Guest Post: Showcase of Web Design in Ireland
Smashing Magazine recently asked me to put together an article on the Irish web design industry, and I obliged.
The article contains some great interviews with some of Ireland’s top designers, some info about what’s happening across the island and a showcase of some top notch websites.
Inspiration from Packaging
I often browse a handful of CSS galleries for continuous inspiration but it’s good to draw inspiration from a host of other sources, one of those being packaging.
Creative packaging shows a good reflection on the brand it represents. My first real appreciation of packaging was opening my first Apple product, which was an iPod Touch. The perfectly crafted box and minimalism is reflected throughout the Apple brand, including their website. Some even go as far as to film themselves unboxing Apple products as it is such an enjoyable experience.
Read this article →
Web Design Trends: Illustrated Characters
Illustrated characters are a very popular trend and as I stated in my guest post for Six Revisions: Five types of effective headers in web design, they add some character and a sense of friendliness to your website.
I’ve put together a showcase of my favourite illustrated characters along with some further links for inspiration.
Guest Post: Five Types of Effective Headers in Web Design
Check out my latest guest blog post over at Six Revisions: Five Types of Effective Headers in Web Design.
The post looks at 5 different styles of headers, showcasing 5 examples of each.
25 Hot Female Web Designers Part 2
Last year I published ‘25 hot female web designers‘, showcasing a collection of female designers who are hot at web design and had great websites.
With the recent publication of the A List Apart Survey 2008, I thought it was a good opportunity to follow this up with another 25 great designers.
This year’s survey found that 16.2% of those surveyed (29,567 of A List Apart readers) were female. That’s a rise of 0.1%. So there’s not much improvement in regards to the amount of females in the industry, but I have came across 25 more great designs.
15 Beautiful Typography Inspired Websites
I’ve seen a lot of designs lately experimenting with large type, and with the right choice of font, contrast and whitespace they look great.
Check out this inspirational list of typographic based designs that I’ve put together.
Guest Post: 8 Tips To Design a Charity Website
Check out my latest guest blog post over at Webdesigner Depot; 8 tips to design a charity website.
The post takes a look at what makes up a good charity website (who usually don’t have a large website budget) and showcases 20 good examples.
Guest Post: 10 Steps to the Perfect Portfolio Site
Check out my latest guest blog post over at Smashing Magazine; 10 steps to the perfect portfolio site.
The post takes a look at 10 things that make up a good personal portfolio site and showcases 40+ excellent and top class portfolios.
Web Design Trends: Stars and Aurora Effect
Arguably this trend was made popular after the release of Apple Leopard OSX and it’s groovy auroral/starry branding. Adding this simple effect to your background or header can make a very plain dark web design come to life.
Check out this list of 20 websites using these effects plus a few helpful tutorials.
Web Design Trends: Cityscapes, Landscapes and Seascapes
A popular trend over the past year or two is using landscapes, cityscapes and seascapes in a design. Often placed in a website’s footer, they’re a great way to show off your creativity and as a web designer gives you a chance to test out your Illustrator skills.