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Apple’s mobile operating system has gained a huge following in just a few short years. Although it can take months of dedicated study to even begin programming iOS apps, there still seems to be a solid market of intelligent developers. In the last year alone we’ve witnessed the iPad2 and iPhone 4S releases which have both appeared stunning.

And along with these advances in technology comes a much larger demand for iOS apps. I’d like to go into a few design trends which have become prevalent in mainstream iOS interfaces. Designers have started following innovative and whimsical methods for constructing beautiful app layouts. And there is a lot to be said of this booming mobile industry!

Offset Center Tab Button

Surprisingly I have run into this feature a lot more in the social network-type applications. The offset tab button is generally placed in the center of a series of tab views in the bottom bar. Foursquare and Instagram are two examples, although there are other designers picking up on the trend.

The benefit of this tactic from a metrics perspective is that you’ll see a lot more active sharing using that center button. With Instagram you tap there to snap a new photo, in Foursquare you are sharing a new check-in. This center tab view should represent the key action(s) you’re hoping to get out of each user.

Another cool example can be found in Tumblr’s iOS app. This mobile port of the social blogosphere is using the offset center tab just a few pixels in height. It seems like a small effect, yet your attention is constantly attracted to the “Post” link.

Popup Modal Views

Modal boxes have been popular in both desktop and browser-based applications. When developing for iOS these modal boxes are perfect for quickly gathering some user information. These systems work best in a true/false or yes/no format so the user isn’t flustered in dealing with a whole new window.

In the example above Tweetbot uses a brilliant modal box design with an outer shadow effect. Another point of notice is how the two buttons have been colored differently – this is to imply that you need to make a choice between the two. In this screen I’m being asked to confirm or deny a spam report(which I politely canceled!).

Link Icons

When designing an iOS user interface you want important bits to stand out from the rest. This is worth stressing in preparation so that your layout doesn’t appear bland by design. Things for iPhone uses some really unique icons to label each of their different scheduling areas.

Another one of my favorite examples is Cloudette, an iOS solution for CloudApp. Basically you log in to your account and the home screen displays all your contents in chronological order. The app includes icons next to each file based on the type(URL link, photo, .zip archive).

Even if you aren’t a magnificent designer you should be able to find some awesome freebies throughout the web. Having a few icons sprinkled throughout your menus will help to differentiate the many links listed together. They also add onto the beautiful user experience which you would expect in any mobile app.

User Profile Badges

The most popular example of the social badges group has to be Foursquare. We’ve all caught a glimpse of these badge designs and there are plenty to go around! The site’s founder Dennis Crowley has actually collected over 100 different badges! Talk about some real dedication.

Adding this functionality into your app brings about an entire gaming mechanism. Your members will be constantly working to unlock badges and show off their hip trendy profile. Im Game is another app released in private beta where you check-in to each video game as you play them.

Users who check into specific genres more often can unlock secret badges, along with others means of social gaming. If the badge system doesn’t work in your app I suggest not trying to force it. But collecting user input will keep your member base growing and interested in future products!

Custom Loading Animation

This hasn’t been as popularized as the other trends recently, although there are 2 apps worth noticing. Gowalla’s newest re-design uses a checkered array of moving colors to display when content is being loaded. It’s a really unique animation and certainly along the lines of something I’ve never seen before.

Another great example comes from Kevin Rose’s recent publication of Oink app. The user interface is much smaller this time around, as they focus on a tiny loading bar towards the top of each screen. The animation movement is very fluid and I feel the concept has been implemented brilliantly. Take down a few notes from these guys and see if you can come up with your own unique loader.

Pre-Cropped Images

There is a lot more code required to dynamically pull out images of differing sizes. It takes even more programming to crop and maneuver user uploaded content. As such these trends are still limited to app development teams with enough time and patience to implement them.

Ballin’ is a great example which pulls data out of Dribbble’s network. The shots are updated usually every 24 hours to include both a thumbnail and full-screen view for when the iPhone is in landscape mode. Altogether this technique is more intensive in programming than actual design. Yet it appears very trendy and flashy, and certainly something which I expect to continue in future mobile apps of 2012.

Conclusion

This guide has introduced some of the latest design trends in iPhone/iPad applications. If you’re an aspiring designer I highly recommend skimming through my previous article on iOS user interfaces in Photoshop. There is a lot to study and practice, but the payoff is certainly worth the effort. If you have any questions or comments please share with us in the discussion area below.

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There are lots of web apps these days and they are very popular because of time-saving and productivity benefits. Web apps work on almost all platforms and you can access them from any device. You don’t need to install anything and you can save lots of time in this way. In this compilation, I’ve picked 15 useful web apps for web and graphic designers, developers and other creatives who want to save time and achieve more. Hope you’ll become more productive with these handy apps.

Privacy policy generator

Privacy policy generator helps you to create professional privacy policy document that discloses some or all of the ways to your website visitors about what you will do with information gathered from them, how you are gathering that information and how the information will be stored and managed.

Launchlist

Launchlist is a perfect tool for web designers and developers to check their work before launching any project.

Aviary’s Image Editor

Powerful online photo editor with easy to use user interface. Perfect alternative for popular Adobe Photoshop.

Color Scheme Designer

Very useful tool for any sort of designer. With this tool you can easily create attractive color schemes for your projects.

Buffer

Buffer makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule tweets. Work out all your tweets at one point in time during the day. Then fill up your Buffer with your tweets and Buffer schedules them for you.

deviantART muro

HTML5-based app that works in all modern browsers, and you can dive in and start drawing on a blank canvas, all without Flash or any other plug-in.

CSS3 Generator

Handy CSS3 generator with a lot of different functions and code preview.

Loads.in

Loads.in gives you the possibility to see how fast your (or any) website loads in a real browser from over 50 locations worldwide.

Bounce

Great tool for creating notes on any website, you can share your thoughts, feedback about the project with your friends or colleagues.

Resize My Browser

ResizeMyBrowser is simple yet very useful online tool. With this tool you will be able to set the browser size by both Inner window and Outer window.

Kuler

Kuler is the web-hosted application for generating color themes that can inspire any project. No matter what you’re creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community.

Typetester

The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its primary role is to make web designer’s life easier. As the new fonts are bundled into operating systems, the list of the common fonts will be updated.

WhatTheFont

Seen a font in use and want to know what it is? Submit an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in their database.

Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator

Colorzilla has designed this very easy to use CSS3 gradient generator. It uses sliders and color pickers just like Photoshop and is highly recommended.

Twitter Profile Designer

Themeleon helps you to create custom Twitter background. You can use lots of patterns and colors available there or you can customize any of the colors or patterns to get just the right design for you.

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A while back we showcased here a list with 30 Inspiring Design Agency Websites and another one showing 45 Inspiring Design Agency Websites. Today we decided to gather a new list to show how some design agencies and studios are presenting themselves to the audience. The layout adopted by a design related website is important not only to get the users attention but also to showcase the identity of the place, the style of it. Here you will see different examples, from clean and minimal sites to colorful and illustrated ones, there are a lot of ways to go to present your agency/studio.

OwlConcept

The guys from OwlConcept are using HTML5, a big background image and interesting shapes and typo to represent their studio.

Sajak&Farki

Sajak&Farki are using a super clean design where you use the menu to navigate the website.

Twofold Creative

Twofold Creative is also using HTML5, using big background sliding images to present their work.

Tapp3 Media

Tapp3 Media website is strongly based in shapes and typography, also uses HTML5 and have a nice textured background.

Legwork Studio

These guys decided to take a more fun and personal style and are using hand drawn elements in a single page website to present their studio.

Image Mechanics

Image Mechanics is a studio devoted to iPhone and iPad apps development. The layout they are using to present their studio is pretty clean and minimal, also uses HTML5 and has a beautiful usage of colors and typography.

La Web Shop

Nice layout. Subtle textured background, beautiful icons and red elements to get user’s atenttion.

Paramore

Interesting contrast and typography. Horizontal navigation will take you around some of their articles.

Small Fortune

Nice use of texture, shapes and colors. The layout is clean and beautiful.

Zhng Design Studio

Beautiful clean and minimal single page layout. Really nice use of white space, typography and colors.

Kokokaka

Images to represent content, typography and a yellow sidebar to get user’s attention.

Upperdog

Simple and effective layout focusing on showing their services and ideas.

Knoed

Another site using a big background image and typography based layout.

FreeAssociation

Simple layout focusing on showing some of their work/colaborations.

Abstraktion

Beautiful dark layout using a nice color scheme/contrast and simple/effective typography.

3Degrees Design Agency

Nice combination of typography and illustration elements to show main services/believes.

exsite

Beautiful, simple, elegant. A good example that less is more. A lot of white spaces that you can navigate using the menu or scrolling horizontally.

Dynamit

Simple idea of showing images of works in a magazine style.

Glue Isobar

HTML5, good color combination, typography and shape. Good way to present a creative agency.

Favolla

Interesting use of typography, texture and illustrative elements.

ENGARDE

Clean textured layout based on beautiful images, icons and typography.

Hot Meteor

Nice colorful header to add some contrast to the white and typographic based layout.

Quiip

Simple, effective and pretty straight forward.

Dare

Clean and effective layout based on typography, images and typography.

El Passion

Another example of a simple and clean layout focusing on presenting the studios works/ideas.

Source:

The Best Designs
Sites of the Week – Abduzeedo

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In 2003, acclaimed filmmaker Lars Von Trier challenged his idol Jorgen Leth to recreate his 1967 masterpiece The Perfect Human. Not only was he to recreate one of his best films ever, but he was to do it five times, each time being limited with a new more challenging list of constraints than the time before. They documented this torturous challenge in a fantastic film entitled The Five Obstructions. In this film we see a man fighting with his surroundings, resources, and even his own creative limits to reach a goal through constraints that seem all but impossible to achieve. The result? Unbelievable resourcefulness and creativity – And six amazing films!

Now, just to get this out of the way, this post is NOT about how art has to be a struggle or torture or anything like that. All I’m saying is that it’s easy to look at the suffering part and ignore the amazing result. Constraints, restrictions, guidelines, whatever you call them – they tend to get a bad wrap; they’re always associated with negativity. It doesn’t have to be that way! There’s no rule stating that the process of applying constraints to achieve a higher quality of art has to be unpleasant. Constraints are, in my opinion, a secret weapon that we can use to give ourselves a little creative boost when we need to take things to the next level.

The Benefits of Constraints

Constraints offer up a lot of benefits. Most of you illustrators/designers are familiar with scenarios like this (especially as kids) – “Hey, you’re good at art! Draw me something!” Ok, what? “I don’t know…something awesome!” And at times, it doesn’t get much better in the professional world. Lets say the owner of a paper store comes to you and says, “I’d like you to help us rebrand and appeal to a younger audience” immediately followed by a blank look of expectancy. You’re thinking… geez, thanks for the direction…as you scramble to come up with something brilliant.

It’s easy in these moments to recognize the value of creative constraints. Boundaries help us decide how to start a design and determine where it’s appropriate to go from there. Adding constraints can narrow down a prompt and open your mind’s eye at the same time. For example a request can easily go from “appealing to a younger audience” and become “I want you to capture the attention of a younger audience passionate about do-it-yourself projects and who appreciate good design” simply by adding a few constraints; young, diy, and “good design”. Immediately, you have direction…or at least more than you did. Even though something like “good design” is about as relative as you can get, you can start to look at what’s popular on craft and diy blogs and get a sense for what that audience finds visually appealing, adding those sources to what’s already happening in your brain.

Constraints can also determine the style and technique we use. Every art form has it’s own set of rules that it follows, setting it apart from the rest. For instance, a sonnet consists of 14 lines written in iambic pentameter and must follow one of several standard rhyming schemes. These are the rules of the game when it comes to writing a sonnet. As a reader or critic you know a sonnet is good by how well it copes with these constraints. Whereas a writer will use the limitations of a sonnet to challenge themselves to greater poetic heights by channeling their inspiration into a difficult mold.

In design it can be a bit more difficult to practice this discipline since there are not a mere 3 rules to designing a website. However, we can grow and mature as artists and designers by systematically applying different sets of constraints on our own work, challenging ourselves to take our craft in new directions while providing instant direction to projects where there previously was little to none.

Try It!

Here are a list of some fun constraints you might want to try out. Keep in mind that on a client project you need to fit your added constraints inside the ones they’ve already given you. But if the problem is that you don’t have much direction to start with, then that shouldn’t be too difficult.

• Try using as few images as possible, create the client’s desired effect with color, layout, and text.
• Instead of starting with a grid in mind…try a diamond shape.
• Challenge yourself to use design elements that reference as many of your favorite designers as possible in one site.
• If you’re making an industry specific website, research that industry’s history and incorporate shapes, colors, or principles of that industry into your design.

  ex: Your client is an architecture firm. Try incorporating elements in your design that are representative of their major works to date or of works that have paved the way for their particular “school” of architectural design in the past.

• Find and use fonts/typefaces you’ve never used before. Or, use only fonts/typefaces you create yourself.
• OR, you can even get meta on this shit and add a constraint that says you must have at least 20 constraints!

Remember, the goal here is to boost creativity resulting in a better final product. So don’t torture yourself. If it’s not working, try something else. This can be really fun if you build your constraints around things you find interesting or that challenge you. The whole point of this is to help, not to harm. This may not be for everyone. No matter what your opinion though, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below

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Many of us creative types spend a lot of time seeking out “inspiration”.  In fact, if you’re like me it’s your job to find and write about art or other things that might spark artistic inspiration in the minds of readers.  I’m not here to make light of that either, it’s what I do and I love it.  However, the reason I put quotations around the word inspiration above is because many times in the blogging world we say things like, “we are your source for inspiration” or “check out this inspiring post” etc. as if further consumption of this or that will be the deciding factor in whatever you’re working on.

It’s an easy idea to buy into, especially if a particular post has helped you out on a project in the past.  But before long you can find yourself bouncing from blog to blog, endlessly clicking through your reader, or staring bleary eyed at twitter, facebook, and tumblr waiting for inspiration to strike.  Meanwhile, getting absolutely NOTHING done.  And there’s a good reason for that.  A blog post is not inspiration.  It may contain the spark of inspiration but that spark can only occur because the perfect conditions already exist in your mind.  If you think of inspiration as “a sudden understanding” it gets a bit easier to illustrate.  If you’re looking at design roundups you will find references, but a “sudden understanding” of how to meet your clients needs with your design is something else entirely.  An understanding might be triggered by a reference but not always.  Sometimes the mind simply needs time to connect the dots.  More work or “inspiration” only get in the way.

Archimedes’ Eureka Moment

Take the ancient story of Archimedes for example, the scientist who famously coined the term “Eureka!” when he discovered the physical law behind buoyancy.  His story goes like this: Hiero II, King of Syracuse, was pretty sure he was getting ripped off by a goldsmith.  He thought the goldsmith was carefully replacing pure gold with a gold/silver mix and pocketing the difference.  So the King turned to Archimedes for a solution.  Without catching this goldsmith in the act, how could Archimedes test whether the goldsmith was giving him impure gold?  Archimedes struggled for a long time trying to figure out a solution to this problem but had no success.  After a very long period of intense study, thought, and experimentation Archimedes was convinced to take a break and go home.  When he went home, he filled a bath.  As he soaked in the bath he noticed that an equal weight in water had been displaced in relation to his body and he yelled out, “Eureka!” and ran all the way back to the King, stark naked through streets, to tell him how they could test the goldsmith.  They took a coin of gold they knew to be pure and a coin from the goldsmith comparing the buoyancy of each.  Sure enough, they did not match up and the goldsmith was quickly executed.

An unfortunate story for the goldsmith to be sure, but what I want to point out is that the moment of breakthrough inspiration came to Archimedes only after he got a little distance from what he was working on.  I imagine him soaking in the bath, wrecked from long exercises of strenuous mental activity.  As he moves, he notices the water level change.  Then he tries submerging himself deeper, then he stands, then he sits, testing out a thought he’s having.  Then, Eureka!

Sounds familiar right?  Have you ever been riding your bike, off on a run, taking a hike, or taking a shower, and finally…something clicks? Or a brilliant idea or solution pops into your head from seemingly nowhere?  This is what happens when we still our mind, give it a break from stimulation, and allow it to sort through the things we’ve consumed.

More Consumption Does Not Equal More Inspiration

When we hop from blog post to blog post for hours on end, we are not becoming “more inspired”.  We run the risk of over-stimulation, or “brain exhaustion” for lack of a better term.  For instance, would running 100 miles all at once get you in better shape?  No, it would cause serious harm to your body.  At a certain point you pass the threshold of healthy activity and it becomes hurtful.  Likewise we need to allow our brain the space it needs from the stimulating content we consume for it to make the connections it needs to make for true inspiration or “sudden understanding” to take place.  All of this isn’t to say that true inspiration only strikes while we’re on a break either.  It strikes in many times and places, not just those I’ve mentioned.  What I’m getting at though is that it’s probably healthy to establish a habit of alternating mental stimulation with mental rest.  I encourage everyone to give it a shot and see how it goes.  I’d love to hear your stories!

Balancing Mental Stimulation With Mental Rest

Giving your brain a break doesn’t have to be a total life transformation.  There are some really easy things you can do to get started, then figure out what works best for you.

• In the morning, take at least 20 minutes to drink your coffee in silence.  No technology whatsoever, just you and your coffee.  Let your brain wake up and process whatever it needs to before diving into emails or whatever else.
• Commuter?  Turn off your radio and let your mind wander (not too much!) while you go to or from work.
• Exercise.  This doesn’t have to be strenuous.  It can be a 20 minute walk in the morning, evening, or even on your lunch break.
• While working on something, try to close everything else so as to not tax your brain with distractions while it’s trying to be brilliant.
• Choose one or two times per day to browse your inspiration sources instead of constantly stimulating your brain throughout the day.
• Get a hobby.  This can be anything, the important thing is that it needs to be different than your job/art.  Try choosing something mostly physical that doesn’t require strenuous thinking.  Running, bike riding, fishing, lawn care, hiking, diy projects/crafts, and the like all work.

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When I first sat down to write this post my idea was to compile a list of the best business books for designers.  However, as I found books claiming to fit this niche, I began to notice something that got me asking questions.  It was the publishing dates.  Some were 2009, others 2008, and others were dated as far back as 2003 or even older!  I immediately thought to myself, “How could these books possibly be valid today?”  I mean, Facebook and Twitter didn’t even exist then!  When I’m searching for posts online, if I come across a blog post or news story from 2005 or 2006 I don’t even read it.  It’s old news, outdated, irrelevant.  But is that just the nature of internet content ?  Have I somehow been programmed to disregard possibly helpful material just because of a date?

Maybe.  In an attempt to get to the bottom of these questions I’ve gathered together the best of what books and blogs have to offer on the subject and while I still give my final thoughts, I leave the conclusion up to you.  And if nothing else, you can bookmark this post for later as a big book/link dump for design business advice.

Let me know what you think in the comments or on twitter!

Design Business Books vs Blogs

THE BOOKS

The Graphic Design Business Book makes the claim that general business advice isn’t enough for designers.  Which, I would agree.  While there are definitely things we can all learn from basic business principles, it’s always best to approach your area of business with the specifics of your trade in mind.  Here are the topics they cover in The Graphic Design Business Book: creating a business plan, managing a studio, presenting portfolios, marketing on the Web, keeping clients happy, expert advice from reputable designers, and more.

This book was published in 2005.

“Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers provides 40 essential forms and checklists—all ready to copy and put to immediate use in any graphic design studio!

Each form includes step-by-step instructions and can be used as is, or easily tailored to meet a specific business situation. This latest edition features brand-new forms for employment and lease agreements, as well as revised examples of letter of interest, estimate for client, preliminary budget and schedule report, purchase order, status report, contracts with illustrator/photographer/printer, nondisclosure agreements, copyright application, and much more.

Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers also includes standard contractual advice, surefire business systems, and hundreds of no-nonsense tips for managing the office, getting clients, and negotiating the best deals. Plus, an accompanying CD-ROM offers electronic copies of all these forms in both Mac and PC formats.” – Amazon product description

This book was published in 2003.

“For years, the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines has been the industry bible for graphic designers and illustrators. This, the 13th edition, continues the tradition with new information, listings and pricing information based on surveys of working designers. It addresses legal rights and issues such as how copyright laws affect the income and work of graphic artists. It also provides tips on how to negotiate the best deals and how and what to charge for work, and includes sample contracts. For design and illustration professionals, there is no more comprehensive and informative resource.” – Amazon product description

This edition was published in 2010.

“The Designer’s Guide to Marketing and Pricing answers all of the common questions asked by creatives every day. This nuts and bolts guide to running a creative services business teaches readers how to create a smart marketing plan–along with small actionable steps to take to reach their financial goals. From learning which marketing tools are most effective and how to use them to discovering how to establish contact with potential clients, this book is the must-have guide for navigating the murky waters of the design business. The book also touches on tricky subjects such as how to talk about money with clients and prospects, how to figure out a fair hourly rate, and how to give an accurate estimate for a project.” – Amazon product description

This book was published in 2008.

The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business calls itself, “The go-to guide for graphic designers who want to run their own shop and improve their bottom line. First published in 2001, The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Businessset long-needed standards as the first comprehensive management manual for the graphic design industry. Now brought up-to-date, it describes current, best-practice procedures for firms of all sizes operating in an industry that is both fast-evolving and increasingly competitive. [Including] 20 illustrations.” – Amazon product description

This edition was published in 2009.

Inside the Business of Graphic Design invites us to “Share the insights of today’s most legendary graphic designers as they reveal the best-kept secrets (and failures) of their business lives! Based on one-on-one interviews with over 60 graphic design business owners, Inside the Business of Graphic Design casts a precise and realistic light on the risks, requirements, and rewards of running a creative and successful design business. Six sections discuss the entire cycle of business ownership, including goal setting, finding the right management style, cooperating with employees, triggering growth, and even rethinking whether to stay with the business or move on. Whether you dream of setting up a small studio or have been on your own for years, this provocative guide is an important source of success strategies for every graphics professional.” – Amazon product description

This book was published in 2002.

THE BLOGS

Web Design Ledger (yeah, you’re here right now) is a blog written by web designers for web designers.  We concentrate on sharing knowledge, inspiration, and information about or related to web design.  At WDL you’ll find awesome free downloads, resources, tools, tips, tutorials and a healthy dose of inspiration.  Below are some helpful business articles we’ve published within the last several months.

• 9 Tools For Managing Your Freelance Design Business
• Legal Guidelines for Freelance Web Designers
• How to Build the Perfect Web Community
• The Business Side of Design

Smashing Magazine is devoted to delivering useful and innovative information to web designers and developers.

“Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. We try to convince you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present. Smashing Magazine is, and always has been, independent.”

And here are some business articles they’ve published recently…

• Guidelines for Successful Communication With Clients
• Common Questions About Design Professionalism
• Developing a Freelance Marketing Plan
• How to Set Up Your Freelance Business for the Long Haul
• 5 Free to Use Freelance Design Contract Templates

Freelance Switch is a community of freelancers helping freelancers.  Their content is for photographers, designers, bloggers, developers, and just about any other type of freelancer.  Their blog is a treasure trove of answers to freelance questions.  Below are some especially helpful business oriented articles…

• 10 Tax Reductions Freelancers Can Make
• Nine Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price
• Switching to Freelance: How to Negotiate to Work Less Hours in Your Job
• 110 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads

Graphic Design Blender is more business oriented than any of the other blogs above (except maybe freelance switch).  Their main goal is to provide helpful content about running a design business.  Here are some cool examples of them doing just that…

• 10 Tips for Starting Your Own Design Business
• 10 Attributes of Successful Freelance Designers
• Stop Throwing Your Design Profits Down the Toilet
• How to Run a Successful Design Blog Without Sinking Your Design Business

Web Designer Depot is a place for those passionate about web and graphic design techniques and who want to continue to learn and share with others in that community.  They publish anything from tips, resources, freebies, tutorials, and design inspiration.  Here are a few of their more recent business oriented articles…

• Ethics in the Design Field
• 14 Essencial Utilities for Managing Your Freelance Design Business
• What to do When a Client Relationship Goes Bad
• Starting a Web Design Business
• 8 Tips For Freelance Designers to Get Paid Faster
• How Old-Fashioned Marketing Can Supercharge Your Design Business

Mashable is one of the world’s leading sources for breaking news in web and tech.  They exploded with traffic barely two years ago when they emerged as the only people one earth who knew what the hell was going on with twitter (and social media in general).  Despite the fact that they don’t particularly cater to designers, it’s their specialty in existing, new and emerging marketing techniques (among other things), which has earned them a spot on this list.  The articles listed below are relevant because they talk about something that nearly none of the books could have, because they were published before  the use of social media as a means of marketing.

• How Brands Can Make the Most of Facebook’s New Pages
• Social Media Marketing: 5 Lessons From Business Leaders Who Get It
• 8 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Get More Out of Twitter
• 5 Tips to Strengthen Your Company’s Social Media Voice

Ink.com is again, another example of a website/blog that offeres great business content that anyone, designer or not, can take to heart.  Even if the articles here are not specifically geared towards designers you should be able to get some really helpful perspective from their articles.  Especially if you’re using design blogs and the conversations happening on them as a filter for this advice.

• Writing a Business Plan
• Running a Home -Based Business
• How to Incorporate

My Final Thoughts

I will say, after researching all these books and blogs I’m actually much more open to the idea of a design book (even a slightly outdated one) for those who feel like they’re in need of a “design business education” than I thought I would be.  I’ve realized that the two serve different purposes while still covering a lot of the same information.  I personally use blogs more and rarely if ever buy business books.  But that’s because I’m “up-to-date” on the design business that’s relevant to me.  Beyond that the blogs I follow help me keep up with new stuff as it happens.  On the other hand though, if I was fresh out of school, or I was asked to take on a facet of the business I don’t have experience in, I think I would find having a book very helpful.  The main reason being that in a book, everything is right there – clearly laid out and in an order that helps me tackle one thing at a time, building up to a complete knowledge on the subject.  Online, while maybe more up-to-date and FREE, there is still a whole lot of searching that goes on in order to get as informed as you might by reading a book on the subject.

What do you think?  Do you have a design business book that you highly recommend or are you all about the blog?

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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.

Cuban Council

DKNG Studios

Starflower Design Collective

emtwo web studios

cappen

fudge

80/20 Studio

Helms Workshop

Fixel

August Interactive

Tokyo Digital

Ally Creative

Inservio Web Solutions

The Sum

Shape

Pound & Grain

They Creative

Design Royale

InfinVision

Night Owl Interactive

the loft

Teixidó

Image Mechanics

Wearesignals

Combine Studio

BKW&Co

Built by the Factory

Truly Design

Lifetree Creative

Grandpeople

Source:

The Best Designs
The CSS Awards
Site Inspire

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The .org domain, being short for “organization”, was originally intended for non-profit groups or organizations of a non-commercial character. Since non-profits and big design budgets aren’t normally associated with one another, it’s refreshing to see such great design in these types of websites. So for this post, we’ve put together a list of .org websites that are beautiful and guaranteed to inspire you.

Spring: Supporting Local Biodiversity

Spring is a funding program of The Sprout Fund. Program support is generously provided by The Pittsburgh Foundation. Complementing Pittsburgh’s status as North American Host City for the United Nations World Environment Day, as well as the International Year of Biodiversity, Spring offers local opportunities for the citizens of Southwestern Pennsylvania to join these global efforts.

1Love

A global cause backed by Bob Marley’s vision of hope and unity.

Participatory Politics Foundation

The Participatory Politics Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to increase civic engagement. PPF develops websites that create new opportunities for engagement with government. Voting is important, but we have a chance to go further and create a political process that is meritocratic, creative, and participatory.

Spring: Supporting Local Biodiversity

Music can change the world.

Kill the Spill

Brithish Petroleum’s well has been poring thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a month, killing thousands of animals and obliterating any sea life in its path. To make matters worse, there’s no end in sight.

Williamson County Casa

Williamson County CASA helps children every day. Speaking on their behalf in courtrooms, identifying safe homes for them to live in, and listening to their stories. And while we consider this our mission as a non-profit organization, we are dependent upon people like you for monetary and volunteer support. Helping the helpless is a responsibility we all share.

Encompass Denver

The mission of Encompass is to uplift orphans, single moms, and widows in downtown Denver who are in need with consistency, veracity, reciprocity, dignity and mercy.

Fedena

Project Fedena is the open source school management system based on Ruby on Rails. It was initially developed by a team of developers at Foradian Technologies. The project was made open source by Foradian, and is now maintained by the open source community.

WorkLifeBalanceCentre

The Work Life Balance Centre was founded in 1991 to help people whose lives are feeling out of control or out of balance.

Ywam Ozarks

We are a live-learn community, discipling young people for missions and life-calling, working with the local Church, and mobilizing young people to obey Jesus’ call to share the Good News locally and cross-culturally to unreached people of the world.

plain green

Plain Green is a conference and marketplace for green design, business and ideas. We’re advancing sustainability in the northern plains.

IxDA

We are a global network dedicated to the professional practice of Interaction Design. With the help of more than 15,000 members since 2004, the IxDA network provides an online forum for the discussion of interaction design issues and other opportunities and platforms for people who are passionate about interaction design to gather and advance the discipline.

thinkingforaliving.org

Thinking for a Living.

Walk to Washington

We are The Walk. We have created The Walk To Washington, a national pep rally to raise awareness of depression by calling for national change in mental health legislation.

Watermelon Ministries

Watermelon Ministries is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization using creative media to build relationships, make disciples and serve communities around the world. Our mission is to equip thousands to reach millions.

eastpoint

At Eastpoint, our passion is to love God, love others and change the world…

Mission First

Mission First, transformation in motion. A community ministry center.

Mi Esperanza – The Women of my Hope

Mi Esperanza means “My Hope” and began in 2002 with a vision to provide assistance for women in the villages surrounding Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Providing micro-business loans and skills training to women living in extreme poverty does this.

Help Your Habitat

A habitat restoration.

Chapeltown Development Trust

Chapeltown Development Trust is a new community-led enterprise whose objective is to help with the regeneration and improvement of the Chapeltown area of Leeds, (area as defined by the attached boundary map).

The Chapel

Rediscovering God changes everything.

Ligonier Ministries

On this site you have access to more than 5000 resources to help you pursue religious knowledge. Most of our resources are offered on popular media such as DVD, CD, and MP3.

Becoming Human

Becoming Human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.

Urban Roots

Urban Roots Community Garden Center is a consumer cooperative business whose mission is to provide quality products for gardening in the City of Buffalo and be an active and enriching member of the community.

Last Letter

We are followers of Jesus. Sacrificially taking action to do justice and share Jesus among the impoverished, lost, downtrodden and oppressed.

Chattanooga Zoo

The mission of the Chattanooga Zoo is to provide an educational and recreational opportunity for all citizens of the community. The educational mission stresses an understanding of, and respect for, all living things.

R.U.4. Children

The purpose of R.U.4 Children is to equip the orphaned with the necessary faith, education, and life skills to be productive citizens and make positive contributions in their communities.

Hope Unlimited

Transforming the lives of children at mortal risk, providing them and their future generations a productive future and eternal hope.

Sower of Seeds

Sower of Seeds International Ministries, Inc. is a registered Section 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit Organization. S.O.S. International facilitates and operates compassion outreaches to India, with a focus on social development.

common good radio

he Children’s Center for the Common Good, seeks to bring music to the ears of children that will support faithful listening, singing, playing and giving. We support the goodness that music can relate and we seek to share it with you and your children.

Glocal Ventures

Glocal Ventures focuses its overseas efforts on serving the people of Vietnam. Whenever possible, volunteers are encouraged to use their vocations, skills, and passions to make a difference in Vietnam.

All Saints Church

All Saints Church is an Anglican-Methodist co-operating parish in the heart of Hataitai, in the Eastern Suburbs of Wellington. We are a bunch of ordinary people seeking to follow an extraordinary God as we encourage, learn, worship and journey through life together.

Housing Works

Housing Works is committed to ending the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness. We believe that all people have the right to a rich and empowering life.

Carbonica

Our mission is to combat global warming. We do this by planting trees.

Kanchi

Kanchi is a not-for-profit organisation that works to change thinking on disability. Kanchi positively promotes the ability and value of every person with a disability and challenges traditional stereotypes through innovative initiatives aimed at a wide range of stakeholders.

Fourth Avenue Church

We exist to glorify God by making disciples for the sake of the world.

North Shore Fellowship

We are a church longing to enjoy and embody Jesus Christ to the North Shore area, Chattanooga, and the world.

Global Oneness Project

The Global Oneness Project is exploring how the radically simple notion of interconnectedness can be lived in our increasingly complex world.

Valley Creek Church

Why does Valley Creek Church exist? We are here to create disciples of Jesus who strengthen families and impact nations. We are a community where you can truly experience life.

Church on the Rock

Our prayer is that you will be blessed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit today.

Sources:

The Best Designs

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We’ve already shown you Yellow Web Designs and Blue Web Designs, but sometimes less color is the best color choice for a web site. In this post, we’re showcasing 55 minimal black and white web designs to inspire you. The B&W combination is great, from photography to interior design. It’s simplistic, elegant, and gets out of the way to let the content shine.

Art Directors Club of Europe

Blake Allen Design

Brian Hoff

Brancozero

The Grid System

Markus Albers

margaretlondon.com

Designing the News

Patrick Fry

postmachina

Rikcat Industries

GUNNER design house

fuse.

FRKT

Face.

edgewood

Black Estate

Traffic

FLOWmarket

sold-out.ch

Perky Bros LLC

Dewitte Casse

Ork Posters

Tim Bjorn – Design Studio

ArnaudBeelen.

Academy

QUE

AdKiivi

yugop.com

Proud Creative

iA

Fitzroy & Finn

Cirus family

TrouwAmsterdam

James Chambers

mrhobday.com

Music Design Agency

Not coming to a theater near you

Mash

lydia stone

Marcus Kraft

million

Established

SJH

anothercompany.org

We are Sofa

distrop

Stephane Elbaz

LEONG LEONG

Rebecca Niazi-Shahabi

Rob Schellenberg

SvB

Sven Stuckenschmidt

Jeroen Homan

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Today our goal is to help you overcome your Monday blues with an inspiring collection of blue web designs. Blue is a color that represents the oceans and sky. It’s also a great choice in web design, even if you use it only in a couple elements or for the whole page. You can use a gradient of different shades of blue, a blue textured background, blue typography, or blue icons. There are tons of cool combinations you can do to give your website a stylish touch. For me, blue recalls freedom, freshness, elegance and style. So check out our selection and start thinking about using blue in your designs. Have a cool blue site to share with us? Comments are yours!

Eighty Two Design

Bounty Bev

Visual Notion

Critical Zero

Eric Campbell / Est.86

FeedStitch

Blackwave Creative

yooda

z-index.it

thepixel.com/blog

Morphix

Skype

unblab.com

twitter101

reichweite.cc

Owltastic

Squaredeye

polargold

Frenzy Labs

Elbow Park

CampaignMonitor

backbeatmedia

Maniac Monkey Media

Black Sea Fishery

Orion Advisor

barackobama.com

bartelme

mozilla.com

2creative

icebrrg

powerset

Birdie

designchuchi.ch

StrawPoll

lucino-gene.com

EnviraMedia

loewydesign

Alex Swanson

eyedraw

Kyan

branded07

Ready Made Designs

The House Media

knight.com

nude designs

Vegas Uncorked

Deli Bar

elemodo

Jar Design

AWP Express

Brad Colbow

nclud

Vimeo

los colores olvidados

billytamplin.com