Best of August 2008
I’ve noticed this as a recent trend that really seems to go along with the whole web 2.0 social thing, and that’s the “link roundup” or “best of” posts. I think it’s a really neat idea; most of the time, the people that run the blogs you read are interested in a lot of the same stuff. I find myself reading these posts and middle clicking* almost every link. So I’ve decided to start doing that myself at the end of every month.
* you can click with your scrollwheel in most modern browsers to have a link open up in a new tab while you keep reading. I often go through entire articles this way.
Downloads and Resources
Patterns can be found every where. Most commonly we can see them in fabric and wallpaper, but they also make great visual elements for web design. Here is a collection of patterns of all shapes, sizes, and color. Some are images, and some are pattern files for Photoshop and Illustrator.
Fawnt is a font resource for designers, developers, and anyone that appreciates the web’s highest quality fonts.
A while back I had posted a pack of worn edges on my portfolio site for people to download and use in their designs. Lately, I have noticed that some of them are showing up in designs featured on CSS galleries. Seeing this made me think that they might actually be useful.
Create seamless backgrounds using a variety of different symbols, textures and colors, or just select one from a gallery of user-created patterns.
Tutorials
ABC To Manipulation (DeviantART)
A lovely 10-part tutorial series on DeviantART which tells you completely everything you need to know to create fantastic manipulations. It includes detailed explanations, large examples, interviews from other artists, recommended brushes and textures, and a complete walkthrough. Link is to part 1.
Create a Wicked-Worn Vintage Pop Art Design
Design a simple but nice vintage pop art piece with some wear and tear. I’m not a huge fan of the dog-man-thing, but the texture and effects are pretty cool.
This is a wondeful little style that could easily be integrated into any dark graphic design where some upbeat text is needed.
I don’t know that I’ll need a picture of a snail derby, but it’s got a lot of photomanipulation tips that would come in really handy, like matching the coloring between two different stock photos.
Just for the LOLs
Tee Madness - Sketch :: Life :: Sketch - Hilarious idea for a T-shirt, perfect for any designer with a frustration for that monster known as Internet Explorer. I would completely wear it; it had better come in standard geek-fare black.
Garfield Minus Garfield - A classic. Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.
Photoshop Disasters - Some people should not be trusted with a copy of Photoshop. Sadly, most of these people work for magazines and make movie covers.
20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines Ever - “Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum.” No… really?
Well, that’s all for now. Some of these may be a bit old, but only because this is the first post like this I’ve done. I’ll be collecting all through September, and expect it to be an awesome post. Hope you all enjoy these!
You know, I have noticed that trend, and I can completely understand how it would appeal to people. I can’t say I’m always clicking away when someone’s doing that, but I do think it’s interesting to see the posts that the author considers his/her best
Thank you for all the resources!
Thanks for these! I need to make a new layout, and some of this stuff might help.