Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

In any industry you’ll eventually hear the terms “giving back”. It’s become almost a sort of catch-phrase, not unlike “totally organic” or whatever the newest buzzword is . But while “giving back” might be somewhat overused and on its way to buzzword status, it doesn’t mean the term should be overlooked or dismissed. In this article, I’m going to talk a bit about giving back and the graphic design community: specifically, what it means, why it’s important, how you can do it, and how it can benefit you.

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It’s always good to be able to articulate design choices to your clients; why you put something where, why you chose the color scheme you did, etc. This knowledge is one of the biggest differences between a designer and a non-designer. But there is a lot to remember when it comes to the realm of graphic design – so much so that it’s pretty much impossible to remember everything from all the theories of graphic design, to web design best practices to Photoshop keyboard shortcuts.

With that in mind, I decided it would be useful for me to have all of the basics of color theory contained in one place – specifically, a cool infographic-esque poster. This way, I can quickly reference things that may have slipped to the back of my mind since design school. The end result is this: The Color Theory Quick Reference Poster for Designers.

*Edit: we now have an Elements of Design Quick Reference Poster as well as a Principles of Design Quick Reference poster too!*

The idea is that this graphic can be either printed out or used as a desktop wallpaper. During meetings, phone calls, or any other sort of client interaction, you can reference this poster if you need to – either for your own benefit, or to point something out to your client.

The graphic contains info on:

  • the basic color wheel
  • passive vs. active colors
  • cool vs. warm colors
  • subtractive vs. additive color
  • color types
  • color relationships
  • meanings attached to colors
  • basic terms pertaining to color

Hopefully this will be as useful to you as I’m hoping it will be to me. Here are the various files for download – please share, but don’t pass off as your own! Note: if you’re having issues getting the PDF, right-click and choose “Save Link As”.

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If you like this, you might like our Elements of Design Quick Reference Poster too! Enjoy!

I see web designers using images of laptops (specifically, Macbooks) all the time. Perhaps we’re using them to showcase our own designs, or perhaps we’re using them in a design for a client. Regardless, if a stock photograph of a laptop is required, Macbook-esque shots are the way to go. Their sleek design lends well, as the simplicity and beauty of their shape doesn’t interfere with other design elements that may be used.

With that in mind, I realized “Hey. I have a Macbook Pro, and a Nikon D90. Why not take a photo and give it away?” So that’s what I’m doing.

Click the image to download a PSD file of the laptop (or click here for a JPG instead). The PSD file is layered so you can essentially plunk your design right in. There’s a ground reflection layer that can be turned on/off, there’s a transparent laptop layer, and there is a screen reflection layer too. All in all, it’s perfect for using in your designs & has a file size of 3000 px by 1752 px.

As I took this photo, you have permission to use it absolutely however you see fit. The name of the laptop has been taken out, so there will not be any copyright issues. If you’re going to redistribute it, it would be nice to mention Paper Leaf though. Enjoy!

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This post is based on an old version of WordPress.

Here at Paper Leaf, we do a decent amount of WordPress blog design & implementation for our clients. While WordPress is super easy to learn, you can’t just build your clients a blog, send them the login information and then disappear off of the face of the earth. Where’s the customer service, people?!? Ideally, we sit down for a half hour or hour with our clients to show them the basics of how to use their new blog (writing a post, adding categories, checking stats, uploading photos, adding users). However, sometimes a face-to-face meet up isn’t doable; we offer graphic & web design in Edmonton, but many of our clients are outside of the city.

Click here to download the free basic WordPress author's guide

To combat this, we built a very simple reference guide to give to our clients that explains how to do the following in their new WordPress blog:

  • write a new blog entry
  • save, preview & publish a post
  • add tags (and what that means)
  • add categories (and what that means)
  • check blog stats
  • use the Media section
  • moderate comments
  • update plugins
  • add a new user

This covers about 99% of what most basic blog users need to know, and it provides them with a resource they can come back to when needed, share within their business, and so forth. It’s sort of a basic WordPress author’s guide suitable to email and view on screen – click here to download it (or click the image above).

We figured that since this guide has been helpful to us, maybe it will be helpful to other designers who use WordPress. Here’s hoping! Anyway, share freely (but not as your own, please!)

*note: we install the Site Stats plugin for all clients – if you use this guide, I recommend doing the same, or your clients might be confused as to why they don’t have a Site Stats link.

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I read a lot of design-related articles & blogs online – I mean, really, what else can you do when you live in Edmonton, which was the coldest place in North America on Dec 13 at -58C with windchill? Anyway, I’m constantly bookmarking items I think might be useful for me as a designer in the future – some I never end up using, but some I definitely do! This year, I found some great articles on web usability (always good to be able to effectively communicate why you made a particular design choice to a client), WordPress and jQuery, as well as a few others. Here are my Top Web Design Bookmarks of 2009, with thanks to everyone in the design community who keeps openly sharing their knowledge.

Perfect Full-Page Background Image

fullpagebg

CSS Tricks is a great website – a web designer’s goldmine, if you will – and this is but one of a ton of great articles on Chris’ site. I  have yet to implement it myself, but I hope to soon!

10 Usability Findings & Guidelines

10usability

Smashing Magazine is well-known in the design community, and the main reason is its well-researched and written articles pertaining to web design. Check this one out for usability tips, like where viewers look most on a website (above image – I felt it needed an explanation or else it just looks like someone’s website caught Athlete’s Foot).

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