The world of animation is vast and somewhat complex. Professional animators undergo quite a bit of training and work for years to master their craft. But animation can be found in much more than cartoons. Print work and other static mediums don’t have the luxury but web design is the perfect outlet for digital animated effects. This post will cover a series of useful animation principles as they relate to web design. The methods used by Disney to animate a character would be far too complex for use on the web. As a digital designer you really don’t need to spend your life studying animation ..read more

Most people who are familiar with the world of digital graphics also recognize that there are dozens of unique disciplines out there. The Adobe suite alone has products for vector art, pixel graphics, motion graphics, animation, the list goes on. It’s practically impossible for one designer to practice all of these areas but it’s becoming more common for designers to adopt a few different skillsets. In this post I’d like to cover a swath of various fields related to digital design. Modern designers often have a wide range of various skills dipping into a number of these fields. Someone who st ..read more

As a designer, there are a few things you need in order to keep creating fresh works of art. One of those things is (the often forgotten) ‘motivation’. Motivation is an important factor in your ability to convey new messages each and every time your pen hits the paper (so to speak). But how do we keep our motivation running at its highest level? I Want My Mojo At times, you will find it hard to stay motivated with the client’s latest demands changes with their design and it can easily deter you from all future projects along that path. As a result you will continue to feed that ‘laz ..read more

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a color picker icon from some blends, gradients, and simple shapes. This icon works great for web design project and in user interface design. Moreover, you can use the techniques in this tutorial in other icon, web, and print projects. Let’s get started! Final Image Take a look at what we will be creating. Preparation There isn’t much preparation needed for this tutorial. All you need is Illustrator CS4 or CS5 and a beginning to intermediate knowledge of how to use the program. Step 1 With the Line Segment Tool (/), create a path that is about 80 ..read more

It’s a no-brainer that websites are crafted by layering information into page sections. The most important content usually falls near the top of the page and gradually cascades down. Capturing attention requires a sense of natural order to your page content. Web typography can relate to the typeface, but it also relates to overall structure and flow while reading. I want to suggest a few tips for web designers who wish to bring sequential order to their typography. This occurs through a number of changes that require careful attention to detail. A great place to start is by reading popular onl ..read more

Mascots are becoming increasingly popular in web design. In this intermediate Illustrator tutorial we will show you how to create a vector character mascot from a sketch in Adobe Illustrator. The techniques in this tutorial can easily be applied to other illustrations, icons, and design elements; as well as legacy versions of Illustrator. Final Image Below is the final illustration we will be working towards. Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator Version: CS4 Difficulty: Intermediate Estimated Completion Time: 2 hours Step 1 To start, create a sketch of your character. I like ..read more

Digital design has become a popular trade which almost anyone can learn. But digital design is an umbrella term which includes all sorts of work like advertising banners, website layouts, motion graphics and of course icon design. While many of these practices have overlapping techniques they all tend to rely on varying skillsets. This guide covers some of the basic structural concepts for icon designers. Fundamental design principles are difficult to teach and even more difficult to understand. A little practice can go a long way, but to obtain mastery requires changing your own perception o ..read more

It’s not easy selecting which fonts to use for a website. Back even a decade ago most web designers had to stick with system fonts like Arial, Helvetica, and Tahoma. Nowadays there are dozens of system fonts and hundreds more online. In this post I’d like to share a few tips and ideas for selecting appropriate font families. Interface design is predicated on the notion of content, which means the style and location of content on the page has a direct influence on the user. If you keep this in mind at all times you’ll stay on course and have a much smoother creative process. Heading Styles Any ..read more

When Google released Android Lollipop, it also brought into the market its whole new Material Design concept. Ever since its debut, designers and technologists everywhere are full of praise for the new design language, but for those who are new to it, here is a look at what Material Design is all about. Basically, Material Design is a visual language for users, a set of design styles that blends the essence of the classic principle of good design with the innovation and opportunities of science and technology. But Material Design also has a far broader goal. It aspires to unite ..read more