Articles - Page 222

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

Freebies / 10 Jun 2011

Weekly Freebies: 25 Beautiful Stone Textures

Happy Friday everyone! Before you blast out of the office and declare your freedom for the next couple of days, take a gander at these awesome stone textures to add to your arsenal of design resources.

All of the textures below are completely free and licensed under creative commons. They have also been approved for commercial use so you can use them in pretty much any project you want! How sweet is that? Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Business / 9 Jun 2011

Outsourcing Your Own Brand: Pros and Cons

Should designers outsource their own website or personal brand? It may sound crazy but the practice is more common that you might think.

Today we’re going to attempt to look at both sides of this issue and explore the good and the bad of letting another designer define your digital identity.

CSS / 8 Jun 2011

3 Rock Solid Website Layout Examples: Coded

Recently on Design Shack we featured an article titled “10 Rock Solid Website Layout Examples“, which broke down some common layouts into simple silhouette wireframes so you could easily apply them in your work.

Today I’ve chosen three of these layouts and converted them to live, responsive web pages with some HTML and CSS. They’re all super simple and easy enough for many beginners to take on, plus we’ll be using an awesome framework to do the heavy lifting.

Critique / 4 Jun 2011

Web Design Critique #53: Distinction

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 Distinction, home of a web design agency in Nottingham.

CSS / 3 Jun 2011

Mastering CSS Reflections in Webkit

The box-reflect property is just one of many awesome new CSS3 effects that Webkit brings to the table. Unfortunately, it’s not the easiest to use. There’s a lot of syntax that can be confusing and today we’re going to sift through it and explain it in detail so you can get the hang of it.

It’s important to note that, at this point, box-reflect is only supported by Webkit browsers. It’s a superfluous visual effect so you can use it as long as you accept that it’s not going to render in anything but Chrome and Safari.

Freebies / 3 Jun 2011

Weekly Freebies: 20 Awesome and Free UI PSDs

This week’s myriad of freebies is a superb collection of layered PSDs that you can download and use in your projects. Each PSD contains a button, form, navigation menu slider or some other UI element that will no doubt prove useful as you build your next site.

Typography / 2 Jun 2011

50 Examples of Beautiful Typographic Art

Everyone loves a good typography roundup. Type is the muse of so many extremely talented designers and the web is simply overflowing with beautiful examples just waiting to inspire you to create your own masterpiece.

Today we’ve got a collection of fifty of the most attractive typographic art pieces we could find from artists all over the world. Take a look!

HTML / 1 Jun 2011

Why Web Design Books Suck and How to Fix Them

Do you have a list of things that you know you should learn but just haven’t been able to pick up? Have you tried to read through a book or two with no success?

Today we’re going to discuss why you can’t get through those boring web design books, how they should be different and what to look for to leverage the way you actually learn.

Inspiration / 30 May 2011

Creative Gallery of Parallax Website Designs

The limiting 2-dimensional aspect of computer monitors today constrain how websites are built. When designing parallax website layouts, these can bring effects and graphics into three-dimensional beauty right before your eyes! Often created with Adobe Flash or JavaScript libraries this effect is not often used but does offer a very unique feeling.

Below are some very creative examples I’ve put together for digital inspiration. Web designers from around the globe can gather ideas for parallax style websites. It’s not a very confusing topic, and once you’ve got a design style set in your mind it’s easy to bust out some graphics and code the whole thing together.

Critique / 28 May 2011

Web Design Critique #52: Goldenboy Media

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 Goldenboy Media, a web design agency in South London.