Visual Swirl

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: September 2010

Chris Thurman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:32:40 +0000

Visual Swirl and Emma Looney are proud to present the ninth installment of your Desktop Wallpaper Calendars for 2010. September’s calendar is another beautiful example of the work of graphic designer, Emma Looney.

September

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About the Designer

This wallpaper was designed by Emma Looney, a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about typography, print design and branding. Follow her on Twitter.

5 Reasons Every Designer Should Carry a Great Camera

Chris Thurman — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:30:19 +0000

My wife and I just recently purchased a new toy, the Canon T2i DSLR camera. We’ve had a blast playing with it over the last few weeks. Not only does it take fantastic pictures, but it also shoots 1080p HD video which plays right into another hobby of mine. But that’s not what I want to talk about with this post. What I’ve quickly discovered is what a great tool this will be for my design career. I’d like to layout a few reasons why I think every designer should own and carry a great camera.

Capture Inspiration

How often do you stop and look around you for inspiration? If you’re not walking around with your eyes open you’re probably missing out on some golden opportunities to be inspired: a painted sunset on the drive home from work; the layout of menu at a restaurant; the patterns in the grass at a baseball game. The great thing about having a great camera with you is that you’ll be able to capture these inspiring moments in a format that will be easily accessible and easier to tag and keep on file. It’s one thing to open your eyes and be inspired. It’s another to bring that inspiration home with you.

Textures, Textures, Textures

A high resolution camera will allow you to capture not only inspiration but actual useful design elements. Textures are all the rage today. Places like Texture King offer high quality free textures. But why use the same textures that everyone else is using. Go make your own. Take pictures of the details on your walls or the cracks in the sidewalk in front of your house. Save the great ones and categorize them in your design resource folder to be ready for your next design. You can even share them with other designers on blogs like this one. Here’s a great article for how to create your own textures.

Color Schemes

Another great resource to capture from your photos is the color schemes. For designers, an amateur color scheme stands out like a sore thumb. There’s often no better place to find color schemes than in nature. A scenic beach landscape or a vibrant flower can offer an eye-catching color scheme that will get results. A high quality digital camera will allow you to pull an accurate and useful color scheme from your pictures. More information on color schemes from photographs.

Cheap Artwork

Don’t spend $200 on artwork from your local art gallery. Instead, take some recent photos from your vacation, add some filters in Photoshop and print out some creative shots to hang on your walls. They make excellent conversation pieces and it’s a cheaper alternative to decorate your home.

If you’re a design blogger you can take this one step further and use your pictures in your own blog entries. Maybe you’ve waded through the stock photography sites without finding anything that works. Don’t fret. Whip out your camera and snap a few photos to get your point across.

Make Some Extra Cash

Many freelance designers are always looking for more revenue streams to help fill in the gaps between design jobs. Selling your pictures on stock photography sites can net you some quick cash. Check out iStockphoto or Deposit Photos to get started. When deciding on what to shoot, think about pictures that would be useful that maybe are not already offered on stock photography sites. Local landmarks are often great because photographers halfway across the country would not have access to these locations.

While it may seem easy, don’t expect your stock photography cash to allow you to quit your day job. Very few make a living from stock photography but a few dollars here and there can help offset your camera purchase and maybe pay a few bills.

It’s Worth a Thousand Words

While I’m no photography expert nor a Canon elitist, I cannot say enough good things about my Canon T2i. The picture quality from a sub $1000 camera blows my mind and the bonus of HD video is truly great. If you’re a designer with a DSLR, tell me about your camera and how you use it to assist in your designs. What other benefits do cameras offer designers? What techniques do you recommend? Let me hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: August 2010

Chris Thurman — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:02:38 +0000

Visual Swirl and Emma Looney are proud to present the eighth installment of your Desktop Wallpaper Calendars for 2010. August’s calendar is another beautiful example of the work of graphic designer, Emma Looney. Keep reading for a little insight from Emma about this month’s design.

August

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About the Design

The summer weather has been hotter than hot, but nothing distracts me more than imagining myself on the sand, listening to crashing waves and feeling the sea-salty breeze. The beach lends an endless amount of inspiration, from tropical hues to grungy sand textures. Here, I used a combination of water texture and bright, summery tones (a color palette I borrowed from design blog Design Sponge ) to create a fun and relaxed design.

The type featured is the ever lovely Archer.

I hope you enjoy this nautically inspired wallpaper calendar for August!

About the Designer

This wallpaper was designed by Emma Looney, a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about typography, print design and branding. Follow her on Twitter.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: July 2010

Chris Thurman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:36:29 +0000

Visual Swirl and Emma Looney are proud to present the seventh installment of your Desktop Wallpaper Calendars for 2010. July’s calendar is another beautiful example of the work of graphic designer, Emma Looney. Keep reading for a little insight from Emma about this month’s design.

July

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About the Design

One of my favorite things to do is scan my favorite design sites for inspiration, tips and tutorials. I found this fantastic grunge/retro tutorial from Design Instruct, a web magazine for designers. This tutorial is great if you know a bit of Photoshop already, and the outcome was so fun I knew I wouldn’t mind staring at it on my desktop all through the month of July. I pretty much stuck with the color scheme from the tutorial because I loved it so much, but the possibilities of different font, color and ‘swirl’ shapes really lend this tut to almost any style.

About the Designer

This wallpaper was designed by Emma Looney, a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about typography, print design and branding. Follow her on Twitter.

Halfiversary: 6 months of Visual Swirl

Chris Thurman — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:00:27 +0000

Last Tuesday marked 6 months of blogging at Visual Swirl. While it’s been a little slow on the posts the last few weeks, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first half year of blogging on design. What follows is a quick summary of those months with some thank yous and a preview of what’s on the horizon.

First Things First

A quick list of the firsts around the Swirl:

My first post was a quick recommendation for a free font named Chunk Five.
My first comment was from Matt Ward on a post about Animal Logos.
My first guest post was from Li Ainley-Walker. She wrote a great piece about Typography in Art.
My first day with over 1,000 visitors was January 26, 2010. That day 1,244 visitors checked out the Swirl.
My first custom theme was released on February 1st and is what you see today.
My first advertisement was sold on February 3rd to Pixmac stock photography site.

Numbers and Such

Sometimes we let statistics go to our head but here’s a few to measure the journey:

Since December 1st, 2009, Visual Swirl has seen

164,782 Visits
304,591 Page Views
81 Posts (including this one)
1,310 Comments

My top traffic sources were (according to Google Analytics):

Google: 19,583 visits
Twitter: 9,208 visits
dzone: 7,957 visits
Design Float: 7,086 visits

My top 5 posts (in total pageviews):

Burnt Wood Text Effect – Photoshop Tutorial (20,652 pageviews)
170+ Designers to Follow on Twitter (9,382 pageviews)
16 Blogs to Help You Master the Business of Design (8,628 pageviews)
Create a Grunge Snowboard Poster – Photoshop Tutorial (7,851 pageviews)
99 Alternatives to 99Designs (7,453 pageviews)

Special Thanks

There are a few people I would like to thank who helped make this first 6 months great. First, Matt Ward from Echo Enduring Blog. A post he wrote on why you shouldn’t start a design blog helped push me to make sure I didn’t fade away like so many other design blogs have. Thanks for the encouragement and support Matt!

I’d also like to give a quick shout out to all of my wonderful guest posters. From my first guest poster, Li to the monthly contribution of Emma Looney and her wonderful Desktop Calendars and all my other guest posters. I couldn’t have done this without you all.

Also, thanks to Jacob Gube at Six Revisions, Catalin Zorzini from Inspired Magazine, and Andrew Houle from My Ink Blog for allowing me the opportunity to write guest posts for their blogs. You can check out these posts:

Finally, a big shout out to all my loyal readers. Thanks to the those who’ve been with me since December and those who’ve joined me along the way. I hope that this blog has inspired you and maybe taught you something or provided you with resources you didn’t know about before. Please continue to let me know what you want and I’ll try to oblige.

A Little About The Future

Speaking of the future of the blog there are a few things to look forward to over the coming months. In an effort to increase the number of posts being released, I hope to feature more guest posts in the next few months. If you’d be interested in writing a post or tutorial, please drop me a line. I also hope to release more tutorials and in depth articles. If there’s anything specific you would like to see, my ears are always open to suggestions. Finally, I have a few new features and announcements up my sleeves. I’ll be posting more on these over the coming months.

Thanks for making the first 180 days great! Here’s to the next 180 and beyond.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: June 2010

Chris Thurman — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:00:02 +0000

Visual Swirl and Emma Looney are proud to present the sixth installment of your Desktop Wallpaper Calendars for 2010. June’s calendar is another beautiful example of the work of graphic designer, Emma Looney. Keep reading for a little insight from Emma about this month’s design.

June

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About the Design

Time seems to be flying by so fast I can hardly keep track of what day or week it is. I wanted a calendar that I couldn’t ignore. With big, bold numbers and a simple color palette, hopefully June’s desktop calendar will help you — and me — keep track of the month.

Part of the inspiration for this design came from a book of optical illusions I stumbled upon one day. By placing dark squares in an even grid pattern, the brain gets fooled into seeing something that isn’t really there (see the blinking dots?).

The type face featured is Akzidenz Grotesk Super.

Happy June, everyone!

About the Designer

This wallpaper was designed by Emma Looney, a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about typography, print design and branding. Follow her on Twitter.

20 Custom T-Shirt Design Websites That Rock

Chris Thurman — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:05:11 +0000

In a previous post, we examined the colorful and creative e-commerce site designs that have exploded onto the scene in the last few years. One of the major subsets of e-commerce sites are t-shirt design companies. As humorous graphic t-shirts have become popular, t-shirt shops are popping up across the internet landscape. Some specialize in retro designs, other sites are built for “nerds.” No matter the specialty of the site, there are some great designs among the lot.

Take a gander through these t-shirt website designs and see what trends you notice. Maybe you’ll be inspired to incorporate some elements into your own designs. At the very least, I hope you’ll be entertained at some of the funnier t-shirt designs. Let me know your favorites and if you’re feeling generous, feel free to send me a shirt.

Create a Dark Modern Contact Form in Photoshop

Chris Thurman — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:12:19 +0000

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a dark, modern contact form in Photoshop. We’ll use some layer styles and some basic effects to give a metal cut-out look. Nothing too fancy but some pretty effective styles.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

Create a new 800×800 document in Photoshop. Select a dark grey to black gradient and fill in the background.

Step 2

Add noise to your background layer (Filter>Noise>Add Noise). Use just a slight amount of noise to create a subtle texture.

Step 3

Create the form box. With a medium grey selected (#8a8a8a) draw out a rounded rectangle in the center of your background. Add a similar noise texture to your box.

Step 4

Apply some layers styles to the form box. Add a minimal drop shadow and 1px stroke to clean up the edges and add a little depth.

Step 5

Draw out your input boxes. For this simple form, we’ll just be using a Name field, Email field, and Comment field. With a dark grey selected (#353434) draw out 2 single line inputs and a larger text area box.

Step 6

Apply layer styles to the new boxes. Apply a gradient overlay similar to the background layer to give some some contrast and interest.

Apply an inner shadow to give the input box a cut-out appearance.

Accent the inner shadow with a slight white drop shadow. This emphasizes the cut-out and completes the illusion.

Step 7

Next, it’s onto the submit button. Create another rounded box below the text area box. Color doesn’t matter as we’ll be applying a gradient in the next step.

Step 8

Add a red to dark red linear gradient to the button.

Add a drop shadow to add depth and contrast the input boxes.

Step 9

Add the “Submit” text. I’m using Helvetica Neue Bold, font size 18px. Add a drop shadow to the text for a little punch.

Step 10

Let’s create the checkbox circle. Draw out a dark red circle onto the submit button. Apply the following layer styles to give it a cut-out look, similar to the input boxes.

Step 11

Choose a checkbox from the custom shapes tool menu.

Draw out a white checkbox and add a slight drop shadow.

Step 12

With the form elements complete, let’s add some titles and instructions. Type out your title. I’m using the font ChunkFive. Type out “Contact Us”, “Name”, “Email”, and “Message” using the same red font.

Step 13

Apply an inner shadow to your titles.

Step 14

Add some instructions and some dummy fill text to complete the design.

Download the PSD

I’ve also made available the PSD file for you to download and compare.

Download the Dark Contact PSD

25 Letterpressed and Embossed Business Cards

Chris Thurman — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:30:29 +0000

Professional and memorable business cards can leave a very favorable first impression. Your business card says a lot about you and the services you offer. Choosing premium features such as letterpress or emboss adds a touch (literally) of class that will set your cards apart from the crowd. Browse this gallery of letterpressed and embossed business cards to get ideas for that professional, luxurious, and elegant look you may require.

Chocolate Makers Studio

Gustavo

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: May 2010

Chris Thurman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:32:43 +0000

Visual Swirl and Emma Looney are proud to present the fifth installment of your Desktop Wallpaper Calendars for 2010. May’s calendar is another beautiful example of the work of graphic designer, Emma Looney. Keep reading for a little insight from Emma about this month’s design.

May

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Available Resolutions:

About the Design

This month, I wanted to create something with a much different feel from previous calendars that have been featured on Visual Swirl. I love the effect of muted and unsaturated distressed grunge, but tend to lean toward graphically bold, bright design. This time, I eased up on color and toned down the typographic elements of the design to give May a distressed look.

I found this texture buried in my collection of design resources, but this look is easy to recreate with the thousands of great textures offered free on the web. Check out TextureKing for some great (and free!) grunge elements to add to your next design. One thing I like to incorporate when using a lot of texture in a design is to set my Photoshop layer blending mode to ‘Soft Light’. This gives the layer transparency, while keeping the focus on the texture underneath (this was used to give ‘MAY2010′ its transparent look).

The type featured is Gotham – both Black and Thin weights.

About the Designer

This wallpaper was designed by Emma Looney, a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about typography, print design and branding. Follow her on Twitter.