Hi, I'm Grace Smith

5 Invites To New Digg Up For Grabs

Grace — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:42:48 +0000

This is just a quick post to offer 5 of you access to the new Digg, which is currently invite only.

The new Digg is much more streamlined with a clean, refined design and with a renewed focus on building personal recommendation networks.

The first 5 people to click on the image below will grab an invite, so be quick:

Be sure to connect with me – Postscript5 once you’re in! I’d also be interested in hearing what you think of the new Digg, let me know in the comments below.

5 Invites To New Digg Up For Grabs is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Bumper Print Giveaway From Next Day Flyers

Grace — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:15:13 +0000

The deadline has now passed and the winner is Nicole Foster.

I was contacted by the lovely team at Next Day Flyers last week to offer my readers a chance to win $40 of credit for any of their services. That may not sound a lot, but when you can get 1000 full color business cards with a 2-4 day turnaround for just $19 from their site, you realise it’s actually a pretty rad prize!

Next Day Flyers is an offset printer you can use to print custom designed materials from menus, to business cards, to brochures. They offer two types of paper stock; a thick 14 point card stock, and a 100 lb glossy paper.

You can upload directly to the website, which also has an Online Design Center where many templates can be found and layouts can be created online. Another impressive piece of the service is the fact they offer same day printing for orders that are in before 10AM PST.

Giveaway Details

For a chance to win, just leave a comment below with a brief description of what you would like to spend the credit on. The winner will chosen at random.
The giveaway ends on Thursday 19th August with the winner announced on this blog post on Friday 20th.

Good luck! | Photo Credit

Bumper Print Giveaway From Next Day Flyers is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Nine Dribbble Invite Winners Announced!

Grace — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:33:20 +0000

The response to the Dribbble invite giveaway was overwhelmingly positive with 169 entries! It was far and above my expectations and I have to thank all of those who contributed invites, including; John O’Nolan, Ryan Downie, Chris Gibbons, Paul Stanton and Emma Taylor.

Each entry was checked thoroughly and after several hours, a decision was made. Without further ado, the following are the lucky recipients of one Dribble invite each:

1. Craig Richardson
2. Jeremie (Evasion)
3. Sorel Mihai
4. Jan Cavan
5. Gary Aston
6. Andrea Austoni
7. Martin Boath
8. Zsolt Jakab
9. Marc Thomas

I will be in touch with all the winners within the next 24 hours with details on the signup process.

A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to enter….I’m only sorry I don’t have 169 invites to give each and every one of you!

I hope to organise another giveaway once I have more invites so please subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out on the next chance to get drafted.

Nine Dribbble Invite Winners Announced! is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Nine Dribbble Invites To Win – Get Drafted!

Grace — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:48:48 +0000

You’re here for the invites…right? Well there’s no need for me to explain what Dribbble is in much depth, as most of you know it’s a pretty rad community where you post sneak peaks of what you’re currently working on, in the form of 400 x 300 px images. The quality of work is exceptional and the chance to interact, critique and inspire is second to none.

Dribbble invites are like gold dust. I’ve been a member for several months and only just got my first two invites this week. While I can think of several people who I could give these to immediately, I wanted to open this up to a wider audience.

In the world of Dribbble who you draft is a big deal. No one wants to draft the guy who uploads pictures of his cat, so I’m going to be pretty picky as to who scores these invites. I’m held responsible for the quality of work being uploaded by someone I draft so I’m taking the selection process seriously.

The über cool John O’Nolan has also kindly donated one Dribbble invite, bringing the total to three. So if you want drafted, make sure you follow the instructions below.

How To Enter

1. Leave a comment below with a few words of the type or style of work you would be uploading.
2. Post a link to your favourite bit of artwork you’ve produced.

Deadline

The deadline to enter is 1pm (UK) on Thursday 5th August, comments will then be closed.

On Friday 6th August I will announce the three winners on this blog post and Twitter. Good luck to all!

EDIT: The super kind Ryan Downie, Chris Gibbons and Paul Stanton have also now donated an invite, while the lovely Emma Taylor has donated THREE invites. Taking the total to Nine invites to win!

Nine Dribbble Invites To Win – Get Drafted! is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 32

Grace — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:59:44 +0000

Jack Franklin is an 18 year old web designer and developer who lives in the beautiful area of England, Cornwall. Having started out with HTML and CSS at the age of just 13, Jack has been extending his skill-set ever since and works regularly with HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP, although his main area of enjoyment lies in jQuery.

I asked Jack if he would give us the lowdown on the applications he relies upon as a designer and developer on a daily basis.

The Intro….

I picked up my first Mac about a year ago having been an admirer for a number of years. It wasn’t much, an old G5 iMac, 17″ screen but it was mine and I loved it. I did all my website work on there and soon became so fond of some of the apps available. I’ve since moved onto an older Macbook, from 2007, which runs Snow Leopard. I plan to upgrade in the next few months to one of the new iMacs and maybe an iPad.

The Dock…

Finder – It’s just Finder. For some reason some people hate it but I don’t know why, it does its job very well.
Things – If you’re a Mac user and have not heard of Things, you should. It’s a superb to-do app. If I’m honest I prefer The Hit List, but the lack of iPhone app means Things wins. It’s a pleasure to use, and notice how I have no due tasks. I am efficient.
Safari – It runs very quickly on my Macbook, and V5 is the best yet. My default browser for all day to day browsing.
Mail – Mail is the best mail client I’ve ever used. It’s brilliant. I use lots of rules to organise mail into lots of folders, meaning I know exactly where everything is. It’s search facility is a real winner.
Skype – I use this to talk with people from all over the place, whether it be just for a friendly chat or a client. The fact I can go on Skype and call someone else on Skype who might be thousands of miles away and not be charged any money is amazing..
Transmit 4 – The best FTP app ever. Period. The recent update to version 4 has transformed it from a good FTP app to a superb one. The design is awesome and everything works as expected..
Fireworks – I rarely touch Photoshop now, all my mocking-up work is done in Fireworks. It’s made for it, whereas Photoshop is all about image editing at heart.
Textmate – I’m a geeky coder at heart and Textmate offers unrivalled features when it comes to coding. The bundles allow me to set up shortcuts to increase the speed at which I can code and it’s lighting quick.
Spotify – Does it need an introduction? Free music! At the moment I’m not subscribed on a paid plan but I’m considering it, however the free version suits my needs perfectly for the time being.
Ecoute – Ecoute sits in your dock and is a way to play all your iTunes music (including songs that you bought on iTunes, aka DRM protected ones) without loading up iTunes, which is one of Apple’s only bad apps at the moment. It’s quick, easy and works, for just $10 it’s a great steal. I love how the icon updates to show the song artwork. (PS – that’s not Glee playing, definitely not!).
Forrst via Fluid – Forrst is a website that allows you to share work and get honest feedback by others. I use this so much, both for giving advice and help to others and also getting help. Using an app called Fluid it allows me to use the website as if it was a proper application and access it from the dock.
MAMP – MAMP installs Apache and MySQL to your computer so you can run PHP locally. Invaluable for development.
Curdbee via Fluid – Once again I used Fluid to bring Curdbee to my desktop. Curdbee is a very good, simple invoicing app which I use to keep track of my money.
1Password – I use this to keep track of my passwords on websites and all the serials for all my software.
Firefox – Firefox + Web Developer Toolbar + Firebug is the best web development browser by a mile.
AppCleaner – You drag an Application icon to AppCleaner and it uninstalls it and all the extra files the app installs. I just use it to keep everything neat and tidy in my Applications folders..
Stack: Browsers – All the browsers I have sit in this stack, as I tend to try different ones all the time..
Stack: Recently used Apps – This lists my 8 most recently used apps which sounds not that useful but it really is.
Folder: Public Folder – This is a quick shortcut to my public folder, working in an office things always get sent from laptop to laptop via everyone’s public folders so often I need to get to this folder.
The Trash – I try and keep this empty but sometimes it fills up.

———————————————————————————————————–
A huge thanks to Jack for taking time out to take part in the Dock Series.

If you would like to be featured in the Dock Series simply:

Download the Dock Series Template.
Email it along with the necessary images to: hi [at] gracesmith.co.uk.

Check out the other creatives in the series.

With more amazing creatives lined up, make sure to check each week for the latest Dock Series installment.

Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 32 is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

WP Bids – WordPress Theme For Freelancers

Grace — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:53:23 +0000

Please note this is not a sponsored review. This is a tool I’ve recently started to use and thought it may be of interest to some of you. I asked Brian to share the vital info on it’s creation and features. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and Brian will be happy to answer them.

A potential new client contacts you to inquire about your awesome freelance service. So you set up a meeting, put your game face on, and get down to business. You and your potential client discuss goals, technical requirements, budget, and so forth. Exciting! Another new business lead! But you haven’t landed the gig just yet…

Now it’s time to go back, organize all the information you gathered in your meeting, and put together your proposal. Otherwise known as a bid, it’s a document presenting the project details (scope), time estimate, price quote, and any other information you choose to include. In the back of your mind is the notion that you’re not the only freelancer this client contacted for this project. Your proposal better shine so that you win their business!

That’s where WP Bids comes in.

It’s a specialized WordPress theme for creating (awesome) project proposals. Not only does it help you produce outstanding web-based proposals that will wow your clients and win more projects, it makes your life easier and saves you valuable time in the process!

Here are just a few of the features that make WP Bids an excellent tool for your freelance business:

Easily add your own logo / branding to the header of every proposal.
Creating and formatting proposals is a piece of cake since you already know (and love) the familiar WordPress interface.
Set up a proposal template, drastically speeding up the process of churning out new proposals. Now you can focus your time on doing things you enjoy… Like working on projects!
Mobile, iPhone, iPad and Print optimized.

The Story Behind WP Bids

I am a freelance web designer. In the past, when clients would contact me about a new project, I’d spend hours crafting a proposal document using Microsoft Word. It was always a process I dreaded for a several reasons:

I was limited in terms of design and layout. MS Word doesn’t offer much in this regard.
It took forever for me to create each proposal.
I felt the overall presentation didn’t reflect my attention to detail as a web designer.

So I knew I had to scratch this itch by creating a solution that is; elegant and impressive, saves me valuable time and is fully customizable.

Since I’ve been specializing in WordPress, it was the logical platform to base my proposals app on. I had been creating Premium WordPress Themes at ThemeJam for a while, so I had a solid foundation in theme development to base WP Bids on.

After a few months of carefully crafting this highly specialized theme, I’m happy to have produced something that is simple, elegant, and offers an immediate benefit to one’s business. I’m truly passionate about the business of freelancing and I’m thrilled to have created something I know my fellow freelancers / small business owners will make use of.

So how much does it cost?

WP Bids follows the same pricing model as all of my premium WordPress themes on ThemeJam. For a one-time purchase of $59, you get:

The WP Bids theme, complete with 4 built-in color schemes.
The layered Photoshop design file.
Detailed documentation.
Lifetime access to theme updates.
Lifetime access to customer support.
Use it on as many domains as you want.

And now a little reward for making it this far…

Here’s a discount code: GRACE20 for 20% OFF your purchase, today through to the 9th August.

Pssst! WP Bids not for you? You can still use the above discount code on any ThemeJam theme!

Here is a short video demonstrating WP Bids in action:

Brian Casel is a freelance web designer and creator of the WP Bids WordPress theme. You can follow Brian on his personal blog briancasel.com and on Twitter @CasJam.

WP Bids – WordPress Theme For Freelancers is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

15 Invigorating Typographic Posters

Grace — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:24:12 +0000

Typography should be every designer’s best friend as it is such an important aspect of modern design, that mastering how to use it effectively is essential.

When typography is neglected it can leave you with a sub standard design and impact on the rest of the project which will leave you and your client unhappy with the end result.

You don’t have to look far to see modern typography as it’s all around us as billboards, shop windows and product packaging for example carry some truly inspirational examples of typography.

Here are fifteen outstanding typographic posters that will interest and inspire you in your own projects.

Are there any typographic resources you could recommend? If so, please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

This is a guest post from the talented:

Paul Maloney is a UK based web designer/developer and runs the design agency Tropica. He particularly enjoys using and working with WordPress and has a keen interest in typography. You can follow Paul on Twitter.

15 Invigorating Typographic Posters is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

20 Fantastically Addictive iPhone Games I Love

Grace — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:25:36 +0000

Earlier this week I published my Top 20 Essential Apps for the iPhone, however no iPhone is complete without a variety of weird and wonderful games to pass the time. From first person shooters to puzzles and role-playing games, the iTunes store has them all.

I’ve always been a ‘gamer’ and am probably guilty of spending a little too much time on some of the apps below.

Without further ado, here are the games that I’ve come to love, thus far:

1. Angry Birds

Is there anyone with an iPhone that doesn’t own this?! Easily one of the most addictive games available, at times you really will get angry with those birds!

2. DoodleJump

This is another game I find it hard to put down. Switching between some of the cool themes available, it will have you playing for hours to get a higher and higher score.

3. Canabalt

It’s as simple as tapping the screen to jump, but this game is just heart bursting, dark and intense in it’s gameplay. It also has my favorite in-game music.

4. Minigore

I’m the first to admit, I suck at this game, but it doesn’t stop me from wasting too much time trying to unlock all the gore’s!

5. Guitar Hero

The interface feels both responsive and efficient and for the money, I think it’s the best music game of it’s nature available.

6. Need For Speed Shift

I love racing games, always have and NFS is without doubt my favorite game of this type. I previously bought Undercover and would also highly recommend it.

7. Rally Master

Another racing game, though this one is actually much more difficult. It does take time to master this game, which makes it highly addictive and enjoyable.

8. Talking Carl

My nephew gives this the thumbs up as it’s the one app he always ask to play! Carl is cute as a button and you’ll soon find yourself finding weird and wonderful things for him to say!

9. Hungry Shark

This is a cute, fun and simple game that’s pretty hard to put down, the deeper you go into the game, the better it gets.

10. Warships

It’s a simple, pick-up game that is a new twist on the classic game. I especially like the ability to play with other players via bluetooth. It’s a must get free app.

11. Fling

A unique puzzle game that I really get a kick out of. It’s not as easy as it looks, and once you get into the higher levels, you really do have to plan your way through those little furballs!

12. Flick Kick Football

As some of you may know, I’m a bit of footie fan. This is a highly addictive game which really delivers with the highly sensitive controls.

13. Fruit Ninja

Silly concept, great game! Who would have thought slicing and dicing fruit could be so enjoyable. I’m pretty rubbish at this game, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.

14. Words With Friends

Probably the best multi-player game (IMO) for the iPhone that you can find yourself playing for hours. A great gaming experience that actually feels educational.

15. Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

I’ve been a GTA fan for many years and just had to buy Chinatown Wars when it was released. The controls could be better, but overall it delivers as most RockStar games do.

16. Amateur Surgeon

It hasn’t been updated for some time, but I still find this game entertaining (if a little gruesome). The controls can be difficult to master though.

17. N.O.V.A

Pretty much like playing Halo on the iPhone, this is an excellent first person shooter. Although it may be slightly too easy for any of you hardcore gamers!

18. Helsing’s Fire

This is no ordinary puzzle game, it’s a lot more exciting, colorful and unique. It’s an original game that features puzzle, action and a fun story at a low price.

19. Eboy FixPix

This has got to be one the easiest ‘games’ available, however I actually bought it not for the game, but to have the amazing pixel images as my wallpaper!

20. Ace Attorney

The storylines are weird, the characters even weirder and the endless dialogue can be annoying, but I love it because it forces you to think over every single detail.

Do you have any games you could recommend? If so please leave a comment below, I would love to discover some new apps!

20 Fantastically Addictive iPhone Games I Love is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

20 Essential iPhone Apps I Can’t Live Without

Grace — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:04:14 +0000

I’m an iPhone owner at last. I know….it clearly goes against my fangirl status to be so late to the party but honestly, I’ve always thought they were just too expensive.

After my contract finished recently I decided it was the right time to upgrade and decided to go for a lovely White 32GB 3Gs and skip ‘antennagate’ iPhone 4!

The best thing about the iPhone is of course – the apps. However with hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from, it gets pretty difficult to find the ones that will suit my needs.

Without further ado, here are the apps that I’ve found essential, thus far:

1. Twitter

It’s been my pick of the Twitter apps both on my mac and iPod Touch since it was released and it’s just as efficient on the iPhone.

2. 1Password

Perfect for secure mobile browsing, as it saves my web usernames and passwords, has a browser built-in and syncs with 1Password on my Mac.

3. WordPress

This is an essential app for any blog owner, it allows me to moderate, edit, or reply to comments as well as easily composing posts.

4. Flickr

As a passionate amateur photographer, Flickr is a site I visit pretty much everyday. The ability to post straight to Twitter is pretty fly.

5. Reeder

I’ve tried many RSS readers on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but Reeder is the best of them all. It’s elegant, minimal interface is stunning.

6. Ego

I’ve been using Ego since it was released, it gives me one central—and lovely—location to check web statistics and RSS numbers.

7. TaskPaper

The ultimate in Task Lists (IMO), this syncs perfectly with my Mac version and provides a beautiful and unobtrusive interface.

8. Dropbox

Allows me to access my Dropbox files on the go with the ability to view files offline and share links. This is another essential app as it syncs with my iMac.

9. Fring

Free video calls, calls, live chat and IM make Fring one of my most useful apps, especially as it centralises all of my networks in one place.

10. NTRConnect Viewer

This is perfect for when I need to reach files that are on my office iMac, I can easily move items into my Dropbox folder and then retrieve them on my iPhone.

11. The Guardian

This gives me my daily fix of news with the latest stories, galleries and audio from a respected Newspaper.

12. AroundMe

An indispensable app that allows me to quickly find out info on the facilities close to my location.

13. PayPal Manager

As a small business owner who uses PayPal for nearly all transactions, this is an extremely useful app for quick management of my account.

14. FTP On The Go

You wouldn’t think you would have much need for an FTP client on the iPhone, but i use this quite often. I can edit files directly on the server, with a handy built-in browser.

15. iStat

This nifty app lets me monitor all the vital statistics on my Mac including CPU, fans, memory, disks, uptime and more.

16. Downloads

This is a recent app I’ve discovered, it acts as a fully featured download manager and basically allows me to access the iPhones file system, which is invaluable.

17. Analytics

Gives me instant, mobile access to Google Analytics with detailed reports at a glance and support for multiple accounts and sites.

18. Instapaper

Essential for anybody that works on the web, this lets me save web pages for offline or later reading.

19. Pastebot

This is a powerful clipboard manager that stores text & images copied from my iphone and much much more.

20. Stanza

A wonderful app that I use to read e-books, but also allows me to drag and drop PDF’s into the File Sharing section in iTunes.

It wouldn’t be a proper list without a bonus:

21. Google Mobile

I love the search by voice function, but find the links to other Google apps like Calender and Docs to be extremely useful.

So after one month’s use, those are my favorite iPhone apps so far. Do you have any particular apps you could recommend? Then please leave a comment and share your picks.

Don’t forget to check back on Wednesday for my Top 20 iPhone Games!

20 Essential iPhone Apps I Can’t Live Without is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

On Becoming A Mashable Contributor

Grace — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:25:27 +0000

I’ve been contributing to Design articles on Mashable for the past few months after connecting with the lovely Matt Silverman, Associate Features Editor. However recently I was asked to personally write a number of articles for their special Web Design Series on Mashable and my response was of course…hell yeah!

My first three articles have recently been published:

I’m currently working on several more articles for the series and having a blast working with the super talented (and crazy nice) team at Mashable. This also explains why I’ve been slightly quiet posting here on my blog.

I’d love if you could check out the articles as they are published and perhaps give them a little help in your chosen social networks. Of course any feedback on the articles is also appreciated, so feel free to drop a comment here.

On Becoming A Mashable Contributor is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Using Social Media To Build Your Brand