Published on Wednesday 19 October
Navigation menus are an integral part of any website, and a critical element in usability. Menus also frequently play a strong role in the visual design and layout of the site. Although there are some standard types of navigation menus that are typically used, some websites display creativity in their design of the menu. In this post we’ll take a look at 25 examples. When designing navigation menus keep in mind that creativity should not overpower usability. If visitors can’t figure out how to use the menu it doesn’t serve it’s most important purpose. Manic Design eMANNzipation Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways Ferocious Quarterly Fantasy Cartography C & C Coffee Company MacRabbit Sarah Hyland Paolo Cavanna Melonfree CL Designz Cisco London 2012 Empire Joel Reed Francesco Mugnai Jessica Caldwell Indubitablee South Wales Carbonmade Chris Jennings Envira Media Dreamdust Alessio Atzeni Racket Kean Richmond For more design inspiration please see: 25 Beautiful Navigation Menus 50+ Gorgeous Navigation Menus 50 Gorgeous Navigation Menus – Part II 30 Examples of Mega Menus in Web Design 25 jQuery Drop Down Navigation Menu Scripts
Published on Monday 12 September
Last week we published a collection of blue websites for color scheme inspiration, and this week we’ll take a look at green websites. Green is a very common and popular color for web design, and as you will see in this showcase, there are a lot of other colors that can be used in combination with green. If you’re designing a site with a lot of green, take a look at the sites shown here and you’ll get some ideas of other colors that could complete your color scheme. Shopify PSD Chimp 3 Sided Cube A Modern Eden Antioch Community Church Envato Tori’s Eye Seventy7 MANNA FoodBank Zendesk Sitespring Glasshouse Sproutlet Forrst Elevate CeroIdeas PANDR Positionly dConstruct Plant with Purpose Absolute Bica AppStrides web://contact Logolabs Evernote For more design inspiration please see: Showcase of Sketches and Doodles of Web Design 25 Outstanding Magazine Style Website Designs 37 of the Best Web Designs from the Travel Industry 27 of the Best Real Estate Websites Best College and University Websites
Published on Wednesday 17 August
Tooltips can be a helpful way to provide information to visitors without creating clutter in a design. If you would like to add an attractive tooltip to your website it doesn’t have to be difficult. There are plenty of quality scripts available for use that will allow you to set up tooltips without coding it from scratch. In this post we’ll present 25 different jQuery tooltip scripts. You may also be interested in: 25 jQuery Slider/Image Gallery Tutorials and Plugins 25 Excellent jQuery Sliders Tutorials and Plugins 25 jQuery Drop Down Menu Scripts 35 jQuery Animation Tutorials Easiest Tooltip and Image Preview Using jQuery jQuery Plugin: Tooltip Coda Popup Bubbles Better Tip jQuery Hover Sub Tag Cloud Cut & Paste Ajax Tooltip BeautyTips Build a Better Tooltip with jQuery Awesomeness TipTip Speech Bubble Tooltip Using CSS3 and jQuery jQuery Tooltip Plugin jQuery Tooltip SimpleTip jQuery Ajax Tooltip jQuery (mb)Tooltip jQuery Horizontal Tooltip Menu Tipsy jqTooltip jQuery & CSS Tooltip Simple Tooltips with CSS & jQuery jQuery Image Tooltips jQuery and CSS3 Simple Tooltips Side Navigation Tooltip Sticky Tooltip Inline HTML Tooltip For more resources please see: 35 Adobe AIR Tutorials for Web Designers Private Label Opportunities for Web Designers and Developers 14 Options for Managing Membership Websites Style Switchers Showcase and Resources
Published on Wednesday 10 August
Connect with us on Facebook. Managing client projects is a major requirement for efficiency and for creating a positive experience for clients. Regardless of whether you freelance, work for a small agency, or work for a large agency, there are a lot of details and communication involved in client projects. Having an efficient system for managing those projects is essential. In this post we’ll look at 10 project management apps that can help. While many of them have similar features, each has it’s own unique way of doing things. Some are web-based apps that involve a monthly fee, others software with a one-time fee, and others are open source and free. Basecamp Basecamp, from 37signals , is one of the most popular options for project management. Communication with other group members is easy with Basecamp, making it much more efficient than email. Other features include file sharing, to-do lists, assigning of due dates and responsibilities, project templates, and more. Pricing for Basecamp is based on the number of projects and the amount of disk space needed for storage. The basic plan starts at $24 per month (15 projects, 5 GB of storage). A limited free plan is also available. activeCollab activeCollab is a project management tool that installs on your server or local network. In contrast to subscription-based project management apps you’ll have unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited storage space. It provides a platform for planning, progress tracking and communication. activeCollab has a number of tools that save your time. Create project templates, easily reschedule milestones and tasks, quickly add new tasks and discussions and more. The cost for a small business is $249 plus $99 per year for support and upgrades (first year is free). A 30-day free trial is available. Mavenlink Mavenlink aims to help client service providers, like web designers, by providing everything needed to manage projects. It offers all of the standard features for collaborating and communication that you would expect to find in a project management app, plus it has a few additional features that are likely to be highly useful for freelance designers and small design agencies. With Mavenlink you can work with integrated contracts for your projects, and you can also invoice and accept payment from clients. The Expert plan is priced at $39 per month for unlimited projects, unlimited account members, unlimited invoices, 20 GB of storage, and custom branding. A 30-day free trial is available, as well as a limited free plan. Subernova Subernova is a project management app that lets you track time, send invoices and estimates, collaborate with others and keeps your business smooth by keeping tabs on late payments, deadlines and more. The cost for Subernova is $14.99 per month or $149.99 per year. A 30-day free trial is available. ProjectPier ProjectPier is a free, open-source, PHP application for managing tasks, projects and teams through an intuitive web interface. If you’re not interested in paying a monthly subscription fee or a software license fee, ProjectPier may be…
Published on Friday 27 May
Earlier this week we launched a contest for our most recent product, the Freelance Starter Kit . We had announced that there would be five winners, but since the response was so positive and since there were more people entering the contest than we anticipated, we decided to have eight winners instead (winners listed below). If you’re luck didn’t come through for you in this contest, don’t forget that you can still get $5 off the price of the Freelance Starter Kit ($24 instead of $29) by using the discount code “ blogreader “. The winners are: Gary Hattis BN Dina Mirko182 Hendra Reggie B Victoria Pablo Lara H If you are one of the winners please check your email for instructions. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest.
Published on Monday 02 May
Get a Free Bundle of Premium Icons and Vectors for Subscribing to Our Newsletter! 23 new resource packs were added to Vandelay Premier during the month of April! Members have unlimited access to download all of these resources, or they can be purchased individually for those who want the resources without the membership. We’re especially excited about 3 contract templates that were added to the site. The contract templates had been requested by members and we think they’ll prove to be a highly useful and practical resource. Here is a quick look at what is new for April. The site now includes more than 250 resource packs totaling over 4,000 resources. If you’d like to get unlimited access to all of these resources, please read more about our membership options . Web Design Contract Template Non-member price: $6 Web Maintenance Contract Template Non-member price: $6 Logo Design Contract Template Non-member price: $6 MacBook PSDs Non-member price: $5 Web Shadows for Sliders Non-member price: $5 Minimal Web Icons – Vol. II Non-member price: $6 Soft Grunge Patterns Non-member price: $4 Classic Web Ribbons Non-member price: $5 Hand-Drawn Corners Non-member price: $5 Hand-Drawn Squiggles Non-member price: $5 Brown Paper Textures – Part II Non-member price: $4 Spray Paint Textures Non-member price: $4 Paper and Pins Vectors Non-member price: $4 Flames Vectors Non-member price: $4 Stone Vectors Non-member price: $4 Bark Photoshop Brushes Non-member price: $5 Grunge Curb Textures Non-member price: $4 Painted Asphalt Textures – Part III Non-member price: $4 Pressed Wood Textures Non-member price: $4 Acropolis Stone Textures Super Pack Non-member price: $6 Abstract Backgrounds – Part II Non-member price: $4 Argyle Swatches for Illustrator Non-member price: $4 Finding Your First Design Clients Non-member price: $5 If you’d like to get unlimited access to all of these resources, please read more about our membership options .
Published on Tuesday 19 April
Freelance designers and design agencies always strive to have a website that leaves a positive impression on visitors. Obviously, a beautiful portfolio website can serve as a highly effective marketing tool for attracting new business. Browsing through some well-designed sites can serve as inspiration when designing your own portfolio site. In this post we’ll showcase 40 websites from agencies that will provide you with plenty of inspiration. For more inspiration from portfolio sites please see: 25 Impressive Design Portfolio Websites One-Page Portfolios: Trends and Showcases 25 Beautiful Freelancer Portfolio Sites 25 of the Best Photography Portfolio Websites 25 of the Best Photography Portfolio Websites – Part II Zenworks The Creative District Decosta Maven Fixel 51bits FHOKE Adore You blubolt Studio XL nGen Works Jump Media Olive Crush Odopod TheFirstMovement SEVNTHSIN Buffalo Pollen Paravel Flint Interactive Foundation Six Actual Size Creative Abstraktion August Interactive Th= Sum Tokyo Digital Flipp Goldenboy Media web://contact Cutler 2am Glue Interactive Media Amazee Labs One Mighty Roar Level9 Epic Usman Group Ideaware Squarefour Collision For more design inspiration please see: 25 Non-Profit Websites 30 Incredible Nature-Inspired Websites Paper Textures in Web Design 35 Websites with Outstanding Use of Textures 30 Outstanding Ecommerce Websites
Published on Monday 14 March
Most photographers need a website that they can update easily and frequently as they add new photos and sets to their portfolio. WordPress is a great platform for that, in part because there are already a number of well-designed photography templates available. Photography websites often use a minimal design style to keep the focus on the photos, and for this reason templates and pre-made themes can be more appropriate for photographers than for some other types of businesses. In this post we’ll showcase 27 WordPress themes from various designers that are created especially for photographers. Carousel ($50) Work ($49) Kin ($30) Sideways ($35) deLucide (39€) Photocrati ($79) DeepFocus ($39 per year membership) Photocraft ($65) Landscape ($79.95) Photobox ($39) Manhattan ($79.95) Aperture ($70) Filtered ($49) Photo Graphic ($50) L’Image ($47) Photolist ($50) Through the Lens ($50) Photonic ($25) Photography ($68) deFolio (39€) Photoland ($49) PhotoPro ($24.95, does not include Genesis Framework) Art Kid ($25, does not include StartBox Framework) Photo Nexus ($30) Photoshot ($35) PhotoPurePress ($25) PhotoMe ($30) You may also be interested in: 25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites 25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites – Part II 25 of the Best Photography Portfolio Sites – Part III 25 Amazing Photographer Portfolio Websites
Published on Wednesday 16 February
There may be times when you need to present ideas to clients or co-workers and could benefit from one of the many resources for creating online presentations. In this post we’ll introduce 14 different presentation tools to get the job done. Some are free to use while others will come with a cost. Online Presentation Tools: 280 Slides 280 Slides is a free tool with a clean user interface. You can upload existing files or create your presentations right from 280 Slides. The built in media search allows you to easily include photos and movies from services like Flickr and YouTube in your presentations. They also have pre-built themes to make it easier and faster to create presentations. Presentations can be downloaded in PowerPoint format, emailed to others, or embedded in websites and blogs. SlideRocket SlideRocket allows you to create presentations or upload your existing PowerPoint files. You can collaborate with teamworks to work on presentations, and each presentation can be shared by a URL or embedded in websites and blogs. SlideRocket includes detailed reporting that allows you to see who viewed your presentation, where, how long the were on each slide, and how they interacted with the slides. SlideRocket costs $24 per user per month with a 14-day free trial available. PreZentit PreZentit is a free tool that is currently in beta. With PreZentit you can quickly create presentations online, and others can even work on the presentation at the same time. Your presentations can be set to be public or private, and they can be downloaded and viewed offline as well. authorSTREAM authorSTREAM allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations and share them with others online. The presentations can be shared via a URL, email, or they can be embedded. Presentations can be downloaded as a video and shared on YouTube. With authorSTREAM you can upload 50 private presentations for free and share them with your contacts. Empressr With Empressr you can upload your images, video, and audio to create presentations online. Those presentations can then be shared with your contacts or embedded into websites and blogs. As the creator, you can see who and how many people have viewed your presentation. Empressr is a free tool. Google Docs With Google Docs you can upload your own images and video, add text, and create presentations quickly. You can allow anyone to view or edit your presentation. Existing PowerPoint files can also be uploaded for sharing. Google Docs is free. VCASMO VCASMO is a free tool for online presentations. You can upload your images, video, audio, PDFs, or PowerPoint files to create presentations with VCASMO. Permission control puts you in charge of who sees your presentation, and they can be embedded in blogs or websites. Zoho Show Zoho Show includes pre-built themes that can make it faster to create presentations. Presentations can be shared with others and they can be embedded in blogs and websites. Zoho Show is free for personal use. Prezi Prezi is an online presentation…
Published on Friday 14 January
Moving into a career as a full-time freelance designer presents a lot of changes regardless of whether you are coming from a full-time job as an employed designer, completion of education for design, or a change in career paths. There is a lot more to freelancing success than just being able to design. Some very significant factors should be considered ahead of time, otherwise you may be dooming yourself to a rough road as a freelancer. In this article we’ll look at some very important things that you should be considering and planning for prior to starting your career as a freelancer. Knowing the potential roadblocks can be a huge help as it allows you to prepare yourself and have a plan in place. Here are 7 ways that you can kill your freelance career before it even begins. 1. Go Full-Time Freelance Too Soon The ideal situation to move into full-time freelance work is to start part-time and gradually move towards the point where you can smoothly transition from your full-time job into full-time freelance. This can be extremely helpful financially as you will not face the same pressure to make a certain amount of money right away, and you can focus on building your portfolio, gaining experience at managing client projects, and develop your business plan. The same situation can apply to students as well. Part-time freelancing during your education can teach you more than you’ll ever be able to learn in a classroom, and if you work at it for a while, by the time you finish your education you’ll have a portfolio of work and some extremely valuable experience under your belt. Some freelancers are forced into the situation through the unexpected loss of a job or some other career-changing or life-changing event. In these situations there is often very little that you can do to prevent it, but in an ideal case you’ll be able to work your way towards full-time freelancing so that the transition goes smoothly. Jumping in to full-time freelance work too early can lead to a lot of pressure to make money right away, and if you’re not able to, it could have a serious impact on you and your family. In addition to just having that pressure, you’ll also be likely to feel that you need to take every potential project that comes your way rather than focusing on those that are a good fit for you, and you may even charge less than you are worth for fear of not getting the work. 2. Don’t Have Savings Set Aside Even if you move from part-time freelancing to full-time freelance work at a time when you’re workload is steady, chances are the first few months (if not longer) will include some times where your income is not as much as you need to get by. If you have savings set aside specifically to help you get through these slower times you will have a much better chance of making it in the long-term, rather than being forced back into full-time…
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