Business Article Archive

10 Pitfalls to Avoid When Using Stock Photography

January 18th, 2010 45 Comments

Stock Photography is a tricky beast.

The presence or lack of good stock imagery can make or break a design. My best advice is to use custom photography/artwork whenever possible. However, I’m a big fan of stack art because there are tons of scenarios when it makes good sense to purchase someone else’s work over taking the time to create your own. To keep it classy, here are ten things to avoid when you’re working with stock images.

17 Easy Ways to Backup Client Work

January 11th, 2010 23 Comments

This article will showcase several ways to backup your irreplaceable client work using both offline and online solutions. Find the solution that fits your budget and workflow best and start backing up today.

5 Realistic Resolutions for Web Designers

December 29th, 2009 31 Comments

It’s that time of year again, where we all have the chance to reflect on the past twelve months and plan ahead for the year to come. It always leaves me feeling fired up, and I’m already excited to what’s in store for 2010.

There’s always a danger of setting resolutions, or goals, that are slightly unrealistic and far fetched. Today I’ll be taking a look at various goals and projects you may want to consider as a web designer – ranging from starting up a personal side project, to spending a little more time out of the office!

The Business of Selling WordPress Themes: Part 2

December 10th, 2009 12 Comments

This is the second article in our series on making money selling WordPress themes. In this post we’ll look at what kind of features users look for in a professional WordPress theme.

Read through the list and use the comments below to let us know what features you think are most important in a WordPress theme.

The Business of Selling WordPress Themes: Part 1

December 8th, 2009 32 Comments

WordPress is to professional blogging what Photoshop is to design. Sure, there are widely used alternatives, but it’s definitely the standard to beat. This post will examine how to sell, price and promote your WordPress themes.

Find Web Design Clients Free With Haystack

November 6th, 2009 8 Comments

Today we’ll check out Haystack, a new web designer directory site from 37signals. We’ll go over what it’s all about, their pricing structure and how to get yourself listed!

The Ultimate Guide to CSS Gallery Inclusion

November 3rd, 2009 5 Comments

Design Shack started out as a simple CSS gallery, featuring well designed websites that caught my eye. Tens of thousands of designs have been submitted over the past few years, and each one has been considered carefully for inclusion. The sad fact is that only around 5% of submissions stand out from the crowd.

This could be due to any number of factors; the site didn’t get the basics right, didn’t have anything remarkable to show, or (occasionally) was let down by content. This guide will walk you through how to make sure you stand a great chance of inclusion, avoiding all the pitfalls so commonly stumbled into by designers. At each stage, we’ll take a look at one great example, and one that’s not so good.

Defend Your Design

April 17th, 2009 13 Comments

We all know that acute rush of adrenaline experienced before submitting a design for review or approval all too well. You click down on that “Send” button, take a deep breath and look at the design one more time before releasing your mouse. It’s gone.

You’ve sent your design out into a cruel, critical world. Will it succeed or will it fail? Perhaps that depends less on the design itself and more on whether or not you’ve set it up to succeed. As designers, we need to be advocates for the craft by explaining what we do and educating clients on our method.

Good Design, Now What?

March 11th, 2009 17 Comments

Here at Design Shack, we’ve built up a solid archive of the best designs the web has to offer. When browsing through the 3,000+ sites featured, it’s hard to fully grasp the amount of time and effort put into the design and development of each one.

That’s why it breaks my heart when I see a brilliant site screenshot taken the day it was launched, but when clicking to visit the live version, I find a shell of what it used to be.