terrytoledo.com - web design, graphic art and illustration

There’s nothing more unique to your creative talent than a series of your own doodles and sketches. Let’s use the good old doodle to represent our design services by combining quick and fun doodles with a print ready business card design. We’ll be drawing our doodles directly in Illustrator, and using the application’s print abilities [...]

In this week’s roundup of creative goodness, we have a unique Illustrator tutorial covering the creation of watercolor effects; a CSS tutorial on the popular sprites technique; a fantastic introduction and overview of CSS attribute selectors; another brilliant Illustrator tutorial, this time creating a bright and crisp illustration; and a well presented bunch of typography [...]

If you’re looking to develop your Illustrator skills, here’s a tutorial for you! Follow this walkthrough to see the how adding layer after layer of vector shapes, along with a range of gradients and a spot of texture can quickly create a great looking icon-style clock graphic.

The main ingredient we’ll be adding to this [...]

Last week I posted a tutorial covering the process of building a custom Wordpress theme, and promised that the theme used for the post would be available to download for Access All Areas members. Well, here it is! Sticky is a simple theme that boasts a sticky sidebar (hence the …
This content is for Access [...]

Logo design is often seen as a quick and easy job; you create a small graphic, stick it next to some text and the job is done! In reality there’s a lot more to it, which makes the whole process of creating a logo or identity a challenging task. Let’s take a look at some [...]

In this week’s roundup of creative goodness, we have a great tutorial covering the process of creating an abstract poster design; a rare tutorial topic showing you how to block a printed poster; some super useful hints and tips for Photoshop; an excellent icon design tutorial; and a roundup of cool curvy brush script fonts [...]

Last year I was invited to participate as an author in the development of The Smashing Book, the long awaited publication from the giant that is Smashing Magazine. Vitaly, Sven and team have kindly sent over a stack of copies to give away exclusively to Blog.SpoonGraphics members. The book contains …
This content is for Access [...]

If you’re confident with your CSS and HTML, it’s not hard at all to step up to the challenge of building a custom Wordpress theme. This overview shows the process of how my latest custom Wordpress theme was built from design concept through to completed theme. See how the static design is split up into [...]

The Go Media Arsenal contains some unbelievably detailed artwork. One of the most stunning is the Heraldry vector pack with it’s mix of dragons, lion, shield and eagles. Go Media have kindly donated their premium Heraldry vector pack to Blog.SpoonGraphics Access All Areas members.
The Heraldry pack is one of the …
This content is for Access [...]

Transparency effects in logo design help bring to life a digital mark, adding that extra level of depth and color. This showcase of examples provides some great design inspiration and shows how designers have creatively used transparency and overlaying effects to build unique logo designs.

Goosebumps – Jared Milam

Meca – Andre Oliveira

Andy Fiord – sbDesign

Nethik – [...]

If you were interested in that CSS Tabs stuff from yesterday, check out the new demo. I got a little obsessed with it and tried out a bunch more things. Still nothing I’d call a 100% perfect replacement to using JavaScript for tabs, but getting a lot cleaner and closer.
I’m sure most of you read [...]

CSS3 is a big mess! 4+ rules for making a corner round or adding a drop shadow! Preposterous! Where are the standards?!

I’ve been hearing a ton of that. There is something of a point here. We all like standards, no question they are a good thing for the industry. Seeing a bunch of messy/repeated code [...]

When you think of “tabs”, your mind might go right to JavaScript. Watch for a click on a tab, hide all the panels, show the one corresponding to tab just clicked on. All major JavaScript libraries tackle tabs in some way. But there is a way to accomplish this same idea with “pure CSS”. Just [...]

Reader Kartlos emailed me in pointing to me to an interesting article by the great Mr. Snook from a few years back. I don’t think I had seen it before and it’s a bonafide “CSS Trick” so I thought I would share.
The idea is that you can use unicode characters (read: fancy symbols) for class [...]

Roll over a link, watch the image above change. That’s what we build in this screencast, only we don’t use any JavaScript to do it. The trick is some simple z-index switching on hover and a bit of absolute positioning.

View Screencast

In the past we’ve covered adding +/- buttons to number-based inputs to help user interface (it’s easier than typing in some circumstances). Reader Hitesh N Chavda emailed me with the idea of doing it with the scroll of the mouse wheel instead.
With the mouse cursor inside the input box, you can use the [...]

WebKit browsers paved the way with CSS based gradients. Now Firefox 3.6 is out and is supporting them as well, which makes using them for progressive enhancement all the more appealing. More good news, CSS3 gradients fall into the camp where you can specify fallbacks (i.e. images) so that browsers that don’t support them just [...]

We sold out of our first batch of Digging Into WordPress books in a matter of weeks. We could have just ordered more as soon as supplies were low, but it just so happened that right about that time WordPress 2.9 was out, which has many new features. We were already working on revising [...]

I’ll be speaking at the CMS Expo this May 3rd – 5th (I speak the 4th and 5th). It’s in Evanston, IL, basically, Chicago.

I’ll be doing two sessions, one Tuesday, on Wednesday. One of them will be on advanced theme building. We’ll start with a mockup of a site we want to build (something modern [...]

Watch me bumble my way through adding AJAX functionality to a WordPress theme. The idea is that any internal link on the site will load into the main content area without requiring a page refresh, including search. Not always the most practical idea in the world, but it’s kinda neat, and as I show in [...]

Matt Legend Gemmell held a 6-hour workshop at NSConference in both the UK and USA recently, focusing on software design and user experience.
Predictably, an extremely popular topic was the iPad, and how to approach the design of iPad applications. He gave a 90-minute presentation on the subject to start each workshop, and he is very [...]

gameQuery is a jQuery plug-in to help make javascript game development easier by adding some simple game-related classes. gameQuery has the following features: multi layer-sprite animations, sprite hierarchies, collision detection, swappable sound support, periodic callbacks and keyboard state polling.
Javascript games are still in their infancy but but there is many reason why they are more [...]

You can find a tool for just about anything online, there’s only one problem: they cost money, and in some cases, lots of it! Many online tools offer a free basic package for anyone to use, but these packages are often strictly limited, rendering these tools practically useless until you stump up the cash. In [...]

We’ve all seen the basic file upload form for uploading avatars, images, memes, etc. The problem with these is that once you upload your image it’s hidden from you.
The solution is to use a little bit of JavaScript to upload the image as soon as it’s selected and display a thumbnail so we can easily [...]

TutorialZine has written a tutorial and shown us how to create a “Who is online” widget with PHP, MySQL and jQuery. It will display the number of visitors, currently viewing your site, and it will even be able to detect the country your visitors are from and display it in a slide out panel.
Having access [...]

BubbleUP jQuery Plugin is a fun and easy plugin to get you started in jQuery. The effect is a nice starting point for learning the basics and many of the steps involved in creating other more intricate plugins you will make in the future.
With BubbleUP, images in a list will enlarge with a smooth animation [...]

Building with progressive enhancement is essential to ensuring a usable experience for all. But how do you determine which browsers should receive the enhanced experience and which should stick with the basic experience?
Introducing EnhanceJS, a JavaScript framework designed specifically to deliver a usable experience to the widest possible audience, by testing the browser to determine [...]

WebDesignerWall has shared the way he made the Mac-like multi-level dropdown menu using border-radius, box-shadow, and text-shadow. It is called CSS3 Dropdown Menu, which renders perfect on Firefox, Safari and Chrome. The dropdown also works on non-CSS3 compitable browsers such as IE7+, but the rounded corners and shadow will not be rendered.
There is one gradient [...]

Traffic Light Feedback is a web application that helps gathering customer feedback quickly and efficiently. It sends out a positive message about your company – showing how proactive you are and that you care about meeting your customers’ needs.
You get back immediate information about your customers’ current requirements – so you can prioritise and respond [...]

TinyTips is a very lightweight jQuery plugin that gives the ability to add tooltips to pretty much any element on a page. Thoroughly documented and designer friendly. TinyTips is very easy to install and use. Simply include TinyTips and the latest release of jQuery in the <head>.  You can also give it a nice style [...]

David Stairs
Kasule Kizito is not your everyday Ugandan. For one thing, he’s too direct. He says what he thinks without undue regard for taboos or political correctness. In an oral culture this of itself is amazing. For example, he’s the only African I know who’s not in ecstasies over Obama’s victory. Kizito had wanted Hillary. [...]

Raymond Prucher
“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” - Desiderius Erasmus
Images taken at the Qalandia checkpoint inside the West Bank, well beyond the ‘Green Line’ that was set up by the 1949 Armistice.
I became a designer in Palestine. In 2003, three years after we’d [...]

David Stairs
I was trudging through my local neighborhood big-box megastore the other day en route to my weekly rendezvous with groceries when I found myself in what passes for the book section. This isn’t a Borders experience; more somewhere between B. Dalton and the magazine rack at the local regional airport. So I wasn’t surprised [...]

David Stairs
Ezio Manzini is an optimist. Four years ago he envisioned a design conference dedicated to the notion that although things must, will, and do change, perhaps we ought to spend more time planning that evolution. This vision was realized last week at the Changing the Change conference held in the World Design Capital at [...]

Jesse Miller
Outside “Casa Rosenda” Monterrey, Mexico
The Architectural Masters Thesis. High expectations and the culmination of one’s educational career are commonly used to describe this thing that looms as the end of graduate school approaches. It is a thing that has much implied importance and historical baggage. Though all these factors that [...]

Victor Margolin
One of the most privileged populations in America today is dolls. They are the beneficiaries of powerful forces of consumption that seek ever-new audiences for the plethora of goods that is available for sale. In earlier times, dolls were not thought to be such active participants in the consumption process. They were for [...]

Catherine Jo Ishino
Hong Kong and PRC Design from the Reform Era (ca.1978)
In the next two sections, I will explore how China’s marketplace, citizenry, and identity have begun to transform with its entry into the overarching globalization narrative that has been taking place since the last part of the 20th century. Specifically, I will focus on [...]

Since June, Wang Jing in Nanjing and AGI member Robert Appleton in Toronto have been working on an international exhibition of design, art and music to benefit the survivors of the Sichuan earthquake. It opens in Nanjing this Sunday for one week only. “5:12 CHINA’S MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE. A COMMEMORATIVE EXHIBITION.” includes works donated by over [...]

Victor Margolin
Most anthropologists would agree that the number of languages in the world is declining. This is particularly true for those spoken by small communities that over the years have either dwindled to a few survivors or become extinct. While it is common for languages spoken by large groups to overwhelm those spoken by smaller [...]

by Victor Margolin
Anyone with doubts about Barak Obama’s ability to lead the United States should look at how he has run his campaign. Whereas John McCain’s considerably smaller organization has imploded more than once and is now in the process of self-destructing – riven with accusations and recriminations from within – Obama’s army of workers [...]

The web is alive and growing more active with each new day. The increasing number of sites that crop up on the daily shows no signs of slowing, and as the online ranks grow, designers are constantly looking for ways to make their sites stand out from the rest.
Visit Source.

This tutorial explains how to create a clean and professional small business website in Photoshop. A series of simple steps are provided (along with screenshots) that clearly illustrate what you need to do at each stage of the design process.
Visit Source.

A showcase of web sites that use white space brilliantly.
Visit Source.

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Epic, Sci-Fi Sytle Urban City Scene (Montage) in Photoshop, by utilising a few simple photo manipulation tricks. Have a try.
Visit Source.

Next Day Flyers has offered to give 1,000 business cards and $25 of printing credit to a lucky reader of Designm.ag.

If you’re not familiar with Next Day Flyers they provide offset printing services and specialize in quick printing, mailing and finishing marketing materials. They are available to print business cards, print greeting cards, print door hangers and more. They [...]

These packaging designs are a great source of inspiration. This is a showcase of the most creative and cutting-edge designs from the world of packaging.
Visit Source.

It is essential today for a web designer to know about CSS3 and there are many tutorials and resources for the CSS3. Below i’ve listed 25 Useful CSS3 Techniques and Tutorials to get you started with CSS3, hope you find this collection useful.
Visit Source.

A quick inspirational post today (a quickie but a goody!) showcasing a selection of beautiful hand-drawn doodles in web design; a trend that is becoming ever more popular as the weeks pass by. There are nine designs in total, a small amount, but together are sure to inspire you much more than you expect! Hold on [...]

There is nothing more artistic and fun at the same time than caricatures. A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.
Visit Source.

A collection of vital tips for freelancers that no one has ever told you for budgeting and preparing for tax season.
Visit Source.

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 news/magazine sites [...]

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 latest [...]

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 with [...]

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 on [...]

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 Design [...]

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 brilliant for [...]

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, I’ve [...]

Go Media teamed up with Imagekind to offer a limited edition print run of  our Weapons of Mass Creation poster in support of the Weapons of Mass Creation fest.
All proceeds of these art prints go to help raise money in support of the festival being held on May 22 & 23 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The WMC fest is [...]

Go Media receives countless inquiries into the nature of the design business from students all over the world. This posts shares a recent round of Q & A with Go Media president William Beachy.
Who was your mentor and what was the most important thing they taught you?
I never really had a mentor. I truly wish [...]

Go Media teamed up with Imagekind to offer a limited edition print run of  our Weapons of Mass Creation poster in support of the Weapons of Mass Creation fest.
All proceeds of the poster go to help raise money in support of the festival being held on May 22 & 23 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The WMC fest is a [...]

Are ya up for some Photoshop? How ’bout Ten Tons of Photoshop? And how would you like it for free?
Then check this out: This week on GoMedia, we’re running a give-away for Geoff Blake’s Ten Ton Photoshop Essentials DVD!
Ten ton Photoshop includes comprehensive exercises on resizing and resolution, color correction, and image touch up. Master [...]

Encouraging creativity while remaining the “boss”
How does one balance the business side of running a design firm with creating an atmosphere that encourages creativity? Well, for starters I believe very strongly that creativity starts with the designers.
If you have a passionate and creative group of talented designers like we do here at Go Media, it’s [...]

Fonts. What designer doesn’t have too many? And we are always on the hunt for more.
The internet is a goldmine for fonts, but it’s not always easy to find just the font you’re looking for. It’s always good to have another font tool in your arsenal, and with that in mind we’re giving you a [...]

We’ve already posted 4 of the video interviews we were lucky to film with attendees of the first Weapons of Mass Creation event last fall. Currently we’re busy planning a much more ambitious festival to celebrate contemporary creative visionaries, called Weapons of Mass Creation Fest. Visit the home page to find out what [...]

Design software ain’t cheap. And for us designers and illustrators using the professional-level software to create such as Adobe Creative Suite, we find a typical 18-month cycle for new releases of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and the rest.
GoMedia wants to know: how do you handle your upgrades? Do you get the latest and greatest when it [...]

Can you start by telling us about who you are, what you specialize in and where you’re from?
My name is Dan Mumford, i am an illustrator/screen printer and i live in London.
I know you had formalized study in illustration, did you always plan to do band art or was that just a natural progression? How [...]

Plenty of designers out there do their design work not in InDesign, but in Illustrator. If you’re among those, you’ve no doubt been confounded by the lack of a “collect for output” feature in Illustrator. Enter Art Files from Code Line Software.
And be sure to read on for a special discount offer on Art Files [...]

Repetitive tasks can quickly become tedious. As a designer, you probably often find yourself designing the same elements over and over from scratch. STOP!
Wasting time is so old-fashioned. It also means you’re wasting money! So, let’s review some ways that you can automate and systematize your Photoshop workflow. And be sure to download the project [...]

jQuery is not always as it appears. There's a lot of cool stuff going on under the surface, and there are many methods just waiting to be discovered, and many potential usages of jQuery's API that you may not have considered before. In this article I'll be taking you through a few of the not-so-obvious [...]

Over the weekend, Elijah Manor tweeted about a new IDE, called WebStorm, that is currently being offered as a public preview, from JetBrains. After spending a few hours with it, I’m extremely impressed! In this video quick tip, I thought I’d show you some of my favorite features that you, frankly, just don’t see much [...]

When space is at a premium, making use of sliders is the optimal way to present information. Today, we’ll take a look at how to create a slider similar to the one used in the iTunes store.

Developers often seek the functionality provided by sliders in order to fit lots of information in [...]

Over the last three days we’ve been steadily rolling out a new Tuts+ theme across all 8 sites. The new design is a refinement more than a big change, with lots of little improvements in usability and more suited to big screens. Read on to learn more about the redesign and lots of news about [...]

As of Firefox 3.5, Chrome 3, Opera 10.5, and Safari 4, we can take advantage of many of the new HTML 5 features, including native audio support without the need for Flash. As you’ll find, we only to create the new <audio> element, and set a few attributes. In this four minute video quick tip, [...]

This tutorial is about understanding and mastering the MooTools library. It does so by offering a high level introduction to the history and foundations of the Core library: where to start, where to explore, what to master, and more.

1. Prototypal Inheritance

The foundation of the MooTools framework is really in the prototypal inheritance model of JavaScript. [...]

Today, we’re going to be taking the PSD website design, from Mahmoud’s Psdtuts+ Tutorial ,and coding it into valid, semantic HTML and CSS. Along the way, we’ll go over some essential CSS techniques, such as image replacement, sliding doors, and CSS sprites. This is a monster of a tutorial, as the design is a bit [...]

Since its release, ASP.NET applications and components have looked to the web.config file to load any settings they need to function. However, adding custom settings to add flexibility and robustness to an application or component isn’t as straight forward as most would like. This article teaches you how to write the necessary classes to handle [...]

This article showcases 30+ stunning web designs that make use of the incredible watercolor effect. The showcase is followed up with a small selection of links sharing a few tutorials and watercolor textures and brushes that you can use in your own designs.

Viget Inspire

Viget Inspire is one of the most recognized pieces of watercolor-style web [...]

Earlier today a new membership-based site, MediaLoot was launched. It is an online toolbox of premium design resources, and they have kindly offered to give five readers of the Vandelay Design blog a one-year membership to the site for free!

MediaLoot is a project of Jon Phillips of Spyre Studios and Mason Hipp of [...]

Minimalism a popular style of design because it keeps things simple and user-friendly. In this post we’ll look at more than 20 websites, blogs and books dedicated to minimalism. Not all of them are related to web design – minimalism can also be applied to other aspects of business and life.
Minimal Design Showcases:
If you want [...]

A few weeks ago we published a showcase of one-page portfolios and pointed out some trends among them. Many of those sites are using jQuery to accomplish specific things. In this post we’ll feature some plugins and tutorials that are ideal for one-page portfolios. Of course, they can be used on other types of sites [...]

Texture is obviously a common design element that is being used on a lot of modern websites. However, texture doesn’t always have to be a part of the design that stands out immediately to visitors. Light textures can also be used to subtly improve the design of the site. In this post we’ll feature 25 [...]

Portfolio sites often showcase creativity and the skills of the designer. If you browse around at current portfolio sites you’ll see a lot of illustration being used in the design. In this post we’ll feature 25 portfolios that use illustration. To see more portfolios please visit our gallery site Folio Focus.
Rype Arts

N. Design Studio

Camellie

Pampaneo

Yodaa

Flourish

Artua Design [...]

TemplateWire has offered to give free templates to three Vandelay Design readers. If you’re not familiar with TemplateWire they are a leading marketplace of CSS templates, Flash templates, and logo templates. For $49 you can get 12 months of unlimited access to all of their premium templates. Or you can get 3 [...]

Transparency is being used in an increasing number of websites. In some cases transparency subtly adds to the quality and character of the design, and in other cases it can be a major design element. In this post we’ll feature 35 websites that are making excellent use of transparency.
2am

Electricurrent

Sam Brown

Housing Works

Lift

Lilly’s Table

Sisu

Russ Kirby

Imaginaria Creative

Mint

Ordered List

Delicious [...]

Non profit organizations tend to have limited budgets and limited involvement from members for planning, designing and maintaining websites. This often results in a site that doesn’t really achieve everything that it could for the organization and the people involved. In recent years there has been an increasing number of organizations that [...]

Horizontal websites have been increasing in popularity over the past year or two. Although the approach isn’t a good fit for every project, a horizontal layout can provide designers with an opportunity to showcase some creativity and to break out of the box. As you may notice from the sites showcased here, portfolio sites of [...]

One-page portfolios are certainly a popular trend among web and graphic designers. Many designers have created one-page portfolios that use a lot of creativity, but there are also some elements or characteristics that are very common among them.
In this post we’ll look at ten trends of one-page portfolios with examples of [...]

Once a month, we’ll taking a look at fashion in film–characters, colors and costume design. Working together to create a believable persona; in the movies, the clothes often quite literally make the man. And in some cases, they make the real life looks we love for years afterward, much like the iconic heroine of today’s film in question, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Based on Truman Capote’s 1958 novella of the same name, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was brought to the silver screen by director Blake Edwards in 1961. The story follows the perhaps unlikely romance between writer Paul Varjak, portrayed by George Peppard, and gold-digger/wannabe-socialite Holly Golightly, portrayed by Audrey Hepburn.

Holly boasts an extensive wardrobe, and the most famous piece in it appears in what’s one of the most recognizable scenes in American film history: the opening shot, in which we see Holly eating a pastry out of a paper bag, ostensibly on her way home from an all-night party.

The black, floor-length dress Holly wears–paired with over-sized black sunglasses and a massive draped pearl necklace–are our introduction to the lineup of ensembles designed for Hepburn by Hubert de Givenchy. The Italian designer dressed Hepburn in nearly all of her films, and the idea of every outfit was the same: simple, functional pieces with an emphasis on line and shape.

The majority of Holly’s clothes are black, which makes sense–she’s an aspiring socialite, and while glamorous clothing is a necessity, it’s a luxury she can afford only so often. A variety of little black dresses and neutral separates get a lot of play with different accessories–in Holly’s case, elaborate jewels and broad-brimmed hats as big as her personality.

As the film–and the relationship between Holly and Paul–progresses, Holly wears more casual, colorful clothes when she’s with Paul. In these moments, we see the “real” Holly who is both brighter and softer than the persona she adopts in social settings. Still, though, she is always adopting a persona: Her bold orange overcoat is appropriately playful for a silly afternoon, and her cream turtleneck sweater and black cropped pants seem more suitable for knitting and cooking (or attempted cooking) than one of her party dresses.

Holly’s pink party dress, worn on a date with a man she intends to marry, is a spot of hope and happiness–and a fine example of the Givenchy brand of youthful optimism. Givenchy used bright colors, intricate textures and airy embellishments with a light hand, which made his clothes elegant and wearable at the same time.

In the film’s final scenes, Holly is tightly wrapped in a light tan, twill trench. Underneath is another black sheath–another ensemble of staples, and another example of Holly’s standard uniform. But as she searches for her unnamed cat in an alley–and when she locates Cat and slips him under the lapel of her jacket–it seems she just might be ready to let someone in.

Says Laura Boyes, film curator at the North Carolina Musem of Art and blogger at moviediva.com, the film is popular now because it “represents virtually the last moment in American movies where an actress was glamorized for glamour’s sake. Audrey Hepburn is evoked as an inspiration by someone or other in almost every issue of Vogue.”

Indeed, nearly 50 years later, we’re still in love with the little black dress–no mean reds here.

A little color inspiration from the community:

Screen captures from screencapheaven.com.

While it would be nice to be able to switch up the color of your home instantly and automatically, like in the ‘Paint My House‘ project–that would give our pattern maker a whole new purpose, its not an easy or cheap setup. But just by looking at these, and all the other great light projects we’ve seen, it can inspire us to realize the power lamps and lighting can have on our interior color schemes, and how they can transform a space every evening as the natural light begins to fade.

So if you cant manage to set up your own lighting installation then try some of these other colorful lighting ideas.

Lamp Shade Color

To help you get things started, check out some photos of the impact different color shades can have in a room. There’s a nice little gallery over at Apartment Therapy about just that.

DIY Light Fixtures

Usually my first and last thought when changing up a space is, “I’ll just do it myself.” Here are two great DIY lighting projects from Design*Sponge & Addicted2Decorating, found via Apartment Therapy.

Color Changing

The Yantouch Jellyfish led lamp filled with RGB LEDs is capable of creating 16 million unique colors and brightness levels, and it’s all controlled though a touchpad. Unfortunately, it seems to only be sold in a few shops, none of which are in the US.

Via technabob

Unique Shapes

Flat Lamp

Upcycled Style

Handblown Glass

‘Paint My House’

Thanks to flcikr user safeaim for sharing their photos.

The light artists, graphic designers and technicians from Skudi Optics, invited artists from all over Europe to project their fantastic creations onto the facade of the Berlin City Cathedral in August 2008. On February 25th a similar event will take place onto the most beautiful fasade in Trondheim: Nidarosdomen. The artwork will be from local artists and is meant to accompany the concert in Nidarosdomen the same evening. This will be a one-night only visual treat, both ad-free and independent.

A week or so ago we threw a little party for our friends and fellow COLOURlovers to get together and share some color love.  We showcased a wall of fabric from the good people at Spoonflower that we had printed with patterns from the community and we also displayed some awesome wall art from our friends at Imagekind.

At our previous COLOURlovers parties, we had people use physical color strips to make palettes. This year we added a small twist… the people became the palettes:

More photos from the event on Flickr:

We hope to see you at a future COLOURlovers event!

There have been multiple studies done regarding women and men involved in web design (and their preferences when it comes to “good” design), and they all sum up to one fact that begs the question: where all the women at?

In A List Apart’s 2008 web design survey (released at the end of each year) out of the 29,940 designer respondents only 16.2% were women, which is really no change from the 16.1% (32,831 respondents) in 2007.

A study in 2005 found that 74% of websites were produced by a man or a predominantly male team while just 7% were designed by a female or female team.

Historically, industries like architecture and design have been “men’s club,” and some have even asked if women are deterred from the web because it is seen as being as “masculine” as the construction or auto mechanic industry. In my mind, the web is the most accessible platform for human knowledge, and as such, it is, or should be, just as open in the creation of its infrastructure and design as in its core ideals.

What Sex is Your Design?

A 2005 student study conducted by the University of Glamorgan in the UK into what aesthetically appeals to males and females when surfing the web, found that there were differences in language, visuals and navigation preference between women and men. Women prefer more color in the background and typeface, rounded forms and informal language, where the opposite was true for men: straight lines, fewer colors and formal or expert language.

Another part of the study found an overwhelming preference for sites designed by the same sex as the respondent.

A selection of the University websites was then shown to a group of individuals of both sexes who had to rate their appeal on a scale. In almost every case women preferred those sites designed by women and men showed a preference for those created by men.

Women on the Web

Here is a quick look at a CSS gallery site dedicated to women designers, and a “best of” list.

CSS Princess

CSS Princess is project with the main idea of promoting and supporting beautiful and interesting css sites made by women. We all know that female designers have special sensibility and creativity, and we want to show the best websites world-wide with “woman’s touch” primarily.

By that, we want to support women in designing and their contribution to global community, and also to motivate css design community to make internet even better and prettier place. But not only sites made by females can be listed in cssprincess gallery. We would also considered a good male designers.

“Best of” List

While anything with hot + female in the title is sure to get a barrage of clicks, here are a few lists with impressive selections.

Line25: 40 Amazing Female Role Models For Web Designers

Lee Munroe: 25 Hot Female Web Designers (part 2)

INDEZINER: 50 Best Female Designers Around the World (list continues)

Vivien Anayi

Jina Bolten

Irene Demetri

Tina Roth Eisenber

Ali Felski

Margot Harrington

Inayaili de León

Mourylise Heymer Marreiros

Kat Neville

More Reads:

Women in web design: just the facts by Jeffrey Zeldman

Do We Need More Female Web Designers? by Holly Buchanan

Are you planning a destination wedding for Bali, the Bahamas’ or Hawaii? Get ready to turn your wedding into the colors of the sea - we all know how beautiful that underwater kingdom is.

2010 is already busting with hot palettes, get ready to embrace it! I used a sea anemone (provided by: Coral Sea Scuba) to coordinate this palette. It may seem loud, but let’s look at how it can work together.

Bridesmaids.  Lulakate has some fabulous dresses this year and a hot color palette perfect for our theme. My favorite pick is the Ashley Dress and it comes in a Cardinal (from their palette), perfect for our palette! What I like about the LulaKate dresses is that they also double as cocktail dresses. No more one-time-wear bridesmaid dresses.

I’m also a strong believer in fitting the bridesmaid dress to the bridsmaid body type so be kind and make sure your girls properly fit the style of the dress. Also, it looks nice to mix up your palette, it adds variation to your line.

Groom & Groomsmen. Depending on the location and formality of your wedding, you can do anything from open-necked woven shirts to full tuxedo’s and vests. My personal taste lands with making everyone as comfortable as possible in warm weather. I don’t imagine tuxedo’s being too comfortable in tropical weather (humid and/or very warm), so I would opt for the open-necked woven type of shirt. If going this route, pick an ivory (in line with the whites of the wedding - ivory looks nice in tropical weather, so crisp) or use a similar palette from the bridesmaids, only tone it down a notch.

(pictured: StephenGeoffery tuxedo’s from jimsformalwear.com)

A happy-medium, one I would also choose, would be to combine the formal suit, adding the informal open-necked shirts in the toned down tropical colors. Either way, keep the suites a warm if not, light color. StephenGeoffery makes a nice selection of destination tuxedos. Lastly, you could even combine the two tones and have you man in the darker suite with his men in the lighter.

Finally Flowers. If you’re actually going tropical, make sure to go with an island flower (a non-bruising type) in whites for both bridesmaids and groomsmen and pull their dress colors into your bouquet. (flower photos and arrangments from pulaudewata.com)

Now that we’ve covered the overall colors, here we are, back at the beginning with Invitations. Etsy.com has a lot of hidden jewels. This card design is simple and yet fits the theme and palette so nicely it doesn’t need any fancy extras.

(Mango & Fuschia Infusion Card by lillebarntoo on Etsy.com)

If you aren’t in to surfing what Etsy crafters have to offer, www.stylemepretty.com has a nice recommendation list you can refer to.

Art Exhibits

Olafur Eliasson Multiple Shadow House

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery | Olafur Eliasson

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is very pleased to present an exhibition of new works by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson (B. 1967). Eliasson’s sixth solo show at the gallery continues his exploration of and experimentation with modes of perception and the experience of space and time. Focusing on movement, color, and light - and the interplay between the three phenomena - the exhibition involves the viewer in a collaborative creative process.

Art

Painting With Pogo Sticks

artstartgrant.com.au

An ad for the Australian Council for the Arts.

Science & Art

Empathic Art Reads Emotion

LivesSience

The world may not smile when you smile or frown when you’re down, but some new digital artwork will adapt itself to match your mood.

The electronic art can alter itself by changing color and brush strokes. Software recognizes eight facial features, such as the shape of the mouth and the eyebrows, through a web cam and figures out the emotional state of the viewer. - LivesSience

Read the study from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath, UK  which was recently detailed at the fourth International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR) conference, Annecy, France.

Science

Smart Sunglasses Change Colors

Smart sunglasses have color adjusting lenses. Check out the video.

In the past, we’ve brought you on a visit to Tokyo’s famed Harajuku district, where Japan’s youth show off their flair and individuality by dressing in brilliantly colorful costumes and strutting their stuff for an always willing cameraman or two, but haven’t you wondered if perhaps there’s more to Japanese style than just girls who look like living dolls?

Tokyo’s cutting edge fashion sense certainly doesn’t stop at the borders of Harajuku. Allow me to take you on a tour of the beautiful styles of the various districts!

[Bobsee]

Ginza

Ginza’s fashion is comparable to that of modern metropolitan cities such as New York. If you visit the main boulevard that runs through the district (called Chuo-Dori), you will see such fashion landmarks as the ten story Chanel flagship  store which boasts a gigantic video screen for fashion shows, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Cartier and more. In other words, Ginza is about high-end indulgence, so bring your credit cards!

[Luke Robinson]

Shinjuku

Shinjuku fashion is much more relaxed in comparison to Ginza’s. Girls favor colored stockings, frilly tops and skirts, hats, boots and long, oversized pieces to complement. Layers are key, as with most experimental Japanese fashion. It’s easy to see why these girls always look so ahead of the times. You’ll also see the new “Forest Girl” trend in full effect there. Leave it to Japan to transcend all the usual trends and invent their own!

[Antonia Hayes]

Roppongi

If you can’t afford to go shopping in the ultra-plush surroundings of Ginza, Roppongi is a highly acceptable substitute. Still high end but not quite as much so as Ginza, you can still stroll through Roppongi Hills and enjoy some incredible shopping. The look of Roppongi fashion is polished and clean, with quality fabrics by key designers making a good showing.

[Sab-chan]

Shibuya

If a fashion trend is cool, you will see it within moments of emerging from the train onto the always-packed streets of Shibuya.  The range of different types of fashion seen there is incredibly wide, and you will likely see a Gothic Lolita walking side by side with a woman in classic kimono or a man in a smart business suit. Many of the fashion trends Japan has become famous for pop up in Shibuya, including Ganguro girls, who dye their hair orange and deeply tan their skin as a way of rebelling against Japan’s traditional societal norms.

Japanese Streets

Need a guide to get yourself in the know with Japanese fashion? Check out the excellent resource Japanese Streets.

Inspired by the stunningly creative street fashion that exploded on the streets of Tokyo and Osaka in the late 1990’s, photo-journalist Kjeld Duits started JAPANESE STREETS on November 22, 2002.

JS uploads many thousands of photos every year and regularly publishes interviews with designers and artists and reviews of cool shops.

Japanese Inspired Color

[Header image Via Simon Bonny]

On my own blog I’ve kept a regular Friday Favorites post going, in which I pick a handful of products from around the internet that have caught my attention that week. I’d like to do this here, but with a specific color in mind each week. I’ll post on Wednesdays with a new color set.

This week, since most everything I found is from Etsy, I thought I’d start with ORANGE!

Pole Orange by labokoff

2. Orange Rosette Brooch Pin
3. Orange Ride
4. retro vintage fabric Pillow Case
5. Monkey See Monkey Say I Do Print

City of New York Municipal Airports - 1930s WPA - Fine Art Reproduction Mini Print by AquaVelvet

2. Bright Orange Vintage Oval Mirror Frame
3. Ruffled Crepe Garland
4. Tartan/Checked Handbag/Tote
5. Vintage Orange Porcelain Lotus Bowl

Are you ready for the whirlwind of planning a wedding? Make it easier on yourself by starting at square one - your colors. If you haven’t been planning for this day since you were 12 years old, you will want to start by finding your theme. There is a method to this madness, it’s called an Inspiration Board. This is something you will use to compile the photos, magazine tear-outs, material and ribbon swatches that you have gathered. It’s a lot more productive and quicker than building a 6-inch thick binder. If you already have a binder, slim down your ideas by putting them on the Inspiration Board. If you need a visual, Elizabeth Anne Designs has a a great collection of Inspiration Board examples. Here are a few I grabbed that might work for our color palette here:

(photo: Elizabeth Anne Designs)

Literally pick up a few pieces of black poster-size foam board and some tape (two-sided or scotch) to start your project. You can pick these supplies up at any general purpose store (i.e., Walmart).

Finding your colors. Don’t start by looking at swatches of colors; you’ll spend too much time. Begin by looking through bridal, wedding, interior design, fashion, gardening and even scrap-booking magazines or websites for inspiration. Find things that you like, and again, I would highly recommend looking at the Elizabeth Anne Designs inspiration boards to get an idea of what to gather. Remember that the photo doesn’t even have to be wedding oriented, it just needs to be something that has good use of a color and reflects your taste.

Develop your palette. Pinpoint what the major colors are on your board. Narrow your colors down to three, if you can. The idea is to have a main color, used more boldly, with two accent colors. If you happen to pick a fourth or more color, use them sparingly.

Finally, here is an example of how the colors all work together nicely, with black being the most prominent color and the other two or more as accents.

Credits : Wedding photo’s courtesy DaveeBlu Photography

I don’t know what the weather’s been like in your neighborhood, but it’s been too cold and too snowy for too long in mine. At least two months ago, I changed my Gmail background to bright green grass, because, well, I haven’t seen any for so long. I’m counting down the days to spring–but I think, before it gets here, I can add a little green to my closet to get my fix.

Fortunately for green lovers, spring fashion offerings include a healthy dose of the color, from one end of its spectrum to the other. Seafoam, celery, turquoise, kelly, hunter–all the greens are available, and they’re all easier to work with than you might think. Pair brights with fellow bright colors–purple, blue, raspberry–or pretty pastels. Mix and match pastel greens with brights, but steer clear of multiple pastels. Layered, varied pale colors will date you–or make you look like an Easter egg. If you do want to go all pale, choose coordinated pieces for a monochromatic look.

Today, I’ve scouted out five spring finds–a cardigan, dress, handbag, pair of rain boots and necklace–and put each together with another piece, along with color inspiration, to help you find your inner green goddess.

Anthropologie From-the-Green Cardi, $128; J. Crew Broken-in boyfriend chino short, $49.50.

A 1950s-inspired cardigan gets a modern boost from loosely fitted, breezy shorts. Add a pair of basic red flats and a slouchy T-shirt for weekend errands and backyard get-togethers.

Kate Spade Nicolina flat, $298 at Nordstrom; Boden Must Have Shift, $148.

A classic dress shape won’t compete with brightly colored fabric. A pair of flats with special detail, like this embellished box toe, speak right to the 1960s inspiration.

3.1 Phillip Lim laser-cut scallop edge dress, $425 at LaGarconne; Coach Kristin tote, $1,000.

A ladylike satchel becomes edgy with a kicky little dress; this one from Phillip Lim gets sex appeal from sheer paneling and kitschy scalloping. With a pair of low-heeled Roger Vivier patent pumps, you’re off to lunch with the girls.

T by Alexander Wang mini pocket dress, $85 at LaGarconne; Hunter Original tall rain boot, $115 at Nordstrom.

Don’t ruin your shoes on rainy days–pop for a classic pair of Hunter wellies and go casual. Add a pair of black leggings, a voluminous scarf, a denim jacket and a pretty umbrella to make weekdays in the rain totally effortless.

Anthropologie Sea Ribbons Necklace, $278; Vanessa Bruno Athe silk empire dress, $140 at the Outnet.

Who says you have to stick to one color at a time? You can mix and match as long as you identify the ensemble’s focus and keep the other details minimal. A necklace this striking is a natural centerpiece; a v-neck dress in a solid, bold color frames and showcases it beautifully. Slip on a pair of thin-heeled strappy gold sandals, grab a little gold clutch and head out to the first warm-weather parties on your list.

I’ll be searching my closet for bits of green this week, and I’ll share what I find with you. In the meantime, I’ll be ditching my coat in the car, pretending that 2 on the thermometer has a 7 in front.

E-books aren’t going to replace books. E-books are books, merely with a different form. More and more often, that form is ePub, a format powered by standard XHTML. As such, ePub can benefit from our nearly ten years’ experience building standards-compliant websites. That’s great news for publishers and standards-aware web designers. Great news for readers, [...]

You’ve probably heard that Apple recently released the iPad. The absence of Flash Player on the device seems to have awakened the HTML5 vs. Flash debate. Apparently, it’s the final nail in the coffin for Flash. Either that, or the HTML5 community is overhyping its still nascent markup language update. The arguments run wide, strong, [...]

Whether it’s in front of a huge audience or a handful of executives, smooth public speaking is essential to a successful web design career. Yet most of us are more afraid of speaking in public than we are of death. In a lively give-and-take, Liz Danzico interviews Scott Berkun, author of Confessions of a Public [...]

Another generation of technology has passed and Unicode support is almost everywhere. The next step is to write software that is not just “internationalized” but truly multilingual. In this article we will skip through a bit of history and theory, then illustrate a neat hack called accent-folding. Accent-folding has its limitations but it can help [...]

Abandoning password masking as Jakob Nielsen suggests could present serious problems, including undermining a user’s trust by failing to meet a basic expectation. But with design patterns gleaned from offline applications, plus a dash of JavaScript, we can provide feedback and reduce password errors without compromising the basic user experience or losing our visitors’ [...]

When someone consults a website, there is a precious opportunity not only to provide useful information but also to influence their decision. To make the most of this opportune moment, we must ensure that the site says or does precisely the right thing at precisely the right time. Understanding the rhetorical concept of kairos can [...]

Many of us think of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) as an also-ran: fine for charts and tables, but not much else. Yet SVG can actually enhance a site’s overall design, and can be made to work in even the most stubborn browser. In Part I of a two-part series, Shelley Powers covers important basics of [...]

In Part II, dig deeper into the technology behind using SVG for your site design. Explore how to incorporate SVG in a cross-browser friendly manner, including using SVGWeb to ensure that the SVG shows in Internet Explorer. And discover the unique characteristic that makes SVG ideal for page backgrounds: scalability.

For the third year in a row, good citizens of the web, we ask that you take a few minutes to tell us about your professional skills, educational background, career prospects, job benefits, and more.

As the digital landscape becomes increasingly complex, and as businesses become ever more comfortable using the web to bring their product and audience closer, the techniques and principles of museum curatorship can inform how we create online experiences—particularly when we approach content. Erin Scime shows us how.

I’m still not sure which is more difficult, moving house or moving blog? Both take up a lot of time. Both require a lot of patience. Moving the blog didn’t kill my back though so I guess moving house is still more difficult.
In any case, I’ve moved the location of the Awakened Voice blog from [...]

Squarespace released their iPhone App yesterday. The application allows site administrators to manage (post, edit, upload photos) their blogs and view statistics. Future versions of the app will have comment management features.

© Robert J. Safuto - visit the Awakened Voice Blog for more great content.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been evaluating several different hosted web systems. These systems are “all in one” website solutions that are that are offered as a service. That means you don’t need to purchase separate hosting or download any files to make it work. You just need a browser, time to build your [...]

I spent about ten minutes walking through some of the features of the Squarespace service which I’m trying out. Squarespace allows users who are reasonably comfortable with the web, but aren’t programmers, to build unique and feature rich websites. Squarespace’s competitors are services like WordPress.com and Ning.com that let you get started building a site [...]

I’ve been sketching out some ideas lately aimed at redefining what it means to maintain your own presence on the World Wide Web. Until a few years ago a web presence for many consisted of a series of web pages that were built primarily offline and then uploaded to an empty space on a web [...]

I recently got an account with Google Voice and right off the bat I was stuck figuring out exactly how to use it properly since I really didn’t want to confuse my friends and family by giving them yet another number for me. Then I had the idea of easing into it by [...]

There was a time not so long ago when the conventional wisdom in the world of tech revolved around youth above all else. If you look back a decade to the dot-com bubble you’ll see many companies whose management philosophy revolved largely around the belief that youth and inexperience were a key ingredient required for [...]

I recently took the plunge and purchased a Dell Mini 10 “netbook” computer. I’ve been wanting something very portable that I could have around the house that gave me the ability to surf the internet at a moments notice. This role had previously been filled by my iPod Touch. The iPod works fine for monitoring [...]

I have been following JS-Kit since their early days when they simply offered a drop in comments and rating system for sites that didn’t already have those sorts of features. I haven’t used the service because all the platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Movable Type, Blogger) I work with to build communities offer good comments and ratings [...]

Google’s annoncement of a netbook operating system based on Chrome certainly made a lot of noise. Early reports focused on the negative effects the new OS would have on Microsoft. After pondering the news and reading different viewpoints I’m inclined to agree with those who think that this doesn’t hurt Microsoft.
I just recently bought [...]

Scott Bricker(Photo © J. Maus)

Scott Bricker, the former executive director of the Portland-based Bicycle Transportation Alliance has been hired by non-profit America Walks, a national coalition of pedestrian advocacy groups.
Bricker, who was let go by the BTA back in November, is now working as a consultant. With his new contract position as Campaign Manager [...]

A view of the Capitol this morning.(Photo © J. Maus)

With the lobby day in full swing here on Capitol Hill, bike advocates from around the country are asking their representatives in Congress to support a variety of pending bike-related legislation. Last night, while looking through some information on these bills put together for us [...]

Mr. Fisher goes to Washington — in a Dashing Tweeds suit.(Photos © J. Maus)

Bike industry titan Gary Fisher is hard to miss here at the Summit. A pioneer of mountain bikes in the 1980s, Fisher has gone on to be the namesake of a successful bike brand, a fashion icon, and one of only [...]

Peter Birch from Google.(Photos © J. Maus)

Earlier today, I got he opportunity to speak with Peter Birch, the product manager for Google Earth (and world traveler) who spearheaded development of their new biking directions feature.
Before I get to the Q & A with Birch, here’s a recap of his comments from this morning’s [...]

Advocates from Omaha, Nebraska.L to R: Tammie Dodge, Kerri Peterson, Julie Harris.(Photo © J. Maus)

One of the great things about being at the National Bike Summit is the feeling that biking, as a movement, is growing. And each year I’m reminded that it’s growing far beyond the typical, bike-friendly cities you always see on [...]

Bikes Belong executive director Tim Blumenthal.(Photos © J. Maus)

As reported earlier, Bikes Belong revealed a major new campaign tonight aimed at unifying a million voices in support of bicycling across America. The People for Bikes campaign was launched to a room packed with bike advocates and industry leaders from across the country at the [...]

Mr. Armstrong gave us a personal welcome and thank you at the opening reception party.-Slideshow below-(Photos © J. Maus)

First day is in the books here at the 2010 National Bike Summit — and it was a big one. Lots of excitment, record attendance, the launch of a major national promotional campaign, big news from [...]

[The big Google bike directions announcement also happened at this Opening Plenary, but I've decided to separate that out into a different post and combine it with a short interview I did with the product manager.]

Nearly every seat was filled.(Photos © J. Maus)

I’ve got a front row seat at the big Opening Plenary session [...]

Alison Graves.(Photos © J. Maus)

Alison Graves is the new executive director of the Community Cycling Center. She takes the reins from Susan Remmers, who took over leadership of the non-profit four years ago. Remmers has been on medical leave since December (the medical issue is not related to this decision).
Graves was formerly the [...]

There it is.

The League of American Bicyclists has just sent out a press release confirming what I speculated (and all but confirmed) earlier today — Google has turned on biking directions for Google Maps.
Google will publicly announce the big news at Wednesday morning’s Opening Plenary Session. About the announcement, the League’s Andy Clarke [...]