Forget the clone stamp, paint bucket and pattern presets. When it comes to creating patterns, the ability to duplicate a layer is one of Photoshop’s greatest features.
Semitransparent shapes can be very useful when creating repeated geometric “textures” of color and form.
They’re easy to create, fun to play with and best of all, they can be uniquely yours.
In searching for interesting patterns, designers sometimes pass over basic shapes in favor of more complex geometrics. But simpler is often better.
The trick is to pay attention more to how shapes interact than to how a shape looks on its own.

The concepts are simple:

1. As translucent shapes overlap, they create new shapes.
2. Complex patterns emerge from apparently simple origins; and just like in a poem (a haiku, for example), there’s room for variation within the prescribed form
   
   

Illustrator is a full-featured drawing program that provides sophisticated tracing and text manipulation capabilities as well as color separations. Presently, designers are into learning the various techniques and effects that can be generated with the software.
We have collected a Compilation of Fresh Adobe Illustrator Tutorials that you can learn from and read through to enrich your knowledge. Feel free to browse through the collection and gain new techniques of your own. Have fun!

Create a Simple Paint Brush Icon

So you’ve heard all rumors about HTML5 would take over Adobe Flash. While most web community argues that it’s possible or not, you must be wandering what makes HTML5 so powerful that even giant company Apple wants to use it to replace Flash.

That’s why this post exists, we’re not going to talk about what HTML5 can do, but show live demos of magical things that HTML5 can achieve with other language like JavaScript, so get ready to be inspired.
Note: As HTML5 is not fully supported by certain web browser like Internet Explorer, you’re strongly recommended to use Firefox browser to view all HTML5 demos below.

As web designers and developers, we often overlook printed marketing materials.
But on occasion, they can come in very handy: at conferences, when we meet face-to-face with clients, or when we happen to run into someone we might want to do business with. Having business cards is a great way to promote yourself in the physical world.
Of course, since web design is a creative field, you’ll want your business card to serve as a sort of mini portfolio that displays your skills. You should put the same time and energy into designing your business cards that you put into designing a website.
And the skills necessary to design a business card can be easily adapted from those that are required to design a website. Read on for more information about how to design your business cards.

Size and Shape

Standard business cards are 2″ x 3.5″, in either vertical or horizontal orientation. Horizontal is more traditional, but plenty of people and companies now opt for vertical layouts.
There are a few benefits to the standard sizing, the primary one being that it’s generally less expensive because it’s common. The other big benefit is that it is immediately recognizable as a business card, and will fit in standard business card holders.
But just because business cards are traditionally a 2″ x 3.5″ rectangle doesn’t mean you can’t deviate from that size and shape. With modern printing and cutting techniques, virtually any size and shape can be used for your business cards.
Die cut cards are particularly popular. Some opt for a traditional rectable, but with rounded corners or some kind of cutout shape within the card.
Others opt for an entirely custom shape, often reflecting their logo or a company theme or mascot. Just remember that anything too complex is likely to get bent or otherwise misshapen, which may defeat its purpose.

 

I love Photoshop. I guess we all do. But there are some times when I like to design using Adobe Fireworks instead. After all Fireworks was created with web-designers in mind and it allows us to quickly prototype and design for the web, so let’s see what it can do.
I’ve created this simple yet modern navigation bar in Fireworks, and I’ll walk you through the steps necessary to create something like that. In the event there are some windows and panels you don’t see opened on your computer, simply go to the ‘Windows’ menu and open them.

This tutorial will show how to create a fantasy book scene. We will be using various advanced Photoshop techniques to make the composition as realistic as possible.

Preview of Final Image

The world of online sales, whether of products or services, can be daunting at first; the options seem confusing and the information conflicted. Yet as the designer or developer of an online store, you will need to guide your client through the maze of choices in order to get it up and running.
I have developed many e-commerce websites during my career as a Web developer. I've used and modified off-the-shelf software and have also developed custom solutions — so I know from experience that there are a number of important questions to answer before presenting possible solutions to a client. Getting all the pertinent information up front is vital if such a project is to run smoothly, and it can save you from delays during the process. It can also help you advise the client on whether they need a full custom cart or an open-source or off-the-shelf product.

This article responds to some questions you should be asking of your client before putting together a proposal for the development of an e-commerce website. I'll explain the most important things to think about in terms of taking payments and credit card security. It should give you enough information to be able to guide your client and to look up more detailed information about the aspects that apply to your particular situation.

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In today’s quick tip tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a sparkling text animation in Photoshop with just a few easy steps. Let’s get started!

jQuery image galleries and sliders are very common on portfolio sites and are also useful for any other type of site for displaying images and photos. Also, provide a good user experience and make viewing images more pleasant and intuitive on your website. With the advent of powerful JavaScript frameworks like jQuery, Prototype, Mootools etc., the quality of JavaScript based image galleries and slideshows have improved dramatically.

Today we’ve prepared for you a good list of the best jQuery image sliders and galleries plugins that can provide you with the resources that you need to get a gallery or a slider on your site.

Every single day we hear bad news about damage done to our precious planet. The latest as this article is written would be the Gulf cost oil spill. Reports, news and statistics are showing us that wildlife is slowly disappearing from the faces of earth, oceans’ acidity is rising and pollution is in increasing globally at an alarming rate.

Without a doubt the finger should be pointed at us, humans as we are the only living creatures on this planet who is capable of selfishly destroying the balance of nature just to satisfy our need. We are the inventors but at the same time the demolisher. Even though our planet is a single self-correcting system it’s also a closed system; everything goes someplace, somewhere.
All life on planet earth exists to nourish, support and sustain each other. Below are some really cool nature-inspired artworks created by various talented artists. We hope our next generation doesn’t get to see them only in photos or illustration artworks.

As the web design and technology continues to improve, the “Coming Soon” page is really more than just an ordinary white page with men-at-work icon or under-construction sign.

Not only it’s a landing page that hints visitors about the up-coming website or web services, it is also used by designers and web masters to increase the level of anticipations as well as collecting data of interested users by inserting a “notify me when launch” subscription button.
Today we’d like to show you different types of "Coming Soon" page design with some examples along the way. We hope you will find it useful and be inspired.

What exactly is a "Coming Soon" page?

One of the most debated issues about color is whether black is truly a color or not. To an artist (or a child) black is a color and white is not. But for a scientist, white is a color, black is not. The real meaning of the word black means the absence of colors. Try to mix all the colors in the rainbow, you’ll get black. Black has many associations. Black goes beyond a simple or mixed color; It can be seen as the color of solitude and misery, but it can also express a sense of creativity, power, elegance, strength, nobility, and beauty.

In digital arts, black is usually the preferred color because of its effectiveness in producing contrast. Black and yellow or red on black creates a powerful color combination. Almost all colors appears more luminous against a black background. Below I put together a collection of beautiful black wallpapers that truly illustrate the beauty of black-inspired design. Go ahead, try some black wallpapers on your desktop or laptop. Take your pick and enjoy!

Call to action in web design is a term used for elements in a web page that solicit an action from the user (clicking, hovering, etc). Today we’re going to create an effective and awesome call to action button with some CSS and jQuery that grab the user’s attention and entice him to click .

Throughout this tutorial we’ll explain every line of used code with details and hope it will be useful for you. The following tutorial uses HTML, CSS and jQuery with difficulty level Beginner and an estimated completion time of 45 minutes.

We’re all familiar with Google Doodles – the customized logos that appear on the search engine’s home page to commemorate special dates or events. For 12 years now Google has been creating these logos, honoring everything from global holidays like Earth Day to the birthdays of historically significant people (like Albert Einstein) and even to the birthdays of fictional characters like Paddington Bear.

Today we are glad to release a Designer’s Portfolio Icon Set, a set with 12 original high-quality icons in the resolution 256×256px. This set was designed by MediaLoot and released especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Both layered PSDs and transparent PNGs are included. The set contains icons related to avatar, portfolio, brushes, mail / envelope, color palette, colored pencils, tablet, laptop computer, moleskine notebook, DSLR camera, easel with canvas and coffee cup.

Introduction

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a lovely floral style 3D text effect using only Photoshop and Illustrator. The idea is to add the elements we like while keeping the design subtle, pleasing to the eye, and having some fun along the way.
We’ll be using Illustrator for the 3D effect because it’s more user friendly than other 3D programs like 3ds Max, and it can do an equally good job for what we require.

Resources

If you’re following along, you’ll want to grab these resources.

A professional logo can enhance a company, an organization, or a product. On the other hand, an unprofessional logo can ruin a brand and mar an otherwise good designer’s portfolio.
Many logos in use are unprofessional and carry all the tell-tale marks of an amateur or a beginner. Everyone thinks they can design a great logo, but simply knowing your way around Photoshop is not enough.
Here are some insights into the process and workflow of effective and modern logo design. With these tips and your creativity, you can make your logo designs shine with the very best.


1. Design: Sketch and BrainstormA lot of beginners jump right onto the computer to create a logo. However, more often than not, a lot of time is spent fiddling with special effects and filters. While this can be useful, it usually means that the thoughtful design and artistry of the logo itself has taken a back seat.
A better way to start is to get a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil. Think about the meaning and the feeling you want the logo to impart to the viewer. Is it for a high tech game company or a historic non-profit organization? Should it be complex or simple? As you are thinking, sketch and doodle your ideas. Don’t worry about making everything perfect. You just want to let your natural creativity flow without your computer software taking over at this stage.
As you sketch different options, start eliminating the designs that seem weak or inappropriate. When you are satisfied with your ideas, move to the computer. (For those of you with graphics tablets, you can try sketching your ideas directly on your computer, but try and keep away from special brushes and effects.)

Every day thousands of people take it to the air… With so many airlines to choose from, branding is extremely important and at its core lies logo design.
In this article we’ll take a logo at the logos of over 50 popular airlines. The list is by no means a complete list of all airlines and is just intended for inspiration for your own projects.
Noteworthy is the lack of any depiction of an airplane in most of these logos, but a tendency to suggest flying through the use of curved shapes that resemble wings.
The fonts used tend to be sans serif for the most part, although there’s a fair share of serif typefaces as well. The colors vary a lot, but there appears to be a clear tendency towards reds and blues. Now fasten your seatbelt and let’s take off!