The internet is full of talented people who develop their own tools, but also of people who use the resources on the internet at their fullest, which is not something wrong at all. The biggest issue is that most of the users who make use of tools on the internet do not know anything about copyright issues and licensing, therefore I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss today.
We will take a look at everything from license terminology and legal jurisdiction to software licenses and Creative Commons, so bear with me here and pay attention to everything, because some of these issues might come back to you at some point in your career on the internet.
The Egyptians are revolting again. More than 10 months ago, the people of Egypt have revolted against the rotten regime, demanding a better life and future for their children. It seems like that has only removed the head of the regime, but the body is still there. Now they are revolting again trying to reach their goals against the rotten regime and police brutality.
Overall, the Egyptian revolution was inspiring enough to fit well in the concept of our design and creativity site. The Egyptian revolution was unique and creative for two reasons. The first issue is how it started, the second is how the revolting youth and activists relied on the new media and social networks to fuel the revolution through Facebook and arranged the protest through Twitter.
There has always been a long debate if developers should know design principles and conclusions have never been reached. But if you ask me, then yes, they have to know something about design, even if not as much as graphic designers. It is important to know programming languages more than design when you develop systems, and I totally understand people would rather learn PHP and ASP.net and leave design for the experts.
But many of the world’s very good developers know a few things about design and can therefore develop better systems. And yes, it is actually possible to know UI and UX even if you are a coding ninja with tremendous skills in PHP and other hard-core programming languages. Moreover, it will only do good to you and your products.
Many web designers prefer to put their ideas on paper before even thinking of how to code a layout, therefore I thought of showing everybody what process these type of designers follow. It is always a good idea to put your ideas on paper because, as you will see in this article, a design can totally be changed and improved by the end of such a process. Starting on paper has its own disadvantages as well, because not everything you sketch there can actually be coded, but we will take an in-depth look at this right away.
The pen, paper and pencil are the best friends of a designer, I’ve heard someone say few years ago. Yes, we live in the digital era today and we have Photoshop and InDesign, but why not still do it the old way if it works for us?
Sketching on paper is a part of the design process, but also a part of the pre-planning. Even after a short briefing with the client you still come home with a bunch of ideas. If you open Photoshop immediately and design a layout without planning in advance, the result might not be the best. The best way of starting is putting ideas down on paper first and then making a basic sketch of what you think the design should look like. This will spare a lot of work and frustration later on when you normally have to make key decisions – this time you won’t, because all the key decisions have already been made in pre-planning.
Blogging has become an integral part of the Internet and a vital medium through which news and information is passed on to readers. With the advent of Web 2.0, its importance in SEO and information dissemination has increased by leaps and bounds. More and more people are using blogs to express their thoughts, talk about informative topics, provide updates about their company’s products and just about anything that they feel is important for the world to know.
Some blogs become popular within a few months while others are never on the radar even after years of hard work and marketing. So, what should a blog have from a designer’s point of view to make it outstanding and popular among its visitors? This is exactly what this article is going to delve into.
It seems like 2011 had a major impact on the world. This year has touched the technology industry as well with Adobe’s recent announcement to kill Flash Player on mobile devices.
As a Flash lover and developer, the news was shocking, especially when I heard the rumors and the media hitting headlines. But wait a minute, have not we faced many similar news before? Do you remember Adobe acquiring Macromedia and what we thought about this big trend in the market.
Today we will be learning how to create a cute alarm clock in perspective in Adobe Illustrator. Some people tend to have problems with perspective, so if you are one of them, feel free to use a reference image if you need to.
We will create few ellipses, arrange them and with some nice gradients we will make a nice looking alarm clock. There is just one thing about perspective we should keep on mind. The most important aspects of perspective are size and distance. If you increase the distance between you and the object you are observing, you need to decrease the size of that object. That way you can achieve a nice depth effect in you illustrations.
Whether you want to admit it or not, everyone loves going to the local chain restaurant for a burger, Bloomin’ Onion and a beer. There is no shame in admitting that you would rather have a platter of fried fare sitting in front of you, all ordered off of a menu full of pictures, colors, and sometimes an occasional Comic Sans font, than a pretentious plate of escargot or goat cheese menagerie. The state fair mentality is alive and well within the hearts of all of us and we have the casual restaurant chains to thank for keeping the deep-fried flame lit within our heart(burns.)
While trendy lounges and fine dining establishments offer atmospheres that cater to what people in New York, London and Barcelona think is cool, the vast majority of us can find solace in the pleasant atmosphere of a TGI Fridays or Applebee’s located right down the street. Sure, the food might not be on par with whatever Bobby Flay or Iron Chef Morimoto might have in store for our culinary palettes, but it sure does hit a soft spot in the collective subconscious of society.
I love playing with fonts. When I first started designing web pages I went a little crazy with the whole thing. I would change the font on every page, using some of the strangest or coolest I could find, and sometimes the color and typeface were virtually impossible to make out. Of course, this was back in the days of basic HTML, when you were more likely to see glittering graphics that turned every web page into a Myspace profile.
Now times have changed, trends are different, and of course I am older and wiser. I have learned – mainly through actually being an adult and not a glitter happy teen – that font is an important part of creating an overall look. You cannot just throw a typeface at every other word. You have to take the time to select what best works for what, find out how it looks on different browsers, follow recommended guidelines and keep the viewer in mind. Perhaps it is less fun on an experimental level, but more productive and leads to a final product that will be far more pleasing to the eyes.
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Freelancers are quite busy nowadays, even if they have to deliver designs or to write articles. For many, freelancing is just another job besides the real-world assignments they have at work, therefore the freelancing world can sometimes interfere with the business world out there.
Most of the people working on the internet own an iPhone or an Android device, which is no surprise; these two options are the most popular on the planet right now. Therefore we thought of making a list with several applications for each of these two operating systems that will increase your productivity and will try to help you deliver in time, regardless of how busy you are.
How did they start with CSS4? On September 29th Elika J. Etemad (Mozilla), the person in charge of the W3C workgroup has published the first CSS4 draft for the so-called selectors (Why so-called? Because that is the term issued in CSS, the CSS selector).
People who keep track of technologies may object that the works on CSS3 are not finished yet! But the version 2.1 workgroup makes modular specifications and, therefore, every part can be nominated for the “recommended” rank.
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