terrytoledo.com - web design, graphic art and illustration

Strategic pricing helps your brand and helps you to make more money. Issuing a price is like handing out a business card—it’s a great branding tool, but be careful about what it says to your market. Beginning relationships with customers at a high price makes the statement: “we’re good at what we do and we [...]

With a mobile-first responsive design approach, if any part of the process breaks down, your user can still receive a representative image and avoid an unnecessarily large request on a device that may have limited bandwidth. But with several newer browsers implementing an “image prefetching” feature that allows images to be fetched before parsing the [...]

Design is on a roll. Client services are experiencing a major uptick in demand, seasoned design professionals are abandoning client work in favor of entrepreneurship, and designer-co-founded startups such as Kickstarter and Airbnb are taking center stage. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that design has a massive role to play in the [...]

Bootstrap is an open-source front-end toolkit created to help designers and developers quickly and efficiently build great stuff online. Its goal is to provide a refined, well-documented, and extensive library of flexible design components created with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for others to build and innovate on. Today, it has grown to include dozens of [...]

The pixel has long been the atomic particle of screen based design: a knowable, concrete unit of measurement. But layouts based on the hardware pixel are fast becoming an endangered species. Even the introduction of a new, W3C standard reference pixel, although it promises stability in the long-term, can’t help us navigate the current chaos. [...]

As the year draws to a close, we asked some A List Apart readers to tell us what they learned about the web in 2011. Together their responses summarize the joys and challenges of this magical place we call the internet. We need to continue to iterate, to embrace change, and challenge complexity to keep [...]

CSS’ simplicity has always been one of its most welcome features. But as our sites and apps get bigger and become more complex, and target a wider range of devices and screen sizes, this simplicity—so welcome as we first started to move away from font tags and table-based layouts—has become a liability. Fortunately, a few [...]

A List Apart strongly opposes United States H.R.3261 AKA the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an ill-conceived lobbyist-driven piece of legislation that is technically impossible to enforce, cripplingly burdensome to support, and would, without hyperbole, destroy the internet as we know it. SOPA approaches the problem of content piracy with a broad brush, lights that [...]

The profession that dares not speak its name needs you. Digital design is the wonder of the world. But the world hasn’t bothered to stop and wonder about web workers—the designers, developers, project managers, information architects slash UX folk, content strategists, writers, editors, marketers, educators, and other professionals who make the web what it is. [...]

Deception is entwined with life on this planet. Insects deceive, animals deceive, and of course, we human beings use deception to manipulate, control, and profit from each other. It’s no surprise, then, that deception appears in web user interfaces; what is surprising is how little we talk about it. All the guidelines, principles, and methods [...]

This may be of some interest to folks interested in tech and web development so I’m cross-posting from my personal blog. I am going to embark on a personal crusade in 2011 to scale back my reliance on Cable TV in favor of the HTPC approach. If you’re interested in that sort of thing check [...]

Recently I was listening to an Economist podcast (embedded below) where the discussion centered on where things would stand 25 years from now. When talking about what types of things would and would not exist 25 years from now the gentleman speaking said he was certain that books would exist but many current high tech [...]

Holy tablets Batman! CES 2011 was flooded with companies promoting their soon-to-come tablet computers including Toshiba, Vizio, Acer, Samsung, Motorola, Blackberry and more. Most will run some version of Android but a couple will have other operating systems like Blackberry or Windows 7. Two major players who didn’t announce anything tablet related, but probably will [...]

I have seen a lot of blogs posting their favorite iPhone or iOS apps which seems to make sense since there will be a lot of new owners of iPhones and iPads after the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. So in the spirit of sharing I decided to post links to a few of the apps that [...]

I have been watching the discussion about the Google Chrome OS with great interest. Since there hadn’t been much news on the OS in the past year I thought maybe that Google had decided to focus more on Android and continue to develop Chrome as only a web browser. But then Google launched their Chrome [...]

If you listen to the shows This Week in Tech and This Week in Google on Leo Laporte’s TWiT network you hear lots of interesting commentary on tech topics. Unfortunately from time to time you also hear some ridiculous hyperbole, most of which references News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is famous for many things [...]

When big companies such as Yahoo acquire small companies like Delicious or Flickr they usually do so with the best of intentions but almost always seem to end up messing it all up. The world of Web 2.0 has seen more than their fair share of these situations. Think News Corp’s acquisition of MySpace. Or [...]

Well, this isn’t what Google hoped for when they released their very hyped Google TV software. The “this” I’m referring to is the blocking of the software by major television networks. Since Google TV supports Adobe Flash in the browser (Chrome) included with the software many assumed that they would be able to access sites [...]

There are major changes afoot in the world of computer operating systems. Since the original iPhone was released in 2007 many people and companies have altered their expectations about their mobile device experiences. For many years cell phone operating systems were expected to be just utilitarian enough to easily manage a few basic tasks such [...]

It has been busy week for web conglomerates shutting down services that are not performing. Six Apart decided to shutter their Vox blogging service. Amazon is folding Amie Street into their current music download service. Finally, IAC Interactive is killing web-based RSS reader Bloglines. None of this is earth shaking news but it serves to [...]

The awesome folks from MOO have arranged some great product giveaways for Access All Areas members in the past, and today they’re back with an offer for their latest business card product – Luxe. At triple the weight and thickness of standard business cards and featuring a stylish seam of … Log in to your [...]

If you’re trying to learn a new application there’s nothing better than having an expert guide you through the various menus and tools. This post rounds up 30 of the most detailed Adobe Illustrator video tutorials and screencasts on the web. Each one features a mix of clear commentary and useful techniques that will help [...]

This week MightyDeals have arranged a great offer for Access All Areas members. They are giving away any of their current deals to 5 lucky winners! Fancy some new vector resources, a premium font to add to your collection, or maybe a book to learn something new? Log in and … Log in to your [...]

Follow this step by step Illustrator and Photoshop tutorial to create a cool poster design of vibrant shard graphics. We’ll create the array of shapes with Illustrator’s vector tools before finishing off the poster with some subtle textures in Photoshop. The design we’re creating today features a range of sharp vector shard shapes each with [...]

The Art & Design Inspiration fix pulls together a collection of my favourite graphical images that I’ve come across over the past week to give you a fix of creative inspiration. This week we have designs from Stewart Scott-Curran, Justin Kamerer, Chris Honeywell, Ben Thomas and Tom Whalen. The Flaming Lips by Stewart Scott-Curran Rockaholics [...]

I’ve always loved browsing the insanely detailed and realistic artwork created by digitally painting in Photoshop, so this year I’m planning on setting aside some time to learn the basics myself. I’ve read through numerous online tutorials and have hand picked the best to share with you today. All the tutorials showcased in this post [...]

This week Access All Areas members have the chance of winning $50 worth of credits to spend on website templates and themes from 4Templates.com. Choose from hundreds of beautiful designs, each built with standards compliant code and supplied with the PSD source file.4Templates.com offers website templates and themes that are … Log in to your [...]

Follow this step by step tutorial to create a realistic pewter style metal text effect in Photoshop. The best part is it’s really easy! Just a couple of Photoshop layer styles is all it takes to create the basic effect, with a subtle tweak or two to perfect the lighting to maximise the realism. This [...]

The Art & Design Inspiration fix pulls together a collection of my favourite graphical images that I’ve come across over the past week to give you a fix of creative inspiration. This week we have designs from Alex Varanese, Jude Landry, Mat MacQuarrie, Ben Didier and Justin Van Genderen. The Properties of Identity by Alex [...]

Welcome to 2012 everyone! I thought I’d ease us into the new year with a bit of logo design inspiration. This post rounds up a collection of 30 creative logos all featuring some kind of detailed pattern as part of their design. See how the designers have combined shapes to produce intricate logos that draw [...]

Digging Into WordPress (the book) is now updated to v3.3. Includes new chapters specially on what’s new in 3.2 and 3.3, all the rest of the chapters tightened up and refreshed, better internal hyperlinking (in the PDF), and more. It’s a free update (PDF) to all previous buyers. New print copies are on order and [...]

Interesting idea by Felipe G on using a new at-rule, @-vendor-unlock, to tell the browser to use it’s experimental implementation of any particular property, rather than using a vendor prefix on that property. Unfortunately at this point, even if you could get all the browsers on board, you’d need to use this and vendor prefixes [...]

What do you think folks? Is a new language going to come along in the next ten years that deals with layout / style / design and unseat CSS? Or at least give it a run for its money? You should vote not based on if there will be any attempt at it, which there [...]

Dave, Jonathan Longnecker, Nate Croft and I talk shop. Topics include website building apps, where to start designing, when not to design for modern browsers, and more. Sponsored by LessAccounting. Direct Link to Article — Permalink ShopTalk Episode 4 is a post from CSS-Tricks

Paul Irish suggests universal selector to apply border-box box-sizing to every element. I’ve been wanting to try this forever as this box model is, in my opinion, just better. Imagine elements with percentage widths and pixel padding that doesn’t result in disaster. Direct Link to Article — Permalink Better Box Sizing is a post from [...]

A very serious not at all tongue-in-cheek gallery of CSS3 techniques that poo-poos the fancy in favor of the practical. Direct Link to Article — Permalink Real-World CSS is a post from CSS-Tricks

…is now a stable release. It’s notable because it’s the first release with it’s own built in developer tools (video overview). It’s all HTML/CSS for now (not a Firebug replacement) but they are nicely designed and a great first step for a product that really should be in-house. Also, CSS 3D transforms! After you’ve upgraded, [...]

In this latest poll, I asked people to test their own internet connection speed then vote in the poll based on their result. The speed choices ranged from (what I would consider) blazingly fast, to mediocre, to nearly unusably slow. I would have guessed a bell curve, with most people having mediocre speeds and just [...]

Star ratings are one of those classic UX patterns that everyone has tinkered with at one time or another. I had an idea get the UX part of it done with very little code and no JavaScript. The markup uses the unicode entity for a star (?) right in it. If you have a UTF-8 [...]

If your web app doesn’t look or work as well as Bootstrap does out of the box, it’s time to have a pretty serious discussion with your team about why. Direct Link to Article — Permalink Twitter Bootstrap 2.0 is a post from CSS-Tricks

Advertise here via BSA Smashing Magazine has just released fantastic St. Valentine’s icon set, which is available in transparent PNGs as well as Photoshop PSDs (128×128 px) and are perfect for any projects you have coming up for St. Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s icon set is completely free to use for commercial or personal applications without [...]

Advertise here via BSA psd.js is a Photoshop (PSD) file parser written in Coffeescript/Javascript for both browsers and NodeJS implementations. Given a PSD file, it can parse out information such as image size and color modes, image resources, layer info, image contents, etc. This implementation is more or less a direct port of pypsd with [...]

Advertise here via BSA Bootstrap 2.0 has just released with a lot of new features, rewritten documentation, and use cases to test with the addition of media queries. They have also added some new components like progress bars, customizable gallery thumbnails and split buttons. Another great new feature are the new glyph icons, that you [...]

Advertise here via BSA Bear CSS is a handy little tool for web designers. It generates a CSS template containing all the HTML elements, classes & IDs defined in your markup. It was created using a combination of HTML5/CSS, jQuery and PHP, with some help from the PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser and Uploadify jQuery [...]

Advertise here via BSA HTML5 Please helps you look up HTML5, CSS3, etc features, know if they are ready for use, and if so find out how you should use them – with polyfills, fallbacks or as they are. So that, you can decide if and how to put each of these features to use. [...]

Advertise here via BSA Resumable.js is a JavaScript library providing multiple simultaneous, stable and resumable uploads via the HTML5 File API. The library is designed to introduce fault-tolerance into the upload of large files through HTTP. This is done by splitting each files into small chunks; whenever the upload of a chunk fails, uploading is [...]

Advertise here via BSA Poshy Tip jQuery Plugin is a tooltip plugin that allows easily creating stylish tooltips. With Poshy Tip you can position the tips relative to the mouse cursor or to the target element and align them in every possible way horizontally and vertically. Poshy Tip supports using a function for returning the [...]

Advertise here via BSA Jeditable is an in-place editor plugin for jQuery. With few lines of JavaScript code it allows you to click and edit the content of different html elements. User clicks text on web page. Block of text becomes a form. User edits contents and presses submit button. New text is sent to [...]

Advertise here via BSA Font.js is a Powerful Font Toolkit for JavaScript. It gives you font loading events using a technique perfected in Mozilla’s pdf.js project, metrics information, and a better version of the canvas element’s measureText method with additional information such as height, bounding box, and leading. Font.js works by downloading the font data [...]

Advertise here via BSA Rickshaw is a simple framework for drawing charts of time series data on a web page, built on top of Mike Bostock’s delightful D3 library. These charts can be powered by static historical data sets, or living data that continuously updates in real time. Rickshaw was a JavaScript toolkit for creating [...]

We’ve already had a glimpse at Server-Sent Events (also known as EventSource†, and I’ll switch between the two to keep you on your toes) in my Methods of Communication article from last year. In this article, I want to delve in to more detail about the SSE API, demonstrate its features, and even show you [...]

For some time now, we’ve been using various technologies to edit and store text within a web browser. Now with the contenteditable attribute, things have got a whole lot easier. In this article, I’ll tell you what this attribute is for, how it works, and how we can take things further. The Basics # First, [...]

Across the web, you’ll see a range of sites that feature calculators for working out things like loan repayments, mortgage rates, tax, insurance, and more. Until now, we’ve had no way of semantically marking up the result of those calculations. Enter: the <output> element! In this article, we’ll show you <output> and some related JavaScript [...]

We’ve been able to play video in the browser without a plugin for a couple of years now, and whilst there are still some codec annoyances, things appear to have settled down on the video front. The next step is adding resources to the video to make it more accessible and provide more options to [...]

Until recently, we developers couldn’t to do much with the state and history of the browser. We could check the number of items in the history and push users forwards and backwards, but this provides little benefit to the user. With the rise of more dynamic web pages, we need more control. Thankfully, HTML5 gives [...]

We’ve come a long way in the HTML5 specification’s steady march towards ratification and implementation. The WHATWG’s energy has recently been more on post-HTML5 features that are being added to “HTML The Living Standard”, plus tidying up HTML5 for Last Call. However we’re still not past losing (or gaining) an element, with last week seeing [...]

Presentational elements like <i>, <b>, <small> and <hr> have been redefined in HTML5 with semantic meanings, or, in a couple of cases, made non-conforming. The <u> element had been in the non-conforming camp, but a couple of semantic use cases led it back into the fold. While most of us will never need it (and [...]

Last week, we were surprised and saddened when Mark Pilgrim, long time educator, raconteur, and writer of note, decided to retire from the internet. Unfortunately, he also decided to 410: gone all of his writing, including Dive into HTML5. Mark provided this book for free on the web (under a Creative Commons By 3.0 license), [...]

We all learn in different ways. Some of us are readers or writers, some are kinesthetic learners, some prefer video or audio. If you fall into either of the latter two categories, Tantek Çelik’s DVD HTML5 Now (Figure 1) might just be for you. Figure 1: HTML5 Now DVD by Tantek Çelik Overview Personally, I’ve [...]

Your friendly neighbourhood doctors are often contacted by journalists and analysts who have questions about HTML5, usually from a consumer or business perspective. This is great, as we spend many more hours every week mutely shaking our heads while reading the ill-informed columns from journalists or analysts who haven’t contacted us. Here are the most [...]

  As a writer and developer, I take a lot of pride in anything I publish or release that helps make other developer's lives a little bit easier.  I thoroughly enjoy sharing knowledge and I'm happy when people come up … Continue reading →

Today I am happy to announce the release of jQuery UI Bootstrap 0.2. This release includes a number of bug fixes and new additions to the theme and can be downloaded from the release site now.   Fixes Include Compatibility … Continue reading →

Episode 145 of The SitePoint Podcast is now available. This week interview host Louis Simoneau (@rssaddict) interviews me about Backbone.js and the free online book I'm in the progress of writing about the fundamentals of using it to organize your … Continue reading →

Before exploring any JavaScript frameworks that assist in structuring applications, it can be useful to gain a basic understanding of architectural design patterns. Design patterns are proven solutions to common development problems and can suggest structural paradigms to help guide … Continue reading →

Lately, there have been a number of developers getting in touch to discuss the tech stacks for their web applications. In this short post, I'd like to focus on the JavaScript side of some of these conversations. We're at an … Continue reading →

I recently released the first version of a new project called jQuery UI Bootstrap – a Twitter Bootstrap inspired theme for UI widgets. For a demo of the theme or to download it, hop on over to the project homepage. … Continue reading →

About a week ago, I began working on a new article about Backbone.js. It was due to cover some concepts and insights intermediate or advanced users might appreciate, but I found myself wanting to reference topics beginners might need to … Continue reading →

  Today we're going to take a look at how you can greatly simplify how you locally develop for the web.We all have our own workflow when it comes to working on the front-end, but there are some common steps … Continue reading →

We all want to use the hot new features being implemented in modern browsers right away, but there's a small problem holding us back: how can we use these great new capabilities whilst ensuring older browsers still render pages and … Continue reading →

In this article I’d like to talk about how you can help give back to the Web and a new project that seeks to make this process easier: MoveTheWebForward.org. If you’ve ever thought about contributing to the community but weren’t … Continue reading →

YouTube is already hosting lot many hindi movies which are available to watch  for free. Few weeks ago, YouTube showcased the blockbuster movie “Dabangg” and now they have launched the YouTube BoxOffice which premieres with the latest blockbuster from Yash Raj Production named “Band Baaja Baaraat“. YouTube BoxOffice will showcase one blockbuster movie per month. [...]

The next version of Windows operating system i.e. Windows 8 is getting ready for the first beta release. Microsoft is very much excited about this version and few days ago, they released the first preview of Windows 8 build (demo video attached below). On the lock screen, an icon of a webcam was visible where [...]

Are you active on Twitter? If yes, then go ahead and add official “Follow” button on your website or blog to let visitors follow you on single click. Twitter has released a Follow button with counter to show number of followers and one click follow option. This post “How to Add Twitter Follow Button on [...]

Do you want to have your desktop’s Google Chrome bookmarks available on Android device browser? I think if you have maintained a nice list of pages in computer’s Chrome bookmark then this free app will prove pretty useful. This post “Access Synchronized Google Chrome Bookmarks on Android Browser” first published on Internet Techies. Related posts: [...]

Earlier we shared a list of 5+ online services to send fax for free and also shared couple of services to send fax trough email. Now adding to the list of online services to send fax for free of charge, we are going to provide you couple of more links. This post “Few More Free [...]

Are you planning to start hosting your website’s data on managed hosting servers? Are you confused whether you should go for shared hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Hosting) server or Dedicated one? These questions should be answered before making the final decision. Compare and find best hosting provider for your requirements. This post “Find Best Possible [...]

Windows 7 Ultimate is having BitLocker application which can encrypt and password protect USB Flash drives and other drives on disk. Learn how to carry important data with peace of mind. This post “Encrypt and Password Protect USB Drive with BitLocker in Windows 7” first published on Internet Techies. Related posts: Protect USB Flash Drive [...]

If you are facing common problems on Windows 7 Computer like Iphone not syncing with PC or Aero Effect not working etc. then you should take a look at the Infographic attached in this post. This post “Solution for Common Problems on Windows 7 Visualized [Infographic]” first published on Internet Techies. Related posts: How to [...]

This is a temporary post that was not deleted. Please delete this manually. (4a296314-6e2d-432f-b0e4-3c47e971fbf4 – 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7) Related posts: Get Temporary and Disposable Email Address To Avoid Spam in Inbox Why Not To Post Any Article With Administrator Account As Author On WordPress Q/A : How To Put Adsense Ads Between Post Content And Related Posts [...]

Whether you installed Windows 7, XP, Vista or any other version of Windows OS, it starts to slow down after few months or years of installation. With the same hardware configuration and similar usage, you always like the Windows to operate as fast as it does in earlier days of installation but it slows down. [...]

Advertise here with BSA Infographics are a great way to engage readers and present information that can easily be absorbed. Why waste time reading through copious amounts of data and copy, when the “complex” message can be summed up in one effective visual graphic? We stumbled over these nicely done infographics below for designers and [...]

Advertise here with BSA We have looked at responsive WordPress themes in the past and that post proved really popular – the web design world is buzzing at the moment with this new method we can use to serve up different versions of the same site to different sized browsers and mobile devices. In today’s [...]

Advertise here with BSA This article is intended to give readers an insight on what you should know about the HTML5 and most importantly some tips & tricks on creating lightweight, attractive, and interactive HTML5 pages. Visit Source Advertise here with BSA

Advertise here with BSA DesktopServer Premium edition version 3.3 now includes extended support for Adobe Dreamweaver’s Live View. No other web development server environment provides extended Live View support directly for WordPress theme template files in Dreamweaver. At best, you can only use WordPress with Dreamweaver’s Live View on just the index.php file in your [...]

Advertise here with BSA There are many ways to take a good portrait photograph; profile shots, head on, well cropped, black and white, colour, in a studio or outside. The following images show some of these styles. I hope that some of these excellent portrait shots that I’ve chosen, might inspire you the next time [...]

Advertise here with BSA FreeButtonWeb.com is a Free Buttons & Stock Buttons Search Engine, Download Over 1,500 Free Buttons Set from One Central Location. Visit Source Advertise here with BSA

Advertise here with BSA WordPress Facebook Blog will enable you to post your latest or featured posts from your WordPress blog directly on your Facebook Fan Page. Automitize the process of posting news from your WordPress on Facebook Fan Page. Visit Source Advertise here with BSA

Advertise here with BSA Portfolio themes are one of the most popular areas of WordPress theme development, we have looked at them previously on a few occasions, but since our last look in september there have been loads of great new ones released so lets take a look at what is available to the designers [...]

Advertise here with BSA Short and sweet, yet fun and unique — these one-page sites have a great selection of photos, info, and super cool interfaces all wrapped up in a single page. Visit Source Advertise here with BSA

Advertise here with BSA Today, we put together 12 shiny steel textures for you that can fit in any type of preferred backing to put great emphasis on the required object. Steel is one metal that can be polished up and treated in order to go well with any desirable purpose. This is the reason [...]

A redesign can be worth its weight in gold if you get it right. There is a thin line between freshening up your design, and taking a step backwards with a redesign.  Sometimes a redesign can be subtle and simple, and other times it can be a huge re-vamp of a company and it’s goals. [...]

Demo & Info That’s right, we’ve worked on a Joomla Theme. Although we love WordPress we realize it’s not everybodies’ first choice of CMS. So we felt it was only fair to make something just as pretty as our WordPress themes for the Joomla people. The result, Hallmark, a premium Joomla theme ideal for running [...]

Everyone knows that WordPress is one of the most, if not the most, popular blogging systems on the internet today. With its out of the box features, plugins, and great theming community, its no wonder WordPress has been accepted as today’s standard. However, sometimes you just want to add a little more. It seems the [...]

Another collaboration between ourselves and WooThemes, the result: this stunning theme with optional layouts. We’ve realized, that while a lot of people no doubt love magazine style themes – there are still a lot of people who would like the option of having something a little more personal. So here you have it! As always [...]

A while ago we had the pleasure of working with DreamTemple for a WordPress Theme which they’ve given away for free on Smashing Magazine. That means you can get this beautiful and unique theme for free, from the king of freebies Smashing Magazine. We’re very happy to once again have some of our work featured [...]

This set of free characters is ideal for adding a little personality into your designs. With a variety of actions and poses to chose from you can easily adapt them into your designs anywhere you feel needs it. Inject a little fun into your dull and boring help pages, emphasize a feature or a button [...]

Creating a website is no easy task. WordPress is an easy solution for creating a Blog, but sometimes something a little more, in terms of functionality, is needed. After trying many other platforms, I have found WordPress to be the easiest to use. Because of it’s wide array of themes, great plugin system, and easy [...]

Ahh yes, the Design Community. I love it! This is the topic of a recent guest post I wrote over at MyInkBlog. Below is an extract from the article, but you can read the full the article here. Please leave your feedback and comments on the actual post rather than here. Why I love the [...]

Demo & Info To celebrate the launch of Theme Forest and our new theme Evo, we’re giving away 5 sets of $25 credit to be used on any theme on the site. Find out more at the end of the post. The theme is ideal for either being used straight out of the box, or [...]

Demo & Info First off, I’d just like to introduce myself. My name is Spencer, and I am the lead developer here at Function. I’m the guy that takes Liam’s awesome designs, and turns them into working sites. Liam had this design laying around, and I knew I couldn’t let it go to waste. So, [...]

What is Find My Font? Find My Font is a software created by Softonium Development. As its name suggests it, its purpose is to help the user identify fonts. Has this ever happened to you? You are given some printed text or logo and want to reproduce it. The font seems familiar but you can’t [...]

Snow everywhere! It’s January 2012, it’s cold and there’s snow everywhere. Who needs another excuse to stay home with a cup of coffee or hot cocoa and browse through inspiration? Not me. Also, yes, there wasn’t any December 2011 showcase. This won’t happen in 2012, promise. The showcase The January 2012 Go Media Flickr pool [...]

Go Media president Bill Beachy sits down to give you some daily inspiration and advice. Bill shares his years of experience building Go Media into the company it is today. Topics in this video series include Getting Started, Happiness, Humility, Patience, Flow, Focus, Productivity, Business Systems, Courage, Eating Well, Obstacles, and Creativity. For more information [...]

Today is giveaway day! Hello Zine readers! We’ve got an awesome giveaway today for $100 in free custom stickers, from Sticker Mule. If you’re a designer, the folks at Sticker Mule are good people to know. They make awesome die cut stickers, in any shape and size. And their ordering system is really simple. Just [...]

It’s been about 8 months since I launched my first ebook entitled Thread’s Not Dead: The Designer’s Guide to the Apparel Industry. We’ve sold over 1,000 copies of the ebook and we recently celebrated the launch of the hardcover edition. It gives me goosebumps to think of my book sitting on the coffee tables or [...]

Written & Designed by: Raji Purcell Edited by: Jon Savage Alex Cornell is a man after my own heart, and one I look up to. A young, modern, renaissance man whose creative branches reach not only to design but to film, photography, writing, music, and entrepreneurship. Alex’s work has an incredible level of cohesiveness that spreads through [...]

Written by: Scott Strohmaier Advertising a car in these hard economic times can be very challenging, so creating a magazine ad that will effectively sell an ambulance might be deemed an impossible task. That is, unless you’re Vetor Zero — an award-winning commercial animation studio in São Paulo, Brazil. When Vetor Zero got the job [...]

A short introduction This summer I released an eBook called, The Wall: Modern Day Music Posters. It contains some of the posters seen below, with 91 designers contributing some of the best posters of the last 3 to 4 years. But coming up with 100 of the greatest music posters was no easy task. First priority [...]

Hi there, I’m Marissa Mele. I was recently hired as the new office assistant at Go Media and I wanted to introduce our readers to a new initiative going on at Go Media called On the Map. By definition… On the Map is a video series featuring the people and places that make Cleveland a [...]

Written & Designed by: Raji Purcell Edited by: Jon Savage Whenever I’m hungry to look at some great typography, hand-crafted or otherwise, I frequently find myself returning to www.youngjerks.com. Young Jerks is the moniker for the Brooklyn based (yet frequently traveling) designer Dan Cassaro. Though Dan is obviously fantastic at everything from motion design to illustration, it’s [...]

Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favourite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start! Psdtuts+ — Photoshop Tutorials Create a Pimped Out [...]

Sometimes, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by how much there is to learn in this industry. If jQuery happens to be on your personal “need to learn soon” list, then I’m happy to announce my new course: “Learn jQuery in 30 Days”. If you’ll give me fifteen minutes a day for the next month, I’ll [...]

Web development is an industry that’s in a state of constant flux with technologies and jargon changing and mutating in an endless cycle. Not to mention the sheer deluge of information one has to process everyday. In this series, published monthly, we’ll seek to rectify this by bringing you all the important news, announcements, releases [...]

Sooner or later, all developers are required to interact with an API. The most difficult part is always related to reliably testing the code we write, and, as we want to make sure that everything works properly, we continuosly run code that queries the API itself. This process is slow and inefficient, as we can [...]

One of the nicer things about developing on the Ruby platform is the sheer amount of meticulously categorized, highly reusable code wrapped up in the form of aptly named ‘gems’. I’m sure you’ve heard of popular frameworks like Sinatra or the super popular Rails that ship as gems but you’re missing an entire spectrum of [...]

Recently, Douglas Crockford released a neat tool that makes the process of developing and testing your JavaScript a bit easier. Interested in learning more? Watch today’s quick tip to find out! Watch the Screencast Show Link Douglas Crockford’s Google+ Post JSDev | Github Labelled blocks, useful? Gist of test_code script I created in the screencast [...]

.htaccess files are used to configure Apache, as well a range of other web servers. Despite the .htaccess file type extension, they are simply text files that can be edited using any text-editor. In this article, we’ll review what they are, and how you can use them in your projects. Please note that .htaccess files [...]

You know it; I know it. We should be testing our code more than we do. Part of the reason we don’t, I think, is that we don’t know exactly how. Well, I’m getting rid of that excuse today: I’m teaching you to test your PHP with the EnhancePHP framework. Meet EnhancePHP I’m not going [...]

Web typography is accessible to everyone. If you’ve ever built or designed a web page, you’ve almost definitely turned your hand to web typography of some sort. As a discipline, typography has been practiced for hundreds of years, and as a result there are many lessons and conventions we can learn from. Saying that, web [...]

Whether we like it or not, more and more developers are being introduced to the world of JavaScript through jQuery first. In many ways, these newcomers are the lucky ones. They have access to a plethora of new JavaScript APIs, which make the process of DOM traversal (something that many folks depend on jQuery for) [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Running a design business, either as a freelancer or a small agency, is a big challenge. Getting the most efficiency out of your time is essential, but it’s also very difficult for those who wear many different hats, like [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Twitter provides designers (and other service providers) with the ability to communicate and network in a way that can be really productive for business. However, spending too much time or not having a specific purpose with social media can [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Creating a quality blog design can be a significant challenge, because the design should add to the usability of the blog and should not overpower the content. Browsing through examples of beautiful blog designs can provide inspiration that can [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! jQuery sliders, slideshows, and galleries are extremely common on a variety of different types of websites. Portfolio sites, blogs, e-commerce sites, and about any type of site can make use of a jQuery slideshow. Fortunately, there are a number [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! A few months ago at Vandelay Premier we recently released a set of highlighter brushes for Adobe Illustrator,and in this tutorial we’ll show how you can accomplish the same thing on your own. We’ll scan some lines made by [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Photoshop presets like brushes and patterns get more attention, but custom shapes can be equally useful. Because custom shapes are vectors, they can be scaled to larger sizes with no decrease in quality. In this post we’ll link to [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Portfolio websites are a major marketing tool for most designers and design agencies. The portfolio site allows you to showcase your work, provide information about your services, and receive inquiries from those who are interested in your services. Portfolio [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! The same scene captured in a photo at night will have a completely different feel than one taken during the day. Night photos can be intriguing and amazing, but the low levels of light make them a challenge to [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Many blogs get re-designed every couple of years, if not more frequently. Re-designing a blog brings a number of challenges because more content is being added to the site all the time, new types of content may have been [...]

Get a free icon and vector bundle (worth $54) just for subscribing to our weekly newsletter! Open-source content management systems like WordPress and Drupal get a lot of attention on design blogs, but they are not the only options when it comes to choosing a CMS. There are a number of hosted CMSs available that [...]

Love is most often associated with the color red. Be that by conditioning of incessant advertising or that we are drawn to it by nature. Secondary to red is of course pink, in almost any level of saturation.

Red is one of those colors that possesses the strongest Ying and Yang of its theoretical definitions. Between love and hate, rebirth and death, the human relationship in any combination, could literally be summed up in the meaning of the color Red. Pink has what I would describe as a temperamental scale, more based on softness versus loudness than the extreme left or right end of the spectrum.

“Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.” – paper-leaf.com // COLOR THEORY poster freebie

As we know, colors can generate a wide variety of emotions. Red might be the most diverse and along with pink, a tag-along little sister, many other colors in tow can lend a visual message of love a great big pop!

Falling in Love by Etsy artist,  DJEMBE & CANVAS

“Cranes represent longevity and grace. The flocks ascend our champagne symphony, where love is blessed upon those who simply believe.” – posted by artist at the listing

The artist gave us a wonderfully light feeling with this palette and the birds adding further motion. I also like how the painting balances the realities of “love” with a little bit of darkness in the bottom right corner. What do you think of this palette and representation of falling in love?

Love Trees by Etsy artist, Patrick Law

This slightly abstract ensemble uses blues, lavenders and coral blend to articulate a center of warmth within the heart tree. This makes me feel warm, cozy and safe. What does it do for you?

The detail on this acrylic print is amazing. The tree’s are textured and have an amazing visual feel to them.

 Long Distance Love by Etsy artist, PopHeartPress

This digital art gives off quite a pop with a wild color palette that is sure to get your blood pumping. A wonderful way to make a positive statement about a long distance love situation.

You Ctrl + Z Me (You Undo Me) by Etsy artist rawartletterpress

This red certainly screams for attention and a laugh. Clearly using red against white in a funky, fun way. Comes in both PC and Mac versions.

Language of Love by Etsy artist TheMemoryGallery

Red, black and white always seem to say, “sexy.” A very elegant and formal piece with the word, “Love” in, you guessed it, red.

Soulmates by Etsy Artist, Ben Will

In this abstract expressionism piece, the artist depicts the two soul mates in red while surrounded by an abstract world of cooler colors with a touch of warmth within a vague heart shape in the center between the figures. I feel that it is plainly portraying red as the connection of love. How do you see this piece?

 Modern Love Art Print by Etsy Artist, finedaypress

Mundane colors and ordinary shapes (the circles) surround an off-red, almost burnt orange heart to show love can exist in the midst of everything else in life.

Love Runs Through by Etsy Artist, papercraftsbyk

This fantastically bright mixed media piece tells a story. I like the composition because it literally shows a display of dark muddle in the center and love coming out the other side (running paint). A great visual representation of love. What do you think of the color scheme?

Heart Leaf Love by Etsy Artist, BouleDeNeige

What kind of feeling of love does this palette represent? With cooler hues, does the natural, organic shape soften it up?

I Love You This Much by Etsy Artist, hairbrainedschemes

Here we are, ending with this fabulous lipstick, lovey-dovey, sexy red. I still think nothing says “passionately, deeply in love” like this hue of red.

In reviewing these other palettes and artwork that goes with them, I think of things that a relationship brings such as trust, feeling safe, making me laugh, best friend, that person who is my rock, appreciation, admiration, etc…. but I still come full circle to the richness of what true definitive love feels like in this rich hue of red.

What do you think?

palettes used in this post:

Color by COLOURlovers

With the launch of our design content marketplace, CreativeMarket.com coming soon we thought it would be fun to take a look at the most popular design elements in movie posters from 2011. After all, it’s the carefully & creatively designed marketing materials for the movies are what get us to the theater.
(honestly, the best selling designs at the movie theater these days are the concessions stands… $6 for a bottle of water?!) The designers capture our attention, but the real success of a blockbuster movie will be determined by the quality of the film itself (not including #4 on the list below)… Let’s take a look.

What Will 2012 Bring?

What movie are you most excited about for 2012? What design elements do you think will dominate this year?

Stenciled walls are becoming quite the trend right now. And for good reason, it adds an awesome pop to the  room.  I have been dying to stencil a wall for a while now, the problem is, the process looks very daunting and frankly, a little tedious. Finally, I decided to go for it and stencil the main wall in my living room to give the rather drab room, a big pop.

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

After looking through tons of color palettes and patterns, I set out to find the perfect gray and decided on a Moroccan pattern similar to the bedroom below. I bought the “Wall Stencil Marrakech Trellis” from CuttingEdgeStencils for about $50.

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I tested several paint colors  in all shades of gray and finally found the perfect shade. I chose, “Timber Wolf” by Benjamin Moore. If you are in the market for the perfect gray paint, I highly recommend trying this. I have tried so many that were too blue, too purple, and too brown and found that this was the perfect gray hue.

After trying out 15 paint colors, I ended up with “Wolf Gray” by Benjamin Moore (seen below) because I switched and confused the word “wolf” and ended up painting an entire wall a color I hadn’t even tested before.

The photos don’t translate the colors quite as well as in person. This shade is really a dark blue as opposed to a slate gray. After painting the wall the color you choose, the real fun begins.

I started stenciling in the bottom left corner as it was the most discrete. My first chunk took 20 minutes to complete. As I continued it started getting a lot easier. Here are some pointers I learned through the process:

• - Pour a half-cup of paint into the tray
• - Work the paint into the roller by rolling it around evenly a few times. You don’t want clumps of paint on the roller or the stencil will come out clumpy in places.
•  - Once the paint is evenly distributed on the roller, roll over the stencil a few times quickly.
• - I liked the look of the gray coming through, so I would only roll it a few times. It gives it a “stamped” sort of look which I preferred against the gray.

To ensure the stencil lines up and it is even throughout the wall, make sure the stencil is lined up with the white paint from the last group you did. Tape all 4 corners and its stays right where it needs to be for you to quickly roll over it.

Doing a full wall is much easier than a wall with a huge fireplace in the middle. Luckily, the stencil I purchased came with smaller stencils to fill in areas and edges that the large stencil wouldn’t fit in. For each edge of the fireplace, I used the smaller stencils and filled in the lines one by one.

After several more hours of the same work over and over again, I completed the entire wall. There were places where paint clumped up, but when I finished the wall, it was hard to find those places that were smudged, so I decided not to worry about it.

Stenciling Photos & Process by: Allison Silber 

Overall it took about 10 hours to paint and stencil this one wall. It is definitely a lot harder than just picking a color, painting and calling it a day, but I love the look that this wall brings to the whole room.

As far as pairing decor with a stencil wall, the one problem is that you can’t have too many other geometric patterns in the room as they all start to clash (hence the 4 pillows I have with all the same pattern). I decided to order a textured rug that was more muted, and some textured solid color pillows to balance out the patterns in the space.

Poster design is a really fun, inexpensive and unique way to explore your creative side. From the 1,000′s of fonts, variety of poster sizes, and layouts, sometimes, it’s difficult to know where to start!

Once you master your design techniques visit Next Day Flyers for fast poster printing at great prices.

Today we are interviewing Jessica Sprague, design guru and owner of JessicaSprague.com. In February, Jessica is heading off a four week Poster Design course. She is also giving away not one, but TWO seats to this really awesome class! I couldn’t be more excited about the class after taking Jessica’s Subway Art class. I’m a busy mom, so I don’t have a whole lot of time to join in a live class, which is why I love Jessica’s classes- they are self-paced and available forever!

Follow Jessica: Twitter & Facebook

Can you tell us about yourself, how long have you been designing? Teaching? Do you have a job outside of JS.com?

In my former life I was a web & user interface designer for a software company, so I’ve been designing in some form or another for about 14 years. I started teaching digital scrapbooking, Photoshop, and graphic design in 2007 when I opened  JessicaSprague.com. Since then it is my full-time job, and I love it!

What three (or less) singular colors do you most identify with, why?

My favorite color is green – I love it in almost all of its shades from lime to olive. It’s the color of growth and regeneration, of calm energy, of prosperity, learning, balance, and harmony.

If you had to describe yourself [currently] as a five color palette, what colors would they be? Could you provide me with HEX codes so I can create a JS palette for you?

I feel like I am a blue, two greens, and a red, coupled with a dark grey. Hex: aed835, d9ea65, 81c9c0, a90c19, a90c19

The greens I’ve already described. The blue is an ocean representing responsibility, stability, trustworthiness. The red represents fire and emotion, and the dark grey brings some gravity, but also represents the dark that balances the lighter, fresher colors.

If you could be a shape, what shape would you be? (i.e. a polygon = triangle, hexagon etc…)

I would be a 5-pointed star.

How do you approach incorporating color combinations in poster design? Where do you start on this process?

As with any design process, I always start with a theme or a concept. What is it that we’re saying? What emotion do we want to evoke in the reader or viewer of this piece? Having a solid design concept, I move in to blocking shapes and choosing colors – usually designed to play on the overall theme.

Source: Jessica Bills

I love fonts. LOVE. I collect them, drool over them, dream about them, find excuses to buy new ones. I have a lot of fonts – probably 1700 – and I use a program called Font Expert to organize my fonts. I need to get even better at organizing, when there’s time! But right now I have them divided into categories. My categories include: 3d, Block, Calligraphic, Circus, Condensed, Cute, Decorative, Destroyed, Dingbats, Display, Distressed, Gothic, Handwritten, Modern, Monospaced, Ornaments, Outline, Quirky, Retro, Sans Serif, Script, Serif, Skinny, Stencil, Symbol, Typewriter, Wide, Worn.

How do you approach using fonts in poster design?

The typeface choices make a critical part of the design process – this typically comes as the style and theme of the poster is being fleshed out. I think the typography – especially in a poster where the message tends to be very brief and very LOUD, is especially important, and one of the hallmarks of a really good design vs. a less-effective one. Fonts say things in addition to the actual words they spell – they have personality and that personality needs to be respected and taken advantage of in a design.

Heavily using fonts seems quite trendy, where do you recommend a base knowledge or quick reference about font types and usage?

Mixing fonts is an art and a skill that takes time to develop – I recommend beginning to steep yourself in really good typography, such as the samples over at veer.com as a really good resource for getting a feel for the subtleties.

Source: Jessica Sprague The Art of Poster Design

How do you feel about using patterns in poster design? Something busy, but in the background? Or something simple like a chevron- those seem to be rather popular right now. What are some basic rules you follow when incorporating patterns into poster design?

I think patterns are great in limited ways in a poster – most posters rely on a one-or-two color press that doesn’t allow for much multi-color pattern; but this is changing as the price for laser printing in large-scale formats continues to come down.

How would you describe your style when creating posters? Do you like to use big fonts? Do you tend to use the same fonts over and over?

The style of a poster is always dictated by the message and the style called for – but in general I like big bold fonts, large graphics, brushwork, and great details.

Source: Janet Carr, a student from Jessica Sprague’s Subway Art class.

What do you think are the most common mistakes people make when designing a poster?

I think the most common mistake is that people are afraid to really fill the space in a poster – I see things centered with plenty of whitespace around the text, no color (even black on white can be a color if used well!), and just general blandness. A poster’s purpose is to deliver a message in 10 seconds or less – boldness is the name of the game.

Where are you most likely to find inspiration when you’re stuck in the mud?

I have Pinterest. I also have a few books, including The New Masters of Poster Design, which is excellent eye candy for all styles of posters.

How long is the filming process for the poster class from start to finish, including editing?

There will be about 12 hours of finished video for this class, which takes about three weeks to record and edit.

Since I’ve taken several of your classes, I know throughout the videos you give direction for both Photoshop and Elements users, do you prefer one program over the other?

Great question! In my own work I use Photoshop CS5, but I prefer teaching Photoshop Elements, because I love and adore the Project Bin! LOL. 

Source: Sunday Grennan of itsmesunday.

The Giveaway: Two Lucky COLOURlovers Will Win!

As mentioned above, Jessica has generously offered two seats in the class, a value of $63.99 per class! The giveaway starts today, January 30th, 2012 and ends next Monday, February 6th, 2012.

To Enter: 

Leave a comment telling us what your favorite font is and what theme you would use the font for when creating a poster or project.

The Art of Poster Design starts February 13th and ends March 11th. Jessica Sprague will be leading the class with step-by-step video instruction. This is considered an intermediate class. You can sign-up or get more detailed information here.

I’ve recently created a digital crafting group on COLOURlovers, feel free to join, and share your works of art, palettes, patterns, and chat with people who have the same interests! 

For those of you following Leatrice Eisemen’s training schedule, her 4-Day Color Training Program is off to a start this very morning in Burbank, CA. LindaHolt and ModernMuse (aka Michelle Stroescu), the two COLOURlovers who won full and half scholarship for the class back in November are excitedly enjoying their first day of learning and meeting Leatrice.

To tide you all over until we get to do a followup with both Linda and Michelle about the class experience, Leatrice kindly took the time to answer the intriguing questions each winner had asked at the time of receiving the announcement that they had won.

Q & A From LindaHolt

Linda: I would love to know what the process is and what goes into choosing the Color of The Year? 

Leatrice: I literally travel the world looking for clues.  If I see a color that I think is ascending in importance, I make special note of it and then look for evidence in it gaining momentum.  Fashion is always a good indicator, but it is not the only design area that must be examined.  There are so much creative design areas that must be considered including graphics, the world of art, product design, home furnishings and so on .  Another very important part of the choice is tapping into the “zeitgeist ‘ of the world around us and the emotional message that the color imparts.  For example, with the that big gray elephant  (the economy) still looming large and the concern that is being felt internationally, we would not want to choose a color that could be a “downer’.  Instead we listen to people’s aspirations and try to give them a color that, at least symbolically, satisfies and encourages their needs and hopes.

Linda:  I would like to know if you have had a life long love of color and what was your path to becoming the color guru you are today?

Leatrice: Yes, I was destined to do something with color.  Even as a child, I was super-aware of the presence of color and was always fascinated by it.  I learned early on that wearing separates was the way to go because you could contrive so many more color combinations that way.  I also had a mother who let me have full reign in color choices—even in painting my room.  And I came up with some pretty dramatic combinations.  The proviso was that if and when I got tired of it, it as my job to purchase the paint and make the changes myself!  I started to take design classes very early and then realized that color was not just about fashion and home, but the psychology of color was equally important.  So my degrees are in psychology, but I combined that with design and color was a natural part of that. And for a shortened version of what happened next, I taught color, consulted with various industries, wrote the first of eight books in color, was invited to become the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, while at the same time teaching color programs through the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training.

Q & A: Michelle Stroescu (ModernMuse)

Michelle:  How does Pantone take into account the current social/ political environment when deciding on future color palettes – or do they at all?

Leatrice:  Yes, those factors considered, as they are a vital part of color trends.

Michelle: I tend to believe our economical, political, and social situations by country affect color trends… 

Leatrice:  Again, yes they are.  For example, one of the important areas to look at, especially in this age of mass communication so readily available, are the colors  that are indigenous to a certain country in which a large sporting  event such as the Olympics is going to be held, as most of the  world is anticipating and then watching those events.  Another example: When there is war in any country, or some traumatic event, like 9/11,  in the U.S., it is  quite characteristic of a particular country to turn to the colors of their flag as they are symbolic of patriotism.

source

Michelle: Did Michelle Obama by chance choose a yellow inauguration suit when that was the same color of the year?

Leatrice:  I truly don’t know for certain why she chose that color–  It could be that she had a stylist who was very savvy about those things and made that suggestion to her or that she inherently understood that the color was symbolic of the hope and optimism that had been do much a part of the Obama campaign.

Michelle: Are there really and truly color meanings related to a person’s personality and characteristics? In color consulting is this taken into account and are they analyzed personally and in business branding solutions…regarding color choices in branding?

Leatrice:  To respond to the first part of the question, yes there are color characteristics that people can relate to their own personalities.  Faber Birren was the first credible resource on this aspect of color and many of his books are still available, although some relating to color in business are somewhat out-dated.  But those relating to the psychology of color are still quite relevant. I have also written about this aspect of color in several of my books, including More Alive With Color and the Color Answer Book.

Michelle:  Of all of the Pantone company’s “Color of The Year,” which color and what year had the most impact on businesses and sales? Is this something that is tracked by business sector? Fashion, home, retailing, advertising, etc?

Leatrice: This question cannot be answered without doing extensive research that would involve tracking each area mentioned. And many companies will not divulge their sales figures, but keep it internal.  Pantone  provides the tools for assigning a color to a product, interior or apparel but does not track how every one of their 2000 plus colors sells in every industry.  That would be a mammoth undertaking. What I have done in the past  (and continue to do) is to track consumers’ responses to specific colors based on color word association studies and I will be discussing those in the class you will be attending…

Michelle:  In my past business “blue” was always the dominant sales color within my customer base. That may be due to the fact that I dealt primarily in young mens and mens businesses…

Leatrice:  And that might have been a very viable reason for using blue—you instincts were correct.  I don’t think I have ever done a line that did not include some shade of blue, as it is still a highly preferred color.

Michelle:  One more question for you that I didn’t give Molly, but it would be really helpful if you could advise in your opinion what would be the most important inclusive, informative text to use in teaching COLOR THEORY to fashion design/marketing students? Currently we use the book COLOR by Zelanski/Fisher.

Leatrice:  That is an excellent resource, but in addition there is a wonderful book by Enid Verity called Colour Observed.  The publisher is MacMillan Press and it was published in 1980 in England. Surprisingly, there aren’t many color photos, but the information is excellent and succinct. You will get a booklist as part of your hand-outs when you attend the class.

Thanks for answering these questions in such detail Leatrice, we can’t wait to hear from Linda and Michelle, post class and full of tons of color knowledge! 

Winter weddings are fabulous in their own right, and seeing as we are now in the thick of these winter months, you brides are some of the luckiest there are. Sure you don’t get sunshine and hot days, but you get the chance of snow and creating a darn right cozy spot.

Sparkles, snow, candles and blankets adorn these weddings to create a romantic space during these cold months. Oh and the color palettes, I can’t get enough of these color palettes.

Source: Bridge, Pears

For ceremony spaces, a cozy fireplace is the perfect backdrop to tie the knot. Details such as cotton and candles are perfect details to add to this space. Sparkly accessories are a fun way to add a little festive decor to any spot. And you can’t go wrong with a little bit of sparkle every now and again.

Source: Ceremony Spot, Cotton

Even after the holidays are over, this is still a great guest book idea. Have guests write their favorite piece of advice, story of the two of you, or a nice note on an ornament. You can hang these on your tree the coming year.

Source: Ornaments

Source: Hot Cocoa, Flower, Invite, Snowball

There are a variety of details to add including hanging snowballs, white flower boutonnieres or sweet drinks. Kraft paper and a light blue compliment white details quite well, creating an overall fabulous palette to work from.

Source: Tassle, Hot Cocoa

A hot cocoa bar is definitely the highlight of winter weddings. This is something unique to winter months that make a cozy treat for guests. Adding a small tassel stir stick and a great sign to the drink bar is one detail I think should be incorporated in all these festive winter affairs.

Source: Cupcake Bar

Similarly, your dessert bar options can create such a romantic and warm feeling. Be it the use of sparkles, candles, ornaments as well as your selection of cookies and other treats you add. Guests will definitely remember this adorable dessert station.

Source: Cotton + Wood

Wood and cotton details kind of come with the woodsie category, no matter the month. For events in log cabins or barns, these additions are a great way to tie the whole event together and bring the outside, in. Other natural elements make the perfect addition for bud vases, cake tables and a variety of other spots.

Source: Bride

For the bride, it is important to stay warm, but after spending all that money on a dress, you are going to want to show it off as well. Find the perfect cover-up to compliment your attire and it will be a great addition to your closet, well after your wedding day.

Source: Burlap

There are a variety of winter elements that can make the perfect winter wedding. Creating a romantic and warm place for guests to feel comfortable in will make your wedding one they will never forget. Wood, burlap and other organic details are a great addition to candle lit nights and a variety of white details. But this doesn’t mean you feel like you can’t add any bright colors into the mix. This palette is pretty simple, so anything else you add is just as great of an addition to make the night your very own.

Erin Loechner is a writer, stylist and designer. She is a quirky girl with lots of style and a great swagger about her. Everything she publishes on her site, Design For Mankind, pushes the envelope just enough to keep you interested and excited about trends and styles. She has graced the pages of many magazines all the while keeping up with trends and colors on her HGTV.com segment.

First up, why don’t you tell the community a bit about who you are, what you do, how long you have been doing it, and your background. 

I’m Erin Loechner, a 28-year-old freelance design writer and blogger (DesignForMankind.com). I dabble into styling, consulting and rearranging the furniture of any willing party! I’m also an online personality for HGTV.com.

Recently, we spent some time reflecting over some beautiful home decor images in order to curate these ten beautiful palettes from the Martha Stewart paint line in a collaborative project titled, “Paint Palettes We Love.”

Peruse these lovely combinations and fancy what your space might become, reinvented with fanatically bold or mellow combinations that might pull your imagination strings. One thing I adore about Martha’s paint line is that her and Kevin Sharkey dig in to their memories and whims when building a collection of color around them. You can literally see these things in the names of the paints themselves.

Inspiration: A Sunny & Sweet Flower Arrangement

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This sunny flower arrangement was procured from the sweet tooth of Kevin Sharkey. A few of his favorite sweets happen to be lemon drops and raspberry rock candy.

“Consider things that never fail to make you happy — a box of pastel crayons, macaroons from Paris, a beloved artist’s paintings — and make note of their colors. Then bring the palette to life by plucking it from nature: Arrange flowers, leaves, branches, fruits, or vegetables in the shades of your passions.” – how kevin creates

We took this arrangement and furthered its use by adding a wonderful palette drawing from the strongest points, which could be a great base for an entire room.

Kevin Sharkey’s Bedroom

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A very strong and masculine space, Kevin’s room is quite impressive, very minimal yet not feeling empty. Obviously the massive graphic painting is a striking visual element that helps keep the furniture grounded in such a large space. Kevin said,”I wanted the bed to look like a bento box.”

These heavy colors definitely work in such a large space using the Sharkey Gray as a base, not to light and not too dark of a hue to wrap it all up nicely.

Skylands Guesthouse: A Bedroom Built Around A Lamp

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Martha had this entire room designed around the Italian alabaster reading lamp pulling from ruffled edges, fluted top and ivory lamp base. A very serene feeling pulls from the room to create a very innocent palette.

Functionality: American Colonial Kitchen

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Clean, white and steel-accented kitchen is brought down to earth with its mahogany countertops. Painted wood paneling and earthy sentiments keep this space from becoming too chilly.

Staying Grounded: Colonial Bedroom

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A very earthy palette describes this Colonial bedroom. The centerpiece being the heavy baroque Swedish desk comfortably pulling the colors together.

Colonial: Synchronizing A Pink Room

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Pink rooms are becoming more and more popular, but to pull it off right, without it screaming “girly” or “princess” – the right palette should share the same space. Here the grays and browns within similar hues really bring the “pinkness” down a few notches to simply create a beautiful, classical space.

Turquoise Trend: Cool & Collected Office Space

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Who doesn’t want some energy thriving in their office? But use too much and your brain won’t be able to function. Balancing out your visual energy colors with grays and other muted contrasts can definitely bring a room like your office in to a focused, enjoyable space.

Balancing Act: Soft & Striking Living Room

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Who doesn’t love some sunshine and rain at once? The trick is getting the right balance to get a beautiful, non-amature space. You wouldn’t want your finished living space to look like a kids room. Toning it down and bringing the colors together with some neutrals can help these two striking contrasts coexist nicely.

Manhattan Loft

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Collaborative wood accents definitely help ground this high-patterned space and light, warm neutrals give the darker hues balance.

Green Living Room

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Green can be a very serene and focus intensive hue. The right green combined with earthy darker hues give off quite a bit of richness. Adding balancing neutrals and you’ve brought it all together in a meditative, relaxing space to spend time in.

Have you put together a space-palette for your own spaces? Are you dreaming of of a palette for your spaces? I know I am! Maybe some of these COLOURlovers curations will jumpstart your ideas.

If you want to locate the paint colors from each project, each curated palette in this post includes the colors made through the Martha Stewart paint line. 

Palettes used in this post:

Lighting a space can make a significant impact on the emotional palette. From the design of a lighting fixture to how it radiates in a space can make or break the entire theme.

This article is presented by LBC Lighting offering you the easiest and most convenient way to purchase contemporary lighting including Juno Lighting for your home or business.

There are a myriad concepts being done with lighting, from astonishing buys and extraordinary DIYs, everyone’s got a bug to be the most unique.

Beaded Chandeliers

Beaded chandeliers are becoming quite a popular trend. This style can encompass beads or discs made from many different types of materials such as glass, shell or metal and of course plastic or ceramic.

turquoise beaded | black metal discs | bone-colored beaded |  green DIY beaded

It seems that while manufacturers came out with these gorgeous pieces more prominently in early 2011, the DIY crowd is just starting to pick up on producing them in a variety of fashion. If you’ll notice, the bottom row in the image above are similar lighting fixtures. On the left is the Malibu Chandelier by manufacturer Serena & Lily while on the right, the DIY blog, SimplySalvage.com decided to make their own version of it. I think they pulled it off pretty well.

Industrial & Farmhouse Lighting

The look of rugged, raw metal and thick glass I think sums this trend up nicely. From wire caging to mason jars, it’s hot hot hot right now.

wench hook | 3 tier upside down mason jar

Definitely a category more akin to the DIY crowd because of the non-complexity it entails. Not to say that some of these haven’t had some hard work put toward them. But you’ll definitely find this styele in both formal and informal circles.

hanging glass bottle | mason jar hanging light | green & gold glass hanging lights | multi-color mason jar chandelier | jars in canning wire chandelier | blue mason jar wall light | mason jar desk lamp 

As mentioned, all types of repurposed jars and bottles are currently the bee’s knees. In the DIY crowd, I find that this category is pretty intriguing because you’re bound to come across the men who create, which can lead to finding other treasures in their handmade troves you may have been missing out on.

turquoise ceiling lamp & interior

I really enjoyed this entire white room where touches of turquoise bring the eye full circle with the centerpiece being this rustic ceiling lamp.

wire chandelier |  hanging wooden slat lights (green room) | stir-stick lampshade DIY | wooden box light

 The Lamp

I wish I had more areas in my house for this type of beautiful light feature. If  you are re-doing an old lamp or buying something new, the possibilities are literally endless.

white and burlap rosette lamp DIY | green and bone lamp | aqua and white lamp base makeover | honeycomb table lamp | caged desk lamp DIY | metal circles hanging lamp 

Being a DIYer myself, I am partial to some of these that take a quite out of date, trifted brass lamp and give it a new pop. Both lamp shades and lamp bases, there is so much you can do with each to seriously reinvent the original piece. Ceiling lamps in the drum shape are also a must and an endless list of styles and mediums.

Impressive Design

O-Space Suspension lamp  | deep magenta Supernova XL Suspension lamp |  magenta & white swirl pendant | rocketship mini pendant |  umbrella suspension lights | globe light | pumpkin-globe suspension light | chromatic room & sparkly ceiling lighting

Lighting fixtures are great ways to add a final glowing touch to a room. Keep in mind that the type of lighting you choose can enhance or completely change a spaces color scheme, so don’t wait last minute to decide on the fixture and lighting type when building or re-doing an interior space. As a centerpiece, accent piece or just plain usefulness there are so many brilliant designs and ideas to dress up our spaces.

Do you own or have made any type of unique lighting? Do you have anything you’ve been eyeballing on Pinterest for a someday piece? How about colorful lighting? Let’s see it!

…and if anyone is interested, here is the rest of my lighting roundup on my personal Pinterest.

At the beginning of every year I often wonder that the next big things are going to be in the wedding industry. It always excites me what crafty people can put together and bring to life. And every year I am more and more excited with where trends have taken us and where we are now.

I wanted to share a look back at some of the biggest trends of 2011 as well as some of the up-and-comers for 2012.

2011: Ombre

Source: Cake, Dress, Flowers, Napkin, Escort Card

Ombre hit big in 2011! It seemed like all of the sudden these monochromatic details were just the thing needed to create a romantic and elegant look. Of course, this trend will continue to hit weddings for years to come, but the gorgeousness that is ombre will definitely be remembered as the up-and-comer detail to have of 2011.

2012: Color Blocking

Source: Dress, Invite, Table, Wedding Shot

Color blocking became popular right before the close of 2011. Every designer, especially Kate Spade, was embracing pairing one bold color to another until you created a well-executed look that made you pop. This trend is something that hasn’t hit the wedding industry too hard just yet, but come 2012, we will see it in both subtle and obvious ways.

2011: Vintage + Shabby Chic

Source: Brandon Kidd, Hotess Blog

This trend can’t necessarily be confined to just one year. We saw the evolution of rustic weddings turn into it’s lighter partner, shabby chic, while still remaining within the vintage category. And I don’t think any trend is as large or has lasted as long as this one has.

2012: Vintage/Modern

Source: Kissing, Table, Dessert Station, Flowers, Chandelier, Invites

I don’t see vintage going anywhere in 2012, but brides are starting to curb it into an entirely new trend. What was a totally shabby chic inspired affair, will now have some oppositely modern details paired with it. Adding soda crates to tablescapes with bright colors and modern geometric patterns. I think the marriage of vintage and modern is going to make it big in 2012.

2011: Book details

Source: Books

2012: Textures + Patterns

Source: Cake, Invite, Table, Dresses

2011: Statement Necklaces

Source: Necklace, Wedding, Wedding, Necklace

Oh boy were statement necklaces big in 2011. One thing you could pretty much count on was that every bride you saw was going to have her own version of an over-the-top statement necklace.

2012: Statement Bracelets

Source: Bracelet, Bracelet, Bracelet, Bracelets

In fashion we have already seen the attention turn from statement necklaces to stacking bracelets. Though it isn’t much cheaper, it is a more practical trend for people on a daily basis. Similarly, in weddings, statement bracelet pieces will pick up momentum in 2012.

Of course, 2011 trends will spill into 2012. So, if you haven’t tied the knot just yet, you won’t be considered “last season” for doing something that feels personal and unique to you. Trends become highly unimportant when you find those things that you feel really fit your style and look as a couple. That is the most important part of any big day!

These are just a few of the many past and upcoming trends, what are some you have been seeing? Which are you most excited to see in 2012?