Your corporate identity is more than just your logo applied to promotional material, it is the way you will use colors, shapes and hints from your brand to make your company recognized right away. The following picks are excellent example of what good corporate identity design can be.

1. Matter strategic design


There’s no such thing as a free lunch! Or is there? Well if you can eat icons there is. Here are 35 fresh, high quality icon sets free for download. There is a vast amount of free icons sets out there and this is a mere sampling of some of the good ones. If you’re planning to use them for a specific application then you may need to hunt around a bit more. Some of the websites dedicated to icons have decent search facilities that can help.
While these are free, always check any usage limitations. For example some may not allow commercial use. Be careful of attribution if required, and also that you’re getting the set from an appropriate source.
I’ve grouped them into four rough categories: Web, Useful, Social Media and Awesome.

Web Icons

Web Applications Icons – Ray Cheung

A neat, colorful simple set of 3D web icons.

The Internet is full of information about design: educational articles, tutorials, rants,… there is a lot you can learn online. However, design books are still one of the best learning resources you can find. Reading books allows you to concentrate better and fully cover a topic, the following books should help you to do just that.

1. Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005

Get inspired by the fantastic covers of Penguin books. In this book you’ll get a good look at the evolution of the books’ covers, but also the penguin logo itself. Features more than 600 illustrations.

Creating a minimalist design may look simple to non-designers, that’s why it’s often so hard to sell minimalist designs to your clients: they have the feeling that they could do it themselves. However, achieving simple yet powerful designs is a time-consuming task. I’ve made a selection of websites that did a great job creating efficient designs.

What these sites did right

Content going straight to the point

Hard to design a minimalist site if you have to fit in every products of your client with descriptions, 2′000 words and two menus with a bigger logo. On the web especially, content will be more efficient if short and targetted, it will make it easier to design a simple website.

It’s never a good experience to expect to see a webpage and to get a 404 error, most of us will just hit the back button on the browser when experiencing such a thing. Since errors will happen no matter how good your website is, it’s a good idea to improve your 404 page to make it as useful as possible, the main challenge being to keep those visitors on your site.

What should your 404 page be?

Featured World Designer: Raf Vancampenhoudt

Jumat, 11 Juni 2010 |


Raf Vancampenhoudt gets a portfolio full of surprises and innovative graphic design work, make sure you take a good look at it.

Sometimes, designs or images would often look unattractive without additional resources that are used to enhance their quality. To date, more and more professional designers are into creating their own Photoshop or Illustrator brushes and patterns that they can use and share to the design community. Another type of resources that we are familiar with, is Illustrator Pattern. Like brushes, they are downloaded and are used to create more effects and beauty in images. Aside from this, patterns are utilized to enhance your design and are time savers.
For this post, we have surfed through the net and found Free Additional Resources Pattern Sets of Adobe Illustrator with high quality that you can download to your desktop and use to your future illustrator artworks. Check them out and feel free to download any pattern you like…

Swatch Pattern

Free Illustrator Pattern

Our previous posts on various resources tackles on several freebies such as brushes and textures. Today, we bring you another type of resources that you can add to your collection. Free Download Adobe Illustrator Floral Vector Brushes and Textures are given below to all designers who are looking for top quality floral vectors for their designs and creations…
Check out this amazing collection brought to you by skilled and talented designers. You can download these items right into your desktop for free! Use them wisely to create your masterpieces and download as much as you like for future use. Who knows, you might need them someday… Happy browsing everyone!

Retro Grunge Floral Vectors

Retro Grunge Floral Vectors

Naldz Graphics has frequently posted several articles on free brush resources for our readers and to the design community at large. These posts has proven its usefulness in ensuring that all designers are equipped with the correct and proper tools in making their latest masterpieces. Admittedly, the web is full of sites who are catering and providing free quality photoshop brushes for designers everywhere. Yet some people don’t know where to get it… In answer to this clamor, we always ensure that the resources we showcase are of the high quality that you need.
Adding our list of free photoshop brush resources, here is Free Download HQ Photoshop Paper Brushes… These paper brushes will surely save your time creating your web designs, graphics, poster designs and other design projects. Of course, you may think of new ways to utilize these brushes… Enjoy browsing!

Burnt Paper Brush

burnt paper brush

Jacob Cass Of Just Creative 
Design
I am very excited to be interviewing logopreneur Jacob Cass today.Yes, you got it right! Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design .. of the famous pencil sketch logo fame. A young Australian brand identity creator, blogger and travel enthusiast all rolled up into one honest, enthusiastic personality. He is meticulous in his work and shares his knowledge freely with anyone who is willing to listen and learn, a quality that has amassed him a large following on the internet. Amongst his most recent accolades are being named Best Of Continent and Best Of Australia in the 2008 Wolda Logo Design Awards. Jacob has been interviewed numerous times before, but today I hope to delve deeper and gain a perspective into what he thinks about the current eco trends, the consumerism that results from branding, his predictions for the future of logo design and his own aspirations.

TabithaKristen

Tabitha Kristen is a talented young woman who has a passion for logo and brand creation. She is persistent, single-minded and determined which is very evident from her success on Brandstack. She not only creates great logos but also excels in marketing her designs and finding homes for her logos in a very crowded marketplace, a task which is definitely not easy. I have watched her since the day she started on Brandstack back in the Incspring days and still remember some of her earlier logos, I look at her now and am amazed with what focus and passion for something can do for a person. Tabitha has evolved and blossomed into a designer who understands exactly what is required and then delivers it without a hitch. Today, Tabitha takes some time out from a busy life and schedule to chat with us about how she started out and what is her secret for becoming the best-selling designer on Brandstack.

One Minute To Seamless Plaid Pattern in Illustrator 
A few days ago I was experimenting with plaid or gingham patterns in Illustrator for a Christmas cartoon I was making. It was a fascinating experience to see how simple it was to make a basic plaid pattern and then with just the additions of a few lines of varied widths, it transformed into an intricate, woven plaid pattern that would do any textile maker proud.
Today I will show you how to make a very basic seamless plaid pattern in Illustrator in just one minute. I guarantee that you will be itching to make more and experiment once you make this. It can be quite addictive. It is also a wonderful way to build up your own personal design stash.


A little cheeky, simplistic iPhone wallpaper today. I really shouldn’t be writing an intro for every iPhone wallpaper that I put up for download but it is aesthetically pleasing when you browse my blog. So there, Do It! You know you want to!
Daily iPhone Wallpaper #12 Do It!
Daily iPhone Wallpaper #12 Do It


39 Amazing Social Media Icon Sets
I spent the better part of last week looking for some unique social media and bookmarking icon packs on the internet. The lists that I found on many of the blogs showcased the same icon packs over and over again. I don’t blame them because those icon packs are pretty fantastic. But I wanted something newer, fresher and not seen on every other website. So after scouring through deviantart, google images and numerous web and image searches I have managed to come up with a list that rates pretty good on the "fresh" factor. Enjoy these awesome social icon packs. To my knowledge, these are all free, but check the copyright fine print before you use them anywhere. And please leave the designers some good comments and make their day. They have all worked hard to bring these freebies to you and me.

Awesome Photoshoped Photos Part II

Jumat, 04 Juni 2010 |

50 more amazing photo manipulations from talented artists around the globe are featured on this sunny Friday morning here on the blog. For easy loading and convenience I have split the photo manips over two posts. And this is Part deux. Have you tried your hand at a photo manip yet? What softwares and stock resources do you normally use? I have been wanting to take the plunge for a while now. I need to get some good stock photographs and I’ll be good to go. Meanwhile enjoy these, share what you know about photo manips and have a great day!

Anti Coke Poster
Anti Coke POSTER Photo Manip

It is that time of the week again. Time to stare at amazing pieces of artwork and think "Now how the holy cow did they do that??". It is I-wish-I-had-made-that-photo-manip time. I have 50 really amazing photo manipulations rounded up today that must have taken a lot of time and finesses. I really loved the one with the futuristic yellow car. The artist has done a fantastic job of turning his family car into a sci-fi dream. The melting Coke Can is pretty amazing too. For easy loading and convenience I have split the photo manips over two posts. Enjoy!

Go Your Own Road
Go Your Own Road Photo Manip

I have noticed a recent rise in the number of logos designed in a retro style. Be it colors or design elements that remind you of an era past, retro logos are very charming and induce a sense of nostalgia. Swirly fonts and muted colors are a dead giveaway of a retro style. Then there are actual objects used that you don’t see much anymore like the volkswagon vans and milk bottles. I have rounded up 40 groovilicious, really beautiful retro logos that are truly inspiring, some in their simplicity and some in their complex nature. Retro or not, all of these have a very retro vibe about them. What do you perceive as retro? What are your favorite retro logos?

Photo Manipulations are one of the most creative and mystical types of digital art. They have always intrigued me and amazed me with the range of imagination that runs amock. When properly done, each photo manipulations takes hours of planning, compiling and designing to get the right effect of surrealism and alter-reality that it is trying to project. The artists have amazing depth of perception and an intimate understanding of the elements of nature and design that make them work in harmony with their creative thought process. Enjoy this list of 50 photo manipulations that will blow your mind. Please check out some of these artist’s other works too. Each one is as fabulous as the other.

Photo Manipulations

If you have been following my blog for the past few weeks, you must have realized that things get done a bit differently on here. You must have seen plenty of "The Best Design Sites To Follow" or "99 Design Blogs That Are a Must Follow" lists. Well, what about the not so very old and established design blogs and sites which show a lot of promise? A-haaa, I hear you say. Fret not, for today I have an awesome roundup of fresh and new design sites and blogs on the creative horizon today. These sites are either just newly launched or are barely few months old. They come from all walks of design, some shy new siblings of big brother and some the adventurous efforts of just another creative [like yours truly]. There is a lot of great reading material on these sites. References, resources, inspirations, freebies and learning tools are amongst the many little gems you will find hidden on the pages of these sites. Check these sites out, follow them if you wish , they are all raring to go! [These are in no particular order, I put them in as I went along browsing them]

1. LITTLE BOX OF IDEAS | GRAB RSS
Little Box Of Ideas