Goosebumps – Jared Milam

Meca – Andre Oliveira

Andy Fiord – sbDesign

Nethik – Aurelie Ronflard

Boss Hog Studio – Mathieu Schatzier

Paranaiv – Are Sundnes

Munich 2018

Museum of London – Corey Porter Bell

Saol – Stefan Romanu

Zipliner – David Pache

Lexpro – Kirill Demidenko

Pangur Glass Craft – Sean O’Grady

Road Interactive – Kerimov Stanislav

Chopeh – Pete Lacey

Sylion – Joan Pons Moll

tmiint – Bojan Stefanovic

Immobiliare.com – Mattia Moretto

The Creative Company – Andre Gagnon

Go Play – David Pache

Wrapture – Nexqunyx

SIC Group – Misha Lepshey

Pousada Anduara – Dadado

World Moto – Firebrand

Creative Atelier – Aleksandar Grkinic

Demiu – Dalius Stuoka

Robin Rutherford, DDS – Bart ODell

Better Yet – Firebrand

gonorth – Cris Labno

Amova – Roger Oddone

Seeing Double – J.Garner

Pounamu Ngai Tahu – Simon Thornley

A.M.T. Ceramics – Efektyvus Dizainus

Capital Universe – Meansmore

Free Realtor – Kirill Demidenko

Otis – Craig Scott Russell

• Business Card Design Project Walkthrough
• High Quality Rough and Grungy Photoshop Brushes
• Free Hi-Resolution Paint Stroke Photoshop Brushes
• Create a Cool Wet Ink Typography Effect in Photoshop
• Free Keep Fit Vectors – Give Your Designs a Workout!

GeekChix

This great collection of resources from GeekChix pulls together some really useful templates that can be used to plan out your website design or application in sketch format. The roundup includes grids, browser interfaces, page templates and iPhone interfaces.

View the article

Design Informer

Design Informer host this interesting article that highlights some of the features that give a selection of websites that additional ‘wow factor’. I discovered a bunch of little design easter eggs on some of the sites that I had never seen before.

View the article

Tripping Words

This interesting article from Tripping Words discusses some of the choices designers have to make when creating websites; Do they stick within the boundaries already created or break free and dare to be different?

View the article

PSDTuts

I recently stumbled across this handy Photoshop illustration tutorial from the archives of PSDTuts and decided it was worth bringing back to life for anyone who might have missed it the first time round.

View the article

YouTheDesigner

I personally find design for print one of the best sources for design inspiration. This roundup of fantastic stationery designs from YouTheDesigner is packed full of various design styles that can help inspire you for your next project.

View the article

• This Week’s Favourites – January 22nd 2010
• This Week’s Favourites – Janurary 8th 2010
• This Week’s Favourites – December 25th 2009
• This Week’s Favourites – December 11th 2009
• This Week’s Favourites – November 27th 2009

The icon we’ll be creating features the typical front view of the iPad. Using the Apple website for reference, let’s get started.

Create a new document, and use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to draw a portrait shape onto a new layer. Set the corner radius to 20px and the fill to white.

CMD-click on the layer thumbnail to load the selection, then go to Select > Modify > Contract and enter 3px. Create a new layer and fill this new selection with black.

Double click the first layer, with the white rectangle to open up the Layer Style options. Add a grey Inner Glow just 3px in size, with the blend mode of Normal.

Next, double click the black rectangle’s layer. This time add an Outer Glow using a lighter grey, also set to 3px in size and a blend mode of normal.

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a thin 1px buttons on the top edge and side of the body to represent the lock and mute switches. Fill these with a subtle grey gradient.

To create the volume button, draw a thicker rectangle to begin with, then use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to delete out a central portion.

The main screen of the iPad often features a vibrant background wallpaper graphic. An amazing Creative Commons photo from Flickr user Arnar Valdimarsson fits pefectly. Use the marquee tool to crop down the photograph to the screen dimensions.

Drag a guide to identify the centre of the iPad body, then draw a circle with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Fill this circle with a black to grey gradient to simulate the depth of the button.

On a new layer, use the Pencil tool in 1px size to draw a square, then delete out the four corners using the Eraser. Lower the opacity to around 25% to blend in the icon.

No Apple product would be complete without it’s reflections and light casts. CMD-click on the thumbnail of the main body to load the selection, then fill this with a white gradient spanning from the top right. Reduce the opacity of this layer to suit and move it to the top of the layer stack so that any underlying elements are affected by the light cast.

Onto the main iPad interface. Draw a thin selection across the top of the screen and fill with black to recreate the status bar. Lower the opacity to allow the background to show through.

Use the pencil tool to draw a simple battery icon, then add a simple selection of text elements.

Fill a rectangular selection with grey at the bottom of the screen, then press CMD-T to transform. Right click and select the Perspective option, then move the top corners inwards to create the basic shape of the iPad dock.

Double click the dock layer to add new Layer Styles. Add a gradient spanning from dark grey to light grey, then back to the dark grey. Set this to run horizontally across the dock.

Add an Inner Shadow to represent the tiny edge of the dock. Set the options to a light grey with the blend mode of normal. Use a -90 degree angle, a distance of 1px, a choke of around 27% and a size of 2px.

Use the Pen Tool to draw a smooth flowing shape across the dock. Complete the shape with rough points back to the start. Fill this with white and drop the opacity to around 13%.

CMD-click the dock layer to load the selection. Press CMD-Shift-I to inverse the selection, then delete out the excess from the dock reflection layer.

All the iPad interface now needs is a collection of icons. I found this fantastic set of Apple style icons from Deviant Art designer Ikon. Download a selection and begin laying out the icon grid on the iPad screen.

Add a Drop Shadow to one of the icons, using settings of around 50% opacity, 2px distance and 9px size. Right click the layer and Copy Layer Style, then Paste this style on the following icon layers.

Select the four dock icons and duplicate the layers. Press CMD-E to merge these layers together, then press CMD-T to transform. Right click and selection the option to flip vertically, then position into place as reflections. Add a layer mask and fade out the reflections with a soft brush or a gradient, then reduce the opacity to suit.

That’s the iPad icon complete. Don’t forget to add the obligatory surface reflection by copying the whole selection, then flip and position on the underside of the iPad body.

Download the source file

Does all that sound like too much hard work? Well you could always download my ready-made iPad icon set that I’ve posted for free download on Line25.com: Free Apple iPad Icon Set for Your Website Designs

• Create a Cool Wet Ink Typography Effect in Photoshop
• Create a Fun Illustrated Toy Site Design in Photoshop
• 40 Tutorials for Creating Highly Detailed Icon Designs
• Create a Trendy Galactic Poster Design in Photoshop
• How to Create an Abstract Vector Design in Illustrator

The design we’ll be building is made up of a range of abstract shards that spread across the page at 45 degree angles. As each layer is overlapped with various gradients and blending modes the design soon starts to develop a cool and vibrant futuristic theme as the colours interact with each other. Mixing this up with a couple of paper and cardboard textures then adds a twist to the digital design, making it feel more tactile and weathered.

Open up Photoshop and create a new document. Create the document at your desired dimensions, here I’m using a size of 297×420 (A3), with a resolution of 300dpi to give me the option of having the poster professionally printed if I so wished in the future.

Fill the background with a dark blue, such as #171a8b. This will act as the base colour that all proceeding layers will interact with.

Use a large soft brush to dab two spots of colour onto a new layer. I’ve chosen a bright pink and yellow. These two spots will also help act as a base for any future layers to interact with.

Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to draw a diagonal rectangle across the width of the document. Hold the SHIFT key throughout to constrain the axis to 45 degrees. Fill this selection with a random purple.

Change this layer’s blending mode to Soft Light, then double click the layer to open up the Layer Styles. Add a Gradient Overlay with the blend mode of Overlay.

On a new layer, draw a couple more diagonal shards, this time make them slightly smaller in size and overlap them with the original rectangle. Fill these with a red hue.

Right click on the layer of the original rectangle and select Copy Layer Style. Right click on the new layer of shards and choose Paste Layer Style. Continue this process of drawing new shards spanning from the top left, and paste the layer style on each.

As the number of shards builds up, begin to add a couple that span from the bottom right to fill out any gaps in the design.

Begin adding some shards in the opposite direction, spanning downwards from the top right of the page. Keep the SHIFT key held throughout to maintain those angles.

Give each shard a different colour, choosing between blues, purples, reds and black. Each colour will give a different effect as it interacts with the underlying gradients.

As the design builds the overlapping shards will interact and create new highlights and hues within the design. Take a step back to review the design once you have a healthy number of layers.

The design is looking pretty cool so far, but it’s a little too ‘digital’. Find an old paper texture from SXC.hu that contains various imperfections and marks. Paste it into the document at the bottom of the layer stack and scale to fit, then drop the opacity to around 40%.

Overlay another texture onto the document and move the layer to the bottom of the stack, this time find a cardboard image that contains a tight and detailed texture. Press CMD+SHIFT+U to desaturate and drop the opacity to 20%.

The layer styles of Soft Light will interact with the underlying textures, adding more highlights and cool variances on hue and tone. Adjust the opacity of the textures to avoid any colours blowing out or any digital artifacts appearing in the design.

Add a new layer to the top of the stack and dab a large soft spot of red onto the canvas with the brush tool. Change this layer’s blending mode to Color Dodge at 55%.

On two new layers, add large spots of yellow and blue. Change the layer styles to Hue and Lighten at 80% and 50% respectively, or experiment with the layer styles yourself by pressing SHIFT + on a Mac, or toggling through the blending mode dropdown with the cursor keys on Windows. Each blending mode gives different range of tones as the colours interact, which can relate to different styles depending how ‘retro’ you want to go.

Add a new layer and fill with white. Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Enter 10% in the Amount options and set to Uniform and Monochromatic. Change this layer to Multiply at 40% to add yet more texture to the design.

Use a soft brush to create a few simple highlights where two diagonal lines cross. Change the layer style to Soft Light.

Add yet more varied tones by dabbing two large spots of black onto a new layer. Set this layer to Soft Light at 40%. The trick is to build up the design will lots of layers that are hardly noticeable when looking at the overall design, but when they’re turned off the design lacks their input.

Press CMD+A to select the whole canvas. Right click and select Transform Selection, then adjust the width and height properties in the header bar reducing each figure by 20px. Right click to change the measurement from percent to pixels.

Inverse the selection with the shortcut CMD+SHIFT+I, then fill with white.

Change this layer to Soft Light at 70% to create a tidy border around the design.

The final design

Download the source file

• Create a Cool Wet Ink Typography Effect in Photoshop
• Create a Fun Illustrated Toy Site Design in Photoshop
• Amazing Retro Futurism Design Showcase & Tutorials
• Create a Trendy Galactic Poster Design in Photoshop
• Create a Bright Retro Grunge Vector Illustration

Cats Who Code

Cats Who Code present this handy collection of Wordpress hacks. Allowing you to tweak your Wordpress install to add extra functionality, or fine tune and optimise your site.

View the article

VectorTuts

This detailed guide from VectorTuts highlights some best practices for designing for textile based artwork. Learn how to setup color swatches, create a tiling illustration and export a print ready design.

View the article

Media Militia

There are many methods and techniques available in Photoshop for clipping out photographs. This roundup of best practices from Media Militia explains the advantages and disadvantages of each.

View the article

My Ink Blog

My Ink Blog hosts this interesting article that gives some theory and insight into how to build clout for your design blog. With an amusing Shakespearean twist it makes a great and inspiring read.

View the article

DesignBump

Another interesting read is this article from the DesignBump Blog. The post discusses the balance between content and kind, and titled If Content is King, Then What is Design? it highlights the importance of both.

View the article

• This Week’s Favourites – February 5th 2010
• This Week’s Favourites – Janurary 8th 2010
• This Week’s Favourites – December 25th 2009
• This Week’s Favourites – December 11th 2009
• This Week’s Favourites – November 27th 2009

Gradient mesh capabilities

You only have to glance at amazing artwork such as this motorcycle rendering by Yukio Miyamoto to realise how powerful the gradient mesh tool can be. It allows the most minute control over colour gradients, enabling you to recreate highlights and shadows that help produce photorealistic images.

I like to think of the gradient mesh like the great Nunchaku, it’s a weapon of awesome capabilities that when used to its full potential by masters like Bruce Lee or Michelangelo the turtle looks insanely awesome. However it takes years of practice to become a true ninja. The same goes with the gradient mesh, when in the hands of a veteran, it can be used to create some unbelieveable photorealistic artwork, but it takes time, dedication and mental power to become a true master. Wrap a scarf around your head Karate Kid style and let’s get down to some serious training with these tutorials!

Gradient mesh tutorials

Tips for Working with the Gradient Mesh Tool In Illustrator

How to Make a Vector Military Cap Icon

Illustrator Tutorial: Gradient Mesh Flower

Create a Yummy Ice Cream Icon with Mesh Objects and Blends

Create realistic illustrations using Illustrator’s Gradient Mesh

Vectors Imitate Life with Gradient Mesh

Gradient Mesh Tutorial

Illustrate a Pair of Sweet Gradient Mesh Cherries

Gradient Mesh Bell Pepper Tutorial

Master the gradient mesh tool

Make a Shiny Gum Ball Machine with Mesh Gradients

Gradient Mesh Editing Tutorial

How to Create an Energy Saving Bulb in Illustrator

Mastering Mesh

Make an Aurora Borealis Design in Illustrator

Illustrator Tutorial: Realistic Curtain

Video Tutorials

Sometimes it’s handy to get that extra level of help from a video screencast. These tutorials help you understand the actual workflow and see the techniques in action.

The Adobe Illustrator Gradient Mesh Tool

Intro to the Gradient Mesh Tool

Create an iPod Nano Using Gradient Mesh

Gradient mesh, freshly brewed coffee

Reshaping Mesh to fit into complex shapes (pt1)

Adding color to each mesh node (pt2)

• 20 Basic Illustrator Tutorials Every Beginner Should See
• Top Places to Find Quality Illustrator Tutorials Online
• How to Create a Crafts Inspired Vector Kids Illustration
• Create a Rolling Stones Inspired Tongue Illustration
• How to Create a Cute Vector Bear T-Shirt Design