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• Pantone unveils 2014 color of the year

  Posted:Mon, 09 Dec 2013 12:15:36 GMT

  Color watchers may be intrigued to see Pantone’s color of the year for 2014. The influencial team at the Pantone Color Institute have analyzed media, socio-political events, technological advances and other factors worldwide to pinpoint the provocative “Radiant Orchid”.

  A purply-pinkish color that treads dangerously close to mauve, it will be interesting to see where designers take the color.

  2013’s Emerald, a bold, hopeful color “symbolizing growth, renewal and prosperity,” was leapt upon (and in some places pointedly ignored) by the fashion world before making its way online to web design and digital illustration.

  

  “Radiant Orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Institute. “An invitation to innovation, Radiant Orchid encourages expanded creativity and originality, which is increasingly valued in today’s society.”

  Let’s hope so.

  

  Color forecasting has become big business. Companies fear spending millions for products and marketing materials in colors that turn out to be duds. A few respected companies publish annual and seasonal color reports. Some are free. Detailed or customized reports are priced in hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.

  For more info and palette ideas visit the Pantone gallery and moodboards. While color trend discussions tend to hit fashion and interiors circles first, you’ll find cross-referencing resources (including a downloadable Adobe .ase file) on Pantone’s Color Formulas and Guides page.

  And in case you were wondering, Pantone tells us the Hex code for Radiant Orchid is #B163A3.

   

  What do you think of 2014’s new color? How useful are color predictions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Can we kill off lorem ipsum?

  Posted:Mon, 09 Dec 2013 08:15:57 GMT

  Once upon a time, in decades and centuries past, Lorem Ipsum served typesetters and printers well. That was back in the day when communication vehicles provided a passive, one-way experience. Today’s communication landscape is vastly different. The Web allows us to create rich, multi-dimensional, interactive experiences.

  With this in mind, using Lorem Ipsum no longer makes sense. It breeds dummy designs and short sells everyone. It diminishes problem-solving designers into pixel pushers, handcuffs content writers, frustrates users, and shortchanges clients.

  So the time has come to have a good, hard look at ditching the dummy text from the design process wherever possible, and placing real content in the forefront, where it belongs.

  Where did lorem ipsum come from?

  Lorem ipsum’s roots are derived from classical Latin literature “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes of Good and Evil), written by Cicero in 45 BC. It became the printing industry’s standard dummy text in the 1500s when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it during production. The tradition continued for centuries, adapted by modern typesetters.

  The Latin text gained popularity in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently through popular desktop publishing software, which actually include Lorem Ipsum.

  Today’s fans of Lorem Ipsum argue that clients are distracted by the readable content when reviewing layout, and so the use of model or dummy text. 

   

  Moving forward

  As the Internet ushered in a revolution and changed our lives, it radically altered the way we must communicate, market and brand. 

  In the Web world, people come for the content, not the design. Content is the reason a site exists; it’s the core of communication, and drives meaningful experiences. Content informs and — coupled with good design — helps people complete tasks.

  Lorem Ipsum creates the illusion that content is secondary, prompting designers to create aesthetically pleasing designs with boxes to be ‘filled in’ at a later time. In essence, design starts forming how things are communicated before determining what needs to be communicated. 

  Imagining what text might say compromises the integrity and effectiveness of both the content and design. It doesn’t allow designers to think through real content implications and leverage unique opportunities. Web designer and author Jeffrey Zeldman nailed it when he stated: “Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” 

   

  The benefits of putting content first

  Business objectives and audience needs drive content, and content should drive or at the very least influence design decisions. The thing many designers don’t realize is that good copywriting is interface design. 

  A skilled and knowledgeable content strategist or writer dissects key elements during the content research and development process, like corporate objectives and goals, desired audiences and calls to action. This leads to information being fleshed out, segmented and prioritized, which naturally shapes information flow and structure.

  The ‘content first’ scenario also promotes a more efficient design process. When the content is firmed up and approved, the designer knows exactly what he or she needs to work with. No assumptions, no guessing and no going back and forth with the client. In fact, a couple of our design partners insist their clients complete the content creation process before they embark on design.

   

  More original, effective design

  When design follows content creation, it reinforces the message, making it stronger and more direct. Specific pages can then be strategically structured to highlight and communicate key messages and focus on explicit tasks and goals. Additionally, the more content drives design, the less competitors’ sites are used as starting points, further cultivating originality and differentiation.

  The ‘content first’ approach also aids scenarios involving templates. Knowing the messages up front makes the content requirements clear, allowing designers to choose the most suitable template for the business’ objectives and audience(s). 

  When design comes first, which is all too common (often due to clients dropping the ball), content writers get handcuffed and compromise ensues. We frequently work in this scenario, and have approached designers with concerns numerous times. For instance, more call-outs were required, or more or less space was necessary for particular copy. The designers understandably cringe as the design is approved and they don’t want to open a can of worms. So we sometimes proceed with deficient design, at the client’s expense.

  When I wrote for international airline publications, I faced similar dilemmas. My managing editor would bark, “Give me 1,500 words!” when 600 would suffice, or I’d be limited to 300 words when 800 was needed to tell the whole story. But, due to chaotic deadlines, format often drove content, and communication quality was sacrificed. Content was merely poured into the mould.

   

  Differing opinions 

  As a writer there’s a chance I’m biased on the design/content debate. After all, I brand with words, not design. So I was compelled to reach out to several design agencies and gather different points of view. 

  We asked, “Which do you believe should come first, content or design?” Here’s what they had to say:

   

  Design First

  This [design first] approach enabled us to ensure the site design was attractive and easy to navigate. It does not matter how good the content is if the look and feel turns off the visitor and they bounce away. — Sammy James, speak2leads

   

  Content First

  Whether it’s simply defining the project (i.e., audience, emotional objective, or desired outcome) or crafting the actual design, you have to start with an understanding of the content. Neglecting this order is why so many websites and infographics, born out of Lorem Ipsum, seem incongruous. — Bill Rice, Kaleidico

   

  We now spend more time in review and planning with a qualified copywriter in order to have our sitemap in place, calls to action and the lion’s share of the content in hand before we even start our design process. Consequently, we find that when we present designs to our clients they are far better received and the project continues in a more efficient manner. — Brad Haima, Circle Graphics

   

  Content, always. Both follow a communication, marketing, or business strategy, therefore design looks to optimize and differentiate the content through its strategic objectives. — Gonzalo Alatorre, Creative Engine

   

  Most people are either audio, visual, or kinaesthetic — that is to say that they are either predominantly moved by sounds (or words), sights, or movement. So you could begin to make the argument that maybe design could come first in certain instances. However, in order for a thing to exist it must first have certain intrinsic qualities. it must first ‘be’ something in order to be visually incarnated, however you end up making it look. So even if you are intending to create a visual site to appeal to a visually minded audience, what it is must ultimately forerun how it looks, even if that just refers to the product or service you’re offering, so therefore content by default has to come first. — Jamie Gavin, InPress Online

   

  Content frames what needs to be communicated to the user and, after all, as designers we’re visual communicators. But let’s face it, we’ve all been extremely excited about a project to the point that we just jump into our pixel pushing program of choice, and begin cranking out beautiful creative that is driven by very little understanding of what the big picture needs to say in the end. Then we get in front the client and they struggle to understand how to place content into the perfectly designed confines of what we’ve created. That’s what happens when you arbitrarily assume word counts for pages, etcetera. 

  In a perfect world, the client would deliver artful copy days in advance of our creative process that would help to fuel our approach. Now, we all know that’s never the case. So how do you solve this conundrum? The best case would be to share early stage wireframes with your copywriter or client. That way they can craft copy to your wireframes and you both can be under the same assumptions going into the process. It also helps to mitigate surprises in the end. — Mike Miller, Motive Media

   

  Content informs everything. It tells us to whom we are speaking, what motivates them, and how we want to be perceived. Content draws customers, not the pretty aesthetics. That is not to say aesthetics are unimportant; the look and feel of a site are critical, but the content defines the direction of both. — Peter Bernardo, 352

   

  In a perfect world, content should come first. In working experience, that is not the case. It is usually the last piece to arrive when a client wants to be the one to provide it. This can lead to a big design problem because what may have been designed for three content boxes, now has to fit seven. — Darren Fox, Idea Marketing Group

   

  We design the content for human understanding. It is obvious content comes first. — Adam Qureshi, Qureshi Media

   

  I believe content is king and design the cupbearer. Trying to fit copy into a design that is already made is a logistical disaster. The copy should have major influence over the design creative and set the theme/style and tone for how a page should be branded. While there are ‘foundational’ rules for great design, they should not come into play until after the copy has been completed — you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole. As a designer, I personally admit that you need a fine balance of both but ultimately the copy is the major influential factor for any advertising and therefore should hold prominence, yet still complement with appropriate design. — Ryan Jackson, DGR

   

  Content should always come first. Content is the stuff that informs what the design should be. Without it, the design is just a shallow veneer. In so many ways, content is like a skeleton of a body, and design is the muscle, skin, and clothes. — Bobby Black, Bobby Black

   

  I would have to say content should come first because the organization of the content and menu/content structure can play a large role in how that should be made available through the design. To make that content accessible in the most intuitive way possible it really helps to know what that content is, or at least have a high-level view of the content before starting a design. — Adam Chernenkoff, Claro Solutions

   

  Many people want a website but they don’t always know what they want on it. Figuring out the content first and foremost, along with an idea of the size of project, is the most productive way to go. Otherwise you’re in a position I was in years ago of having the design ready but no content, or worse going back and needing to make modifications at the database level.

  The people working with content provide the site developer with an outline of what the content will be helps the developers create a UML map. It takes a team effort to get large projects working with an open line of communication between people involved in the web copy and the site developers. — Eric Stasiak, XLS Designs

   

  Designing without copy is like painting a wall without the wall — it can’t be done. Equally, content without the design is not engaging or exciting.

  Trying to design a web page with no content is incredibly difficult — design and content are so intertwined that, without such consideration to that fact, neither the content nor the design will make sense, and you run the risk of confusing visitors, or boring them. Either way, your page will not convert. It is important to design the content, not around the content. — Lee Baillie, MintTwist

   

  Content + Design Simultaneously

  I think that this is one of those ‘chicken and egg’ kind of questions. In the digital realm, design is content and content is inherently designed. This is a space of visual communication where design and content must co-exist and mutually support each other.  While in some projects content is fundamentally king, without design the message is easily lost. That said, I’ve seen engaging, successful projects that have sprung out of great design where the content was specifically written to support the design.

  If I had to pick which comes first I would have to say design, albeit I would extend the definition of design beyond merely visual design. I speak here of ‘design’ in a broader sense more in keeping with overall plan or strategy. This overall strategy/approach/theme/ is what comes first — from this all content and visual design are created. — Karen Wood, Thrillworks

   

  Aesthetic design and content have to coexist and are symbiotic to an effective communications solution. If you want to ask which is more important, the answer is of course content. But how it is presented is especially important with regard to legibility and comprehension online and across devices.

  Design is a word that gets used without context by the vast majority of web design firms. Are we talking about information design, interaction design, interface design, the design of a content strategy? 

  Aesthetic visual design should always be the last part of the creative process once all the content or at least the scope of the content has been identified and the data architecture for the templates has been created. — Kyle Bailey, E-Cubed Media

   

  Copy and design simply can’t live in silos — they need to work hand in hand to be effective. I learned this lesson the hard way when working as a designer for Natural Golf. They hired me to design an ad, and I made what I thought was the best design of all time, only get the worst results of any ad they’d ever run. And to add some salt to the wound, a really ugly ad they ran right after mine produced a strong return. 

  What I gleaned from this is that design alone cannot do the selling; content, including a strong call to action and a sense of urgency, is just as important. People need to know how you can solve their needs — and a pretty picture can’t accomplish that all by its lonesome. You really need to tell a story through copy and images together if you want to resonate with your audience. — Steve Gaither, JB Chicago 

   

  Asking whether design or content comes first is like asking whether you should start cooking with ingredients or a recipe. They’re not separate steps in a sequence, but interconnected elements of the same thing.

  Depending on the situation, you might change your recipe (or invent a new one) to accommodate the ingredients you have on hand. Or, you might go shopping for new ingredients to fit the recipe you want to make. 

  Neither of those is a ‘right’ answer. You just have to evaluate your situation and ask yourself what you’re really trying to accomplish. — James Archer, Forty

   

  Neither. Strategy comes first. To communicate a message, tell a story, sell a product, or service, design and content need to be developed together strategically, purposefully.

  Life is too fast on the Net, especially on mobile environments. We surf, browse, scan, tap, swipe, share, like, tweet — instantly. Content needs to be structured, written, and designed to attract and keep the attention of the user. Just like content is not only about information, design is not only the end result, or final presentation. It begins much earlier in the process and helps define the context, and enables organizing purposeful, concise, scannable content. — Mustafa Demir, freshmark

   

  Let the message lead the way 

  With strong community support for content-driven and influenced design, there’s hope lorem ipsum will gradually be eradicated from the design process.

  Designers and content writers need to collaborate more closely to ensure messages shape design, so we can collectively yield more meaningful and powerful results.

   

  Which comes first, content or design? How do you design a site for a client who doesn’t deliver content? Let us know your experiences in the comments.

  Featured image/thumbnail, uses pop-art image via Shutterstock.

  
  
  

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• Our favorite tweets of the week: December 2, 2013 – December 8, 2013

  Posted:Sun, 08 Dec 2013 09:55:28 GMT

  Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

  The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

  Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

  To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

  Is Cool Design Really Uncool? http://depot.ly/rweM3

  

   

  Saturday fun: How to create a digital doodled snowflake in Adobe Illustrator http://depot.ly/rwcI0

  

   

  Top 5 Web Design Tips That Optimize your Site’s Conversion Funnel http://depot.ly/rwbkl

  

   

  Real-Life Fox And The Hound Best Friends Will Melt Your Heart http://depot.ly/rwb2z

  

   

  Interview with designer Benjamin Dauer: “Be Humble, Be Honest, Don’t Be Afraid To Fail” http://depot.ly/rwdqJ  via @smashingmag

  

   

  Handy quick read: Personal finance in 10 sentences http://depot.ly/rwbGi  via @lifehacker

  

   

  Front pages pay tribute to the extraordinary Nelson Mandela http://depot.ly/rwmDd

  

   

  Hiring Before You’re Ready http://depot.ly/rtxxq

  

   

  Explosive Roy Lichtenstein inspired spot you have got to watch http://depot.ly/rtx0C

   

  How to manage clients as a freelancer http://depot.ly/rtxjx  *Advice via @CreativeBloq

  

   

  Inspiring design from Studio FNT http://depot.ly/rtx5Y

  

   

  Useful tip from @smashingmag: Modifying Admin Post Lists In #WordPress – http://depot.ly/rtxeP

  

   

  Quick tutorial on customizing dashed and dotted borders in #CSS3 – http://depot.ly/rraIf

  

   

  Plagiarism website shames logo thieves http://depot.ly/rpFwc  *Great article by @CreativeBloq

  

   

  goodui.org/  Good resource

  

   

  Making the Perfect WordPress Theme: Maintenance, Compatibility, and Customer Care http://depot.ly/rpF3K

  

   

  Good design starts with empathy http://depot.ly/roN89  #UX

  

   

  Interesting read via @lifehacker: Apply “Schumpeterianism” to Push Through Criticism and Get Things Done http://depot.ly/rn1do

  

   

  Delivery drones are coming http://depot.ly/rn0UT  Awkward or rad?

  

   

  Want more? No problem! Keep track of all our tweets by following us @DesignerDepot

  
  
  

  Export Images from Photoshop the Fast and Easy Way – only $12!

  
  

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• Comics of the week #212

  Posted:Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:33:23 GMT

  Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

  The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

  These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

  So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

  Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

  The task master

  

   

  The evolving IM

  

   

  I’m sorry, did you say something?

  

  Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

  
  
  

  Export Images from Photoshop the Fast and Easy Way – only $12!

  
  

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• 40+ free UI kits

  Posted:Fri, 06 Dec 2013 12:15:27 GMT

  UI kits are a fantastic starting point for many projects. You can quickly mockup a professional solution and then customize the files into a bespoke solution in no time at all.

  In this round-up, we’ve gathered together a collection of fresh user interface kits and Photoshop files; ideal for rapid development.

  These files will come in handy when you are hard at work and have little time. They’ll help you create your next mockup quickly and efficiently.

  Clear log-in window template

  This clear log-in window template is free to download and, because it has been coded and designed to act like a chameleon, versatile enough that you can change its appearance to match background images. Five different blurred backgrounds are also included.

  

   

  Transparent UI kit

  This UI kit contains visually alluring—and transparent—UI elements for your website designs.

  

   

  Simple log-in form

  Create slick and simple log-in forms in white and blue.

  

   

  Blue UI kit

  This UI kit contains check boxes, radio buttons, toolbars, search boxes, tooltips—all kinds of things for designing websites. Furthermore, everything included in this kit is a vector graphic that can easily be resized. To get a Retina version, double the size and scale the styles.

  

   

  Orange UI kit

  In this one everything from radio buttons to check boxes to on/off GUI switches to search boxes is included. PSDs are included, and all files are vector files.

  

   

  Minimize UI kit

  This UI kit contains a basic PSD file to help you get started. All the elements in this kit are in vector format.

  

   

  Breadcrumb navigation PSD and CSS

  This sleek and visually enticing breadcrumb-style navigation interface is available in light and dark versions. You can easily customize the PSD and CSS files.

  

   

  Calendar

  Here is a minimal calendar, in gray, suitable for professional-looking website designs.

  

   

  Black UI kit PSD

  You can use this black UI kit PSD for web and application design. This set contains a navigation bar, buttons, form input elements, radio buttons and check boxes.

  

   

  Coconut UI

  This set contains minimal, clean buttons: search button, radio buttons, slider, drop-down menu and other elements.

   

    

  Purple UI kit

  This one contains some outstanding web elements, including radio buttons, sliders, search button, on/off GUI switch, social media buttons, video player and more.

  

   

  Futurico

  This pack contains all the necessities—an excellent set of components indeed.

  

   

  Smooth web app UI kit

  This is a smooth and free web app UI kit that includes all the necessary elements for web app development and admin-panel UIs. The PSD files included in this kit are all layered vector graphics.

  

   

  The Bricks

  If you want to create a prototype for your future website or facilitate the design process, this one is for you. The Bricks is a free-to-download set of UI components that will save you time and help you develop components.

  

   

  Various PSD sliders

  In this collection, all the PSD sliders are available in different styles, sizes and colors. Any one of them would make a great starting point.

  

   

  Dark UI kit

  This set of UI elements will help you design some awesome sliders, on/off GUI switches, volume controls, rating buttons and other things, in dark gray.

  

   

  Simple Music UI

  This contains beautiful UI elements for creating appealing and stylish video players.

  

   

  Slick pagination links PSD and CSS

  To spice up a boring pagination link, try this Slick Pagination Links PSD, with CSS. Use these button styles to make pagination links visually enticing.

  

   

  Dark admin panel UI kit

  In this admin-panel UI kit, you’ll get loads of dark vector elements such as various graph styles, a vertical menu, a content editor, form elements and many more.

  

   

  Calendar UI

  This kit provides free UI elements for creating useful calendars. It contains vector files, which can be resized easily.

  

   

  Expandable CSS and jQuery menu with slider

  With this design resource, one can easily create an expandable CSS — and jQuery — based menu with appealing sliders. It is available in PSD and HTML/CSS formats, and the coded version works perfectly.

  

   

  My to-do list

  This free UI kit contains a professionally designed to-do list layout.

  

   

  Sign-in widget

  Design sign-in widgets and make edits easily with this widget. PSD and vector files are included.

  

   

  Facebook login UI

  This is a visually appealing Facebook log-in element, with a basic view and many other views to showcase different stages of the log-in process.

  

   

  Sky UI kit

  With this pixel-perfect light UI kit, you will get a truly stunning set of elements to design any website, regardless of its type.

  

   

  Twitter widget

  Here is a visually appealing set of Twitter widgets, and PSD files are included for easy edits.

  

   

  Notification centre UI PSD

  With this versatile PSD of a notification-style interface, you get a drop-down list of recent notifications and messages, a log-in/connect window and pop-out messages, with more information as well.

  

   

  Toolbar

  Toolbar offers a variety of toolbar designs in gray.

  

   

  Visits-per-day widget

  This well-designed PSD file shows how beautiful web statistics can be. With this widget, you can easily see how many visits a given website gets per day.

  

   

  Twitter widget

  Display your latest tweets effectively with this simple UI. This widget codes your tweets with jQuery to show three at a time. Use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons to cycle through your tweets.

  

   

  Clean drop-down UI

  Create clean and professional-looking drop-down menus with this kit, which provides a navigation bar, buttons, and search and input fields. It’s available in two colors (white and black).

  

   

  PayPal button set

  This free kit includes a complete set of custom PayPal buttons, to give your website design a clean, professional look.

  

   

  Dropdown

  Here is a sophisticated drop-down menu kit.

  

   

  Modal contact-form template

  If you’re looking for a classy, unobtrusive contact form, here it is. In this modal template, you’ll find all the necessary HTML, CSS, JavaScript and source PSD files, which makes editing easy.

  

   

  Instagram mini profile

  Instagram Mini Profile is just what it claims to be.

  

   

  Transparent UI kit

  Here’s another transparent UI kit that provides a clean and well-organized PSD. Use it to create a modern app-like feel.

  

   

  Progress bar

  This one offers a slick and clean progress bar, with a PSD file.

  

   

  Vinny Singh

  This kit contains a huge collection of useful web elements.

  

   

  Exclusive UI kit PSD

  This set contains drop-down menus, sliders, buttons and other web elements for media playback, in dark gray.

  

   

  Mini UI kit

  Here’s a set of minimal and slick web elements such as radio buttons and other buttons and sliders.

  

   

  Noveo button set

  Elegant square and round buttons are yours for the taking.

  

   

  Moonify UI

  This detailed PSD file contains more than 60 elements, all well organized and set up for easy editing.

  

   

  Menu-bar Twitter notifications

  This free menu-bar notification interface shows social-media buttons and new messages, and enables you to save and reply to those messages. It also displays meta information, such as time stamps, which tell you when messages were posted.

  

   

  Which of these resources is your favorite? Is there a kit you regularly rely on? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

  Export Images from Photoshop the Fast and Easy Way – only $12!

  
  

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• Deal of the week: Over 2,000 exclusive unique fonts

  Posted:Fri, 06 Dec 2013 08:15:11 GMT

  Typefaces are the most elemental resource designers have in their toolbox. They’re a great way to add personality to designs, and really make your projects stand out.

  Unfortunately, building a large library of quality fonts is incredibly expensive. With professional grade fonts often retailing in excess of $200 each, a large selection to choose from is normally beyond the reach of all but the very largest design studios.

  So we are delighted that our sister-site, MightyDeals.com, has managed to arrange this incredible deal on a package of over 2000 professional-grade fonts, for just $27.

  This exclusive deal with 128Bit Technologies is for over 335 unique typeface families. Each family includes a variety of styles ranging from regular and condensed to wide and italic. All fonts are in OpenType format and include the essential international characters for numerous non-English languages.

  This incredible value package is for use on commercial or personal projects. The price includes a license for up to 10 computers, that means studios can install on up to 10 workstations, which is an incredible saving. Of course the fonts work on both Mac and PC.

  With hundreds of typefaces to choose from you may never need to buy a font again. Some of our favorites are the classic Muritania, the sci-fi inspired Orion Nebula, the nouveau inspired Olde Lilliput and the expressive Bored Fjord. Take a look at a preview of some of the fantastic fonts included in this great value deal:

  

  This set of typefaces is already unbelievably good value at $198, but for a limited time, you can get them all for just $27, that’s around $0.01 per font! To take advantage of this deal head over to MightyDeals.com right now.

   

  Have you used one of these fonts in a project? Which of the typefaces would you like the most? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

  Export Images from Photoshop the Fast and Easy Way – only $12!

  
  

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• The best of DesignFaves.com

  Posted:Thu, 05 Dec 2013 16:15:31 GMT

  For designers passionate about the latest developments across the full spectrum of visual design, there’s a brand new site that features some of the most exciting, innovative and inspiring design projects taking place today. Every day our sister-site, DesignFaves.com, trawls the web seeking out the projects with the most buzz surrounding them and delivers a compact, visual summary right to your inbox.

  Focused on all fields of design, you’ll find graphic design, art, architecture, furniture design, fashion, branding, photography, and everything else that’s visual and engaging.

  You can sign up for the newsletter and get your daily dose of design inspiration each morning, or browse through the site when you’re feeling tapped for new ideas. Whoever you are, and whatever you love, you’ll find fresh projects on DesignFaves.com.

  Every week we’ll be bringing you a summary of the best the site has to offer, and to whet your appetite, here are our favorite projects this week:

   

  Strangely beautiful portraits of betta fish by Visarute Angkatavanich 

  

   

   Intricate makeup flattens human faces into iconic 2D art

  

   

   The illustrated wonderland of Heisuke Kitazawa

  

   

   New fashion by Kenzo: Pop art meets surrealism

  

   

   Spine is a fun social app for telling five-sentence stories

  

   

   Stay a night in the Mirrorcube room at Treehotel

  

   

   Iconic album covers recreated with Lego blocks

  

   

   Superheroes walking kids to school by Andry Rajoelina

  

   

  Alphabet illustrations inspired by The Hunger Games 

  

   

   Bright public art enhances the Brooklyn terrain

  

   

   Robotic draft beer dispenser for high traffic bars by Asahi

  

   

   Manipulated photos of dark narratives By Caras Lonut

  

   

   Revolutionary 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium design unveiled

  

   

   A poster of the worlds most famous felines. No Grumpy Cat?

  

   

   Bees detect early signs of cancer in a person’s breath

  

   

   Studio Swine’s unique standing lamp made from recycled materials

  

   

   Funny mugs appear to sink into your table

  

   

  Which of these posts is your favorite? What would you like to see DesignFaves.com cover? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• How to use Foundation’s advanced features

  Posted:Thu, 05 Dec 2013 08:15:58 GMT

  Last time we covered our bicycle enthusiast’s page, we built an entire basic page in less than twenty minutes flat using the magic of Foundation. Today, we’re going to take that magic even further, and without touching a single line of jQuery or CSS, you’ll learn how to upgrade your site’s functionality with the following techniques:

  • We’ll add custom pop-up tooltips over any element on the page
  • Turn a series of images and a block of text into an interactive carousel
  • Add a modal dialog to pop up with a click of a button

  What’s most exciting is that all of the features we add in today’s tutorial are added with nothing more than Foundation 5′s libraries that come packaged as default — no extra libraries required!

   

  Have you been experimenting with Foundation 5? What parts of it do you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Google makes available new cloud computing option

  Posted:Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:15:43 GMT

  With yesterday’s announcement about the general availability of its Compute Engine, Google has rounded its service-rich computing Cloud Platform into a full-on competitor to the elite and powerful handful of existing providers.

  Behind every notable online service or app, from Netflix to Angry Birds to Snapchat, is that set of backend processes requiring gobs (mega-gobs, peta-gobs) of digital storage and computing power. Until relatively recently, this required a tech startup to quickly come up with millions of dollars to build and test the systems that could accommodate growing user demand.

  Amazon, having invested their tremendous resources to support their own retail enterprise, was the first to turn that infrastructure into a publicly available, cloud-based set of products and services. While they remain the biggest provider, other players have entered the field, including Microsoft and IBM.

  With yesterday’s release, Google has lowered the price of some services and are probably playing to their strengths by exceeding the industry’s benchmark performance guarantees (“Monthly Uptime Percentage to Customer of at least 99.95%,” according to the Google Compute Engine Service Level Agreement). One way they plan to keep their promises is with their new, built-in live-migration technology: interruptions owing to scheduled maintenance will never happen.

  

  Tech watchers insist that the offering hasn’t completely arrived, due in part to the need for better integration between the different products. Still, with their deep pockets, as well as the equipment and experience they’ve amassed to deliver their pervasive and heavily-used email, search and video services, the potential is very promising.

  Google’s Cloud Platform could give its competitors a run for their money, sparking more innovation as they vie for the market. And while the number of companies offering cloud computing services isn’t likely to ever get very big, having one more solid option is welcome news.

  For a more indepth look at Google’s entry into the cloud computing industry, see Quentin Hardy’s great piece in the New York Times. Check out the Google Cloud Platform blog for a detailed post about the Compute Engine General Availability status and features.

   

  Do you use Amazon’s cloud service? Would you consider switching to Google? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

  
  
  

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• In defence of skeuomorphism

  Posted:Wed, 04 Dec 2013 08:15:09 GMT

  Just a few short years ago the majority of web designers wouldn’t have been able to spell skeuomorphism, much less provide an accurate definition. Now, skeuomorphism is set up as the pantomime villain; the Wicked Witch of the East to flat design’s Dorothy.

  Flat design has come to define itself as ‘not skeuomorphic’, but this is misleading; skeuomorphism isn’t the polar opposite of flat design, in fact flat design is frequently skeuomorphic.

  What skeuomorphism (really) is

  A simple definition of skeuomorphism is as follows: a decorative feature that imitates a functional aspect of an earlier technology. For example, decorative arches are often used in architecture, mimicking the functional arches of earlier centuries; this is skeuomorphism.

  Design movements — in fact, movements in most cultural fields — have a tendency to reject the previous generation’s values. Consequently culture progresses as a series of revolutions and counter-revolutions. Skeuomorphism frequently occurs when technology or fashion turns full circle and old values become popular again.

  A neo-modernist working in the early twenty first century may well find themselves imitating the qualities forced upon modernists by the limits of the technology a century ago; we frequently see posters designed with simple flat color, not because we can’t print gradients, but because we’re imitating the style of poster designers like Toulouse-Lautrec whose style was imposed by the printing technology he had commercially available to him.

   

  What skeuomorphism (really) isn’t

  An oft-cited example of skeuomorphism in website design is a button styled with bevels and a drop shadow. The current trend is to make the button ‘flat’ by removing the bevels and the drop shadow, which supposedly removes the skeuomorphic nature of the button; in fact it does nothing of the sort.

  A button remember, is a mechanical lever which changes state when one applies pressure. We don’t create buttons on web pages, we create an image of a button that we can touch or click and which mimics the function of the older technology. Any button, on any web page, is inherently skeuomorphic, regardless of its styling.

  Another frequently cited example of skeuomorphism is the leather texture and stitching used for certain apps on older versions of Apple’s iOS. The argument is that the texture is carried over from traditional personal organizers and is therefore skeuomorphic.

  I question whether this is in fact skeuomorphism. Certainly the leather texture imitates the earlier technology, but it’s decoration imitating decoration. You could perhaps argue that leather is hard-wearing and the texture is functional in the original design, but I think that would be laboring the point. The leather texture in early iOS apps isn’t skeuomorphic, it’s something much worse: it’s lazy design.

   

  Skeuomorphism and flat design

  Microsoft’s Windows famously embraced flat design and rightly received the plaudits for having the guts (if not the chops) to pursue a new direction. Apple followed suit with iOS7 and, if rumors are to be believed, will continue on a similar path with their next major OS.

  Window’s initial jump, and iOS’ capitulation are widely seen as the first, and last nails in the coffin of skeuomorphism.

  However Windows 8, MacOS Mavericks, and in all probability the next generation of both platforms are inherently skeuomorphic; they use the concept (and likeness) of files and folders; something borrowed from centuries old filing systems. Many people choose not to interact with data in this way and instead rely on the command line or terminal; but it’s very rare to find someone who doesn’t do at least a little dragging and dropping.

  You might remove some superficial aspects of a design which are skeuomorphic, but you’re still looking at a web ‘page’, through a browser ‘window’, that sits on your ‘desktop’.

  Flat design then, impacts very little on the amount of skeuomorphic design that we experience on a daily basis.

   

  The inevitability of skeuomorphism

  Arguably the biggest rejection of a skeuomorphic web occurred when we stopped clinging to the idea of web sites being screen-based versions of print design and embraced responsive design. However, unless we develop a William Gibson-esque internet, in which information is seen as it is — infinitely extensible, editable streams of interconnected data — then we’ll continue to treat the Web as a metaphor for real-world documents and the Web will remain skeuomorphic.

  Just as uppercase letters are derived from stone carving, and old-style serifs are derived from cursive scripts, so too is all culture based on what preceded it. As Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

  One day in the not too distant future, print will cease to be anything but an historic process. The materials that we print now will be replaced by surfaces, the molecules of which will change their color to create text, images and movies — imagine a sheet of paper with the interactive abilities of a tablet. In that exciting future, you’ll still find the echoes of a medieval monk, ensconced in a library somewhere in northern Italy, painstakingly illuminating a copy of the Bible.

  In this, we find skeuomorphism’s salvation: skeuomorphism isn’t a design trend particular to the Web, it’s a characteristic of all human culture. Without skeuomorphism our ability to experience the Web is substantially diminished. Without skeuomorphism every leap in technology would be accompanied by a learning curve so steep, it would be prohibitive. Without skeuomorphism, I wouldn’t be typing this, I’d be in a forest somewhere hitting a nut with a stick.

   

  The non-skeuomorphic web

  This is not to say that all aspects of the Web are skeuomorphic, or that there is no progress without skeuomorphism.

  Take for example the hover state of buttons. Whilst buttons themselves are deeply skeuomorphic, the change in the visual nature of the button, not when it is pressed, but when the user is considering pressing it, is (to my knowledge) unprecedented.

  Some cutting edge developments are equally unique. Take for example the experiments with gaze-tracking that scroll a page up and down based on the motion of your eyes or head.

  One of the truly great achievements of the Web is the distribution of information to the visually impaired. Text readers have made billions of pages of data available to those with visual disabilities. No books, magazines, or print of any kind ever had a function that read content to you. The development of text readers, and more recently speech control is a genuinely new technology and as such carries with it no skeuomorphic decoration.

   

  The future of skeuomorphism

  Skeuomorphism exists, and will continue to exist because it guides our paths into new technologies and new experiences.

  Skeuomorphism is a positive force within design, it teaches new interfaces in the same way that children learn: if ‘a’ means ‘b’ in ‘c’ situation, then in all probability ‘a’ means ‘b’ in ‘d’ situation. Imagine a world in which the cold faucet in the bathroom was colored blue and the cool cycle on a washing machine was colored orange — skeuomorphism accelerates communication.

  What then is the problem with skeuomorphism and why are so many people keen to reject it? The answer is twofold. Firstly, people rarely reject skeuomorphism, what they reject is lazy design and superfluous decoration; secondly, as with most design techniques, if users notice it you’re overdoing it.

  So it’s wise to drop the bevels and drop shadows if they’re drawing attention to themselves, but be aware that everything you design on screen uses skeuomorphism to some degree.

  As is so often the case, don’t blame skeuomorphism, blame the designer who over uses it.

   

  Is flat design the antithesis of skeuomorphism? Does skeuomorphism still have a role to play in web design? Let us know your opinions in the comments.

  Featured image/thumbnail, skeuomorphic button image via Shutterstock.

  
  
  

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• Free download: Royalty free stock images from Picjumbo

  Posted:Tue, 03 Dec 2013 16:15:41 GMT

  Freebies are everywhere on the web these days, but it’s rare that you get something that is really high-quality for free. Once in a while we come across a freebie that makes all the searching worthwhile, and we’re really excited to have found this great new stock images site.

  Picjumbo is a fantastic service that offers stock photographs, absolutely free of charge, for use in commercial and personal projects. What really sets Picjumbo apart is that you’re welcome to use the images in themes, making this an invaluable resource for template designers.

  Recognizing the need for quality stock resources for web designers, but unhappy with the premium price tag many stock sites add, Viktor Hanacek, began Picjumbo on Nov 2013 and he’s adding high-quality photos every day.

  Whether you’re looking for still lifes of food, expansive landscapes, editorial scenes or handy shots of mobile devices; Picjumbo has something for you.

  Viktor has generously decided to provide all of his current 44 photos as a simple download to WebdesignerDepot readers.

  Here are some of the previews. Download the photo file below these previews:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

  Have you used one of Viktor’s images in a project? What are the essential ingredients of a good stock image? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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• 25 free, scrolling plugins for awesome experiences

  Posted:Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:15:53 GMT

  The art of creating a website these days is learning how to create an online experience. Many of these experiences are extensions of a brand or person and are relayed via different colors, fonts, etc. Thanks to awesome advancements in technologies, we can do a lot of stuff with our websites that we couldn’t do a few years ago. We are taking the experience from dry and drab to fun and fab.

  One of the trendiest techniques to have fun with is scrolling. We can create full stories that move horizontally or vertically across a screen utilizing many different scenes; we can create effects that make it seem like bubbles and other shapes are taking over screens; we can create backgrounds that seem to have depth of field. 

  Many of these techniques are what is affectionately called parallax scrolling. Others are just some really cool animations you can trigger by moving your mouse-wheel. Either way, they are extremely fun and popular.

  That’s why today, we’ve put together a bunch of our favorite plugins to get even the least code-savvy started making some great scrolling sites…

   

  Scrolld.js

  

   

  Cool Kitten

  

   

  FoldScroll 

  

   

  fullPage.js

  

   

  AnimateScroll

  

   

  Parallax.js

   

  

   

  Jarallax

  

   

  jInvertScroll

  

   

  jQuery Full Content

  

   

  One Page Scroll

  

   

  jQuery Parallax

  

   

  Scroll Path

  

   

  PageScroller Lite

  

   

  jquery-parallax

  

   

  Arbitrary-Anchor

  

   

  Portfoliojs

  

   

  Scrolling Parallax

  

   

  Scrollocue

  

   

  Scrollorama

  

   

  Scrolltab

  

   

  Scrolly

  

   

  Skrollr

  

   

  Sly

  

   

  Smint

  

   

  Super Scrollorama

  

   

  Have you developed a site based around scrolling? Did you use a plugin, if so which one? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Are hollow icons harder to understand?

  Posted:Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:15:34 GMT

  With the release of iOS7, Apple made the most significant changes to their application design guidelines to date. iOS7’s design language emphasizes a light, almost minimalist aesthetic approach to interface controls, including all the iconography used to label actions and views within an app.

  While this change certainly modernized and simplified Apple’s operating system, it also impacted how people understand and use it. As some argue, this was not necessarily a change for the better.

  In particular, the move to outlined (vs. solid) icons in Apple’s design guidelines has spurred significant debate. These symbols are used extensively in mobile apps to explain what’s possible and how to get things done. They need to communicate quickly and clearly. But do they?

  Software designer Aubrey Johnson wrote an article arguing that they don’t and stated simply: “Hollow icons are more work for your users.” Audrey’s argument boils down to the idea that complex (outlined) shapes are harder to parse and understand than simple solid shapes that contain less visual elements. Less visual elements, means faster parsing, and thereby faster understanding. From a Gestalt perspective, Aubrey’s argument seems to make sense but not everyone agrees.

  Bobby Solomon, for instance, wrote a counter article stating: “You’ve probably stored hundreds if not thousands of symbols in your head, so I’m not sure how a few ‘hollow icons’ are going to completely confound you” 

  Bobby points out that written language is essentially a set of “hollow icons” and that we readily process and understand them while reading every day. Fair enough, but context may play a critical role as language is a set of symbols we interpret the same way every day many times a day. A set of icons within an app is never going to get that kind of exposure. In an interface, iconography needs to communicate — whether we’re familiar with it or not.

  Caesar Wong chimed in to the debate as well on Quora by highlighting several sources that detail how images are processed by our eyes. Caesar’s personal conclusion was that the whole debate is more about art than science. 

  So what do you think? Which icons are easier to understand at first glance: outlined (hollow) icons or their solid (filled in) icons?

   

   

  How did you vote? Should icon design take its lead from its context, or does legibility supercede context? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

  Featured image/thumbnail, uses hollow icon set image via Shutterstock.

  
  
  

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• Take UX to the next level by adding ‘delight’

  Posted:Mon, 02 Dec 2013 08:15:14 GMT

  Web sites are built to perform a function, and communicate to their users. But beyond this, web sites can also be engaging, exciting, even fun to use.

  Adding visual interest to a site helps sustain our engagement with it, whether that is by typography, graphics or photography. But I believe there is also the potential for elements of interaction to provide visual stimulation and feedback, even delight the user. In this article I will argue that adding some effects to amuse, surprise and excite your users can make your websites and apps better, and keep users coming back.

  Delight

  Website design is often a dry topic, laden with UX jargon and Information Architecture user journeys. But why shouldn’t there be some fun along the way? Adding delight to a site is a great way to make a site not only more human but also make your site unique. 

  I am going to narrow down my definition of delight here by saying that it is the addition of unrequired functionality.

  By this I mean that it is not an essential part of the site’s function. However, it can have a powerful effect on the way the site is perceived and experienced. In fact I would go as far as to say that how you handle the strictly unnecessary elements of UI are as important as the typography and other visual elements, in setting the tone of a website.

   

  One free interaction

  In an article for Cooper Journal, Chris Noessel calls ‘One free interaction’ a design pattern “that gives software a more humane feel.”

  Part of it is recognition that humans are fidgety creatures often prone to repeating little actions. Traditionally with pen and paper we’d doodle or continually retract the pens. I’m an inveterate pen-spinner for instance. 

  People often carry this fidgety-ness into web browsing, often scrolling up and down, selecting bits of text, or repeating actions.  

  The One Free Interaction pattern embraces this innate human need to fiddle, by creating interactive elements that give unexpected or pleasant results. Need an example? Try hovering your cursor over the Web Designer Depot ‘W’ logo at the top of this page.

   As Noessel says, free interactions sit outside of task performance, and instead sit in the in-between spaces. But they are powerful in shaping our emotional response to the sites we use.

   

  Scroll effects

  As previously stated, one of the most common ‘fidgets’ is scrolling up and down, so sites that add visual interest when scrolling are often delightful.

  The one-page site for the Nizo photography app from Image Mechanics features ‘Knolled’ camera components that move in as you scroll down and out as you scroll down. If you’re like me you’ll spend quite a lot of time just scrolling up and down, playing with the gorgeous interface. (Don’t hold your breath waiting for the app to be released though.)

  

  Using parallax effects on scrolling also add delight, creating the illusion of depth. I love the boy-coy website, where the scrolling effects match the tone and visual style of the site perfectly.

  

  I’m surprised there aren’t more web sites with horizontal scrolling effects, given that side scrolling is such a common theme in game design.  But a nice example is the Nintendo Mario Kart site which looks at the history of the game across 20 years of Nintendo consoles.

  

  The Polish site Mashup adds layers of graphic elements which transition in as you scroll across, a high-tech way of achieving a low-fi sketchbook feel.

  

  The king of the scroll effects sites is probably Acko. Here, the site header element is an animated 3D graffiti object. It is the animated logo taken to the next level — immersive, interactive, playful. There are even achievements to ‘unlock’ on the UI — though gamification is another subject altogether.

  

   

  Design for emotion

  Adding delight to your site helps create an emotional connection with a user. The power of emotion in design is something we are only starting to understand, but it helps explain why we enjoy using certain objects and have such a powerful connection with them. It applies to physical product design as well as interactive design.

  I think a strong reason that Apple products are so highly regarded is that users become emotionally attached to them, and there are lot of examples of delight in both Apple hardware and software. I know many people love the ‘rubber-band’ scrolling on iOS mobile Safari so much that they will absent mindedly ping it up and down. 

  OK by ‘many people’ I mean me, but Steve Jobs loved it enough to patent it, and it has formed part of Apple’s litigation against Samsung. 

  Aaron Walter, in his book Designing for Emotion, looks at the way that successful web sites engage users’ emotions by imbuing them with personality. Adding elements that delight a user is a very powerful way to do this. Simply put, we prefer tools that delight us, so it’s good for business too.

   

  Delight is not a gimmick

  Adding delight does not mean adding willful effects as a gimmick. The effects are there to help shape the personality of the site. They don’t have to be playful or quirky (though they can be if that is the personality you want to convey), they can be subtle and restrained if it suits the character better. Take a look at pictet.com. I love the way the search bar fades in when you click the search link — it stops the search text field being a dominant element, until you ask it to be. It is subtle and classy, and suits the tone of the site — a Swiss financial services company — perfectly.

  

  Sometimes the effects are so subtle you might not even notice them. Did you know for example, that the volume control on the BBC iPlayer goes up to 11? It’s a nice little nod to Spinal Tap.

   

  Don’t overdo it

  Adding too many unexpected interactions can be counterproductive, creating a visual overkill. Unless you are trying to create a hyperkinetic game-like environment, too many visual effects, with flip-overs, pop-ups, whizzbangs and quirk bombs all over the place will seriously detract from any meaningful engagement with the content. Take a look at the LEDbow site for example. Technically it is brilliant but I do not think it communicates effectively. There’s just too much going on. 

  

   

  Dial up the delight

  I love sites that treat the screen as a viewfinder or a surface rather than a page viewer. Layers moving at different speeds create depth and interest. Elements moving into position draw attention to them. 

  Motion makes experience more immersive, but be aware that this sort of interactivity for its own sake does not equal greater engagement.

  Adding delight makes sites more human and also more tactile, engaging our monkey-brain need to mess and play while we think and learn. Next time you create a site think about how you can create something unique to delight your users.

   

  Do you design for emotion? How do you add delight to a site? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Our favorite tweets of the week: November 25, 2013 – December 1, 2013

  Posted:Sun, 01 Dec 2013 09:24:40 GMT

  Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

  The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

  Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

  To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

  Typographic inspiration by Pierre Faucheux http://depot.ly/ri4RV

  

   

  An impressive parallax design for the new Firefox OS website http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/?ref=facebooksp … Like it?

  

   

  11 Ways to Make Your Portfolio Friendlier http://depot.ly/ri6JX  via @tutsplus

  

   

  Sam Jacob: “Christmas decorations are winter as skeuomorphism” http://depot.ly/ri6aw

  

   

  So useful: Responsive Web-based slide system from Markdown http://beta.swipe.to/markdown/

  

   

  Javier Mayoral’s oddly seductive cartoons http://depot.ly/ri66d  via @itsnicethat

  

   

  Time Management is a Myth, Work Effectively Instead http://depot.ly/rh924  via @speckyboy

  

   

  Marvel: Free Website Prototyping Tool for Photoshop-Dropboxers http://depot.ly/rh8ZN

  

   

  Elefont: the lovely elephant alphabet http://depot.ly/rh8dB  via @mirkohumbert

  

   

  A very good read: Recruiting Advice No One Tells You http://ow.ly/rh7A0  @drogier

  

   

  The Smashing Book Mystery: Have You Figured It Out Yet? http://depot.ly/rgyAO  via @smashingmag

  

   

  An Awesome Map Of All The Characters In “Breaking Bad” http://depot.ly/re7n5

  

   

  Penflip Reinvents Git for Writers http://depot.ly/re7Js

  

   

  Another awesome Tumblr: Wes Anderson quotes set to scenes from the Bible http://www.wesandersonbible.com

  

   

  Behind the scenes: Designing the REMOTE book cover http://depot.ly/rchcs

  

   

  Hey, Designers: Stop Trying To Be So Damned Clever http://depot.ly/rch0R  via @FastCoDesign

  

   

  Interactive British Airways Billboards “point” to planes flying over in real time http://depot.ly/rcgnD  #lookup

   

   Advice from @wr: Guys, stop sexualizing women in your mockups http://depot.ly/rcaHc

  

   

  “Like a Rolling Stone” interactive video is brilliant http://depot.ly/r9JSR

  

   

  You don’t have to work every waking hour, sunrise to sunset http://depot.ly/r9MmL

  

   

  Let’s be Happy all day long with Pharrell Williams’ first 24-hour music video http://24hoursofhappy.com

  

   

  Want more? No problem! Keep track of all our tweets by following us @DesignerDepot

  
  
  

  Print your Instagram Photos with Inkbug – only $23!

  
  

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• Comics of the week #211

  Posted:Sat, 30 Nov 2013 09:24:59 GMT

  Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

  The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

  These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

  So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

  Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

  Don’t be afraid of the dark

  

   

  Read the fine print

  

   

  Integrity typo

  

  Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

  
  
  

  Merry Christmas Music Bundle from LuckStock – only $14!

  
  

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• Deal of the week: Elite Pro icons

  Posted:Fri, 29 Nov 2013 16:15:02 GMT

  There are very few icon sets as comprehensive as PictoFoundry’s Elite Pro. With over 850 unique vector icons, Elite Pro should be your first stop when hunting for that unique combination of icons you need for your project. So we’re delighted that our sister-site, MightyDeals.com, has been able to arrange a huge 85% discount on the package.

  A mixture of filled and outline icons, covering everything from travel to technology, sports to fashion, Elite Pro has an icon for just about anything you could need.

  Need to tweak them a bit? No problem, the icons are supplied in AI, EPS and PDF formats so you can customize to your heart’s content. On top of this, you’ll also get PNG files in the most popular sizes: 24×24, 32×32, 48×48, 64×64, 80×80, 128×128, 256×256, and 512×512 pixels.

  But that’s not all! The icons are also supplied as a set of 13 webfonts, which means you can run them on your site as scaleable fonts and color and resize them in your CSS; perfect for responsive sites where the icon scheme needs to be modified on the fly.

  Free updates are included, so you’ll receive periodic updates, with new icons being added regularly.

  Particular favorites are the apple, the globe and the ghost; but take a look for yourself, there are hundreds to choose from.

  The usual retail price of this icon set is $199, but for a limited time, you can get them from MightyDeals.com for just $29, that’s an amazing $170 saving!

  

  

  

  

  

   

  Have you used PictoFoundry’s Elite Pro in a project? Which is your favorite icon? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• 7 Black Friday rules for maximizing your site’s conversions

  Posted:Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:15:15 GMT

  It’s Black Friday, a day when all sensible Americans stay home eating leftovers and doing their shopping online. In honor of the almost-holiday, today we’re going to take a look at some of the techniques store managers use to sell to us, and how we can apply them to our sites to take them from profitable to sensational.

  The simple rule for improving the profitability of a site is to find a way of converting casual browsers into actual paying customers. When you start to offer your site visitors a very comfortable, enjoyable and efficient shopping process, then you can count on improved conversions. After all, your customers will reward you for what it feels like from their perspective to peruse the goods and services on your ecommerce site. To make the best ecommerce site around, it must be designed from the point of view of your target shopper.

  Just remember this: give them what they want, and you’ll enjoy a healthy increase in profits year on year. Ignore their needs, and you’ll not only struggle to make money, you’ll be out of business soon.

  1) Know your shopper

  This seems like such a no-brainer, but the number of ecommerce sites out there that forget this is disturbingly high. One thing to know intimately well is what sorts of user emotions will end up stimulating an actual purchase decision. It’s also a smart move to understand the users’ shopping behaviors as well as the different factors that they look at in an ecommerce site to justify a purchase decision.

  The decision to buy the products and services on your site will be in part based on the product information and visuals that they see. If you fail to give them the information you want, it will end in a lost sale.

  The Disney Store is just such an example. Its designers know that the site’s audience is female and very young, so what do they do? They prominently display dolls of Disney characters and other Disney merchandise so that they jump out at the site visitor. This helps to create the emotional response of desire in young girls.

  

   

  2) Use product information to grab attention

  It’s a well-known fact that advertising helps to move products. People are less willing to buy something if it’s not hyped to the high heavens. The product information on ecommerce sites must be written in such a way that it’s basically an advertisement masquerading as plain, old product details. This is what makes for truly effective copy when it comes to product information.

  As such, product information isn’t about dryly describing the product or service you want site visitors to purchase. It’s more about how this information is presented, which should be in a persuasive and catchy way. This is what makes for engaging and, ultimately, successful copy that increases conversions.

  The flavor of vanilla lends a wonderfully creamy taste to anything it teams up with. And coffee is certainly no exception. Combined in this refreshing beverage, they only bring out the best in each other. The spicy fragrance of vanilla enhances the full-bodied richness of dark-roasted coffee. You’ll sigh a satisfied “ahh” after every succulent slurp.

  An example of engaging copy comes straight from Starbucks’ Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino Blended Beverage page. Note how the copy touches on all the different, rich flavors of this Frappuccino and ends with the assurance that customers will be very satisfied. While you can’t, naturally, put one of these babies into your online shopping cart, you’ll likely head to your nearest Starbucks to guzzle down one of these bad boys.

  

   

  3) Use video to replace touch

  When you’re shopping online for a product, you’re deprived of one of the most critical ways that you can normally evaluate whether or not you want to buy it: touching it. Shopping online stops you to examining the product in your hands, something you’d normally do in a regular bricks-and-mortar store.

  That’s why your ecommerce site has to be chock full of product videos since they are the next best thing to letting customers examine products in their hands, up close and personal. Product videos offer customers something of an interactive element that lets them see the product more intimately than mere pictures. This, in turn, helps to drive conversions as it elicits more enthusiasm and excitement in shoppers.

  One website that utterly gets this tactic is Amazon, which shouldn’t be surprising since it’s the most successful ecommerce site ever! Brilliantly illustrating this feature of a conversion-rich site is its page for the All-New Kindle Paperwhite, one of the most popular products on the site. From the moment a browser gets on this page, they’re able to take a “product tour” that immediately shows them a two-and-a-half minute video on the Kindle, complete with audio.

  

   

  4) Always offer free shipping

  Free shipping is an ideal way to boost your site’s conversions. Think of it this way: Your browser has become an actual customer and is ready to pay for a product. Then, when he’s entering his credit card information, shipping address and about to press the “purchase” button, he learns that there will be shipping charges at the very end. This can be a massive conversion destroyer for so many potential customers because it simply takes the wind out of their sails!

  Free shipping is the antidote to this. Some are of the opinion that it doesn’t make sense to offer free shipping on items that are already sold at a discount. While this philosophy can be viewed as making sense to some, know that not offering unlimited free shipping is a business model that can be a loser since a huge shopping site already offers unlimited free shipping.

  Zappos is the world’s biggest online shoe store that’s also owned by Amazon. It sells clothing, too. Unlike lots of other ecommerce sites, Zappos offers customers free shipping on all domestic orders without any exception—guaranteed. Talk about a super-effective way of conversion boosting.

  

   

  5) Brag about your discounts

  One of the most important rules of successfully selling anything is grabbing the all-important, though elusive, attention of your prospects. Any good ecommerce site must always highlight and draw attention to any discounts and specials it’s running, preferably right on the homepage so that it’s less likely visitors will miss it.

  After all, the whole point of any discounts and specials is, essentially, a shameless attempt to boost your conversions, right there, right then. So don’t even think twice about grabbing the attention of your site visitors for all that it’s worth. Your conversion rates depend on it.

  Look at the homepage of eToys.com for the epitome of this strategy. At the time of this writing, there’s a huge, hard-to-miss notice about a 60%-off sale at the website’s outlet store. It’s located just to the right of center near the top of the homepage, virtually guaranteeing it can’t be overlooked.

  

   

  6) Provide as many different payment methods as you can

  If there’s one thing that customers really hate, it’s being restricted in the types of payments that they can make for the purchase of your products. If your customers are already good enough to want to pay you money for your products, then you, at the very least, should be good enough to give them a plethora of payment options.

  This doesn’t mean just offering various kinds of credit cards with which customers can pay. Sure, it helps to offer American Express, Mastercard and Visa, but some of your customers may be unsure about parting with their credit card information on your site. These people have to be accommodated, so remember to at least offer PayPal as a payment alternative.

  Check out the secure-payment page of SuitSupply, which is a men’s fashion retailer. You’ll note that they provide customers with the option to pay via PayPal if they are uncomfortable with payment by credit card. As a result, you can bet that SuitSupply’s customers will be likelier to actually purchase a suit from that site when they see that the site addresses their potential concerns over giving out their credit card information over the Internet.

  

   

  7) Conversions are all that matter

  Designers who don’t design an ecommerce site with the most vital objective being increased conversions are not doing businesses any favors. In an industry where selling is what matters most and where profit is king, conversions are all that matter. Web designers building ecommerce websites have to understand this more than anything because, once you lose prospects due to a bad site experience, you lose them for good, and they’re never coming back.

  That’s why it’s so important to really get inside the heads of your target audience when you’re designing an ecommerce site. What kind of a shopping experience are they searching for? What demographics are most likely to buy your products or services? What emotions are they feeling as they navigate the site? All these questions have to be answered to design the best possible ecommerce shopping experience.

   

  What rules do you follow to maximize ecommerce site profits? Are conversions all that matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

  Featured image/thumbnail, sales image via Shutterstock.

  
  
  

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• A fresh approach to iStock

  Posted:Fri, 29 Nov 2013 08:15:32 GMT

  It’s pretty easy to get confused as to who owns what right now. Pick any web start-up and there’s a good chance that it’s either owned by a major player, or in the process of considering offers. Small companies innovate, but it takes big investment to fulfill the potential of those innovations.

  iStock is one of the biggest names in stock photography on the web. And for good reason: iStock provides an innovative approach to stock imagery, providing photographers with a way to earn a living, and giving designers access to a huge pool of assets.

  It’s been seven years since iStock became part of the Getty Images family, and in that time, competition for designers’ asset budgets has grown ten-fold. iStock continued to deliver great images, still provided an accurate search function, still provided value for money; but the brand had begun to feel dated — not ideal for a company marketing itself to designers.

  

  The old iStockphoto logo (left), and the new iStock logo (right).

  Seeking to change that, Getty Images decided to rebrand iStockPhoto properly, and now we have the all-new iStock.

  This isn’t a monumental change in the iStock business, because Getty Images has been there, working away behind the scenes for seven years. It’s just that now, it’s harder to miss them.

  So why have they chosen to rebrand iStock now? Well, according to Getty Images, they feel that the recent changes they’ve made to the iStock business, provide the perfect time to make the change. The new, simplified search experience, the reduction in pricing and the addition of all new imagery exclusive to iStock is a watershed moment that’s worth celebrating.

  The most obvious change is the dropping of the ‘Photo’ from the name, making ‘iStockPhoto’, simply ‘iStock’. The reason for this change is obvious: iStock don’t sell just photos, they offer video, vectors, illustrations, even sound files.

  

  When Getty Images chose to rebrand iStock, they intended to “[marry] the freshness, innovation, and strength of the iStock brand to the quality, heritage, and credibility of Getty Images”. So, did they succeed? Well actually, yes. Getty Images is a huge name in stock, and they do have some of the most credible, high-quality photography available anywhere. What’s important is that the change has retained the original spirit of the iStockPhoto branding.

  Text remains white on black. The type employed is still sans-serif, although now considerably more geometric. The terminals of the stems are now sharp and precise instead of rounded; creating a more professional, less fun, feeling logo.

  The cleverest part of the new design is the period that follows the ‘iStock’ word. It can be read in several ways: as a half-smiling nod to the missing ‘Photo’; as a reference to the dot in ‘.com’; and also as a statement of intent, iStock is the last word in stock photography, period.

  In addition to these changes, the logo is underpinned by the tagline ‘by Getty Images’, a reminder that the parent company’s strength is behind iStock. Simultaneously it seeks to tie iStock to Getty Images’ other brands; Thinkstock, also owned by the company, was similarly successfully rebranded some months ago.

  The rebranding of iStock is a major undertaking for Getty Images, but one that they’ve carried out well. The result is a modern brand that delivers on quality & price, and breathes new life into one of web design’s favourite resources.

   

  What do you think of the new iStock brand? Do you use iStock, will the brand change encourage you to do so? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Introducing DesignFaves.com

  Posted:Thu, 28 Nov 2013 12:15:04 GMT

  For designers passionate about the latest developments across the full spectrum of visual design, there’s a brand new site that features some of the most exciting, innovative and inspiring design projects taking place today. Every day our sister-site, DesignFaves.com, trawls the web seeking out the projects with the most buzz surrounding them and delivers a compact, visual summary right to your inbox.

  Focused on all fields of design, you’ll find graphic design, art, architecture, furniture design, fashion, branding, photography, and everything else that’s visual and engaging.

  You can sign up for the newsletter and get your daily dose of design inspiration each morning, or browse through the site when you’re feeling tapped for new ideas. Whoever you are, and whatever you love, you’ll find fresh projects on DesignFaves.com.

  Every week we’ll be bringing you a summary of the best the site has to offer, and to whet your appetite, here are our favorite projects this week:

  The tall, dark world of Daniel Danger’s gothic illustrations

  

   

  NEXT architect’s looping bridge in China

  

   

  Custom elongated Jaguar E-Type with matching retro trailer

  

   

  Spomenik: Abandoned monuments or alien sculptures?

  

   

  Frozen moments of a bird in flight: Sølve Sundsbø

  

   

  Hilarious cats with noodly legs by Meowtfit

  

  Infinite staircase sculpture by David McCracken

  

   

  New concept design gives M&M’s a fresh brand facelift

  

   

  Photographs of Iceland through the geometric filter of Siggi Eggertsson

  

   

  Dresses made out of balloons by Rie Hosokai

  

   

  Futuristic Motorola ads from the groovy ’60s

  

   

  Furniture design inspired by nature: The Ivy Chair

  

   

  The futuristically groovy Bubble House

  

   

  ‘Electric Blossom’ still life photography by Torkil Gudnason

  

  Sculpted skeletons of classic cartoon characters. Can you recognize them?

  

   

  New iPhone 6 concept. Where is the home button?

  

   

  The electric Bike 13 is the future of cycling

  

   

  Which of these posts is your favorite? What would you like to see DesignFaves.com cover? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• 6 simple ways freelancers can meet people and make connections

  Posted:Thu, 28 Nov 2013 08:15:37 GMT

  

  If you are a freelancer or you work from home, then you might know exactly how it feels to be on your own little island. You’re cooped up in your office all the I time trying to get work done. If you’re anything like me, you only look up and go outdoors when your stomach tells you it can’t handle any more.

  Maybe you’re not that bad, but it isn’t uncommon to feel like you sometimes need someone to talk to without reading and imagining how they sound in messages. Sometimes you need some real, live, organic interaction with people. It frees your mind, helps you with ideas and lets you realize you aren’t the only person on the planet.

  It can sometimes be rough for you, especially if you enter a new town or new industry and have no contacts. It may also feel hard because you just don’t think there’s anyone out there with your interests. Stepping out the house and meeting new people is imperative for the designer who works from home. If you haven’t already figured out ways to do so, here are some tips to help you get a jumpstart on connecting and networking with people.

  Meet-ups and groups

  

  I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to be placed in an atmosphere just for the sake of talking to someone. Speed networking and mixers just don’t bode well for me. On the other hand, I love being part of groups where people get together because they are passionate or interested in the same things. It makes conversation easier because I already have a conversation starter.

  Most people who work from home are the same way. And for this reason, I recommend you join a group of like-minded individuals to talk with. Groups with members are big on making sure people feel like they belong. Finding the right group doesn’t mean you’re on the outside looking in, but it’s about feeling connected to other passionate people.

  The benefits of many organizations and groups can be great. You can learn something from gatherings, receive free and discounted perks and even become a mentee in a mentorship program. A good place to start finding groups is Meetup.com. You can search through certain categories to see when groups meet and what they are about. Other places to start are nationally recognized design and other related groups (such as advertising, technology, etc.).

   

  Find events and conferences

  

  Maybe you are okay with speed networking and mixers. There are tons all over the world and it seems like those type of events won’t stop anytime soon. Maybe you want an event with a little more substance that caters directly to you. Fortunately, there are many ways to find that.

  Meetup.com is great for groups and some events, but Eventbrite.com is even better for your local events. You can search your area in whatever category and find lectures, helpful get-togethers and more via Eventbrite. I found so many great events and conferences that I probably would’ve never known about had not been for Eventbrite.

  Big design conferences happen all the time throughout the year. Lots of blogs and businesses put them on to talk about what’s going on in the world of design. While talking to people is not a requirement in any of these events and conferences, you’ll easily find opportunities to speak and interact with interesting people. It’d be wise to take advantage of such a thing.

   

  Find an interesting person

  

  If you’re more focused on quality over quantity, it may a good idea for you to find an interesting person in your area. Perhaps you’ve heard of them in the news and in the community. Or you may have stumbled across their work online. Many people are very easily approachable and welcome the opportunity to “talk shop” with other freelancers and designers.

  Since I’ve been writing, people in my area (and other faraway lands) often send me messages just wanting to chat. Just recently, I got asked to discuss business ideas and freelancing over lunch. And what person in their right mind can deny free food? Reaching out to people you find interesting is wonderful because you should already have an idea of what draws you to this person — you already have things to talk about.

  If all goes well, it’s going to be hard for that person to forget about you. And sending follow up emails is perfectly fine as well. One on ones are the perfect way to establish a connection and a relationship.

   

  Take a class

   

  Being a designer is almost synonymous with always learning. We go through so many trends in a year that we must learn and we are expected to know more and more about the next skillset over. As a print designer, you may always be asked about the web or mobile. As a web designer, you may always be asked about programming and databases. 

  As fun as it is to teach ourselves things or sit down and watch thousands of videos about stuff all day, it’s nothing like actually being in a classroom. You’re always in a room with someone smarter than you who can answer all the questions that video doesn’t even touch. And then there’s always someone you can try to teach to check if you really know your stuff.

  Classroom settings are great places to build connections. Maybe you want to take some courses at a nearby college or university. Maybe your local library or some other organization offers quick little classes. Either way, taking classes is a great way to meet people and increase your skillset.

   

  Get involved in the community

  

  I’m a firm believer in the idea that if people work together, then they have to make connections and talk to one another. It’s impossible to work together without communicating! Civic organizations always need help with something somewhere. By getting involved you have the opportunity to practice your skills, do work that may be recognized by many people and make connections.

  There are some groups whose sole purpose is to work on things for the community  which are great places to start. But there are so many other great ways you can volunteer just by contacting people in your neighborhood. You get a chance to create for them and build trust in your work that can lead to paid work or referrals. 

   

  Take your work with you

  

  A couple of months ago, I purchased my DSLR camera. I was so excited, I took it everywhere with me to take pictures of everything I saw. As a byproduct of this, people either came up to me and asked if I could take their pictures or asked me about how I was loving my camera and other photography related questions.

  As designers, I understand how this type of thing can be hard, but propping your laptop open and doing some work at a nearby cafe is totally okay. Even sketching some things out on your tablet can get some people interested in whatever you’re doing. I’ve even seen designers and coders wearing fun little shirts that put them out there, referencing their skillset. You have to get a bit creative with this part, but sometimes making it known and making yourself attractive is all you need to get a person talking to you about work.

   

  Conclusion

  Think about the connections you’ve made that are strong today. Chances are you didn’t just shoot them an e-mail or shove a business card in their hands and hope for the best. You probably took the time out to make a real connection with that person. Maybe they were a classmate, colleague or just someone you met and kept in touch with. Networking and getting to know people doesn’t have to be a foreign concept because we’re freelancers and it doesn’t have to be put on a pedestal. Always remember that these types of things take time so go out there and meet some new folks.

   

  Do you work from home and find networking difficult? What’s the best way to make new connections? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• How to get started with Foundation 5

  Posted:Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:15:54 GMT

  Zurb’s Foundation is one of the most widely-used responsive frameworks available at the minute — and for good reason, too. With a flexible grid system, a seemingly endless features-list and a community working to push new and improved features as often as possible, you can see why.

  Not only that, but it’s full of scaffolding CSS to construct a wireframe model in no time at all — or even to use as part of your full-scale designs.

  The latest version of Foundation — Foundation 5 — was released last week, so this is the perfect time to investigate its possibilities.

  Today, we’ll go through the motions of creating a bicycle enthusiast’s website. We’ll learn how to:

  • download and install the Foundation framework;
  • insert content with the flexible, responsive grid system straight out of the box;
  • create a “hero” panel to display featured text or images prominently;
  • we’ll even add some buttons, a block grid and a navbar to complete our design.

  So, if you follow along from beginning to end, you’ll have a fully responsive website in less than 20 minutes. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!

   

  Do you use Foundation? What parts of it do you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• Giveaway: Win 1 of 20 Premium WordPress Themes from MyThemeShop

  Posted:Wed, 27 Nov 2013 08:15:28 GMT

  If you’re a WordPress developer, you’ll know that there are a huge range of themes out there to build a site from. Many free ones are good, but for the very best features you need a premium theme.

  The downside to premium themes is that they usually have a premium price tag, which is why we’re delighted to be hosting this giveaway from MyThemeShop.

  We’ll be randomly selecting 20 winners who will each receive the premium theme of their choice from MyThemeShop’s range of over 60 premium themes.

  All of MyThemeShop’s themes are responsive, so you’ll be good to go whatever the viewing platform; they’re all built with HTML5 and CSS3, so you can be sure that your chosen theme will be standards-compliant; they’re even regularly updated to keep them optimized for the evolving web.

  MyThemeShop’s premium themes all come with full support, and there’s an active community on their forums.

  Check out some of the themes you can choose from:

   

  Splash

  

   

  Clock

  

   

  Sensational

  

   

  Glamour

  

   

  Boxline

  

   

  TruePixel

  

   

  Minimalist

  

   

  Repose

  

   

  How to enter:

  • Browse through MyThemeShop’s Premium themes gallery, then post a comment letting us know which theme you’d like to win and why
  • Comment MUST be entered with your email address as a guest (no social logins)
  • One comment per person
  • Winners will be contacted via email
  • Giveaway will end on December 11th, 2013. Good luck!

    

  Which MyThemeShop premium theme would you like to win? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

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• The key to success is a creative brief

  Posted:Tue, 26 Nov 2013 08:15:19 GMT

  It’s a sad fact that the biggest problem freelancers face, is disagreements with a client once a project has started.

  It seems — judging by the amount of problems overheard by complaining designers — is that terms, changes, direction, and payments more often than not become roadblocks to a smooth and successful working relationship, usually ending what could be a continuing relationship between the freelancer, and client.

  There is a simple, logical, and professional way for both parties to understand each other with complete transparency. Unfortunately, it’s a step many creatives skip.

  Where do most creatives stand on paperwork? 

  According to a recent survey, 39% of designers don’t require clients to sign on the dotted (or any) line, to take on a project. It’s a fairly safe assumption that a formal creative brief is another form most creatives don’t use. 

  The same survey reveals that creatives prefer clients who know what they’re looking for at the outset of their design project, and score points with designers. 51% of designers surveyed consider that one of the most important characteristics in a client. 

  The opportunity to be creative, and design something cool motivates 62% of designers to take on a project, compared to 48% who are swayed by fat paychecks and just 6% who consider a client’s prominence key. 

  48% of designers say the lack of helpful feedback is among their biggest challenges in working with clients, while 42% point to clients’ lack of direction, and 25% indicate unrealistic expectations as major obstacles. 

  With all of this in mind, how can a designer, or design staff, achieve all of these, and protect their rights, and sanity? The answer is a creative brief.

   

  Why a creative brief solves problems 

  Ask someone to sign a contract, and they will usually have a reason as to why they don’t want to sign. A contract contains hard, and fast rules of the business end of a project. The length of execution, change fees, payments and rights of use are some of the elements spelled out in a contract. With careful wording, a creative brief can hold all of that information, too! 

  When first sitting down in the office, or conference room of a client, or meeting of the different players in your company, it’s time to start taking notes on what is said, asking certain questions, and… setting requirements, and boundaries. 

  

  At one firm, which was a very large corporation, we would all sit down in the conference room for a project meeting. Each department head would listen to the project scope, and desired results. Like a puzzle, each step depended on every department meeting the milestones set so the next department could pick up there, and supply the needed elements only they could provide, and so on around the company until it fell upon the art department.

  If one department took too long with their part, like a tower with a missing part in the middle, the project would start to tumble down. Unfortunately, it would always be the art department that would be crushed under the weight of the steel beams of incompetence, supplied by other departments. 

  The creative brief, written up, and sent out by the art department served to hold people responsible. In regular meetings during the project, it made it easier to ask other departments where they stood on their milestones, and why, inevitably, they were late. With a sympathetic, and strong project leader, responsibility, and meeting deadlines will make sure that creatives won’t have a week to create the final project when other departments were to take only two weeks out of a two-month project. 

  It seems that at most companies this is the standard operating procedure. It’s rare that a project manager can or will keep tight reign on milestones. It’s even more rare that there’s a professional project manager at companies. Usually, someone will be assigned as a project manager, and they might not have enough experience, or the corporate level to demand strict adherence to milestones on a project. In a corporate setting, this usually leads to problems with getting a project done on time. In a freelance situation, your time is your money, and when you end up either working an extra week, or so on a flat fee, trying to charge for extra hours, or working an extreme rush to make a deadline, it’s a losing situation for you, and can lead to a project that probably won’t be your best work. In the end you’ll get the blame, and although unfair, well… welcome to business! 

  So, how do you protect your reputation, income potential, and show yourself to be a valuable vendor to a client, or a competent project manager to your corporate boss? Start with a clear, and concise creative brief, and an iron fist! If written correctly, the information you include will leave no stone unturned and, no question unanswered. It’s not really hard. 

  In the long run, a complete, and clear creative brief promotes transparency for all parties, and that is one of the things clients appreciate in a creative project, where they don’t fully understand the creative process.

   

  How to get started 

  The computer did not, as promised, make us a paperless society. Digital communications added to the lack of memory people have. Computers, in a big way, replaced our ability to remember, and store information in our own brains. An example is when a client doesn’t remember you saying something on an email, like asking to be paid, or trying to find out why the three-day period for a decision on final designs has taken 17 months.

  Organization is the key. When I first started my design career, working both freelance, and on staff, I would create a job folder for each, and every assignment, and project. I started by labeling the folder, and then having a short creative brief written on the outside of the folder. It listed the following: 

  • Name of the project.
  • Date I received it.
  • Date the project was due.
  • Who was involved in the project, their names, phone numbers/extensions, email addresses.
  • Milestones for materials needed from these people.
  • From there, as the project proceeded, I would write down notes of what was happening on a daily basis.
  • Were we on time?
  • Were there requested changes, and by whom?
  • What milestones were missed, and by whom?
  • When files were delivered, and to whom. 

  Within these file folders, I placed all printouts of the design stages, emails from other departments/people, and anything else that pertained to the project. Most of my bosses commended me for “knowing where the project was at any time.” 

  At one employer, where incompetence was encouraged through rampant Peter Principle, I was told my file folders, “made people nervous.” 

  

  Of course people were nervous; it held people accountable. It’s not that the folders were set up to embarrass people… well, I admit that it was a part of it because the blame-game was big at that firm, and I had to protect myself from the lying finger-pointers, which really infuriated them to no end, but it was also the only way to keep a 100% on time delivery record. 

  The plain fact is that these folders were invaluable to juggle what was sometimes two-dozen projects going on at once. Multitasking is nothing more than being organized, and there are tools one can use for that organization. The “Folders of Evidence, and Blame,” as my boss referred to them, were invaluable. 

  While these were somewhat private creative briefs for myself, it’s best, when managing a project, especially on a freelance basis, to have a written brief for everyone to retain for their own folders, if they have one.

   

  Creating a brief 

  

  I’ve looked at other creative briefs available on the web and frankly; I’m not impressed with what I saw. The examples available didn’t cover enough to really let the client know all of the steps nor did it cover the creative’s end of the project. Here’s a brief that you can use as a template for your next project:

   

  Client/Client contact information:

  Name, phone number, and email address for the person or the team on the client side.

  Project:

  Title of project

  Prepared by:

  Name, phone number and email address for the person who is responsible for in-house project management.

  Background/Overview:

  Detailed description of EVERYTHING that needs to be done! Include absolutely everything you can think of that will be included so any scope creep can be billed separately.

  Timeline/Milestones:

  Start time: Date goes here.

  Client delivers images/logos for brochure, web banner, and web site. All proofread copy delivered by client. 

  1st Milestone:

  Sketches for design of all components – (set date).

  Client revisions/approval by (set date).

  Revised sketches delivered by (set date).

  Client revisions/approval by (set date).

  *Further revisions will change milestones. Adjusted brief will be resubmitted to client. 

  2nd Milestone:

  Second stage design – (set date).

  Client revisions/approval by (set date).

  Revised images delivered by (set date).

  *Further revisions will change milestones. Adjusted brief will be resubmitted to client. 

  3rd Milestone:

  (Set date)

  Presentation of completed designs to client for viewing/approval.

  *Further revisions will change milestones. Adjusted brief will be resubmitted to client.

  4th Milestone:

  (Set date)

  Uploading, or delivery to printer (set date).

  Payments:

  Fee: $ (total fee for project)

  Deposit: $ (set fee – should be one-third to half of total fee). Deposit due at start time.

  1st Milestone: $ (percentage of total fee)

  2nd Milestone: $ (percentage of total fee)

  3rd Milestone: $ (percentage of total fee)

  4th Milestone: $ (*ideally, this should be the final percentage of the entire fee for the project)

  * Changes beyond the first round (further changes) will be billed separately at a rate of $ (set hourly rate) per hour.

  Rights:

  Client purchases all rights to design/copyright for work rendered. Transfer of copyright is contingent upon full payment.

   

  This, of course, is just the basics as an example. The more you list, going into the smallest details, the more you will protect yourself against “misunderstandings” as the project proceeds. The biggest problem with any project is the “but I said…” or “I thought this would be…” and the ever popular, “I thought we were going to add this?”

  While a contract spells out rights, payments, and promises kept only through legal wording, a creative brief shows all parties how the project will proceed, and, most importantly, how payments will be made. With a contract, people may see it at the beginning of the project, but won’t look at it again until you are threatening to sue them for breaking your agreement. The creative brief reminds people every step of the way that you won’t work for free, excessive changes will cost more.

  Still, a creative brief may need to include the demographics of the customer/target audience. Although I haven’t experienced it myself, I have heard from other designers about clients who set the design standards of a project, but later complain that the work doesn’t reflect their consumer base.

   

  Make the language clear

  One example I can relate about a language misunderstanding was a company president who kept using the word, “sophisticated” for a design project. With every design sketch, she would say, “No, no, no! I want sophisticated!”

  After eleven attempts at “sophisticated,” I finally asked her to show me some examples of what she liked, and I would take it as inspiration. After she pointed out a few examples, I realized she was wrong, and severely nuts! What she really wanted was something whimsical. This is a great, and painful, example of miscommunication, and how much work just one word — one descriptor can cause. I was on staff at the company so it wasn’t as big of a deal as if it was a freelance assignment, which would have been a disaster if it were a flat fee. It was just an extreme waste of time, and a tick that showed up on my annual performance review as, “failed to satisfy the president’s wishes in eleven rounds of changes.”

  This is yet something else that needs to be included in the creative brief. Words can be misinterpreted, or misused. Sometimes people use their hands to describe what they want, moving them up, and down, and sideways to specify size, layout, or “sophistication.” Your job, as the creative lead, is to pull out from the odd babbling what it is they really mean, and place it into the written brief so there are no extra rounds of design that cut into your fee, or take you away from other projects.

  Demographics are another important point to clarify for the creative brief. Who is the intended audience? The answer might be “everybody,” and it might be “18-28 year-old men who live in their parent’s basement.”

  Remember to ask these questions so when you are ready to write up your brief to present to the client, there will be no holes that might trip up the project down the road. If there are any holes, or misunderstandings, the time… and money, will come out of your end, and that can add up over a year to thousands of dollars.

   

  When trouble arises

  Anyone who tells you they have never had a problem with a design project is either a liar, or a psychotic. There are projects that run up against certain questions either during, or after a project is complete. Usually it’s getting paid when a client questions how much work has actually been done, and why the project costs more then $79.

  

  Seriously, we laugh at that statement but we all know it to be true. In cases where you must sit down with the client, and go over all aspects of the project, and show proof of requests, changes, and costs incurred by you, the folder will hold all of the answers. Naturally, the client might not agree that the answer they sent in an email, telling you that all designs are approved is really what they meant, but that leads to another avenue — court.

  If you are forced to go to court or mediation, the project folder is a legal dream — maybe an orgasm! Everything in writing, in one place and ready to present as the record of each step. Even if you have no contract (you should have one!), the project folder, and the creative brief will show intent, agreement, and steps taken to complete the project.

  You will also find that creative briefs are handy for repeat clients. In web design, it’s important to retain clients to service their ever-changing web needs. As technology evolves, and companies grow, the original creative brief serves to remind you of how the client prefers to work with you. Reviewing past project files, and briefs can also remind you when it’s time to contact a client to pitch updates to their site. It’s a wonderful tool that’s valuable to your business. So, run out to your local office supply store, buy some file folders, design a creative brief sheet with your logo on it, and you’ll see how easy a great creative brief, and project folder can make your life and business.

   

  Do you use a creative brief? Has it helped your projects? Let us know your experiences in the comments.

  Images ©GL Stock Images

  
  
  

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• The best free WordPress themes for November 2013

  Posted:Mon, 25 Nov 2013 08:15:44 GMT

  WordPress, one of the most popular blogging and website platforms in the world, accounts for thousands of new blogs and websites every day.

  One of the best ways to get up and running quickly — especially if you don’t have much design or development experience — is to use a theme. And some of the very best themes out there are completely free!

  Every month we’ll be bringing you our pick of the best free WordPress themes released in the previous month. Here are our favorites for November:

  DevDmBootstrap3

  Unlike many themes which are designed for beginners, this theme with the funny name was created for developers. DevDMBootstrap3 is for developers who are already familiar with Twitter Bootstrap and is a mobile-first theme. The sleek interface makes it easy to develop for the web even quicker.

  

   

  Fresh Lite

  What’s nice about Fresh Lite is that this responsive theme works using drag and drop tools, making it very easy for beginner WordPress users. The simple theme includes a slider, sidebar and touch-friendly buttons as its top features.

  

   

  Fruitful

  Fruitful is a simple, responsive theme that is built with a lot of options for use. It’s easy to use and style, comes with plenty of options for logos, background images, menus, social icons and a slider. Plus this theme is WooCommerce-ready. You can also customize the CSS.

  

   

  Clean Black

  You get exactly what you expect with Clean Black, a dark minimalist theme. The simple theme includes search, a favicon option and number paging navigation. Clean Black is fully responsive.

  

   

  Codium Grid

  Codium Grid is a fully responsive theme that features a super-clean look and feel. It is designed so that the user only has to think about content in the build process. It is customizable in terms of color, backgrounds and header and is widget-ready. (The Instagram widget is particularly nice.) This theme also has some great built-in search engine optimization tools to make getting online a breeze.

  

   

  Delighted

  Delighted is a highly customizable lightweight theme that’s made just for bloggers. One of the best options is the featured image option, which is available on main and single pages to add an element of sleekness to the overall design. Color and language options are endless with this theme.

  

   

  GreenPage

  GreenPage is a simple blogging theme with a sharp layered look. The theme has plenty of room for featured or thumbnail images, blog posts and sidebar and header navigation.

  

   

  Aldehyde

  Aldehyde is a minimally-designed theme with a great above-the-scroll slider to showcase images. The responsive theme also includes bonuses often found only in premium themes such as a parallax header, four different layout options, custom widgets and lots of theme options. Aldehyde also includes powerful social media tools for sharing and links, retina-ready icons and is SEO-ready.

  

   

  Shopping

  While there are not a large number of free e-commerce themes out there, Shopping does offer some basic sales functionality in a free, WooCommerce-based theme. The simple theme includes plenty of room for product images, prices, ratings and sales information.

  

   

  Bearded

  This theme takes the trendy “Movember” concept to another level, saying, “not just moustache.” The blogging and portfolio theme is designed in a flat style and includes plenty of neat animation tools and customization options. The responsive theme also supports the Custom Content Portfolio plugin.

  

   

  Neutro

  Neutro is a responsive theme built in the super-trendy flat design style. What makes this theme unique is that it includes a touch-ready content slider, which is perfect for mobile and tablet devices. Neutro is designed with photos in mind as well with a nice display space. You can customize the theme’s CSS and a variety of other features as well. 

  

   

  OneColumn

  Simple and mobile-friendly are the key highlights of OneColumn. The basic theme includes some customization options but nothing fancy. As the name implies, it is designed with a single column for blogging and has room for images, search and recent posts. While this theme might not have enough goodies for more seasoned users, it is perfect for beginners.

  

   

  WP Jurist

  While WP Jurist is marketed to legal firms, this fully responsive theme could work for a variety of business types. The design is simple and bold. It includes a slider, widgets and a separate blog template with the option to add author bios. Plus, WP Jurist includes a large number of customization options to help make the theme your own.

  

   

  ZeeMinty

  This lightweight business-oriented theme features a large header image to attract users. The card-style theme is responsive and has plenty of room to customize it from color to type to different sidebar options.

  

   

  Hannari

  Hannari is a simple business-oriented theme with a simple design and plenty of bonuses for a free theme. The responsive theme includes tools such as a site map, SEO optimization, a contact form and email newsletter integration. Hannari also includes social media widgets and a variety of customization options so that you can use the theme without worrying that your site will look too much like someone else’s.

  

   

  Writr

  Look like a pro blogger with Writr, a responsive theme in the flat design style that is simply beautiful. The theme looks great on a variety of devices and has extras that are often only associated with premium themes. Some of the best bonuses are the custom header, background and gravatar options and post format icons. Writr also includes an infinite scroll, multiple column width options and different sidebar options. The theme is social-media ready as well (with another set of nifty icons) and includes six color palette options.

  

   

  Hueman

  If a magazine-style theme is your thing, Hueman is a simple theme with a focus on strong visuals. The fully responsive design is modeled in the flat style and is set up for use with high resolution images. This theme makes for a great platform for storytelling or a portfolio.

  

   

  Modern Real Estate

  Modern Real Estate targets real-estate professionals with a plugin that allows for the addition of agent profiles, property listings and customer testimonials. The almost-flat responsive theme has a simple look but can be customized in a variety of ways.

  

   

  White Paper

  White Paper is a super-light blogging theme. The minimal design is designed to showcase simple text and photo content without a lot of bells and whistles. The theme is responsive and incredibly easy to use, making it a simple choice for first-time bloggers.

  

   

  Mountain Creek

  This simple dark theme is designed for showcasing photographs and slideshows. The responsive theme includes a nice sidebar option and plenty of social media icons and tools. The rustic background makes this a perfect fit for sites related to nature or the outdoors. The theme allows for customization as well and includes both Facebook and Twitter integration.

  

   

  ProMax

  This responsive magazine-style theme includes a ton of widgets that make it easy to connect to social media. But the biggest bonus that comes with ProMax is built-in connectivity to Google AdSense and placements for common advertising sizes. The ad-ready features are easy to use and great for a blogger looking to jump into the world of blog revenue generation. ProMax includes a variety of customization options as well, from color to background and customer header and favicon.

  

   

  Time Turner

  Time Turner is designed for designers who still want to work in the skeuomorphic style. The theme features simple textures, shadows and design tricks throughout. The portfolio theme is responsive and offers plenty of great photo and image display spaces. It includes five color options, slider, calendar and search features.

  

   

  The Newswire

  This fully responsive theme is designed for sites that have a focus on news-style content. One of the best features of The Newswire is the large slider. The theme also includes “sticky posts,” multiple navigation options and plenty of color and font customization.

  

   

  WiziApp

  While most of the WordPress themes featured here are for desktop devices or feature responsive templates, WiziApp is designed just for mobile devices. The theme has showcases an app experience for mobile web users and features touch controls for small screens with iPhone, Android and WP8 compatibility. The vertically-based theme includes space for a header image and single column of posts.

  

   

   Have you used any of these themes? Have we missed one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

  
  
  

  Webtones: 1,000 Multimedia Sound Effects Library – only $27!

  
  

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