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Articles - Page 168

Browse hundreds of articles, tips, and inspiring design collections. Find helpful design advice, or the perfect resource for your next project.

Business / 1 Dec 2010

Productivity Management Tips for Freelance Designers

Working in freelance web design is like nothing else in the world. You are able to set your own hours, spend all day working to create beautiful designs and can even practice some of your skills. From the outside this seems like the artist’s dream job, though there are a few downfalls.

The largest is, quite blatantly, lack of drive and interest in work. Over time you can become burnt out from so much design work and lose focus on projects. I’ve gone over a few productivity tips below which will help novice and professional alike.

Critique / 28 Nov 2010

Web Design Critique #30: Grey Ang

Welcome to our 30th design critique! Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Grey Ang, the personal portfolio of a web designer in Malaysia.

Critique / 27 Nov 2010

Web Design Critique #29: MadeFreshly

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is MadeFreshly.

Business / 26 Nov 2010

Building Your First Professional Portfolio: Thoughts and Considerations

After graduating from college, how you present yourself to the job market can have a huge impact on your future career. If you’re sending potential employers to a portfolio website, you want to make doubly sure that you’re putting your best foot forward.

Today we’ll be looking at a real portfolio site and trying to see how we can improve upon not so much the design but the strategy in place to leverage the resource. You can use these lessons to analyze your own portfolio site and gauge whether or not you need to make any changes.

Business / 25 Nov 2010

20 Outstanding Tools to Maximize Your Time

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m off stuffing my face with copious amounts of poultry and mashed potatoes but I planned ahead so that you don’t have to miss out on your daily dose of Design Shack!

If you’re like me, the holidays drastically cut in to your work time. You don’t get the luxury of having less to do, only less time to do it! If this sounds like you, check out the 20 amazing tools below to help maximize your time. Dedicating yourself to using just a few of these will boost your productivity levels to an all-time high.

HTML / 24 Nov 2010

How to Build a Website With Adobe Project Rome

Adobe recently launched a project called Rome that is meant to be a sort of all-in-one content publishing platform. You can use this innovative application to build websites, print projects, interactive PDFs and more.

Today I’ll give you a super basic beginner’s introduction to Rome so you can see what it is, how to use it and whether or not it’s right for you.

Business / 23 Nov 2010

Networking Tips in the Design Industry

Web designers come at a dime a dozen. These days businesses are not hiring professional designers to create work anymore. Instead most of our progress has shifted overseas where outsourcing web design and coding is common place.

This shows how much industry name really means. The conversion into a well-known and respected designer takes time and a lot of hard work. There are some great networks out there for connecting with designers and once you understand how to utilize their power almost anything is possible!

Graphics / 19 Nov 2010

How to Revive an Outdated Design

Today we’re going to examine a real-world issue that frequently faces designers. Updating and old design can be a daunting task, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. Once you see a design presented in a certain way, it’s hard to break out of that mental box, even if you don’t like the original.

The article below will tackle a number of touch issues for designers. We’ll be dealing with outdated graphics, readability on a dark background, information overload, working with textures and more. Keep reading to see how we tackle these problems.

Typography / 18 Nov 2010

Ode to Ampersand: 30+ Inspiring Images of Our Favorite Character

Did you know that the ampersand comes from the phrase “and per se and?” Or that it originated around 1st century AD as a combination of the Roman cursive letters E and T? Even more interesting than its history and origin is its fantastic shape, which designers are constantly using as a muse for a new piece of typographical art.

Below you’ll find over thirty excellent inspirational images that feature ampersands as a primary element. Looking through these will help you learn to take advantage of what is arguably the most attractive character on your keyboard.

Graphics / 17 Nov 2010

Design and Mail a Custom Postcard Without Leaving Your Desk

Have you ever browsed through the postcards at your local grocery store and nearly gagged at the horrible design or cheesy photography adorning everything on the rack?

Fear not, the world need not live with poor postcard designs. Today we’ll walk through the process of designing and sending your own. You won’t even need a stamp!

Competitions / 15 Nov 2010

Winners Announced: Win 250 Free Business Cards From Inkd

Congratulations to Andy M and Harryplusk, you’ve each won 250 free business cards from Inkd.com! You’ll be receiving emails shortly with more information on how to claim your prize. Thanks to all who entered, be sure to stay tuned for more giveaways and awesome design content.

We’ve partnered with Inkd.com to bring you some awesome free stuff! Two lucky winners will receive a 250 card pack of printed business cards. Read on for more details!