Archive for July, 2010

July 21st, 2010

Best Water Textures of High Quality

Today I have decided to discuss something on which I have written and this post is an episode of textures but in this you can read about water textures and this is one of my favorite topic to write on because when you see website so it is important that it should look good and must have an inspirational touch. Only then it can attract mass at a large number and as summer is approaching and this is the right times to get refresh so the following designs you can use for your projects. Apart from that water textures are very useful in making 2D and 3D designs. I have tried to gather some surface textures, icy water, splashes, water droplets etc. Textures enhance the design and it makes the website to look catchier in nature. The tones of the textures can be light color or bright, depending upon the nature of website. Textures always remain in background but it does not mean that we ignore them and they have significant importance in our websites.

Here is the showcase:

 

Texture: 1

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 2

 
 

Texture: 3

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 4

 
 

Texture: 5

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 6

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 7

 

Texture: 8

[download water textures]

 

Texture: 9

 
 

Texture: 10

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 11

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 12

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 13

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 14

[download water textures]
 

Texture: 15

 
 

Texture: 16

[download water textures]
 

This is the collection of water textures and you can get an idea for your project and thy may prove an element of inspiration for you. Textures are not always beautiful by themselves and many can appear quite boring, but when you add texture to your design, it gives that little bit of depth you might be looking for to make the image pop. You need to put some efforts to make them impressive.
If you want me to write on any another specific color so please feels free to tell me and I will be looking forward for your comment.

I will appreciate your views. If you want another creative but inspiring list of logos and reviews of company logos, leave a comment or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow us on  Twitter and Face book !

July 19th, 2010

The Amazing List Of Useful Online Color Tools

Colors are the part of our daily life and our emotions and feelings are attached with them. As a web designer we are also attached with colors and in our day to day life we deal with them. There are many tools available for color but to select which is the best for your website or for your blog is really a hard job because competition is tough and we have to look up for a good and outstanding tool. This article will definitely help all web developers to make selection because I have gathered all online good tools for color on one platform. Color is the main essence for any website and by colors you can play a lot and you can gain attraction of viewers and this color also is the main factor or reason for any website failure because if you are not getting good traffic so may be it is due to the poor color scheme etc.

As a designer I can well think of the fact that the first thing which pops up in my mind when planning to design a website is the layout of the site and second is the color. Each and every color has different meanings and you can explain your point in a much better manner just by giving colors. It is observed that Blue color has the professional image in web designing. So here I have made a list of some useful and awesome online color tools for my readers and I hope you will like them. Keep enjoying reading!

 

Hex Color Scheme Generator

 
 

Color Scheme Designer

 
 

Infobound Color Schemer

 
 

Color Jack

 
 

The Color Wizard 3.0

 
 

Color Hunter

 
 

Color Palette Generator from jrm.cc

 

Color Mixers

 
 

Color Combos

 
 

Kuler

 
 

Color Palette

 
 

Daily Color Scheme

 
 

Colour Grab

 

Color Spire

 

Color Schemer from dhtmlgoodies.com

 
 

Slayer Office

 
 

Colorotate

 
 

Toucan Color Palettes

 
 

Dasplankton

 
 

Pictaculous

 

So this is the showcase of 20 great and useful online color tools and as a designer I have tried many of these tools and I hope you will also try them and you will Bookmark this page for sure. The psyche of colors is very interesting and it just require little bit of good sense of humor so that you can pick right color for right situation at right time.

I hope you like that and will be looking to hear from your end. I will appreciate your views. If you want another creative but inspiring list of logos and reviews of company logos, leave a comment or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow us on  Twitter and Face book !

July 16th, 2010

Logo Designs which have Inspirational Thoughts

Let’s start today’s conversation with a question and just ask from your self that What is LOGO? I am sure we all know the definition of it and we are clear with its concept but still on every day something new is coming and changing the concepts and the meanings. Logo is the symbolic representation of any thing and logo gives an identity to a company or to a brand. It can be simple in nature like of Nike logo or it can be very creative such as Adiika.

July 15th, 2010

Blogs in Dark Colors, Impressive Collection

Designing a blog is not an easy task as it looks like because it involve great amount of creativity and innovative ideas and then finally putting all of them in an order and a sequence which will create impressive impact on viewers. After planning the next step is to make the selection of colors for your blogs. Many people assumed that the blogs can be only in white background and they have text in black color but as now days when technology is getting advance and things are changing at rapid speed so the concept of blogs to be in one color is also getting modernized and I have observed that many webmasters and web designers are taking interest in that and they are making colorful blogs and also these blogs have the colorful backgrounds.

It is the psyche of human beings that they do get attracted towards bright and dark colors and if your website or blog has colorful combinations so it will be bringing good traffic automatically. Dark designs are gen­er­ally more cre­ative than a light col­ored one. Because there are fewer ele­ments that work well together on a dark lay­out, it requires more cre­ativ­ity and time to really come out with an excellent dark design. In this post I have tried to gather some good examples of dark color blogs and hope you will like them.

 

AndySowards

AndySowards Blog as you guess is founded by Andy Sowards.The blog is about Web Design & Development,programming and tutorials.I think orange is one of the best color to combine with black.

 

PSDVault

PSDVault is Adobe Photoshop Tutorials, resouces and inspirations for all web and graphic designers.

 

Kineda

Kineda is a fashion and lifestyle blog founded by Terry Ng.The blog is simple designed also designed by Terry.I like the spotlight and popular posts section.

 
 

Lectia de Stil

The blog is a Romanian blog which is about make up.I like the color combination and comment count bubble style.And also what about the comment section style?.

 
 

Chonchstyle

Chonchstyle is a webdesign,cinema and photography blog founded by Julie Poignot.I like the header style as well as the footer.The theme is designed by Julie based on the theme vikiworks.

 
 

Gaya Design

Gaya Design is managed and written by Gaya Kessler from Netherlands.The blog is about web development tricks,XHTML,Javascript, PHP and CSS.

 
 

CrazyLeaf Design

CrazyLeaf design is also one of my favourite design related blog.Easy to read and you can find tons of design resources to improve yourself.

 

KomodoMedia

KomodoMedia is mostly a design blog which you can read CSS, XHTML, JavaScript, PHP stuff.Designed by Rogie King and one of the interesting part of this blog is that you can switch the style(foliage-o-meter) from sparse to dense.

 
 

Batman

A wordpress based Batman blog in German language which is created by Achim Loob(a fan of Batman).It has a simple design but the header attracted me.

 
 

Dezinerfolio

Dezinerfolio v1 was started as a personal portflio on March 2007 by Navdeep & Navin who are brothers.Now Dezinerfolio is at v4 which is a more design community holding blogs,forums,links and their showcase.

 
 

Platinium Games

Official blog of Platinium Games Inc. which is based in Osaka ,Japan.You know most of the game blogs or sites are dark colored like this one but i like the color combination of grey and black especially in the sidebar.

 
 

Webdevonlinux

Webdevonlinux is a linux developement blog in French language.I always like the combination of black and blue as in this blog and also the background style is eligible for this blog.

 
 

YouTheDesigner

YouTheDesigner.com (YTD) is a graphic design, marketing and branding blog that features tips, inspiration, tutorials and resources for creative professionals. YouTheDesigner is part of the UPrinting.com Network.YouTheDesigner is founded by Gino.This blog was a school project but as Gino said the blog grew steadily and gained a loyal following.

 

StudioNash Vegas

StudioNashVegas is founded by Mitch Canter who is a WordPress Designer and General Web Developer.

 

Caty’s Blog

Caty’s blog is a design and art blog founded by Caty Ng from Singapore.Caty call herself as graphic and web design enthusiast.You can find inspirational and freebie posts as well as self reviews of design related world.

 

Light color schemes do allow for some very impressive typography, but when it comes to type on dark designs, I think it’s more creative and has the ability to attract the mass at a large number. I agree that sometimes it will be hard and difficult to read out the text written on dark colors but still they have good position in today’s world.

I hope you like that and will be looking to hear from your end. I will appreciate your views. If you want another creative but inspiring list of logos and reviews of company logos, leave a comment or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow us on  Twitter and Face book !

July 14th, 2010

Interviews Session By Company Logos

Today I will be sharing some interesting interviews of few designers and it will be good for those who are in this field of designing. If you have been following this blog so you came to know that from time to time I used to compile interviews on one platform and then present to my readers. So this the episode of another interview and let have a look on the following personalities like how they are different from us?

 
1st Interview

 First of all I would like to introduce Paul Singh who is the buyer of MailFinch.

 

Tell us about yourself, Paul. Where are you from? What makes you tick?
PAUL: I’m originally from the DC area — born and raised here. I hate the weather sometimes, but love being close to my family. I’m an entrepreneur at heart; I think I’ve only ever had one “real” job. Then I learned that corporate life tends to suck, so I jumped ship and never looked back.

I love building stuff — whether that means doing it on my own or helping other people get their ideas off the ground.

You’ve been a part of some rather high-profile projects. What were some of your previous accomplishments?
I don’t know if I would call them “high-profile” but I’ve been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and work with top-notch people.

Prior to MailFinch, I founded Philtro which was a real time relevancy engine for social networks. We were acquired in late 2009. Prior to that I worked at PBworks, the world’s largest provider of hosted collaboration solutions for business and education, where I was responsible for building out the back-office systems and building their support team. And prior to that, I helped build Symantec’s SaaS business unit (which, incidentally, booked millions of dollars of pre-sales before we even finished building the thing).

God, I feel old… but I’m not.

For those who don’t already know, what is MailFinch?
MailFinch is an on-demand direct mail platform. Whether you need to send one piece of mail or thousands, we guarantee that it will be in tomorrow’s mail. There are no long-term contracts, no minimums and no fine print.

 
 

What was your inspiration for MailFinch?
MailFinch was partly inspired by a side project that Dustin Curtis (a particularly famous UI/UX guy) built, and partly inspired by my own curiosity. My dad (and a lot of his friends) sends a lot of flyers for his small business — I remember having to fold and stuff all of them. (It sucked.)

 

 

What are your goals — both immediate and long-term — for MailFinch?
My immediate priority is to avoid paper cuts. Seriously.

As for the long-term, my customers are helping me figure that out. It turns out that a lot of people still send a ton of direct mail. My goal is to make their lives easier.

We know how much of an enterprising mind you are. What’s next for you?
Good question. I have no idea — really. MailFinch is a lot of fun and I get to meet some fantastic people (who also happen to enjoy paying for the service) along the way.

I do want to get back into cycling though, I feel a beer gut coming. Gross.

 

2nd Interview

Second interview is of Sneh Roy of Little Box of Ideas and for those who aren’t familiar, that’s perfect because we conducted a little interview so you can get to know the very lovely Sneh Roy.

 

Who exactly are you? Tell us about yourself, please. Name, age, occupation, birth place, credit card numbers?
In my past life I was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots on Cybertron. I was red, blue, shiny, brave and noble. In this life I am Sneh Roy, best friend to Nick, fighter of my older son’s dragons, ass-kicker of my younger son’s nighttime monsters, serial coffee chugger, sees-logos-everywhere-designer, Pixar fan, hopeless romantic, compulsive list creator and a chatterbox. I am 32. I do several jobs a day, the most favorite would be sketching, planning and designing, the least favorite would be changing diapers and re-filling sugar. I was born in a city called Pune in western India in 1977. I have put a scan of my credit card in the mail and you should be getting that shortly.

 

Logo Concept: 1

 

For those who don’t know about “Little Box of Ideas,” could you tell us a little bit about it and its origins? (This is your chance to plug!)
I was going to be a neurosurgeon, and no I am not kidding. It was all I had ever known and worked for. Right before admission into medical school, I spent a day at a hospital watching how it all worked. At the end of that day, I broke down, cried my heart out because I knew I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that I wimped out, just that I couldn’t take all that pain and suffering. So I enrolled in engineering, met Nick and flew blind for a bit. Then I discovered HTML and started designing websites. We started working on projects together back in 1998 and the seed for LBOI was planted. In 2005 when we officially set out to register our company, Little Box Of Ideas was a fitting name, seeing that my head is exploding with a bunch of them every single minute. In 2009 I designed my first logo and we rebranded to LBOI studio, taking our skills and work to a new level, offering a wide range of creative solutions for businesses.

 

Logo Concept: 2

 
Is designing/blogging a full-time thing for you?
Yes, it is. I have been freelancing for over 12 years now but it was only last year that I started blogging. Designing is a need that I have to fulfill, blogging is my salvation.
 

Logo Concept: 3

 

Logo Concept: 4

 

Give us some insight into your creative process, please. Where do you usually start?
With a cup of coffee :)
My creative process for a logo is pretty much the same for anything else I create, whether it is a website or a character or an exotic dish. For a client project, I sit down with the brief, reading and re-reading it till I know it by rote, word-mapping in a sketch book, doodling ideas, wireframing and drawing lots of little arrows to connect the words, ideas and doodles together. I like to do this before I start my research because this puts all my non-influenced, raw and original concepts on paper. After a couple of hours of doing this, I start the actual research. The research results in eliminating stuff that has already been done before … logo concepts, website domains, brand names and mission statements. After striking out stuff i cannot use, I go back to work on all the original stuff that has remained untouched and start developing that in more detail.

For a fictional project, like creating a logo for Brandstack, my creative process is the same as above, except that there is no brief from a client.

Because I blog everyday, I see a lot of inspirational designs and websites on a daily basis. Once I start a project, I try not to get online as I feel that muddles my thought process. I sketch extensively and I write. I don’t actually type stuff on the computer, I get a pen and paper and write the old school way. A lot of my posts have come to life in that fashion. I read a lot of books, I have always been a voracious reader. The words in purely textual books feed my visual imagination

 

Logo Concept: 5

 

What is your core design philosophy?
You have to love it, like you would love your child! Not exactly the same, but with an unabridged passion. Passion brings hunger and hunger will keep you going strong. Don’t just design with your heart [because the heart is the designer's Kryptonite], use your head too. The head and heart combination is unbeatable. And always, always keep an open mind and “That’s different, but I can do it!” attitude.

 

Logo Concept: 6

 

What about major influences? Is there anyone or anything that has informed your work?
In the past year, there have been so many people that have influenced me, in the way that they design, in the way that they interact and simply by being who they are. I am here to learn and I love the randomness of the learning channels. I could pick up something from a seasoned veteran who has been designing for 20 odd years or a newbie who just designed his first logo. Everyone has a story, everyone has a method and if you keep your mind and eyes open, it is amazing what you will learn.

I would like to add that I wouldn’t even be here today if it wouldn’t have been for Nick giving me a pep talk when I needed it the most a year ago, when I had no clue what to do after doing the same old thing for 10 years. He influences me a lot.

 

Logo Concept: 7

 

What is your favorite logo you have designed and why?
Out of all the logos I have designed, the LBOI logo would have to be my favorite. Why? Because it is big and bold and bodacious [I believe that term was used by a visitor to the blog] and has that quirk factor that we so badly wanted to represent our business. It has hidden meanings and symbolism for Nick and me and it has an owl in it. What’s not to love, right? And it took 4 years to arrive at.

 

Company Logo:

 

 What advice would you give to young designers just starting out?
Watch and learn. Don’t copy, but observe and absorb. Not everyone is going to like your designs and not everyone is going to be nice about it. Don’t let the negatives bog you down. You will know when criticism is constructive but stern and when it is just downright mean. Focus on the constructive bit and you will be fine. Push yourself harder every time and once you start something, don’t give up cause you got up too late or someone, online said something rude!

 

Logo Concept: 8

 

3rd Interview

Now third and lastly I would like to share an interview of Richard Scott who is Australian Logo Designer. Rich is from Australia and is a really swell guy, it is always a pleasure to correspond and chat with him.  In the logo designing world, he goes by the moniker of designabot.  From watching his amazing logos pop up on website inspiration lists to reading the deeply philosophical quotes he shares on twitter, Rich never fails to amaze us with his depth of perception. He experiments, adapts and is always there with a kind word of encouragement and a sunny demeanor.

 

Logo Concept: 1

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself. About Rich Scott the person and Rich Scott the designer.
I am a 30 year old currently living in Queensland, Australia. I appreciate all aspects of creativity and right-brain thinking! Love a bit of tennis, chess and music (mainly funk and break beats). I have worked on a Mac since forever but am pleased to have avoided all hype surrounding other Apple products… so far! I have run my own business for the last 2+ years and enjoy the freedom this brings to my life. I find it hard to be creative on demand, so working freelance gives me the chance to dictate my own schedule and let creativity flow at leisure.

2. How did you get started with logo designing? Why logo designing?
I am fond of all aspects related to the logo design process, from initial brainstorming to seeing the final article in use. I have always been inquisitive into the origins and meanings behind hieroglyphs and ancient symbols. I found myself gravitating towards logo design because of the emotion and messages you can impart on a viewer with just a simple icon and/or font. After a few years out of the game it wasn’t until quite recently where my passion for graphic design returned and with it my focus became logos/brand identity. It is quite a specialist field but one that really captured my heart.

 

Logo Concept: 2

 

3. What according to you is the most fulfilling part of being a brand creator?
I would have to say bringing an idea to life that was once a mere flicker of inspiration in my mind then seeing the finished article is also a real pleasure. The amount of ideas and possible brand solutions are infinite which really fascinates and inspires me. It’s a really great feeling to receive feedback from your peers when you create identities that are unique, recognizable and fingers crossed, stand the test of time.

4. Can you share with us your most challenging logo design to date? What was the biggest hurdle in doing it?
Surprisingly one of my most challenging logos appears to be one of the simplest. It was originally an unused concept, which I re-worked for sale on Brandstack called ‘Silk Skin’. The concept came to me in a flash but when it came to vectorising in Adobe Illustrator, it took forever! Adjusting the size of one foot in relation to the other while still forming a recognisable letter ‘s’ was a real challenge but I got there in the end.

 

Logo Concept: 3

 

5. What has been the most unusual source of inspiration for your logos?
A designer takes inspiration from all areas of life not just the design world. One of my more recent brands ‘Vacuum Viper’ was probably the most unusual source. I was finishing up some house work (yawn) … then packing up the vacuum I pressed the cord release button. The speed and velocity of the cords recall reminded me of a snake as it nipped me on the way back! I jumped straight into illustrator with the idea still fresh in my mind and so this brand was born.

 

Logo Concept: 4

 

6. If there was one logo out there in the real world that you wished you had created, which one would that be?
There are so many but one recent logo that keeps popping up and stands out is ‘Under Armour’. It’s a simple and strong design, and as with all great logos combines graphic elements to convey a distinct message.

 

Logo Concept: 5

 

7. Out of your own portfolio, which logo is the dearest to you? Why?
I love all my creations but one that is dear to me is ‘Penny Puddle’. The main reason I am happy with this one is the strength of concept combined with the speed it took me to execute. I began reading the clients brief and the concept was in my mind before I finished reading. I wanted to convey emotions relating to financial wishes and upward mobility. I really think this solution delivers effectively.

 

Logo Concept: 6

 

Logo Concept: 7

 

Logo Concept: 8

 

Logo Concept: 9

 

Any words of wisdom for newbie designers?
We have all at some point in time been new to the design industry. I would say try to be creative and as unique as possible. Create your own little niche within a fairly tough industry. Always keep a positive mind-set and have strong intent that you can and will succeed! Listen to others, ask questions and keep practicing whatever design process you feel most comfortable with. I would always recommend a design course of some sort to gain key knowledge and understanding of design principles. Whatever your skill level the main thing is to have a great concept. I agree that ‘less is more’ but it can be okay to come up with more complex logos providing the concept is strong and then presented in a visually appealing manner.

 

I hope you liked them all and it’s really hard to select which one is the best. Thanks for reading this article. If you want any other informative article just like this one so, leave a comment or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow us on  Twitter and Face book !

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