Nicolas Gallagher.</li></ul><ul><li>Next we styled the navigation by floating it left. Then, we floated the <strong>ul</strong> element to the right and gave it a top margin to align it properly with the logo. All <strong>li</strong> elements are floated to the left, with a 20px left margin and we changed the colour to green. The <strong>a</strong> inside <strong>li</strong> tags is displayed as inline-block, this will help not to push down the <strong>/</strong> we added after the <strong>a</strong> tag, then we included a 20px padding to the right to equally centre the links from each dividers, then lastly we styled the font. For the last child <strong>li</strong> elements we zero out the padding, then we gave the same color for active and hover.</li></ul><p>Now let&#8217;s add the content inside the <strong>slides</strong> element, here&#8217;s the HTML Markup base on ResponsiveSlides documentation.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;ul class=&quot;rslides clearfix&quot;&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;images/slide-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;desc&quot;&gt;Description goes here 1&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;images/slide-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;desc&quot;&gt;Another Description goes here 2&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;images/slide-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;desc&quot;&gt;Last Description goes here 3&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Featured Project&lt;/h2&gt; </pre><ul><li>In the above HTML, basically we just followed the HTML Markup and added another tag for our description which is <strong>&lt;p&gt;</strong> with a class of <strong>desc</strong> and added a <strong>clearfix</strong> class to <strong>ul</strong>. What clearfix does is deal with the floated elements. Without it, parent containers of the elements might have a broken height.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add first the required <strong>CSS ResponsiveSlides</strong></p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> /* rslides styles */ .rslides { position: relative; list-style: none; width: 100%; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 20px 0; } .rslides li { position: absolute; display: none; width: 100%; left: 0; top: 0; } .rslides li:first-child { position: relative; display: block; float: left; } .rslides img { display: block; height: auto; float: left; width: 100%; border: 0; } </pre><p>Now let’s add our own CSS styles as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .slides{ position: relative; margin-top: 30px; } .slides h2{ display: inline-block; padding-right: 30px; border-right: 1px solid #9b9b9b; } .desc{ display: inline-block; margin: 0; position: absolute; bottom: -62px; left: 210px; } .rslides li img{ border: 5px solid #fff; box-shadow: 0 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); } a.prev{ position: absolute; right: 130px; display: block; width: 13px; height: 22px; background: url(../images/prev-next.png) no-repeat; background-position: top left; /* Nicolas Gallagher Image replacement technique */ font: 0/0 a; text-shadow: none; color: transparent; } a.prev:hover{ background-position: bottom left; } a.next{ position: absolute; right: 0; display: block; width: 13px; height: 22px; background: url(../images/prev-next.png) no-repeat; background-position: top right; /* Nicolas Gallagher Image replacement technique */ font: 0/0 a; text-shadow: none; color: transparent; } a.next:hover{ background-position: bottom right; } ul.rslides_tabs{ position: absolute; right: 20px; } ul.rslides_tabs li{ float: left; margin-right: 10px; } ul.rslides_tabs li a{ display: block; background: url(../images/pagination.png) no-repeat; background-position: top; width: 20px; height: 21px; /* Nicolas Gallagher Image replacement technique */ font: 0/0 a; text-shadow: none; color: transparent; } ul.rslides_tabs li.rslides_here a, ul.rslides_tabs li a:hover{ background-position: bottom; } </pre><ul><li>In the above CSS, first we made the parent element&#8217;s position <strong>relative.</strong> By doing this we set it to <strong>absolute</strong> along with the child elements based on the parent element width and height. Also we give it a top margin to align it base on the PSD layout.</li><li>Style the <strong>h2</strong> by displaying it to <strong>inline-block</strong>, add padding-right and a 1px right-border.</li><li>Next is the description we displayed as inline-block, zero out its margin, position it absolutely the same on the PSD.</li><li>Next is the slide <strong>img,</strong> we style it by adding a 5px white border. In our design we have that bottom shadow left and right, we will change that by adding a box-shadow.</li><li>Next we style the auto generated classes done by the JavaScript which is the <strong>.prev</strong> for previous and <strong>.next</strong> for next. What we did was to position it absolutely to our desired position, displayed it as a block element, gave it a fixed width and height, and positioned the background based on the image sprite. The same thing with the <strong>rslides_tabs</strong> the only thing different is we floated the <strong>li</strong> elements and give it a 10px right margin.</li></ul><p>Now to make the slider functional, copy and paste the <strong>responsiveslides.min.js</strong> to <strong>/js</strong> directory then copy and paste the script below and paste it before the closing of the <strong>body</strong> tag.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;script src=&quot;http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt; &lt;script src=&quot;js/responsiveslides.min.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt; &lt;script&gt; $(function () { $(&quot;.rslides&quot;).responsiveSlides({ pager: true, nav: true }); }); &lt;/script&gt; </pre><h2>Step 5: Working on Welcome Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-10.jpg" /></p><p>Now let&#8217;s add the content inside the<strong> welcome</strong> div, here&#8217;s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;h1&gt; Hi! Im &lt;span class=&quot;green&quot;&gt;Michael Burns&lt;/span&gt; a graphic / web designer &lt;/br&gt; based in Philippines. &lt;/h1&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;graphic&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;images/graphic.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; &lt;/span&gt; </pre><ul><li>We wrapped our welcome text with an <strong>h1</strong> tag and added a <strong>span</strong> with a class of <strong>green</strong> to target the name and change the colour later on with CSS. When we take a look at the welcome section there is a graphic on the bottom so we mark up our HTML by adding a <strong>span</strong> with a class of <strong>graphic</strong> so that later on we can position the image absolutely.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .welcome{ position: relative; padding: 15px 0; border: 1px dashed #9b9b9b; border-right: none; border-left: none; margin: 40px auto; } .welcome h1{ text-align: center; } .green{ color: #67b256; } .welcome .graphic img{ position: absolute; margin: 0 auto; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: -7px; } </pre><ul><li>First we needed to position the parent container which is the <strong>.welcome div</strong> to relative, added a 15px padding top and bottom, a dashed border on top and bottom, zero on left and right.</li><li>Next we centered h1, added a colour to .green class.</li><li>Next we position the graphic image absolutely to make it centered by adding a margin zero auto, left, right zero, and pushed it down a bit by adding -7px bottom.</li><li>Lastly we added a margin top and bottom to bump it down from the slider section.</li></ul><h2>Step 6: Working on Service Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-11.jpg" /></p><p>Now let&#8217;s add the content inside <strong>.service</strong> div, here&#8217;s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Web Design&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;p&gt;Suspendisse fringilla hendrerit molestie. Duis bibendum tellus at ligula ornare a cursus enim lacinia. Aliquam erat volutpat. Nam consectetur, erat placerat pharetra consequat, eros lorem facilisis arcu, eget convallis elit turpis ac lacus. Quisque a nisi quis.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; class=&quot;more&quot;&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Graphic Design&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;p&gt;Suspendisse fringilla hendrerit molestie. Duis bibendum tellus at ligula ornare a cursus enim lacinia. Aliquam erat volutpat. Nam consectetur, erat placerat pharetra consequat, eros lorem facilisis arcu, eget convallis elit turpis ac lacus. Quisque a nisi quis.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; class=&quot;more&quot;&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Other Services&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;p&gt;Suspendisse fringilla hendrerit molestie. Duis bibendum tellus at ligula ornare a cursus enim lacinia. Aliquam erat volutpat. Nam consectetur, erat placerat pharetra consequat, eros lorem facilisis arcu, eget convallis elit turpis ac lacus. Quisque a nisi quis.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; class=&quot;more&quot;&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; </pre><ul><li>We just divided it into 3 columns by adding a class <strong>one-third column</strong> on each div. Then inside of it we added a heading <strong>h2</strong> for our heading title, a <strong>p</strong> for its content and a link <strong>a</strong> with a class of <strong>more</strong>.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> a.more{ display: inline-block; padding: 5px 15px; background: #67b256; border: 1px solid #539544; border-top: 1px solid #93cc84; box-shadow: 0 -1px 0 #539544; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; text-decoration: none; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 -1px 0 #539544; } a.more:hover{ background: #6ebd5c; } .service{ margin: 20px auto; } </pre><ul><li>Since we have already formatted our paragraphs and headings, the only thing we need to style now is the read more button. First we displayed it as an inline-block, gave it padding, then followed by the background, border, box-shadow, border-radius, colour, text-shadow. Lastly, we gave a 20px margin to our parent container to give it a cool space from top and bottom.</li></ul><h2>Step 7: Working on Recent Projects Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-12.jpg" /></p><p>Now let&#8217;s add the content inside <strong>.recent-projects</strong> div, here&#8217;s the HTML. This HTML mark up is based on the Elastislide by Codrops that I provided in the resources.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;h2&gt;My Current Pojects&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;div id=&quot;carousel&quot; class=&quot;es-carousel-wrapper&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;es-carousel&quot;&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/project-3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; </pre><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows: This CSS is a straight copy paste from Elastislide CSS styles so copy and paste it to our <strong>layout.css</strong>.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .recent-projects{ margin: 40px auto; } /* Elastislide Style */ .es-carousel-wrapper{ padding:10px 37px; position:relative; } .es-carousel{ overflow:hidden; } .es-carousel ul{ display:none; } .es-carousel ul li{ height:100%; float:left; display:block; } .es-carousel ul li a{ display:block; margin: 0 10px; } .es-carousel ul li a img{ display:block; border: 5px solid #fff; box-shadow: 0 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); max-height:100%; max-width:100%; } .es-nav span{ position:absolute; top:50%; left:0; background:transparent url(../images/prev-next.png) top left no-repeat; width: 13px; height: 22px; margin-top:-13px; text-indent:-9000px; cursor:pointer; } .es-nav span.es-nav-next{ right: 0; left:auto; background-position:top right; } .es-nav span:hover{ background-position: bottom left; } .es-nav span.es-nav-next:hover{ background-position: bottom right; } </pre><ul><li>We tweaked the CSS to make it fit to our design, removed the background of the <strong>.es-carousel-wrapper</strong> and <strong>.es-carousel</strong> div&#8217;s. Then added a styling to the image by giving it a 5px stroke and box-shadow. Lastly, tweaked the prev and next as we did previously in our slider section.</li></ul><p>We need to copy and paste <strong>jquery.easing.1.3.js</strong> and <strong>jquery.elastislide.js</strong> in our <strong>/js</strong> directory. Now to make it work we need to add the script below our <strong>.rslides</strong> script.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> $('#carousel').elastislide({ imageW : 300, //width of the image minItems : 3 //item shown }); </pre><h2>Step 8: Working on Testimonial Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-13.jpg" /></p><p>Now let’s add the content inside <strong>.testimonial</strong> div, here’s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;img src=&quot;images/me.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;/&gt; &lt;blockquote&gt; &lt;p&gt;In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec sodales elit sed orci consectetur mollis. Cras eget erat tellus, eu elementum felis. Morbi tincidunt varius nisl, molestie ullamcorper sapien accumsan quis. Quisque velit risus, ullamcorper non tempor id, venenatis quis metus. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;cite&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Michael Burns&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/cite&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.burnstudios.deviantart.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/blockquote&gt; </pre><ul><li>In the above HTML, first we added that thumbnail image, since it is a quote we will use a blockqoute tag where inside is a paragraph for the testimonial text itself, a cite for the author and a link for the site link.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .testimonial{ margin: 40px auto; padding: 0 50px; } .testimonial img{ float: left; margin-right: 35px; border: 5px solid #fff; box-shadow: 0 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); } blockquote{ background: url(../images/quote.png) no-repeat; overflow: hidden; border: none; } blockquote p{ font-size: 14px; padding-left: 30px; font-style: normal; } blockquote a{ display: block; text-align: right; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; } cite{ text-align: right; font-style: normal; color: #23353e; } </pre><ul><li>First we styled the testimonial container by padding 50px left and right, also we give it some breathing room 40px on top and bottom.</li><li>Next we styled the image the same as the image in recent projects.</li><li>Next we styled the blockquote by adding a quote image, overflow to hidden so that if a testimonial/text is too long the text will not flow below the thumbnail image, then removing the left border since by default it has a border left styling. Followed by basic styling and alignment for <strong>p</strong>, <strong>cite</strong> and <strong>a</strong>.</li></ul><h2>Step 10: Working on Widgets Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-14.jpg" /></p><p>Now let’s add the content inside <strong>.widgets</strong> div, here’s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column about&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;About Me&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;images/me-large.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;thumb&quot;/&gt; &lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec sodales, elit sed orci consectetur mollis. Cras eget erat tellus, eu elementum felis. Morbi tincidunt varius nisl. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/facebook.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/twitter.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;images/rss.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end about --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column blog&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Latest News&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p&gt;Project design for donec laoreet dictum arcu, quis scelerisque turpis placerat varius&lt;/p&gt; &lt;small&gt;10.11.11 - Web Design&lt;/small&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p&gt;Project design for donec laoreet dictum arcu, quis scelerisque turpis placerat varius&lt;/p&gt; &lt;small&gt;10.11.11 - Web Design&lt;/small&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;a class=&quot;dark-more&quot;&gt;view more&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end blog --&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;one-third column tweet&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Latest Tweets&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p&gt;AT&amp;T Announces Five New Android Smartphones - &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;http://on.mash.to/oCgEWK&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;small&gt;1 min ago&lt;/small&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p&gt;Twitter will soon reformat all links with t.co regardless of length - &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;http://on.mash.to/qUTLCe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;small&gt;about 1 hour ago&lt;/small&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;a class=&quot;dark-more&quot;&gt;@_burnstudio&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- end tweet --&gt; </pre><ul><li>We marked up our HTML by adding 3 divs with a class of <strong>one-third column</strong> to make it 3 columns and on each div we added another class <strong>about</strong>, <strong>blog</strong> and <strong>tweet</strong> this class will help us to target the inside elements when we are styling.</li><li>On the <strong>about div</strong> we added an <strong>h2</strong> tag for our heading, an image, then a div with a paragraph inside it and an unordered list for our social icons.</li><li>For <strong>blog</strong> and <strong>tweet</strong> we added a heading also followed a unordered list that contains the content which is paragraph and small tag, lastly a button with a class of <strong>dark-more</strong>.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> footer{ background: url(../images/noise.jpg) 0 0; /* IE Fallback Background */ background: url(../images/triangle-top.png) 0 0 repeat-x, url(../images/noise.jpg) 0 0; padding: 30px 0 30px 0; } footer h2{ color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111a1f; } .about img.thumb{ float: left; margin-right: 20px; } .about div{ overflow: hidden; } .about p{ color: #a4afb4; font-size: 13px; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111a1f; } .about ul li{ float: left; margin-right: 10px; } .blog ul li, .tweet ul li{ margin: 0; border-bottom: 1px dashed #0f161a; border-top: 1px dashed #37515e; padding: 15px 0; } .blog p, .tweet p{ color: #a4afb4; font-size: 13px; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111a1f; margin-bottom: 10px; } .blog small, .tweet small{ color: #667983; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111a1f; } .blog ul li:first-child, .tweet ul li:first-child{ border-top: none; padding-top: 0; } .blog ul li:last-child, .tweet ul li:last-child{ border-bottom: none; padding-bottom: 0; } a.dark-more{ display: inline-block; padding: 5px 15px; background: #286065; border: 1px solid #0f161a; border-top: 1px solid #558d91; box-shadow: 0 -1px 0 #0f161a; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; text-decoration: none; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 -1px 0 #0f161a; } a.dark-more:hover{ background: #2d6b71; } </pre><ul><li>We styled the footer tag by giving it a background. Notice that I added multiple backgrounds, first is an IE6 Fallback since IE doesn&#8217;t recognize multiple backgrounds in a stacking order, followed by the two background <strong>triangle-top.jpg</strong> and <strong>noise.jpg</strong>. We also gave it top and bottom padding.</li><li>Next we target the <strong>h2</strong> elements by changing the colour and adding text-shadow.</li><li>In the <strong>about</strong> column, first we styled the image by floating it to the left and add a margin right 20px, styled the <strong>.about</strong> div by changing the overflow to hidden. I&#8217;m sure you already know what the purpose of this is since I explained it in the testimonial section. Next we styled the paragraph follow by the social icons by floating the list elements left and give it a 10px right margin.</li><li>For the <strong>blog</strong> and <strong>tweet</strong> they have the same styling, first we styled the list elements by 0 out the margin, added a dark top border and light bottom border, and gave it a 15px breathing room top and bottom. Next we styled the paragraph with a basic styling and a margin bottom. Next we styled the small tag by giving it a lighter color and a text shadow. Next we targetted the first-child element by removing the top padding and the top border, the same with the last-child but this time instead of top change it to bottom. Lastly, we styled the dark-more by just copying the same styles we did in <strong>more</strong> button but this time let&#8217;s change the colour the same on the PSD layout.</li></ul><h2>Step 11: Working on Footer Section</h2><p><img alt="" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/convert-artthatworks-img-15.jpg" /></p><p>Now let’s add the content inside <strong>.sub-footer</strong> tag, here’s the HTML.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;div class=&quot;container&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;eight columns left&quot;&gt; &lt;p&gt;Copyright 2010 &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;1stwebdesigner&lt;/a&gt; | Design by &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot;&gt;Michael Burns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;eight columns right&quot;&gt; &lt;h1 class=&quot;logo&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; title=&quot;Artthatworks&quot;&gt;Artthatworks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; </pre><ul><li>In above HTML, we marked it up by adding 2 divs with a class of <strong>eight columns</strong> to make it 2 columns and in each div we added another class <strong>left</strong> and <strong>right</strong>.</li><li><strong>right</strong> class contains the copyright text, left class contains the logo.</li></ul><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> footer.sub-footer{ background: #1a272e; border-top: 1px solid #34454d; } footer .left p{ color: #fff; font-size: 12px; margin: 0; } footer .left a{ color: #67b256; text-decoration: none; font-size: 12px; } footer .left a:hover{ text-decoration: underline; } footer .right .logo{ float: right; } </pre><ul><li>In above CSS, we styled the .sub-footer container by adding a background and a border top. Then we changed the colour of the left paragraph and the link. Lastly, we floated the logo to right.</li></ul><p>Now everything looks good, the same as our PSD layout.</p><h2>Step 12: Working on Media Queries Section</h2><p>When you try resizing the browser, it&#8217;s responsive, but there are some elements that are not good to look at in different viewports, especially the slider. So what we are going to do is to fix it by changing some styling in media queries.</p><p>Now let’s add the CSS as follows:</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> /* Smaller than standard 960 (devices and browsers) */ @media only screen and (max-width: 959px) { } /* Tablet Portrait size to standard 960 (devices and browsers) */ @media only screen and (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 959px) { .about img.thumb{ display: none; } } /* All Mobile Sizes (devices and browser) */ @media only screen and (max-width: 767px) { nav.primary{ float: left; margin-top: 30px; } nav.primary ul li:first-child{ margin-left: 0; } .slides h2{ padding: 0; border: none; } .slides .desc{ display: none; } .testimonial img{ display: none; } .one-third.column{ margin: 20px 0; } .left p{ text-align: center; } footer .right .logo{ display: none; } } /* Mobile Landscape Size to Tablet Portrait (devices and browsers) */ @media only screen and (min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 767px) { } /* Mobile Portrait Size to Mobile Landscape Size (devices and browsers) */ @media only screen and (max-width: 479px) { nav.primary ul li:last-child{ margin-left: 0; } } </pre><ul><li>In the above CSS, we removed the image in about widgets in Tablet Portrait size to standard 960.</li><li>Next thing to handle is all mobile sizes. First we floated the navigation to the left because by default it is floated to the right, then we removed the left margin of the list item first-child element. Next in the slideshow section we removed the padding and border of the heading, then we removed the description by changing the display to none. On the testimonial section we removed the thumbnail image by changing the display to none. Notice we have 3 columns in service section and on widget section and it is not spaced very well on top and bottom so we added a 20px margin on top and bottom. Next on footer section we centre the copyright text and hide the logo by changing the display again to none.</li><li>In mobile portrait size to mobile landscape size, if you look at the navigation the last list element is pushed below and 20px form the right so we are going to remove the left margin by changing it to zero.</li></ul><h2>Finally We&#8217;re Done!</h2><p>We just finished our responsive layout using the Skeleton Boilerplate. How was it? I hope you learned something in this tutorial. Feel free to drop your thoughts below, or if you have some suggestions, techniques or other boilerplate recommendations.</p><p>Oh and if you want to learn how to create this design in Photoshop in the first place, check our previous <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/photoshop-tutorial-beautiful-portfolio-artthatworks/" target="_blank">PSD tutorial</a> to this very design!</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=ORYTcxeOVHk:fMsZoo8twQw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=ORYTcxeOVHk:fMsZoo8twQw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=ORYTcxeOVHk:fMsZoo8twQw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=ORYTcxeOVHk:fMsZoo8twQw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/ORYTcxeOVHk" width="1" />

<blockquote><p>Hey James, this week I am working on the most exciting project ever &#8211; I am designing a new website for one of the most popular radio stations.</p></blockquote><p>That was the last time I heard anything from my friend.</p><p>Now he is spending a big chunk of his time going through a lot of legal actions and a local lawyer has become his best mate.</p><p>Well, all just because my friend has been sued by a huge web design and development agency.</p><p><span id="more-77666"></span></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/brewbooks/">J Brew</a></em></p><p>He hoped to get away with getting inspired from a website this agency had created <em>(more or less, he literally copied nearly half of the website, doh!).</em></p><p>His excuse? Apparently he was lacking creativity!</p><p>After all, I did not hesitate to call him a fool!</p><p>He failed in his life big time, only by avoiding small, yet important steps.</p><p>If I were you, I would begin to worry right now, because you can fail too, just like my friend did!</p><p>Listen!</p><p>To avoid becoming a fool because of the lack of creativity, you better learn how simple super-foods can boost your brainpower, which will, without a doubt, increase your, in web design, so needed creativity <em>(I guarantee!).</em></p><h2>Everything You Put In Your Mouth Counts</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77674" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/mouth.jpg" title="mouth" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/upchuck_norris/">Up Chuck Norris</a></em></p><p>Surely you would agree with me if I said that no one really likes to be controlled, do You?</p><p>More likely you would say &#8211; No!</p><p>Or you would shout at me, &#8220;James are you crazy, or what? Why would I like to be controlled!&#8221;</p><p>Well, neither do I&#8230;</p><p>But the painful truth, my friend is, that unfortunately we are being controlled. Even more surprisingly &#8211; controlled every single day.</p><p>And if we ever wanted to escape from being controlled by this beast, we would undoubtedly die!</p><p>Yes, we would die, because this controlling <em>beast</em> I am talking about is called FOOD. It controls how we feel every day. How productive we are, how powerful, fast, alert and creative we are.</p><p>Too much coffee will make you hyperactive, having some tofu frozen dessert will make you sleepy, whereas ice cream just before bed will ruin your sleep.</p><p>We simply cannot escape from it, but what we can do instead is take this control in our own hands.</p><p>I know, it sounds a bit crazy, but we can actually use food as a tool to make us feel more energized, to boost our powers of concentration as well as lift our moods.</p><p>Now I will reveal to you one of my biggest secrets.</p><p>This is one of the secrets that help me stay so creative, that I can proudly write an article so great, that people would read it again and again <em>(shhh&#8230; it’s the one you’re reading right now.)</em></p><p>My secret consists of 10 basic superfoods, my kitchen, my own mouth and willingness to be more creative.</p><p>Keep reading to find out how to apply this secret to your life.</p><h2>1. So Many Berries Out there, Go And Eat Them All</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77676" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/berries.jpg" title="berries" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/mattmangum/">Matt Mangum</a></em></p><p>This fleshy fruit is usually very juicy, sweet or sometimes sour and is brightly coloured.</p><p>Berries are very rich in antioxidants, not only will they boost your brainpower to ensure you become more creative, but they will also improve your mental function and reverse age related issues.</p><p>And just to let you know this is not me making up some crazy story about how awesome berries are.</p><p>It is actually scientifically proven, that eating strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and well, mainly any sort of berries does have very beneficial effects on your brain.</p><blockquote><p>And guess what!? I bet you had no idea, that tomato is actually also classified as a berry. So if you prefer tomatoes than blueberries, blackberries or strawberries, it will still count.</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Homemade Blueberry Jam</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77677" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/blueberryjam.jpg" title="blueberryjam" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/owlpacino/">Kimberly Jones</a></em></p><p>Get a couple of jars and you are ready to start off.</p><p>Ready to start off something healthy and something made by You.</p><p>I enjoy having my <a href="http://bit.ly/VwyYv0">homemade</a> blueberry jam on a toast every single morning.</p><h3>Not This: Blueberry Bagels, Seriously!</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77678" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/blueberrybagel.jpg" title="blueberrybagel" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/avlxyz/">Alpha</a></em></p><p>Yummy &#8211; You think&#8230; This blueberry <em>(mmm real blueberry)</em> bagel must be one healthy bite!</p><p>You are wrong, my friend!</p><p>Most of these are processed food, with so called berries in them are <a href="http://bit.ly/VwyOE4">faked!</a><br /> Do yourself a favour and stay away from them.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Berries?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77687" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/1.png" title="1" width="570" /></p><p>Berry Eating Web Designers Are Able To Create An Awesome Website As This <a href="http://gnosh.co.uk/">G&#8217;nosh</a></p><h3>Some Always Enjoy Blueberries More Than Others</h3><p></p><h2>2. Dark Chocolate, The Darker, The Better</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77691" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/darkchocolate.jpg" title="darkchocolate" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/sackton/"> Tim Sackton</a></em></p><p>Of course, as everyone of us know <em>(or maybe not)</em> chocolate is made from plants. So what does that mean now? You might ask.</p><p>Nothing much, to be honest&#8230;only thing is, that since it is made from plants, chocolate contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables.</p><p>Not a big deal, is it?!<br /> Well, yes it is. Hell of a big deal, if you asked me.</p><p>This sweet treat contains almost eight times the antioxidants found in strawberries.</p><blockquote><p>Just remember not to wash your chocolate down with a glass of milk, as you would more likely end up taking all the antioxidant goodness away from your body, by preventing proper absorption.</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Dark, Dark Chocolate Bark</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77692" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/chocolatebark.jpg" title="chocolatebark" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/vegan-baking/">Mattie Hagedorn</a></em></p><p>We got to go back to the kitchen, I am afraid.<br /> Oh right, I forgot you are one of those, <em>“sorry, I am too busy to cook at home!”</em></p><p>My days, I forgot that you are a web designer, maybe even a freelance web designer, so therefore always busy.</p><p>But never mind, my so busy friend. You wanted to boost your brainpower to become more creative, remember?!</p><p>So stop moaning and get on with it, as this dark chocolate bark will take you only<a href="http://bit.ly/ToegQz"> less than 30 minutes</a> to make.</p><h3>Not This: Any Kind of White Chocolate is Big No, No!</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77693" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/whitechocolate.jpg" title="whitechocolate" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/kat_martin/">Kat Martin</a></em></p><p>Just like nicely, dark chocolate has a lot of cacao in it, white chocolate has nearly no cacao at all.<br /> I am amazingly surprised how dare they call it chocolate. <em>(hammerheads)</em></p><p>Just listen to this &#8211; instead they pour in a lot of sugar into the process of making white chocolate.</p><p>And you know what their excuse is?! Well, they say it is to make it that nicely white and give it that good taste.</p><p>Be clever now and listen to me &#8211; white chocolate is <a href="http://yhoo.it/S5j0qN">not good for you</a>, mainly because of the amount of sugar in it.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Dark Chocolate?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77698" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2.png" title="2" width="570" /></p><p>So Creative That You Would Be Able To Create as Awesome Website as <a href="http://www.milwaukeepolicenews.com/">MPD</a></p><h3>This Video Made Me Fall In Love With Dark Chocolate</h3><p></p><h2>3. Nuts Are Rich With Great Nutrients To Boost Your Brainpower</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77700" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/mixednuts.jpg" title="mixednuts" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/the-travelling-bum/">Adam Wyles</a></em></p><p>They are very rich in a wide array of great nutrients, including magnesium, fiber, zinc, sodium and unsaturated fat.</p><p>Every day I manage to snack on nuts like pecans, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and others.</p><p>I, myself, started consuming a variety of nuts once I found out that they can help fight insomnia, promoting mental clarity, strong memory and boosting brainpower to become more creative.</p><p>My all time favourite ones are Omega-3 rich walnuts and almonds, which are packed with natural mood-enhancing neurotransmitters <em>(don&#8217;t bother to pronounce it).</em></p><blockquote><p>Mixed nuts can also be good for those, who are on a low-carbohydrate diet, as they provide just 7g of carbs in each 1 oz. Sounds great to me!</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Laura’s Holiday Spiced Nuts</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77701" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/spicednuts.jpg" title="spicednuts" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/shiverytimbers/">Shivery Timbers</a></em></p><p>I guess I can call You chef by now. You can hate me if you want to, but yes, we are still in the kitchen.</p><p>Just look at the bright side of it &#8211; if You have managed to make every food I have been talking about so far You will be more experienced in the kitchen than I have ever been <em>(I was told I’m quite good at making toasts).</em></p><p>Well, anyway, Laura’s Holiday Spiced Nuts recipe looks <a href="http://bit.ly/U7PRv9">just Yummy</a>.</p><h3>Not This: Going Nuts On Nuts Will Do No Good To You</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77702" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/loadsofnuts.jpg" title="loadsofnuts" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by Srikumar</em></p><p>Just like with everything &#8211; It is good only if used in moderation.</p><p>So it should not come to you as a big surprise, if I told you, that eating something, as good as nuts too much will give the complete opposite effect &#8211; they could be <a href="http://bit.ly/XGFW4G">harmful to you</a>.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Mixed Nuts?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77703" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/3.png" title="3" width="570" /></p><p>Eat Plenty of Mixed Nuts To Make Websites Like <a href="http://www.artofflightmovie.com/">The Art of Flight</a></p><h3>Here Is Another Amazing Way To Use Mixed Nuts For Milk Lovers</h3><p></p><h2>4. Wild Salmon Will Get Your Brain Functioning Again</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77707" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/wildsalmon.jpg" title="wildsalmon" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/jamesrbowe/">James Bowe</a></em></p><p>Salmon is like one of those superfoods that are so full of goodness, that you just do not want to take it off your shopping list ever.</p><p>Have you ever heard of DHA? Probably you have not, unless you are too much into all of this food science thing. Either way, the reason I picked wild salmon as my list&#8217;s number 4 is its richness of DHA.</p><p>Those three letters are a type of Omega-3 fatty acid and this acid is the primary building block of the brain.</p><blockquote><p>DHA cannot be produced by the body, so the only way to get it is from consumption of food like salmon.</p><p>- Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.</p></blockquote><p>That is as much as You should know really, to understand how good this wild fishy, fishy is for you.</p><h3>Eat This: Gordon Ramsay’s Crispy Salmon</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77708" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/crispysalmon.jpg" title="crispysalmon" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAFkYm3u1Q">Gordon Ramsay</a></em></p><p>Ok, have a break this time and just leave this one to Ramsay, I doubt You could do it better than him anyway.</p><p>But one day you could definitely learn to make this <a href="http://bit.ly/SrVebb">damn good</a> crispy salmon yourself.</p><h3>Not This: Never Ever Try Salmon Soup, Made With Tinned Salmon</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77709" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cannedsalmonsoup.jpg" title="cannedsalmonsoup" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/jeena/">Jenna Paradies</a></em></p><p>There is an old recipe booklet from the 1950s, issued by a famous maker of custard powder. In that booklet you can can find a recipe so disgusting that I wonder if anyone has ever tried to make it.</p><p>The recipe requires you to use  <a href="http://bit.ly/SnOf3P">tinned salmon</a>, two packets of custard powder and milk. And then that is what you are supposed to call a salmon soup.</p><p>I just recommend you to give up on it and make a proper wild salmon soup instead.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Salmon?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77705" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/41.png" title="4" width="570" /></p><p>Want a Website as Great as<a href="http://barcampomaha.org/"> Barcamp Omana 2012</a>?  Eat more Salmon.</p><p>Ouh My, Ouh My, This Just Made My Mouth Water<br /> </p><h2>5. It is Brain Healthy To Have a Couple of Eggs In The Morning</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77713" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/coupleofeggs.jpg" title="coupleofeggs" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/75898532@N00/">Flare</a></em></p><p>I honestly do not know a single person who would not like a pair of eggs for their breakfast. But if you are one of them, I am sorry, I shall call you very strange.</p><p>First of all, yolks found in eggs are loaded with choline. And this choline is something amazingly good that helps you sharpen your memory.</p><p>Also, some very <a href="http://bit.ly/SV6XgP">smart Swiss researches</a> say that because eggs are a great source of protein they will improve your overall cognitive performance.</p><blockquote><p>Remember, that if you keep your eggs in a fridge they will last much longer than if you kept them at a room temperature.</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Morning Omelette With Cheese, Ham Or Just Anything You Fancy</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77714" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cheeseomelette.jpg" title="cheeseomelette" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/ndrwfgg/">Andrew Dogg</a></em></p><p>Seriously now, does anyone really need cooking lessons to get some morning omelette ready, cooked and served with some cheese or a slice of ham on it?</p><p>I am sure you will be fine with that, if not ask any 3 years old and they will teach you how to do that just the right way.</p><p>The only thing you could practice is how to crack an egg <a href="http://bit.ly/SV8CCN">with one hand</a>.</p><h3>Not This: Apparently Eating Too Much Egg Yolks Is as Bad As&#8230;</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77715" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/eggyolk.jpg" title="eggyolk" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/shardayyy/">Shardayyy</a></em></p><p>&#8230;is as bad as smoking. Yes, I know, even I had my jaw dropped.</p><p>As the Western University <a href="http://bit.ly/SVcEuX">researchers found</a> that eating too much egg yolks will raise your risk of heart attacks and strokes.</p><p>It does not matter how young or old you are. You can be 20 or 50, either way too much egg yolks will still cause troubles down the line.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Eggs?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77711" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/5.png" title="5" width="570" /></p><p>Something Like <a href="http://www.ok-studios.de/home/">Ok Studios</a> Website Can Be Created If You Are Regularly Eating Eggs</p><h3>Check Out How Amazing Idiazabal Cheese Egg Is</h3><p></p><h2>6. Coffee Has a Profound Effect On Your Brains</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77712" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/coffee.jpg" title="coffee" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/rnddave/">David</a></em></p><p>We all lose the ability to focus now and again. And without a good focus, it is not easy to be as creative as you potentially could be capable of.</p><p>That is why even just a single cup of that tar <em>(people tend to call it coffee)</em> will help you boost your brainpower and stay sharp all the way through your next creative job you will do.</p><p>To make it sound even better, guys from North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences have found that drinking a cup of that dark tar will block the disruptive effects of high cholesterol.</p><p>Which is bloody good, because too much of cholesterol can even lead to Alzheimer&#8217;s disease.</p><blockquote><p>This is the best evidence yet that caffeine equivalent to one cup of coffee a day can help protect the brain against cholesterol.</p><p>- Dr Jonathan Geiger</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Start Your Day With Starbucks Dark Roast Coffee</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77716" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/starbucscoffee.jpg" title="starbucscoffee" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOAZS5NoJds">Starbucks</a></em></p><p>If you happen to be constantly on the move and even mornings are kind of rushed, all you got to do is just pop in any closest Starbucks on your way to the office.</p><p>Finally no cooking skills and no time required to boost your brainpower, I guess that was something you were waiting for since you started reading this article.</p><p>By the way, you can even choose from three different types of <a href="http://bit.ly/Q46GLw">Starbucks Dark Roast Coffee.</a></p><h3>Not This: Cold Stone Creamery Lotta Caramel Latte</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77719" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/caramellatte.jpg" title="caramellatte" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/jamieanne/">Jamieanna</a></em></p><p>This is just like one of those disaster drinks. Is it a coffee? Or is it a fattening dessert? Let me put it this way &#8211; it is a giant, fattening dessert with coffee flavour to it.</p><p>If you already have had one of those <a href="http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/">Cold Stone Creamery Latte Coffees</a>, then you are done for the day, because it contains nearly a full day’s worth of calories.</p><p>Cold Stone Creamery Lotta caramel Latte contains 1, 530 calories, 85g fat and 161g sugars. Run away now!</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Drinking Coffee?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77717" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/6.png" title="6" width="570" /></p><p>Those Creative Web Designers, Who Drink Coffee Make Websites For <a href="http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/aj2012/">Nike</a></p><h3>Real Coffee Lovers Will Appreciate a Cup of Japanese Iced Coffee</h3><p></p><h2>7. Avocado Is Like a Goldmine of Nutrients</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77718" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avocado.jpg" title="avocado" width="525" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/youasamachine/">You As a Machine</a></em></p><p>I still remember those days, when everyone was talking about how bad avocados are, because of being too fatty. Now, those days are gone, as this green fruit is actually an amazing source of nutrients that will get your brain power sky high again.</p><p>Avocados contain folate, which is very essential for your brain health, as well for good performance levels of your memory.</p><p>Monounsaturated fat (so called healthy fat) found in avocados help your blood flow, which helps your brain cells moving.</p><h3>Eat This: Very Easy To Make Guacamole</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77720" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/guacamole.jpg" title="guacamole" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/aloha75/">Sam Howzit</a></em></p><p>Have you already got prepared three avocados, one lime, half of white onion, and some coriander, as well as a tomato and few other things?</p><p>This <a href="http://bit.ly/Q4El82">Ausie Griller</a> will certainly show you how to make a great guacamole with ease.</p><p>Once you have made it, make sure you share your experience with us. I cannot wait to see you with full mouth of guacamole.</p><h3>Not This: Never More Than 5 Avocados</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77721" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/manyavocados.jpg" title="manyavocados" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chrisstreeter/">Chris Streeter</a></em></p><p>From my own experience I can tell you that to eat approximately half an avocado a day would be the golden middle way.</p><p>Why only a half, you wonder? Mainly, because by lowering your daily avocado intake down to half a day you would simply lower your fat intake.</p><p>But there is no reason to worry, because you would still <a href="http://bit.ly/Q4GvEK">get all the goodness</a> found in avocados.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Avocados?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77722" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/7.png" title="7" width="570" /></p><p>Creating a Websites Like <a href="http://camachocigars.com/">Camacho Cigars</a> Will Be Like a Piece Of Cake For Avocado Eaters</p><h3>Easy-Peasy Made Avocado Toast, Yum, Yum, Yum!</h3><p></p><h2>8. Eating Your Broccoli Is An Amazingly Good Idea</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77723" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/broccoli.jpg" title="broccoli" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/cyclonebill/">Cyclonebill</a></em></p><p>Be honest now &#8211; how much do you like the taste of broccoli? I personally cannot get enough of it.</p><p>Is there anything else, that tastes as good as broccoli? Is it safe to say, that you think I am mad? Yes it is, because&#8230;</p><p>Because I was just kidding. I am a normal human being, just like you are.</p><p>So, believe me I do not really like the taste of this green plant either.</p><p>But like it or not, broccoli is very, very low in calories, and at the same time packed with plenty of nutrients.</p><blockquote><p>Therefore It is pretty much straight forward &#8211; Do not avoid eating broccoli if you want to boost your brainpower, as simple as that.</p></blockquote><p>Broccoli is exceptionally good for your brain. Period!</p><h3>Eat This: Raw Broccoli Is an Ultimate Powerhouse of Green Nutrients</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77724" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/rawbroccoli.jpg" title="rawbroccoli" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/stone-soup/">Jules Stone Soup</a></em></p><p>We all clearly know that broccoli is one of those foods, that every three year olds hate. And of course, presidents are <a href="http://nyti.ms/Q4Kb9s">not fussed on them</a> either.</p><p>But still, in my opinion the best way to eat broccoli is just raw or sometimes steamed. I personally kind of taste more goodness in them if they are still raw (I am a bit weird, I know.)</p><p>The ones, who have understood how amazing broccoli is, will never, ever give up on them.</p><p>I mean &#8211; <a href="http://bit.ly/Q4KnFF">Never</a>!</p><h3>Not This: Broccoli In China Are Full Of Toxins</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77725" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/broccolichina.jpg" title="broccolichina" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/drs2biz/">David Schroeter</a></em></p><p>There is something I was not aware myself. I recently read an article about how bad pollution problems they have over in China.</p><p>Apparently the problems are so bad that they are about to face some <a href="http://bit.ly/TlPoED">serious consequences</a> for food production and human health.</p><p>If You really, really cannot stand broccoli and it is your <a href="http://bit.ly/TlPbBn">worst nightmare</a>, just carry on without having them on your shopping list, as there are plenty of healthy brain superfoods for you to consume anyway.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Broccoli?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77726" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/8.png" title="8" width="570" /></p><p>Broccoli-Power Will Make You So Creative, You will Cook Websites Like <a href="http://vaclavkrbusek.com/">Vaclav Krbusek</a></p><h3>Creamy Broccoli Soup Seems To Be Good Too</h3><p></p><h2>9. Eat a Lot More Tomatoes Than You Already Do</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77727" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tomatoes.jpg" title="tomatoes" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/graibeard/">Glen</a></em></p><p>There is another very powerful antioxidant, called lycopene which boosts your brainpower, as well as fights development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s.</p><p>And you can get plenty of this lycopene antioxidants just by eating a couple of tomatoes.</p><p>You might have already guessed, that based on that fact even ketchup should be good for your brains and could help you become more creative.</p><blockquote><p>But even though ketchup is considered good for your brains, you should go for a fresh tomato sauce, whenever it is possible.</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Grilled Tomatoes With Fresh Tomato Sauce</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77728" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/grilledtomatoes.jpg" title="grilledtomatoes" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wwworks/">Woodley Wonderworks</a></em></p><p>Now it is the right time to get your summer grill out again. While you get your tomatoes grilled, you can also put on some steak to grill, chicken or any other meet.</p><p>Grilled tomatoes are amazing addition to pretty much anything, starting from potatoes, rice, pasta and salad.</p><p>This is one of the most <a href="http://bit.ly/RrFZiD">amazing grilled tomato</a> recipes.</p><h3>Not This: They Say Hunt&#8217;s Tomato Ketchup Is The Worst Ketchup</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77729" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/huntsketchup.jpg" title="huntsketchup" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/39718079@N00/">David Blaine</a></em></p><p>Right, so this is a tricky one, just because I have heard that this Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup is rated as <a href="http://bit.ly/Va0O4M">the worst ketchup ever</a>.</p><p>But because I have never, ever tried this ketchup myself, I will not be able to tell you how horribly disgusting it really is.</p><p>I will leave that for you. So if you have a chance, go, but it, try it and share what it was like, if you manage to survive tasting it.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Tomatoes?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77730" height="300" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/9.png" title="9" width="570" /></p><p>Remember To Snack On Tomatoes To Be Able To Make Websites Like <a href="http://www.bryanconnor.com/">Bryan Connor</a></p><h3>Mmmm, Sweet, Sweet Cherry Tomatoes Anyone?</h3><p></p><h2>10. Popeye Will Tell You Everything About Spinach</h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77731" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/spinach.jpg" title="spinach" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/jasonbachman/">Jason Bachman</a></em></p><p>Do you still remember who is the strongest guy on this planet? Is it the Terminator, maybe Batman, Spiderman or maybe Superman?</p><p>No! All of those guesses are totally wrong.</p><p>The strongest has always been and still is&#8230;</p><p>…Mr. Popeye The Sailor Man. There is no chance <a href="http://bit.ly/SfiHKf">you have forgotten him</a>!</p><p>His favourite superfood has always been spinach, and I am not surprised why.</p><blockquote><p>Spinach is so overloaded with goodness that not only does it boost brainpower, but it also punches cancer right in the face.</p></blockquote><h3>Eat This: Home Grown Spinach Will Always Be The Best Tasting</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77732" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/homegrownspinach.jpg" title="homegrownspinach" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/currybet/">Martin Belam</a></em></p><p>Nothing will taste as fresh as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkcC50RlCo">home grown spinach</a>. Yes, it might be time consuming process to do that, but after all it will always pay off in the long run.</p><p>Just imagine how amazing it would be to pop out to your garden to get some spinach, without having to go shopping.</p><h3>Not This: Eating Too Much Raw Spinach Can Harm Your Bones</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77741" height="300" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/lotsofspinach.jpg" title="lotsofspinach" width="570" /></p><p><em>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gtzecosan/">Susana Secretariat</a></em></p><p>If you consume enough calcium, then there is nothing you should really worried about regards eating too much of raw spinach.</p><p>But if you for some reason happen to be lacking calcium intake, I feel sorry for you<em> (it’s just so easy, drink a glass of milk a day).</em></p><p>Spinach contains <a href="http://bit.ly/W7OYtj">oxalic acid</a>, that binds calcium. You might have a harmful ending, as spinach can take away calcium away from your bones.</p><h3>How Creative Will You Become By Eating Spinach?</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77733" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/10.png" title="10" width="570" /></p><p>I Bet Popeye Would Definitely Be Able To Make Websites Like <a href="http://www.glamour.biz/">Glamour</a>, Just Because Of Eating Spinach</p><h3>Spinach Strawberry Salad Is One of My All Time Favourites</h3><p></p><h2>I Bet You Are Tired Of Reading This Long Article</h2><p>In fact, I would not even be surprised if you told me right now, &#8220;James, I have had enough!&#8221;</p><p>Since You made it all the way through my 10 secrets, I am so proud of You that&#8230;</p><p>… that if You promise to take control of your life in your own hands and&#8230;</p><p>&#8230;and become more creative (by doing that you will 100% become more creative)</p><p>I WILL SURPRISE YOU WITH SOME BONUS &#8211; HERE ARE 5 MORE OF MY FAVOURITES !</p><h2><a href="http://www.lendyourleg.org/">Lend Your Leg</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77735" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/11.png" title="11" width="570" /></p><h2><a href="http://2011.festivalmundo.com.br/">Festival Mundo 2011</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77736" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/12.png" title="12" width="570" /></p><h2><a href="http://www.wbrettwilson.ca/#/">W. Brett Wilson</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77737" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/13.png" title="13" width="570" /></p><h2><a href="http://www.formfett.net/">Formfett</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77738" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/14.png" title="14" width="570" /></p><h2><a href="http://www.putzengel.at/">Putzengel</a></h2><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77739" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/15.png" title="15" width="570" /></p><h3>There Is No Conclusion This Time &#8211; Only Reality</h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77740" height="300" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/conclusion.jpg" title="conclusion" width="570" /></p><p>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/runran/">Randy Adams</a></p><p>Reality is harsh, yet bright.</p><p>But bright only for those who realize and accept the shocking fact of today.</p><p>The fact that we are being controlled by food everyday. We eat a lot, but rarely thinking what it is that we put in our mouth.</p><p>From now on my friend you will always remember, that you can become much, much more creative than you are right now, just by eating brainpower boosting superfoods.</p><p>And that is the best way to take the control of Your life in your own hands.</p><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77696" height="300" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/question.jpg" title="question" width="570" /></p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=miTVe7aAKlw:z8h_HCHzZGE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=miTVe7aAKlw:z8h_HCHzZGE:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=miTVe7aAKlw:z8h_HCHzZGE:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=miTVe7aAKlw:z8h_HCHzZGE:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/miTVe7aAKlw" width="1" />

<p>Looking for free HTML/CSS templates that you can use to practice your skills or to convert a WordPress theme? You came to the right place! In this roundup, we have gathered 45 CSS templates from 2011 to present. We know that not everyone has the time to design and code, but there is definitely a growing need for visually appealing templates. How about we expedite the process?</p><p>Visually appealing designs? Check!</p><p>Free and fresh templates? Check!</p><p>What are you waiting for? Read on!</p><p><span id="more-77478"></span></p><h2>What Can HTML/CSS Templates Do?</h2><p>For starters, CSS templates are a thing of beauty, especially when they&#8217;re free, since developers can actually make use of them without having the need to find a designer, or design one. There are a lot of developers out there who do not have the time to design, which applies to designers as well who do not have the time to code their Photoshop files.</p><p>It goes like this:</p><ol><li>Design is made using Photoshop (or other <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/online-photoshop-alternatives-photo-editing/">Photoshop Alternatives</a>)</li><li>File is converted to HTML/CSS</li><li>Developer converts HTML/CSS template into a fully-functional and feature-loaded website</li></ol><p>If you are in a hurry and you don&#8217;t want to spend a lot of time on the design or code, then you&#8217;re in great luck with these CSS templates from 2011 and 2012!</p><p>In the market, things like these cost several hundreds of dollars, so we&#8217;re not only helping you save time researching, we&#8217;re also actually helping you save money!</p><h2>Want to Learn How to Build One?</h2><p>There are a lot of free PSD templates on the web that you can download and try to convert, here is an in-depth PSD template tutorial with its follow-up HTML/CSS conversion.</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/stylish-design-agency-landing-page-photoshop-tutorial/">Quick and Easy Stylish Design Agency Landing Page In Adobe Photoshop</a></li><li><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wordpress/psd-to-html-tutorial-code-photoshop/">PSD to HTML Tutorial: Code a Photoshop File to a Working Website</a></li></ul><p><a href="http://1stwebdesigner.com/demos/burnstudio/"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77480" height="341" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/burnstudio.jpg" title="burnstudio" width="550" /></a></p><p>Click the image above for the demo.</p><h4>Making things Responsive</h4><p>All of the items listed below aren&#8217;t responsive, they&#8217;re free, so we can&#8217;t expect too much. But you know what? It is more fun this way because you can try to convert one or two into a responsive website.</p><p>We have a guide that is applicable for everything below, all you need to have is patience and passion!</p><p><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/css/media-queries-tutorial-convert-burnstudio-responsive-website/">Media Queries Tutorial – Convert Burnstudio into a Responsive Website</a></p><p>Just apply what you have learned from the linked tutorial above and you&#8217;ll soon be on the road to becoming a web rockstar!</p><p>So, are you ready?</p><h3>1. Beauty Class</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/1-BeautyClass.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_353_beauty_class/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_353_beauty_class">Download</a></p><h3>2. Good-natured</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2-GoodNatured.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/download/zip/goodnatured/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/download/zip/goodnatured/">Download</a></p><h3>3. Rock Castle</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/3-RockCastle.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/preview/rockcastle/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/download/zip/rockcastle/">Download</a></p><h3>4. Wood Working</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="416" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/4-Wood_Working.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/preview/woodworking/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/download/zip/woodworking/">Download</a></p><h3>5. Designa</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="383" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/4-Designa.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://sylvainlafitte.com/dev/test/designa/index.html">Demo</a> | <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/26207476/Designa.zip">Download</a></p><h3>6. Folder</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="459" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/6-Folder.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://luiszuno.com/themes/folder/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://luiszuno.com/blog/downloads/folder-template/">Download</a></p><h3>7. BookStore</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="415" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/7-BookStore.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_360_bookstore/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_360_bookstore" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>8. Carousel</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="408" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/8-Carousel.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_358_carousel/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_358_carousel" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>9. Sailing</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/9-Sailing.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_322_sailing/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_321_glossy_box" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>10. Glossy Box</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="430" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/10-GlossyBox.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_321_glossy_box/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/download/templatemo_321_glossy_box">Download</a></p><h3>11. Liquid</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="458" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/11-Liquid.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_293_liquid/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_293_liquid" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>12. Musical Instruments</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/12-MusicalInstruments.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://csscreme.com/freetemplates/musical_instruments/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://csscreme.com/tpsaveas.php?tp=musical_instruments.zip">Download</a></p><h3>13. Darkside</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="382" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/13-DarkSide.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.nuviotemplates.com/preview.php?template=darkside-03">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.nuviotemplates.com/download.php?id=63">Download</a></p><h3>14. Medical Clinic</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/14-Medical_Clinic.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://csstemplatesmarket.com/freecsstemplates/medical_clinic/index.html">Demo</a> | <a href="http://csstemplatesmarket.com/tpsaveas.php?tp=medical_clinic.zip">Download</a></p><h3>15. Erasure</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="428" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/15-Erasure.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/preview/erasure/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecsstemplates.org/download/zip/erasure/">Download</a></p><h3>16. BeSmart</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="345" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/16-BeSmart.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.free-css.com/assets/files/free-css-templates/preview/page132/besmart/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page132/besmart" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>17. Free Software</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/17-FreeSoftware.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://csstemplatesmarket.com/freecsstemplates/h_free_software/index.html">Demo</a> | <a href="http://csstemplatesmarket.com/tpsaveas.php?tp=h_free_software.zip">Download</a></p><h3>18. Buzz</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="408" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/18-BUZZ.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.free-css.com/assets/files/free-css-templates/preview/page132/buzz/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page132/buzz" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>19. Mini Two</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/19-MiniTwo.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_345_mini_two/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_345_mini_two" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>20. Accordion</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20-Accordion.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_346_accordion/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_346_accordion" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>21. Graphite</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/21-Graphite.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_339_graphite/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_339_graphite" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>22. Blue Urban</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="390" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/22-BlueUrban.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_329_blue_urban/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_329_blue_urban" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>23. Briefcase</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/23-Briefcase.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_325_briefcase/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_325_briefcase" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>24. Golden Star</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/24-GoldenStar.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_305_golden_star/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_305_golden_star" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>25. Light Gray</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="431" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/25-LightGray.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.templatemo.com/templates/templatemo_304_light_gray/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_304_light_gray" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>26. Zoo</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/26-Zoo.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/preview/zootemplate/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/download/zootemplate/">Download</a></p><h3>27. Dark Pro</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/27-DarkPro.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.free-css.com/assets/files/free-css-templates/preview/page130/dark-pro/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page130/dark-pro" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>28. Calliope</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/28-Calliope.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.free-css.com/assets/files/free-css-templates/preview/page131/calliope/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page131/calliope" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>29. Xtreme</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="497" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/29-Xtreme.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.free-css.com/assets/files/free-css-templates/preview/page130/xtreme/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page130/xtreme" target="_blank">Download</a></p><h3>30. Halcyonic</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/30-Halcyonic.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/halcyonic-4332924433324311/demo-f9a21da1d8a4b6ca0c9752f3fac72de2907ba1722c198af114fa29b3f4a2ca9e50833ddc4a231a4e68d7bf071635e54a650f42db48ee8a5c66161300414e0406/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/halcyonic-4332924433324311/dl-3b4f354c2b5a117d7a5952d12b9da3d799f0c0f6dc96c97f7c553abea04a21d938b043ae1baa47ac1e9f370c529694fd2cbc9e17f72066f43e51e6383650f4c0/">Download</a></p><h3>31. Stargazer</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/31-Stargazer.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/stargazer-6563164013324314/demo-f28ae413d8402435e4965ddbdb3d2662a89dcc09a06f26dc08f38425ddd2cd4735c6679868340edef3db0d5b501f397422ab0b38b95399b688e1c098b8c89061/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/stargazer-6563164013324314/dl-00fb67947f72a5ed41aaa6ef3272b4895126f507a690e5dbd59610b119995f502a234b15cf0ab5566000e3962174a34793f8725e545a4feb34f5c0cc2e728937/">Download</a></p><h3>32. Indication</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/32-Indication.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/indication-8256045213324315/demo-44e6ac075ad4d1a6e36eb5c6708186e37c5765906c5ca31549a91cb1c9f84d8c835a162342673dfc02430b825bd484d2d198bdafceb71ed74f070f2a1816d5bc/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/indication-8256045213324315/dl-c6bc432a595bcb81b55e33959012213c85f759809deda826d02f86e8223ca980d414085d0a870d9b08e2abd49e8be8c3cb67060db2365b2df0326a7101439f81/">Download</a></p><h3>33. Elegant Blue</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="349" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/33-ElegantBlue.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/elegantblue-2683206313324317/demo-97fc37fafcbd116d405bd5e980948dfbc98e1d87a4695b0f44b23b97a762f25b895587b2ec806674f3a8528a9e58289567db2e2f1ae2c82b76a2563a68e9ae38/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://templated.org/freecsstemplates/elegantblue-2683206313324317/dl-d23cd8f6d156c7c576f1051508367c0c1b883c1125375f3160812070adac1a9ba939e347cb4266000a4a2c0734f6871a86534b091806cd59b135c9e4800a1a73/">Download</a></p><h3>34. Design Company</h3><h3><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/34-DesignCompany.jpg" /></h3><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/design_company">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/design_company">Download</a></p><h3>35. Free Hosting</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="379" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/36-FreeHosting.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/free_hosting">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/free_hosting">Download</a></p><h3>36. Cardex</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/36-Cardex.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/cardex">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/cardex">Download</a></p><h3>37. Under Construction</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/37-UnderConstruction.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/uder_construction">Demo </a>| <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/uder_construction">Download</a></p><h3>38. Blog Design</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/38-Blog_Design.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/blog_design">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/blog_design">Download</a></p><h3>39. Agro World</h3><p><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/39-Agro_World.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="550" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/agro_world">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/agro_world">Download</a></p><h3>40. Wooden Wall</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/40-WoodenWall.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/woodenwall">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/woodenwall">Download</a></p><h3>41. Sound Box</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/41-SoundBox.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/sound_box">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/sound_box">Download</a></p><h3>42. Professional</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/42-Professional.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/professional">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/professional">Download</a></p><h3>43. Fruit Art</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/43-FruitArt.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/fruit_art">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/fruit_art">Download</a></p><h3>44. Design Team</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/44-DesignTeam.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/design_team">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/design_team">Download</a></p><h3>45. Design Studio</h3><p><img alt="45 High-Quality Free HTML/CSS Templates from 2011 and 2012" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/45-DesignStudio.jpg" /></p><p><a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/preview/design_studio">Demo</a> | <a href="http://www.freecss.in/free-template/download/design_studio">Download</a></p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=56jzduTR4XE:SjzBSIJn4VM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=56jzduTR4XE:SjzBSIJn4VM:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=56jzduTR4XE:SjzBSIJn4VM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=56jzduTR4XE:SjzBSIJn4VM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/56jzduTR4XE" width="1" />

<p>Sliders are a common component used in website design and for various purposes. We can create image, content, or video sliders using  jQuery. jQuery is the most popular JavaScript framework used for these sliders. A lot of jQuery sliders can be categorized based on the techniques used for sliding. The following are some common and trending techniques used by developers.</p><ul><li><strong>Layered Sliders</strong> &#8211; This is the latest addition to sliders with parallax effect.</li><li><strong>Fade In/Out Sliders</strong> &#8211; These types of sliders do not have controls. Content just fades away one by one.</li><li><strong>Banner Rotators</strong> &#8211; These sliders rotate in a circular path.</li></ul><p>There are many other types of techniques as well. Each type of slider is suited for a different purpose and location on your website. Hence the designer has to carefully choose sliders for different locations.</p><p><span id="more-76686"></span></p><p>Even on our personal sites we create sliders with large dimensions to show products, sliders for displaying our project portfolio and small sliders to display featured or popular posts on a blog. So there is every chance that we might include more than one slider in a website. In the next section I&#8217;ll explain why multiple sliders can be a real pain for a designer or developer.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.innovativephp.com/demo/jquery-custom-slider-designs.zip" target="_blank">Zip File Download</a></h3><h2>Disadvantages of Using Multiple jQuery Sliders</h2><p>As I mentioned earlier, different sliders provides different effects and different layouts. Web designers will be prompted to include the slider with best effects for different locations. There are many drawbacks to using multiple different sliders on a single web page.</p><ul><li>Each slider will have a set of script and CSS files. Increasing the number of scripts and CSS files will slow your site loading time, which will affect SEO.</li><li>Different sliders may require different versions of jQuery. Hence jQuery files will be duplicated.</li><li>It&#8217;s possible to have conflicts in codes with other sliders.</li></ul><p>Considering the above points, it&#8217;s better to use one slider throughout your website. It&#8217;s possible to create different designs and features using the same slider. All you have to do is pick a flexible slider and have some knowledge of jQuery and CSS to customize it. I&#8217;ll be using Rhino Slider throughout this tutorial since it is one of the most flexible sliders available.</p><h2>Introduction to Rhino Slider</h2><p>Rhino Slider is a jQuery Slider dual licensed under the MIT or GPL Version 2 licenses. You can download and get more information <a href="http://rhinoslider.com/license/">here</a>. Following image shows the default view of Rhino Slider.</p><p><img alt="Rhino Slider Default View" class="size-full wp-image-76781 alignnone" height="254" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Rhino-Slider-Default-View.png" title="Rhino Slider Default View" width="570" /></p><p>I have explained the Rhino Slider components and how it can be used in my tutorial <a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/css/create-multi-step-form-rhinoslider/"><strong>How to Create a Multi-Step Form Using RhinoSlider</strong></a>. You can use it to get a better understanding about how it works. In this tutorial I&#8217;ll be explaining how to create different layouts and different functionality with a single slider.</p><h2>Designing Custom Navigation for the Slider</h2><p>Navigation is one important part of a slider. Even though sliders can be created to slide automatically in specified intervals, its preferable to provide controls for the user to go through them at their own speed. Generally <em>Next</em> and <em>Previous</em> buttons are provided in most sliders. Rhino Slider, which I am using for this tutorial, contains a numbered navigation similar to pagination.</p><p>We can create different designs for navigation pretty quickly and make the slider look completely different. I&#8217;ll show you how to change the basic styles of navigation. So lets get started.</p><p><strong>Identifying Control Buttons</strong></p><p>There are 3 navigation buttons in Rhino Slider for Previous Slide, Next Slide and Pagination. These components are provided with specific CSS classes so that we can identify them easily.</p><p>Previous Slide &#8211; rhino-prev<br /> Next Slide &#8211; rhino-next<br /> Pagination &#8211; rhino-bullets</p><p>Now, have a quick look at the image below to get an idea about how we are going to change the design.</p><p><img alt="Custom Navigation for Slider" class="size-full wp-image-77067 alignnone" height="283" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Custom-Navigation-for-Slider.png" title="Custom Navigation for Slider" width="570" /></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/jquery-custom-slider/navigation-slider/">Demo</a></h3><p><strong><br /> Step 1 &#8211; Designing Prev/Next Controls</strong></p><p>As you can see, prev and next buttons are given different images to the original one with black background. Also, positioning of the controls has been changed to show them in the middle instead of bottom. So let&#8217;s discuss the necessary changes to main CSS file.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .rhino-btn { background:url(../img/rhinoslider-sprite.png) 0 0 no-repeat; z-index:10; display:block; text-indent:-999%; -webkit-user-select:none; -moz-user-select:none; user-select:none; /* Modified Styles */ width:30px; height:25px; } .rhino-prev, .rhino-next {/* Modified Styles */ bottom:150px; } .rhino-prev { /* Modified Styles */ background: url(&quot;../img/prev-arrow.png&quot;) no-repeat scroll 13px 10px #000000; padding: 10px 5px; left : -45px; } .rhino-next { /* Modified Styles */ background: url(&quot;../img/next-arrow.png&quot;) no-repeat scroll 15px 10px #000000; padding: 10px 5px; right:-45px; } .rhino-prev:hover { /* Modified Styles */} .rhino-next:hover { /* Modified Styles */} .rhino-bullets:before, .rhino-bullets:after { position:absolute; display:block; left:-16px; content:' '; width:16px; height:26px; /* Removed Style */ /* background:url(../img/rhinoslider-sprite.png) -224px 0 no-repeat; */ } .rhino-bullets { position: absolute; bottom: -3px; margin:0 0 0 -50px; z-index: 10; background: #fff; padding:0; /* Modified Styles */ left: 45%; } .rhino-bullets li { float:left; display:inline; /* Modified Styles */ padding:10px; background :#000; /*margin:0 2px;*/ } .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet { display: block; width: 16px; cursor: pointer; background: white; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; padding: 6px 0 5px 0; color: #333; text-decoration:none; -webkit-user-select:none; -moz-user-select:none; user-select:none; /* Modified Styles */ background:url(&quot;../img/pagination.png&quot;) repeat scroll 0 0 #0C1C28; height: 3px; } .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet:hover, .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet:focus { color:#999; /* Removed Style */ /* background:#eee; */ } .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet.rhino-active-bullet { color:#fff; /* Removed Style */ /* background:#5cd4e8; */ /* Modified Style */ background-position:0px -14px; } </pre><p>Once you apply these styles, the slider will change its look to the design provided in the image. I have mentioned the styles which have been changed to achieve the new design. Now you can see how easy it is to create new designs.</p><h2>Designing Preview Images for Slider</h2><p>In the previous section, I explained how to use navigation controls and customize the layout. In this section we&#8217;ll try a bit of more advanced code to show preview images of the slider in place of navigation numbers. We will be using a combination of CSS and jQuery for this section.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/jquery-custom-slider/image-preview-slider/" target="_blank">Demo</a></h3><p>So we have to remove the circular image used for pagination and increase the dimensions of navigation bullets to show the preview image. Let&#8217;s take a look at the CSS code first. All the changes from the original CSS file can be found in code comments.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .rhino-bullets { position: absolute; bottom: -3px; z-index: 10; background: #fff; padding:0; /* Modified Styles */ bottom: -70px; /* Removed Styles left: 45%; margin: 0 0 0 -50px; */ } .rhino-bullets li { float:left; display:inline; /* Modified Styles */ padding:1px; background :#000; /*margin:0 2px;*/ } .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet { display: block; cursor: pointer; background: white; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; padding: 6px 0 5px 0; color: #333; text-decoration:none; -webkit-user-select:none; -moz-user-select:none; user-select:none; /* Modified Styles */ height: 55px; width: 102px; padding: 0; border:5px solid #eee; /* Removed Styles background:url(&quot;../img/pagination.png&quot;) repeat scroll 0 0 #0C1C28; */ } img{ max-width:100%; } </pre><p>Once you apply the above CSS code the preview will look like the following.</p><p><img alt="Slider Before Preview Images" class="size-full wp-image-77071 alignnone" height="334" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Slider-Before-Preview-Images.png" title="Slider Before Preview Images" width="570" /></p><p>Let&#8217;s play with some jQuery code to generate the preview images in place of numbers in bullets.</p><pre class="brush: jscript; title: ; notranslate"> $('#slider li').each(function(){ var image_src = $(this).find(&quot;img&quot;).attr(&quot;src&quot;); var panel_id = $(this).attr(&quot;id&quot;); $('.rhino-bullets li').find(&quot;#&quot;+panel_id+&quot;-bullet&quot;).html(&quot;&lt;img src='&quot;+image_src+&quot;' /&gt;&quot;); }); </pre><ul><li>First we traverse through all the li elements inside slider using jQuery each function.</li><li>You may have noted that li elements for slider images have the ID as rhino-item0,rhino-item1 etc., and the respective pagination bullet as rhino-item0-bullet, rhino-item1-bullet.</li><li>So we get the image src using the src attribute and get the ID of li elements above the image.</li><li>Then we find the respective bullet not using the ID and assign the image to the preview section.</li></ul><p>Now you will be able to see the preview images as shown in the screen below.</p><p><img alt="Slider After Preview Images" class="size-full wp-image-77075 alignnone" height="323" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Slider-After-Preview-Images.png" title="Slider After Preview Images" width="570" /></p><p>You can see how easy it is to change the designs and functions. Previewing images like this is not the most optimized way since it scales images. But its very useful in certain situations.</p><h2>Slider with Vertical Tabs</h2><p>Lets see how we can convert the default slider into a slider with tabbed navigation on the left side. You can take a look at the final output of this section using the following screen.</p><p><img alt="Slider with Tabs" class="size-full wp-image-77122 alignnone" height="242" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Slider-with-Tabs.png" title="Slider with Tabs" width="570" /></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/jquery-custom-slider/tab-slider" target="_blank">Demo</a></h3><p>The following is the necessary changes you need to make to the default CSS file in order to customize the design.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .rhino-bullets { background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFFFFF; left: -136px; margin: 0 0 0 -50px; padding: 0; position: absolute; z-index: 10; /* Removed Styles bottom: -3px; */ /* Added Styles */ top: -3px; border:1px solid #A7A5A5; } .rhino-bullets:before, .rhino-bullets:after { position:absolute; display:block; left:-16px; content:' '; width:16px; height:26px; /* Removed Styles background:url(../img/rhinoslider-sprite.png) -224px 0 no-repeat; */ } .rhino-bullets li { margin: 0 2px; /* Modified Styles */ display: block; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; /* Removed Styles float: left;*/ } .rhino-bullets li a.rhino-bullet { -moz-user-select: none; background: none repeat scroll 0 0 white; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; /* Modified Styles */ height: 50px; padding: 5px; width: 170px; } .rhino-bullets li img{ width:75px; height: 50px; float: left; } .rhino-bullets li p{ font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } </pre><p>Apart from the thumbnail images we can also add a short title or caption in front of the header. You have to define the captions in a JavaScript array as shown in the code below.</p><pre class="brush: jscript; title: ; notranslate"> var info = [&quot;Image Tagging&quot;,&quot;Rhino Slider&quot;,&quot;Tweet Book&quot;,&quot;Reward Tweet&quot;,&quot;Sliding Menu&quot;]; $('#slider li').each(function(index){ var image_src = $(this).find(&quot;img&quot;).attr(&quot;src&quot;); var panel_id = $(this).attr(&quot;id&quot;); $('.rhino-bullets li').find(&quot;#&quot;+panel_id+&quot;-bullet&quot;).html(&quot;&lt;img src='&quot;+image_src+&quot;' /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;+info[index]+&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&quot;); }); </pre><p>I have added the caption using the JavaScript array while traversing through pagination bullets.</p><h2>How to Use the Designs in Single Page</h2><p>In the previous 3 sections I showed you how to create different designs and functionality using the same slider. We changed the main CSS file of the Rhino Slider, but when we use more than one slider inside a single page we cannot change style the way we just did. So we have to find alternative methods to specify different styles for same classes and elements.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/demos/jquery-custom-slider/multiple-sliders" target="_blank">Demo</a></h3><p>First we have to provide different IDs for slider containers as shown below and initialize the Rhino Slider separately.</p><pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate"> &lt;ul id=&quot;slider1&quot; class=&quot;slider&quot;&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ul id=&quot;slider2&quot; class=&quot;slider&quot;&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;img/slider/3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; </pre><p>Then we have to assign a unique class to the bullet navigation list of each slider container. The following jQuery code will add the class to the navigation bullets.</p><pre class="brush: jscript; title: ; notranslate"> $('#slider1').parent().addClass(&quot;slider1&quot;); $('#slider2').parent().addClass(&quot;slider2&quot;); </pre><p>Each design will have its own styles for each class. So prefix all the modified styles with the class relative to the slider. Consider the following example.</p><pre class="brush: css; title: ; notranslate"> .slider1 .rhino-bullets { position: absolute; bottom: -3px; z-index: 10; background: #fff; padding:0; /* Modified Styles */ bottom: -70px; /* Removed Styles left: 45%; margin: 0 0 0 -50px; */ } .slider2 .rhino-bullets { position: absolute; bottom: -3px; margin:0 0 0 -50px; z-index: 10; background: #fff; padding:0; /* Modified Styles */ left: 45%; } </pre><p>In the above example 2 sliders have different styles for the <strong>rhino-bullets</strong> class. So prefix it with your slider class. Follow the same process for every other styles which is not common to all sliders.</p><p>So we have created a few slider designs and learned how to customize a slider. It&#8217;s time for you to create your own customized design for the slider. All are welcome to share links or images to your customized version of Rhino Slider.</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=AKB8ivWBi4s:6GeF5HksWJw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=AKB8ivWBi4s:6GeF5HksWJw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=AKB8ivWBi4s:6GeF5HksWJw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=AKB8ivWBi4s:6GeF5HksWJw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/AKB8ivWBi4s" width="1" />

<p>In this collection, we are presenting some handy and useful smartphone UI Kit PSDs that you can download for free. With these mobile user interface kits, designers can enhance their creations and make their mobile user interfaces look more interesting and appealing.</p><p>Using these kits, you can design visually interactive and appealing user interfaces. All these kits are available in PSD format for easy modification. <span id="more-77317"></span></p><p><strong>Note:</strong> Although all these UI Kits are free to use, we suggest you read the license agreements carefully before using them for commercial purposes.</p><h3>1. <a href="http://medialoot.com/item/surface-iphone-ui-kit-1/" target="blank">Surface iPhone UI Kit</a></h3><p><img alt="Surface iPhone UI Kit" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile42.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>2. <a href="http://freeuikits.com/free-psd-iphone-ios-6-gui-psd/" target="blank">iPhone iOS 6 GUI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone iOS 6 GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile48.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>3. <a href="http://365psd.com/day/3-110/" target="blank">iPhone UI</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone UI" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile53.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>4. <a href="http://freeuikits.com/free-psd-official-android-4-0-ui-downloads/" target="blank">Official Android 4.0 UI Downloads</a></h3><p><img alt="Official Android 4.0 UI Downloads" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile26.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>5. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/iphone-gui-psd-v4/" target="blank">iPhone GUI PSD Version 4</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone GUI PSD Version 4" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile2.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>6. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/ios-6-gui-psd-iphone-5/" target="blank">iOS 6 GUI PSD (iPhone 5)</a></h3><p><img alt="iOS 6 GUI PSD (iPhone 5)" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile58.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>7. <a href="http://livven.me/psds/htc-mondrian-windows-phone-7-concept-psd/" target="blank">HTC Mondrian Concept PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="HTC Mondrian Concept PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile32.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>8. <a href="http://thiago-silva.deviantart.com/art/Android-2-2-GUI-171047600" target="blank">Android 2.2 GUI</a></h3><p><img alt="Android 2.2 GUI" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile15.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>9. <a href="http://freeuikits.com/free-psd-passbook-ui-psd-from-ios6/" target="blank">Passbook UI PSD from iOS6</a></h3><p><img alt="Passbook UI PSD from iOS6" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile47.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>10. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/downloads/ios-5-gui-psd-iphone-4s/" target="blank">iOS 5 GUI PSD (iPhone 4S)</a></h3><p><img alt="iOS 5 GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile41.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>11. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/downloads/android-gui-psd-high-density/" target="blank">Android GUI PSD (High-Density)</a></h3><p><img alt="Android GUI PSD (High-Density)" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile46.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>12. <a href="http://freeuikits.com/free-psd-app-view-mobile-ui-psd/" target="blank">App View Mobile UI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="App View Mobile UI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile49.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>13. <a href="http://medialoot.com/item/free-iphone-app-template-appview/" target="blank">iPhone App UI Theme</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone App UI Theme" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile44.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>14. <a href="http://medialoot.com/item/fresh-iphone-ui-kit/" target="blank">Fresh iPhone UI Kit</a></h3><p><img alt="Fresh iPhone UI Kit" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile45.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>15. <a href="http://365psd.com/day/3-62/" target="blank">iPhone Camera App UI</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone Camera App UI" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile54.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>16. <a href="http://www.webdesignshock.com/free-photoshop-android-interface-gui/" target="blank">Photoshop Android GUI Set</a></h3><p><img alt="Photoshop Android GUI Set (.psd &amp; .png)" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile40.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>17. <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/18/android-gui-psd-vector-kit/" target="blank">Android GUI PSD Vector Kit</a></h3><p><img alt="Android GUI PSD Vector Kit" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile51.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>18. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/2010/02/01/ipad-gui-psd/" target="blank">iPad GUI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="iPad GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile52.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>19. <a href="http://365psd.com/day/308/" target="blank">iPhone 4 GUI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone 4 GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile56.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>20. <a href="http://365psd.com/day/234/" target="blank">iPhone App PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone App PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile57.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>21. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/iphone-4-gui-psd-retina-display/" target="blank">iPhone 4 GUI PSD (Retina Display)</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone 4 GUI PSD (Retina Display)" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile1.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>22. <a href="http://designerstoolbox.com/designresources/iphone/" target="blank">iPhone GUI Elements</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone GUI Elements" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile4.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>23. <a href="http://www.mercuryintermedia.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/iphone-ui-vector-elements" target="blank">iPhone UI Vector Elements</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone UI Vector Elements" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile5.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>24. <a href="http://fantasy-apps.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2r7sus" target="blank">iPhone UI Kits Light Remake</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone UIKits light remake" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile7.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>25. <a href="http://graffletopia.com/stencils/413" target="blank">Ultimate iPhone Stencil</a></h3><p><img alt="Ultimate iPhone Stencil" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile9.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>26. <a href="http://unitid.nl/2009/11/fireworks-template-for-android/" target="blank">Fireworks Template for Android</a></h3><p><img alt="Fireworks template for Android" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile13.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>27. <a href="http://bharathp666.deviantart.com/art/Android-Widgets-182178250" target="blank">Android: Widgets</a></h3><p><img alt="Android: Widgets" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile16.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>28. <a href="http://mobile-developer.ru/maemo/vse-elementy-maemo-5-gui-v-psd/" target="blank">All Elements of Maemo 5 GUI in PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="All elements of Maemo 5 GUI in PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile21.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>29. <a href="http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/palm-pre-gui-psd/" target="blank">Palm Pre GUI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="Palm Pre GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile22.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>30. <a href="http://graffletopia.com/stencils/495" target="blank">iPhone 3G Stencil</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone 3G Stencil" border="0" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile25.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>31. <a href="http://designmoo.com/12694/ios-5-gui-psd/" target="blank">iOS 5 GUI PSD</a></h3><p><img alt="iOS 5 GUI PSD" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile28.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>32. <a href="http://softarea.deviantart.com/art/Music-UI-Kit-For-Web-and-Mobile-Phones-PSD-320027605" target="blank">Music UI Kit For Web and Mobile Phones (PSD)</a></h3><p><img alt="Music UI Kit For Web and Mobile Phones (PSD)" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile31.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>33. <a href="http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2008/11/26/iphone-psd-vector-kit/" target="blank">iPhone PSD Vector Kit</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone PSD Vector Kit" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile34.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>34. <a href="http://dribbble.com/shots/631200-Freebies-Mobile-and-Web-UI-Kit" target="blank">Mobile and Web UI Kit</a></h3><p><img alt="Mobile and Web UI Kit" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile36.jpg" width="570" /></p><h2>Mobile Wireframes</h2><h3>35. <a href="http://www.zurb.com/article/608/full-set-of-stencils-for-sketching-iphone" target="blank">Full Set of Stencils for Sketching iPhone &amp; Android</a></h3><p><img alt="Full Set of Stencils for Sketching iPhone, iPad &amp; Android" border="0" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile35.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>36. <a href="http://fullofdesign.com/posts/iphone-app-wireframe-template/" target="blank">iPhone App Wireframe Template</a></h3><p><img alt="iPhone App Wireframe Template" border="0" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile8.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>37. <a href="http://graffletopia.com/stencils/630" target="blank">Android 1.6 Wireframe Stencil for Omnigraffle</a></h3><p><img alt="Android 1.6 Wireframe stencil for Omnigraffle" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile11.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>38. <a href="http://www.usercentred.net/2010/06/28/illustrator-template-for-iphone-design/" target="blank">Template for iPhone Design</a></h3><p><img alt="template for iPhone design" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile12.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>39. <a href="http://graffletopia.com/stencils/578" target="blank">Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0</a></h3><p><img alt="Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile14.jpg" width="570" /></p><h3>40. <a href="http://www.eleqtriq.com/2010/08/sqetch-wireframe-toolkit/" target="blank">HTC HD2 Smartphone Vector</a></h3><p><img alt="HTC HD2 Smartphone Vector (.psd)" border="0" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uikitsformobile17.jpg" width="570" /></p><p><strong></strong>Browse through this collection and feel free to download as many as you like. Do let us know what you think of this collection using the comment section below. Enjoy!</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8BNZ6rPlOWY:NOSBKIfp9BU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8BNZ6rPlOWY:NOSBKIfp9BU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8BNZ6rPlOWY:NOSBKIfp9BU:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=8BNZ6rPlOWY:NOSBKIfp9BU:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/8BNZ6rPlOWY" width="1" />

<p>There can be many reasons to stick to deviantART (dA) &#8212; the biggest art community and a basic step for a design newcomer. At the same time none of these reasons should prevent you from participating in other professional networks and showcasing your skills.</p><p>Founded twelve years ago, today deviantART has the widest art-loving audience. However, lately there is an opinion that deviantART is overcrowded with work which can only be called “art” by a long stretch of imagination. So many men, so many censures! Anyway, like it or not, dA is a wonderful art community, but at the same time, it helps to be part of other art networks as well.</p><p>Today, we will take a look at seven major art communities and deviantART alternatives for aspiring designers and creative artists. <span id="more-77282"></span></p><h2>7 deviantART Alternatives:</h2><h3>1. <a href="http://www.behance.net">Behance</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77283" height="400" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/1-Behance.jpg" title="Behance" width="500" /></p><p>Unlike deviantART, Behance is built for those who work with art professionally, doing it for a living or as a very serious hobby. Due to the strict rules and high standards, Behance tends to be an upper-level professional network.</p><p>The website looks intuitive and well-organized: works are divided into groups, categories, and even countries. You can circle your friends or teammates according to the interests, professional level or the project you are working on together. If you are looking for a standout feature here, take a look at the job board and interaction system. On Behance, artists get a consistent portfolio system to show the workflow and project progress in steps. Although a large number of famous names may scare the beginners, Behance is probably the only place where you can share your experience and knowledge with artists and designers and get professional feedback.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: Web and interface design, typography, typeface, graphics, industrial and interaction design, etc.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: Yes, very active.</li><li><strong>Pro account</strong>: Not exactly. Behance ProSite for publishing portfolio websites starts from $11/month.</li></ul><h3>2. <a href="http://www.dribbble.com">Dribbble</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77284" height="414" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2-Dribbble.jpg" title="Dribbble" width="500" /></p><p>First things first. Dribbble is a &#8220;by invitation only&#8221; website and stays one of those private networks that every designer is proud to be a part of. Users get 24 free shots each month to showcase their skills and get spotted. Frankly, Dribbble is all about &#8220;shots&#8221; and &#8220;rebounds&#8221;. Shots are small (400&#215;300 pixels JPEG, GIF or PNG) sneak peaks of your work or even a piece of it. Rebounding is a good way to reply with a shot or post a series of your sneak peaks tied with a certain idea.</p><p>The invite system has also ensured that the quality of works remains intact. Drafting a newcomer is sort of a responsibility, after all.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: UI Design, Web Design, Script, Typography, iOS apps design, 3D Designs, etc.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: Yes.</li><li><strong>Pro account</strong>: Yes, $20 per year. Better search for scouts, PRO badge for members, additional projects, attachments and stats.</li></ul><h3>3. <a href="http://www.forrst.com">Forrst</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77285" height="409" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/3-Forrst.jpg" title="Forrst" width="500" /></p><p>Private communities always cause a lot of rumors, but I should admit: Forrst beats them all. It is an invite-only community but if you are a member of GitHub, you have a right to login without asking for an invitation. On the whole, Forrst is all about sharing four categories: questions, snaps, code and links. It may look a bit similar to Dribbble, but it focuses on web developers too.</p><p>The editorial team has launched an amazing podcast covering design-centric topics and tutorials, which can be downloaded on iTunes. Being a closed network, Forrst makes its members keep up with the high level of work and invites only those who meet the requirements. Another strict measure is flagging offensive posts, so the community content is always clean and relevant.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: Icons, software, web interface, user interface.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: Yes.</li><li><strong>Pro accounts</strong>: Yes, called &#8220;supported accounts&#8221; and cost $5 per month. Provides stats and custom domains, unlimited attachment and more.</li></ul><h3>4. <a href="http://www.designmoo.com">Designmoo</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77286" height="370" src="http://cdn3.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/4-Designmoo.jpg" title="Designmoo" width="500" /></p><p>Designmoo.com is an open designers&#8217; network aimed to provide its members with objective feedback and the opportunity to get their projects done. With its rich base of free stuff (fonts, brushes, illustrations, icons and other items) and active interaction system, Designmoo is a fast-developing network with one of the largest worldwide communities.</p><p>Each work can deserve a &#8220;like&#8221;, comment and feedback with suggestions. There is also a marketplace for pro members interested in selling their items via Designmoo or a third-party website. The community is vividly using all possible ways to promote free and quality stuff. A very popular one is so-called &#8220;Sponsored Freebies&#8221; featuring sources of peak traffic on a page branded with a company&#8217;s logo.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: UI elements, email newsletter layouts, fonts, graphics, etc.</li><li><strong>Job board:</strong> No, but there&#8217;s a marketplace for buying/selling quality design-centric products.</li><li><strong>Pro account</strong>: Starts from $9/month, gives you Dropbox synchronization, externally-hosted resources sharing and widescreen preview images uploading.</li></ul><h3>5. <a href="http://www.designshack.net">Designshack</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77287" height="357" src="http://cdn1.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/5-Designshack.jpg" title="Designshack" width="500" /></p><p>Designshack is a user-friendly all-in-one solution for designers to submit their work, get feedback and make use of regular design-centric news and articles. The website is extremely easy to use; there are three main categories in the gallery: web design, branding, logos and interface design.</p><p>Being a part of DesignShack will get you an exclusive WordPress theme &#8220;Marketed&#8221; for free, while its usual price is $30. Your work can also get featured in a promotional article prepared by the editorial team for $49 only. Thus each member gets an opportunity to get spotted and receive objective critique for his pieces of art.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: Web design, interface design, branding and logos.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: No.</li><li><strong>Pro account</strong>: No, but promotional opportunities for $49.</li></ul><h3>6. <a href="http://www.patterntap.com">Patterntap</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77288" height="341" src="http://cdn4.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/6-Patterntap.jpg" title="Patterntap" width="500" /></p><p>Let&#8217;s move to more focused communities. Patterntap was created four years ago as a &#8220;living classroom, where designers learn what is working well on the Web and why&#8221;; its members are mostly interested in UI design and patterns. There is a quick Twitter sign up and as a network participant, you can leave your comments below each item. If you are looking for inspiration or improving your design literacy, Patterntap is the right place to go!</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: Typography, texture, subtitle, colorscheme, slidebars, subnavigation and many others.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: No.</li><li><strong>Pro account</strong>: No.</li></ul><h3>7. <a href="http://www.typophile.com">Typophile</a></h3><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-77289" height="361" src="http://cdn2.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/7-Typophile.jpg" title="Typophile" width="500" /></p><p>Typophile is another focused community &#8212; this time for typography enthusiasts. If you are fond of typographic art, want to get experience, meet like-minded people and are ready for standing some criticism, you&#8217;ll find everything here. The network itself is a huge forum tree, where fonts and typefaces, associated software, tips and tricks are discussed. Holding tons of pieces of creativity, this website has never had paid accounts and is supported by Punchcut.com &#8212; a design consulting company from San Francisco.</p><ul><li><strong>Categories</strong>: Bitmap Display / Script, Typography / Composition, etc.</li><li><strong>Job board</strong>: No.</li><li><strong>Pro accounts</strong>: No.</li></ul><p>Is that all?</p><p>Of course not! You can also make use of the following websites:</p><ul><li><a href="http://designrelated.com">Designrelated.com</a></li><li><a href="http://designspiration.net">Designspiration.net</a></li><li><a href="http://psdbucket.com">PSDbucket.com</a></li><li><a href="http://typetoken.net">Typetoken.net</a></li><li><a href="http://flickr.com/groups/_typography/">Flickr.com/groups/_typography/</a></li></ul><p>Now that you’ve seen the most popular alternatives to dA, which one do you find the most attractive? Let us know whether you’re going to stay with dA community or explore something else. Share your thoughts or help us to expand the list!</p> <span id="pty_trigger"></span><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8lxKJbtWDV4:s_J31ZKgOVw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8lxKJbtWDV4:s_J31ZKgOVw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?a=8lxKJbtWDV4:s_J31ZKgOVw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1stwebdesigner?i=8lxKJbtWDV4:s_J31ZKgOVw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> </div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~4/8lxKJbtWDV4" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/iphone/rework-philip-glass-remixed-by-snibbe-studio/" title="glass-iPad-Nosaj-Thing-comp-2048x1536"><img alt="REWORK (Philip Glass Remixed) by Snibbe Studio" height="443" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/glass-iPad-Nosaj-Thing-comp-copy.png" title="glass-iPad-Nosaj-Thing-comp-2048x1536" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Snibbe Studio&#8217;s biggest project since the Björk Biophilia, REWORK is a full-length app album treatment for the Beck/Philip Glass collaborative remix album featuring artists like Amon Tobin and Cornelius now available for the iPhone and iPad. The studio has built a REWORK app that includes interactive visualizations corresponding to 11 of the remix songs with [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/bSqz4ANmph0" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/jobs-2/digital-manager-at-warp-records/" title="warp"><img alt="Digital Manager at Warp Records" height="180" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/warp.png" title="warp" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Company: Warp Records Ltd Location:  London, UK Type: Full-Time Category: Other Description Key digital marketing and communications role working for one of the World’s leading Independent record labels – responsible for releasing music from artists including Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Grizzly Bear, Jamie Lidell, Autechre, Darkstar, Squarepusher, Nightmares On Wax, Battles, Brian Eno, Mount Kimbie and [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/QaQq_nm2ke4" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/holo/holo-final-days-on-kickstarter-digital-gifts-and-more/" title="Cerveau Morille, CAN, Neuchâtel, 2012"><img alt="HOLO - Final days on Kickstarter - Digital Gifts and More!" height="487" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/zimoun_spread_CAN.jpg" title="Cerveau Morille, CAN, Neuchâtel, 2012" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Over the last 4 weeks you&#8217;ve served us a potent cocktail of enthusiasm, affirmation and disbelief. Each morning we woke up to surpassed expectations. When the 456th pledge pushed us over the 100% mark only five days into our campaign – the news broke in the middle of Monday night&#8217;s editorial meeting – we still [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/sCQXcjTX2qM" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/environment/woods-structured-landscape-of-responsive-light-by-nocte/" title="woods_01"><img alt="Woods - Structured landscape of responsive light by Nocte" height="425" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/woods_02-640x425.jpg" title="woods_01" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Created by Nocte, a collaborative between Andrea Cuius-Boscarello and Hannelore Leisek, Woods is a responsive light installation commissioned by artistic director Heather Eddington of State of Flux DanceFilm Company for their Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Awards 2013 finalist performance A Study of Who. By using different lighting setups and dispositions for each consecutively revealed element, every  scene of the choreography [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/-hhxMueeoJ4" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/jobs-2/computational-designer-at-artcom/" title="_0000_Ebenenkomp. 4"><img alt="Computational Designer at ART+COM" height="180" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/0000_Ebenenkomp.-4.jpg" title="_0000_Ebenenkomp. 4" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Company: ART+COM Location:  Berlin, Germany Type: Full-Time Category: Creative Code Description ART+COM designs and develops media installations and spaces motivated by the desire to shift boundaries through innovation and to develop new possibilities. We are looking to add a full-time computational designer to our interdisciplinary team. WHAT WE&#8217;RE LOOKING FOR # a perfect hybrid between a designer and a [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/lsUx5ttmkYc" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/android/energy-flow/" title="environment"><img alt="Energy Flow - Non-linear film experience by FIELD for the iOS and Android" height="360" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/life01-640x360.jpg" title="environment" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Created by London&#8217;s digital art and design collective Field, Energy Flow is a non-linear film experience created for the iOS and Android platforms that explores the physical, social and spiritual tensions in our world. The film is composed of multiple story lines into an immersive, audio-visual experience that is unique every time it is played. [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/3AFLpB1JD9Q" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/javascript-2/every-day-of-my-life-by-marcin-ignac/" title="Every Day Of My Life 01"><img alt="&quot;Every Day Of My Life&quot; by Marcin Ignac" height="426" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Every-Day-Of-My-Life-08-640x426.jpg" title="Every Day Of My Life 01" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Every Day Of My Life is a visualization of Marcin Ignac&#8217;s computer usage statistics from the last 2.5 years and presented at the Click festival in Helsingør. Each line represents one day and each colorful block is the most foreground app running at the given moment. Black areas are periods when his computer is not [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/7U_Ce8a-D8Y" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/jobs-2/front-end-interactive-developer-at-less-rain-ltd/" title="lessrain"><img alt="Front-end Interactive Developer at Less Rain Ltd" height="180" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/lessrain.png" title="lessrain" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> Company: Less Rain Ltd Location:  London, UK Type: Full-Time Category: Creative Code Description (HTML 5, CSS3, JavaScript, Flash, AIR) No agencies You will be developing playful interactive environments, focusing on cross platform interactive content, including games &#38; apps. Every project we do has a great concept / idea behind it and pushes the boundaries of what is possible, so [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/kUSjs6rs25o" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/news/artists-in-laboratories-a-i-l-regine-debatty/" title="artworks-000025402928-5o22nh-t500x500"><img alt="Artists in Laboratories (#A.I.L) - Regine Debatty" height="306" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/0amechelsebresse-640.jpg" title="artworks-000025402928-5o22nh-t500x500" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> We have already seen what CAN would be like if it was a magazine but what about Radio? Well, we are quite confident that if we ever did that, Artists in Laboratories on ResonanceFM by our dear friend Regine Debatty from WeMakeMoneyNotArt would make a perfect precedent. (image above Koen Vanmechelen &#8211; via) Regine Debatty reports [...]<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/LsPJZ-RDz1I" width="1" />

<div> <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/10-print-single-line-of-code-as-a-lens-through-creative-computing/" title="10PRINT_01"><img alt="10 PRINT - Single line of code as a lens through creative computing" height="480" src="http://www.creativeapplications.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/10PRINT_01-640x480.jpg" title="10PRINT_01" width="640" /></a> </div> <br /> A collaboration between Nick Montfort, Patsy Baudoin, John Bell, Ian Bogost, Jeremy Douglass, Mark C. Marino, Michael Mateas, Mark Sample, Noah Vawter and Casey Reas, 10 PRINT is a book about a one-line Commodore 64 BASIC program.<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/creativeapplicationsnet/~4/jPT-zAg5McU" width="1" />

<p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="vapona_stoptrying_1.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=vapona_stoptrying_1.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/vapona_stoptrying_1t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="vapona_stoptrying_2.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=vapona_stoptrying_2.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/vapona_stoptrying_2t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="vapona_stoptrying_3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=vapona_stoptrying_3.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/vapona_stoptrying_3t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <div class="posttextbox"> <p>Agency: HEREZIE, Paris, France<br /> Creative Director: Andrea Stillacci<br /> Copywriter: Daniel &#038; Mattia<br /> Art Director: Daniel &#038; Mattia<br /> Illustrator: Daniel &#038; Mattia</p> </div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=EGOvnRwsE_c:IhZwTZJx2gs:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <br /> </p> <p>The unique performance of Philips irons and steamers is demonstrated by the Art of Ironing. The classical Dutch paintings are re-created on a plain piece of white tissue with Philips ironing aids.</p> <p>Agency: DDB, Moscow, Russia<br /> Creative Director: Anna Denisova<br /> Art Director: Ivan Davydov<br /> Director: Anton Groves<br /> Production: Yarche, Carioca Studio<br /> Published: September 2012</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=TyFRN0Nwp8w:pRz2E2o7VLo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <br /> </p> <p>Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, USA</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=dUwEBh0hfTc:8cfOssYx0Bk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_1.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_1.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_1t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_2.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_2.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_2t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_3.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/quebec_insurance_society_seatbelt_3t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <div class="posttextbox"> <p>&#8220;Buckle up. Stay alive.&#8221;</p> <p>Agency: Lg2, Quebec, Canada<br /> Creative Direction / Copywriting: Luc Du Sault<br /> Art Direction: Jean Lafrenière<br /> Account Planners: Mireille Côté, Alexandra Laverdière<br /> Account Managers: Alexandra Laverdière<br /> Photographer: Maude DeVarennes<br /> Production: Julie Pichette<br /> Digital Artists: Marc Rivest, David Boivin</p> </div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=WUxxIdTsh8w:_DZGx_rf8M4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <br /> </p> <p>This mini-documentary captures a thought provoking campaign with the sole purpose to increase awareness into Parkinson&#8217;s disease.</p> <p>Starting on World Parkinson&#8217;s Day (April 11), various Sydney cafe&#8217;s were thrown off balance to highlight the fact that Parkinson&#8217;s affects everyone. </p> <p>Over 1,000 wooden wedges (the kind you use to hold a door open) were produced with a message printed clearly on each side. One side of the wedge showed the title of the campaign, &#8220;It&#8217;s more than just the shakes.&#8221; When flipped over, the printed copy read, &#8220;Thirty Australians are diagnosed with Parkinson&#8217;s disease every day. But thousands more are affected, from family to friends. You can help stop it at shakeitup.org.au&#8221;. </p> <p>The wedges were placed under various tables in cafés and restaurants. Cameras recorded people&#8217;s reactions to their wobbly tables, spilled coffees, tipped sugar bowls and of course, their reactions to the wedge messages. </p> <p>The stunt itself was designed to spark a conversation about Parkinson&#8217;s Disease and address the misconceptions that PD is just &#8216;an old people&#8217;s disease&#8217;, and about &#8216;having the shakes&#8217;, but more affects everyone connected to the person with PD &#8212; from family and friends to co-workers. </p> <p>Agency: Ogilvy, Sydney, Australia<br /> Executive Creative Director: Brett Howlett<br /> Planning Director: Gerry Cyron<br /> Group Creative Director: Michael Raso<br /> Copywriter: Mietta Macfarlane<br /> Art Director: Luke Chard<br /> Account Management: Alison Howlett<br /> Executive Producer: Rob Spencer<br /> Producer: Gabe Hammond<br /> Director/DP: Peter Bloomfield<br /> Editor: Fraser Kelton</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=H_kQWYhPbqI:xlxr4IaghT0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="THS_dog_caller.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=THS_dog_caller.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/THS_dog_callert.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <div class="posttextbox"> <p>Rethink invented a thermal dog collar called the ‘the dog CALLER’ that actually contacts the dog owner&#8217;s smart phone if their pooch is in trouble. “When the collar hits 26.5 degrees, the device will alert your phone.” The prototype collar is fully functional and the Toronto Humane Society and Rethink are working with designers and manufacturers, as well as looking to crowd-fund the final product with the end goal of having it widely available to the public in the New Year.</p> <p>Agency: Rethink Toronto, Canada<br /> Creative Directors: Aaron Starkman, Dre Labre<br /> Writers: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick<br /> Art Director: Joel Arbez<br /> Digital Producer: Sarah Lasch</p> </div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=Ab32fUpGlvY:0rVC0ZzEIeQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="stella_naturals_1.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=stella_naturals_1.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/stella_naturals_1t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="stella_naturals_2.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=stella_naturals_2.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/stella_naturals_2t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="stella_naturals_3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=stella_naturals_3.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/stella_naturals_3t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <div class="posttextbox"> <p>Agency: Advantage, Indonesia<br /> Executive Creative Director: Rajesh Menon<br /> Art Director: Rani Utami Fajri<br /> Copywriter: Dennan Ahmad<br /> Associate Creative Director: Imelda Thaher<br /> Graphic Designer: Seno Handoko<br /> Agency Producer: Endah Juliastuti<br /> Account manager: Erlina Ariyanti</p> </div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=j4HWMnwflAQ:gVDj5QMZ2io:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/47171653">DRUNK MIRROR</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/drunkmirror">DrunkMirror</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> <p></p> <p>To raise awareness about the danger of drinking and driving OgilvyOne created an action at a famous bar in São Paulo. Using a TV screen created a very unusual mirror: a mirror with a delayed reflection effect. When people interacted with it a message would appear alerting how drinking can slower the driver’s reflex.</p> <p>Agency: OgilvyOne, São Paulo, Brazil<br /> Chief Creative Officer: Anselmo Ramos<br /> Executive Creative Director: Marcos Ribeiro<br /> Creative Director: Marcos Ribeiro / Alexandre Ravagnani<br /> Art Director: Fernando Passos / Rafael Gatuzzo<br /> Copywriter: Flavio Tamashiro / Erich Moreira<br /> Account: Felipe Obara / Andrea tornovsky / Denise Caruso<br /> Media: Luciana Serra / Larissa Dias<br /> Planner: Luis Stateri / Marian Travassos / Cleber Almeida<br /> Producer: Cecília Taioli / Adriana Jorge<br /> Production Company: Santa Transmedia<br /> Film Director: Gustavo Rodrigues<br /> Sound Design: Sound Design<br /> Cilent: Ivan Pacicco / Luis Dix</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=B_PqycDsI9c:jjoekm-eQo8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="partnership_drugfree_1.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=partnership_drugfree_1.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/partnership_drugfree_1t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p> <form action="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php" method="get" name="ad_form"> <input id="ad" name="ad" type="hidden" value="partnership_drugfree_2.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/SINGLE_AD_PAGE.php?ad=partnership_drugfree_2.jpg"><img src="http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/partnership_drugfree_2t.jpg" width="350" /></a></form> <p></p> <div class="posttextbox"> <p>The Partnership at Drugfree.org</p> <p>Agency: Leo Burnett, New York, USA<br /> Chief Creative Officer: Jay Benjamin<br /> Executive Creative Directors: Darren Wright, David Skinner<br /> Copywriter: Simen Braathen<br /> Art Director: Doffen Ærlige<br /> Design Director: Masataka Kawano</p> </div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=4MRvoRhNJXA:5Xalq9lvZeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<p> <br /> </p> <p>Every year in South Africa thousands of criminals escape conviction due to people disturbing crime scene evidence. The DNA Project set out to educate the public never to interfere with a crime scene. We created a 6x8m canvas out of small white stones. Onto this we spray painted the giant mugshot of a criminal. As people walked over the installation the criminal&#8217;s identity became more and more unrecognisable.</p> <p>Agency: FoxP2 Cape Town, South Africa<br /> Executive Creative Director: Justin Gomes<br /> Art Directors: Reijer Van Der Vlugt, Brendan Hoffmann<br /> Copywriters: Justin Osburn, Kenneth Van Reenen<br /> Installation built by: More Design<br /> Video shot and edited by: NiceOneSteve</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:wF9xT3WuBAs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:wF9xT3WuBAs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?a=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Advertising/designGoodness?i=n3-GyXns4cw:VArfQPIyBZw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> </div>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> One of my all-time favorite Mac utilities was <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/1151306/maxmenusliteswitch.html">MaxMenus</a>, a System Preferences pane that let you create multiple custom menus, each containing your choice of apps, files, folders, volumes, and other frequently accessed items. Unfortunately, MaxMenus appears to have been abandoned—you can no longer download it, its website is dead, and while it currently works under Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8.2), I suspect some future update to OS X will render MaxMenus useless. </p> <p> I’ve tried—and quickly discarded—a number of alternatives, but one that works well is PointWorks’s $2 <strong><a href="http://www.pointworks.de/software/custommenu/index.php">CustomMenu</a></strong> (<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/custommenu/id572551593?ls=1&amp;mt=12">Mac App Store link</a>). Launch CustomMenu, and its systemwide menu icon appears on the right-hand side of your menu bar. Click this icon and choose Customize Menu, and you can choose the items you want to appear in the menu. </p> <figure class="right small"><a class="zoom" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/custommenuprefs-100017360-orig.png"><img align="right" alt="" height="180" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/custommenuprefs-100017360-small.png" width="140" /></a><figcaption>CustomMenu's configuration window</figcaption></figure> <p> Click the Add (+) button next to Group on the left to create a new group—a section of the menu that’s separated from other sections by a divider line. I don’t know if there’s a limit to the number of groups, but I had ten groups in my menu while testing CustomMenu, and the utility still let me add another. These group names and dividers take up space—and you can’t add items to the menu without using groups—but they make the menu much easier to navigate than if all your items were in a single, uninterrupted list. </p> <p> Select any group, and you can add items to that group by either dragging apps, files, and folders from the Finder into the group’s item list, or clicking the plus-sign (+) button next to Items to use OS X’s standard file-navigation dialog box. You can also move an item between groups by dragging it. Select an item and click the minus-sign (-) button, or press the Delete key, to remove the item from the list. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2019731/mac-gems-custommenu-provides-quick-access-to-your-favorite-apps-files-and-folders.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> The holidays are once again in full swing, and what’s more festive than loading up the Mac with some fun games? No problem! There is a veritable avalanche of games to choose from, ranging from kid’s fare to casual games to challenging action titles. </p> <p> Finding games in boxes on store shelves is, frankly, a difficult task, thanks to dwindling shelf space in Apple retail stores. But that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of games available. In fact, we’re in the midst of a renaissance of Mac game publishing, thanks to Apple’s Mac App Store, Valve’s <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/">Steam</a> game service, and many other places to get Mac games online, like <a href="http://www.gamersgate.com">Gamersgate.com</a> and <a href="http://www.macgamestore.com">Macgamestore.com</a>. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. </p> <h2>For kids</h2> <p> Feral Interactive’s latest addition to the Lego Mac game pantheon is <a href="http://www.feralinteractive.com/en/mac-games/legobatman2/">Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes</a> ($30; <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2011404/review-lego-batman-2-features-the-dark-knight-s-super-friends.html">read the review</a>). The game brings players to the DC Universe, to a Lego-fied version of Gotham, home city to Batman and bad guys like the Joker. Batman teams up with other superheroes including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman (all as playable characters, of course), fighting the forces of evil before they overrun the city. </p> <figure class=" large"><img alt="" border="0" height="328" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/lego_batman2-100016527-large.png" width="580" /><figcaption>Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes</figcaption></figure> <p> Players wield super powers and use incredible gadgets like Green Lantern’s Power Ring or Batman and Robin’s array of nifty utility belt items. What’s more, the game features cooperative two-player support, so another player can drop in or out (from the same computer) to lend a hand at any time. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2019196/give-a-mac-game-this-holiday-season.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> Apple and four other e-book publishers have settled an antitrust battle with the European Union. </p> <p> After a year of <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/1165825/eu_apple_publishers_must_address_all_e_book_allegations.html">investigations into allegations of cartel price-fixing</a>, the European Commission has decided to accept commitments to alter e-book pricing practices from Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon &amp; Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan and Apple. </p> <p> The Commission concluded that an infringement had very possibly taken place when the publishers together with Apple jointly switched to an agency sales model to set e-book prices. </p> <p> Despite this, the competition watchdog decided not to impose fines, instead opting to accept promises from the companies that they will terminate the current agency agreements and, for a period of two years, will not hamper e-book retailers, such as Amazon, from setting their own prices for e-books or from offering discounts and promotions. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020203/apple-ebook-settlement-with-eu-will-allow-amazon-to-set-prices.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p>A federal jury in Delaware has found Apple’s iPhone infringes on three patents held by MobileMedia, a patent-holding company formed by Sony, Nokia and MPEG LA. </p> <p>The jury’s verdict in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware was announced on Thursday and came after a seven-day trial and just a day of deliberations. </p> <p>The jury found that the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 directly infringed claims in U.S. patent 6,070,068, which was issued to Sony and covers a method for controlling the connecting state of a call, U.S. patent 6,253,075, issued to Nokia and which covers call rejection, and U.S. patent 6,427,078, also issued to Nokia and which covers a data processing device. </p> <p>A copy of the completed jury verdict form was seen by IDG News Service. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020207/apples-iphone-found-to-infringe-sony-nokia-patents.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> Despite its aesthetic achievements, Apple’s Maps app in iOS 6 <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020187/google-maps-arrives-in-app-store.html">left a lot of users unhappy</a>. Turns out that the years Google spent building out its mapping data were hugely important; Apple’s data—which powered its new Maps app—didn’t have the real world, real user testing that Google Maps benefited from. That’s why <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2010186/opinion-ios-6-maps-is-great-and-its-not.html">Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized</a> to customers over his company’s Maps app. And that’s why customers are now so excited about <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020187/google-maps-arrives-in-app-store.html">Google’s new, free mapping app for iPhone</a>. And you know who else is excited about Google’s new app? Apple. </p> <h2>Why abandon Google?</h2> <figure class="right medium"><a class="zoom" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/googlemaps-100017269-orig.png"><img alt="" border="0" height="533" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/googlemaps-100017269-medium.png" width="300" /></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure> <p> Apple hasn’t commented on the record about exactly why it chose to sever its relationship with Google for the Maps app in iOS 6. The most public explanation the company offered came in Cook’s public apology letter, when he wrote “We wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.” </p> <p> The implication there—and the rumor mill’s conclusion—is that Google wouldn’t allow Apple to offer features like turn-by-turn navigation with voice assist or vector-based map imagery, at least not without substantially hiking licensing fees. Some have also suggested that Google wanted to insert ads into the Maps app, and that Apple wouldn’t allow such promotion within a stock app. </p> <p> Let’s say that’s why Apple felt forced to roll its own Maps app solution. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020192/why-google-maps-for-iphone-is-good-for-apple.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> The furor over Apple’s Maps app has diminished somewhat since it peaked shortly after the release of iOS 6, but there are still people who have been holding out on upgrading to Apple’s latest mobile operating system, worried about what they might lose. </p> <p> As of Thursday, those people have nothing left to wait for: After months of speculation, <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020187/google-maps-arrives-in-app-store.html">Google has released its own Maps app</a> for the iPhone. (There’s as of yet no native version for the iPad, but as Google also <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/1168488/hands_on_with_googles_youtube_iphone_app.html">launched its YouTube for the iPhone</a> several months before <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2018942/the-week-in-ios-apps-good-grief.html">it brought the app to the iPad</a>, that’s not a huge surprise.) But if you’re expecting a carbon copy of the app that graced home screens in iOS 5 and earlier, you’re going to be surprised. </p> <p> On first launch, you’ll be greeted with a splash screen asking you to help improve Google’s Maps by submitting anonymized location data to improve traffic and other services (you can opt out if you wish). That’s not surprising: Apple does much the same thing with its own Maps. </p> <p> Google, however, next offers a feature that Apple doesn’t: By signing into your Google account, you can retrieve your favorite places and past searches and directions that you’ve used with Google Maps on the Web while logged into that same Google account. That said, you can instead opt not to log in by tapping a Skip button in the top right corner. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020193/hands-on-with-google-maps-for-iphone.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> Smule’s back with another music-themed iOS app. The company behind App Store hits like I Am T-Pain, Glee Karaoke, and Magic Keyboard on Thursday <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strum/id562793878?ls=1&amp;mt=8">released Strum</a>. </p> <p> Though it’s an easy analogy to fall victim too, the easiest way to describe Strum is as (another take on) Instagram for video, but with soundtracks tacked on. Indeed, Strum offers an Instagram-like scrolling newsfeed of videos and gives iPhone videographers the ability to take their 15-second or shorter videos and apply all sorts of visual filters to them. </p> <figure class="right medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="533" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/strum-timeline-100017011-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>The Strum timeline </figcaption></figure> <p> But the filters in Strum go beyond the visual. True to Smule’s form, they offer a mix of audio-processing options as well: Some filters autotune your video’s soundtrack, others add effects like reverb, and others work to convert spoken word into rap or song. The key question, I suppose, is: <em>Why?</em> </p> <p> “We always wanted to do something with video,” Smule’s chief scientist, Parag Chordia, told <em>Macworld</em>. Smule, Chordia explained, is well-accomplished at fostering “ubiquitous social expression through music.” But with the exception of a few apps that offered video as a “kind of buried” afterthought, he said, none of Smule’s apps—which have combined for more than 75 million installations across devices—have focused on visual expression. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2019764/smules-new-social-app-strum-mixes-video-with-visual-and-audio-filters.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/10/us-apple-tech-tax-idUSBRE8B911120121210?irpc=932">Writing for Reuters</a>, Chris Taylor is overturning a semi full of truths on One Infinite Loop! (Tip o’ the antlers to <a href="https://twitter.com/publicfarley/status/278312984827269120">publicfarley</a>). </p><blockquote> <p>With the “fiscal cliff” looming, taxpayers are wringing their hands about all sorts of things. </p></blockquote> <p>Pff, people are so sensitive with their concerns about their jobs and their incomes and whether or not they can buy shoes for their kids! So stupid! </p><blockquote> <p>Income taxes might rise, dividends might get walloped, lifetime gift-tax exemptions might get slashed. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2019726/macalope-taxing-analysis.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020175/report-google-set-to-release-ios-maps-app.html">Google’s new Maps app for iPhone arrived in the App Store</a> late Wednesday, in a move likely to please users disappointed with Apple Maps in iOS 6. While the new app leverages Google’s robust mapping data, it has a few weak spots of its own—most notably the lack of an iPad-optimized version. </p> <p> That said, Google’s new app may well soothe some of those iOS 6 users who find themselves frustrated by <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2010067/hands-on-with-ios-6-maps.html">iOS 6’s built-in, Apple-powered Maps</a>. Some users in some locations have found that Apple’s Maps data is <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2010577/how-to-report-problems-in-ios-6s-maps.html">seriously lacking</a>. <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2010783/apple-ceo-tim-cook-were-extremely-sorry-for-ios-6-maps-frustration.html">Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for the Maps issues</a> in September. </p> <figure class="right medium"><a class="zoom" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/google-maps-100017268-large.png"><img align="right" alt="" height="533" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/google-maps-100017268-medium.png" width="300" /></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure> <p> The new, free Google Maps app launched Wednesday offers features that the iOS 5 version of the Maps app—built by Apple, powered by Google—lacked, making this new Google-powered Maps app more on par (in terms of functionality) with Apple’s Maps app in iOS 6. Among those features: vector-based maps for faster loading and panning, and turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions. </p> <p> And Google Maps offers some functionality completely lacking in Apple’s app: public transit directions, synced searches between the iPhone and your computer via your Google account, and Google’s <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2010577/how-to-report-problems-in-ios-6s-maps.html">Street View</a>. Though Google’s app offers its satellite view data, it unsurprisingly doesn’t offer a direct match for the Flyover feature Apple introduced in its own app in iOS 6. And Google Maps doesn’t (yet) work natively on the iPad. </p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2020187/google-maps-arrives-in-app-store.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here</a></p></section></article>

<div> <section class="page"> <p> Since shell cases protect only the iPad’s back, they are best paired with a stand-alone screen cover, like the Apple Smart Cover or the Miniot MK2. However, not all back cases are compatible with a cover—they need to have openings on the side for the cover’s magnetic hinge. <a href="http://www.incipio.com/cases/ipad-cases/new-ipad-cases/ipad-retina-new-ipad-smart-feather-ultralight-hard-shell-case.html" target="_blank">Incipio’s Smart Feather</a> is an excellent shell case to pair with a cover. This super lightweight case is only 1.22mm thick, and its soft polymer shell is comfortable to the touch. You’ll barely notice the Smart Feather is even there. </p> </section> </div>

In today's gift guide we're looking at books

A whole range of creatives are re-inventing their La Sardina cameras by Lomography for an upcoming exhibition...

The Moving Picture Company has created a hard-hitting and innovative new advert for Women's Aid

The creators of Wallace and Gromit have unveiled a new online film featuring none other than Morph

Head over to the German capital in April and you'll be able to enjoy The Pictoplasma Conference And Festival 2013 - the world's biggest and best contemporary character design and art festival

We speak to Nick Hayes about his new music video for Aussie band DZ Deathrays

Having saved the great whales, Greenpeace continues to highlight key environmental issues. In its latest campaign, Greenpeace is targeting fashion brands that have been using suppliers who pollute developing countries...

In today's gift guide we're looking at homeware

It's time for your daily dose of gift-buying inspiration. Let's look at some Mac apps, shall we?

The director who gave Frodo Baggins a weird, animated prosthetic limb made of inanimate objects tells us how it was done

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW119.t_trans.opener.jpg" rel="lightbox[35093]"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35098" height="348" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW119.t_trans.opener.jpg" title="TDW119.t_trans.opener" width="580" /></a></p> <p class="strap">Transformers week draws to a close with this video training from Dan DeEntremont. Master key animation skills in this Transformer-style tutorial as you rig a robot to animate its transformation from train to humanoid</p> <p>To celebrate <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/07/digital-tutors-releases-new-transforming-robot-tutorials/">Digital-Tutors&#8217; new Transformation training</a>, we thought we&#8217;d make an event of it and post online all things Transformery!</p> <p>We&#8217;ve already posted up two making-of Transformers articles:<br /> <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/07/the-making-of-transformers/">The making of Transformers</a><br /> <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/08/the-making-of-transformers-2/">The making of Transformers 2</a></p> <p>And you can also read a making-of article on the cult Transformers-style advert for Citroën &#8211; <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/13/the-embassy-the-art-of-robotics/">The Embassy: The art of Robotics</a></p> <p>To complete the Transformers roundup, here&#8217;s the train-transforming video tutorial from <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2009/07/02/3d_world_119_now_on_sale_in_the_uk/">issue 119 of 3D World magazine</a>.</p> <h3>Rig your own Transformer in LightWave</h3> <p>This article demonstrates the workflow for creating a transforming robot, similar to the designs in the live-action Transformers movies.</p> <p>The films’ director, Michael Bay, is well known for taking the level of special and visual effects over the top in his films. These Transformers are not the simple ones everyone has seen in the cartoon show, but a gigantic mass of moving metal that somehow manages to form a human-like (or sometimes animal-like) robot. The transforming train that you’ll rig and animate has about 300 moving parts.</p> <p>There are three videos available to show in detail the techniques described here. The first two videos focus on setting up the upper arms of the robot: you can take the principles you learn and apply them to the remaining parts of the figure. The first video will focus on rigging the upper arms. In this section, you will also be setting up the rig in a way that helps to cut the animation time nearly in half, using the useful Follower modifier. Bones will be used for moving the parts instead of separate layers.</p> <p>In Video 2, we will continue with the animation of the rigged upper arms. Here, I will demonstrate how to bring each piece to its destination position without causing geometry to intersect. I will also demonstrate a number of key techniques to help the movement of the different sections to be more realistic.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35099" style="width: 590px;"><p class="wp-caption-text">Discover how you can rig this robot to animate its transformation from train to humanoid</p></div> <p>Video 3 has a completely rigged transforming train. This video focuses on animating the transformation from a train to a robot, ending in a cool pose. A proxy version of the train will be used in this video. IK/FK Blending will also be implemented to allow smoothness in the transformation. If you get stuck at any point, the CD includes completed scene files you can study.</p> <p><em>Click Next to begin the train-transforming video tutorial</em></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d821264/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Video+tutorial%3A+Rig+your+own+Transformer+in+LightWave&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Fvideo-tutorial-rig-your-own-transformer-in-lightwave%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dvideo-tutorial-rig-your-own-transformer-in-lightwave" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Video+tutorial%3A+Rig+your+own+Transformer+in+LightWave&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Fvideo-tutorial-rig-your-own-transformer-in-lightwave%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dvideo-tutorial-rig-your-own-transformer-in-lightwave" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200441230/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d821264/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200441230/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d821264/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200441230/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d821264/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/VscwAZ8sOVc" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/ftr.jpg" rel="lightbox[35136]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35137" height="243" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/ftr.jpg" title="ftr" width="580" /></a></p> <p class="strap">Find out how this atmospheric, painterly animated short was created using Maya, Photoshop and After Effects. Watch the film here too</p> <p>For the Remainder depicts the last moments of a house cat who bids farewell to its home before leaving to perish. The short was a graduation project created by Omer Ben David while studying at the <a href="http://www.bezalel.ac.il/en/">Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design</a> in Jerusalem, Israel. Ben David first began working on the plot in November last year. </p> <p>“I was dwelling on a concept of a cat that leaves his house and searches for his final resting place for some time before then,” he says. “I pondered on that notion since hearing the rumour that old cats sometime leave their home to die somewhere else unseen by their beloved ones or enemies. I felt that this essence of a story is very poetic and thus should be treated as a song rather than a narrative.”</p> <h4>First impressions</h4> <p>After developing the main plot, the director carefully considered the importance of the film&#8217;s characters and what role each would play. </p> <p>“From the beginning, the story was about a cat and a house,” Ben David explains. “The cat&#8217;s owner was also a main character but I wasn&#8217;t sure if he would be performing or his presence just suggested. The spider came somewhat in the middle of the storyboarding stage, when I was searching for a death motif to allow the cat to deal with.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;I was greatly inspired by sketches and calligraphy, and some colour blocking when searching for the look of the characters. I figured the house, as a character, should be mostly colour blocked while the cat should be wired so they were in contrast.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/ftr1.jpg" rel="lightbox[35136]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35138" height="243" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/ftr1.jpg" title="ftr1" width="580" /></a></p> <h4>Creating perfect brush strokes</h4> <p>The film’s unique style was inspired by a number of sources. “I was very moved by a series of paintings by <a href="http://lukpazera.blogspot.com/">Lukasz Pazera</a> called <a href="http://postcardsfromthezone.com/">Postcards from the Zone</a> and his brilliant <a href="http://lukpazera.blogspot.com/2011/06/dog-of-zone-animation-sample.html">Dog of Zone</a>, which I figured would be awesome animated,” Ben David says.</p> <p>While researching, the director also watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. “I thought it to be the exact poem-like atmosphere I was searching for both visually and musically. I love the ambiance and slow rhythm,” he says. &#8220;I was also greatly inspired by color block paintings such as <a href="http://www.gerhardmozsi.com/">Gerhard Mozsi&#8217;s</a>, and the dreamy feel and pace in animated films such as Tekkonkinkreet or Ghost in the Shell which I adore.&#8221;</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35159" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/remainder_infl.jpg" rel="lightbox[35136]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35159" height="389" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/remainder_infl.jpg" title="remainder_infl" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">One of the film’s main influences was a series of paintings by Lukasz Pazera called Postcards from the Zone. You can see similarities in tone and style between them and For the Remainder</p></div> <p>Ben David’s extensive research and inspirations helped him to develop the unique painterly style of the film. In order to achieve this in 3D, he turned to the powerful tools of Maya. </p> <p>“This software was vital to production,&#8221; he explains. &#8220;It was an inherent rendering method that got the look for my characters and objects, combined with the overlapping textures on the sets. Photoshop was of course crucial for painting the textures, but Maya allowed me to rig and control almost everything I needed.”</p> <p>The film’s style, however, also presented some technical challenges. “The whole sketchiness and painterly look was the biggest technical issue,&#8221; says Ben David. &#8220;I did a lot of research about NPR (non photo realistic) rendering before developing the technique for creating it, and it was pretty much an experiment throughout the entire process. I didn&#8217;t have a clear point of reference on a technical level on how to achieve this look, and so I did a lot of testing until I reached a certain point where I knew that the composited render would satisfy me.&#8221;</p> <p>Despite extensive research and testing, Ben David managed to complete the film within a fairly short time period. &#8220;It took me around nine months to finish the short,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I did some touch-ups, on and off, for a few months afterwards as I was not completely happy with some renders and I&#8217;ve worked some more on mastering the soundtrack with <a href="http://onili.com/">Onili</a>. I&#8217;m very pleased with the final result. Both on the aesthetics and the feel of it.&#8221;</p> <p></p> <h3>Like this film?</h3> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/category/showcase/shorts/">Check out the selection of other awesome animations on our shorts page</a></p> <p><em>Make sure you visit next week for more Friday Animation Fun!</em></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d81a18a/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Friday+Animation+Fun%3A+For+the+Remainder&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Ffriday-animation-fun-for-the-remainder%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dfriday-animation-fun-for-the-remainder" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Friday+Animation+Fun%3A+For+the+Remainder&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Ffriday-animation-fun-for-the-remainder%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dfriday-animation-fun-for-the-remainder" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200396320/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d81a18a/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200396320/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d81a18a/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200396320/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d81a18a/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/W9nf4RJbbCw" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_desert_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="Disney&#039;s John Carter movie still" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35150" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_desert_cinesite.jpg" title="Disney&#039;s John Carter movie still - opener" width="580" /></a> <p class="strap">Cinesite has completed 831 VFX shots and converted 87 minutes of film into stereoscopic 3D for Disney’s John Carter, which hit cinemas last week</p> <p>The 3D work in John Carter &#8211; Andrew Stanton’s first live-action feature film, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs &#8216;Mars&#8217; series of novels &#8211; was split between three leading London FX houses: Cinesite, Double Negative and The Moving Picture Company. </p> <p>Cinesite, renowned for its photoreal environment work, was responsible for creating and populating the majority of environments for John Carter. The team of 310-strong completed 831 visual effects shots, which included creating and populating the majority of environments for the film. They also converted 87 minutes of the film into stereo 3D.</p> <p>Cinesite’s VFX supervisor Sue Rowe spent several months on set in the UK and Utah. Due to the scale of the project, Rowe divided the work between four other VFX supervisors.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35151" style="width: 590px;"></p> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_wireframe_helium_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="John Carter VFX shots" class="size-full wp-image-35151" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_wireframe_helium_cinesite.jpg" title="johncarter_wireframe_helium_cinesite" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Helium is shown from different angles throughout the film, and is used as the backdrop for the final battle sequence</p></div> <p>Christian Irles supervised work on Princess Dejah’s city, Helium. The city presented a challenge as it had to match the art department concept stills. While this was easy enough to do in matte painting, it was very time-consuming and render heavy to get actual full 3D renders. Projections were created for the terrain and these were worked up in matte painting to achieve the level of detail required. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35152" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_helium_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="John Carter Helium city" class="size-full wp-image-35152" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_helium_cinesite.jpg" title="John Carter Helium city" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Cinesite created a matte painting of the outside of the city of Helium and, using projections, built up the terrain using high-res stills taken on location in Utah</p></div> <p>The shots presented the city as a whole with both Helium Major and Helium Minor visible, resulting in a huge amount of texture maps and shaders. Render time was very high for these shots and all layers, such as crowds, terrain, etc were rendered separately. </p> <p>Helium stats:</p> <ul> <li>346 models in the city structure</li> <li>74 individual props created</li> </ul> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35153" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Zodanga_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35153" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Zodanga_cinesite.jpg" title="Zodanga_cinesite" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The mobile city of Zodanga crawls like a myriapod across the surface of Mars: giving the city a sense of scale and animating the digital legs was challenging</p></div> <p>Jonathan Neill supervised Cinesite’s work on the mobile city of Zodanga, a mile-long rusty metal tanker that crawls like a myriapod across the surface of Mars. The city was heavily textured using a combination of Photoshop, Mari and Mudbox in tandem with bespoke shaders and lighting development, to give an industrial look and feel.</p> <p>A handful of sets were built which were locations within the city, but these needed considerable extension work to make the depth and scale of the city believable. Cinesite modelled thousands of pieces of geometry for the city buildings, and created hundreds of CG props to dress the sets.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35154" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_city_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="John Carter VFX. Interior of city" class="size-full wp-image-35154" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_city_cinesite.jpg" title="John Carter VFX. Interior of city" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Cinesite filled the city with warships and troops, before dressing it with hundreds of CG props</p></div> <p>With 674 legs, the mobile city was technically challenging to animate: Timed animation caches were used to ensure the digital legs moved in a random fashion. &#8220;Variations in movement and secondary animation such as cogs and cabling were used to create interest in the leg movement,&#8221; says Cinesite.</p> <p>Zodanga City Model stats: </p> <ul> <li>291 structural element models</li> <li>Up to 20,000 objects in a single shot</li> <li>1-2 billion polygons, dependent on camera position and detail required</li> <li>242 CG props created to populate the city</li> </ul> <p>Zodanga City Legs stats:</p> <ul> <li>674 legs </li> <li>44 claws</li> </ul> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35155" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_airship_cinesite.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="John Carter" class="size-full wp-image-35155" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/johncarter_airship_cinesite.jpg" title="johncarter_airship_cinesite" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The texturing and detailing of the giant airships had to be spot on since they feature in many close up shots</p></div> <p>Ben Shepherd oversaw the huge aerial battle between Zodanga and Helium. His team created each side’s airships which use solar wings to travel on light, as well as explosions, fire, people and set extensions.</p> <p>The giant airships needed to be finely detailed for close-up shots. A challenge for look development was that they were required to be more like a 19th-Century sailing ship, than the type of spaceship which a modern-day audience might expect. </p> <p>For Sab’s flagship corsair, a partial set was created for the bridge/cockpit and one deck of a single ship. This was scanned and photographed for reference and recreated. The remaining areas were created as full CG models. </p> <p>Dejah’s ship and the flagship Helium ship, the Xavarian, were created in 3D also. Each ship had a full set of wings which were sized and laid out specifically for each ship. These were controlled by pulleys and ratchet-type controls to give a sailing look. Each of the wings was covered in hundreds of individual solar tiles which needed to be able to be controlled in animation. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35156" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Thern-Sanctuary_Final-Comp.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="John Carter movie" class="size-full wp-image-35156" height="242" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Thern-Sanctuary_Final-Comp.jpg" title="John Carter movie" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The entire Thern effect system was designed and built from scratch using a combination of Maya, Houdini and custom software developed in house</p></div> <p>Simon Stanley-Clamp directed work on the Thern sanctuary, a huge underground cave that forms around Carter and Dejah as self-illuminating blue branches as the characters walk through it. </p> <p>The entire Thern effect system was designed and built from scratch using a combination of Maya, Houdini and custom software developed in house. Based on the principles of nanotechnology, the system provided a semi-automated way to ‘grow’ Thern into any environment and geometry. It took a full year of development time to evolve and bring to the big screen.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35157" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Thern-Sanctuary_3_Final-comp.jpg" rel="lightbox[35145]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35157" height="247" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Thern-Sanctuary_3_Final-comp.jpg" title="Thern-Sanctuary_3_Final-comp" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">These ‘growing Thern’ shots were some of the most complex VFX shots Cinesite undertook, and can be seen to great effect in 3D</p></div> <p>In the sequence, as the tunnel itself ends, the main Thern Sanctuary room is seen to build itself, opening out within the Thern matrix of the pyramid interior. This shot required extensive Thern simulation and growing effects, blending multiple elements together in Nuke to build the shot up.</p> <p><em>John Carter is in cinemas now. We&#8217;ve not seen the film yet, and reviews so far seem to be fairly mixed, so if you do go, let us know what you think of it via the comments box below, or on Facebook or Twitter </em></p> <h3>The making of John Carter</h3> <p>This article focuses on Cinesite&#8217;s contribution to the film, but the 3D work was split between three leading London FX houses: Cinesite, Double Negative and The Moving Picture Company. </p> <p>Read the making-of John Carter article in issue 155 of 3D World magazine, where Renee Dunlop takes us behind the scenes of all three VFX facilities.</p> <p><strong>Issue 155 of 3D World goes on sale on 27th March</strong></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d801946/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Disney%E2%80%99s+John+Carter%3A+The+VFX+of+Cinesite&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Fdisneys-john-carter-the-vfx-of-cinesite%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Ddisneys-john-carter-the-vfx-of-cinesite" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Disney%E2%80%99s+John+Carter%3A+The+VFX+of+Cinesite&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F16%2Fdisneys-john-carter-the-vfx-of-cinesite%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Ddisneys-john-carter-the-vfx-of-cinesite" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200459259/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d801946/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200459259/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d801946/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200459259/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d801946/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/SAa9hvj4MmU" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin17_998034v28.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35134" height="247" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin17_998034v28.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.tin17_998034v28" width="580" /></a> <p class="strap">Weta Digital embarked on a new quest with The Adventures of Tintin, complete with crashing waves, pirate battles and an extremely stylish wardrobe. Renee Dunlop takes us behind the scenes</p> <p>As the Blu-ray of The Adventures of Tintin goes on sale, we thought we&#8217;d share this article from <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/01/07/3d-world-152-create-fire-water-and-more/">issue 152 of 3D World magazine</a>. </p> <p>If you haven&#8217;t watched the film already, we suggest you do &#8211; The Adventures of Tintin looks like a mix of live-action and CG, which adds up to something unique on screen. It&#8217;s possible that The Adventures of Tintin missed out at the Oscars this year because of this very thing, which is a real shame as we think the film has some of the best CG we&#8217;ve ever seen. </p> <h3>Weta&#8217;s Adventures of Tintin</h3> <p>Weta Digital is delving into a new world – that of the journalist. Enter Tintin, a popular post-World War One comic strip hero who travels about with his dog, Snowy, cracking cases with a little help from his friends. Created in 1929 by the artist and writer best known as Hergé, the stellar artists of Weta, led by director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson, have brought the story to 3D animated life on the big screen. </p> <p>It took some of Weta’s best to tackle the wide array of arduous effects required to complete the film. Keith Miller, one of five VFX supervisors, was among those appointed to the task. He was in charge of roughly 340 shots.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35113" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.opener_ships1.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35113" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.opener_ships1.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.opener_ships1" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">An epic sea battle required Weta Digital’s team to simulate stormy ocean waves</p></div> <p>For Miller, the big challenge was the pirate battle. “It’s such a dynamic sequence,” he says. “There are nearly 60 pirates running about, two ships that are sailing in 60-metre seas complete with lightning storms, rain, hurricane winds, fire, explosions – you name it, it’s all there.” The most difficult challenge was the water, with 60-metre waves interacting with the ships that needed to compositionally match the representations provided by the pre-viz team.</p> <p>Miller’s team approached the work from a few different angles. “First, we updated our FFT [fast Fourier transform] library, a system of generating waves using measurements collected in oceanic research,” says Miller. They also completely rewrote their library using a more up-to-date spectrum that provided the ability to incorporate the ideas of the depth of the ocean and the fetch, or the distance that wind stays at a constant velocity. “We added those new variables into the system and we were able to generate much more realistic wave scenarios for the high wind systems,” he adds. </p> <p>Weta’s FX team did quite a bit of work approximating the surface velocity from the newly generated ocean surfaces and applied those to Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) particle simulations, much of which was used for the white water simulation, breaking waves that rode on top of the ocean surface. These were pushed through Weta’s in-house 3D effects solution, Synapse, a node-based system that’s a container for solvers. In some cases, Naiad data was also incorporated into Synapse for the initial bounded simulation elements.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35116" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.pirate1.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35116" height="245" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.pirate1.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.pirate1" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The battle sequence combines water, fire, wind and lightning, and featured as many as 60 pirates in combat</p></div> <p>In addition to reworking the FFT system, senior water TD Chris Horvath updated Weta’s shading model for raytraced water, using an improved model for participating media for underwater light extinction and scattering. He also made improvements to the procedural texture foam system. </p> <h4>Creating the hands</h4> <p>While Miller and his team battled with the pirate ships, Weta’s digital creature supervisor Simon Clutterbuck focused on some of the smallest of details through his modelling department. “We build the animation puppets, the deformation rigs, we do all the cloth and hair simulations, muscle dynamics, flesh dynamics – anything that has to do with the monster or character,” he says. “We interact with all the departments in the studio to produce stuff for them to use, like the puppets or the baked light, and we work closely with shots and animation.” </p> <p>The creature department work includes providing all the puppets for the animators. “Our animation puppet isn’t the thing that gets cached and ends up in the shot,” says Clutterbuck. “The animation puppets are kind of an interactive, almost real-time version of the character. They don’t have to see amazing hand deformations to pose the hand correctly, so they’re just posing [and] animating this thing that’s much lower resolution.” Clutterbuck’s Creature Department provides the animators with approximations of clothes and low-res hands and bodies that allow for faster animation. “Then the animation data is cached off of that puppet and plugged into a high-resolution creature rig, which gets cached and given to lighting,” he says. “This way there’s no requirement for interactivity in our actual deformation models.” </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35111" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.new_013025261.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35111" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.new_013025261.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.new_013025261" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">A single complex rig was used as the basis for all characters’ hands</p></div> <p>It’s hardly all low-res work, though. “There’s a big focus on faces and hands in the show, so a good deal of time was focused on building a detailed hand rig,” says Clutterbuck. “We had all these incredibly close shots of Tintin’s hands. It’s a treasure hunt, so there are all these clues that lead to the treasure, and there are lots of shots where he’s inspecting things. The shots are incredibly long, so you’ll have minutes focused on their face or hands. The stability of the cloth solve, the fidelity of the hands [and] the deformation all had to be very high. It was pretty unforgiving.”</p> <p>Weta Digital’s workflow uses a generic model called Gen Man as a baseline for building humanoid characters. This starting point is used for reference, scanning and motion capturing, tailoring clothes, and even cross-referencing MRI data. Clutterbuck explains: “We produced a whole bunch of life casts in all different poses that were used to build support moulds, 36 in all, that went into the MRI machine, so the character could put his hand into a similar pose and hold it there. Then we could derive the meshes of his joints from the MRIs.” The result was a series of high-resolution joint meshes of his actual skeleton in the selected poses. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35110" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.new_00402825.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="The story requires characters to grip and manipulate objects" class="size-full wp-image-35110" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.new_00402825.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.new_00402825" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The story is a treasure hunt, so there are lots of shots where the characters have to pick things up and be able to manipulate them</p></div> <p>“The metacarpals in the wrist do all these crazy rolling motions – it’s really complex,” Clutterbuck says. “We couldn’t build that complexity into the animation puppets because it would have been prohibitive to animate with, but we also needed the correct degrees of freedom in the wrist and joints to give us the right deformations of the hand.” It took nearly five months to get the hands working the way they wanted.</p> <p>“The hand rig looks pretty amazing,” says Clutterbuck. “The hand model propagates out into the show, procedurally warped into new shapes, so we built one hand rig and it was fitted to all the characters’ hands. We have a process that was developed on Avatar to transfer the rig and deformation data onto other models.” </p> <p>Weta Digital’s model supervisor Marco Revelant was responsible for all the assets created in the model department and was involved with grooming and developing the fur system from the user side for the dog, Snowy. However, it was the clothing that both Clutterbuck and Revelant found the most challenging. The multiple layers and the way the different fabrics fell and moved presented a daunting task. </p> <h4>Folding the clothes</h4> <p>Weta Digital set up a Tintin-specific costume department that helped define the design of the clothing, offering insight into how the fabric would drape and move over a character. “The problem is,” says Revelant, “when you do digital clothing and give it to a modeller, the modeller will try to put in features like wrinkles and folds, but won’t necessarily take into account the quantity of fabric.”</p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35114" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.other1_04800542SS_dist.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35114" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.other1_04800542SS_dist.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.other1_04800542SS_dist" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Care was taken with getting clothing folds to animate correctly</p></div> <p>To manage this issue, the Creature Department worked closely with modelling, providing tools that helped drape the character as they were modelling so that they could see how the fabric was behaving, rather than waiting until the Creature Department ran their simulations. Weta used NCloth in Maya, but spent a huge amount of time up-front shooting parameters and getting the topology in the models and construction correct, especially in cross-sections such as sleeves. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35124" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin8_020003215SS.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35124" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin8_020003215SS.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.tin8_020003215SS" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">There are eight principal characters, and several have multiple costumes. In all, there were 551 individual costumes to build for the film</p></div> <p>Several characters had multiple layers of clothing, requiring layers of geometry to simulate friction. There were eight principal characters, and several – including Tintin, Captain Haddock and Sakharine – have multiple costumes. In all, there were 551 individual costumes to build for the film. “Take the Captain,” Clutterbuck says. “He had a big woollen jacket, a woollen jumper, trousers, and socks and shoes.” Again, proper reference was key. Weta filmed a man running on a treadmill wearing a tailored suit they provided, and gathered reference on how cloth breaks across the seams, collecting data on details such as the effects of double versus single stitching. </p> <p>Weta first tried just solving the visible clothing, but found that it didn’t quite look correct. “We ended up going for full coupled solutions where everything was solved,” says Clutterbuck. “Tintin might enter with his trench coat on, then take it off and toss it onto the back of a chair, and continue the scene wearing the rest of his costume,” says Clutterbuck. “We had to handle this level of complexity where we had all these variations of costume elements and they had to solve coupled. We hadn’t really done anything that complicated before in terms of clothes.” </p> <p>Coupling affects even supporting characters such as Silk, who dresses in a formal jacket, a waistcoat and a shirt. “We didn’t solve the shirt, then put the waistcoat on, then the jacket,” says Clutterbuck. “We solved everything at the same time, so the solutions were all fully coupled. All the costume elements are plugged into one solver. Since they’re all plugged in, they all interact.”</p> <p>Weta defers everything to its render wall. The costumes were assembled as a master file that contained a costume description. During the baked simulation step that file would assemble the costume, plug it into all the solvers, bring it in, attach it to the character, then do the simulation. The result was a final sim and a series of files generated to show what Weta calls pre-files, which are pre-simulation. The individual costume assets are iterated in parallel as an ensemble of costume elements. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35130" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin14_03802770SS.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35130" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin14_03802770SS.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.tin14_03802770SS" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"> “There’s a big focus on faces and hands in the show, so a good deal of time was focused on building a detailed hand rig,” says Clutterbuck</p></div> <p>The costumes took several minutes a frame to simulate, but there was no interactivity requirement because that’s all happening on the render wall and animation was working with real-time puppet versions. “So we have these two parts of every character, with the puppet which goes to animation and the creature deformation model that’s the thing the animation curves get plugged into that simulates on the wall,” says Clutterbuck. </p> <p>Weta’s flexible pipeline paid off, according to Miller. “I know a lot of facilities tend to lock down their technology, branch it off and continue developing it outside of current shows, but that’s very different from how Weta works,” he says. “It’s got pros and cons for sure, but it’s one of those things that helps us to stay at the leading edge of technology. We’re constantly throwing in new technology and updating and developing new aspects, and trying to get it pushed into production all the way through the course of the show.” </p> <h4>Setting the scene </h4> <p>The entire Tintin project was done in-house at Weta Digital, including the artwork for the environment and character studies. The translation of the environments from 2D to 3D was left to Weta’s modelling department under modelling supervisor Marco Revelant’s guidance. An internal art department was assembled to research information about the time when the film takes place. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35133" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin16_08900835.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35133" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin16_08900835.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.tin16_08900835" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">“Every element that was drawn in the book, we tried to find the respective real element from that period that could have been the inspiration for the Hergé drawing," explains Revelant. "Everything was checked against real period data.” </p></div> <p>“One important thing is [creator] Hergé was very careful in depicting a kind of reality that was around the 1940s,” explains Revelant. “Every element that was drawn in the book, we tried to find the respective real element from that period that could have been the inspiration for the Hergé drawing. Everything was checked against real period data.” </p> <h4>Creating the hair </h4> <p>Weta was working on Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Tintin at the same time. While the requirements for hair on Tintin weren’t anything near what they were for Apes, some of the aspects translated over. Tintin required wind effects, wet hair and a lot of development to get the hair to work coupled with the clothes. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_35125" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin9_030016v405.jpg" rel="lightbox[35108]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35125" height="246" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW152.f_tintin.tin9_030016v405.jpg" title="TDW152.f_tintin.tin9_030016v405" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Character hair in The Adventures of Tintin has to interact with objects and the environment</p></div> <p>With the hat on, the Captain has a groom, styled so his hair doesn’t stick through the hat. When the hat is off, the hair is groomed appropriately. Sometimes the Captain put his hat on or took it off, so transitional shots with appropriate grooms were needed. The Captain’s hair ended up having a very dense particle set on the hair and collision objects with the hat, and his hair would spring up a bit during the transition. </p> <p><a href="http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/design/3dworld-magazine-back-issues/3d-world-feb-12/">Buy issue 152 of 3D World magazine to read the full article</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tintin-Two-Disc-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B0034G4P4Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&#38;qid=1331150699&#38;sr=8-3">Buy the Blu-ray of The Adventures of Tintin via Amazon</a></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d77d052/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Weta+Digital+on+the+making+of+The+Adventures+of+Tintin&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F15%2Fweta-digital-on-the-making-of-the-adventures-of-tintin%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dweta-digital-on-the-making-of-the-adventures-of-tintin" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Weta+Digital+on+the+making+of+The+Adventures+of+Tintin&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F15%2Fweta-digital-on-the-making-of-the-adventures-of-tintin%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dweta-digital-on-the-making-of-the-adventures-of-tintin" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200327135/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d77d052/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200327135/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d77d052/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200327135/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d77d052/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/D4s7vJZZjr8" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/19.jpg" rel="lightbox[35032]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35091" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/19.jpg" title="19" width="580" /></a></p> <p class="strap">Find out how this ultra photorealistic film was pieced together using 3ds Max and V-Ray. Watch the animated short here too</p> <p><span id="more-35032"></span></p> <p>The Accuracy of Time is a depiction of part of the process of building a watch, more specifically the ceramic crown. Created by art director Javi Martinez, the short was made as a case study for his upcoming <a href="http://lightrendergroup.com/">CGI training roadshow TAOT2012</a>.</p> <p>The idea was to replicate a real advertisement and the entire production process behind it. The film will be used as part of the roadshow training to highlight some of specific challenges currently facing digital artists.</p> <p>The project was created using a 3ds Max and V-Ray pipeline. &#8220;The decision to use this software was simply to make a technical demonstration of the many capabilities offered by the two working together,&#8221; explains Martinez. </p> <h4>3ds Max and V-Ray: an ideal combo</h4> <p>&#8220;3ds Max allowed us to develop the short very easily using the new MASSFX to perform physical dynamics and the ceramic particles and at the same time offered great performance in the modelling and animation of objects and cameras. The reason we chose V-Ray was the quality of representation of light, versatility, simplicity to recreate materials and the optimisation of production times.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/14.jpg" rel="lightbox[35032]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35092" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/14.jpg" title="14" width="580" /></a></p> <h4>More-than-reasonable render times</h4> <p>Rather amazingly, The Accuracy of Time was created using only one workstation! It just goes to show what can be achieved if you&#8217;ve got the right amount of dedication: &#8220;The short includes the processing of raw materials [to create the watch], the material injection to obtain the piece itself, then it passes through the baking stage and ends with the exposure of the product with elegance and quality,&#8221; says Martinez. &#8220;But the whole film was in fact a very simple macro CG production playing with a basic geometric model, a virtual light and virtual camera. Given that the piece was produced using a single workstation, the render times were very manageable, ranging from five to 35 minutes per frame.&#8221;</p> <h4>Playing with the look</h4> <p>It wasn&#8217;t all plain sailing, however. Due to the style and close-up nature of the short, Martinez had to work out solutions in order to achieve the correct look. &#8220;The animation treatment and lens blurs were resolved by ZD channels and working on it in post,&#8221; Martinex explains. &#8220;The animation of the camera lens can easily change the meaning of a sequence so experimenting with this technique was very attractive to me.&#8221;</p> <p>Overall, the short took Martinez approximately just under a year to complete from start to finish. &#8220;The 10-month production time was an amazing experience,&#8221; Martinez says. &#8220;But it led to a lot of sacrifice and [it was a] joy to finally get my work out to reach the community of artists in an industry which is so difficult and exquisite.&#8221;</p> <h4>Watch the new animation short:</h4> </p> <p></p> <h4>Watch The Accuracy of Time making of video:</h4> <p> <p> </p> <h4>Want more animated shorts of the same calibre?</h4> <p>If you liked this film, check out a selection of other awesome animations on our <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/category/showcase/shorts/">Shorts page</a></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d6f8c5d/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=New+animation+short%3A+The+Accuracy+of+Time&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F14%2Fnew-animation-short-the-accuracy-of-time%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dnew-animation-short-the-accuracy-of-time" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=New+animation+short%3A+The+Accuracy+of+Time&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F14%2Fnew-animation-short-the-accuracy-of-time%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dnew-animation-short-the-accuracy-of-time" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200299806/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d6f8c5d/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200299806/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d6f8c5d/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200299806/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d6f8c5d/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/HB_RZPTmu4k" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW94.t_trade.ad_seq3.jpg" rel="lightbox[35067]"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-35088" height="348" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW94.t_trade.ad_seq3.jpg" title="TDW94.t_trade.ad_seq3" width="580" /></a></p> <p class="strap">Do you remember the original Transformers-style Citroën C4 spot? Five years ago it became a worldwide cult hit and we asked The Embassy’s CG team to reveal some of the ad’s technical secrets. Catch up as Transformers week continues&#8230;</p> <p>To celebrate <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/07/digital-tutors-releases-new-transforming-robot-tutorials/">Digital-Tutors&#8217; new Transformation training</a>, we thought we&#8217;d make an event of it and post online all things Transformery!</p> <p>We&#8217;ve already posted up two making of Transformers articles:<br /> <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/07/the-making-of-transformers/">The making of Transformers</a><br /> <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/08/the-making-of-transformers-2/">The making of Transformers 2</a></p> <p>We plan to post up a <strong>train-transforming walkthrough tutorial</strong> this week too, so remember to check back.</p> <h3>Here&#8217;s the Embassy&#8217;s making of the Citroën ‘Runner’ spot</h3> <h4>ABOUT THE ORIGINAL AD</h4> <p>Created for the launch of Citroën’s C4 range, The Embassy Visual Effects’s original 2004 ad, ‘Alive with Technology’, opens with a hand-held camera shot of a car that transforms into a robot, performs an?impromptu series of dance moves and then reverts back to vehicular form.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35068" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW94.t_trade.orig_ad.jpg" rel="lightbox[35067]"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-35068" height="320" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/TDW94.t_trade.orig_ad.jpg" title="TDW94.t_trade.orig_ad" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Embassy Visual Effects’s original 2004 ad, ‘Alive with Technology’, opens with a hand-held camera shot of a car that transforms into a robot, performs an?impromptu series of dance moves and then reverts back to vehicular form</p></div> <p>As well as making other VFX teams green with envy, the spot proved to have unexpected longevity. A full two years on, it was regularly appearing on TV, picking up fresh awards, and inspiring numerous spoofs and tributes, including a memorable parody replacing the C4 with a rather less glamorous Citroën 2CV and a viral for Danish bacon. The Mill even got a shot at producing a follow-up, before The Embassy itself jumped back on board for a third in the series.</p> <p>“It’s hard to say what it was about that original ad that hit people,” says studio president Winston Helgason. “Technically we did a good job, but something else struck a chord with them. While the ad has that geek factor, it’s just really fun to watch.”</p> <p>Television audiences got their first taste of vehicular dancefloor magic back in 2004. A?relative newcomer to the field of CG, Vancouver-based VFX studio The Embassy Visual Effects had already turned heads with its viral short film <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1zGLx6H3f4&#38;feature=related">Tetra Vaal</a> and some impressively photoreal ads for the likes of Nike.</p> <p>But it was the Citroën ‘Alive with Technology’ ad that really put the studio on the map – and a spring in the step of CG?based car ads. Fusing perfectly believable virtual visuals, directorial flair, and some seriously cool dance moves, The Embassy created what is now regarded as a?genuine classic.</p> <h3>Watch the Citroën ‘Alive with Technology&#8217; spot</h3> <p></p> <p>Now the studio is back on board for the third spot in what is becoming an increasingly long-running campaign, and has been working hard to push the concept of a car that transforms into a robot to even greater heights.</p> <p>In contrast to the original spot, for which director Neill Blomkamp utilised a virtual camera and 3D environment constructed from photographs, the new ad’s director, Trevor Cawood, chose to undertake a live shoot in South Africa – a location chosen principally for its favourable lighting conditions. A new transforming CG vehicle was then integrated into the plates with the help of elements rebuilt in?3D to aid the creation of shadows and reflections.</p> <p>“The brief was pretty open,” says The Embassy president Winston Helgason. “The idea was to have the robot running, but other than that, it was simply ‘make it look cool’. The client did come back and ask if we could find something else for the robot to do, though, so we came up with the rail slide [which the bot performs along the restraining barrier by the side of the road].”</p> <p>Here, the studio’s 3D and compositing staff reveal just how their cybernetic star was rigged and animated to perform such a stunt. They also explore some of the shading and lighting techniques used to generate the photorealistic renders of the modified car necessary to composite it seamlessly into the background plate.</p> <p>Helgason reveals that the studio’s preferred tool for this kind of work is LightWave 3D’s own renderer, its raytracing proving particularly well suited to hard surface lighting. Dropping HDRI set data into the program and adding additional lights, the studio is able to get a scene fully lit in a matter of minutes. But ultimately, he says that the real secret of photorealism in the Citroën ads is simply attention to detail.</p> <p>“The most important thing is to understand how lighting really works, and then learn to match the way it reacts to metallic surfaces,” he says. “That, and then adding loads of extra model detail is what makes the results so effective.”</p> <h3>Watch the Citroën ‘Runner’ spot</h3> <p></p> <p><em>Click Next to read about how ILM had to rip apart the original robot design</em></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d689117/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=The+Embassy%3A+The+art+of+robotics&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F13%2Fthe-embassy-the-art-of-robotics%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dthe-embassy-the-art-of-robotics" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=The+Embassy%3A+The+art+of+robotics&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F13%2Fthe-embassy-the-art-of-robotics%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dthe-embassy-the-art-of-robotics" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200298402/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d689117/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200298402/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d689117/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129200298402/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d689117/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/z_DGLpUWdbI" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.hero_.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone&#039;s new toon shader" class="alignright size-full wp-image-35062" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.hero_.jpg" title="iClone&#039;s new toon shader" width="580" /></a> <p class="strap">Real-time 3D animation tool, iClone, has everything you need to set up your directorial ?debut. But is it too limited, asks Paul Champion?</p> <p>PRICE?: $200.? Upgrade from $120. ??Other editions: Standard, $80??<br /> PLATFORM?: Windows??<br /> MAIN FEATURES: <ul> <li>Real-time animation?</li> <li>In-screen motion editing and puppeteering?</li> <li>Advanced timeline editing with transition curve?</li> <li>Animate in real-time with motion-capture device??</li> </ul> <p>DEVELOPER: <a href="http://www.reallusion.com">Reallusion</a></p> <p>Converting your finished story idea into a pre-viz or polished animation often presents some daunting challenges, and selecting the right software applications to use can be a key factor in the time (and cost) spent completing it. </p> <p>iClone5 Pro offers a happy medium between high-end applications that have seemingly endless options to tweak, and frustratingly feeble, user-unfriendly low-end software. The latest version of iClone has new animation tools, is still a breeze to use and remains competitively priced.?</p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35063" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.assets.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone5" class="size-full wp-image-35063" height="463" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.assets.jpg" title="iClone5" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Now you can create your own version of Pixar’s The Incredibles, in a park and on a merry-go-round!</p></div> <p>If you’re unfamiliar with iClone, it’s primarily a template-based hassle-free solution for real-time animation with plenty of bells and whistles. In terms of workflow, you’re limited to working with the rudimentary content supplied with the application, unless you’re prepared to buy additional assets via Reallusion’s Content Marketplace (which always seems to have some sort of deal on offer). </p> <p>Getting your own assets into iClone5 Pro is quick and easy, but it requires Reallusion’s 3DXchange4, which converts files from applications such as ZBrush, Photoshop, Blender, Poser, Daz Studio, Vue and Maya, and costs $80 for the Standard version. You’ll need 3DXchange4 Pro ($120) to use assets in FBX, 3DS, OBJ and SKP formats. ?</p> <p>Pre-viz users or anyone presenting a concept pitch to clients should find that the content provided is more than adequate for demonstration, where the actual look of assets is less relevant. End users, who will no doubt grow tired of the limited content provided, will be disappointed that they have to shell out for 3DXchange to import more material.?<br /> With the assets in place, it’s time to animate, and there are many new tools to help you with this.??</p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35064" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.market.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone5" class="size-full wp-image-35064" height="402" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.market.jpg" title="iClone5" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Whether it’s sexy girls, gym kits or vampires you’re after, the marketplace has plenty of assets for you to buy</p></div> <h4>New features</h4> <p>?<br /> Direct Puppet lets you record your actor’s animation in real time, and if necessary lock body parts to locations. MixMoves enables seamless blending between motions. Body Motion Puppeteering enables the user to control the animation speed and direction. ?</p> <p>Simple floor contact is taken care of with Human IK Motion Editing for Actors, and allows props (which can now be animated in real time) to be held onto realistically. The Timeline has been updated so that animation curves can be varied in playback by adding curve adjustments such as Ease In and Ease Out. For physics animation there are Rigid and Soft Body options for simulation, and other uses such as game prototyping.?</p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35065" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.effects.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone5" class="size-full wp-image-35065" height="464" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.effects.jpg" title="iClone5" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Effects can help to enhance your movies, but they are limited to a maximum of five within a project</p></div> <p>The premium new animation tool being touted for use with iClone5 Pro is the Mocap Device plug-in. With this you can act out your animations in real-time – the recorded mocap data is then applied to actors. </p> <p>At $140, this is a lot cheaper than buying your own professional mocap studio, although it requires you to have an Xbox 360 with Kinect. It’s also only compatible with the Pro edition. </p> <p>The plug-in is a significant add-on that falls outside the remit of this review. Judging by forum responses, however, it’s a successful product and great for anyone who wants to physically generate their own movement.</p> <p>?Other notable tools and settings, with which Reallusion is catching up with market competitors rather than introducing groundbreaking innovations, include Ambient Occlusion, which improves the quality of visual output with barely any impact on render times; post-FX tools for colour and blur, which are easy to apply; and cartoon rendering, which can be achieved with just a few clicks and some minor texture corrections. ?</p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35066" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.rigid_.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone5" class="size-full wp-image-35066" height="371" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.rigid_.jpg" title="iClone5" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Rigid body simulations can pep up high-speed chases. In iClone5 Pro they are easy to deploy</p></div> <p>There’s still plenty of room for improvement in the renderer. The options are minimal and simplistic – which is part of the general charm of iClone, but it doesn’t always do justice to the end result. Multiple cameras and Picture-In-Picture features offer greater control between shots. Much-requested duplication settings enable you to instance objects with ease, and adjustable pivots, snapping and aligning tools are now possible for objects.?</p> <p>More resource-hungry improvements include higher poly counts for actors, with notable increases to head meshes, which enable more natural deformations. In practice this works far better than before, and since faces are areas that most viewers’ eyes are naturally drawn to, it’s a clearly visible improvement. However, it can still be difficult and time-consuming to tweak. </p> <div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_35062" style="width: 590px;"><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.hero_.jpg" rel="lightbox[35061]"><img alt="iClone&#039;s new toon shader" class="size-full wp-image-35062" height="326" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/r_iclone5.hero_.jpg" title="iClone&#039;s new toon shader" width="580" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The new Toon Shader is found in the Atmosphere section of the Stage tab, and can be adjusted for your project needs</p></div> <p>Cartoon character facial controls have been advanced to include exaggeration. Height Map Terrains now allow bigger landscapes, but they are limited to just five. Smart iProps have been updated for game-like interaction.</p> <p>?During testing, these new tools all worked admirably, yet iClone crashed a number of times for no apparent reason. When pushed to reasonable extremes for any shot – such as 20 actors set up with different parameters and animations applied – iClone responded well. But other times it would crash with, for example, a fairly empty scene during terrain set-up. Ordinarily, this would only be a minor annoyance, but since there’s no autosave option in the program, it becomes more ?of a frustration. </p> <p>?Hardware-wise, iClone doesn’t require an overly demanding system. Rather misleadingly, it’s listed as being 32-bit and 64-bit Windows compatible, but it’s not actually a native 64-bit release, so it won’t take advantage of any extra memory installed over 32-bit limitations. It’s rumoured that a 64-bit update will be released, although this was unconfirmed as we went to press.?</p> <p>Overall, iClone5 Pro remains an easy-to-use application, and it can be a real time-saver for pre-viz work and presentations. The learning curve isn’t too steep, and setting up shots is intuitive. For existing iClone users, it should be a no-brainer to upgrade because content from previous versions is compatible, the upgrade price is good, and the new tools (and mocap plug-in, if you choose to buy it) will enhance its usability. New users will need to assess whether they have the funds for additional content and a copy of 3DXchange. </p> <h3>VERDICT</h3> <h4>PROS</h4> <ul> <li>Simple for novices without previous animation experience?</li> <li>Easily modifiable preset models?</li> <li>Ready-made animation categories?</li> <li>Intuitive editing?</li> <li>Options for advanced animators</li> </ul> <h4>??CONS</h4> <ul> <li>Facial profiles are difficult to tweak?</li> <li>Additional content incurs extra costs</li> <li>Rendering options still limited?</li> <li>Not a true 64-bit application??</li> </ul> <p><strong>A speedy solution for pre-viz but hampered by limited content options, basic render settings, and lack of true 64-bit support</strong></p> <h4>About the author</h4> <p>?Paul Champion is the demonstrator for undergraduate and postgraduate 3D and VFX courses at the National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth</p> <h3><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/02/06/win-a-copy-of-reallusions-iclone5-pro/">Win a copy of Reallusion’s iClone5 Pro</a></h3> <p>Enter our <a href="http://http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/02/06/win-a-copy-of-reallusions-iclone5-pro/">iClone5 Pro prize draw</a> for your chance to win one of four packages featuring Reallusion’s real-time animation suite, <strong>worth $1,352 in total</strong></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d5d1225/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Software+review%3A+iClone5+Pro&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F12%2Fsoftware-review-iclone5-pro%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dsoftware-review-iclone5-pro" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Software+review%3A+iClone5+Pro&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F12%2Fsoftware-review-iclone5-pro%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dsoftware-review-iclone5-pro" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129168239143/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d5d1225/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129168239143/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d5d1225/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/129168239143/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d5d1225/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/FfSl8XDXlLw" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Mass_effect_3_trailer.jpg" rel="lightbox[35052]"><img alt="Mass Effect 3 trailer" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35053" height="325" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Mass_effect_3_trailer.jpg" title="Mass Effect 3 trailer" width="580" /></a> <p class="strap">Remember the phenomenal CG trailer that Bioware released a few weeks ago? Don&#8217;t worry if you missed it: as Mass Effect 3 goes on sale in the UK, we take a look at Bioware&#8217;s cinematic for the final installment of the massively popular RPG</p> <p>We&#8217;re so lucky that big budget games can&#8217;t be released without an accompanying cinematic teaser to go alongside the standard gameplay trailer, as the animations produced are truly stunning. </p> <p>Bioware&#8217;s Mass Effect 3 trailer is a fine example &#8211; the teaser features children, aliens and devastating lasers. The cinematic action really gets your adrenaline pumping. </p> <p>One YouTube user commented that if the video keeps going like it does, [the character you play] Shepard has only got about 30-35 minutes to take back Earth, tops, before it&#8217;s completely annihilated!</p> <h3>Watch Bioware&#8217;s Mass Effect 3 trailer online</h3> <p></p> <h3>Want to learn how Bioware created the cinematic?</h3> <p>So do we, that&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve asked Bioware to contribute a &#8216;making of&#8217; article for 3D World magazine. So look out for that in the next issue!</p> <h3>Want more like this?</h4> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/03/09/platige-images-witcher-2-trailer-and-making-of-video/">Watch Platige Image’s Witcher 2 trailer and making of video</a></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d4c5888/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Bioware%E2%80%99s+Mass+Effect+3%3A+Take+Earth+Back+trailer&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Fbiowares-mass-effect-3-take-earth-back-trailer%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dbiowares-mass-effect-3-take-earth-back-trailer" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Bioware%E2%80%99s+Mass+Effect+3%3A+Take+Earth+Back+trailer&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Fbiowares-mass-effect-3-take-earth-back-trailer%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dbiowares-mass-effect-3-take-earth-back-trailer" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698767040/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4c5888/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698767040/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4c5888/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698767040/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4c5888/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/NvLT8p93M8g" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Scene-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[35045]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35047" height="244" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Scene-2.jpg" title="Scene-2" width="580" /></a></p> <p class="strap">Find out how this new short about a fascinating sensory condition was created using a combination of Maya, After Effects and Photoshop. Watch the film here too</p> <p>Synaesthesia tells the life experience of a synaesthete; a person with a condition where two or more of the five senses that are normally experienced separately are involuntarily and automatically joined together. Synaesthetes can experience sounds, tastes, smells, shapes, or touches in almost any combination. Synaesthesia features a character as a small boy, an adult worker and a retired man, who can see and feel shapes and depicts his different reactions to the phenomenon.</p> <p>The short was a final year project created by four students &#8211; Tien Hee, Kasumi Saito, Leo Chida and Nikko Hull &#8211; of <a href="http://www.massey.ac.nz">Massey University</a>, New Zealand. The quartet had to think of an idea to suit the brief of the school, which had a self-driven component as well as a pre-defined part. &#8220;This was basically to pick a topic and find a need or something that needs changing etc,&#8221; says Hull. &#8220;We chose Synaesthesia.&#8221;</p> <h4>Things shaped up nicely</h4> <p>In order to tackle such a complicated condition, the team spent a lot of time researching Synaesthesia and how it was going to affect their characters and set designs. &#8220;We decided during the research stage what we were going to do,&#8221; says Chida. &#8220;Each character was associated with a shape as were the environments. These were contrasting, for example, the first scene the kid was a circle, round and innocent and the environment was a triangle, sharp, scary and alert.&#8221;</p> <p>The team also used many sources of inspiration to achieve the look and style they were after. &#8220;For the environments, I looked at lots of animations, <a href="http://www.studio4c.co.jp/english/">Studio 4°C</a>, <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2825043">Team Cerf</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831888/">Tekkonkintreet</a> etc and mixed them all together to get the end result,&#8221; says Saito. &#8220;It was hard to simplify the forms to get it right. We ended up mixing all of these with our own ideas to get the style we came up with.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Scene-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[35045]"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35046" height="247" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/Scene-1.jpg" title="Scene-1" width="580" /></a></p> <h4>Added Layers</h4> <p>With set and character designs completed, the team began creating the film&#8217;s assets in Maya and UV layout tool, <a href="http://www.uvlayout.com/">Headus</a>. &#8220;This software is pretty awesome, I was really happy with how Headus sped things up,&#8221; says Chida. They also adopted a rendering technique which helped with production times.</p> <p>&#8220;The process was quite simple, which also helped in a way,&#8221; says Hull. &#8220;Each layer was kind of easy, it was just a matter of putting it all together in After Effects. We found the technique demonstrated (kind of) on <a href="http://www.deviantart.com/">Deviant Art</a>, I can&#8217;t remember the specific artist, but then we tried to figure it out in Maya and it worked quite well. But we didn&#8217;t choose that because of its ease, we chose it because of the style.&#8221;</p> <p>The scenes were separated to make the whole process more manageable. &#8220;The old man walking down the hall is a good example,&#8221; says Hull. &#8220;We had the walls, which were all on different render layers. The background and walls were a single layer and frame. Then anything which was moving, so the phone and the character, were on their own layers and were the only sequences. There also had to be a sequence for the shadows so they could cast on the walls. Then we had diffuse, shadows, highlight, AO and particle layers. This all went into After Effects with some lights and colour correction.&#8221;</p> <p>After two semesters worth of work, the student team completed the film and are pleased with the final result considering their prior experience in animation. &#8220;Up until the end, you have no idea what it’s going to turn out like,&#8221; says Chida. &#8220;But it was so rewarding finding out that all the effort wasn&#8217;t wasted and the film actually looked OK. I mean, some was wasted but we&#8217;re learning so it’s all good. Our degree consisted of lots of general design and even fine art so we&#8217;ve only really had about a year of animation training (in total). With this in mind, I&#8217;m pretty happy with how it turned out.&#8221;</p> <p></p> <p>Like this film? <a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/category/showcase/shorts/">Check out the selection of other awesome animations in our shorts section</a></p> <p><em>Make sure you visit next week for more Friday Animation Fun!</em></p> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d4bec67/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Friday+Animation+Fun%3A+Synaesthesia&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Ffriday-animation-fun-synaesthesia%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dfriday-animation-fun-synaesthesia" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Friday+Animation+Fun%3A+Synaesthesia&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Ffriday-animation-fun-synaesthesia%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dfriday-animation-fun-synaesthesia" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698680485/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4bec67/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698680485/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4bec67/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698680485/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4bec67/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/_jN_z2Gm7AM" width="1" />

<p><a href="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/witcher2_09032012.jpg" rel="lightbox[35048]"><img alt="Witcher 2" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35049" height="317" src="http://www.3dworldmag.com/files/2012/03/witcher2_09032012.jpg" title="Witcher 2" width="580" /></a> <p class="strap">Watch the jaw-dropping animation in the trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Then catch Platige Image&#8217;s &#8216;making of&#8217; video too&#8230; </p> <p>In January, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and CD Projekt RED released the epic and impactful CG intro trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, produced by the award-winning animation studio, Platige Image. </p> <p>We were simply blown away when we watched this four-minute cinematic online at the start of the year. Directed by Tomek Bagi?ski and produced by Platige Image, this trailer is packed with stunning animation and effects. Watch it below.</p> <p>Now Platige Image has produced a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the trailer, from the early renders and mocap sessions to the final clip. You can also watch this three-minute video below.</p> <h4>Behind the scenes of Witcher 2</h4> <p>&#8220;The idea of the script came from CD Projekt couple years ago, right after the premiere of &#8216;The Witcher&#8217;. It was so called &#8216;soft&#8217; version and we used it as basis for the work. In spite of vast changes we made, the project went on hold for almost two years until it was brought back to life in Xbox 360 version.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;As it turned out these two years gave both parties necessary perspective. Once we started working on the script again we were able to create new, better and richer version very fast.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;What was left from the original is the ship and main characters. All the rest has been changed. For example in the first version a hornet&#8217;s nest was used in the attack. The ship was turned into chaos &#8211; all crew started running around. They looked like a group of crazy or electrocuted people. Well… we got rid of this &#8216;dance&#8217; but left the chaos and add a lot of steroids. It helped,” says director Tomek Bagi?ski.</p> <p>&#8220;It was one of the most demanding projects in Platige Image history. The script set up very high standards. As for such a short movie there were a lot of main, detailed characters, difficult face close-ups, very dynamic action full of special effects: cloth and particles simulation and hard slowmotion shots.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;The ship also became one of the main characters. First our graphic artists created a fantastic scenery and most of all great, very detailed sailing ship. Then the particles simulation team went rough with it. They created a vast interaction system covering the whole construction with milions of ice crystals and they smashed the whole thing,” adds CG Supervisor Maciek Jackiewicz.</p> <p>The team of 40 graphic designers and animators was involved in the project for couple moths.</p> <p>The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is due on on Xbox 360 on 17 April. The Windows version is shipping now.</p> <h3>Watch the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings trailer:</h3> <p></p> <h3> Watch the making-of video for the cinematic:</h3> <p></p> <p><a href="http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/the_witcher_2_cinematic">Read a longer interview with CG supervisor Maciej Jackiewicz on CGSociety</a></p> <h4>If you liked this, look out for our &#8216;making of&#8217; Mass Effect 3 cinematic, due in the next issue of 3D World</h4> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://3dworldmag.com.feedsportal.com/c/33151/f/538495/s/1d4b9af0/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Platige+Image%E2%80%99s+Witcher+2+trailer+and+making+of+video&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Fplatige-images-witcher-2-trailer-and-making-of-video%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dplatige-images-witcher-2-trailer-and-making-of-video" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Platige+Image%E2%80%99s+Witcher+2+trailer+and+making+of+video&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dworldmag.com%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2Fplatige-images-witcher-2-trailer-and-making-of-video%2F%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dplatige-images-witcher-2-trailer-and-making-of-video" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698762514/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4b9af0/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698762514/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4b9af0/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/127698762514/u/49/f/538495/c/33151/s/1d4b9af0/a2t.img" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/3dWorldrss/~4/b7YwnVrsgeA" width="1" />

<p class="intro">Back in July I posted some of my <a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/07/27/recent-web-design-work/" title="Recent Web Work">recent work</a> for <a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/07/29/comedians-in-cars-getting-coffee/" title="Jerry Seinfeld">Jerry Seinfeld</a>, <a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/07/11/sweetn-low-website/" title="Sweet N Low">Sweet&#8217;N Low</a>, <a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/06/01/energy-kitchen/" title="Energy Kitchen">Energy Kitchen</a> and now six months later, I have a few more web &amp; branding projects to share with you. Thanks for looking!</p> <h2>Ruff Club</h2> <p><a href="http://ruffclub.com" title="Ruff Club NYC">Ruff Club</a> is a dog-friendly social club and contemporary pet care hub based in East Village, New York City. I had the pleasure of branding this new business from the ground up, creating their logo, overall look &amp; feel and web site design.</p> <p>The positioning of the brand shies away from the &#8220;boutique hotel experience&#8221; and instead, true to the East Village, offers a laid-back environment where dogs and humans are treated with dignity and respect but never pampered or infantilized.</p> <p>Ruff Club is built on the idea that people can channel the love and humility their dogs provide, into new relationships and collective community engagement.</p> <p>Ruff Club will be opening their doors very soon. I&#8217;ll share more photos once they become available.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone"><img alt="Ruff Club Logo" class=" " height="457" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/RUFF-Club-Logo-640x457.jpg" title="Ruff Club Logo" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club Logo</p></div> <div> <div class="mceTemp"></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone"><img alt="Ruff Club Logo Reversed" class=" " height="457" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/RUFF-Club-Logo-Dark-640x457.jpg" title="Ruff Club Logo Reversed" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club Logo Reversed</p></div> </div> <div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11470"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Ruff-Club-Website-Home-Page.jpg"><img alt="Ruff Club Website Home Page" class="size-large wp-image-11470" height="421" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Ruff-Club-Website-Home-Page-640x421.jpg" title="Ruff Club Website Home Page" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club Website Home Page</p></div> </div> <div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11471"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Ruff-Club-Website-SubPage.jpg"><img alt="Ruff Club Website FAQ Page" class="size-large wp-image-11471" height="655" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Ruff-Club-Website-SubPage-640x655.jpg" title="Ruff Club Website FAQ Page" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club Website FAQ Page</p></div> </div> <div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11465"><img alt="Ruff Club Letterhead (Logo Stamped On) &amp; Business Card" class="size-large wp-image-11465" height="477" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ruff-Club-Stationery-640x477.jpg" title="Ruff-Club-Stationery" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club Letterhead (The logo &amp; text are stamped on) &amp; Business Card</p></div> </div> <div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11438"><img alt="Ruff Club Pre Launch at the NYC Halloween Dog Parade " class="size-large wp-image-11438" height="480" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ruff-Club-Launch-640x480.jpg" title="Ruff Club Pre Launch at the NYC Halloween Dog Parade " width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ruff Club pre launch at the NYC Halloween Dog Parade.</p></div> </div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11439"><img alt="Ruff Club Store" class="size-large wp-image-11439" height="480" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ruff-Club-Store-640x480.jpg" title="Ruff-Club-Store" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Outside of the Ruff Club store front, providing support for pets effected by Hurricane Sandy.</p></div> <h2>Coffee Shop Restaurant, NYC</h2> <p>When Ammirati (the agency I work at) was asked to rebrand &amp; refresh the iconic <a href="http://thecoffeeshopnyc.com" title="The Coffee Shop NYC">Coffee Shop</a> restaurant in Union Square, our stomachs growled at the opportunity. We designed a sexy new website that visually reflected their 23 opening hours, both for the desktop and mobile.</p> <p>Each of the 23 squares on their home page represents 1 hour of the day and a photo taken within that hour is randomly displayed each time the page is loaded. The website is scalable ensuring that screen sizes are used to their maximum potential. Viewing the menu and ordering online is just one click away too.</p> <p>My role in this project was coming up with the 23 hour grid concept and the overall UX / UI design for the desktop and mobile versions of the site.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11391"><img alt="Coffee Shop Website" class="size-large wp-image-11391" height="468" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Coffee-Shop-Website-640x468.jpg" title="Coffee-Shop-Website" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The Coffee Shop Website</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11295"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Coffee-Shop-Final.jpg"><img alt="Coffee Shop Union Square, NYC" class="size-large wp-image-11295 " height="445" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Coffee-Shop-Final-640x445.jpg" title="Coffee Shop" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The home page for the 'Coffee Shop' Union Square, NYC</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11296"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Coffee-Shop-Menu.jpg"><img alt="Website Menu Page for 'Coffee Shop' Union Square, NYC" class="size-large wp-image-11296" height="445" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Coffee-Shop-Menu-640x445.jpg" title="Coffee-Shop-Menu" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The menu page for 'Coffee Shop' Union Square, NYC </p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11321"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CoffeeShop-Mobile.jpg"><img alt="Coffee Shop NYC Mobile Website" class="size-large wp-image-11321" height="354" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CoffeeShop-Mobile-640x354.jpg" title="CoffeeShop-Mobile" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Coffee Shop NYC Mobile Website</p></div> <h2>Au Natural <em>In The Raw</em> Facebook App</h2> <p>The Au Natural <em>In The Raw </em>app allows users to upload their own food photo, censor it, and then share their successful creation. Friends can then click on the shared photo and &#8220;reveal&#8221; the sweet creation via an interactive slider. Users can then share their own photo, view the Au Natural gallery and gain access to secret <em>In The Raw</em> recipes.</p> <p>My role in this project was the interaction design for both the mobile &amp; desktop versions of the Facebook application; including the overall architecture of the app, the user experience &amp; user interface design. Designed &amp; developed at Ammirati.</p> <p>The mobile version can be seen here (must be viewed on a Mobile device):<br /> <a href="https://www.hotintherawaction.com/mobile/" target="_blank">https://www.hotintherawaction.com/mobile/</a></p> <p>The desktop version can be seen here:<br /> <a href="https://www.hotintherawaction.com/" target="_blank">https://www.hotintherawaction.com/</a></p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11312"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ITR-Mobile.jpg"><img alt="In The Raw Mobile" class="size-large wp-image-11312" height="457" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ITR-Mobile-640x457.jpg" title="ITR Mobile" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">In The Raw Mobile Facebook App</p></div> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/02-Au-Natural-Facebook.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural Food Porn Gallery Facebook Cover Photo" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11204" height="560" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/02-Au-Natural-Facebook-640x560.jpg" title="02-Au-Natural-Facebook" width="640" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/03-Au-Natural-Home.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural App Home Page" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11205" height="962" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/03-Au-Natural-Home-640x962.jpg" title="03-Au-Natural-Home" width="640" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/04-Au-Natural-Censor.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural: Censor Your Food Photo" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11206" height="856" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/04-Au-Natural-Censor-640x856.jpg" title="04-Au-Natural-Censor" width="640" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/05-Au-Natural-Success.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural Sweet Success - Food Photo Censored" class="size-large wp-image-11207" height="1059" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/05-Au-Natural-Success-640x1059.jpg" title="05-Au-Natural-Success" width="640" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/06-Au-Natural-Slide.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural Food Photo Slider Reveal" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11208" height="1447" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/06-Au-Natural-Slide-640x1447.jpg" title="06-Au-Natural-Slide" width="640" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/09-Au-Natural-Recipe.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural Food Recipe Page" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11210" height="1253" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/09-Au-Natural-Recipe-640x1253.jpg" title="09-Au-Natural-Recipe" width="640" /></a></p> <div> <a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Au-Natural-Mobile.jpg"><img alt="Au Natural In The Raw Mobile App" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11211" height="410" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Au-Natural-Mobile-640x410.jpg" title="Au-Natural-Mobile" width="640" /></a></div> <h2>Vero Water</h2> <p><a href="http://verowater.com" title="Vero Water">Vero Water</a> is the industry leader for the finest still and sparkling water and is based in Miami, USA. I created this logo / brand identity / bottle design back in 2009 however they&#8217;ve just had a photo shoot and thought I would share some of the new shots.</p> <div><img alt="Vero Logo" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11091" height="457" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Vero-Logo-640x457.jpg" title="Vero-Logo" width="640" /></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div><img alt="VERO Water Bottles" height="372" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vero-water-bottles.jpeg" title="VERO Water Bottles" width="600" /></div> <div></div> <div><img alt="VERO Water Bottling System" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vero-water-bottling-system.jpeg" title="VERO Water Bottling System" width="600" /></div> <div></div> <div><img alt="VERO Miami" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11093" height="408" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vero-miami.jpeg" title="vero-miami" width="612" /></div> <div></div> <div><img alt="VERO Restaurant" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11094" height="342" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vero-restaurant-640x342.jpg" title="vero-restaurant" width="640" /></div> <div></div> <h2>Appex</h2> <p>Another client, <a href="http://appex.no" title="Appex">Appex</a>, that I designed the brand identity for in 2009 has been expanding very fast. Here are some snaps showing their identity in use, from yo-yos, to soccer jerseys, to 8-foot high signage. Great to see it all come alive!</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11329"><img alt="Appex Front Desk with Yo-Yos and Balloons" class="size-full wp-image-11329" height="427" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Front-Desk.jpg" title="Appex-Front-Desk" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Appex Front Desk with Yo-Yos and Balloons</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11330"><img alt="Appex Lobby" class="size-large wp-image-11330" height="427" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Lobby-640x427.jpg" title="Appex Lobby" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Appex Lobby</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11328"><img alt="Appex Welcome Chair" class="size-full wp-image-11328" height="800" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Chair.jpg" title="Appex-Chair" width="600" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Appex Welcome Chair</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11332"><img alt="Installing The Appex Signage" class="size-large wp-image-11332" height="427" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Signage-Installation-640x427.jpg" title="Appex-Signage-Installation" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Installing The Appex Signage</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11333"><img alt="Appex Signage" class="size-large wp-image-11333" height="427" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Signage-640x427.jpg" title="Appex-Signage" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">8 Foot Appex Signage</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11331"><img alt="Appex Newspaper Ad" class="size-large wp-image-11331" height="480" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Newspaper-Ad-640x480.jpg" title="Appex-Newspaper-Ad" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Appex Newspaper Ad</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11334"><img alt="Appex Football Team" class="size-large wp-image-11334" height="338" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Appex-Soccer-Team-640x338.jpg" title="Appex-Soccer-Team" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Appex Football Team</p></div> <p>Thoughts and comments are always welcome. Thanks again for looking!</p> <p>As a heads up, the Just Creative blog may be a bit quiet over the December holiday break as I will be traveling. Happy Holidays all!</p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=VDJFQ0wBdDQ:pG9baofuqzo:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p><em>*This is a guest article contributed by Aniya Wells.</em></p> <p class="intro"><strong>Charles and Ray Eames</strong> were the design power couple of the 20th century. Their Eames Lounge chair for Herman Miller, shown below, is one of the most lusted-after furniture designs in the world, and is only the best known example of their vast output.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11415"><img alt="Eames Lounge Chair" class="size-large wp-image-11415" height="357" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/eames-lounge-chair-640x357.jpg" title="eames-lounge-chair" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Eames Lounge Chair</p></div> <p>For over 35 years, Charles and Ray lived as husband and wife, but also as partners in a design practice that put forth such remarkably varied fruits as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_House" title="Eames House">Eames Case Study House</a>, the film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten" title="Powers of Ten">Powers of Ten</a>, and the exhibition Mathematica, still on view today at the Boston Museum of Science.</p> <p>Though slogan writing was not one of their advertised areas of expertise, Charles had a particular knack for the pithy, memorable quotation. I have drawn on some of them, published in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Quotes-By-Charles-Eames/dp/B003CMTHQQ" title="100 Quotes from Charles &amp; Ray Eames">100 Quotes by Charles Eames</a>, in order to suggest a handful of lessons we can learn from the Eames Office:</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11413"><img alt="Charles Ray Eames" class="size-full wp-image-11413" height="443" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/charles-ray-eames.jpg" title="charles-ray-eames" width="600" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ray &amp; Charles Eames</p></div> <h3>1. “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.”</h3> <p>This quote from Charles Eames succinctly sums up the couple’s philosophical approach to design, and it explains the charm, detail, and accessibility that characterize so much of their work. The word “guest” is tossed around so much these days as a euphemism for “customer” that it’s easy to lose track of the original meaning of the word.</p> <p>The Eameses, as global travelers and enthusiastic amateur anthropologists (indeed, they saw this as part of their role as designers) learned firsthand the value of hospitality, and the role of a designer in smoothing the way for people to live and work. This means not only making things more functional, though that’s of primary importance. It also means making them more pleasing. As Charles often admonished designers:</p> <div class="superquote"> &#8220;Take your pleasures seriously.&#8221; </div> <h3>2. The more you do, the more you can do.</h3> <p>Perhaps the greatest secret to the success of the Eameses was that they refused to specialize. By taking commissions and launching new projects of their own for architecture, film, furniture, toys, games, museum exhibits, textiles, magazines, and more, they developed a comprehensive, even universal approach to their work. “We work because it’s a chain reaction, each subject leads to the next,” Charles said. A varied career has a way of cross-fertilizing from one domain to another.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11414"><img alt="The Eames House" class="size-full wp-image-11414" height="480" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/eames-house.jpg" title="eames-house" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The Eames House. Photo by Thomahalk1.</p></div> <h3>3. “Innovate as a last resort. More horrors are done in the name of innovation than any other.”</h3> <p>Great designers are voracious scavengers. In this age of sampling, mashups, and copyleft activism, we can look back and see that Charles and Ray were far ahead of their time in their collage-like approach to creativity. They disapproved of the cult of originality in their time, and saw that often the best solutions come from the ground up.</p> <div class="superquote"> &#8220;Eventually, everything connects &#8211; people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.&#8221; </div> <p>This should extend to your interactions with fellow designers. Being competitive is natural, but try to create a space for idea incubation, exchange, and riffing. After all, “Ideas are cheap. Always be passionate about ideas and communicating those ideas and discoveries to others in the things you make.”</p> <h3>4. A partnership is more than the sum of its parts.</h3> <p>While most of us are not married to our professional colleagues (and if we are, we know it certainly presents complications absent from our romantic daydreams), nevertheless this is true of even purely creative relationships. Think about how you can create this type of nonzero economy in your own interactions. When working with a client, don’t impose your own vision from outside, but consider what unique qualities you can draw out from them.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11425"><img alt="La Chaise" class="size-full wp-image-11425" height="480" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/la-chaise.jpg" title="La Chaise" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">La Chaise Lounge Chair</p></div> <p>With all their diverse accomplishments, the greatest example the Eameses left us is their dynamic, symbiotic life together. As Charles put it, “Any time one or more things are consciously put together in a way that they can accomplish something better than they could have accomplished individually, this is an act of design.”</p> <p>For more Eames, this <a href="http://fuckyeahrayandcharleseames.tumblr.com/archive" title="Ray Charles Eames">Tumblr has a nice visual overview</a>. <strong>Do you have a favorite Eames piece?</strong></p> <p>&#8211;</p> <p><em>*Aniya Wells is a freelance blogger who primarily writes for  <a href="http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/" title="Online Degree Programs">www.onlinedegreeprograms.com</a>. She also enjoys investigating trends in other niches, notably technology, traditional higher education, health, and small business. Aniya welcomes reader questions and comments.</em></p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=fMLskbSeW1Y:q3UwEFRP93c:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">Here are a few interesting links that I tweeted this week. <a href="http://twitter.com/justcreative" title="Just Creative on Twitter">Feel free to follow @justcreative for more</a>.</p> <p><img alt="Twitter Bird" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11182" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/twitter-bird.gif" title="twitter-bird" width="640" /></p> <ul> <li>Pretty solid advice and tips from <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/teehanlax">@teehanlax</a>: 10 Years of Teehan + Lax <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/9BvpYvZl" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/Py3RRP">http://bit.ly/Py3RRP</a></li> <li>Did you know you can save paths within JPGS? Here&#8217;s how. <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/B1Vv7jwl" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/PGKs19">http://bit.ly/PGKs19</a></li> <li>Instagram gets profiles, here&#8217;s mine &#8211; <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/fISJZ03O" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/RJOy6L">http://bit.ly/RJOy6L</a></li> <li>A neat little stunt releasing the new Sony Xperia phone &#8211; <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/bKSThrni" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/WBR2Kq">http://bit.ly/WBR2Kq</a></li> <li>Appex, a client I designed the brand identity for has recently installed a rather massive sign on their building. <a dir="ltr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/appex/7985402043/in/photostream" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/RFh8q4 </a></li> <li>Hurricane Sandy is &#8220;likely the most digitally captured event in history&#8221;. 1.3 million photos were tagged with <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Sandy&amp;src=hash"><s>#</s>Sandy</a>. <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/4yUr5UAi" target="_blank" title="http://on.mash.to/Wr8Wzj">http://on.mash.to/Wr8Wzj</a></li> <li>Although Hurricane Sandy was bad, I certainly wouldn&#8217;t wanna come across a fire tornado! Damn! <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/2E98BpWk" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/YyRmaQ">http://bit.ly/YyRmaQ</a></li> <li>ikonic 150 vector icon set by <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/rakeshdesign">@rakeshdesign</a> looks pretty neat <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/ovJlzJ2m" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/VXHq6N">http://bit.ly/VXHq6N </a> Free 25 too!</li> <li>A sneak preview of the new <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/RuffClubNYC">@ruffclubnyc</a> website that I created the brand identity / website for. <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/JF8WYrQX" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/XP6q3L">http://bit.ly/XP6q3L</a></li> <li><a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/NRL">@NRL</a> Rugby League launches new brand logo <a dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/4t5k2RZk" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/Rfz74f">http://bit.ly/Rfz74f </a></li> <li>A Year In Full Colour stop motion video &#8211; <a href="http://youtu.be/7Q9XvlMITrQ" title="YouTube">http://youtu.be/7Q9XvlMITrQ</a></li> </ul> <p>Stay tuned for more.</p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=0Oqch38j_uE:L8rCxgMpnyw:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p><em>This is a collaborative guest article between Jamie Wayne* and I.</em></p> <p class="intro">Whether you&#8217;re a graphic <a href="http://justcreative.com/category/design-for-students/" title="Design For Students">design student</a> or a young professional, getting your foot in the door is not as simple as it sounds. Taking the first step requires initiative, patience and some wisdom too.</p> <p>Thankfully, there&#8217;s always a way to make it in and this article will provide seven different ways for you to get your foot in the door.</p> <div><img alt="Foot In The Door" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11123" height="426" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/foot-door-640x426.jpg" title="Foot In The Door" width="640" /></div> <h2>1. Network at Conferences &amp; Events</h2> <p><a href="http://jamiewayne.com/2012/02/04/xcviii-why-you-should-start-networking-now-instead-of-later/" target="_blank" title="Why you should start networking now instead of later">Networking</a> at <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/10/25/upcoming-web-design-development-conferences-2012-2013/" target="_blank" title="Design Conferences 2013">design conferences </a>and professional events can be a good way to get meet new people and build a professional stronghold. From conversing with other graphic designers to developers, copywriters, and business owners, exposure from these events can lead to great opportunities. With this said, walking into an event blindfolded may set you up for trouble as first impressions are everything. It&#8217;s imperative to keep a few things in mind when making your first impression – be admirable and memorable.</p> <p><strong>Be Admirable</strong></p> <ul> <li>Plan ahead for networking opportunities by <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-career/job-search-tips/present-your-portfolio/" title="Portfolio Polish">polishing up your portfolio</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.yourbusinesscardsucks.com/" target="_blank" title="Your Card Sucks">business cards</a>.</li> <li>Be presentable for the occasion. Is it casual or formal?</li> <li>Ask questions and be interested (or act it) in every discussion.</li> <li>Don&#8217;t try to oversell your skills or services. Tell don&#8217;t sell.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Be Memorable</strong></p> <p>Small talk &amp; <a href="http://justcreative.com/2008/10/02/design-elevator-speeches/" title="Elevator Speeches">elevator pitches</a> are common within these arenas, so listen well, show courtesy and thank those you talk to for their time. Don&#8217;t be afraid to smile and lighten up the mood a bit. Offer your business card as you close the conversation and you&#8217;ll most likely get the other person&#8217;s card in return. Keep the card in case you want to follow up with this person in the near future.</p> <h2>2. Follow Up, Use LinkedIn &amp; Other Social Sites</h2> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/05/23/linkedin-beginners/" target="_blank" title="LinkedIn Beginners">LinkedIn</a> is a great tool for building networks <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8MDihYKZTU" title="How to get clients on LinkedIn">and getting clients</a>, however it&#8217;s also a very handy tool to follow up with those you have briefly conversed with. A quick search of their name should yield a number of results. Before you contact them, think of the best way to contact them? Would they prefer an email rather than a LinkedIn connection?</p> <h2>3. Seek a Mentor</h2> <p>Having a mentor is a great way to learn the ropes. You will learn things such as <a href="http://justcreative.com/2009/02/26/how-much-to-charge-for-design-work/" target="_blank">how much to charge for design</a>, <a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/06/24/design-agency-vs-freelance-life/" target="_blank" title="Design agency vs freelancing">the pros and cons of freelancing</a>, <a href="http://justcreative.com/2007/12/27/how-to-boost-your-creativity/" target="_blank" title="Creativity">how to improve your creative process</a>, <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/11/29/designer-office-set-up/" target="_blank" title="Designer Tools">recommended tools</a>, how to present your work, and much more.</p> <p>It&#8217;s important to understand the relationship between a mentor and mentee. Like a relationship between a couple, the mentor/mentee is also a two-way commitment that requires trust and honesty. Help them and they will help you. Ask for advice, seek out new opportunities &amp; if you have to get the coffee, do it with a smile.</p> <div><img alt="Mentor" height="424" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/mentor-640x424.jpg" title="Mentor" width="640" /></div> <h5><strong>How do you find a mentor?</strong></h5> <p><strong></strong> It all depends on the scenario however there are a <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-career/mentoring/" title="Find a design mentor">few methods of finding a mentor</a>;</p> <p><strong>In Person</strong></p> <p>Once you&#8217;ve connected with someone and got to know them and have established some trust, it wouldn&#8217;t hurt to ask if they have the time to show you more of the ropes. Let that person know you&#8217;re interested in learning from them and see what they have to say. Be flexible with them, as it&#8217;s them doing you a favor.</p> <p><strong>Online</strong></p> <p><strong></strong>If you&#8217;re breaking the ice online, take extra care in crafting your approach, as it can be very difficult to convey personality through written communication. Always let them know you appreciate their time. If the person doesn&#8217;t have the time available, then it wouldn&#8217;t hurt to ask a few questions. At the very least, seldom communication may lead to a slowly growing relationship. Get them on your radar, and keep them there without being a pest.</p> <h2>4. Take Up Pro-Bono Work</h2> <p>Taking up <a href="http://www.davidairey.com/pro-bono-design/" target="_blank" title="Pro Bono Design">pro-bono work</a> will not only help a special cause, but it will build up your portfolio which will help you land more projects &amp; strengthen your credibility in the long term.</p> <div><img alt="Pro Bono Work" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11122" height="496" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/charity-640x496.jpg" title="Charity" width="640" /></div> <p>Before taking on pro bono work consider the following; Is there enough time to make the commitment? Are you financially capable of accepting a pro-bono project? What kinds of organisations would you do pro-bono work for? Make sure you are suited to take on pro-bono work before endorsing a false commitment.</p> <h2>5. Get Your Work or Portfolio Reviewed</h2> <p>Sharing your portfolio with seasoned professionals and asking for a review can help you gain new insights on the execution of your creative ideas. <a href="http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/the-art-of-the-design-critique" target="_blank" title="Constructive Criticism">Constructive criticism</a> is encouraged and you should always aim to take away new ideas and possibilities. Follow the motto; <a href="http://www.nwicreative.org/learn/get-your-portfolio-up-to-snuff/" target="_blank" title="Get your portfolio up to snuff">seek criticism, not praise</a>.</p> <p>Sharing your work will also allow other designers to observe your style, thought process, and results. This will allow others to lend you advice, which may lead into a steady stream of communication.</p> <h2>6. Start a Blog &amp; Guest Author</h2> <p>Don&#8217;t overlook the benefits of <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/04/27/building-a-personal-brand/" target="_blank" title="Starting A Blog">starting a blog</a>. In conjunction with social media sites, a blog can help establish your online presence, as well as be the frontier of your voice and portfolio.</p> <p>While some authors write on their own blog, others will contribute their articles elsewhere as a guest author. Guest authoring is a great way to share your voice with audiences elsewhere and connect with others on an international scale.</p> <div><img alt="Im Possible" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-11124" height="423" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/im-possible-640x423.jpg" title="Possible" width="640" /></div> <p>While each one of these ways can help you gain more exposure, utilizing several, if not all, will maximize your chances significantly.</p> <h2>7. Take Action</h2> <p>As a last piece of advice, I want to recite a few words, courtesy of my mentor, <a href="http://www.chasetalon.com/" target="_blank" title="Chase Talon Design">Chase Talon</a>, that inspired me to push myself through the doors.</p> <blockquote><p><em>&#8220;There is one thing and one thing alone that leads to success. That is action. Make a decision on what you want and begin moving forward with an unwavering, unrelenting, incessant vigor to see your goal to it&#8217;s end. Never letting fear guide you. It&#8217;s an illusion. All fear, and negativity are, is a test to prove how bad you want something.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.whosay.com/BillMaher/videos/5963" title="Wish It. Want It. Do It.">Wish it, want it, do it</a>.</p> <p><strong>Have you got any other tips on how designers can get their foot in the door?</strong></p> <p>&#8211;</p> <p><em>*<a href="http://www.jamiewayne.com/about/" target="_blank" title="Jamie Wayne | Valparaiso Northwest Indiana Graphic Designer">Jamie Wayne</a> is a graphic designer for <a href="http://www.adforcecreative.com/" target="_blank" title="Ad Force Creative">Ad Force Creative</a> in Northwest Indiana, a webmaster &amp; graphic designer for the Center for Innovation through Visualization &amp; Simulation at Purdue University Calumet, and a member &amp; writer of the Northwest Indiana Creative Professionals. Photos from <a href="http://bigstock.com" title="Big Stock">BigStock</a>.</em></p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=D2AsBRt0gGs:ZL4lCnAFyN4:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">I recently came back from 1.5 weeks traveling around Iceland, an extremely beautiful country. You can <a href="http://on.fb.me/W95OVX" title="Iceland Photos">view a few snaps on Facebook</a> and read more about the trip below.</p> <p>I went with a company called <a href="https://www.striking.ly/founderexcursionsiceland#0" title="Founders Excursions">Founders Excursions</a> who organized a trip of 14 like-minded entrepreneurs from Iceland and USA, to travel through Iceland doing <a href="http://siadv.is/?page_id=933" title="Adventure Tours">adventurous activities</a> while networking at the same time.</p> <div><a href="http://on.fb.me/W95OVX" title="Iceland Photos"><img alt="Iceland" class="alignnone wp-image-11035" height="424" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Iceland-Photos-39-of-51-640x424.jpg" title="Iceland" width="640" /></a></div> <h3>Highlights of the Trip</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=jiRegEs83A0" title="Canyoining Iceland">Canyoning</a> (climbing and swimming up waterfalls, then floating back down)</li> <li>Super jeeping (4&#215;4 driving through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmannalaugar"><em>Landmannalaugar</em></a> mountains)</li> <li>Enjoying bonfires, beers and Icelandic BBQ</li> <li>Having tea &amp; coffee at the US Embassy</li> <li>Driving through the back country &amp; around the glaciers / volcanoes</li> <li>Viewing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_%28astronomy%29"><em>Northern Lights</em></a></li> <li>Speed boating &amp; exploring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestmannaeyjar"><em>Vestmannaeyjar Islands</em></a></li> <li>Swimming at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_%28geothermal_spa%29"><em>Blue Lagoon</em></a> (Geothermal spa), one of National Geographic&#8217;s Seven Wonders of the World</li> <li>Taking in the glorious<em> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6kuls%C3%A1rl%C3%B3n">Jökulsárlón</a> </em>(Glacier Lagoon &#8211; where the lake&#8217;s glaciers go out to sea)</li> <li>Bathing in the natural geo thermal springs while the mountains surrounded us</li> <li>Participating in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifting_stone"><em>steintökin</em></a> (strong man competition). Needless to say, I am no Viking!</li> <li>Having my shoes stolen on the first day at a public pool (Yup!)</li> <li>Enjoying the &#8220;Bæjarins beztu pylsur&#8221; (best-in-town Icelandic hotdogs). Can&#8217;t say much about the <em>Harðfiskur</em> (wind dried fish). Also loved the <em>Skyr</em> (drinkable yogurt).</li> <li>Overall, just enjoying the beautiful, peaceful Icelandic scenery.</li> </ul> <p>If interested in a similar experience get in contact with our awesome guide, Siggi from <a href="http://siadv.is/">South Iceland Adventure</a> or <a href="http://www.mattwilson.tv/" title="Matt Wilson">Matt Wilson</a> from Founders Excursions. I&#8217;d highly recommend it!</p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=rQlhH0ax2BY:4LLyquN_hs8:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">I was recently approached by Samsung to take part in their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SamsungSSD" title="SSD Drivers">SSD Drivers program</a> which would allow me (and a few others) to test out their latest <a href="http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/solid-state-drives" title="SSD">SSD</a> (Solid State Drive) and review it here for you guys. After reading up on SSD drives and their <a href="http://www.samsung.com/us/article/top-ten-benefits-of-ssd" title="Benefits of SSD">benefits</a>, I decided to join the program and the results so far have been awesome.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_11011"><img alt="Samsung SSD Drivers" class="size-large wp-image-11011" height="236" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/samsung-ssd-drivers-640x236.jpg" title="samsung-ssd-drivers" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Samsung SSD Drivers (Yours truly on the far right)</p></div> <h3>What is a SSD?</h3> <p>A solid-state drive is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store data. SSDs have the same purpose as traditional mechanical hard drives, but there is one major difference – they&#8217;re electronic devices and don’t have any mechanical parts. Unlike HDDs, SSDs don’t store data on spinning platters, but use flash memory instead.</p> <div class="superquote"> In short, this means that a SSD will make your computer considerably faster in a more reliable, silent and energy efficient manner. </div> <h3>Easy Installation</h3> <p>Samsung originally sent me a complimentary <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GQ0G/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B005T3GQ0G&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=justcrea-20" title="Samsung SSD 256GB">256GB SSD</a> however I decided that I <del>wanted</del> needed a 512GB so I sent the 256GB back to them and instead bought my own <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GPXO/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B005T3GPXO&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=justcrea-20" title="Samsung SSD 512GB">512GB SSD</a> to review.</p> <p><img alt="Samsung SSD 512GB" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11015" height="380" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/samsung-ssd-512gb1.jpg" title="Samsung SSD 512GB" width="640" /></p> <p>After receiving the SSD, I watched a video from Samsung on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mihb8YQzDxw" title="How to install SSD for Mac">how to install it on a Mac</a> and after a quick stop at the hardware store for a new screwdriver, I was good to go. I copied 480GB of data from my previous HDD to the new SSD, which took about 7 hours overnight. After that was done, the physical installation / swapping of the drives took just 10 minutes.</p> <h3>Benefits of SSD vs HDD</h3> <p>There are a number of benefits of using a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJMGAdpCLVg" title="SSD vs HDD">SSD vs a HDD</a>, and I personally noticed a huge difference in the speed of my daily routines. Before I get into the differences, let me outline my current <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/11/29/designer-office-set-up/" title="Hardware">hardware</a> &amp; <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/12/22/recommended-software-for-designers/" title="Software I use as Designer">software</a> I use as a designer.</p> <p>I use a Macbook Pro 17&#8243; (3.06 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR Ram) attached to a 27&#8243; display and at nearly all times I have these programs open; Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, InDesign, Mail, Tweetdeck, Chrome, Firefox, as well as Font Explorer, Spotify, TextMate, Bonjour, TextExplorer and Dropbox.</p> <h3>Increased Speed &amp; Productivity</h3> <p>Within the first hour of using the new SSD I could visibly notice the speed difference in nearly every task performed. The most notable differences are listed below.</p> <ul> <li>Faster boot time (Even faster when I cleaned my computer with <a href="http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx" title="Onyx">Onyx</a>)</li> <li>All programs open much faster, especially the Creative Suite. The most notable speed difference is on startup as I have my programs set to auto start.</li> <li>Search is much faster, especially when combined with my productivity bud, <a href="http://www.alfredapp.com/" title="Alfred App">Alfred</a>.</li> <li>Moving between programs is much more responsive, eg. when changing from Photoshop, to Illustrator, to InDesign.</li> <li>Opening files and using Finder is way faster, as well as using program menus.</li> <li>The battery life seemed to last a bit longer too, only about 15-30 minutes but still noticeable.</li> <li>The only downfall I could think of would be the price (the 500GB was $608 after tax). The 256GB or 128GB gets you more bang for your buck, but you do get less space.</li> </ul> <p>Anyway, I&#8217;d definitely consider getting an SSD for a much faster &amp; more reliable computer experience.</p> <p><strong>What has your experience been like with SSDs?</strong></p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=8yuPa8WLv6w:O9ytCVh77vI:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p><em>I originally wrote this article for the book, <a href="http://logonest.com" title="LogoNest Vol 2">Logo Nest Volume 2</a>. It has been republished here with permission. Photos are the end of the article.</em><hr class="thin" /></p> <p class="intro"><strong>Personal branding</strong> is by no means a new or light topic, but with the rise of social technologies, personal branding is as accessible as ever, meaning you have so much more opportunity, but also so much more competition.</p> <p>For you to stand out amongst the noise, you must become a valued brand. That brand is ‘You’. Take a closer look at the (st)art of personal branding and see how you can use it to start building your own personal brand. Brand You™.</p> <h2><strong>1. Set Goals, Plan &amp; Define Your Brand</strong></h2> <div><img alt="Step One. Set Goals, Plan &amp; Define Your Brand" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10949" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/step1.gif" title="Step One. Set Goals, Plan &amp; Define Your Brand" width="640" /></div> <p>Before creating your brand, you must <strong>set specific goals and plan accordingly</strong>. You should take a look at where you are at now and where you want to be in the future.</p> <p>Are you trying to become an authority in your niche? Why? Are you planning to get a new job position or become a stay-at-home freelancer? Are you trying to find more clients and / or increase your prices?</p> <p>Figuring out <em>why and where</em> you want to be in the future will help you decide <em>how</em> to do it.</p> <div class="superquote"> Ultimately, your goal should be to make your planned self-impression equal to how other people perceive you. </div> <p>Re-read that. If you can do this, then you will become a master of your domain.</p> <p>As an example of a ‘successful’ personal brand, <a href="http://www.problogger.net/" title="Darren Rowse">Darren Rowse</a> is the leader in the ‘how to make money blogging’ niche (among others) and although his site is not self-named, his personal brand has grown based how he communicates through his own brand, websites &amp; social channels.</p> <p>After you have figured out your goals, chosen your niche and set out a plan, you need to start creating your brand.</p> <h2><strong>2. Know, Understand &amp; Believe In Your Brand</strong></h2> <div><img alt="Step Two Understand &amp; Believe In Your Brand" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10950" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/step2.gif" title="Step Two Understand &amp; Believe In Your Brand" width="640" /></div> <p>Your personal brand needs to have a look and feel, as well as a way to communicate, but this goes much further than having a logo &amp; social media accounts. You need to maintain a consistent ‘corporate image’ in all mediums and at all times. See the <a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/04/06/branding-identity-logo-design-explained/" title="Branding Explained">differences between branding &amp; visual identity</a> here.</p> <p>The fundamental idea and core concept behind having this ‘corporate image’ is that everything you do, everything you own and everything you produce, should reflect the values and aims of your personal brand as a whole.</p> <div class="superquote"> It is the consistency of this core idea that makes your brand. It shows others what <em>you</em> stand for, what <em>you</em> believe in and why <em>you</em> exist. </div> <p>As an example, let’s look at the well-known IT company, Apple. Although they are not a personal brand, the branding concept remains the same; they have a consistent ‘corporate image’.</p> <p>Apple projects a humanistic corporate culture and a strong corporate ethic, one, which is characterised by volunteerism, support of good causes &amp; involvement in the community. These values of the business are evident throughout everything they do, from their innovative products and advertising, right through to their customer service. Apple is an emotionally humanist brand that really connects with people – when people buy or use their products or services; they feel part of the brand, like a tribe even. It is this emotional connection that creates their brand – not purely their products and a bite sized logo.</p> <p>If you can apply these same core principles to your own brand then it will be easier for others to see &amp; know what you’re all about.</p> <address>“Remember, it’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.”<br /> <em>-PAUL ARDEN</em></address> <h2><strong>3. Create &amp; Maintain Your Brand</strong></h2> <div><img alt="Step Three - Create and Maintain Your Brand" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10951" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/step3.gif" title="step3" width="640" /></div> <p>After you have set your goals, outlined your target market &amp; defined how you wish to be perceived, then you can start to form the foundation of your brand. Below are the essential building blocks that will help you do this.</p> <h4><strong>A Unique Visual Identity</strong></h4> <p>One of the easiest ways to differentiate your self from the competition is by having a unique <a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/09/11/branding-tips/" title="10 Must Know Tips for Creating Winning Visual Brand Identities">visual identity</a>. This visual identity should be consistent and reflective of your initial goals, yet flexible enough to work across all areas of your communication. Ensure, at minimum, that you have a business card, letterhead, an up-to-date CV, website and a variety of online social profiles.</p> <h4><strong>Your Own Website, Domain Name &amp; Email Address</strong></h4> <p>Do you know what comes up when people type your name into Google? Hopefully your name and website, but if not, a quick way to climb to the top of search engines is by having your own domain such as JohnSmith.com.</p> <p>On your website, you should have information about you, links to your other websites, your social profiles, as well as a blog and if applicable, a portfolio.</p> <p>You should also set up a personally branded email address such as john@johnsmith.com as this looks much more professional than a free email service such as <a href="mailto:johnsmith@gmail.com">johnsmith@ymail.com</a>.</p> <h4><strong>Social Networks. (Engage &amp; Communicate!)</strong></h4> <p>It’s one thing to have Facebook or Twitter, but actually using it right for your personal brand is another thing. You should remember that everything you do, say and share is reflective of ‘Brand You’, both personally and professionally.</p> <p>Ask yourself, what value are you providing to your friends and followers? Are you engaging and communicating with people, not just sharing what you had for breakfast? Have you filled out your online profiles to their fullest extent? Are you linking to your websites within each profile? What about your <a href="http://justcreative.com/2008/08/10/how-to-get-more-email/" title="How to get more email">email signature</a>?</p> <p>There are many ways to help promote you and your brand, but the simplest way is by making it easy for people to find and communicate with you. When they do, be sure to engage &amp; provide value.</p> <h4><strong>Brand Maintenance, Security &amp; Monitoring</strong></h4> <p>Your brand is your business and your reputation. Why wouldn’t you monitor what people are saying about you?</p> <p>Use <a href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Google Alerts</a>, Twitter Search and the many other tools available to you so you know when you are mentioned somewhere on the web. This allows you to put out fires early, as well as network and thank people who are helping or linking to you.</p> <h3><strong>The Secret To Personal Branding…</strong></h3> <div><img alt="Secret to Personal Branding" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10972" height="400" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/secret-personal-branding.gif" title="Secret to Personal Branding" width="640" /></div> <p>Remember, planning is the foundation of your personal brand and the execution builds the structure of that brand, but ultimately, it comes down to what people say about you, not what you say about yourself, thus the ultimate goal is to make your planned self-impression equal to how other people perceive you.</p> <p>That is the secret to personal branding.</p> <h3><strong>More branding &amp; logo articles:</strong></h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/04/06/branding-identity-logo-design-explained/" rel="bookmark" title="Branding Explained">Branding, Identity &amp; Logo Design Explained</a></li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2008/04/18/a-comparative-study-of-logo-design-between-the-70s-and-90s/" rel="bookmark" title="Logos 70s 90s">A Comparative Study of Logo Design between the 70s and 90s.</a></li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2012/09/11/branding-tips/" rel="bookmark" title="Branding Tips">10 Must Know Tips for Creating Winning Visual Brand Identities</a></li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/08/02/12-ways-your-logo-impacts-social-media-marketing/" rel="bookmark" title="Social Media Logos">12 Ways Your Logo Impacts Social Media Marketing</a></li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/11/09/a-look-at-consumer-emotional-attachment-to-brands-and-logos/" rel="bookmark" title="Logos and Emotions">Consumer Emotional Attachment to Brands and Logos</a></li> </ul> <div><img alt="Cover of Logo Nest Vol 2" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10108" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/00-cover.jpg" title="Cover of Logo Nest Vol 2" width="640" /></div> <div><img alt="Contents" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-10106" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/02-contents.jpg" title="02-contents" width="640" /></div> <div><img alt="Art of Personal Branding" class="alignnone size-full" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/01-art-personal-branding.jpg" title="01-art-personal-branding" width="640" /></div> <div><img alt="Art of Personal Branding by Jacob Cass" class="alignnone size-full" height="689" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/art-of-personal-branding-jacob-cass.jpg" title="art-of-personal-branding-jacob-cass" width="640" /></div> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=5GOKdtLthXg:ls_PddWu8B0:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">On Friday I attended the <a href="http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnewconference" title="Brand New Conference">2012 Brand New Conference</a>, a one day event focusing on the practice of corporate and brand identity. The event went smoothly <a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/11/06/2010-brand-new-conference-summary-quotes/" title="Brand New Conference 2010">again</a> (hat tip to Armin Vit for organizing) and the speakers shared some great tips and stories on a large variety of topics.</p> <p>The most notable talk of the day for me, was by <a href="http://twitter.com/manchipp" title="Simon Manchipp">Simon Manchipp</a>, the CD &amp; co-founder of <a href="http://www.someoneinlondon.com/">Someone</a>. Simon&#8217;s talk was built around ten things to consider when creating a new visual brand identity.</p> <p>Below are some of the notes I took from his talk. There are some loose ends, but there are still a number of key takeaways so enjoy.</p> <p><img alt="Tips to consider when branding" height="612" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/branding.jpg" title="Tips to consider when branding" width="612" /></p> <h1>10 things to consider when creating a new visual brand identity</h1> <h3>1. Make it coherent, not consistent.</h3> <p><strong>A new logo is born useless.</strong> The media demands an approach that is instantly useful. Make your new logo useful. <strong>Create landscapes that can change and adapt.</strong> Information can and should fuel the design and pattern.A brand should be adaptive &amp; coherent, not just consistent.</p> <h3>2. Do more than a logo.</h3> <p>The logo is dying so ask yourself <strong>how can you brand without badging?</strong></p> <h3>3. Brand without badging</h3> <p>A rubber stamped logo is not a brand. Remember&#8230;</p> <div class="superquote"> &#8220;A new logo should be a symbol of change, not a change of symbol.&#8221; </div> <h3>4. The big idea is not the big idea.</h3> <p>The big idea is not the big idea, but rather hundreds of ideas that form the brand. These  ideas should be multi-channelled &amp; multi-faceted.</p> <h3>5. Own moments</h3> <p>Find ownable moments that can be a spring point for the brand. eg. a color, season, taste, feature, etc.</p> <h3>6. Remove the fear</h3> <p>Branding is all fear &amp; risk is attached to everything, but smart clients are those without the fear.</p> <div class="superquote"> We are hired for our principles, so stick to them. </div> <h3>7. Weird works</h3> <p>Weird shit creates monopolies. Trust the risky weirdo called creativity.</p> <h3>8. Make it people-centric</h3> <p><strong>We are not in design business but in the people business.</strong> Educated clients believe in coherent brand worlds. Winning companies are placing design at the heart of their business.</p> <h3>9. Create assets not costs</h3> <p>Design is often seen as a cost in the boardroom but it needs to be seen as an asset. The reason behind it being seen as a cost is that everyone considers themselves as a designer.</p> <p>&#8220;No one trusts creativity because of the dolphin duvet.&#8221; (aka everyone is a designer, I chose this dolphin duvet cover for my home). The goal is to show that design is an asset.</p> <h3>10. Chase the opportunity.</h3> <p>Chase the opportunity, not the money. If you are doing interesting work and having fun, enough money will come.</p> <p><strong>Have you got any other branding tips to share?</strong></p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=iDBstlGPQaM:bSX6oaXQznU:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">I&#8217;ve been a media partner for <a href="http://www.futureinsights.com/">Future Insights</a> conferences for a <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/11/07/future-of-web-design-conference-day-1-review/" title="FOWD 2011">few</a> <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/11/15/future-of-web-design-conference-day-2-review/" title="FOWD 2012 Day 2">years</a> now and have been to a fair few of their events which are always <em>insightful</em>. This post is just letting you know that there is a web conference in <a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/" title="FOWD New York 2012">NYC</a> coming up in October and you can get 10% off. Details are below along with a few other conferences to be aware of.</p> <div><a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/" title="Future of Web Design 2012 NYC"><img alt="Future of Web Design NYC 2012" class="border" height="520" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/fowd-nyc.jpg" title="Future of Web Design NYC 2012" width="640" /></a></div> <p><strong>What:</strong> <a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/" target="_blank">Future of Web Design</a><strong><br /> When:</strong> Conference days: October 22 &amp; 23. Workshop day: October 24<strong><br /> Where:</strong> <a href="http://www.newworldstages.com/">New World Stages</a> &amp; Lighthouse International Conference Centre<strong><br /> Info:</strong></p> <div> <ul> <li>3 days, 30+ sessions, 4 full-day workshops</li> <li>Top-notch <a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/speakers" target="_blank">speakers</a>, including: Chris Coyier, Zoe Gillenwater, Darcy Clarke, Meagan Fisher, Dan Rose, Karen McGrane, Edward Boatman, Lis Hubert, and many more.</li> <li>Talks on CSS3, JQuery Performance, Typography, Icon and symbol design, frontend development, HTML5, responsive web design, UX, wireframing, and more</li> <li>Check out the <a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/schedule" target="_blank">full schedule</a> for more details.</li> </ul> <p><strong>10% off for Just Creative readers</strong><em><br /> Just Creative</em> readers are able to grab 10% off 2-Day Conference Passes or Workshop + 2-Day Conference Passes. Simply enter <em>JustCreative</em> on the registration page. Do remember to check out the handy <em><a href="http://futureofwebdesign.com/new-york-2012/downloads/FOWD-NYC-ConvinceYourBoss.pdf" target="_blank">Convince your Boss PDF</a></em> for help getting your approval.</p> <h3>More Conferences</h3> <p><strong><a href="http://uxweek.com/2012/">UX Week</a><br /> When:</strong> August 21-24, 2012<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> San Francisco, CA, USA</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.aneventapart.com/2012/chicago/">An Event Apart Chicago</a></strong><br /> <strong>When:</strong> August 27-29, 2012<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Chicago, IL, USA</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/">UX Australia</a><br /> When:</strong> August 28-31, 2012<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Brisbane, Austalia at Sofitel Brisbane Central<br /> UX Australia also presents <a href="http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/agileux-2012/">Agile UX</a> and <a href="http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/servicedesign-2012/">Service Design 2012</a>.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://2012.dconstruct.org/">dConstruct</a><br /> When:</strong> September 7, 2012<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Brighton, UK at the Brighton Dome</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/25/first-smashing-conference-coming-community-event-web-designers/">Smashing Magazine Conference</a></strong><br /> <strong>When:</strong> September 17-19, 2012<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Freiburg, Germany</p> <p>Please feel free to share more web conferences if you know of them.</p> </div> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=QNGiDVr0duo:mIJJbvcPbM0:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

<p class="intro">Last September, I wrote about how <a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/09/08/6-logos-selected-for-logo-lounge-vol-7/" title="Logo Lounge 7">six of my logos and a case study</a> were to be featured in the next edition of the <a href="http://logolounge.com" title="Logo Lounge">Logo Lounge</a> series, that being Logo Lounge 7. Well, I&#8217;ve just recently received the hard cover book in the mail and thought I&#8217;d share a few snaps.</p> <p>You can read the <a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC008921.jpg" target="_blank" title="Menu Cover Depot">case study of the logo</a> I created for Menu Cover Depot here in image format (not in text format unfortunately).</p> <p>You can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1592537278//ref=cm_sw_su_dp?tag=logolounge-20" target="_blank" title="Logo Lounge 7">purchase this book on Amazon</a> for $29.50.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10733"><img alt="Logo Lounge Book 7 Side View" class="size-full wp-image-10733" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00884.jpg" title="Logo Lounge Book 7 " width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Logo Lounge Book 7 Side View</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10734"><img alt="Logo Lounge Book 7 Front Cover" class="size-full wp-image-10734" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00885.jpg" title="Logo Lounge Book 7 Front Cover" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Logo Lounge Book 7 Front Cover</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10735"><img alt="Levi's Case Study" class="size-full wp-image-10735" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00886.jpg" title="DSC00886" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Levi's Case Study</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10737"><a href="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC008921.jpg"><img alt="Menu Cover Depot Case Study" class="size-full wp-image-10737 " height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00892.jpg" title="Menu Cover Depot Case Study" width="640" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Case study of my Menu Cover Depot logo.</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10738"><img alt="Eton Financial" class="size-full wp-image-10738" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00894.jpg" title="DSC00894" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My featured work: Eton Financial Logo</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10739"><img alt="My featured work: Radar Logo" class="size-full wp-image-10739" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00895.jpg" title="My featured work: Radar Logo" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My featured work: Radar Logo</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10740"><img alt="My featured work: Onyx Logo" class="size-full wp-image-10740" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00899.jpg" title="My featured work: Onyx Logo" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My featured work: Onyx Logo</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10741"><img alt="My featured work: Yoga Tripper Logo" class="size-full wp-image-10741" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00900.jpg" title="My featured work: Yoga Tripper Logo" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My featured work: Yoga Tripper Logo</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10742"><img alt="My featured work: Japan Tribute Logo" class="size-full wp-image-10742" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00902.jpg" title="My featured work: Japan Tribute Logo" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My featured work: Japan Tribute Logo</p></div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_10744"><img alt="Logo Lounge 7 Back Cover" class="size-full wp-image-10744" height="425" src="http://justcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSC00906.jpg" title="Logo Lounge 7 Back Cover" width="640" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Logo Lounge 7 Back Cover</p></div> <p>This makes a total of 29 logos of mine that have been published in Logo Lounge’s books, as outlined below. Quite humbling!</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2011/05/10/logo-lounge-vol-6-book-review/" title="Logo Lounge 6">Logo Lounge Vol. 6</a> (6 logos)</li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2009/08/17/logo-lounge-volume-5-book-review/">LogoLounge Vol. 5</a> (2 logos)</li> <li><a href="http://justcreative.com/2010/09/26/logo-lounges-master-library-book-3/">LogoLounge Master Library – Shapes &amp; Symbols</a> (9 logos)</li> <li>LogoLounge Master Library – Typography and Enclosures (6 logos)</li> </ul> <p>If you&#8217;re interested in having your work considered for their next book, you can <a href="https://www.logolounge.com/join.asp">become a member</a> of Logo Lounge ($99) &amp; start uploading your work. I am not affiliated with Logo Lounge&#8230; JUST sharing the love. Good luck &amp; thanks for looking.</p> <hr /><br /> &copy; This article is copyright of <a href="http://justcreative.com">JUST™ Creative</a> and should not be found elsewhere.<br /><br /> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?i=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?a=ZlZuXtDmp18:LiPcB0gvlZU:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JustCreativeDesignBlog?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> </div>

We interview Joe Macleod from ustwo, a driving force behind the campaign to get design included in the government's EBacc plans.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/2692f0db/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Interview%3A+Founder+of+%23includedesign+campaign+to+save+Britain+from+a+creative+education+crisis&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-business%2Fincludedesign-attempts-save-britain-from-creative-education-crisis%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Interview%3A+Founder+of+%23includedesign+campaign+to+save+Britain+from+a+creative+education+crisis&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-business%2Fincludedesign-attempts-save-britain-from-creative-education-crisis%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883367499/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2692f0db/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883367499/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2692f0db/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883367499/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2692f0db/a2t.img" width="1" />

The art, design, photography and "sexy" book publisher's store appears in the episode, The Day The Earth Stood Cool.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/26925c2a/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Taschen+opens+shop+in+The+Simpsons+to+make+Springfield+hip&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fgraphic-design%2Ftaschen-opens-shop-in-simpsons-make-springfield-hip%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Taschen+opens+shop+in+The+Simpsons+to+make+Springfield+hip&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fgraphic-design%2Ftaschen-opens-shop-in-simpsons-make-springfield-hip%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883344885/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26925c2a/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883344885/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26925c2a/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883344885/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26925c2a/a2t.img" width="1" />

Flickr's parent company Yahoo has launched a heavily overhauled iPhone app in a bid to keep the service relevant.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/268f5fe5/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Flickr+iOS+app+redesigned&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Finteractive-design%2Fflickr-ios-app-redesigned%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Flickr+iOS+app+redesigned&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Finteractive-design%2Fflickr-ios-app-redesigned%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883445241/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe5/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883445241/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe5/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883445241/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe5/a2t.img" width="1" />

If you use WordPress as a content management system (CMS) for your site/s, you might find the new, improved multimedia capabilities helpful.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/268f5fe7/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=WordPress+3.5+gets+a+media+management+makeover&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Finteractive-design%2Fwordpress-35-gets-media-management-makeover%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=WordPress+3.5+gets+a+media+management+makeover&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Finteractive-design%2Fwordpress-35-gets-media-management-makeover%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883445240/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe7/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883445240/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe7/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883445240/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/268f5fe7/a2t.img" width="1" />

Wuppertaler Kurrende sang Mad World to promote the International Children&#x2019;s Fund charity on the UN's Universal Children's Day.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/2686416f/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Parasol+Island%27s+boys%27+choir+singing+Mad+World+get+a+million+hits+in+two+weeks&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fvideo-post-production%2Fparasol-islands-boys-choir-singing-mad-world-get-million-hits-in-two-weeks%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Parasol+Island%27s+boys%27+choir+singing+Mad+World+get+a+million+hits+in+two+weeks&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fvideo-post-production%2Fparasol-islands-boys-choir-singing-mad-world-get-million-hits-in-two-weeks%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883313551/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2686416f/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883313551/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2686416f/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883313551/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2686416f/a2t.img" width="1" />

New tools for Photoshop CS6, plus the ability to share files more easily.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/267d2f95/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Adobe+releases+Photoshop+%26+Illustrator+updates%2C+tools+for+teams+to+Creative+Cloud+subscribers+%26+a+Dropbox-style+app&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fadobe-releases-photoshop-illustrator-updates-tools-for-teams-creative-cloud-subscribers-dropbox-style-app%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Adobe+releases+Photoshop+%26+Illustrator+updates%2C+tools+for+teams+to+Creative+Cloud+subscribers+%26+a+Dropbox-style+app&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fadobe-releases-photoshop-illustrator-updates-tools-for-teams-creative-cloud-subscribers-dropbox-style-app%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883273824/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/267d2f95/kg/340/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883273824/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/267d2f95/kg/340/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883273824/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/267d2f95/kg/340/a2t.img" width="1" />

The Pictoplasma festival in Berlin is a yearly conference and exhibition featuring the best character design work from around the globe.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/2662d91b/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=Pictoplasma+Berlin+2013+artists+revealed&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fillustration%2Fpictoplasma-berlin-2013-artists-revealed%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Pictoplasma+Berlin+2013+artists+revealed&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fillustration%2Fpictoplasma-berlin-2013-artists-revealed%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883255134/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91b/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883255134/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91b/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883255134/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91b/a2t.img" width="1" />

The likes of Jony Ive, Stella McCartney, D&amp;AD, Design Council, a long list of leading ad and creative agencies and Digital Arts stress the importance of creative talent to the UK economy.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/2662d91d/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=UK+design+industry+tells+Michael+Gove+to+put+design+into+the+EBacc&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-business%2Fuk-design-industry-tells-michael-gove-put-design-into-ebacc%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=UK+design+industry+tells+Michael+Gove+to+put+design+into+the+EBacc&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-business%2Fuk-design-industry-tells-michael-gove-put-design-into-ebacc%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883255133/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91d/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883255133/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91d/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883255133/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/2662d91d/a2t.img" width="1" />

BBEdit 10.5 is a substantial upgrade to its powerful text editor for Mac OS X, which is popular with web developers.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/264a63d2/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=BBEdit+10.5+adds+Retina+display+support+%26+better+navigation&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fbbedit-105-adds-retina-display-support-navigation-improvements-more%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=BBEdit+10.5+adds+Retina+display+support+%26+better+navigation&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fbbedit-105-adds-retina-display-support-navigation-improvements-more%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883024463/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/264a63d2/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883024463/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/264a63d2/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883024463/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/264a63d2/a2t.img" width="1" />

BBEdit 10.5 is a substantial upgrade to its powerful text editor for Mac OS X, which is popular with web developers.<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/662/f/8410/s/26493bda/mf.gif" width="1" /><div class="mf-viral"><table border="0"><tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&amp;title=BBEdit+10.5+adds+Retina+display+support%2C+navigation+improvements%2C+and+more&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fbbedit-105-adds-retina-display-support-navigation-improvements-more%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign="middle"><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=BBEdit+10.5+adds+Retina+display+support%2C+navigation+improvements%2C+and+more&amp;link=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitalartsonline.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcreative-software%2Fbbedit-105-adds-retina-display-support-navigation-improvements-more%2F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br /><br /><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883018587/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26493bda/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883018587/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26493bda/a2.img" /></a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883018587/u/0/f/8410/c/662/s/26493bda/a2t.img" width="1" />

<img alt="JoeP_COMINGSOON_180x180" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/JoeP_COMINGSOON_180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="JoeP_COMINGSOON_180x180" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7234" height="872" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/JoeP_COMINGSOON.jpg" title="Designing High Tech Characters with Joe Peterson" width="680" /><br /> <strong>Instructor:</strong> Joe Peterson<br /> <strong>Format:</strong> DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription</p>

<img alt="Congratulations to Rick Baker for receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/rickBaker-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="Congratulations to Rick Baker for receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!" width="77" /><p>Congratulations to Rick Baker for receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!</p> <p></p>

<img alt="huc05_comingSoon180x180" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc05_comingSoon180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="huc05_comingSoon180x180" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7205" height="383" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc05_comingSoon.jpg" title="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 5 - Structure and Anatomy of the Human Torso" width="680" /><br /> <strong>Instructor:</strong> Charles Hu<br /> <strong>Format:</strong> DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription</p>

<img alt="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 4 - Anatomy of the Human Head" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc04_comingSoon180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 4 - Anatomy of the Human Head" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7200" height="383" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc04_comingSoon.jpg" title="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 4 - Anatomy of the Human Head" width="680" /><br /> <strong>Instructor:</strong> Charles Hu<br /> <strong>Format:</strong> DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription</p>

<img alt="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 3 - Skeletal Structure, Mechanics and Proportion" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc03_comingSoon180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 3 - Skeletal Structure, Mechanics and Proportion" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7195" height="383" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/huc03_comingSoon.jpg" title="Anatomy Workshop Vol. 3 - Skeletal Structure, Mechanics and Proportion" width="680" /><br /> <strong>Instructor:</strong> Charles Hu<br /> <strong>Format:</strong> DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription</p>

<img alt="V-Ray Fundamentals: Materials, Lights and Linear Workflow" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sde01_180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="V-Ray Fundamentals: Materials, Lights and Linear Workflow" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7176" height="382" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sde01_release.jpg" title="V-Ray Fundamentals: Materials, Lights and Linear Workflow" width="680" /></p> <p>Today, The Gnomon Workshop brings you <a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/1022/">V-Ray Fundamentals: Materials, Lights and Linear Workflow with Stephen DeLalla</a>. Over the last decade, V-Ray has been widely used as a primary rendering tool on productions spanning the spectrum of the entertainment industry. In this DVD, Stephen has put together a series of lectures beginning with rendering basics and ending with production workflows. Starting with an introduction to Linear Workflow, Stephen then breaks down the Render Settings, including the Adaptive DMC.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/2012/11/v-ray-fundamentals-materials-lights-and-linear-workflow-with-stephen-delalla/" title="V-Ray Fundamentals: Materials, Lights and Linear Workflow with Stephen DeLalla">Read the Press Release</a></p> <p>This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.</p>

<img alt="Hyper-real Insect Design with Eric Keller" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/eke01_180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="Hyper-real Insect Design with Eric Keller" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7137" height="505" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/eke01_release.jpg" title="Hyper-real Insect Design with Eric Keller" width="680" /></p> <p> Today The Gnomon Workshop is proud to welcome yet another amazing talent to our library of instructors. Eric Keller brings with him nearly 15 years of professional CG experience, which has also included writing several books as well as serving as a guest lecturer at the prestigious Harvard Medical School. In this lecture titled <a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/1020/" title="Hyper-real Insect Design with Eric Keller"><em>Hyper-real Insect Design</em></a>, Eric Keller uses his unique background in scientific visualization to discuss scientific methodologies for creating an original creature concept. He discusses how he uses insect physiology and evolutionary biology to construct a believable back story for his original insect concept and then walks you through every step of constructing the concept in ZBrush 4R4 </p> <p> <a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/2012/11/hyper-real-insect-design-with-eric-keller-3/" title="Hyper-real Insect Design with Eric Keller">Read the Press Release</a></p> <p> This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.</p>

<img alt="gnomonOnline" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/gnomonOnline-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="gnomonOnline" width="77" /><p><br /> Gnomon is thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our brand new online training platform, coming January 7th, 2013! Fully interactive and live courses offer the closest experience to being on our campus in Hollywood. <a href="http://www.gnomonschool.com/programs/online_training/">See how they work</a> or <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/">browse our online courses</a>.</p> <p>Registration is now open for over 55 new courses from 50 industry professionals, covering a wide range of categories and software. From <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/category/entertainment_design/">entertainment design</a> and <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/category/matte_painting/">matte painting</a>, to <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/category/dynamic_effects/">dynamic effects</a> and <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/category/compositing_and_motion_graphics/">compositing</a>, we have created an inspiring array of new courses for you to level up your skills.</p> <p>Registration for online courses is open now, with classes starting on January 7th, 2013. <a href="http://courses.gnomonschool.com/courses/online/">Browse our new online courses</a> or <a href="http://www.gnomonschool.com/contact.php">contact an admissions representative</a> for more information.</p>

<img alt="Autodesk User Group Meeting" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Autodesk-User-Group-Meeting-77x77.jpeg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="Autodesk User Group Meeting" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7127" height="230" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Autodesk-User-Group-Meeting.jpeg" title="Autodesk User Group Meeting" width="602" /></p> <p>Please join RFX, Autodesk, and Gnomon for the fall Autodesk User Group Meeting on October 25th. Presentations will include a virtual production demo from The Third Floor, demos from Autodesk, a Substance Designer workflow demo, and more!<span id="more-2559"> </span></p> <p><strong>RSVP</strong></p> <p>Please <a href="https://gnomonevents.wufoo.com/forms/autodesk-user-group-at-gnomon/">RSVP here</a>.</p> <p><strong>Schedule</strong></p> <p>Thursday, October 25th 2012<br /> <strong>Registration:</strong> 6:30 p.m.<br /> <strong>Event:</strong> 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.</p> <p><strong>Where</strong></p> <p>Gnomon School of Visual Effects &#8211; Stage<br /> 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038<br /> <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/TAUiW">View Map</a></p>

<img alt="gme03_180x180" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="77" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gme03_180x180-77x77.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;" title="gme03_180x180" width="77" /><p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7111" height="445" src="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gme03_release.jpg" title="Fundamentals of Perspective 3 Three-Point Principles and Concepts " width="668" /></p> <p>In this lecture titled Fundamentals of Perspective 3: Three-Point Principles and Concepts, we begin by discussing three-point perspective. Here, Gary breaks down three-point perspective and illustrates the terminology and concepts to consider when using three-point perspective. We then move on to a variety of topics, starting with methods for plotting shadows in perspective using both natural and artificial light scenarios. </p> <p><a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/1019/" title="Fundamentals of Perspective 3 Three Point Principles and Concepts with Gary Meyer"><strong><em>Fundamentals of Perspective 3: Three-Point Principles and Concepts</em></strong></a></p> <p>This series provides a solid foundation for any artist looking to strengthen their comprehension of the principles and concepts of drawing in one, two and three-point perspective.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/2012/10/fundamentals-of-perspectivewith-gary-meyer/" title="Fundamentals of Perspective, Volumes 1, 2 and 3">Read the Press Release</a></p> <p>This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.</p>

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/death-star-petition/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/death-star-petition/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/death-star-petition/"><img src="http://7.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/stromtrooper.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Here's an interesting twist to the fiscal cliff negotiations. A petition <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/04/white-house-death-star/">calling on the U.S. to build a Death Star</a> has reached 25,000 signatures on the "We the People" <a href="http://mashable.com/category/white-house/">White House</a> website a day ahead of its deadline -- meaning the Obama Administration, according to its own rules, must prepare an official response.</p> <p>The cost of turning the fictional <a href="http://mashable.com/category/star-wars/">Death Star</a> into a fully operational battle station was estimated by economics students at Lehigh University last year to be $852 quadrillion, or roughly 13,000 times the global GDP. So there goes the budget deficit.</p> <p>On the other hand, once built, a Death Star could be used to shake down other nations, not to mention alien civilizations, for t&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/death-star-petition/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/star-wars/">Star Wars</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/the-white-house/">the white house</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/5kmf3eNc1Jc" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/google-maps-ios-greatness/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/google-maps-ios-greatness/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/google-maps-ios-greatness/"><img src="http://8.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/google-maps-for-iOS.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>We're glad to see <a href="http://mashable.com/category/google-maps/">Google Maps</a> back on iOS, and so is <a href="http://sachagreif.com/design-details-of-google-maps-for-ios/">Sacha Greif</a>, a Kyoto-based designer, coder and entrepreneur who points out the subtle excellence in the new app that <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/google-maps-ios-here/">rolled out for iOS</a> Wednesday night.</p> <p>He likes its style: <a href="http://mashable.com/category/google/">Google</a> has carried over its now iconic and clean design from its other apps into this one, and he likes the white/light-gray look of it all. Although Greif doesn't much care for some of Google's other design choices (he's looking at you, Google Reader), he thinks Google Maps' clean look works particularly well on mobile platforms. He loves the typeface choice, too, which he thinks "looks like it’s been through Weight Watchers." He's right. Just look at those slim s&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/google-maps-ios-greatness/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/google-maps/">Google Maps</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/design/">design</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/ios/">iOS</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/FeW_Ox378kY" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/assange-australian-senate/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/assange-australian-senate/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/assange-australian-senate/"><img src="http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/assange-ecuador.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Even when <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/10/25/assange-embassy-us/">he's locked up in the Ecuadorian embassy</a> in London, Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange's ambition doesn't wane. Apparently, he now wants to be a senator. Yesterday, Australian newspaper <em>The Age</em> <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/assange-looks-to-contest-senate-election-20121212-2ba43.html">reported that </a><a href="http://mashable.com/follow/topics/julian-assange">Assange</a> wants to run in the 2013 Australian federal election and even create a <a href="http://mashable.com/follow/topics/wikileaks">Wikileaks</a> party in his native country.</p> <p>Leaving aside the chances of winning the seat, it's not entirely clear whether he is actually eligible to run for senator in the first place, Australian legal experts say.</p> <p>Eligibility</p> <p>According to the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1918, to run for a congressional seat, a person needs to be at least 18 years old, an Australian citizen, and be eligible to&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/assange-australian-senate/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/world/">World</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/julian-assange/">julian assange</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/wikileaks/">wikileaks</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/MEjMVlyWkl4" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/jelly-bean-coming-verizon-galaxy-s-iii/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/jelly-bean-coming-verizon-galaxy-s-iii/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/jelly-bean-coming-verizon-galaxy-s-iii/"><img src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/samsung.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>If you’re a Verizon Galaxy S III user, then the carrier has the perfect holiday gift for you: the latest version of <a href="http://mashable.com/category/Android/">Android</a>.</p> <p>Galaxy S III smartphones on Verizon will be upgraded to <a href="http://mashable.com/category/android-4.1-jelly-bean">Android 4.1 Jelly Bean</a> Friday. </p> <p>Jelly Bean brings a number of new features to the Galaxy S III including Google Now, Google’s built-in digital assistant resembling Apple’s Siri. Jelly Bean also updates notifications on the phone, allowing you to return missed calls and email from directly within the notifications window.</p> <p>With Jelly Bean the camera on your Galaxy S III will also see an upgrade, adding a number of built-in Instagram-like filters to the camera app. Videos you record with your phone c&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/jelly-bean-coming-verizon-galaxy-s-iii/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/galaxy-s-iii/">Galaxy S III</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/android/">android</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/samsung/">samsung</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/2ATbG9TPbeE" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/november-viral-video-spoilers/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/november-viral-video-spoilers/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/november-viral-video-spoilers/"><img src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Girlcoveringeyes_withYouTube.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Prepare for the magic to end -- the Fine Bros. are recounting the top 50 viral video sensations of November and straight-up cutting to the chase. </p> <p>So if you pulled a Rip Van Winkle and fell asleep for the entire month, you don't have to worry about catching up with all the Internet chit-chat. It's right here. </p> <p>Turns out, most of the videos have common themes -- people think the videos are fake, they go "awwww" upon seeing them and/or believe everyone in the video to be a badass. </p> <p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://mashable.com/category/viral-video-recap/">Past Viral Video Recaps</a></strong> </p> <p>Nonetheless, the list is exhausting, as is watching these guys talk fast enough to cram 50 videos into four minutes. </p> <p>So watch the above video, and then go seek&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/november-viral-video-spoilers/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/viral/">Viral</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/youtube/">YouTube</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/UIfoHb04OGo" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/parents-facebooks-new-controls/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/parents-facebooks-new-controls/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/parents-facebooks-new-controls/"><img src="http://7.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/facebook-settings.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Facebook changed <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/12/privacy-controls-facebook/">its privacy settings</a> on Wednesday and it's important to know what the new changes mean for users, especially your digitally-connected children. </p> <p>You might notice that now all your privacy settings are housed under one area called Privacy Shortcuts. But you may not see the changes on your profile yet -- <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/News/547/Better-Controls-for-Managing-Your-Content">Facebook said</a> it will be rolling this out through the end of this year.</p> <p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/12/new-facebook-privacy-settings/">Here's What the New Facebook Privacy Settings Will Look Like</a></strong></p> <p>Nicky Jackson Colaco, manager of privacy and safety at Facebook, tells <em>Mashable</em> these settings haven't been changed so much as moved, and one setting has been enhanced. The goal was to make it easier for users to access, and be&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/parents-facebooks-new-controls/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/children/">Children</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook/">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/social-media/">Social Media</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/parents/">parents</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/privacy/">privacy</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/settings/">settings</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/ZKMCMZs3mTU" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/digital-marketing-2013/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/digital-marketing-2013/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/digital-marketing-2013/"><img src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/computer-guy.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a><em><a href="https://twitter.com/thejongardner">Jonathan Gardner</a> is director of communications at <a href="http://www.vibrantmedia.com/">Vibrant Media</a>, a leading digital ad company. He has spent his career as an innovator at the nexus of media and technology, having worked in communications and as a journalist.</em></p> <p>Another year, another attempt to predict the future. If 2012 was the year of Korean dance videos, citizen curation and Superstorm Sandy, who can possibly tell what 2013 might bring?</p> <p>It’s exciting to think that a year from now we’ll be buzzing about all new startups, fresh apps to obsess over and maybe even a new device or two we can’t imagine ever having lived without. </p> <p>But in the realm of digital marketing, the writing’s already on the wall. Here are t&#8230; <br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/digital-marketing-2013/">Continue reading...</a></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/marketing/">Marketing</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/predictions-2013/">Predictions 2013</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/social-media/">Social Media</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/contributor/">contributor</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/features/">features</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/SyPgkhb9epI" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/kickstarter-campaign-dashboard/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/kickstarter-campaign-dashboard/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/kickstarter-campaign-dashboard/"><img src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Kickstarter-Dashboard.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Soma, a water filter company, built a dashboard to track its recent Kickstarter campaign and it is now offering the tool for free as a Chrome extension.</p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/kickstarter/">kickstarter</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/Mmq3oOOEjxo" width="1" />

<br /> <h4>1. For Organizing Ollie</h4> <br /> <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/pinterest-diy-gifts/#1064191-For-Organizing-Ollie"><img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/gallery/10-diy-gift-ideas-on-pinterest/6.%20For%20Organizing%20Ollie.jpg" style="border: none;" title="1. For Organizing Ollie" width="400" /></a><br /><br /> <p>One for each size of googly eye. Pinned by <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/184929128418439006/">Truebluemeandyou.Tumblr.com</a>, from <a href="http://www.housetohome.co.uk/room-idea/picture/playful-playroom-storage-ideas/9">House to Home</a></p><p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/pinterest-diy-gifts/#1064191-For-Organizing-Ollie">Click here to view this gallery.</a></p><div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/pinterest-diy-gifts/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/pinterest-diy-gifts/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/pinterest-diy-gifts/"><img src="http://4.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/bracelet-diy.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Whether you prefer to give from the heart or you're just plain broke, DIY is the way to go for gifting. And <a href="http://mashable.com/category/pinterest/">Pinterest</a> is chock full of inspiration. </p> <p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/secret-santa-gifts/">10 Foolproof Gifts for Your Office Secret Santa</a></strong></p> <p>To help you out, we've collected 10 simple craft projects that would please any member of your kooky family. So, fire up the glue gun and shake up the spray paint. These handmade crafts will be the hit of the holidays. </p> <p>Be sure to share your own DIY tips and ideas in the comments below.</p> <p><em>Thumbnail image courtesy <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/260786634642111993/">Teghan Delude</a>, from <a href="http://honestlywtf.com/diy/diy-woven-chain-bracelet/">Honestly WTF</a></em></p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/gifts/">Gifts</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/diy/">diy</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/features/">features</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/holidays-2012/">holidays 2012</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/pinterest/">pinterest</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/WWRKYP0Whng" width="1" />

<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/spreecast/&amp;src=sp" name="fb_share" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" type="box_count"><img align="right" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/fb.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/spreecast/&amp;via=mashable" target="_blank"><img align="right" height="51" src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/tweet.jpg" style="border: none; margin-right: 5px;" width="51" /></a></div> <p><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/13/spreecast/"><img src="http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iPhone-Video.jpg" style="height: auto; margin: 0 auto 10px auto; display: block;" /></a>Spreecast founder and CEO Jeff Fluhr believes social video is the next logical step after text- and photo-based social networks like Facebook and Twitter. </p> <p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/social-video/">social video</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/spreecast/">spreecast</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/startup/">startup</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/valleygirltv/">valleygirltv</a></p><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/ilP0suFu5OQ" width="1" />