Keyboard Shortcut Skins for Macs for Photoshop, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, After Effects, or Logic Pro. The Photoshop one could definitely come in handy at casa swissmiss…
Information Design Patterns
Information Design Patterns: An online resource accompanying a Master’s thesis on design patterns, by Christian Behrens. (took forever to load…)
(via chrisglass)
Proof your email designs in different email clients
Seasoned graphic designers wouldn’t dream of sending a print project to press without first approving an accurate proof. Your client’s email marketing campaign should be no different. You need to be sure you know what your design looks like on the different email clients your readers might be using.
Full Creative Tech’s Tip: Proof your email designs in different email clients.
OS Form Elements
Need a Windows XP button when you work on a Mac? Or a Mac OS X pulldown menu when you’re on a Windows system? Download the Designers’ Toolbox free standard HTML form elements to use in your designs. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
(via elihorne)
Comment Designs for Web Designers
Comment design is often overlooked by a lot of web designers when they are designing their blog. This list shows 30 blogs where the web designer didn’t just throw together the same old comment design and put extra effort into their comment design. Comment Designs for Web Designers
Update 10/2014: That link does no longer work. Here’s a new one.
(thank you john)
Google Offices Zurich
Ilan sent me this amazing PDF of Google’s Office Space in Zurich. (drool!) Gotta love the swiss cable car conference rooms.
question for my readers: how do you handle your inbox?
I just had an interesting email exchange with Fred. He nudged me, as I still owed him a reply to his latest email. In our conversation, he mentioned an app he uses called NEO (Nelson Email Organizer) that helps him stay on top of his conversations. Of course, it’s a windows app. Are you using anything similar on a mac?
I need overhaul the way I handle my inbox. Just yesterday, I had to completely erase my harddrive and reinstall everything. With that, my inbox went from over 1400 emails (approx 700 of them flagged) to zero. (enter happy sigh here)
The eternal question: How do you organize your inbox. How do you stay on top of ongoing conversations?
(Oh, and by the way, if I owe you a reply, please nudge me again!)
approach graphics
I think I am going to start a collection of ‘our design approach visualizations’. Here’s another beautiful one from ‘the ingredient‘. Not sure if it is necessarily very clear, but it sure looks impressive.
Still, my alltime favorite approach graphic, is this one. Makes me chuckle every time I come back to it.
Secrets of UX Design Productivity from Google
Transcription of a talk by Google’s Jake Knapp regarding their methods of staying productive in their UX group. Read it here. Interesting.
Question for my readers!
My designer friend Anke is researching applications that help her with project budgeting and time/expense tracking. So far she’s looked at mindsalt, functionfox and a few others. She wonders if there’s anything out there that would also include invoicing features like blinksale. What do you use?
Hourly Rate Calculator
Remember your hourly rate should always take into account factors like market demand, industry standards, skill level and experience – things that unfortunately we can’t put into a calculator! It will take you about 5-20 minutes to complete depending on how much attention you give each calculation. Hourly Rate Calculator
(via creativevictuals)
Start Your Own Business
Start Your Own Business, by Mark Boulton
To Collaborate, or Not to Collaborate
Armin is asking: Do you work better alone or in teams? If you are a junior designer, do you enjoy heavy-handed creative direction, and working with other designers? If you are a senior designer, ditto? And if you are a creative director, how much do you rely on the collaboration between designers? Have I missed out on a great experience?
To Collaborate, or Not to Collaborate, by Armin Vit
dry erase paint
“Rust-Oleum Dry Erase Paint
(via bltd / via apartment therapy)
This Ain’t No Disco {it’s where we work}
It’s a well known fact that some agencies spend huge chunks of their hard earned money turning lifeless commercial spaces into bastions of creativity. These interiors provide insight as to the breadth and depth of their thinking and creative execution. They create spaces to envy. Places to shout about – loud. This Ain’t No Disco {it’s where we work} invites Agencies from across the world to show their inner sanctum and like Pandora’s Box, once you look inside nothing will ever be the same again.
(Above’s my current favorite: The office space of MSLK)
(thank you jacob)
The 50 Most Popular Web Design Blog Posts, Resources & Cheat Sheets of 2007
The 50 Most Popular Web Design Blog Posts, Resources & Cheat Sheets of 2007
Some personal highlights:
The Importance of White space – One of the oldest principals of design is white space, and knowing how to use it properly could mean wonders for your design. Popular site A List Apart tackles the subject.
35 Designers x 5 Questions – What better way to learn technique then to speak to those who know it best? 35 of some of the brightest minds in web design get put on the spot and share some insightful expert advice.
(via muhsashum)
Plugin: Bookmark A Page In Your PDF
My friend and wonderfully talented developer John Ford created a PDF Bookmark Plugin that allows you to bookmark a page in your PDF, almost like when you put your old-school real bookmark into a book before putting it down. Simply brilliant, like John.
The Laptop Lover’s Guide to Productivity On-the-Go
You’re an on-the-go worker, and the one thing you always carry with you? Your trusty laptop, of course. Sure, you’ve reached a point where you’re pretty good at getting things done away from your desk, but you still haven’t reached laptop zen—that point at which your laptop does gymnastics for you and is a seamless extension of your productivity. Today we’re taking a look at some of the best laptop hacks for notebook enthusiasts, from getting internet access anywhere and keeping your files in sync to adding an anti-theft layer of security to your laptop.
The Laptop Lover’s Guide to Productivity On-the-Go
(via popwuping)
The Heart of the Matter
Should our creative briefs be drafted solely around the desired end reaction? We could delete the delivery device and focus solely on creating meaningful interaction with the audience. This might make the notion of hourly billings anachronistic. Our clients demand results, not labour. Why aren’t we pricing our value as such?
While the world around us continues to change, the one thing that remains constant is that people act as a result of their emotions. As visual communicators, we’re in the business of crafting reactions. If we can embrace this truth, we’ll do our clients and ourselves a great service.
Veneer Hanging File Folders
That polished mahogany desk you’ve dreamt of may be a few promotions away, but you can still have the warmth and beauty of wood in your workspace with this set of wood grain Hanging File Folders from the Veneer Collection. Each set includes 10 letter-size, Hanging File Folders with 10 blank labels and 10 clear plastic tabs.
Richard St. John: Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes
Why do people succeed? Because they’re smart? Or lucky? How about: Neither. Richard St. John compacts more than a decade of research into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success. (Hint: Passion, persistence, and pushy mothers help.) Inspired by a chance encounter with a high school student who asked him how to become a success, St. John interviewed more than 500 successful people, then distilled what they told him into eight simple principles.