New Zealand, Come Visit Us Down Underer! Murray’s Tourism Posters From Flight Of The Conchords
May 16, 2013 § Leave a Comment
All of Murray Hewitt’s New Zealand tourism posters from his consulate office in Flight of the Conchords – one of my all-time favourite tv comedies!
The Best Free Resources For Graphic Designers: Websites, Icons, Templates, Mockups and Tutorials
May 14, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Over the past couple of years alongside my University degree I have taught myself how to use graphic design software and have had a lot of help from stumbling across free resources along the way. It seems whenever I talk to another creative, we both have these favourite free locations or items the other doesn’t know about and so I thought I would put together a post and share them all! This list contains works and sites from many designers and some from myself; a few are downloadable files and others are websites that offer help in other ways – but all are free!
1. Magazine mockup: Two really great digital magazine psd mockups by Carlos Viloria. An open spread version here and a double page spread with cover version here.
2. stationary set: A fantastic free stationary mockup set here, including business cards, envelopes, letterheads, iPads, iPhones and other branding elements.
3. social media icon set: My own free and complete social media icon set, a nice collection of psd social icons here, and a set of png social icons.
4. iPhone templates: A great collection of 20 different iPhone 5 mockups from different angles here, another version here with a model hand holding the device, and a simple front view of a white and black iPhone 5 here.
5. iPad templates: iPad 2 front view psd here, a nice angled shot of the iPad Mini here in psd format (which I tend to use to showcase tablet-designed designs in general), and three viewpoints of the iPad Mini White in psd format here.
6. Apple Computer templates: Front view MacBook Pro psd here, angled MacBook Air here, front view of the MacBook Air that I also use a lot (big fan of this one!), Apple keyboard psd here, and a nice iMac psd mockup here to complete the set.
7. Free UI kit: A great clean UI kit here that would work for anyone, a really nice Apple Safari Lion UI set here, a UI icon kit here, and a brilliant Metro psd UI kit that took someone a long time to create!
8. Icons: A fantastic set of pixel perfect psd icons that I used a lot when I first started UI work, some simple UI icons here that I think look great, the amazing ‘climacons’ by Adam Whitcroft here (that I think every designer in the world uses), and another set of web icons with a nice layer style here.
9. Browser Template: An Apple Safari Browser psd template here to showcase your web designs or display sites – another of mine.
10. PSD template: Here are a few of my favourite psd templates that can be used for anything. Firstly, a browser magnify psd to zoom and highlight design details, a set of amazing horizontal paper psd rule lines to break up content, a wooden bookcase psd similar to the iBook store design, and a set of psd stitch graphics.
11. thenounproject.com: The holy grail of icon websites. Up until very recently this site was completely free although now you are encouraged to credit the original designer or pay a dollar or two to wave the action. Thousands of icons, easily categorised and vectored - thenounproject.com
12. Abduzeedo: This website is great for general inspiration and discovering interesting new design work across the world. It also has a brilliant and huge archive of step-by-step tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Pixelmator and others (I essentially taught myself layer styles using this site). Every Friday they also release a few free fonts to add to your collection.
13. subtlepatterns.com: An incredible free resource for digital designers. Subtlepatterns.com contains hundreds of free downloadable digital patterns to add a touch of texture to your screen designs – subtlepatterns.com
14. Adobe TV: If you are just starting out using design software, or if you have stumbled upon these free downloads and wonder how to use them, then Adobe TV is a great place to start. Discover free and easily digestible tutorial videos outlining the key things to get started – Adobe TV.
15. Kuler.adobe.com: A great place to find colour palettes for your project; organised, well presented, and again, completely free – kuler.adobe.com
16. The Chive: Because everyone needs a break… – thechive.com
The Life Infographics From The Man Who Designed The Facebook Timeline, Nicholas Felton
May 13, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Data visualisation genius Nicholas Felton, a man who is likely best known for his work designing the Facebook Timeline, recently announced that he was leaving Team Zuckerberg. Rather than revere over the timeline however – something conceptually brilliant but executed averagely in my mind – i’d like to introduce Felton’s annual reports; an amazing infographic representation of a person’s life and a real insight into the future of measured social metrics. Take a look at some of these beautiful HQ images!
Nicholas Felton spends much of his time thinking about data, charts and our daily routines. He is the author of several Personal Annual Reports that weave numerous measurements into a tapestry of graphs, maps and statistics that reflect the year’s activities. He is the co-founder of Daytum.com, and currently a member of the product design team at Facebook. His work has been profiled in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Good Magazine and has been recognized as one of the 50 most influential designers in America by Fast Company.
I find social metrics a really interesting aspect of the future. Take your smartphone; when you’re not using the device it just sits in your pocket. But think about all the information it could be recording: your location, time and day, speed, temperature, height, who you’re with, who’s contacting you, the event you’re going to… Now imagine a future where all devices are connected to the internet and talking to each other. Add to that list, your heart rate, what you’re eating and drinking, what you’re watching, what you’re wearing, your purchases, your photos, sleep patterns… literally everything! The idea of so much recorded information will scare a lot of people, but to me it’s exciting. Shoes that tell you when you need to buy new ones, a shirt that lets you know when more exercise would be a good idea, a fridge that suggests more water and less pizza…
Felton tracked the crazy amount of data using a custom iPhone app, which you can download and use yourselves, either by searching ‘daytum’ in the app store or at daytum.com - learn more about it from this slightly awkward web chat here. I have been using the app myself for the past month with the aim of using the data for a new infographic cv design.
A Vivid New Visual Identity for Branding Public Libraries
May 13, 2013 § Leave a Comment
I came across this project today on Behance by Natalia Bilska from Krakow, Poland. I love the icon set and colour palette and simplicity that makes my puts my university library experiences last year to shame!
Visual Identity for public libraries in all rural and rural-municipal communes and municipal communes with up to 20,000 residents. Project won first prize in a contest organized by the polish Association of Applied Graphic Designers and Library Development Program.
Take a look at her other work here.
An Abandoned Railway Building Gets A Modern Transmogrification
May 13, 2013 § 1 Comment
I really love the idea of taking a ruined building and using it to reconstruct a modern home. Homes manufactured on a large-scale today are so boring, with the same predictable features. I think using a historic building adds so much more character, whether it be period elements or interesting angled spaces. Nice article on the construction here.
A Digital Design For Doko: Toyota’s Navigation System
May 12, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Doko is the name of a new digital navigation system for Toyota by Andrew Kim – the chap who redesigned Microsoft in 3 days. Although I think the design could be executed better, i’ve been gripped with this new digital and infographic visual language ever since I saw the Microsoft future productivity videos. If you havn’t seen them then you should really take a look!
