Design Curate already has a growing collection of freebies — PSDs, WordPress themes, CSS/HTML snippets, and lots more! We’ll be adding new free resources every week, along with featuring a few commercial design goodies from time to time as well.

Read on to find out more about the new site, or just head over and take a look!

What is Design Curate?

Design Curate is a collection of free and commercial resources for designers.

It’s pretty simple. Any free resources are just that — completely free for you to use, incorporate in your designs, and build upon. We’re giving something back to the design community, and sharing our love of design.

Our First Freebies

We think you’ll really love a few of the freebies that are already available on the site. Here’s a quick overview of our favourites:

Subscribe

There are plenty of ways to subscribe to the new site, and find out about the latest freebies:

• Email Newsletter
• RSS Feed
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+

We hope you enjoy everything that Design Curate has to offer, and look forward to seeing you over there!

Submit a Resource

If you’d like to submit your own resource to be featured on Design Curate, we’d love to hear from you. Just drop us an email for more information.

Last Thursday, I found out that someone had taken it upon themselves to “hijack” our primary domain name — designshack.net — and transfer it away from our registrar. We’re working hard to reverse the process, and I’ll be documenting the current situation here.

The Story So Far

After finding out that designshack.net had indeed been transferred away from our control, I did three things:

• I telephoned GoDaddy (our registrar) to let them know, and seek their advice on the protocol to follow. I was advised to go through their “Unauthorised Transfer Away” process, filling out a report with the relevant identification to prove my ownership.
• I contacted PlanetDomain, the registrar being used by the thief, to tell them that the domain name had been stolen.
• I did a little digging around, and discovered that several other domain names seemed to have been victim to the same theft.

Each of these processes is still ongoing, though we’ve been fortunate in that our name servers haven’t been changed (and, when they were at one point, we were able to request a reversal). Design Shack is still alive and well at our primary domain name for now.

The Other Sites Involved

The domain names affected by this scam are:

• designshack.net
• css-tricks.com
• davidwalsh.name
• scriptandstyle.com
• sohtanaka.com
• instantshift.com
• kirupa.com
• shiachat.com

It’s difficult to find a connecting thread between each site, as we all use a number of different registrars and hosting companies. Needless to say, we’re working together to get each domain back in the hands of the real owners.

Timeline of Events

The timeline I’ve been following is more or less identical to the details documented by Chris Coyier over at CSS-Tricks, so I won’t repeat the details here.

Everything was a little more subtle in our case. There was no evidence of our Gmail accounts being compromised, and no malicious links added to our site. Just the sickening theft of a domain name.

The current situation is that we’re waiting for GoDaddy and PlanetDomain to finish discussing the details of the case, and return the domain. Both parties have been in touch with ourselves, and each other, so I remain optimistic that we’ll have the domain name back in our hands within the next couple of days.

How Can You Help?

Thank you to everyone who has petitioned GoDaddy on Twitter to help our cause. They’ve been professional and helpful so far, as have PlanetDomain when speaking on the phone. We really appreciate your support.

Unfortunately we’re somewhat hindered by the fact that neither company’s domain name team works on weekends, with GoDaddy based in the USA and PlanetDomain in Australia. Considerably different time zones lead to a frustrating delay in communication.

If you’d like to continue to help, please feel free to tweet a link to this post, and politely urge GoDaddy to continue to give our case priority. We’ll keep you posted with how things go, and will continue to publish our articles and inspiration as normal!

It’s also worth bookmarking designshack.co.uk, as we’ll be reverting to that address as a last resort.

Updates

5th December

We publish this post with an overview of how the situation has developed from the 1st December onwards.

5th December, 1am

We receive our first communication from PlanetDomain:

Good Morning David,
Thank you for your email.
We are currently in communication with GoDaddy regarding this issue. We
will advise you via email of the decision.

5th December, 8am

I discover that our name servers have been deleted, and proceed to call PlanetDomain. They re-instate the correct name servers, and Design Shack comes back online.

6th December

PlanetDomain confirm that the hijacker’s account has been disabled, so the domain name should be safe from here out. They’re working with GoDaddy to get it transferred back.

7th December

Ou domain name has now been returned to GoDaddy, according to WHOIS. We’re now just waiting to it to be assigned back to our account. We’ll then be upping security to a slightly paranoid level…

7th December, 2pm

Everything is resolved. The domain name is back in our account. Thanks to GoDaddy and PlanetDomain for their excellent support in getting this sorted. We’re thrilled to have it back!

Further Reading

• Chris Coyier’s excellent updates on the situation
• The related Hacker News conversation
• The related Slashdot conversation

All this comes hand-in-hand with a change to the Design Shack brand, and a funky new logo courtesy of Aaron Mahnke. Read on to find out a little more about the design, branding, and the changes we’ve made to the site.

Simplify & Streamline

The new design is a little more toned down, and we’ve stripped away quite a bit of the clutter that used to adorn the previous layout. The gallery is easier to navigate, articles are presented in a familiar fashion, and we’re placing more focus on the content.

Our New Logo

I’ve felt for a while that Design Shack has been in need of a more compelling logo, and unique visual brand. Our new logo retains the understated simplicity that we’re always aiming for, incorporates a few unique elements relating to our name, and gives Design Shack a better feeling of identity.

The logo has been designed by Aaron Mahnke, and we’re really pleased with how it turned out.

Submitting Your Design

It’s now easier than ever to submit your site design to our gallery, and you can send us a web design, piece of branding, or an interface example. Just head over to our submission form, fill out the details, and we’ll consider it for inclusion in the gallery.

If you’d prefer to receive a little more feedback on your submission (and advice from the Design Shack team), there’s another option available to you in the form of a Design Critique. This costs $49, but also includes a post on the site that promotes your site and includes all our constructive feedback on the elements of the design we love, or feel could be improved!

Find out more and see an example here, along with details of a few other design guidance and advice services that we’re starting to offer.

.co.uk to .net

Last (and probably least for most readers!) we’ve made a switch from our old .co.uk domain name to the new designshack.net. We’ve always been an internationally focused site, and this new change reflects this better moving forward.

Thanks for Reading Design Shack!

As ever, we’re incredibly grateful to you, dear reader, for taking the time to visit the site and read what we have to say. Thank you for your support over the past five years, and I hope you’ll continue to enjoy our articles and inspiration!

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the site, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m excited to let you know that we’re launching another great competition today for our UK readers, giving you the chance to get your hands on a brand new laptop from Dell. The XPS 15z is their thinnest ever notebook – perfect for getting on with some design or development work on the road. Read on to find out how to take part – entering only takes a few seconds!

About the XPS 15z

A few months ago, Dell introduced the XPS 15z laptop, the thinnest 15-inch PC on the planet, and the first in a series of new thin and ultra-powerful products from Dell to come this year.

With the XPS 15z, everyone from mobile warriors to students and small-business owners now have everything they need to work hard and play hard in one stunning package:

The laptop offers a beefy eight hour battery life, 2nd-generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, all housed in a luxurious, eye-catching and elegantly crafted case that is less than an inch thick.

Usually priced from $999, the XPS 15z, like all XPS computers, is designed and built from the ground up to provide a premium computing experience with the best materials, technology, performance and reliability Dell offers.

Today is your chance to get your hands on the brand new XPS 15z free! For more information, you can read the full press release, or check out the tech specs!

Submit Your Entry

Entering the competition is super-easy. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post, letting us know what you’d like to do on your new laptop! The competition opens now, and runs until midnight GMT on the 2nd August.

You have to be a UK resident, aged 18 or over to enter – sorry to our other international readers, but we’ll have another giveaway for you soon!

It takes just five minutes to enter, and we’re asking you to fill out a short survey. We’ll be publishing the statistics from this in a few weeks time, to give you some awesome insight into the web design industry. Read on to find out more…

The Prize

Hosting, Domain & Gomobi

First up, you’ll receive a free one-year reseller hosting account courtesy of Heart Internet, complete with a domain name and Gomobi for easily building a mobile optimised version of your site. It’s a pretty neat package, and we think you’ll find it incredibly useful.

A 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2

We’re going to be giving away a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2, usually priced at $499, in either black or white. It’s the perfect tool for any designer, and can be a fantastic companion to your existing computer.

The iPad 2 is a fantastic upgrade to the original iPad – it’s thinner, lighter, contains two FaceTime cameras, a faster processor, more memory, and the ability to snap on one of Apple’s awesome Smart Covers.

How to Enter

The competition is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. It closes in one week on 22nd June, so be sure to get your entry in before then as we’ll be closing the survey on that date.

All you need to do is fill out our short web designer survey. We’ll get in touch when the competition closes to let you know if you were chosen as the winner!

Today we’re announcing an affiliate program that all Design Shack members can take advantage of. If you run a blog, have a Twitter account, or want to spread the word about our latest deal via email, we’d love for you to help with promoting our weekly deals!

We pay a 15% commission on every sale you generate, and you can keep track of every click and sale you generate in real-time. Read on to find out more!

How It Works

Every Design Shack member has a unique affiliate link (you can find yours here when logged in), which tracks every visitor you send our way:

• Live Statistics: We keep you updated in real-time with any clicks and sales you generate.
• Monthly Payments: Your commission is paid via PayPal at the end of every month.
• Repeat Business: After clicking on your link, you’ll receive commission on all sales that person generates for a full three months!

Dynamic Banners

We’ve prepared a few different banners that you can use on your own site, most of which automatically update to show the latest deal we’re offering each week.

Get Started Now

If you’re already a Design Shack member, you can get started here. If not, it just takes ten seconds to sign up (and you’ll get lots of other goodies at the same time!) – become a member.

In it, you’ll find everything from seamless vectors and high resolution textures, to a CSS framework and Photoshop actions! Read on for some more information about what’s on offer, and a few fantastic examples.

What’s Included?

Here’s a quick run-down of everything included:

• 340 Seamless Vectors
• 27,000 Photoshop Gradients
• 18,000 Photoshop Layer Styles
• 1,545 Vector Illustrations
• 815 Photoshop Patterns
• Ultimate CSS Framework (Easy PSD-2-HTML Conversion)
• 2,986 Photoshop Brushes
• 1,105 Adobe Add-ons
• 1,129 Vector Elements
• 1,290 High Resolution Textures
• 512 Vector Icons
• 527 Stock Photos
• 902 Pixel Icons
• Web Graphics
• 82 Photoshop Actions
• PSD to HTML 960 Grid System Tutorial
• 3D Creator
• 3D Software Box Creator
• 10 PSD Layouts + Tutorials

You’ll also receive all the new updates added to the toolkit for a full year, so there will be plenty more to come over the next 12 months…

Phew! This bundle has been gradually growing and expanding over the past year, and it’s now one of the best design packages available on the internet.

There are only a few days left to take advantage of this deal, so don’t miss your chance to save over $50 today!

Read on for some more information about what’s on offer, and a few fantastic examples.

550 Design Resources for $29

The four packages on offer today include:

• Premier Texture Bundle
• Grunge Texture Bundle
• Nature-Inspired Texture Bundle
• Paper Textures & Brushes Bundle

Each texture is super high-res (at 4000x3000px), and of the absolute highest quality – as you’ll have come to expect from Design Shack Deals.

Bonus: 3 Unreleased Texture Packs

As a special bonus for Design Shack Deals subscribers, Vandelay Design have also provided us with three completely exclusive texture packs that are yet to be released. You can find out more about these over at Design Shack Deals.

Examples

Check out a few examples of the stock images, textures, and brushes included in this deal:

There are only a few days left to take advantage of this deal, so be sure you don’t miss out!

We’re really excited about this week’s deal – you’re going to love it! Picons Ultimate isn’t your average skimpy icon set. The hand-crafted collection packs 500 gorgeous icons, all supplied in their original vector format.

Picons Ultimate is an essential source of icons and symbols for every web, interface, and print designer. The icons also fit great with your iPad, iPhone or Android app interface.

Usually priced at $42, today you can grab the whole icon set for just $21!

Read more and see a larger preview of all the icons you’ll receive.

With a great range of contributors and big steps forward in shipping and physical design, let’s see how Smashing Magazine’s latest release stacks up!

Physical Design & Quality

Smashing Magazine came under some criticism for the build quality and shipping of their first book, and this is something that they’ve gone to great lengths to solve – to great success. The typography is understated and enjoyable to read, and margins give plenty of space around the content.

The physical feel of the book is wonderful – a hard cover, high quality printing, stitch binding, and a funky orange bookmark all contribute to an enjoyable read. It’s not surprising to hear that Smashing Magazine are only offering the printed copy of the book (you won’t find an eBook version anywhere).

Although this might be an unpopular decision for some, you’ll understand why after holding the physical copy.

Contents & Style

So, on to the content. A valid question would be how this differs to the first Smashing Magazine book. After all, they’re both fairly generically pitched as covering “web design”. Here’s the official line on the matter:

Both books cover best practices in Web design and Web development, and they have similarities, but on a broad scale they cover different areas of design.

Book 1 presents coding and layout techniques, color theory und UI design, while Book 2 covers psychology, designing for mobile devices, graphic design, wireframing and book production. They complement each other very well but are also distinct enough for standalone reading.

Each chapter of the book is preceded with a wonderful illustration, designed by Yiying Lu (the designer behind the Twitter “fail whale”). These break up the content well, and really add to the overall quality feel of the book. If you really love the artwork, you can even purchase it as “wall art”!

The Smashing Book #2 has a wonderful array of contributors, and this is one aspect of these publications that I really enjoy. Each author is knowledgeable and talented in their own area, giving the content a degree of credibility that you don’t often see elsewhere.

The inherent downside is that the book doesn’t have a central narrative running throughout, and you can obviously feel the differences in writing style and personality with each chapter. Each section is almost a distinct “mini book”, giving you a beginning-to-end analysis of a particular theory, technique, or practice.

Whether you’re interested in going right back to the basics of design theory, crafting mobile user experiences, improving your wireframing technique, or getting to grips with web psychology, there’s something for you here. The content absolutely justifies the price, and you won’t be left disappointed.

Smashing Magazine is a fantastic source of ideas, content, and inspiration for the design community, and the level of quality you’ve come to expect is upheld here.

Where to Buy

As mentioned before, you can’t pick this one up as an eBook. You can, however, grab a sample chapter to get a feel for how the book is presented.

Smashing Magazine also had several chapters that they couldn’t fit into the finished book. These are available completely free, entitled Smashing Book #2: The Lost Files.

The price comes in at around $29.90 (23,90 Euro), and you can order your copy here. If you’ve already purchased and read the book, I’d love to know what you think. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

It will make your wireframes look incredibly professional, and saves hours over creating each graphic manually. Not a Keynote user? Don’t worry – the wireframe kit also functions perfectly in PowerPoint!

Usually priced at $12, today you can download the wireframing kit for just $6!

The icon set is provided as a PNG pack, with each icon available in ten different sizes: 512px, 256px, 128px, 96px, 80px, 64px, 48px, 32px, 24px, and 16px!

Usually priced at $49, today you can pick up a copy for just $13!

Covering everything from getting started to expanding your business, How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer is the official FreelanceSwitch book. Written by the incredibly talented Collis & Cyan Ta’eed – founders of Envato – it’s packed with new information, advice and insight

Usually priced at $29, today you can pick up a copy for just $14!

View Post

Read on for a little explanation about what’s new in the latest iteration of the site, and what you have to look forward to over the coming month!

Broader Categories

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed publishing regular doses of web design inspiration over the past five years (yes, it’s been that long!). But I think that it’s time for us to expand a little further afield.

In addition to publishing inspiring web designs, we’re now also going to be focusing on beautiful interfaces, and gorgeous examples of branding. Both of these areas have lots to offer, remain relevant to our core audience of web designers, and look incredibly pretty!

We’ll be publishing a larger selection of different designs every day, retaining our high standard of inspiration but offering it on a slightly more regular basis. I really hope you enjoy it.

Design Shack Accounts

Another major new addition we’ve made is the ability to create a Design Shack Account. Why would you want to do that? Well, there are a few reasons:

• Quickly and easily submit your designs to be featured
• Access our exclusive weekly deals
• Request free Design Dilemma advice
• Receive our fantastic weekly newsletter

Is that enough of an incentive? Essentially, we’re wanting to kick off a regular series of weekly deals for designers in the New Year. This will require a solid membership system for the site, so we’ve implemented this now so that you can sign up in advance.

I’m also really excited about our weekly newsletter. This is going to feature top articles and inspiration every week, all wrapped up in a beautiful email. It will also be a great way to let you know about each weekly deal in the New Year!

What are you waiting for? Be one of the cool kids and get yourself signed up—it only takes about 10 seconds.

An Improved Gallery

In addition to the new categories, we’ve also made a few tweaks to the Gallery so that it’s far more enjoyable to use. You can now filter by several different attributes at any one time (viewing, just red, portfolio designs, for instance). This makes browsing the Gallery a lot more useful!

The different design categories have also been refined and expanded to accommodate the new types of design we’ll be featuring. Head over to the Gallery to see what’s changed.

As part of the upgrade, we’ve had to disable ratings on designs in the short term. These will be added again very soon, along with the ability to leave a comment on any of our featured designs. Over the next few days, I’ll also be adding a way for members to submit their own examples of branding and interface design to the Gallery.

Deals!

I mentioned our Weekly Deals project above, but I thought that I’d explain a little further… At the start of 2011, we’re going to be offering fantastic weekly deals to designers and creatives. Everything from graphics and themes, through to software and subscriptions.

These won’t be huge “bundles” of questionable quality, rather they’ll be hand-picked products we think you’ll really love.

I’m really excited about this, and I hope we’ll be able to offer something really useful to all our readers. I’m sure you’ll enjoy what we have in store!

Growing the Team

Last, but certainly not least, I’m pleased to welcome the third member of the Design Shack team—Joel Bankhead. Joel is going to be heading up the addition of new design content, and handling our weekly newsletter. It’s great to have him on board!

Thanks for Reading!

I’d just like to take a minute to say a big thank you to everyone that reads Design Shack. We’ve had an amazing twelve months, with traffic growing by 180% since this time last year. I’m really thrilled that you enjoy reading the site, and hope we’ve managed to inspire and inform you over the course of 2010.

I’m really excited about everything we have in store for next year, and look forward to sharing the next chapter of Design Shack with you. It’s our readers that make the site what it is!

If you have any thoughts about the new design and features, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your feedback.