When creating a website, choosing its color is one of the most important things you will have to decide upon. Research has shown that it has a significant influence on the overall message your website sends, so it stands to reason that an effective color scheme can make or break your site.

“Color evokes a feeling ,” says Doctor Kit Yarrow, consumer psychologist at Golden Gate University; “for example, red is almost always the color associated with sales because it inspires people to take action, it’s a stimulating sort of color.”

And it’s not just Yarrow delving into color psychology and its application, it’s a significant field, papers have been written on it and millions of marketing dollars spent on it, so it’s time you started to take notice of it and give color the kudos it’s due.

Basic Color Theory Tips

The influence color has on consumers is multifaceted. It is thought to influence their cognitive processes (subconsciously) and their judgments based on aesthetics (more consciously), and has a definite effect on their decision making.

Red, for example, is a hot color. Associated with fire, violence and anger, it has a physical effect on people, raising blood pressure and respiration rates. For this reason, in design it’s useful for portraying power, and appeals to impulse shoppers.

Orange is another warm color. It’s vibrant, energetic and commands attention. It’s considered more friendly than red, but still conveys a sense of excitement, making it great for calls to action.

Yellow, though bright and energizing in its purest form, can also be associated with danger and deceit. It ought to be used with caution, but when done well its use can achieve a sense of happiness.

Down-to-earth green is used a lot to convey an eco-friendly message. Seen so often in nature, green represents new beginnings and abundance. For this reason it is often associated with wealth.

Although ‘feeling blue’ relates to sadness, blue is the most used color in websites. It communicates advancement (often associated with technological advancement), loyalty and responsibility. The color of the sky and the ocean, it’s a constant that we can depend upon.

Purple has long been associated with royalty, and, as it’s so rare in nature, gives a sense of wealth and luxury. It also has creative connotations and links well with the imagination.

Brands Using Color Well

Shadow‘s use of red signifies importance (emphasized by their invite button).

SimpliSafe’s digital security guide uses yellow to convey a sense of caution—which is perfect for appealing to a their audience.

Oak offers a very soothing scheme that leverages pastel colors with a subtle gray background.

Tools to Help You Brainstorm

Now that you have some idea of the impressive effects that color can have on your website, it’s time to play around with it. There are several tools available online to help you experiment with your use of color, so here are just a few to get you started:

Shutterstock Spectrum
Shutterstock Spectrum is an image discovery tool that lets you explore images using a color slider rather than keywords. It’s great for brainstorming, as the images presented change in real time as you move along the slider, taking you to images you might never have thought to search for.

Colo Rotate
Colo Rotate allows you to browse color palettes, or create your own by adjusting color schemes brought to life in 3D. Their website also has a fantastic learning resource for those wanting to delve a little deeper into color theory.

Pictaculous
Pick out the best colors to use with an image using Pictaculous. You can even use it with your phone, simply take a photo and email it to them and you’ll have a color scheme within minutes.

With so much information available about color psychology, it makes sense to try and incorporate it into your design process. Try it today – you might just be surprised by the effects.

It’s not enough these days to design a website for your business. You also need a mobile strategy. Much like a website, you need to make design decisions based on what the desired outcomes of the mobile site are. There are several steps to go through to ensure you have an optimized mobile site that is ready for a mobile audience.

Outline Your Mobile Objectives

The way you set up your mobile site will depend on the business you are running. An eRetailer’s mobile site will look different than that of a service based business. It will also depend on if you are just beginning to build a mobile site, or making improvements to an existing one. Define what your situation is, and begin planning how your business objectives can be translated into your mobile design. Start by making a prioritized list of business objectives. Once you have this, you can make decisions more easily that are based on your business needs. It will also help you clarify your business objectives. Think about what is important to your business’ brand.

Use the Right Mobile Design Scheme

Building a desktop site will have a different set of restrictions and objectives than when you are planning your mobile website design. Just because the design of a mobile website has to be different does not necessarily mean that the objective of your online presence is different from one platform to another. A mobile site needs to be a stripped down version of your desktop site. Images and graphics need to be quick to load and easy to use.

Unlike the desktop site, it is best to stick to a single column design for your mobile website. You have to think of mobile design in a vertical way. Take advantage of features like collapsible columns. This makes it easy for viewers to see what is offered on the mobile site, and it gives them the freedom to pick and choose what information they want to access. Even though it is best to keep mobile design on the simpler side, it does not mean your site has to look boring. The rise of mobile design has made balancing engaging mobile-appropriate graphics with simplicity possible.

Get Feedback

There is no such thing as a perfect layout. Chances are, you will have to make adjustments and changes to the best design for your mobile website. Allow your website visitors to provide you with feedback on the design, and test it out with a diverse audience. A mobile site is something you have to consistently update and make sure all the information on it is relevant.

Mobile site design is a continuously changing game. Be sure to stay up to date with the innovations and advancements. You want to keep your mobile site fresh and engaging to the people who use it. Mobile communication is only going to become an even more important way that businesses communicate with consumers and with one another.

Posters are a great way to show off your talents, get inspiration, or try something new. It is a medium where you can let your mind run free and create anything you want, with no restrictions. These designs are great inspiration to create your own poster and have them printed with overnight prints for yourself, a friend or just for practice. Here are a few examples of some different styles of inspirational posters.

Let’s appreciate the planet

By jDstyle

Ster-Kinekor

By MULTI

Oh my god

By Hey

Behance Manifesto – Letterpress Poster

By Raewyn Brandon & Matias Corea

Poisoned Loaf Poster

By Bartosz Kosowski

OFFF show us your type poster

By Dmitry Karpov

Museum of Childhood

By Loulou and Tummie

Return of the shoze

By Galit Weisberg

Travel Poster & Postcards

By ranganath krishnamani

Falling Dusk

By Viscera Vicarious

Sucker for Soccer

By Zoran Lucic

Diamond Thug ‘Lights Out’ Tour

By Ian Jepson

Random Typography

By omar aqil

Cape Tattoo Expo 2013

By One Horse Town Illustration Studio

Hansens Posters 2013

By Mads Berg

Minimalism is a trend that has been translated to all forms of creativity, including music, art, architecture, interior and graphic design. In web design, minimalism is especially effective in emphasizing the functionality of a website. For this reason, it’s gaining momentum among web designers and web users.

What Is Minimalism?

Minimalism is a design style that includes only the most basic and vital parts that make a design functional.

Minimalism (one common form called “flat design”) is seen as a reaction against the ornamental nature of skeuomorphism: a style that applies a real-life aesthetic of interfaces with gradients, bevels, drop shadows and textures. Minimalism focuses on functionality, rather than decoration.

What Does It Look Like?

While minimalism definitely leaves room for creative liberty and brand personality, the trend maintains certain characteristics to achieve functionality.

Simple Grids

With chaotic information all over the internet, it can be refreshing to see a crisp, orderly layout. Grids are a common trait of minimalist designs because they emphasize simplicity and usability.

DB Works

Minimal Color

Color is usually used conservatively and strategically. With white, gray and black often dominating the design to avoid confusion, pops of bright color guide the eye to its purpose.

Stapley Design

Negative Space

With the lack of unnecessary aspects, there should naturally be a fair amount of negative space in minimal design. White space can also be used as a design element itself to separate and highlight different areas.

Aquiesdonde

Geometric Shapes/Images

Images are void of decorative treatments, so the most functional shapes are frequently squares, circles, or other crisp geometric shapes. In most minimalist websites, these shapes are made into icons or illustrations. The style of your icons should line up with the aesthetic feel of the rest of your design.

Mickael Larcheveque

What It Does For Your Design

Reverts to Basics of Functionality

The process of removing cluttered elements from your design is actually quite challenging. Deciding on the right material to include requires a lot of thought, testing and balance. To do this, you can subtract pieces until you’re on the verge of breaking down the function of the site. This enables visitors to easily understand the purpose and navigation of your site.

Makes You Memorable
The characteristics of a minimalistic logo are easier to remember than a complex one. Even if a user catches a glimpse of your minimal site, its simple aesthetic will easily stick in their memory, while a more complex site is confusing and forgettable.

Gives You Consistency

One challenge that web designers experience is making the visual identity of a site consistent throughout. A minimal design allows for your point to immediately be communicated to users, and is much easier to keep consistent. Consistency builds a stronger brand identity, which helps instill trust and reliability in the minds of users.

These benefits can enhance your website if you choose to explore the minimalist trend. While you explore its different characteristics, remember to focus on creating a great user experience, because that’s what minimalism is all about.

When you are going to use Photoshop for image editing and manipulation, you will need the fastest ways to do it. So, you will require some shortcuts which will give you an extra edge as a PS professional. Many people out there don’t know a whole lot of shortcuts, but it is a good idea to learn them if you want to be an expert.

You have to know that when you are working in PS, then you should divide the manipulation areas into the different segments. So, you will have to know about the PS shortcuts in the segments like selection, viewing, layering, painting and pen tool. Moreover, you have to keep remembering the shortcuts in the PS segments as well. Actually, these shortcuts will save you time and labor as well. Moreover, it will increase your efficiency in PS.

Some important PS shortcuts will bring the benefits for your efficiency. Logically speaking, if you use all PS shortcuts for any picture editing, then you wont have to keep dragging your mouse to the tool bar and drop down menus, saving you a lot of time.

Selecting

In PS, selection is the first and prime job for any PS user. Moreover, it will start to manipulate the picture editing by selecting the graphic part. When you apply the other PS techniques, you have to select the picture and make the manipulation as well. If you would like to add a selection, then use the Shift key on your keyboard. If you like to subtract from a selection, then use Alt key on your keyboard. For feather selection, you can use Shift+F6. If you’d like to do an intersection within a selection, then you have to do Shift+Alt. 

Viewing

For viewing purposes, you will use some shortcuts which will make the editing jobs more comfortable as well. So, in this direction, if you like to fit a picture on the screen, then you have to double click on the Hand Tool as well. If you want to get the 100% zoom level, then you can do the double-click on the zoom tool. If you like to hide all tools and panels, then you have to press the Tab key. For getting a bigger view of a part of a picture, then you have to Ctrl+ drag in navigator panel. For zooming purpose, you can do Ctrl+plus and Ctrl+ minus key. 

Layering

Making layers in PS is very important. The reason is that PS layer is the channel root treatment for any graphic editing. Actually, you have to use layers all the time when you are doing editing jobs in PS. For creating a new layer, you just press Ctrl+Shift+N keys. In PS, creating the layer mask is very essential when you are creating the eye catching graphic presentation. 

Actually, masking layer is a highly specialized skill for any PS user. Normally, if you do practice the layer masking regularly, then you will able to make yourself a great PS layer expert. For viewing the all contents of the layer mask, you can press Alt+click on the layer mask. Moving layer below or above the current layer can be done by pressing Ctrl key. 

Painting

Although, PS is not just for painting, you will still need some basic shortcuts for the painting requirement. For changing the opacity of the painting, you can use Shift+numbers keys. For brush size changing, you can use the Shift key. 

Pen Tool

This tool is an important tool in PS. Moreover, it is the highly respected tool for any PS user. But, the interesting fact about this tool is that not everybody can be a master of it. So, very few people can achieve its expertise in it. For switching between the anchor points, use Alt key. For switching the path selection tool to the convert point tool, just use Crtl+Alt keys. Again you can convert the path to a selection by using Ctrl+ click on the path name. For selecting the all paths, use Alt+ click. 

So, PS has a lot of many shortcuts for its users for using it. But, as a user, you have to decide which shortcuts will come handy according to your PS style and requirement as well.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”. This popular saying has been around for years, and it still holds true for building an effective website. While text grabs the attention of major search engines like Google and Bing, a well-placed picture grabs the attention of your human visitors.

Image placement is important, the content of the image is just as critical. When someone visits your home page, or is looking at a product you sell, people will naturally gravitate towards the images first, and read the content second. That being said, the image needs to convey the right impression, feeling, and give a reader a good sense of your company, service, or product.

Images by their very nature convey a mood to your readers. The colors, people, activities, background, setting, even lighting – all help communicate and paint a mental impression in the readers mind.

A well selected image can impress a reader, convey a powerful message, and give people an impression of what your company, product, service – or even you yourself – are really like. A poorly selected image can turn people off, annoy, confuse, or even irritate people. So how do you select the right image?

Purpose

The first step in choosing an appropriate image is determining what you need the image for. For example, are you displaying a product, or is it more decorative? Or are you trying to deliver a more artistic impression?

Determining the main purpose of the image is the first step in effective selection. For a product, something that clearly shows the product – perhaps even an image of the product in use – would often be effective. If you are trying to grab people’s attention with your image, generally the most effective images are ones of animals, famous people, images that tell a story, or something that’s news related. For a business, often an image that conveys professionalism, warmth, and friendliness is most effective.

Information

The second principal is to consider what information you want your image to convey. Is your image or picture designed to help inform a reader? Do you want the image to educate a reader on a product, service, or to inform about something specifically?

Even if the information could be conveyed with words, often times an image will garner more attention. It’s one of the reasons that pie charts and colorful graphs show up in company presentations. If you can visually depict what you want to say, you’ll grab attention more often than not.

Mood

If you’ve got a handle on the images content, what you want it to say, and what impression you want to leave on your visitors, the next step is setting the mood.

If you want to plan a romantic dinner, you often turn the lights down and light a few candles. You wouldn’t flood the room with concert spotlights (unless that’s your idea of romance). The same is true with your image selection.

A black and white image might convey a more artistic impression, or a more vibrant image could be more decorative and appealing. Considering the context, and keeping the mood consistent – at least, page by page – is also critical. Another effective technique is establishing the mood you want to convey for the entire website, and selecting images that compliment that mood.

Web design is taking a turn towards the big and bold. Photos showing recent work from the designer, dining rooms of restaurants, photographs from the photographer, or the office of a Professional Website Design Company cover up the viewers screen creating an in-your-face design that people can’t look away from. With the continual mix of designers that can code and coders that can design, as well as the advances in what you can do on the web, there is becoming a push towards a more creative way to design websites. This collection shows some ways you can use photography to make your website stand out.

www.thinkluke.com/

aforsay.org/

www.lcdv.be/nl

blackinhistory.tumblr.com

tikkio.com/

www.atmospheremaps.com

desocialekapper.nl

moderngreenhome.com

www.whitepagehq.com

mtnstandard.com

www.lindalino.com

www.kualoa.org

www.studiochevojon.com

www.simonefavarin.com

drungli.com

www.oliveyang.com

www.bklynsoap.com

www.the-interlock.com

www.sayulitabeach.com

www.lucidskate.com.au

www.mightymatcha.com

T-shirt designs are a great way to showcase your artwork to the world by wearing or selling it and having other people wear it. If you have a great design but don’t know where to apply it, a t-shirt is a great way to showcase it, especially with promotional shirts and items. The designer picks up a reference and gets guaranteed exposure for his or her art and for the business owner, you get fresh-looking and well-designed custom apparel for your company or organization. Company apparel is a crucial component of a visual brand, and many businesses or agencies are closely associated with what they wear. Who knows, a national or even a world-wide company could emblazon your designs on their uniform or promo items. That is what these artists below did, whether it was for clients or for their own personal work. Enjoy!

Typography Designs

Grabbing a quote, saying, making up something of your own is a great way to play with some typography and create an interesting piece to put on a t-shirt.

Marcelo Schultz

Nike Just Do It – Comissioned Artwork

Antonio Rodrigues Jr.

Handmade Bundle

Marcelo Schultz

T-Shirt Design – Nesian Street

PEACHBEACH

Illustratons for Nike

Fivethousand Fingers & Eli Horn

Dodge & Burn

Illustration Designs

Illustrations are a great way to show off your drawing styles, make a point, or just experiment with something new, especially on a t-shirt.

Dermont Reddan

Get Squirrley

Pale Horse

Holy Alliance of Gamers

New Fren

Monster Senior Skateboards Company

Rubens Scarelli

NIKE vs. RUSC – Fall 2012

Andreas Krapf

T-Shirt Designs

Poleta Art

Tattoo Woman T-shirt

Travis Price

Upper Masses Apparel T-Shirts

Old Style Logo Designs

Old style logos are a pretty popular now. These logos are a great way to show off some typography skills, create an iroic styled t-shirt, or to get a message across in a creative way.

Richie Stewart

Hook & Irons

Andrey Zhulidin

KYIV MOVEMBER

Ozan Karakoç

Dongi T-Shirt Collection

Tomasz Biernat

Typography

The possibilities for what to put on t-shirts are endless, but these are a few examples. What kind of t-shirts do you like designing, or looking at? Comment below!

So you have decided you want to open a store and sell some stuff. Maybe you are selling your own products or you are going to open a storefront for other people’s products, you are now searching for the best eCommerce hosting for your store. What should you look for? What features should it have? How much should it cost? Here are a few things you should look for when choosing your host.

How Many Plans does the Host offer?

It may only matter to you that they have the right plan for you now. However, you want to choose a host that has the capability to scale and grow along with you. The more plans they offer (especially if they offer a custom plan at the top) the more flexibility you will have when you need something bigger. Remember that it is almost always easier to upgrade from within a host than to switch to someone else.

How much Storage and Bandwidth do you Get?

You want to choose a host that has the plan that will fit the size of store you plan on creating. You will need space to store a lot of images for your products as well as the ability to create as many pages as you need. You will also want to choose a host that gives you enough bandwidth for your store to use when you become popular. You need to be prepared if one of your product all of a sudden goes viral. Bandwidth overages can bankrupt a startup.

Tools

How many options does the host give you? Do you get email support like auto-response? Are you able to get multiple email addresses? Multiple sub-domains? You want as many tools and options with your host as possible.

SSL

Secure Socket Layer or SSL is a security protocol that ensures the security of visitors to your pages. You want to choose a host that not only offers this but also doesn’t charge extra for it (at least not a lot extra). You will need it especially on any page that the customer enters information on, like payment pages or subscription pages.

Do They Have an Uptime Guarantee?

You want to choose a host that guarantees that your site remains up even if they are having problems or your site becomes uber-popular. You can usually find reviews of hosts online so check and see that there are reviews of the host telling of unusual amounts of downtime.

Price

This may be the most important factor when choosing a host. Most startups do not have a lot of money so you cannot afford the best host right away. It is for this reason you want to choose a host that has a lot of plans so that when you can afford a bigger plan, you can stay with the host instead of switching.

With internet turning the world into a global village, the world has become a smaller place for all. Businesses have started to cater customer globally and new sources and ways of earning has evolved. As small companies have been launching websites to offer their products and services throughout the world, many companies have been redoing their websites for a complete makeover. Individual websites are also on the rise to announce and market their expertise. Content management, internet marketing, blogging are also many ways of earning.

Website designers and content developers are in demand and even the green horns are having a good time. But before you start designing your home page as an individual or as a company here are certain things that you must understand to make your web presence better if not the best.

1. KNOW THYSELF :

Before beginning to work on any website, representing an individual, small business, or a non-profit organisation, it is always important to understand and know the journey so far. A mission statement or a vision statement adds to the value of the page. It also sets the tone of understanding by a visitor about the company.

Mentioning the uniqueness of the organisation and a statement as to how the organisation wants to remain in the hearts of people adds a lot of depth in the webpage or site as a whole.

2. KYC: KNOW YOUR CLIENTS

This is arguably the most important part while designing the site and its contents. Most organisations try to boast about their greatness and achievements all over the place. They tend to get lost as what to tell and what not to. On the contrary putting yourself in the visitors shoe and working out what the visitor intends to find in a site might be more useful.

Mostly visitors come with a mindset of ‘what they will get’ and not ‘what you are’.

3. KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

It is very important to understand the purpose of the site being built. If the goal or purpose is just to have a mere web presence, let it be that.
But if the purpose is online transaction, online teaching, online donation collection, selling products or some specific goal, then they have to be designed for the same purpose. The home page needs to spell out its purpose as well.

4. COPYWRITING

One of the most neglected areas in website designing is copywriting. It is always better to have the copy written first, as it will help you or the creative team visualize the web page better. A good copywriting can set the mood and feel of the web page that is only enhanced by the design.
It is very important to be discrete about words as people like it short and sweet on the net.

Moreover refrain from copying content and using too much key-word within the content.

5. SEO

Your web page or site will be among the billions of pages hosted in cyberspace. So to make it visible and among the top ones showed by the search engines you have to use Search Engine Optimisation. Use professional help if needed, but just to make it to the top refrain from any kind of unethical or illegal practises. They will result in your website being banned. Just being unique in design and content will not help; you have to understand how the web works and use it to your advantage ethically.

6. YOUR STYLE STATEMENT

It is very important that you feel happy and satisfied when you visit your webpage or site. So make these small notes about your style and preferences during the initial phases of the page design. Communicate clearly about your requirements on the page or how you want the page to be. If you are designing on your own make a few designs and then use various colour combinations before finalizing. Same goes out for your client as well; show them a few layouts and if possible in different colour schemes as well before nailing one.

A final word before you start

The best way to design a better web page is to search the web page. Visit as many sites as you can, particularly of the same domain for which you intend to design, or your organisation belongs. Make notes of the sites you liked in detail, make notes of the things that you didn’t like as well. Check the photographs, backgrounds, textures, everything.

Another thing is try to keep your page as light as possible; using too much animation, pictures, and application may slow down your page. This may result in the visitor leaving even before the page opens completely. Simplicity can be better and effective too.