Posts Tagged "inspiration"

I know that you love Adobe products and I’m sure that you love even more the things that you are able to create using the Adobe products. That’s why, I’ve collected some easy to understand and very useful Adobe Illustrator video tutorials created by top Illustrator designers from all around the web. Most people consider that Photoshop is everything and they don’t actually need another product for their design projects. I strongly recommend you to take a look at this great Adobe Illustrator tutorials and you will understand why I say that you also need to use AI for more professional and artistic creations.

1. The Illustrator CS3 Interface

Learn about the User Interface and where you can find the tools you need.

2. Everything about Masking in Illustrator

One very important thing in Adobe Illustrator: – The Masking properties.

3. How to use the pen tool in Illustrator CS2

Use the pen tool to make things more interesting

4. CS 4 Video Training

A complete CS4 Video for Beginners

5. A Comprehensive Guide to the Pathfinder Panel

Learn how to use the Pathfinder in Illustrator.

6. Opacity Mask Tutorial

Hiding a part of your illustration can make more important another part of it.

7. Create an Ipod

We all love Apple products and this tutorial help you to customize the famous ipod in no time.

8. Metal Lightning Tutorial

Metal inspires professionals and this tutorial is 100% pro and free.

9. Make a 3D Logo in Illustrator

3D Logos are much more interesting than simple plain ones…so check this great tutorial to see how you can create one.

10. Adding Texture in Illustrator

Any type of texture for any type of Illustration.

11. Creating an Eye-Ball

Eyes are very important for any human character, and that’s why this is a very important tutorial.

12. Create a raw logo design

Professional Logo design for your company.

13. Create a neon glow in CS 3

This is a pro glowing effect.

14. Live Color

Choose most interesting and inspiring colors for your creations.

15. Drawing a gell progressbar

A progressbar is very important for Flash animations and applications.

16. Draw Gear

Drawing a gear is just the title, but this tutorial will help you to create many types of illustrations.

17. Create a Helix in Ai

A helix can be useful in many ways and that’s why you should take a look at this tutorial.

18. How to design a professional logo using Adobe Illustrator

Create a custom logo for your company.

19. Draw a Valentine’s Day e-card

I know that it isn’t february yet, but you definitely should know how to draw a valentine.

20. Shiny Text

Shiny text was always interesting and with this tutorial you will be able to create it too.

21. About Transformation Tools

Restizing, croping and wrapping can improve your works and make them more attractive.

22. Tribal Sun

Famous and cool sign created in illustrator.

23. The Gradient Tool

24. Blob Brush: Shape Objects

A cool new feature for Illustrator.

25. Artboards in CS4

Artboards feature for CS4.

26. Blending Gradients

“Play” with gradients to create interesting designs.

27. Create a fusion between Adobe Illustrate and Photoshop

Use Photoshop and Illustrator components to build better and powerful designs.

28. Create a metal like button

A very nice looking metal button.

29. Cool Award Badge

Vey useful illustration for any type of activity which includes competition or quality review.

30. Wood Effect with gradients

Bring the nature into your creations.

31. Background Effects Illustrator Way

Even if you are a beginner with this tutorial you will be able to create pro background effects.

32. Create Ribbons

Cool and instant ribbons.

33. Spacing Boxes in Illustrator

This will make your job a whole lot easier.

34. 3D Effects Graph

Create a cool stats graph in 3D.

35. Wraping in Illustrator

Modelate your images and illustrations in no time.

36. Using The Paint Brush Tool

The most essential drawing tool available in Illustrator and Photoshop.

37. Draw Fluffy Clouds

Funny and flower-power clouds.

38. How to draw Batman’s logo

One of the coolest Cartoon hero sign can now be easily reproduced in Illustrator

39. Intricate Patterns

Create cool backgrounds for your design projects.

40. Using Live Paint

Bring life into your Illustrator creations.

41. Line Draw for Cartoons

Make your cartoon creations more interesting for everyone.

David Airey is a very talented graphic designer and logo designer and he recently published a book Logo Design Love that is “a guide to creating iconic brand identities.” I’ve followed David through his blog for a few years now and I’ve always had a great deal of respect for his work. I recently had a chance to take a look at his book (I haven’t had the chance to read the whole thing yet, but what I have read is very good), and I thought it would be interesting to interview David about his work and the process of writing the book.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

I was born in 1979, in Bangor, Northern Ireland (a few miles outside the capital city, Belfast). I began studying graphic design in 1995, and finished my formal design education in 2003, with a number of qualifications behind me, and an internship in Pittsburgh, USA.

After extensive travel and a stint teaching English as a second language I landed a job in advertising sales for The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper. Design jobs weren’t readily available, and I considered the ad sales a temporary role until I found design-related employment. Working at The Scotsman put me in contact with an old friend who told me about a print management opening at a nearby cancer charity. I applied, and got the job. My responsibilities were for the organization’s gamut of print design, print buying, and web management.

Around May 2006 I chose to become self-employed, taking on my former employer as my first client. I worked with them for a couple of years on a part-time basis (two or three days per week), sending monthly invoices for the work completed. The rest of my time was spent building a web presence and attracting new clients.

Why have you chosen to specialize in logo design rather than some other aspect of graphic design?

Identity design projects are relatively short in time frame (i.e. one or two months, sometimes longer). This means I’m working with a widely varied client base in order to stay busy, and as such, I learn an incredible amount about how different industries operate.

I don’t think I’d be anywhere near as motivated if I was always working with the same design limitations (i.e., as an in-house designer with strict brand guidelines).

How influential has your blog been to your own personal branding and the development of your career?

Without my blog, you’d not be reading these answers. I doubt you’d want to interview me, and I doubt you’d know about my work. The Internet can open so many doors, and it’s up to each one of us to tread our own path. Seth Godin published a relevant post, Seven years gone.

What would you say are some of the most important characteristics for a successful logo or identity?

An effective logo should be distinctive, memorable, original, and relevant to the industry within which the identified company operates. It’s the tip of the branding iceberg, and should be consistent with the entire visual identity system.

What are some of the most common mistakes that you see being made in logo design?

I see a lack of imagination. The most obvious solution can sometimes be the most effective, but obvious does not equate to dull.

For instance, look at Landor’s 2009 identity design for the City of Melbourne. The solution is based upon the first letter of the city’s name, the ‘M’, and is probably the most obvious idea possible. But Landor took it, pushed boundaries, and created a stunning visual system to match any I’ve seen elsewhere.

Can you explain to us the typical process that you would take with a client for a logo design?

The first step is choosing the client, and I’m sure many of your readers will agree that not all potential clients are a good fit.

Over the years I’ve been able to pre-determine a healthy working relationship by asking the right questions before a project begins, and I outline these questions in my new book, Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities. In fact, the whole book is based upon the design process I carry out, and you can download a free chapter here.

You’ll find a less-detailed, online overview of my identity design process here.

How long was the process to write the Logo Design Love book and to get it published?

Almost one year to the day. I first chatted with my publisher, Peachpit, in December 2008, and it was December 2009 when I finally held a tangible copy of the book.

How did you go about finding a publisher for the book?

Peachpit found me through my design blogs, which is another reason why I place so much emphasis on the importance of a strong online presence. I wasn’t planning to write a book last year, but when asked, I thought, “Why not?”

Publishing a book on a specific topic certainly goes a long way towards demonstrating your expertise to potential clients. Was this a factor in deciding to write the book?

It was. Another factor was how I find myself being asked more and more questions about the process of design, so I think there’s a gap in the market for a book such as mine.

After your experience with the book, is it something that you would consider doing again in the future?

My publisher asked me to think of another project for 2010, but I’m not sure I want to tackle one just yet. I’ll consider it in future, though. We’ll see how it goes.

If you’re interested in logo design, I recommend that you check out David’s book Logo Design Love.

If you are looking for a powerful file manager ready to use in your web projects and simple to customize, take a look at this list with the best and free file manager currently in circulation. Some of these file managers support PHP only or javascript only or Ajax that will give you powerful tool to easily browse directories and files on the server, search, upload and download files, edit, copy, move, delete files and more.

If you know other interesting resources about this topic please leave a comment!

1. AjaXplorer

AjaXplorer is a free Ajax file manager with an easy-to-install file explorer for remotely managing files on a web server. Its “rich client” layout and actions make it accessible to any end-user for a variety of purposes: file management/sharing, photo gallery, code browsing, etc. Only PHP (4 or 5) is necessary, no database needed.

• Rename/Copy/Move/Delete/Download files or folders
• Upload multiple files and track status with progress bar (Flash required and no https)
• Create folders and empty files
• Edit Text files and code files (js, php, html, java, sql, perl), syntax is highlighted in the editor
• View Images online, preview images in the list, diaporama of a given folder
• Listen to MP3sonline without downloading them
• View Flash videos (FLV) online and full screen.
• Browse and Extract ZIP files online

2. fileNice

fileNice is a free php file browser, particularly useful if you have a ‘dump’ folder on your server where you regularly upload files and you want to be able to see what’s there.

3. File Thingie

File Thingie is a small web-based file manager written in PHP. It is intended for those who need to give others access to a part of their server’s file system when FTP is not practical. Through File Thingie you and your users get access to the most common functions:

• Simple — Just one file
• Upload multiple files at once
• Multiple users and user groups
• Create subdirectories
• Rename, move, delete and copy files and folders
• Search for file and folder names
• Control access to files based on black- or whitelists
• Edit text files
• Unzip files without downloading
• Easy customization of the CSS based layout
• Translate into your own language

4. MooTools based FileManager

A MooTools based File-Manager for the web that allows you to (pre)view, upload and modify files and folders via the browser. Features include:

• Browse through Files and Folders on your Server
• Rename, Delete, Move (Drag&Drop), Copy (Drag + hold CTRL) and Download Files
• View detailed Previews of Images, Text-Files, Compressed-Files or Audio Content
• Nice User Interface
• Upload Files via FancyUpload (integrated Feature)
• Option to automatically resize big Images when uploading
• Use it to select a File anywhere you need to specify one inside your Application’s Backend
• Use as a FileManager in TinyMCE

5. Relay

Relay is a wonderful piece of ajax code written with the aid of the prototype ajax toolkit. It does a wonderful job of uploading / downloading and managing files on your private server, let’s check out some of its features:

• drag-n-drop files and folders
• dynamic loading file structure
• upload progress bar
• thumbnail view, including pdf
• multiple users & accounts

6. Kae’s File Manager

KFM is an online file manager which can be used on its own, or as a plugin for a rich-text editor such as FCKeditor or TinyMCE. KFM is Open Source, and you are free to use it in any project, whether free or commercial. Let’s check out some of its features: drag-and-drop everything, icon-view, list-view, plugins, image manipulations, slideshows, easy installation and upgrades, syntax-highlighting text editor, search engine, tagging, multi-lingual. plugins for mp3 playback, video playback.

7. eXtplorer

eXtplorer is a web-based File Manager. You can use it to. Features include:

• browse directories & files on the server and
• edit, copy, move, delete files,
• search, upload and download files,
• create and extract archives,
• create new files and directories,
• change file permissions (chmod) and much more…

WordPress has revolutionized the way most of us deal with the web. Some say it is the best content management system around for maintaining your website, and most agree that as time goes on WordPress and all of its plugins is the format of choice when launching your new web project.  Though it started as a blog format with free built in themes it now has evolved into much more.

For your inspiration here are 30 awesome websites that use WordPress with anything but ordinary results.   Here you will find informational/corporate sites, portfolios and ecommerce sites that will hopefully inspire you for your next project.

Pixele

N Design Studio

2am Media

GOOD

Nathan Sanders

Mostly Lisa

Icon Dock

Frisk Design

Hoboken Magazine

Creative Ad Awards

Matt Brett

Lefkada Travel

The 9513

UMI Hotels

Carsonified

Productive Dreams

Mairie de Flamanville

Big Sweater Design

Chick Speak

Healogix

Radu Ceuca

UGS Mag

Getting Crazy on the Waltzers

Delicious:Days

Rodney “Dark Child” Jerkins

Pop Culture Teens

Kulturebanause

Watersports Guru

Hotel Hana Maui

WSJ Magazine

Here’s a wonderful Flickr set of vintage logos.

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