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Essential visual design principles for web designers | Web Design 101. Every design seeks to either create a sense of unity among disparate elements, or creatively break that unity to encourage a particular action. The principles covered here will help you do both. Thankfully, there are a few simple but powerful guidelines for creating — and disrupting — unified designs. And we have the Gestalt psychologists to thank for that. If you’re not familiar, it’ll help to understand that gestalt means: A structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts (Sounds kinda like a website, right?) Basically, the Gestalt psychologists were searching for a way to explain how human beings arrive at meaningful (and/or delusive) perceptions in a chaotic world. These 4 fundamental principles expand into 13 specific rules of thumb about visual experiences, which we can all keep in mind to create better designs. 1.

But hold up. 2. 3. 4. Designer's guide to DPI. DPI or Dots Per Inch is a measure of spatial dot density initially used in print. It's the number of ink drops your printer can put in an inch. The more dots per inch, the sharper your image. This concept is applies to computer screens under the name PPI for Pixels Per Inch. Same principle: It counts the number of pixels your screen displays per inch. For a concrete and relatable example, Windows computers had an initial PPI of 96. Asking someone what the size of a pixel is is a good way to confuse him or her because it’s a trick question. Here’s an applied example: A Mac Cinema Display 27” has a PPI of 109, which means that it displays 109 pixels per inch of screen.

As you might have noticed in my explanations, “Resolution” stands for PPI, in this case “109” but not “2560x1440”, like you might commonly see everywhere on the web. “2560x1440” is the pixel count, as referred in the first paragraph as “Pixel screen size”. I said virtually because in this case it will be. BOOM! Finger size. How to create a successful design proposal - Spruce Rd.Spruce Rd. So, a potential client just sent you an inquiry for a *dream* project to work on. You get pumped up and so excited! Now, you need to put together an awesome design proposal with hopes that they will select you for their project. When this first happened to me, I was so excited, but quickly realized how much thought + time goes into creating a proposal! Luckily, once you create a basic structure for your design proposal, it is so simple to update — in fact I usually just update one page in InDesign! Here is the basic structure of my proposal: Simple + Attractive Cover Page This is possibly your first impression with the potential client, so make sure to start off on the right foot!

Share a little about you Following the cover page, I like to give a brief paragraph describing my studio. Show a sampling of your portfolio If I have not worked with this potential client before, or if I know they have not seen much of my work, I like to include a selection of my portfolio. Services + Process. A Home Of Glass And Concrete With Canyon Views. Design build studio Walker Workshop have sent us photos of a home they have designed on a property in Beverly Hills, California, that has over 130 protected Oak trees. The architect’s description The Oak Pass main house sits on the top of a 3.5 acre ridge site with panoramic canyon views. The house was sited to take advantage of the views without the house becoming a central visual focus. The massing was reduced by utilizing an “upside down” program with the public spaces located above the bedrooms, which are buried into the hill and protected beneath a vegetated roof.

A seventy five foot long lap pool with infinity edges on three of four sides, bisects the house and slips beneath one of the largest oaks on the property. The house is primarily constructed of structural concrete allowing for long, column free spans. Architect: Walker Workshop Contractor: Walker Workshop Structural Engineer: John Labib & Associates Civil Engineer: Barbara L. Photos by Joe Fletcher. Knowledge Wants To Be Free. What Are Cookies As is common practice with almost all professional websites this site uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer, to improve your experience.

This page describes what information they gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or 'break' certain elements of the sites functionality. For more general information on cookies see the Wikipedia article on HTTP Cookies... How We Use Cookies We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Disabling Cookies You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your browser Help for how to do this). The Cookies We Set If you create an account with us then we will use cookies for the management of the signup process and general administration. We use cookies when you are logged in so that we can remember this fact.

Third Party Cookies. Bild Architects Design A Contemporary Extension For This Home In Melbourne | CONTEMPORIST. Bild Architects designed the renovation and extension of the Blurred House, an original 1930s bungalow in Melbourne, Australia. The architect’s description The first in a series of studies into the adaptation of vernacular Australian suburban typologies, ‘Blurred House’ is a major renovation and extension to an original 1930’s Californian bungalow in Melbourne’s inner-north. Reacting to the established convention of jarring juxtaposition of existing ‘old’ and introduced ‘new’ architectural elements ; the ‘Blurred House’ offers an alternative proposition; that of a blurring between ‘old’ and ‘new’ to produce a hybrid. Gradually transitioning from the vernacular to the contemporary, the division of architectural elements are deliberately ambiguous, producing a unique formal and visual language.

Architect: Bild Architects Photography by TM Photo. The Pole House by F2 Architecture | CONTEMPORIST. F2 Architecture have designed the Pole House, perched high above the scenic Great Ocean Road in Australia. The architect’s description Perched high above the Southern Ocean on Australia’s famous Great Ocean Road, the Pole House by F2 Architecture is a great example of the power of architecture, made possible by the spectacular location combined with the unique experience that a work of architecture can bring to such a unique expanse of coastline.The house sits atop a concrete platform supported by a 13m high pylon built into the steep hillside.

Accessible only by a narrow concrete bridge, the visitor is delivered to an entrance which is recessed into the metal clad walls that face the hillside. As soon as you step on to the bridge you know you are in for something special. In contrast to the scale of the landscape, the house is very modest in proportion, the ideal weekender. The deceptively simple square plan of this house underpins the dramatic experience it delivers. HTML5 UP! Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 Site Templates. 40 Creative Tree Logo Design examples for your inspiration. Showcase: 50 Logos Inspired by Trees. Nature is a major source of inspiration for designers and artists. Often we draw from its motifs in our designs, and often it is just the setting where we express our creativity by sketching under the shade of a tree or overlooking a pond.

Trees in design inspire purity, freshness, greatness and growth. If you are in search of a logo with a natural bent for your business, take a look at the following 50 tree logo designs for inspiration. Industree Thrive Zoo butterfly tree Watertree Tree Family Forest JobForest Artificial Intelligence Management Chemistree The Treehouse Tree Color Oh,tree! LeafTree Tree Clipper Iimaginary Trees treeport forrestrees Legacy Three Olives European digital laboratory Árvore Talltree press The tree of desires Logo Concept WineTree Blue Oak Construction Candy Tree Morning Seeds Benutri Talent Tree BoneTree TreeGuard Sunrise Treecycle Agazzi School type tree Novo-Yurlovo Talking Tree Persian Trees East African Playgrounds ostreech Toy Tree Tree Beauty apine Mangrove.

How to Find Stock Photos That Don't Suck - DesignRope. Gone are the days when using stock photography meant cheesy smiles of people in suits or sub-par clip art style photos. There’s been a growing trend of sites offering high quality stock images, often for free or at low cost. You’ll have no doubt come across many of the images from these sites in blog posts, startup hero images and elsewhere. 1. Unsplash - Free (no attribution required) high quality images. 2. LittleVisuals – 7 Free (no attribution required) images emailed to you every week. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

10 of the best sources for web design inspiration. Are you a web designer looking for the right place to get your creative juices flowing? Look no further — the following list is the perfect remedy for someone stuck-in-a-rut, bored of seeing the same designs over and over. Here are the most inspired, curated, and constantly updated websites around to help your creativity: 1. Awwwards This is the place to find web design inspiration, “the awards for design, creativity, and innovation on the internet.” 2. I love this website because of its extremely creative selections, you never see cookie-cutter designs here. 3. siteInspire This showcase shines through with its numerous filters, which allow you to look up inspiration in the exact field you need. 4.

Pleasant design, big thumbnails, great content: similar to Awwwards, but without as many bells and whistles. 5. The Best Designs has been around for a very long time, since 2001, and it was one of the first web design inspiration sites I used back when I first got started in design. 6. 7. 8. 7 crucial things to know before you start freelancing. I would recommend freelancing to anyone – in particular to those who are in their early 20’s.

It’s one of the best things you can do to develop a firm set of skills, gain financial independence and get a better idea of what you want to achieve in your life. But the beauty of being your own boss and creating your own schedule comes at a cost. You should know the following before you get started: 1. Successful freelancing takes time Don’t expect money showering down from the sky as soon as you jump into this lifestyle. I recommend you give yourself at least three months before expecting to earn any income from your efforts. 2. Few people realize how much work freelancers undertake each and every day. Take vacationsTake time offEat lunchKnow when to stop workingKnow what day of the week it isBe told how much money you are earningBe told how much money you can spend These are all issues freelancers might deal with when they move from being an employee to becoming their own boss. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Tutorial: Convert your original design into a Microsoft Word letterhead template. At the end of a letterhead design project, it’s pretty common to hear your client say: “I want this as an editable letterhead template in Microsoft Word.” They usually don’t own or know how to use advanced graphics-editing programs like Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop, and it simply doesn’t make sense for them to purchase those expensive programs. Microsoft Word is pretty low-tech compared to Illustrator or InDesign; however, that’s what your clients are using and your letterhead design is useless to them if they can’t edit and add content to it, so knowing how to create a Microsoft Word letterhead template is key. Let’s get started. 1. Create your letterhead design We’ve created this example in Illustrator, but Photoshop and InDesign can be used to create letterhead designs too. Create your design in CMYK color mode, and if you’re using photos or complex graphics make sure that they 300ppi or higher, because Microsoft Word compresses all images that you place into it. 2. 3. 4.

Tutorial: Convert your original design into a Microsoft Word letterhead template. Microlaunch - Call for Entry. Lexus Design Award | Design & Innovation. Home - India Design Forum. Organizes the most prestigious design competitions for a global pool of creative talent. Apr 17, 2013 Jan 03, 2013 Oct 29, 2013 Sep 06, 2013 Sep 04, 2013 competition results in collaboration with LEXUS, Japan registrations are closed in collaboration with the GWANGJU INTERNATIONAL DESIGN BIENNALE 2015, KOREA 2166 designers from 88 different countries participated in collaboration with the LEXUS, JAPAN2612 designers from 77 different countries participated in collaboration with Melco Crown Entertainment . 1953 participants from 92 different countries participated in collaboration with Deutsche Bank . 2083 participants from 84 different countries participated. Lexus International, New Luxury Lexus Cars: Amazing In Motion.

Lexus International, New Luxury Lexus Cars: Amazing In Motion.