Category: Vector
As you probably know, illustration is a big trend now. We see them every where from fashion design, print media to web design. Here is a nice collection of over 30 sites that demonstrated excellent use of vector illustration. This set of site has proven that illustration is suitable for all type of sites — from personal blogs, to designer showcases, and even professional or corporate sites. Not only illustration can set the mood and characteristic of the site, but it can also establish an icon (branding) of your corporate image. Here are some good examples…
Veerle Blog
You should recognize her by now. Veerle has been using the same illustration and design for quite a bit of time, but it still looks so refreshing.
Whether you’re a Web developer, Web designer or blogger, you’ve probably had to deal with the headache of converting many images to different sizes and formats. It’s not much fun if you have to convert all of them by hand. Batch image processing can reduce this process from hours of work to just a few simple clicks.
With batch image processing, you can specify a size or file type, and then a script runs to convert the images. You can process hundreds or thousands of images with just a few clicks. And nearly every image processor comes with a unique feature set.
Many of the articles here on Smashing Magazine have screenshots that have to be resized and configured to fit within the website’s layout. We use batch image processors to quickly resize all of the screenshots and larger images that we feature in the articles.
Types of Batch Processors
Batch image processors usually come with some very standard functions:
- Resizing images,
- Scaling images,
- Converting to different image formats.
Some image processors also perform some advanced functionality, such as graphic editing (rotating, blurring, borders, adding watermarks), and some can even create slideshows, display other types of multimedia and perform other advanced functions.
Image processors are worth their weight in gold if you’re a designer or developer spending a good chunk of time converting images by hand in Photoshop. Let’s take a look at 15 useful batch image processors for both Mac and PC.
BIMP Lite (Win, free)
Buttons, badges and pins stand for a medium which is often underestimated and not taken seriously. That’s a pity, because designed properly, badges and buttons can effectively communicate ideas to your potential customers and impress them with something creative and beautiful.
In this post we cover some interesting ideas for design of buttons, badges, pins and clips — traditional handcraft which can be attached to cloth, bags, documents and whatever you can think of. You may use them to deliver some idea or message, in web design (e.g. Missy makes use of them) or in the merchandise for promotion purposes.
Not all examples presented below fit to all environments; some of them are more likely to be used in informal environments. You don’t want to have a Bart Simpson screaming at your boss during the job interview, do you? You may want to check out some ideas for laptop sleeves, skins and stickers as well.
Why buttons?
Buttons are powerful because they show what is important to the person wearing it, which ideas he or she supports and what kind of a person you are dealing with. Some buttons can make people pass away with a subtle smile, the other ones can send a message to the world, and as such, pose a very powerful medium to explore. Which is why we, designers, can make use of them, packaging ideas in small and “portable” objects of daily life.
So why not surprise your clients by handing in some pretty and creative pins, buttons or stickers one can attach to cloth, bags, laptops or personal documents? In most online-shops you can upload your own designs and produce dozens of buttons at a very cheap price. Therefore we want to focus your attention on the power of buttons and badges and give you some ideas for your future designs.
Buttons and Badges
Toy Robots – pinback buttons
Robots in the town! And they are pretty sweet, too!
