It is done entirely in CGI using 3ds max, after effects and premiere.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Also check out his website : http://www.thirdseventh.com/

Check out last year’s list: Wonderful Winter Photoshop Tutorials & Brushes

Tutorials

1. Flash Piano Christmas Card
2. Illustrator Christmas Tree
3. Glowing Photoshop Christmas Tree
4. Stylized Christmas Tree
5. Christmas Card

   

6. Snowing Christmas Gifts
7. How to Create an Ice Text Effect with Photoshop

Inspiration

1. Top 25 Christmas Movie Posters
2. 45 Beautiful Winter Illustrations and Wallpapers
3. 25 Awesome Gift Ideas for Designers/Developers

Free Downloads

1. 35 Beautiful Sets of Christmas Icons
2. Free Smashing Christmas Icon Set
3. 15+ Free Holiday & Winter Vectors
4. Free Vector Holiday Illustrations

Shadowness was formed into an art community in 2001 by Meng To. Shadowness quickly became a way for artists to interact with each other, improve, share their work and promote themselves. Going into its eighth version, Shadowness continues to be a home for artists to share and learn from others.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek into what the new version of Shadowness will be all about and ask Meng some questions.

Kyle
How will Shadowness be different? Will the layout change much?

Meng
It’s only the database that’s not going to be rebooted. The concept of following will be the main focus, building a follow base and promoting your work and personal website. It’s going to use twitter connect and be a platform to share work.

Updates will be like twitter, comments like facebook but where it is unique is with how you manage and show your gallery. We will be able to collect art and those collections will become like blogs.

Kyle

How far along is this next version?

Meng To
I am designing all the pages pixel perfect. Planning all the scenarios first and features, something I’ve never done with SN. I’ll know when I finish the wireframes. I’ll be showing much more later on this weekend.

From what I’ve talked to Meng about and what I’ve seen so far, Shadowness is going to become a great place for artists to connect, not only within the community but as well with other social networks and websites.

Make sure you register for Shadowness at shadowness.com
You can follow the updates for Shadowness 8 at http://twitter.com/Shadowness8

Btw you can find me on Shadowness as LostEagle

Noupe

One of my favorite websites, they have given me many hours of useful posts that I always enjoy. Thanks Noupe!

2008 Most Popular Design Posts, Tutorials and Resources

50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008

Smashing Magazine

An everlasting battle of which of their articles to read first.

Smashing Highlights of 2008

Just Creative Design

Started reading only a short while ago, Jacob Cass has helped the design community in many ways.

2008 Round Up

CrazyLeaf Design Blog

A blog full of many useful resources.

Most Beautiful Websites of 2008

Smashing Apps

Useful website constantly updated.

Exceptional Logo Rebranding in 2008

David Airey

Best Design Blog Posts of 2008

Vector Diary

Best Illustrator Tutorials and Articles of 2008

Abduzeedo

60 Great Adbuzeedo Articles of 2008

Web Designer Wall

Best of CSS Design 2008

Toxel

Top 75 Best Design Resources of 2008

The Design Cubicle

50 Brilliant Design Posts of 2008

Brand New

Best and Worst Logo Re-Designs of 2008

I Love Typography

Best Fonts of 2008

Nettuts

Best Tutorials and Freebies of 2008

Function

I just wanted to add this article, it is probably one of my favorite this year.

50 Stunning Examples of A Great Re-Design

Thank you design bloggers for all the resources you have provided this year.

Photoshop & Illustrator Tutorials

We Wish You A Merry Christmas Card

Drawing A Christmas Tree

Create A Glittering Christmas Card

Animated Christmas Bells

Cheerful Snowman Christmas Card

Make A Christmas Ornament

Cartoon Santa Scene

Vector Snow Landscape

Create A Christmas Hat

Prepare for the New Year

Create A Winter Landscape

Make Unique Snowflakes

Create Some Tasty Candy Canes

The Perfect Christmas Tree

Vector Christmas Card

Make Your Own Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Glowing Christmas Tree

Wonderful Snow Globes

Brushes

Assorted Christmas Brushes

Snowflake Brushes

Christmas Brushes

Assorted Christmas Items

Snowflakes

Other Christmas Tutorials
Toxel Christmas Tutorials
TutorialBlog Christmas Tutorials

Happy Holidays!

What Is Typography

Typography is the process of designing, arranging and modifying type. Arranging type involves a number of techniques:changing point size, width, leading, letter-spacing and kerning. Don’t worry if you do not know what these terms are, we will cover them shortly.

The study of typography involves understanding readability and legibility.  A lot of thought goes into choosing the correct techniques to apply to type as it has an effect on the reader. When you are driving down the highway and notice the road signs are all the same font, that’s for a reason.

What Are Typefaces?

Typefaces are a created set of characters of a single size and style. Examples of well known typefaces include: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Times New Roman, etc. If you have ever written a paper for school/work you have probably used one of these.

What Are Fonts?

Fonts are specific styles and sizes of a typeface. For example, Arial is a typeface, while a font would be Arial Black 18pts, a specific styling of that type.

What does Sans-Serif and Serif mean?

Serif is a type of typeface that includes serifs. Serifs are the little endings on the end of a letter stroke. If you look at the character below you will notice that there are details at the end, those serifs are what define a serif font. Serif typefaces are primarily used for body text especially in print material as it is considered easier to read. Furthermore, Serif is deemed as a more professional font then San-Serif fonts.

Sans-Serif are typefaces which do not have serifs. These are used more often for headlines, headings and small sections of text. Sans-serifs are considered to be easier to read on computer screens

Typography Terms

Point Size/Height

The point size of a letter is its height. One point equals 1/72 of an inch, therefore size 72 letter is one inch high.  There are twelve points in one pica, another type of measurement; type can also be measured in pixels.

Abbreviations

72 points = 72pts

72 pica = 72p

Width

Width is the set horizontal size of a letter. Some fonts are narrow, while others are wide. Wide fonts are usually called heavy.

Letter-Spacing

Letter-spacing refers to the amount of space between the characters in a word. Increasing or decreasing the letter-spacing can be used to improve legibility by making characters easier to identify.

Kerning

Kerning is often confused with letter-spacing. Kerning is the technique of aligning characters together so they are visually even. A well kerned set of characters has equal horizontal space between characters.

This is just an intro to typography, we will be writing more articles about typography in the future. In the meantime you can check out these other resources for more information.

Further Readings

Thinking With Type – Ellen Lupton

I Love Typography

MyFonts.com

Information on basic design principles, part one of a series of articles providing useful design information. This article covers hierarchy, balance, contrast and proximity.

Hierarchy

Depending on what you want your reader to view first will depend on the hierarchy you have set up. By changing the position of an item on the page, its size or color you can improve your hierarchy.

Hierarchy is a valuable to guide your readers or viewers through your design. Remember to keep in mind what you want your viewers to see first. Without hierarchy your viewers might find it hard to locate important or useful information.

Balance

There are two types of balance: symmetrical balance and asymmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance is achieved through creating equal amount of objects/elements on either side of an ‘imaginary line’ separating the  page. Asymmetrical balance is achieved by balance through different techniques.

For example pretend you are weighing your page on a scale. Different elements will weigh different weights based on their size, and content. As you can see below although there is a lot of text on one side by placing a design element  of equal weight on the other side you can balance the design.

Contrast

Contrast goes beyond differences in color, it can be applied to size, texture, type and more. By providing contrast you can add interest to your design. Increasing contrast can improve readability by making type stand out.

Proximity/Clustering

Individual design elements that are grouped together are perceived as a group. By increasing the proximity of similar objects in your page you can help your viewers locate similar information.

I would love to see how you have applied this techniques to your designs. Leave a comment and share you work with others!

This will be part one of a series we hope to be writing on simple ways to improve your sites design. If you have any techniques that you like to use or find attractive leave us a comment.

We also plan on offering tutorials on how to do some of these techniques so if you want to know how to do something, leave us a comment!

NAVIGATION

Rather then a traditional horizontal or vertical link setup, try something like a map. This is creative and a great way for your viewers to enjoy your sites navigation. There are a lot of ways to make your navigation different, such as instead of ordinary tabs, try styling them in unique ways such as the tabs on a folder.

BACKGROUND

Grunge in design is a great way to add character to flat colors. Using grunge can add a subtle texture that makes your backgrounds and images stand out.

Find Brushes

There is a fine line between being too simple and being cluttered. Using patterns in your designs correctly can be the perfect addition to your site. Try patterns that you don’t usually see to really stand out.

Find Patterns

Wood is a popular design trend of recent years and is gaining popularity for its ability to blend well with many designs. A subtle use of a wood element is a great idea to fill in a space that could use some life.

Find Wood & Similar Textures

Another trend that is starting to pickup is watercolors. Web designs are evolving further into pieces of art with trends like watercolor. A great way to add texture to your background.

Find Watercolor Brushes

Notebook-like paper lines are great elements for designs that are writing related.

Find Notebook Paper

Adding items like coffee cups, books, pens and other items that you might find on your table are good ways to add personality to your designs,

Find Desk Items

SMALL ADDITIONS

A paperclip is a great way to make a part of your design more realistic; tied together with the notebook paper lines can make realistic looking paper. Nails, tacks, pins etc. could be other objects to use. Tape is another small way to add something to your design.

Find Paper Clips

Post-It Notes are simple ways to style a small sections of your site. If you have a twitter update section using a post it note background could be a way to make the updates stand out.

OTHER

Stitching is another cool technique one can use in their designs to create borders or shapes.

Adding a background to your text can help it stand out. This technique is also effective when you have a background that might make it hard for your readers to see the text.

An interesting addition that I have always found unique is the use of elements such as doors, windows etc. to frame items of your site.

Are there places that you know of to find great resources for your website? Leave us a comment and help others.

Have any other ideas? Give us your and you’ll be credited for them, just leave a comment below the post.

Old News WordPress Theme

View Demo | Click to view a working demo of the theme

The design is simple 3 column layout with inspirations from scrap paper. This theme would be perfect for someone looking to make a simple and easy to read blog.

Old News WordPress Theme

The theme is widgetized and ready to use right away.

Sharing

If you like our theme and would like to share it with others just send them this link : http://observin.com/2008/07/free-theme-old-news

*Note – You do not have permission to upload and distribute this design without our permission.

Download The Theme

Download Theme

We hope that you enjoy our theme.

When you are offering a service online you need to think of how you are going to offer it and at what price. But before you decide on a price you should decide how you are going to benefit from offering your service.

There are variety of different users on the internet and have many different needs. How you fill these needs will determine your success.

There are three basic ways that you can offer and service and earn money from your hard work.

1. Free Content

Internet users greatly prefer getting their content free, well who wouldn’t right?

Well the problem is how are you going to earn money from offering content for free? What you can do is offer your content for free, which will increase the readers and visitors to your site then you need to monetize your website by placing relevant ads for your readers to click. You can earn quite a good income from clicks alone. There is an infinite source of information on the internet about ads so we won’t go into that.

You could also use referral links or sell ad space on your site.

2. Paid Content

Paid content can be a huge earner if you have the right product or service. With paid content it can be much harder to earn an income because there is so much competition. There will always be people willing to pay for getting a better service.

If you can provide a unique/better service or product then this could definitely be the option for you.

3. Free and Paid Content

I prefer this option because it can really provide you with various options. If your paid content is not doing so well then you have the revenue from the ads to make up. If you are a wordpress theme site you could offer free content such as lesser quality wordpress themes and possibly turn the viewers that were looking for a free option into customers buying your premium paid content.

If you have had to make one these choices and would like to share your experiences we would love to hear from you in the comment section.