The world of web designing is a complicated one and you can never know too much about its secrets and tricks. If you are curious to learn more about web design, then this post is for you! We’ve gathered a neat collection of tips for beginner web designers which should help every novice understand what are the most important qualities, responsibilities and duties of the successful web designer. [Read more…]
30 Outstanding Progress Illustrations for Icon & Logo Designs
In the past I’ve seen hundreds of progress illustrations related to logos and icons posted onto Dribbble. These are often shared by designers who wish to give some insight towards their creative process. These shots allow us to peek behind the curtain and see how a typical icon is designed from pencil and paper into Photoshop.
I’ve organized a set of 30 brilliant progress illustrations shared by very talented Dribbble members. Each shot may include the finished design or could focus primarily on the illustration work. Drawing out each idea would typically be essential when brainstorming and planning how to move forward on a creative project. Take a peek at these designs to see how much work truly goes into conceptual drafting.
Raspberry Leaf
Top 10 Web Builders for Creating Super Functional Websites
The power to create stunning websites is now within reach to anyone with an idea. Skilled or not. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen an explosion of online tools built to help anyone leverage the power of a web developer and designer to create complete, admirable online presences. Although professional web developers can never be truly replaced, we see many more people filling in their capacity. Thanks to some very powerful free and paid tools on the web.
In addition to design and execution, one has to think about the technicalities and unpredictability of hosting, security threats and basic maintenance. Tasks that require work, research and experience. Thankfully, through the work of visionary business people and developers, we have a vast selection of online tools that help to manage the entire process. Freeing up time and energy to focus on what matters most, which is content and business.
Here are 10 of the most functional website builder tools you’ll find online to get your next project started.
1. Squarespace
If you’re planning to launch a large, content rich, e-commerce website and need a hands-free approach when it comes to managing high traffic. Then Squarespace is a great option. This impressive platform is packed with hundreds of actually beautiful and usable templates and a very intuitive set of editing tools that make building sites a breeze. The platform suits every format you can think of whether it’s a blog, static website or online shop. The features are powerful.
2. Webydo
Webydo is a powerhouse developed to put the power of creating functional websites into the hands of anyone whose focus is mainly on design. The platform completely removes the need to hire a developer by offering a plethora of tools to integrate advanced features such e-commerce capabilities, forms, galleries and a content management system.
Webydo especially targets freelance designers by offering built-in solutions to handle billing, hosting and white labeling, empowering them to run their freelance business from one centralized online platform. Its unique approach to the concept of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) through an elegant and responsive working canvas is certain to steal any professional or beginner’s heart.
3. Startup Framework
As the name suggests, Startup Framework is built to help startup founders quickly launch small websites or landing pages for their new business or idea. It takes the hassle out of launching online and frees up more time for founders to focus on building the core of their business.
The product works by combining any selection of over 100 elegantly styled, pre-made HTML UI blocks that piece seamlessly together to build layouts and designs. It comes with 25 ready to go samples with forms, images and other elements to create the perfect online presence while allowing the user to dabble in little code if he or she so desires.
4. SmugMug
SmugMug is designed for photographers & videographers. Point blank. If you’re a professional or hobby photographer and need a lot more control over your websites than what Flickr would offer. Then SmugMug is for you.
Through their obsessive focus on photo and video content, they have created a product that is a photographer’s delight offering lots of options to present your best work, tools for managing your content and building designs best suited for that kind of media. They offer tons of storage space, customization options, e-commerce, integration with Adobe Lightroom and other photo editing software and is mobile friendly with a dedicated app.
5. Foliolink
Another photographer focused website builder. Foliolink focuses more on facilitating the business and product delivery aspects of a professional photography by offering client proofing tools and e-commerce for selling photography.
6. Weebly
You’ll love the minimal look and feel of Weebly. A simple, yet powerful website building tool that is packed with more features than you’ll immediately realize. With one of the simplest drag and drop layout builder tools on the market, any beginner will quickly get the hang of building a fully functional website.
7. Shopify
Shopify does one thing extremely well, which is helping you build an impressive online store without the hassle of building on your own or hiring a developer. It’s a complete out of the box solution if you already have products ready and waiting to be sold online.
The platform offers hundreds of themes, handles hosting, inventory, allows you to accept credit cards, social media and advertising integration, essentially everything you need to run an online store.
8. Wix
Wix has been around from as far back as I can remember and is one of the best free website builder platforms to get started quickly and easily.
9. Jimdo
Jimdo is another website builder worth trying and is most suitable for building e-commerce websites.
10. Edicy
In addition to all the cool features you’ll find in the other website builders I’ve mentioned, with Edicy you’ll have powerful features for building multilingual websites. The platform is built to handle the hundreds of diverse languages us humans use across the globe and it does it very well. Along with their rich set of tools you’ll have a very unique experience using their platform.
Grab This Exclusive Vintage Font Pack – Thirsty Soft Font at 80% Off
If you’re a designer or developer then you’ll appreciate the value of great deals on high quality design assets. The new Thirsty Soft Font Family, a warm and vintage style premium font, is a must-have as part of your design arsenal and is found exclusively at Mighty Deals. This is your chance to own this font pack created by Yellow Design Studio supporting dozens of languages, 6 different font weights, varied styles, a Desktop version (compatible with Mac and Windows) and specially optimized Webfont versions delivered as .eot, .svg, .ttf and .woff formats and a sharp design.
Pricing:
The pack is specially priced at an introductory offer of $9 and can be purchased at Mighty Deals for a very limited time. If you’d like to use the font pack in a mobile app, a mobile app license is also available for just $90, which includes both Desktop and Web fonts. These prices for the Thirsty Soft Font package are only temporary and will return to about $49 for the Desktop version and $390 for the mobile app license. So grab this offer before it’s too late!
Quite a deal and perfect for both commercial and personal projects in every possible application. The font’s vintage charm will be a sure hit with your clients and next design project.
Check out more details on Mighty Deals on how to purchase.
Six Font Weights
Cool Variations
Head over to MightyDeals right now to grab this exclusive offer!
33 Spectacular Package Designs for Product Branding
We don’t often consider package design as a difficult creative job. I mean, how difficult would it be to design a bag of chips? Well you might be surprised to learn that it does take quite a bit of effort! Blending colors, icons, illustrations, and text on the bag to draw people’s attention is the job of a package designer.
And package design can include way more than just potato chips. This gallery is a tribute to newer package ideas and branding concepts. Squeezing a brand logo onto the packaging is only one aspect to this craft. Take a look over some of these examples and let us know your favorites.