80+ Color Altering Photoshop Actions

Color plays a major role in photography. It helps set the mood and tone of an image, but it is determined by the type of light present during a shoot. Photographers don’t always have control over this. This is one of many areas where Photoshop can be a valuable tool for photographers. It offers plenty of settings to alter the color of an image, but there are also actions that you can apply with the click of a button. They can be a huge time saver if you find the right one. Here we’ve rounded up over eighty Photoshop actions that you can use to alter the color of your photos. (more…)

Read More

7 Free Typography Ebooks

We would all agree that content is the most important aspect of any website. And in most cases content is made up of type. So, as a web designer, it makes sense to have a strong understanding of typography. With that in mind, we rounded up some free ebooks that should help you strengthen your typography skills. (more…)

Read More

WDL Premium: Creative Monkeys – Portfolio Template

Here’s a very nice HTML template for our WDL Premium Members. Creative Monkeys, by WeGraphics, is a nice web layout with a lovely design and a great textured background. It is perfect to develope an unique portfolio. Tested on IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome; it has a fixed layout and valid XHTML and CSS code. (more…)

Read More

Getting Started in iOS User Interface Design

iOS devices are becoming mainstream as avid technology buffs are playing with Apple’s latest technology. The release of the iPad tablet computer along with the HD iPhone 4 retina display has shown an impressive year for company branding.

We’ll be going over a few tips for designing a simple iOS interface in Adobe Photoshop. Out of the graphics software available Photoshop or a similar platform is the easiest option for UI design. With easy access to layers and project icons things become much simpler.

(more…)

Read More

30 Inspiring Design Agency Websites

In this post, we’re showcasing a collection of design agency websites to let you see how agencies and firms are presenting themselves to potential clients. When choosing a design firm to do a project, it’s extremely important that you get a good feeling from their website. It’s important that you feel confident in the type of work they do. If you like the style of their website, it’s a good possibility that you’ll like what they can do for you. (more…)

Read More

Mastering Font Combinations

Remember the days of the Commodore computer? Your word processor had one font family, with an italic and a boldface, if you were lucky. Designing a contrasting header to a computer-generated document required scissors and tape.

Though the output of your dot matrix printer was unmistakable and monotonous, at least you never had to sweat the aesthetics of combining type. Matching heading fonts with body fonts, accent fonts and footnote fonts can be a touchy pursuit. Even perfectly balanced fonts can look ungainly and ugly next to the wrong neighbors. If type is the most important aspect of web design, then combining type is a critical skill. (more…)

Read More

10 Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts

This year we plan on finding plenty of freebies to share with our readers, just like we did in 2010. We may even step it up a notch. So to kick things off, we’ve found some really nice free fonts. In this collection you’ll find a variety of styles, including hand-drawn, script, and modern. We believe you can’t have too many fonts at your disposal, so take a look at these and grab the ones you like. (more…)

Read More

WDL Premium: Vintage Elements Vector Pack

Here’s an incredible vector pack for our WDL Premium Members. This set, from Go Media, is like a pot of vintage gold, aged to perfection, and dusted with rainbow bits. There are 37 pieces in all, which will give you plenty of flexibility in your next vintage style design. (more…)

Read More

Web Design Trends in 2011

There is a thin line between design and development, and as we move into a new decade, this line is becoming extremely blurry. Is it enough to draw beautiful mock ups in Photoshop? Maybe 5 years ago. These days, the average internet user requires more. All beauty, with no substance, gets boring after a while. If your only goal is to impress a community of fellow designers with your flashy designs, you’ll find yourself quickly beneath the tide. 2011 is not about beauty, it’s about function. The trends for this new year and emerging decade are responsive design, constant connection and virtual reality.

(more…)

Read More

35 New Clean & Minimalist Websites to Inspire You

During 2010 we showcased 4 lists of minimalist and clean websites to inspire you! We started with A Showcase of Clean White Web Designs (January), then we had 55 Minimal Black and White Web Designs (April), 60 Minimal and Super Clean Web Designs (May) and 40 Fresh Examples of Minimal Web Design (October). Since we know that there’s always something new to see surrounding this style, we decided to start 2011 with a list of clean and minimal websites to inspire you. We believe this is the perfect way to start a new year. (more…)

Read More