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16 tips to improve as a graphic designer. Graphic design is a field that is quickly changing, both creatively and technically, and while it is easy to get caught up in learning new technical skills, it is just as important to focus improving and pushing the limits of our creativity. While in design school, it was easy to surround myself with inspiration and engage in activities that helped my understanding of effective design. Once I graduated I feared losing it, since I was no longer surrounded by a learning environment. I made it a point to continue educating myself as much as possible and become more active in the field of design.

I was determined not to let my designs grow stagnant, but rather transgress and improve with time. Here are a few tips, exercises and practices that have help me continue learning, strengthen creativity and become an all around better designer. Become a collector Each time you see a design that inspires you, collect it, bring it home and file it away. Buy books Read design-related blogs Attend lectures. Fab.com. Designers' List - Great resources and websites for designers. Graphiste - Annuaire de graphistes professionnels. A Showcase of Workstations that'll Make You Jealous. Whether you’re a designer, developer, animator, or blogger, your workstation plays a major role in how you get things done. Some of us like a neat, clean, and inspiring workspace, while others require a crazy over-the-top hardware configuration.

In this article, we’ve compiled a showcase of photos that will give you workstation envy. The thing about workstations is that even if you have a nice one, seeing another awesome setup can make you a bit jealous. About the Author Henry Jones is a web developer, designer, and entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience. He is the founder of WDL and ThemeTrust. Related Posts 389 shares Colorful Logos for Your Inspiration We’ve rounded up some examples of logo designs that make excellent use of color. Read More 745 shares 11 Inspiring Examples of Dark Colors in Web Design Deciding when to go dark can be tricky, but the decision should always be about enhancing the content and the user experience. Inspiration. 15 sites web developers and designers should know. Creating a good website isn't an easy task, but there's a few tools that can definitely make your developer or designer life easier.

In this article, I have compiled 15 extremely useful website that any web developer or web designer should have bookmarked. ColorCombos When designing a website, one of the firsts (and most important) steps of the process is to choose a color scheme. Color Combos allow you to browse thousand of different colors combinations for getting inspired for your upcomming design. LIpsum Who doesn’t know the extremely popular Lorem Ipsum text? What the font? You just saw a logo or website using a particular font and you enjoyed it. ConvertIcon Favicons are a must have for any website, mostly because on modern browsers as such as Firefox, it is displayed along with the site name in tabs.

BgPatterns background Patterns is definitely one of the current webdesign trends. HTML Encoder Do you display code on your website? Test Everything Sprite Generator Load Impact IconFinder. Art Center College of Design | Pasadena, CA | Learn to Create. Influence Change. A Backstage Interview with Michael Bierut | Design Thinking Foundations. Michael Bierut is a partner at Pentagram and a leading voice in the world of design. Michael studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, worked at Vignelli Associates for ten years and, as I learned from watching him host Command X: Season 3 at the AIGA Pivot Conference, has a charming stage presence and warm sense of humor.

He’s also an absolute delight to sit down and speak with. We met with Michael at Pivot and, working under some tight time constraints, scrambled to find a quiet place to interview him in between his hosting duties. Luckily, we found a cozy dressing room backstage at the conference venue, set up our video equipment, and sat down and asked him to share with us his thoughts on design thinking. Michael’s take on design thinking was thoughtfully laid out. He responded by highlighting two trends he was seeing in design. And, TWO: With that, our time with Michael came to a close. Thank you! DESIGN AWARDS. 30 Bizarre and Creative Packaging Design Examples. Inspiration November 1, 2010 One of the things that identifies the image of a product is its packaging. Few elements like striking graphics, attractive colors, and unusual shapes are carefully thought of to come up with packaging design that catches the attention of the consumers.

A packaging design is a critical component in marketing because it is the packaging that makes it stand from the rest when consumers choose a product from the shelf. We usually see the packaging first instead of an innovative product. This post presents the clever and innovative ideas of some of the company manufacturers around the world. Evian 2005 Limited Edition Bottle View Source Experimental Milk Carton View Source Tequila Gun Packaging View Source Salt & Pepper Cell View Source Lightbulb Box View Source Kleenex Packaging View Source 360 Paper Bottle View Source Wine in a Can View Source Doritos Packaging Concept View Source Hanger Tea View Source El Mil del Poaig Packaging View Source Wine Packaging View Source View Source Jásztej. 50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory. 1,200+ courses and ebooks Design, code, video editing, business, and much more.

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesignGraphic, Logo and Print DesignSketch, Adobe XD & FigmaWordPressJavascript, PHP & PythonAdobe After Effects & Premiere ProMuch More Millions of creative assets Design templates, stock videos, photos & audio, and much more. Graphic TemplatesStock PhotosMusic TracksVideo TemplatesWeb TemplatesDesign AssetsWordpress Themes & PluginsMuch More 1,200+ courses and ebooks Design, code, video editing, business, and much more. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesignGraphic, Logo and Print DesignSketch, Adobe XD & FigmaWordPressJavascript, PHP & PythonAdobe After Effects & Premiere ProMuch More Millions of creative assets Design templates, stock videos, photos & audio, and much more.

Graphic TemplatesStock PhotosMusic TracksVideo TemplatesWeb TemplatesDesign AssetsWordpress Themes & PluginsMuch More. The Codex Foundation. HEY HO. CTRUS | GALLERY | AGENT. DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION & STRATEGIC PRODUCT DESIGN. Agence 910* 50 Fresh Portfolio Websites for Your Inspiration | Design Showca. Advertisement Creating personal portfolio website is probably the most challenging task for designers as it should reveal the talent and some special unique style of its author.

Beautiful portfolio is like a good setting – it makes design works sparkle and grabs visitors’ attention immediately. Look though this collection of stylish and exquisite portfolio designs to draw some inspiration for your own projects. Either through minimalist neat layout or via rich, color expressive design elements, each of these portfolios delivers an exceptional, truly inspiring visual experience to visitors.

So this design showcase is worth seeing whether you are in a creative search or just looking for some entertainment. You might also like the previous article: 50 Beautiful And Creative Portfolio Designs Creative and Exquisite Portfolio Designs AlexartsGraphic designer Alexey Abramov featured his portfolio with a tilt-shift photo background and beautiful typo. Sebastian NituPerfection in simplicity. 15 sites web developers and designers should know. 10 Awe-Inspiring Interactive Websites. Inspiration October 29, 2007 We have scoured the web for 10 of the best flash websites we could find.

We hope you find these flash websites as inspiring as we did! Best Flash Website Award – Infinity Art Flash website for interactive design company Infinity Art Best Flash Website Award – The Phaeton Great interactive flash website for the Volkswagen Phaeton car Best Flash Website Award – HBO Voyeur Flash website for the multi-media stories that HBO has built around the theme of voyeurism. Best Flash Website Award – The Mixhead Very cool interactive flash website for artist Ulyana Kalashnikova Best Flash Website Award – 2 Advanced One of the most famous flash websites on the internet for 2 Advanced studio Best Flash Website Award – Creaktif Cool flash site for the multi-talented design studio Creaktif Best Flash Website Award – Agency Net Home of Agency Net’s well known interactive design studio Best Flash Website – Homeostatic Interactive website for the Homeostatic web design firm.

Graphic Design Inspiration, Tutorials, Resources, Freebies, and More! Fab.com. Kern and Burn | A Publication About Design Entrepreneurship. Studio Najbrt. Great Resume Designs that Catch Attention–and Got People Hired. Inspiration June 21, 2011 When applying for a job, you have no choice but to do your best to outshine competition. Even before winning an interview, your qualifications (or in some instance, your character) are already judged by the resume you’ve submitted.

It is then important to make your resume or CV as honest, concise, and striking as possible. If you are looking forward to a creative position, you will be expected to come up with something grand and extra creative as well. Take a look at how other designers compose their creative resumes. View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source View Source Author: Cadence Wu Cadence is You The Designer's senior blogger, and the most jack-of-all-trades of the staff.

Frequently Asked Questions | GTmetrix. General Site Speed FAQ GTmetrix FAQ General Site Speed FAQ 1. Why should I be concerned with my site's speed? Your users' experience in terms of navigating your site should be a great reason. Users have many options when it comes to consuming content on the internet, and a slow performing website will frustrate your users, sending them elsewhere.

Another reason is for SEO. This means that faster performing sites may rank higher in search engine results. 2. It's all about efficiency and optimization. 3. Start optimizing your site! Make sure you fully understand the recommendations before you begin though. Need help? Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. 4. It's a start - but the code that really needs to be optimized is the user facing code. 5.

Page Speed and YSlow use different recommendations when analyzing URLs. Visit our Recommendations page for a list of each service's best practices. 6. The post-analysis recommendations are not always relevant to your site (EG. 7. 8. 9. 1. 6 Sure-fire Signs That Your SEO Company Sucks - YouMoz. So you just signed with an SEO company or you've been with them for awhile. You outsourced because you didn't have the time or expertise for SEO, but you know it's important given the fact that inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound leads and 80% of clicks go to organic results. You've also long heard the negative echoes about SEO. Just look at what some common searches about SEO look like on Google: The question you might be asking yourself now is this: how confident am I with my SEO company?

Are they as good as they say they are? What have the results been? To help you make a decision with your current SEO company or your next SEO company, this post will go over some red flags that will tell you how good a SEO company really is. 1. Whenever you are promised 300 directory submissions, 500 article submissions, 2,500 social bookmarks, and 23,849 forum links, you should run. Run far, far away. Not a very reassuring sight to see, right? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What To Do. Www.designquotes.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Design-Quotes-Web-Design-Contract-Checklist.pdf. Adaptation: Why responsive design actually begins on the server. DEM Freelance Illustrator - Crime & Punishment. Graphica 2011. CREATIVE RESOURCES. Terra Nueva Project. The Top 10 Web Design Skills You WILL Need! Here are my top 10 web design skills that you WILL need to master to become an effective web designer. If you’re serious about mastering web design and marketing, check out the Pro Web Design Alliance.

See how Jordan benefited from the course forum and Google hangout sessions to make his and his clients’ sites better. Look at Jordan’s site and the testimonials from his clients here.  The personal interaction with Ben and fellow students while  working on live sites makes the learn by doing course philosophy start generating money for you while you are still in the course. Your priorities may be different (and my priorities may be different a few months down the line). And I’d add that you don’t need all these skills in any particular measure to make it in web design. . #1. I’m convinced the #1 most important skill for a web designer is the ability to use words effectively.

Effective wording is of singular importance in several highly important factors in the success of web pages: #2. 5 Complimentary Skills to Graphic Design | You the Designer. Articles January 7, 2009 In today’s economy competition is rougher than ever and even before this economic down turn I had mentioned how competitive the field of graphic design was getting and how more and more job listings were looking for multi-talented designers. By this I mean many employers want you to not only be a graphic designer, but also a web designer with knowledge of multiple coding language and much more. If you are freelancing from home than you will need even more skills to make the most of your home business so you can bring in as much steady income as possible.

Below are some areas I recommend designers branch off into once they have a solid foundation in design. Even having basic skills in these areas will help a ton! 1. Web design is probably the most valuable skill to have as a graphic designer. 2. 3. Online marketing is an essential skill for anyone looking to make the most of their freelance design business. 4. This is an often over looked skill for any business. Free CV templates - the way to go?

101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads. Since FreelanceSwitch started, there is one question that I get asked more often than any other. How can a freelancer find more work and generate new client leads? Well at FreelanceSwitch we don’t shy away from the pressing questions. So as the kicker for a new series on how to get more freelance work, we have put together an enormous list of ideas, ranging from ones that take 10 seconds to 10 days. There’s something for everyone to try and I guarantee there will be plenty of things you never thought of. And now without further ado, here they are, your 101 ideas: Word of Mouth is The Go Enlist your family and friends to spread the word about your services Send out an email to everyone in your address book, announcing what you do, where you are and what you can offer Ask your satisfied clients for referrals Offer free consultations to new referrals Consider a referral or finders fee Love Those Clients Get in touch with past and current clients when you have a new service to offer them Job Boards.

Ideas on how to promote yourself offline as a freelance designer. 20 Creative Resume Designs Which Will Amaze Any Potential Employer. Connecting Designers with Startups | DesignersCouch. About design... CONTESTS. How to Promote Your Design Business on the Cheap. HTML Help by The Web Design Group. How to Promote Yourself as a Graphic Designer. 10 Business Skills Creative Professionals Need to Succeed. Art Director Resume | Free Resume Examples.