Archive for January, 2010

The gradient mesh is one of the most powerful tools in your Illustrator toolbox, but it’s also one of the trickiest to get the hang of. This year I’m determined to master this amazing tool, so I’ve searched the web far and wide to pull together the best free training materials. This collection of tutorials covers everything from basic gradient mesh tool to some full on photorealistic vector designs. If, like me you have a mission to get to grips with gradient mesh, look no further than this collection of resources.

Gradient mesh capabilities

You only have to glance at amazing artwork such as this motorcycle rendering by Yukio Miyamoto to realise how powerful the gradient mesh tool can be. It allows the most minute control over colour gradients, enabling you to recreate highlights and shadows that help produce photorealistic images.

I like to think of the gradient mesh like the great Nunchaku, it’s a weapon of awesome capabilities that when used to its full potential by masters like Bruce Lee or Michelangelo the turtle looks insanely awesome. However it takes years of practice to become a true ninja. The same goes with the gradient mesh, when in the hands of a veteran, it can be used to create some unbelieveable photorealistic artwork, but it takes time, dedication and mental power to become a true master. Wrap a scarf around your head Karate Kid style and let’s get down to some serious training with these tutorials!

Gradient mesh tutorials

Tips for Working with the Gradient Mesh Tool In Illustrator

How to Make a Vector Military Cap Icon

Illustrator Tutorial: Gradient Mesh Flower

Create a Yummy Ice Cream Icon with Mesh Objects and Blends

Create realistic illustrations using Illustrator’s Gradient Mesh

Vectors Imitate Life with Gradient Mesh

Gradient Mesh Tutorial

Illustrate a Pair of Sweet Gradient Mesh Cherries

Gradient Mesh Bell Pepper Tutorial

Master the gradient mesh tool

Make a Shiny Gum Ball Machine with Mesh Gradients

Gradient Mesh Editing Tutorial

How to Create an Energy Saving Bulb in Illustrator

Mastering Mesh

Make an Aurora Borealis Design in Illustrator

Illustrator Tutorial: Realistic Curtain

Video Tutorials

Sometimes it’s handy to get that extra level of help from a video screencast. These tutorials help you understand the actual workflow and see the techniques in action.

The Adobe Illustrator Gradient Mesh Tool

Intro to the Gradient Mesh Tool

Create an iPod Nano Using Gradient Mesh

Gradient mesh, freshly brewed coffee

Reshaping Mesh to fit into complex shapes (pt1)

Adding color to each mesh node (pt2)

In most areas of business, and particularly in the field of design, a well designed business card can be as important as your online identity.  There is no question that a business card very often will create a bond between you and your customers that is long lasting.  Leaving behind just the right card will keep you on their radar and get the attention of your target.

Until recently most people did not look at business cards as interactive elements that can be made of different materials, textures and shapes, going far beyond what most people consider as standard practice.  Today, lets take a look at 50 extremely creative and original business cards and design tutorials that really help push the boundaries and show the extent some people go to set themselves apart in this competitive marketplace.

Chef Burger

Plastic Business Cards – Lined Paper

Interrobang Design

NetPlus ID

Rumble

Couples Therapist Card

Orderin.Ca

Accentuate

The Photography of Nathan Jones

Reflections Dental Care

Joanne Foltran

Blue Bird Design

Nation Builder Pop Up

Edible Business Card – Head Hunter

Chris Colhoun

Sandrine Abraham – Du Bout Des Yeux

Corvus Design Studio

Stretchable Personal Trainer Card

Impact Ideas

DreamTen

Chuck Tingley

Richard E. Smith Circles

Artams

Taste Chocolate

Retro Sports Inspired Business Cards

Blooming Designer

Egil Paulson Easel Card

X3 Studios

Mineral Spring Water

Dallas Laser Printing

Matilda Jane

Becka Viau

Digitopolis

Mattson Creative

Jared Andrew Schorr

Emerson Taymor Pop Up

Mark Ramadan

Genie Alisa

Mix Tape Generation

e Aqua

Wedding Television

Colorburned

Ben Webster

Max Steiner – Everyday Hero

The Alembic

Tutorials

Making a Print-Ready Business Card Using Only Photoshop

Design a Print Ready Business Card for Designers

Making a grungy business card

Design an Abstract Business Card

Creating a new Web 2.0 Business Card

Today, we are listing The Six Best Online Note Taking Apps You Would Love To Know. These would be very helpful for you to write, organize and share your notes. If you are designer, developer,  office worker, manager, supervisor, student, home user, etc but we hope that these are worth checking for all of you. Most of them are not very well known but they are really amazing in respect to their features. Just take a look at them and share your thoughts here.

Google Notebook

Google Notebook is a free online application offered by Google that allows users to save and organize clips of information while conducting research online. The browser-based tool permits a user to write notes, clip text and images, and save links from pages during a browser session. The information is saved to an online “notebook” with sharing and collaboration features. Notebooks can be made “public”, or visible to others, and can also be used to collaborate with a list of users (either publicly or privately).

Zoho Notebook

With Zoho Notebook, You can create different types of content like text, image, audio, video, etc. It will allow you to share a whole book, page or just an object on a page by granting read/write permissions. There is an option to keep track of changes not only at the book or page level but also at the object level.

Yahoo! Notepad

Yahoo! Notepad is a place to write down and organize notes. You can access the notes from any computer, anytime—they’re part of your password-protected Yahoo! account.

Notefish

Notefish makes Internet research simple. If you are making a purchase or planning a trip, this is perfect for you. You can save information from the web into a single online Notefish page, then organize and share with anyone you want.

Springnote

Springnote is a great way for you to create notebooks for ideas, interests, multimedia, projects, and documents. It allows you to create pages, to work on them together with your friends, and to share files.

WebAsyst

You can make or keep notes online with WebAsyst. It would be thoughts, instructions, memos, to do lists, recipes, or plan a party or any kind of short text notes. There is an option to share your notes with friend and colleagues and having each with specific access rights.

This is one of the very best list of its kind where you can find the iPhone clients of must-have popular tools. I hope everyone of you will love these apps whether you are an office worker, a manager, a supervisor, a student, a home user, designer, developer etc. This is the list of The 14 iPhone Clients That Would Actually Make Your Lives Easier. Just take a look at them and share your thought’s here.

Google Mobile App

You can download Google Mobile App to your smartphone to search fast. It will allow you to quickly navigate to other Google services, such as Maps and Gmail etc.

eBuddy

With eBuddy you can have one single buddy list with all your friends from multiple IM and social accounts. eBudd also made it easy for you to manage your buddy list, add new buddies, organize them in groups, sort by account, or search your list.

Photoshop

It’s easy to use the Photoshop.com Mobile App on your iPhone. Simply drag your finger to crop, adjust color, apply effects. You can crop, rotate, change color with just a touch, give an extra glow with Soft Focus, apply one-touch effects like Warm Vintage and Vignette etc.

Skype

You can download the iPhone App and then sign into Skype from any WiFi zone and reach friends and family free with Skype-to-Skype calls.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is your mobile browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now on Twitter from your iPhone or iPod Touch. TweetDeck shows you everything you want to see at once, so you can stay organised and up to date no matter where you are.

Yahoo Messenger

Take the Yahoo Messenger anywhere on your iPhone. This will help you to share photos, emoticons and links, right from your iPhone and it will alerts you when a new IM arrives, even if you’re not in the app.

Facebook for iPhone

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Facebook for iPhone will help those people to stay connected when they are away from their computers but would not like to away from facebook.

Waze For iPhone

Waze is a free social mobile app that enables drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation for an optimal commute. 100% powered by users the more you drive the better it gets. Join the community of drivers in your area today.

Gmail

You may have Gmail via mobile anywhere with you.

Evernote

Evernote for iPhone lets you create notes, snap photos, and record voice memos that you can then access any time from your iPhone, computer, or the web.

Dropbox

Dropbox is the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. You can access your Dropbox on the go and download files for offline viewing. There is an option to sync photos and videos to your Dropbox and to share links to files in your Dropbox.

AIM

Connect with friends and family and keep track of status and presence updates in real time. Just sign in using your existing AIM, AOL, .mac or MobileMe name, or register for a free screen name right to your device.

Hootsuite

HootSuite for iPhone is the only Twitter app that lets you view statistics. It’s also the only one that lets you schedule your tweets in advance. With HootSuite for iPhone, you can send tweets to multiple accounts simultaneously, from the palm of your hand. But that’s not all.

Google Earth

With Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. You can explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass.

Here’s a wonderful Flickr set of vintage logos.

Too good not to share. View the full set on Flickr.