Wallpaper of the week by Justin Maller

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all kinds of articles for those who want to search for inspiration. You will also find very useful tutorials for the most commonly used applications are with a special selection of tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials. Of course, there are other software Conteplated like Pixelmator, Fireworks and Web design tutorials.

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Rebranding a classic: Firefox mascot

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all kinds of articles for those who want to search for inspiration. You will also find very useful tutorials for the most commonly used applications are with a special selection of tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials. Of course, there are other software Conteplated like Pixelmator, Fireworks and Web design tutorials.

View the original article here

The Fundamentals of Shape Design in Adobe Illustrator (Lesson 2)

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

This tutorial is the second in a series of two lessons on how to use basic shapes to create objects. From hearts to perfect spirals, the fundamentals of shape design outlined in this tutorial are used in everyday design but don’t have obvious methods of creation. If you like productivity, tips, and tricks, this tutorial is a must-read! Did you catch the beginning of the series? Take a look at Lesson 1 first.

Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6Difficulty: IntermediateTopics Covered: Ellipse Tool, Distort & Transform, Brushes, StrokesEstimated Completion Time: 1-1.5 hours

Step 1

Very simply, start by using the Ellipse Tool (L.) Hold down Shift while you draw to make a perfect circle.

Step 2

Adding the ridges couldn’t be easier. Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Change the Size of the ridges and Ridges Per Segment to suit your needs. Click OK.

Step 3

Done. If you later decide that you want to alter the number of ridges, just open the Appearance Palette and click the effect. Easy right? Lets move on!

Step 1

Using the Ellipse tool (L) draw a circle.

Step 2

Go to the Stroke Palette, click inside the Weight field then press and hold the up arrow to increase the size of your stroke. Increase the stroke until you can no longer see a gap in the middle.

Step 3

If it’s not already visible, double click the word “Stroke” to reveal the other options inside this palette. Check Dashed Line and begin entering different values into the fields in order to create the look you need. If you want your design to be very simple, only enter a value into the first field.

That’s all there is to it!

Drawing a free-form heart can be challenging. It’s crazy that Adobe doesn’t hasn’t built a tool for this. Ingenuity to the rescue! The technique I’ve outlined below makes simple work of this common task. Take a look.

Step 1

Start by drawing a perfect circle. (Have you noticed a theme yet? A variety of complex shapes can be built using simple shapes.)

Step 2

Change the bottom point on the circle to an angle. To do this, grab the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift+C), then click once on the point. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A) drag the point downwards.

Step 3

Using the Rotate Tool (R) rotate the shape slightly to the left. With a little bit of foresight, you can imagine what the heart will look like when the other half of it has been drawn. Some hearts can be tall, while others are wide. With this in mind, try to rotate the shape into a position that will create the overall heart shape you’re looking for. Generally, the right edge of the shape will be almost vertical.

Step 4

Using the Reflect Tool (O) make a copy of the shape. Now, move it to the right but leave a slight overlap where the bottom two points are. I’ve intentionally overlapped them as trying to line up two points exactly on top of one another produces less than desirable results. We’ll take care of the overlap in the next step.

Step 5

Select both shapes. Now, using the Shape Builder Tool (Shift+M) delete the bottom two triangles.

When using the Shape Builder Tool, hold down the Option key to delete.

Step 1

Start by drawing two perfect circles. Make sure they’re vertically aligned. Group the two circles before you continue.

Step 2

Select your newly grouped circles then Copy (Control+C) and Paste in Place (Control+F) the circles on top of each other. Now, you can select the newly pasted grouped circles then rotate them into position. Hold down the Shift key to snap to common angles. Group all of the circles together before proceeding.

Step 3

Draw another perfect circle to create the center of the gear. Give the smaller circles a white fill and bring them to the front of the design (Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.) Next, select everything then vertically and horizontally align the shapes. Continue to fine tune exactly how much of the white circles overlap the center area by scaling them up or down.

Step 4

To create the center-most area, copy the large center circle then Paste In Place. Scale it down, bring it to the front of the design, and change its fill to white. That’s all there is to it!

The spiral shown on the left is what we’ll create. Notice, the right spiral has a distinctly different look. That one was created with Adobe Illustrator’s built-in spiral tool. While that may be what you need in some cases, if you want to create a truly perfect spiral follow the technique below!

Step 1

To begin, use the Pen Tool (P) and draw a line.

Step 2

Turn on your grid (Command+apostrophe.) Align your stroke so that first point starts at one of the thick grid lines, and the second is aligned to the next thick grid line.

Step 3

Duplicate the shape, making sure that all the lines are spaced equal distances from one another. The top of one line should be where the bottom of the next line starts.

Altering the spacing in between the lines determines how tight the spiral will be.

Step 4

Drag all 3 lines, at the same time, into the Brushes Palette (Window > Brushes.)

Step 5

Select Art Brush and click OK.

Step 6

You won’t need to change any options here, just click OK.

Step 7

To test out your spiral, draw a perfect circle then click on the brush you just created. You now have a perfect spiral!

That’s all! I hope you picked up some new tips.

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7 Undeniable Design Principles You Can’t Ignore

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AppId is over the quota

What is design theory and how can you put it to work for you? I’ll cover the principles of design that propel good design to great design. Superficial instruction, where you’re simply told what to do to get a specific result has its place, but you won’t find any of that here—only principles squarely aimed at applying design fundamentals to increase the effectiveness of your work. Take a look.

Now how, but why

The most powerful websites are a thoughtful blend of form and function. Over time you can begin to expertly employ the principles of design and weave together a powerful result. If you’re looking for a tutorial on flat design, this isn’t it. While I am using a flat design as the article’s muse, the topics I cover are foundational to design theory.

Here’s the design I’ll use:

Fundamentally speaking

While there are many subsets and concessions made depending upon which medium you work in, at its core, great web design embodies hierarchy, repetition, line, balance, contrast, scale, and much more. Given the depth of the topic, I can only cover a few principles, but those that I do cover will have you well on your way to infusing your design work with detail that will set your work apart from the pack.

Here are the topics I’ll cover:

HierarchyRepetitionContrastShapeColorTexture

Let’s get started!

As with most design principles, hierarchy can apply to any facet of design—color, type, shape etc., not just layout. For this article, I’m focusing on the layout of the website design as the lens through which we’ll address hierarchy.

In design, hierarchy is the foundation of successfully communicating a message. When hierarchy is used effectively viewers can quickly scan a page and immediately get an idea about what content is more important, and what’s less important. When hierarchy is off, a design feels uncomfortable, information may be ignored entirely, or the credibility of the site/product/person etc. may even be questioned.

Although there are exceptions to the rule, in western culture people tend to follow a top to bottom, left to right eye path as they take in information. Device and medium (screen versus printed paper for example) play a big role in how information is understood too.

Animation: In western culture people tend to follow a top to bottom, left to right eye path as they take in information.

This website design uses both a 5 column and 6 column grid, depending upon the page and content. A robust grid offers several advantages. First, it allows the design elements to line up with one another with regularity. Second, it enables me to define less important content with one column, and more important content with more columns. Again, by employing multiple design principles within a specific area, like color or contrast, hierarchy can be further refined.

Animation: By adjusting the how many columns the content occupies I can call attention in any order, no matter where the content falls on the page.

Animation: A viewer assesses the hierarchy of the content that’s visible at any given moment. Since this website design is very tall and cannot all be seen simultaneously, hierarchy is applied within individual sections too.

Animation

From color, to shape and size, repetition can involve repeating any variety of elements. Repetition adds a familiar and comfortable feeling to a design—although, when used in excess, a design tends to become unimaginative, and predictable.

The horizontal colors are used to distinguish each section while still maintaining some sense of unity between them, which is important for overall cohesion.

Individual elements can have multiple design principles applied to them. Below, repetition is applied within the horizontal shape by repeating bookcases and stacks of books.

These simplistic illustrations have very similar qualities, another form of repetition.

Contrast is the marked difference between two or more elements. Contrast can be a difference in color warm vs. cool, a difference in style, flat vs. 3d, or even a difference in shape.

To leverage contrast in this design, I added a generous use of circular shapes. These shapes provide a welcomed break in the somewhat formulaic use of horizontal stripes. Large circles offset by smaller circles add more variety and interest.

Contrast not only in shape, but color and text size too! The angular lines of the text when compared with the circular illustrations complement each other nicely.

Shape is one of the most ambiguous design principles. It’s a separate category but applies to all other design principles. In other words, anything that you create is a shape.

The page below incorporates an assortment of icons that all seem to work very well together. This isn’t by chance however. Aside from color (more on that next,) shape is fundamental in creating cohesive and interesting icons.

Upon closer inspection, you can see how the variety of shapes interact with one another. Straight lines paired with curves look great together.

Animation: At the most fundamental level, creating a dynamic looking icon merely requires combining basic shapes in interesting ways.

Color has different meanings depending upon your reference point. For example, brides in United States culture wear white to weddings while it’s not unusual for a bride in Asia to wear red. Or, for example, in the 19th century pink was considered masculine, as it reflected a watered down shade of red (the color of blood drawn during war) while blue was regarded as feminine. Having said this, it’s obvious why a good understanding and implementation of color theory will benefit your design.

From entertainment, to social media, to automotive, blue is one of the most widely used colors, no matter the industry. In color theory, blue can describe power, tranquility, and faith, to name a few things.

Animation: A variety of industries and companies use blue in varying degrees to suit their brand and message:

When designing, the overall feeling that color evokes can be dramatically altered by changing the value (lightness) and chroma (saturation) of a color. Blue is one of the most versatile colors there is. In this design, I’m using blue as a primary color with green, tan, yellow, and orange in varying degrees as supporting, and accent colors. The accent colors further help define the feeling that I want to leave the viewer with.

Since my color palette is fairly limited, I used specific elements that matched my color scheme.

Simple but sporadic use of the green accent color weaves together isolated elements.

Texture is defined as the surface or feeling of an object. On screen, texture is simulated.

While it requires no introduction, flat design is all the rage. Although, make no mistake, flat design isn’t new. It’s simply a term that has been attributed to a look that’s popular right now. “Flat design” will continue long after the trend has passed.

In this design, texture, or the lack thereof, is instrumental in achieving a simplistic look. Since this design is for a progressive affiliate advertising company that needed a modern look, a flat design was employed.

Common elements like pencils are devoid of heavy shading, giving them a light, and clean look.

The browser window is distilled down to its simplest form, putting the focus more squarely on the content, and message.

An office environment is illustrated in its most raw form, adding interest while not overpowering essential information.

Take a look at www.prosperent.com

As with any design element, it’s important to have solid reasons why you include it. Design decisions should always be made based on appropriateness for a particular cause. Although, client mandate may also play a role. When you substantiate your decisions with reasoning greater than personal preference, they work to your advantage and become harder to refute.

The design principles I covered are excellent fundamentals to include in your work, but remember that good design is about marrying form and function. As your experience increases, you’ll learn when to follow the rules and when to break them.

Now, get designing!

Follow him on Twitter: @Jon_Patterson

Follow him on Dribbble: dribbble.com/jon_patterson

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