tips

Photoshop Quick Tips: Advanced Techniques for UI Design

guest — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:18:30 +0000

As with all creative suites there are many ways to achieve your end result in Photoshop. The difference between these approaches lies in the speed they can be created and modified. After talking to fellow designers I discovered I used many techniques that they were unaware existed, doing things "the hard way" instead. So I made this video screencast to share those techniques with the community.

Video

Advanced Photoshop Techniques for UI from Edward Sanchez on Vimeo.

Preset Styles http://cl.ly/8347ee3d593be1a72924
Preset Patterns http://cl.ly/51f799c44c7344185999
Keyboard Shortcuts http://cl.ly/b2a95fde98ba6aa17f2a

About the Author

Edward Sanchez is a UI designer working in Sillicon Valley. For more information about his work visit his personal Web site at htp://edwardsanchez.me or follow him on Twitter at @edwardsanchez.

Targeting Kids: Various Strategies Involved in Designing their Websites

guest — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:53:16 +0000

Have you ever wondered, “ Children don't read to find their identity, to free themselves from guilt, to quench the thirst for rebellion or to get rid of alienation. They have no use for psychology.... They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.... When a book is boring, they yawn openly. They don't expect their writer to redeem humanity, but leave to adults such childish illusions.”

And,there is no doubt that they form the most important targets for the marketeers. The research says that the expenditure of the advertising industry in regard to the children has exploded. This is most probably because children have their own purchasing power. This is in terms of their power to the decision-making within the family, incorporating the tool to take advantage of the 'pester power' that comes in-built in today's kids.

The marketeers follow in-depth study of the developmental, emotional, behavioral, and the needs of the children at different stages of their lives. They tend to sow the seeds of brand recognition/identity at a very young age. And, 'word-of-mouth' forms an integral part of this conquest. Finding the coolest kid in and around, and then, enjoying the fruit is another successful way, but actually accompanies to what we call, Online Marketing and Buzz Marketing.

“Online marketing is potentially way more powerful that the television ever dreamt of being.”

And there is no doubt to the fact that today, it has become really important for all the web designers to learn to design a website that creates an ever-lasting impact on the psyche of children. This post has actually been written to highlight the trends and practices one should follow while designing a website for children. And, it is actually true when it is said that one needs to be extra-particular regarding the way he/she handles the design, because kids are the most vulnerable section of the society and tend to be molded in the right direction.

Here is the list that would help you cater the attention of the kids audience.

Stimulation Is the key

To be able to stimulate a child's senses, is a task that requires a toil and to be handled with care. The senses play a key role when you see something for the first time. Step into the shoes of a kid, and try and visualise things.

Have you ever tried and think what captures a kid's attention at the first go? No...?

Then, the answer is the bright colours. As we all know that colours form an integral part of our lives. The more bright the colour is, the more happy our mood tends to be. The choice of the colours and the combinations that a designer tends to choose becomes really important. The choice of the bright, variety of happy-go-lucky colours such as, yellow, pink, bright red, green, orange, blue, etc. proves to be a choice and creates an everlasting impact on the children.

Mood of the website is also a determining factor in the website creation. A positive, cheerful, and a 'smiling' website tends to result in creating in baiting more and more of the kids towards the particular brand.

For children, though creativity is an essential element, yet, children tend to follow recognisable elements. The designers ought to incorporate the maximum they can, in this respect. As we know that children are the most related to the elements of Nature, such as, trees, birds, fruits, sun, snow, moon, grass, and may more. Try and incorporate them in your designs. I am hundred and one percent sure that they would never fail to relate to your site.

Try and think large

Large does not mean that you need to widen the scope of your design and the content, but it is actually using the larger than life figures and the characters to be able to create a platform for the kids audience to develop a relationship between your brand website and themselves.

There is no denying to the fact that children tend to relate themselves to the animated characters. Mickey, Donald, Barbie, Dora & the Backpack, and many more being their favourites. They are naturally drawn towards these characters and doubles the chances of baiting more and more visitors.

There is a need to emphasise on the need to allow the child's imagination run into a fantasy world and then, see how well you are able to grab hold of their fascinating world.

If we talk about the navigation system in the world of the websites for the kids, it is actually very important for you to relate them as well. A total cartoon-like theme, a kind of story-telling pattern where they can find a novel scramble of their favourite cartoon characters would bear unbelievable results for sure.

Interaction is the another key

As we already mentioned that stimulation is the first key in any process, similarly interaction becomes the another. Interaction has always played a key role in one's life and rhythm is the basis of any life.

If children are allowed to play and given a scope for entertainment, they would love to visit your site again and again. Animations, Flash designs, and sounds are the keys to a successful kids website. We have already discussed that a kids' website would be completely different from the regular websites and the trends they follow.

Interactive videos, and yes, the Interactive Games... how can we forget that? You need to follow a habit of educating the kids audience at every step in a very unique manner so that even their parents encourage their children to follow your website. Allow them to sparkle their own creativity. Let them enjoy colouring, something tangible. Avail your website with the printable designs so that even they can let their nourishing creative juices flow. Try and not forcefully incorporate any stuff in their minds.

Gone are the days when a designer tend to follow a set pattern and the preconceived notions for designing a website. There is a lot more you can do to your website. Just as you made the design larger than life, you can make out of the box and a lot of creative cursors for the website. According to the theme, create a unique and yet, attractive cursor with a lot of glittery, and shining effects. Get away from the conventional methods of navigation used in the regular website.

See... there is no denying to the fact that there is a lot more scope to the to creativity and actually kids are fun to work with. But, at the same time they ought to be handled with the utmost care. There is a need to incorporate in the sense of responsibility from the designer as well as the company's side as well. There is a need to be able to develop in that level of trust with the kids' parents so that they don't have any problem. You tend to educate the kids with a lot of user interactivity.

Last,but not the least, its actually quite helpful if you test your website beforehand. An extensive test is actually quite apt and help you observe and analyse the shortcomings and the positive side of your website. There is no doubt that creating and developing kids centered website is a difficult task but its actually more similar to going back in your childhood days once again, where you get to connect with the Nature, colours, larger than life characters once again.

About the Author

This post is shared by PixelCrayons, a creative web design and development agency that specializes in custom web design & development, PSD to HTML service, CMS & E-Commerce solutions.

Web Localisation is Important... but Why and How?

guest — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:09:32 +0000

Today, Internet is the fastest and the most reliable source to reach out to the international market. Participating in the international trade, and that too just one click away, avails you to incur maximum profits. But, how come its possible? You set up a business website of your own, and what next...?

“Globalisation was a deep trend pushed by technology and right ideas, as much as anything else.”

If we talk about the International market, if we do not modify a product to usable and accessible to the market all across the globe, then, what's the use? This is actually what the World Wide Web is meant for. It is a medium that supports web localisation, which has actually become a necessity.

Language barriers

“Thought is the blossom, language the bud, and action the fruit behind it.”

It's not that every person in the world knows the English language. Its no longer the International language and web localisation surpasses all the boundaries, and incorporating almost all the foreign languages. No website is alien to anyone now.

Boosts up the revenue

Obviously, if web localisation is accessible to all the people in and around the world, that would multiply the chances of a good revenue. Website localisation is a huge investment, and is not an easy process to handle. So, a good web designing and development agency is what you need, who can actually understand the cross cultural aspect of a web based business.

Then, what do we need for this? A good and a creative website that incorporates all the cultural considerations in mind so that the outcome is accompanied by the capability to lure almost everyone's interest. There is no denying to the fact that not everyone is pleased by your site, but trying to adapt considering each and every cultural aspect in the mind is something of the priority these days.

Now, coming to the main aspect, if we stressing on to the concept of web localisation, we need to create a website that suits the purpose.

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.”

By Louis Nizer

This is what a designer has to do while designing a website. There are some aspects that needs to be considered while designing any website. And they are as follows—

1. The Content

As mentioned again and again that content is the King, and only the vibrant colours and a nice layout won't do anything for you. Keeping the visitors' requirements in mind, you need to keep the content as informative as you can.

And, if we talking about the language being the global aspect, we need to keep in mind the different writing systems and scripts. The use of the Unicode is quite essential, which is a standard numeric representation of characters that could be used for over 90 scripts, and has a a repertoire of over 100,000 characters. Almost all the standardised web design applications support Unicode documents, giving you the option to choose the language of your web page.

2. Colour

Colours play a different role in every culture and, what is the most important thing is that they are of a significance because the first thing that someone notices are colours one carries.

If we take example of the Chinese civilisation, red colour represents good luck, symbolised by the element Fire, happiness, and joy.
While, in North America and Western Europe, it represents danger or passion, but on the other hand, it is known as a symbol for purity.
Similar to this, when it comes to the colour black, where it represents death in the Western culture, white represents the same in the East.

This does not mean that you need to have different colour scheme for everyone, but its something of importance that you need to understand before deciding on to the colour scheme.

3. Graphics

What do you understand by this? It may mean that there are still some areas where 'the so-called revealing imagery, would not be acceptable. Here we go like this, when we talk in terms of graphics and flash images in the web world. A more simple version to the ones who have slow Internet connections, and the other ones for the speedy connections, is the most appropriate technique to the problem of graphics and imagery.

While considering the fact on a global level, then, you need to be pretty sure about such aspects so that it does not hinder in baiting the potential customers worldwide.

4. Horizontal-ism Is the Key

There is no doubt to the fact that there are different reading styles when we talk about the languages. For example, the Arabic language is read right to left, and many others as such.

Therefore, it becomes really important when it comes to the scrolling navigation bar. Horizontal-ism is the key and it saves you from the technicalities involved with the different languages. A vertical navigation bar is not universal. Therefore, horizontal-ism is the key you ought to follow if you stepping into the 'e-world' and to incorporate the international success in your business.

Give variations in the foreign standard, if you considering localisation becomes a real important factor. And, “We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization,“ once said Kofi Annan.

This is what we are considering in this era of a “virtual” global market. The websites form an integral part in the current scenario. They tend to form the mirror image of an individual, organisation, corporate, or be of everyone that relates to that particular site. Therefore, website localisation forms an integral part if we want to consider the global market.

About the Author

Jenny Warner is from PixelCrayons, a creative web design and development agency that specializes in custom web design & development, markup services, CMS & ecommerce solutions.

Public Question: Dealing with Creative Block

abduzeedo — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:59:40 +0000

This post is part of our new series of articles in which we will be answering questions related to design, inspiration and creative process sent by our readers via email. If you have any questions, let us know. Send them via email to abduzeedo@abduzeedo.com with Public Questions as subject.

Question

What is your top recommendation for avoiding uninspiration in graphic design as a job?

Amanda Macedo

Avoid having days too rigidly planned. I hate routine and try to steer from it as much as I can. Of course that's not always a realistic goal, but I think it's important to dedicate some time whenever possible to doing nothing and letting your mind wander. You'll come to find that often times that's when creativity flows best and you'll be most inspired. I get hit with the best ideas when I'm in the shower. Try it.

Be active in the design community. Sharing links and discussing ideas is vital to being constantly inspired. Load up your Twitter feed with designers and bloggers and engage them in conversation. If not that, then simply listen to what they have to say and the interesting things they share. You're connected to so many people on the Internet; take advantage of it.

Subscribe to RSS feeds. This is probably your best bet to avoid being uninspired. I often start off my day with a cup of coffee, a poptart, and a solid hour going through my Google reader. These mornings make all the difference because they get my creative juices flowing. Also: use Feedly (thanks, boyfriend).

Surround yourself with passionate creative people. My social circle once consisted of people with a wide range of interests and hobbies. While this in part is great because it opens you to different things and new ideas, it can also at times be a little discouraging because you have no one to fuel your passion or talk design over coffee with. Get out and meet new people! (Keep your old friends too. Nobody likes a fickle friend…)

Fabiano Meneghetti

I believe it's really important to have good design briefing about what will have to be done, either for a client's project or personal. If we can get as much details as possible about the project and expectations it will be easier to achieve the goals and the best result.

Besides that a good search for references for inspiration, sketches on paper, which is faster and easier to make some ideas come true, and experimentation will definitely help you to overcome the lack of inspiration.

Another thing I believe is really important is a good workspace, with nice music playing and that you feel comfortable, that definitely makes a lot of difference because makes you want to stay in there working and will help you get inspired :)

Fabio Sasso

I talked a little bit about that in my last post in wich I share my thoughs on creativity and design process. In my opinion the most important thing before starting anything is talk with the client, ask as many questions as possible about the project and the target audience. That will give you the clues to search for inspiration. The same goes for personal projects, ask yourself what you want to do and have a clear idea in your mind, then stick to it otherwise you will be having cool ideas all the time and none of them will turn into real results, you will get frustrated and that's not good.

I also believe that we need to have a good set of skills and visual references so we can automatically start brainstorming ideas. That comes from art and design books, magazines, movies and the web. Inspiration is everywhere, as cheesy as it might sound it is totally true, the secret is how to find the right now.

Image inspired by the movie Clash of the Titans

Another thing I do when after a few hours working on a project and not getting satisfied with the results is stop everything and go to the GYM or to run a few miles. That really helps me to freshen up my mind and ideas. Most of the times I will get some answers or new ideas.

Paulo Gabriel

I think one must avoid all preconceived notions on the subject you're designing for. You must be set free of these strings, so that your design is not tendentious. Along with that, it's important to learn the subject and see it as an insider.

Your answer

We really want to hear from you as well and we believe that sharing opinions and knowledge is the best way to evolve not only as individuals but the whole industry, so please, leave a comment with your answer for the question above.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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What I have learned after almost 4 years of Abduzeedo

abduzeedo — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:15:58 +0000

It’s been almost 4 years since I started Abduzeedo and my life has changed in ways I could never imagine. In particular when it comes to meeting new people and learning new things.

Because of the blog and its visibility around the world, I have been invited to talk at many universities and conferences worldwide. I'll be the first to admit that I am far from being a good public speaker, but to get an opportunity like that is really cool. I'm always learning from these experiences, and that in itself is awesome enough. When I ask people what they want me to talk about at these events they always say, "Talk about how you made the blog popular", or "Talk about how you make money from the blog". That leads me to think that all everybody wants is fame and money. Well… what else might you want?

I can tell you one thing, if you do something just because of the money and the fame it’s pretty hard to get both because your decisions are made based on this logic and by this logic we sometimes close doors to greater good. There's this really good book by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It talks about this:

Gladwell's conclusion, after studying how people make instant decisions in a wide range of fields from psychology to police work, is that we can make better instant judgments by training our mind and senses to focus on the most relevant facts—and that less input (as long as it's the right input) is better than more. Perhaps the most stunning example he gives of this counterintuitive truth is the most expensive war game ever conducted by the Pentagon, in which a wily marine officer, playing "a rogue military commander" in the Persian Gulf and unencumbered by hierarchy, bureaucracy and too much technology, humiliated American forces whose chiefs were bogged down in matrixes, systems for decision making and information overload. But if one sets aside Gladwell's dazzle, some questions and apparent inconsistencies emerge. If doctors are given an algorithm, or formula, in which only four facts are needed to determine if a patient is having a heart attack, is that really educating the doctor's decision-making ability—or is it taking the decision out of the doctor's hands altogether and handing it over to the algorithm? Still, each case study is satisfying, and Gladwell imparts his own evident pleasure in delving into a wide range of fields and seeking an underlying truth.

Why do I bring this up? I have some examples in my life that might enlighten you further.

The Robbery

In 2006 I was just a graphic and web designer doing my best to deliver good quality work. I noticed that the blogosphere was getting bigger and that this social media thing was the future. But I always had some excuse to not get into it…usually external factors such as, I don’t have time for such a thing, or nobody will pay attention to what I say, or there are guys much better than I. My brother had a blog back in those days and he kept asking me why I didn’t and that I should start one. I was very stubborn until something happened.

Towards the end of November 2006 my office was robbed and with that I lost my laptop and backup disks. That was a key factor that led me to start Abduzeedo. This whole thing made me forget those excuses and simply do something…which is exactly what I did.

First logo

I learned that sometimes we have to think less and do more, because when we have too much information it’s pretty hard to make a decision. And also, this information might suffer the influence of other people’s opinions as well.

Doing what I love helped me improve my skills

Because of the blog some great opportunities started appearing. One in particular helped me to evolve a lot: writing for PSDTUTS. When Collis invited me I accepted on the spot and was pretty happy about it, but when I talked to some friends they always asked, "You're going to write tutorials for a competitor?"

Well, I didn’t even think about it that way. I just wanted a motivator to push me to explore and learn more about Photoshop. Plus, they were also paying me for those tutorials, so that was amazing.

I learned Photoshop so much in those days and it was so much fun. I loved writing those tutorials especially trying to simplify effects and share with the community.

Writing for PSDTUTS turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done for Abduzeedo. After the few months I wrote for them the traffic on Abduzeedo grew considerably and besides that, more people got to know me. As a result, I was invited to write for magazines and other publications as well.

Digital Arts Tutorial

Traveling

Well this is something that doesn’t make much sense at first, so let me explain. In 2008 I decided that I would go to the US for the summer. I told my business partner, Fabiano Meneghetti and he understood and totally supported me. However some people thought I was crazy simply leaving my company here and going out there. Even though I thought it was the right thing to do, those bad comments got me thinking and sometimes made me a bit unsure and insecure about my decision. Nevertheless, I went.

After those 3 months in the US I got the chance to meet so many people, and even got a job which ended up paying for all my traveling expenses. But the most important thing was that I learned so much from that experience. I also was able to improve a little bit of my english with the help of my amazing cousin Amanda Macedo AKA @amlight.

The same happened in my other trips, and in the last one it was no different. I had just gotten back to Brazil when some guys invited me to join them in this new venture: an american startup with a mobile platform project. So, we went to San Francisco. While planning the trip I was kind of scared after looking at rent prices. Nevertheless, I went…again. And thank God I did.

Going to San Francisco was incredible and once again the experience I had was gold. If I had stayed here and done the right thing in terms of logic, I never would have visited Adobe and talked about my work to the Photoshop engineers or shaken hands with Russ Brown. I never would have met Trey Ratcliff and seen him speak at Google, or hang out with Vitor Lourenço one of the mighty designers behind Twitter.

Rodrigo Mazzilli (wellknown.as), Vitor Lourenço (Twitter) and I at Twitter HQ

With Bert Monroy, the master of the masters :)

As you can see a lot happens when you make a decision. Of course there’s always a downside. Nothing after-all is perfect. Life would be boring otherwise. Also, everything takes time. It’s sort of like planting…you'll never get results right away, because you need to get experience, learn and be prepared. We have to persist if we believe in what we’re doing. At least it was like that with Abduzeedo. It took over one year for the results to start appearing.

I believe the most important thing in life is to do what you like and make decisions based on your own opinion and not based on what other people think. I know that's pretty much what Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech at Stanford and it makes so much sense. Or perhaps it makes more sense now after these almost 4 years of blogging, because that is the most important thing I have learned. In other words, put yourself out there, have passion, confidence, and persistence.

About the author

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Tips on How to Become a Better Designer

abduzeedo — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:19:56 +0000

I've been working and, you could say, living as a designer for over 12 years now. Throughout these years a lot has happened, all of which caused me to grow as a designer and learn new things. In the beginning I had a vague idea of what was necessary to get better and succeed in the design industry, but it took me quite a few years to discover some basic concepts that really made me become a better designer. I will share some with you today.

Promote your work

"Put yourself out there, being awesome is long tail" - Allan Branch

In the beginning I was naive. I thought if you were good enough people would find you. I was never promoting my work until my office got robbed. Then I decided to create Abduzeedo and put my work out there. I made a Flickr account, DeviantArt, Behance... you name it. These services are much more important in promoting yourself than an own site can be. If you use the right tags and produce good work, these sites will make you more visible to the community.

Tips

Start posting your work on sites like Flickr, DeviantArt, Behance, Carbonmade.
Participate in groups on sites such as Flickr. It's an easy and simple way to get your work out there.
Eventually create a separate portfolio site as well. It will give you more credibility.

Illustration tag on Behance

Smashing Network is selecting good blogs to be part of their network, when it comes to Smashing Magazine, we cannot expect anything less than let's say smashing ;)

Experiment

Your best work is your expression of yourself. Now you may not be the greatest at it, but when you do it, you’re the only expert - Frank Gehry

I think one of the main things that I really learned, is that personal projects are the best way to evolve when it comes to techniques and aesthetics. Being our own client and consumer, gives us the freedom and time to do what we want. Every time I see a nice effect in movies, posters, magazines, books, etc., I make a mental note to myself and then go home and try and recreate that effect. Doing that has really increased my arsenal of skills. It gives me more confidence when I have to start a new work for a client. Another great thing about experimenting is that it makes your portfolio bigger, better, and more versatile.

Tips

Try to recreate effects you see and like just to learn the technique.
Experiment with new trends that way you will be able to absorb those details that characterize the trend and apply them to future projects if necessary.

"Chocolatopia" - Personal illustration, that I worked on during 2008 in my lazy spare time. with some longer breaks... Basically it's a photo montage, with some strong retouch / paint work and some 3d additions. - Pawel Nolbert

Personal project inspired by a scene from the Ironman movie

This is a Personal Project to launch my nw website to middle of November. A little preview of the new image and brand of PLAYFUL. A lot of fluorescent colors, shapes, geometries, typography and tones of LOVE. - Pablo Alfieri

Encourage Feedback

Feedback is really important for designers. Sometimes you might get a lot of criticism, but that's okay, it's part of the game. The secret is to use the criticism as a motivator to evolve and not as a reason to get angry. You might even get some useful tips and advices. Sometimes we get so used to what we're doing that we become oblivious to some details in our work that is pretty clear to everybody else, it's important that we let other designers or really just anybody to take a look at our work. The small details are what will make your work better and unique.

Tips

Ask questions when posting your work.
Respond to the comments and post versions of the images with the suggested adjustments.
Never argue or get extremely upset with the criticism, it not only won't help you but it might also ward off others from commenting.

Signalnoise Live Broadcast is a great example from James White on how to interact and get feedback from the community

Give Feedback

“It looks good” is the worst feedback you can get - Whitney Hess

When it comes to design, giving feedback is as important as receiving it. Participate in the community expressing your opinion when people ask. Try not to be rude or cocky. The idea is to help, get help, and evolve. The clash of ideas and point of views will really broaden your design skills.

Comment on posts and sites where images are shared.
Help others by giving valuable tips and ideas.

The easiest way to promote yourself as a designer is by sharing your skills. Before Abduzeedo, I used to experiment in Photoshop, Illustrator, etc but I used to keep them to myself. Then my office was robbed and I lost everything. So I started Abduzeedo and with it, the tutorials. At first the tutorials were just a way for me to backup my files and have a quick overview of my techniques, but some became really popular which made me realize how important it is to share what we know.

I get a lot of emails with people asking me what the point is in making these tutorials and giving the source files away. Well, my answer is simple. I can show someone how to create a light effect or how to use Photoshop filters, but I can't show them how to come up with the idea themselves. The tutorials are about how I use the apps to make the ideas come true.

Tips

Write quick tutorials showing some techniques you think might be useful to others.
Write guest posts for other sites sharing your experiences and thoughts.

Reader tutorial by Chanito

You can even make money by sharing your skills. Sites like PSDTUTS pay you to write for them

Pursue Simplicity

“Design is so simple, that’s why it’s so complicated” -Paul Rand

Less is more. That was one of the Bauhaus mottos almost 100 years ago and it's still new and true, even more now in the internet age where we live with an overflow of information. It's important to be simple and efficient. Everything that is good is simple, but not everything that is simple is good. Making something simple and good isn't easy. It requires a deep understanding of what we have to do and whom we're doing it for, so we can simplify things. I believe simplicity is all about being confident in the thought that less is more and making decisions to remove unnecessary features and elements.

"Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent". — Joe Sparano

Like I said, it took me more than 10 years to fully understand these things. I can call it experience because most of them I learned through my own mistakes. Now it's up to you to see if it'll be worthwhile for you. These aren't exactly rules, just thoughts and suggestions. I would love to hear your take on becoming better designers.

Magazine cover for Super Interessante based on a tutorial that the client saw and liked.

About the author

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Creating a Graphic Portfolio Without a Client

paul0v2 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:34 +0000

The main problem designers face while beginning their careers is to find a client without having a portfolio to show. It’s hard to find a client to trust you to design him something without having any quality previous work to show him that you can make it. Here you will see and learn many ways that you can find to create a good quality portfolio without having that first client.

Creating a portfolio without a client doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do any work. This is not going to be easy and quick; this will take a lot of work and time but it all pays off at the end.

Be Organized

Organization is the key for saving time and being more productive. If you willing to put time and effort to work on creating a portfolio that can set your freelancing career you will have to organize your self and make a schedule in order to be able to produce more. Organize your work space and set working hours, that’s the only way you going to get yourself to produce something.

For more time and organization tips read: How To Find Time For… Everything!

Work for Yourself

Work on personal projects that can further help promote your work. Designing something for yourself will be your first task, the good thing about working for yourself is that you have total freedom on the design but remember that is very important to set deadlines based on the time you have to work the same way you would if the work was for a client.

Design Wallpapers

Start working on a set of wallpapers, 3 to 5 wallpapers based on a theme, also make sure to transform them into iphone wallpapers as well. When you done creating your portfolio this will help promote your work.

Wallpapers by Pablo Alfieri

Design Posters

Designing Posters and printing them can give you an extra edge to your portfolio and give a future client the feeling that you have good knowlegde of what you doing both in designing and printing. The same way you worked on a set of wallpapers work on a set of posters based on a theme, that can help you create a series of posters related to each other which can be a rich set on your portfolio. In the future you can giveaway a couple prints of your posters to help promote your work.

Typography Posters by Stefano Joker Lionetti

Design a Calendar

Designing a nice and creative calendar can show a lot of your creativity and print solutions, this is a chance to make something inovative to show your future clients what you capable of creating. In the future you can giveaway a couple calendars and also promote your work.

Design a Picture Book

Select a few of your own photos and make a nice picture book, mix it with some good typography and have a one of a kind piece in your portfolio. This can also bring the interest of your friends and family to getting one too, it all ads up on your portfolio.

Composition and Content by Andre' Wright Jr

Design for Contests

Designing for good contest can put a nice piece on your portfolio and also carry a name to it. Such designs contests like HugoCreate give you the opportunity to work on your own for a big brand. You don't have to win the contest, just by making a good piece to later display on your portfolio is already a win.

Hugo Create work by goshaptichka

Collab Work

Do a collab work with other designers that are in the same situation as yours. It's a great way to expand your work and learn more about working in group. Look for people that are hungry for work just as much as you are and invite them for a private project, trade ideas and built a design concept, at the end it's all going to your portfolio.

Collab work from Matt W. Moore and Magomed Dovjenko

Brand Yourself

Now that you already got some decent and creative pieces on your portfolio it's time to move on and get your self a nice logo and a website, that's another way to improve your portfolio within your own work. Every client that goes in your website will analyze it as well as your portfolio because it's also part of it.
Here is a great article on The Art of Branding Yourself and Your Freelancing Business

Design a Logo

Your first identity client can be you, design a nice logo for yourself to show as reference on your portfolio. Make sure to read Vital Tips For Effective Logo Design

Logo for his own studio by Hoang Rabbit

Design a Website

Designing your own website can be a challenge but at the end it you can say you did, get help from web designers if you need. There is a lot of services that convert PSD to HTML in case coding is a problem. Remember to stay away from templates in order to remain original.

Design a Business Card

Now that you got a nice portfolio with a website to display them, it's always good to have a nice business car that you can give away everywhere you go, remember that the business card will represent you and your work when you not there. Here are some great samples and good finish options to print it: 5 Finishing Options to Print a Business Card

Each worker got their own business card at ID Branding

Conclusion

If you follow through you will get the experience of designing different projects for different medias and learn a lot on your own with your own mistakes. Building a portfolio on your own without clients is very difficult, very difficult to stay focus on something that doesn't pay off right the way.

Make sure to set deadlines to every project and work on it as if it was worth a million dollars, it all pays off in the end.

Now all you need is a client, with a nice portfolio it will be like a lot easier than before.

"Everybody makes mistakes at first; and if a painter never learns what his mistakes are he will never correct them. Therefore test your work; and if you have made mistakes correct them; and don't make the same mistakes again." Leonardo Da Vinci

Good Luck!

About the author

Hi there! I'm Paulo Canabarro, 26 year old web designer - paulocanabarro.com I'm from Brazil currently living and working out of Providence RI, USA. I'm truly passionate about design of all kinds, finding and sharing inspiration here has become part of my life. If you like to know more about me or get in touch visit my website paulocanabarro.com Stock me at Twitter and Dribbble

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Becoming a Professional Creative

matthewreiswig — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:46:41 +0000

If you are considering on becoming a creative professional, you should make an important decision: whether you will admire it or do it. The difference? I always admired great footballers all over the world. But to be a professional soccer player would have meant committing to that lifestyle, including intense training, enduring difficult challenges, and challenging myself physically and mentally. But I decided not to and I'm ok with that. I'm a big fan. I read about it. I follow it. I love to coach my kids and watch lots of games. I don't do it. I admire it.

Decide whether you will be a hobbyist or a professional.

Here's a good example. My wife makes amazing cakes. My grandmother gave her a family recipe and some awesome secret methods that result in beautiful and scrumptious cakes. Every time she makes a cake for some event, she's asked to make another one. Inevitably, people comment, "You should go into business!." However, making cakes isn't her passion. It's a hobby that she loves. And if she made it into a business, she'd probably end up hating it. Instead, she takes the comment as a compliment and keeps making cakes for fun. Remember that you have you are faced with deciding whether it's something you love to do (leisure) or something you will do to pay the bills (work). Be mindful of whether you want to turn your hobby into a career.

If your answers are "admire it" or "hobbyist," then enjoy it as such. If your answers are "do it" and "professional", please read on.

1. Know what it takes.

What is good design? What are the principles? Who is a good designer? Why are they good? What is good code? What are the standards?

2. Start from scratch.

A good cook starts from scratch. So does a good website designer. Learn at least a basic working knowledge of html, css, typography, and grid-system design.

3. Give yourself assignments.

You are at an awesome time in your career where you can do anything. So do it. Build a website for someone who needs it and tell them you need a guinea pig. Tell them you'll do it for free as long as you have zero restrictions. Non-profits are usually great for this sort of thing. Then, pretend they are your best client. Blow them out of the water with brilliant ideas. Use illustration, stop-motion, ink in liquid, paper or hand puppets to execute and solve their problems.

4. Get out of your comfort zone.

In order to be inspired, I have purchased books, dvds, and downloads from Japan, the UK, Italy, and other places around the globe. I've covered a wide span of subjects, including architecture, interior design, urban art, fabric, and fashion. It's important to also find non-computer methods to solve problems.

5. Politely bow to the greats, but don't worship them.

These great designers are your peers. Read about their methods. Respect their work. Then go create your own unique style. There's no problem with establishing a network of colleagues -- follow them on Flickr, stalk them on Twitter -- whatever. But there's way too many people right now who worship people on the web, steal their ideas, copy their work, and devalue the industry.

6. Be great at something.

You've heard the old saying, "It's better to be great at one thing than good at a lot of things." It's true. At the beginning, you'd be smart to learn a little about everything. But eventually, be great at something. Design or front-end development, back-end development, or user interface design. It took me 8 years, but I finally figured out I was pulled in too many directions. Now, I focus a majority of my time on interactive design and brand management.

7. Ignore trends.

It's fine to check out nice sites every once in a while, especially to recognize standards and user interaction. But the longer you look at other sites, the more likely that your sites will look a lot like them. Take them for what they are, then throw them out before you design. Someone, somewhere started that trend by doing it different than everyone else. (See #5)

8. Remember to solve the problem.

It's usually not "just a website" for most. Often times, people are sinking a lot of money into the investment and would like to see some kind of return. So they push their own goals, needs and desires onto the project. But remember to solve the problem for which real people are using the website. A good solution gracefully balances all aspects.

9. Avoid templates.

Most of them are not good. They'll give you bad habits and more headaches than you would've imagined.

10. Give great attention to detail.

I can't tell you how many times I've huddled around a computer talking about whether a pixel or an extra click matters. If you want to make great websites, it does.

11. Take advantage of content management systems.

BUT understand what they do first. A CMS is a great way to get tools that you couldn't program yourself. But don't think for a minute that you've solved the client's problem simply by installing one. (See #8)

12. Build your own portfolio site.

This is your personal place to experiment. Don't feel like you have to represent yourself as a "company" or show a bunch of sites. But this is one place where you can blog, install things you wouldn't want to try out on other people's sites, and try out new visual concepts.

So now what do you think? Is becoming a full-time creative the right path for you? When you're making the decision, remember that becoming a creative requires a lot of effort, so you shouldn't make the decision lightly. This isn't like deciding whether or not to mow your own yard. See you online.

The Importance of Being Offline

PauloGabriel — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:34:08 +0000

Designers tend to stay online for a long time during the day, sometimes more than a third of the day, and that can get us really, really tired. Not only that, but our productivity will fall like a meteor. The solution may be outside the office... it may be offline!

Taking a time off during your day is something really important to recharge your batteries after a long and sometimes stressfull work process. There are plenty things for you to do that will refresh your mind for the day. Perhaps catching a movie in your local movie theater.

Watching a cool movie will definetely pump your brain juices and give you some sweet ideas for designs. For example, after watching Iron Man, Fabio wrote an awesome tutorial on how to do Iron Man's View Interface. That was only one tutorial made by one person after watching a single movie. Could you guys imagine what could be done if many designers started working after a cool movie?

Also you could go to the theaters and watching a cool play. There are really fantastic plays out there waiting for you to assist. Comedies, tragedies, and all kinds of cool stuff. For instance, watching Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet might inspire you to do a cool Valentine's day piece.

Music is good way to inspire you. Go to concerts! Depending where you live, big music stars might visit your city and deliver great concerts. You should really catch those. If they don't go to your city, there gotta be local bands that will do just the trick. The important thing is being in touch with music and all the visual appeals like the light setups, the scenario, and all that.

Muse

Another good place to go are museums. You don't have to be in another city to go to the museum... many times there are good ones in our own cities which we've never visited. Look for all the cool ones, like technology, arts and archeologic ones. These are great sources of inspiration, because in someway you get a "retro" feeling, of what was cool centuries ago. And don't forget, retro is cool! ;p

And also, a good walk outside might just do the trick. Getting fresh air into your lungs and getting in touch with people is a good way to get the daily stress out of your system. Go for a run, for a walk in the park. There, you might catch some cool sightings such as the sunset, birds flying, and more. Enjoy the nature! Also, pay attention to details, such as your city's architecture.

I've said that before, but inspiration is everywhere. Actually, I really think that inspiration is not an external thing, but something that lies inside us, waiting for something to trigger its way out. And virtually anything can trigger this escape... a movie, a play, a walk in the park. It's up to you how you'll get your batteries charged! And now a little quote for you guys:

"Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

About the author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo Gabriel, designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil, born in 1984. I have worked as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobby for me since 1999. Here in Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! For more cool stuff, you may also follow me on Twitter.

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Design Tips: Educating Clients to say Yes

abduzeedo — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:09:55 +0000

Design is all about providing the best solution for a problem to a target audience. That's at least the simple way to describe what we do right? Well, some times it can't be harder to make people (and for that I mean clients) understand that and approve a design based in goals and not in a personal opinion based on taste.

Even though we can manage to make the client approve a design, the worst thing is when after they approved they decide that the design is not good anymore and it will be necessary to change a little thing or to add that other thing, and in the end what we got was a Frankenstein design. So what can we do?

Paul Boag, a famous web designer and host of one of the coolest web design podcasts out there, Boagworld, did a great presentation on that subject on the last Future of Web Design Conference and he has some tips for us on how to make clients understand our work.

The keynote was called "Educating Clients to Say Yes", and he talks about how to make clients understand what we do, and some tips on how can we make they approve our work. I highly recommend you to check that out right now.

Also Paul Boag is behind a nice web service called GetSignOff that is exactly about that, getting your design approved. You may present your site designs, manage feedback and also organize multiple versions of your designs in a clear way:

Do you struggle to get design sign off?

You may produce the best website designs ever, but getting sign off is always painful. Presenting designs to distant clients and managing their feedback is challenging.

GetSignOff provides a mechanism for presenting your site designs, managing feedback and organizing multiple versions of a design.

The service is really nice and simple, you create a client and upload your design with the explanation of your approach to it, also you can add notes directly to the design. Then you send to the client a link to a page where he can see that and leave comments. Once you have the client's feedback you can revise the design and send it a new version.

For more information visit the GetSignOff website, they have really good videos showing how it works and give it a try. I think the best way to make clients understand what you do and respect you is showing that you are really professional. You have a very organized system to present and deliver your work, and the most important: you have documentation of the work you have done.

Sneak Peak at GetSignOff.com from Paul Boag on Vimeo.

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All About Photoshop

PauloGabriel — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:14:09 +0000

What's up, guys? This weekend we had an awesome article brought by Fabiano, with lots of great links, inspiration and all that. And to start the week very well, what about some Photoshop articles and videos to get you all set up? ;)

101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes

This got to be a World Record. Deke managed to teach us 101 photoshop tips in just 5 minutes... It's true that he can get a little bit cheesy in this video, but still it's really great to see his joy doing this.

Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

Everyone loves to save time, and here's about every existing Photoshop keyboard shortcut. I knew a lot of those, but I didn't know that there were so many friggin' shortcuts. I gotta memorize those! :D

Photoshop Battle

What about a little chat about Photoshop? Well, during the FOWD in London, we got to see some cool presentations, and this cool Photoshop Battle between men and women. Lots of fun and inspiration. :)

Photoshop Battle - FOWD London 2008 from Future of Web Design on Vimeo.

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How to Make Good Design Decisions

PauloGabriel — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:55:53 +0000

When it comes to design, working a piece itself is not the complete process. There are lots of planning, researching and a little bit more planning. And it's always good to know what other people say about that process. Dan Saffer found a good way to go.

About a year and a half ago, when I first started thinking about the material that would eventually become UX Intensive: Interaction Design, I wondered what it was that helped designers make those leaps of faith, the great guesses, that we have to make on projects. So I came up with this talk, How to Make Good Design Decisions. -Dan Saffer

| View | Upload your own

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Giving your design a retro style

abduzeedo — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:13:48 +0000

My last Pixelmator tutorial was inspired by the DVNO clip, which was full of design inspiration from the 80’s. But where does this inspiration come from? How can you give your work that retro feeling?

The first thing to do is finding references, images that represent those years. These images will give us an idea of the colors, the typography style, and the graphic elements that were mostly used in that period of time. In my case I chose the video-game influence in that decade.

In the early 1980s, the first generation of computer graphics in arcade games produced the popular Space Invaders arcade game (first released in 1978), followed by Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger. Towards the end of the decade, home video game consoles began to outstrip the arcade game. The Japanese Famicom was released to the American public as the Nintendo Entertainment System (also known as the NES) in 1985 and renewed public interest in video games following a brief decline caused by the Video Game Crash of 1983. Wikipedia

For my Pixelmator tutorial for example, I've used some of these ideas like the perspective grid and the color palette using red, green, and blue with a dark background. Besides that, it was inspired by the DVNO clip which is full of 80's design.

Now if we take a look at the James White’s Atari design, we will see, again, where some of the elements came from and why his work gives us the feeling of the Atari’s era.

So the question is where can we find these images and references? Fortunately for us we, there are such sites as Flickr, Youtube, Wikipedia, where we can learn more about that time in history and check some pictures of products, designs, and videos that were produced on those days.

Below I list some images I used for reference to my Pixelmator tutorial.

More References

atari.jpg

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Drawing an Awesome Vintage Leaf Font

PauloGabriel — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:52:28 +0000

We don't get to see much of how to make cool fonts from scratch but at Sam Alfano's there's a whole section about it! Pretty cool site, pretty cool tips, like this one.

Most of us love vintage stuff. From pictures to movie posters and colors. But how about a cool vintage leaf font? Sure! Too bad we don't get to use fonts like this very often. I would be nice! Anyways, check out some images of the process, and remember, to read the process, the full article, visit Sam Alfano's website. He's got it all! ;)

Author: Paulo Antunes | If you want to write an article and have it published here send it via email to abduzeedo[at]abduzeedo.com

leaf_script-S.jpg

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Slogan, you really should use one.

fabiano — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:25:18 +0000

When I visit a site for the very first time, at first I just wanna know what does that company do. Making your visitor look for what your site is meant for, what it sells ou what kind of service you pay is a great step to make him go away before you can even blink once.

And that's why you should use slogans, short frases, that explain the main purpose of your site or even instigate the visitor to get to know more about it.

Here we'll show you some slogan use references in sites headers. Strong frases, big fonts, straight to the visitors' eyes and some time with some kind of humor. Isn't it good to find something before you even think of looking for it?

Author: Fabiano Meneghetti | If you want to write an article and have it published here send it via email to abduzeedo[at]abduzeedo.com

superawesome_slogan.png

About the author

I'm from Brazil, co-founder of Zee with Fabio. Nowadays I like to play with Fireworks, Photoshop and improve my skills in CSS. If you wanna request some posts, please feel free to contact me or follow on Twitter.

tips

Photoshop Quick Tips: Advanced Techniques for UI Design

Video

Further Reading:

About the Author

Targeting Kids: Various Strategies Involved in Designing their Websites

Stimulation Is the key

Try and think large

Interaction is the another key

Recommended Reading

About the Author

Web Localisation is Important... but Why and How?

Language barriers

Boosts up the revenue

By Louis Nizer

1. The Content

2. Colour

3. Graphics

4. Horizontal-ism Is the Key

About the Author

Public Question: Dealing with Creative Block

This post is part of our new series of articles in which we will be answering questions related to design, inspiration and creative process sent by our readers via email. If you have any questions, let us know. Send them via email to abduzeedo@abduzeedo.com with Public Questions as subject.

Question

Amanda Macedo

Fabiano Meneghetti

Fabio Sasso

Paulo Gabriel

Your answer

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What I have learned after almost 4 years of Abduzeedo

It’s been almost 4 years since I started Abduzeedo and my life has changed in ways I could never imagine. In particular when it comes to meeting new people and learning new things.

The Robbery

Doing what I love helped me improve my skills

Traveling

Recommended reading

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Tips on How to Become a Better Designer

Promote your work

Tips

Experiment

Tips

Encourage Feedback

Tips

Give Feedback

Share

Tips

Pursue Simplicity

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Creating a Graphic Portfolio Without a Client

Be Organized

Work for Yourself

Design Wallpapers

Design Posters

Design a Calendar

Design a Picture Book

Design for Contests

Collab Work

Brand Yourself

Design a Logo

Design a Website

Design a Business Card

Conclusion

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Becoming a Professional Creative

1. Know what it takes.

2. Start from scratch.

3. Give yourself assignments.

4. Get out of your comfort zone.

5. Politely bow to the greats, but don't worship them.

6. Be great at something.

7. Ignore trends.

8. Remember to solve the problem.

9. Avoid templates.

10. Give great attention to detail.

11. Take advantage of content management systems.

12. Build your own portfolio site.