Ari Zandman-Zeman owns a small, health-conscious business based in Durham, NC called Rubberbanditz. I worked closely with Ari and designer, Shelley Cline, to create a fresh new look for the website to capture what Rubberbanditz is about. After the design was finalized, it was sent to development and it is now live!
Go to http://rubberbanditz.com and check it out.
Do you ever get stuck on putting together a color scheme for a design? There’s a lot of theory behind colors and what they mean. Choosing a good combination of colors for a design can be challenging. Below are some resources that may help with your creativity. Feel free to share any of your own!
Color Combos
When done right, dark websites can be elegant and very attractive. In the past few months, I had a few clients request a dark website re-design. Before I started working on those designs, I did a little research and ran into this great article by Webdesigner Depot that I wanted to share.
The article was extremely helpful and covered very important aspects to consider when designing a dark website. The article brings up the major concern of readability and how to address it by using proper white space, color themes, text contrast, and font types. I highly recommend for anyone to use this as a guide, checklist, or reminder when designing a dark website.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Dark Web Design [Webdesigner Depot]
Share and leave your comments here!
The best CD covers grab buyers’ attention at CD stores while capturing the feel that the musicians are portraying.
Smashing Magazine put out an article called “100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers”. It not only contained new artwork, but some remarkable old CD covers, as well. I went through the list and pulled out my favorites – both artistically and musically.
The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute (2005)
This CD cover draws some curiosity. Listen to the album, and it may make sense to you. The music rocks from all direction – speed, complexity and texture are its noteworthy attributes.
Thom Yorke – The Eraser (2006)
Simple design catches your eye. Great solo album by Thom Yorke of Radiohead. This album actually is one of the main inspirations for my current solo project.
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
This is a classic and one of the many great Beatles records. I can’t imagine being without Photoshop to make this cover.
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
I love the visual for the “Pink Robot”. The music at parts is quite out there, just like this record cover. I’ve been obsessed with this album for the longest time, it never gets old. It is one of the top albums of all time.
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
Cool street art, yet a quite disturbing cover. Great album.
Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
This cover has a nice vintage look. If you actually have the CD, it is made out of cardstock paper, which adds to the feel of the album artwork. Honestly, it took me several months to actually ‘get’ this album. But when I did, I realized how fantastic this album is.
Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)
The cover represents the record very well – technology in modern life. Top 5 records of all time, I’m sure you’ve heard most of these songs.
Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
Colorful cover… good match to the album name. With Radiohead being my favorite band, I’m glad to see them on this list more than once. Make sure to purchase this record if you haven’t already.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Another classic and top favorite on my list. The Smashing Pumpkins did a great job with what would be ‘branding’ on this record. Their album artwork, music videos, DVDs, all followed this vintage fantasy very well.
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – It’s Blitz (2009)
I’m not quite sure if this was photoshopped or real photography, but this cover is just cool. The album is pretty impressive as well. This was added to my music collection recently and it rocks, even more so than their previous record, Show Your Bones.
Check out the rest of the 100 Obscure and Remarkable CD covers at the URL below. If you have any favorite album covers, I’d love to hear what they are.
100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers [Smashing Magazine]
Other URLs to check out:
35 Beautiful Music Album Covers [Smashing Magazine]
Billboard Top 40 Design Showcase [Smashing Magazine]
Do you have any favorite CD covers not listed here? Please share!
Six Revisions put out a post not too long ago that listed several cheat sheets for web designers. Below are some from the list that I found to be useful, especially for those who are looking to grow and become more efficient with web design.
Photoshop Lasso Tool Cheatsheet
Photoshop Brush Tool Cheatsheet
Common Fonts to Windows and Mac
Approximate Conversion from Points to Pixels
Click here to see the full post from Six Revisions: http://sixrevisions.com/resources/cheat_sheets_for_web_designers/
Rather than using text in a bulleted list, spice up your website with icons. When a user visits your website, they initial scan the page to find anything that draws their attention…something visual. After the user finds that visual attraction, the user starts to actually read the text. It’s all psychological and all about communication.
So where can you get your icons? There are plenty of sites out there, but here are a few that I use on a frequent basis that can provide a nice sleek look for your page.
Icon Finder
Nice, clean looking icons! It’s easy to search and find something you need. They offer various sizes for most icons.
IconsPedia
I just found this site recently and it has a large number of icons for your needs. They provide good categorization for easy browsing through their icons. This site is a good place to go if you are looking for icons to match certain events, specific products or business types.
Although it’s not free, it has a great library of icons along with stock photos. Purchase the credits at a low cost and you’ll have a large library of icon sets to choose from.
AppStorm
If you’re a Mac fan, check out this site. They have a section for “50 Unusually Awesome Icon Sets for Mac”.
Although there are not that many choices, you’ll find an icon or two useful for your website. The icons are focused on icons for Computer Applications, Devices, and File Systems.
123 Free Vectors
Not just for icons, but this site includes an excellent collection of vector images.
Of course, if can’t find your icons, then GOOGLE. The key to finding good icons in Google is finding the proper search string. It usually takes several tries before finding the right icon for your needs.
Got others? Post your sites here, I’d love to hear more that are commonly used.
Two days later… the excitement still lingers from the game Monday night where UNC defeated Michigan State for the NCAA National Championship! Typically, I would have been on Franklin st. cheering “Tar…” and waiting for the other half the street to chant “Heels!” back at me. But after looking at this video, I was content with being a spectator from my living room couch for this chaotic celebration!
Screenshot from DTH Video of Franklin St. Chapel Hill - National Championship NCAA
I’m proud of our UNC team and the job that Roy has done since the 2005 National Championship.
That said, I’ve seen many people doing graphic design work that has a UNC theme. I have seen people make t-shirts, websites, and print designs that have UNC colors and different logos. They all look great, but there’s something missing.
I just wanted to mention that there is an official stylesheet for UNC. For such a large institution, it is important that this was made available for consistant branding. Their stylesheet consists of information that help you design your work with the true Carolina colors and logos. For example, the true shade of Carolina Blue color is Pantone 278.
The other colors that are used by Carolina are:
Tar Heels Deep Blue: Pantone 282
Tar Heels Silver: Pantone 877
Tar Heels Metallic Silver: Pantone 429
Those pieces are the most important to me. They also have various logos that shouldn’t be altered as well. Apparently, you have to get permission to use them.
Here’s the link to where their stylesheet guide lives:
http://www.licensing.unc.edu
So next time you make a new computer desktop background or design that new banner, make sure to use the ‘true’ Carolina Blue colors! Feel free to post any designs you have, I’d love to see them!
Go Heels!
