2011 April Archive - Paper Leaf Design | Edmonton Graphic Design, Edmonton Web Design

Archive for April, 2011

Found Friday Vol 51

April 29, 2011

This week’s Found Friday has some definite designer desirables, including the following: logo design trends in 2011; 39 different things you can do with CSS3′s box-shadow property; a sketchbook made specifically for web designers; a color-naming tool; and a review of a few different e-commerce systems. Read on!

Logo Design Trends 2011

Every year, trends emerge in identity and logo design. Logobird sums up an actual report on logo trends nicely here.

39 Ridiculous Things to Do with CSS3 Box Shadows

Box shadow is a property we’ve been playing with for a while in our web designs; this post showcases a whole variety of different effects you can achieve that I didn’t even know were possible. A definite must-see for web designers & developers (best viewed in Chrome 11).

Gridbooks

A sketchbook with grids specifically designed for web designers and their pencil mockups.

Name That Color

When designing an identity, some clients appreciate named colors to go with their Pantone values. This tool is helpful if you’re stuck and need to name that color. (via @perishable)

Ecommerce Solutions for Websites

As with everything web, there are a plethora of ways to solve a problem – the same applies to e-commerce. This article breaks down a variety of options from paid to open-source to custom made.

See you next week!

Found Friday Vol 50

April 22, 2011

50 volumes of Found Friday – the best design finds of the week – and we’re still going strong. This week is an especially strong one to send you off on your Easter long weekend: a fun example of what can be down with Lettering.js; a great tutorial on getting handmade print effects in Illustrator; a beautiful set of icons based off of Helvetica bold; 10 new & useful jQuery plugins for your website designs; and an in-depth look at CSS3 vs. CSS. Enjoy!

Kerning Me Softly

Go to this URL, click between a pair of letters, and use the A and S keys on your keyboard to adjust kerning. Fun for type nerds, intriguing for the future of typography on the web. (via swiss-miss)

Achieve Handmade Print Effects

Illustrator is the industry standard for vector illustration for a reason; however, you have to put a bit more work in to achieve handmade print effects, if that’s what you’re going for. Luckily we have this handy tutorial from Computer Arts magazine.

Helveticons

This premium icon set is based off of the Helvetica Bold typeface. The set is beautifully designed, and there are three packages for purchase. Worth a look!

Top 10 Useful jQuery Plugins – March 2011

It seems like kind-hearted and skilled web developers release new jQuery plugins on the daily; it can be hard to keep up with. This article highlights some of the best released in March – definitely worth a look if you’re a web designer/developer.

CSS3 vs. CSS: A Speed Benchmark

Once again, Smashing comes through with a thoroughly researched and applicable article for web designers. The short version? Use [nicely degradable] CSS3 if you aren’t already. It’s faster in all areas.

That’s it – enjoy your long weekend!

Do Your Development Skills Hinder Your Design Work?

April 18, 2011

If you’re a freelance web designer, chances are good you do some web development as well. To be absolutely clear here, by “design” I mean the static layout of a website; by “development” I mean the actual HTML/CSS markup (and perhaps CMS implementation, like WordPress). We all know there is money to be made in development; the breadth of development companies in pretty much any city, large or small, is proof of that. Thus, many graphic designers add web design and development to their skill toolbox as a way of generating more work and a different clientele. However, design and development are two different kinds of beast, and your skills in one can affect the outcome of the other. With that in mind, I pose the question: are your development skills hindering your design work?

Are Your Development Skills Hindering Your Design Work?

How Well Do You Really Know CSS & HTML?

The strength of your grasp of CSS/HTML can affect your design work, either consciously or subconsciously. There are a lot of CSS declarations out there; CSS3 and HTML5 are becoming more applicable and accepted; there are a lot of ways to push the boundaries of what browsers will render. It can be tough to keep on top of these advances, no doubt. However, not knowing what is possible using CSS & HTML means limiting the potential of your design work, or limiting the best practices of your design work. Read the whole article >

Found Friday Vol 49

April 15, 2011

Welcome to Volume 49 of the best internet finds o’ the week: Found Friday. This week we have: a zombie Easter bunny (not overly design-related, but it’s Easter soon and the zombie bunny is just too awesome); an app that sends the websites you’re reading to your Kindle; an in-depth article on taking credit card payments on the web; an ingenious wallet for guitarists; and a good read on CSS data tables. Read on!

Chocolate Zombie Bunny

Alright, so this is a very loose-to-non-existent connection to design, but like I said – it’s almost Easter. How can you pass up a zombie chocolate Easter bunny? Another gem from ThinkGeek.

Kindlebility

This app is smart & straightforward: it sends the websites you’re reading to your Kindle. Developed right here in Edmonton too!

Taking Credit Card Payments Online

Taking credit card payments through a website can be a daunting task. This article from Smashing Magazine breaks it all down for ya.

Picker’s Wallet

I’ve been known to carry a guitar pick in my wallet’s change section. Also, my wallets have been known to have change sections. Anyway, this Picker’s Wallet is a great design solution: a little pick pocket!

CSS Data Table Techniques

When used properly – ie. not for design/layout – tables are a great way to present tabular data. This article has a bunch of CSS techniques you can use to make your tables shine!

See you next week!

10 Free New Web Fonts You Can Use Today

April 11, 2011

As we continue to progress through this relatively new era of web fonts, we see more & more choices available to us. We have a plethora of well-designed fonts to pick from for our design projects, and quite a few of them are free too. Slab serifs? Script? Humanist sans? All these and more are at our fingertips – so, with that in mind, here are ten well-designed & free new web fonts you can use today.