BlogmyQuery – BMQ

This one’s easy: take a shot, send us the image and win a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS digital SLR camera. Typography and icons are everywhere: they surround us, guide us, help us find the right path every day. As Web designers and graphic artists, we can learn from observing the type and public signage around us. How do designers of those graphics combine type, visual design and pictograms? How do they guide us through our day? More importantly, how do they design their graphics to meaningfully serve their purpose in particular settings?

That’s what we want to find out with this photo contest. We encourage you to go out with your camera, shoot nice typography or public signage, and send the photo (or photos) to us (see details below). And the best part: everyone can participate.

[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]

What Are We Looking For?

We are looking for original, manually shot photographs of typography and public signage. The most obvious elements that come to mind are street signs, building facades, highway markers and road signs, as well as wayfinding graphics (i.e. directional signage) in public venues such as stadiums, malls, museums, cinemas, theaters and cafés. Bus stop signs, underground signs, park signs, metro signage, hospital room signs, conference, hotel and office signs, emergency and exit signs and signs in shops and stores would work, too. Look around, pay attention and have a camera ready. That’s really all you need!

At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, numbers in each terminal’s letter indicate the walking time. Simple yet beautiful. (Image credit.)

It would be nice to see signage in a variety of languages and in globally diverse locations. We’re hoping to find similarities that communicate visually across cultures. Please feel free to submit unusual and humorous signs as well! Check out examples of what we’re looking for to get your creative juices flowing.

“This Is How You Find ↓.” A wayfinding sign in IKEA in Sweden. (Image credit.)

The Prize

The camera below can be yours. One participant in this contest will win this best-selling digital SLR camera, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS (EOS 1000D), with a 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, high-precision 7-point wide-area autofocus sensor, and an Image Stabilizer-equipped EF-S 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6 IS Lens. The winner will be chosen randomly from among all accepted submissions best accepted submissions (among 30 — 50 best submissions, depending on the number of submissions).

Specifications

• Format: JPG
• All photos should have a width of at least 700 pixels.
• All photos should be of high quality and shouldn’t have any artefacts (e.g. they shouldn’t be blurry).
• The total file size of your submission should not exceed 15 MB.
• Each participant can send at most three photos.

Submission Guidelines

1. Please download the starter kit first.
2. The starter kit folder contains a plain-text file, details.txt. Please edit it by adding details about your submission.
3. Name your photos meaningfully, and don’t use empty spaces or special characters (e.g. shining-airport-signage.jpg instead of DSC0815378.jpg).
4. Please add your photo (or photos) to the folder. Do not include any advertisements.
5. With your images in the folder, archive the folder as a ZIP file. The file should have a clear name (e.g. shining-airport-signage.zip).
6. Please send your submission to contest {at} smashingmagazine {dot} com.
7. Please note: submissions will be processed automatically. Please make sure your submission follows the requirements above, otherwise it will not be processed.

Copyright, Labels, Watermarks

Embedding copyright information, a watermark or URL in a photo will spoil it; please avoid adding anything that isn’t a part of the image itself. Participants should own the copyright of any photos they send. You can specify the license under which you want your image(s) to be released using the starter kit. Photos should not be already available elsewhere on the Web.

Deadline and Announcement

Send us your photos by 27 August 2010. The winner will be announced a few days after. We will present all interesting photos here on Smashing Magazine, including the names and URLs of the participants chosen, of course. If we get enough submissions, we will sort and categorize the photos in the article.

Examples

This contest is all about creativity, so get out your camera and start shooting. Good signage doesn’t necessarily have to be “clean.” On the contrary, some beautiful and original examples can be found where nobody bothers to look. Just be curious, and take a closer look around you. You may want to look at these articles for ideas: Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase and Showcase Of Beautiful Vintage and Retro Signage.

Good luck, and get creative, folks!

(al)

© Vitaly Friedman for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: contest, photography

This tutorial was inspired by a 3D rendered version of the Google Android logo that I came across. So, I decided to try out achieving relativity the same result with Photoshop – CS 2 to be precised. And the final image was outstanding to say the least. The interplay of light and shadows are key for a near-realistic result for a traditionally 2D program as Photoshop.

The Google Android logo:

Step 1

In the first step, we’ll create a new document with the size of 800 px by 600 px and a resolution of about 140 dpi. Then we select the Ellipse Tool (U) and draw a circle.

Step 2

Right-click within the circle and select Fill Path and choose the fill colour as #a4ca39.

Step 3

You may enable Grids for guidance if you choose by pressing Ctrl+’. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and make a selection at about half of the circle and hit the Delete to remove the selected area. Press Ctrl+D to to clear the selection. Now create a new layer and select the Pen Tool (P) and create an arc below whats left of the circle. Adjust the Anchor Points with your mouse or direction key on the keyboard until you’ve obtained a smooth curve.

Step 4

Fill the arc with #a4ca39.

Step 5

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, clear the pen outline and merge the arc with the circle by pressing Ctrl+E.

Name this layer ‘head.’

Step 6

Double-click on the head layer for a Layer style. Select an Inner Glow Layer style and set its parameters below:

Step 7

Follow up with a Bevel and Emboss Layer style and set the parameters below:

Step 8

Well now add a light shadow with the Inner Shadow Layer style:

The result below:

Step 9

In a new layer, select the Ellipse Tool and draw an Ellipse within the head. Fill with a the colour #e5f2b6.

Step 10

Press Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform Mode and then choose the Warp Tool to spread out the ellipse a little more within the head. Press Enter when done.

Step 11

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style:

You get the result below:

Step 12

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 4.8 pixels.

Now the droid’s head is looking more rounded with the light and dark areas.

Step 13

For a more shiny look, in a new layer, use the Pen Tool (P) draw something of an arc with the head as shown below:

Step 14

From other options within the Pen Tool from the Tools bar, select the Add Anchor Points Tool and of course add more anchor points adjusting and aligning them for smoother curves.

Step 15

Fill the curve with #.

Step 16

Head on to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to about 9.5 pixels.

Step 17

Draw another curve over the previous one and fill with white.

Step 18

Apply a Gaussian blur at a Radius of 2.7 pixels.

There we have it! A shiny and plasticy top.

Step 19

For a the little antennas of the droid, create new layers ‘antenna1′and ‘antenna2′ respectively. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set its Radius to 30 px. Then draw a thin rectangle and have it rotated diagonally with the the Free Transform Tool. Fill with colour: #a4ca39.

Step 20

Double-click the ‘antenna1′ layer to add an Inner Shadow Layer style to antenna. Just the Shading properties is adjusted here.

The result:

Step 21

Also add an Inner Shadow Layer style to the ‘antenna2′ layer with the adjustments below:

The result below:

Step 22

Go to the’ head’ layer and select the Burn Tool ‘O’ with its Highlights reduced to 25%in the Burn Tool Options bar. Create dark lines that would appear as reflections from the antennas.

Step 23

Once again, select the Ellipse Tool and draw two oblique circles for the eyes.

Step 25

Fill these circles with black.

Step 26

To make the eyes hollow, add a Bevel amd Emboss Layer style settings below:

The result:

Step 27

Enable the Grids once more and with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, draw a square for the body of the android.

Step 28

Press Ctrl+T for Free Transform Mode and right-click the selection to select the Warp Tool. Drag and bend the upper and lower lines for a cylinder like shape and the warp handles to adjust these curves as you see it fit. Hit Enter when you’re done.

Step 29

Fill with the colour #a4ca39.

Step 30

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style to the ‘body’ layer with the parameters below:

Step 31

For the Gradient Overlay style, set the colours of the stops for Gradient as shown below:

Step 32

Still with the Gradient Overlay, set its Angle to zero degrees and increase the Scale to 107%.

Step 33

Finally, add an Inner Shadow Layer style setting the parameters below:

Below, is the final result:

Step 34

With the Ellipse Tool, draw a flat circle behind the ‘head’ and ‘body’ layers and fill with black.

Step 35

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw an arm for the android and fill with #a4ca39.

Step 36

Add to the ‘arm 1′ layer, a Bevel and Emboss Layer style:

Step 37

Follow up with an Inner Shadow Layer style:

Step 38

Select the Gradient Overlay style and set the Gradient colours as depicted below:

And we have below a nice rounded arm.

Step 39

Draw a second arm in a new layer which should be placed behind the ‘body’ layer. Also add as before, a Bevel and Emboss layer style.

Step 40

Make adjustments to the colours of the Gradient:

The result:

Step 41

To add more gloss to the arms in respect to lighting which is a primary element for an improved 3D look for our model. Sketch out a thin curve with the Pen Tool and fill with a white colour.

Step 42

Apply a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of about 2.0 pixels.

Step 43

Run over Step41 in a similar fashion for the second arm.

Step 44

For the legs of our model, use the Rounded Rectangle Tool set at32 px to create a short leg and then fill with #a4ca39.

Step 45

Apply an Inner Shadow style to the leg:

The result:

Step 46

Create another leg – obviously.

Step 47

Add for sure an Inner Shadow layer style:

Now both legs are complete.

Step 48

We need to create a shadow casted on the body of the droid by the first arm by using the Ellipse Tool as shown below:

Have the shape blurred with a Gaussian Blur at a Radius of 7.5 pixels.

The result:

Step 49

Over the head of the droid, paint a thin short strip of white and blur lightly.

Its alive!!! Probably not. Well, this is our 3D Android!

With an added background, the realism of the android is enhanced.

By David Ella Ella

With the huge number of design-related conferences and events around the world, the Web gives those of us who cannot attend them a great opportunity to listen and benefit from their great and talented speakers. To aid in this, here we present some of the best videos, interviews and presentations about design and related topics.

Using Design to Make Ideas New

Speaker: Milton Glaser
Legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From there, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new.

Designing for Obama

Speaker: Steven Heller
Steven Heller speaks at AIGA Philly on the outpouring of posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Heller also compares today’s political graphics to the campaign posters of the last generation and explores the relationship between democracy and design.

Paula Scher Gets Serious

Speaker: Paula Scher
Paula Scher looks back on her life in design (she’s done album covers, books, the Citibank logo and much more) and pinpoints the moment when she started really having fun. Watch out for gorgeous designs and images from her legendary career.

An Interview With Debbie Millman

Speaker: Debbie Millman
AIGA President Debbie Millman talks at AIGA Philly about the need for designers to embrace technology and how the AIGA can adapt to changes in the field through an active membership.

David Carson on Design and Discovery

Speaker: David Carson
Great design is a never-ending journey of discovery, on which it helps to pack a healthy sense of humor. Sociologist and surfer-turned-designer David Carson walks through a gorgeous (and often quite funny) slide deck of his work and found images.

Designing the Obama Campaign

Speaker: Scott Thomas
As the design director for Obama’s 2008 campaign, Scott Thomas led a now-historic political campaign, in which branding, design and the Web played a truly pivotal role. Likening the experience to “building an airplane in flight,” Scott talks about the creative individual’s need for triage, the crucial role of incremental improvements and the importance of returning to the hand and keeping things simple.

Three Ways Good Design Makes You Happy

Speaker: Don Norman
Design critic Don Norman turns his incisive eye to beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He identifies the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.

Designs to Save Newspapers

Speaker: Jacek Utko
Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save newspaper? It just might.

Typographic Hierarchy

Speaker: Tony Pritchard
Typographic hierarchy is about analyzing textual information and prioritizing based on meaning. The designer determines the order in which the user views information through basic typographic techniques such as size, weight and position of type.

Urging Designers to Think Big

Speaker: Tim Brown
Tim Brown says that the design industry is preoccupied with creating nifty, fashionable objects, even as pressing questions like clean water access show it has a bigger role to play. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory “design thinking.”

How to Make a Font

Speaker: Chank Diesel
Watch a font come to life before you very eyes! Filmed on location at alphabetician Chank Diesel’s font-making workshop at Clockwork Active Media Systems in Minneapolis.

How Art Shapes Culture

Speaker: Thelma Golden
Thelma Golden, curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, walks us through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The “post-black” artists she works with are using their art to instigate a new dialogue on race, culture and the meaning of art itself.

An Interview With Erik Spiekermann

Speaker: Erik Spiekermann
An interview with professor and typography designer Erik Spiekermann about his opinion of typefaces such as Helvetica and Arial.

Happy Design

Speaker: Stefan Sagmeister
Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister takes the audience on a whimsical journey through moments in his life that made him happy and notes how many of these moments had to do with good design.

Interview With Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere

Speaker: Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere
Hoefler and Frere-Jones are American typeface designers. Here is a clip of them talking about everyone’s favorite font in the documentary Helvetica.

John Maeda on His Journey in Design

Speaker: John Maeda
Designer John Maeda talks about his path from a Seattle tofu factory to the Rhode Island School of Design, of which he became president in 2008. Maeda, a tireless experimenter and witty observer, explores the crucial moment when design met computers.

Two Minutes With Robin Nicholas

Speaker: Robin Nicholas
Robin Nicholas, creator of Arial, discusses his creative inspirations, favorite typefaces and the evolution of fonts.

The True Face of Leonardo Da Vinci

Speaker: Siegfried Woldhek
Mona Lisa is one of the best-known faces on the planet. But would you recognize an image of Leonardo da Vinci? Illustrator Siegfried Woldhek uses some thoughtful image-analysis techniques to find what he believes is the true face of Leonardo.

Five Secrets from 86 Notebooks

Speaker: Michael Bierut
Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut claims that he’s not creative. Instead, he likens his job to that of a doctor who tends to patients: “the sicker, the better.” Digging into the 86 notebooks he’s kept over his career, Bierut walks us through five projects, from conception to execution, extracting a handful of simple lessons (e.g. the problem contains the solution; don’t avoid the obvious) that lie at the foundation of brilliant design.

Thinking Deep on Design

Speaker: Philippe Starck
With no pretty slides to show, designer Philippe Starck spends 18 minutes reaching to the very root of the question “Why design?” Listen carefully for the perfect mantra for all of us, genius or not.

Two Minutes With Nadine Chahine

Speaker: Nadine Chahine
Nadine Chahine, a font designer and Arabic specialist at Monotype Imaging, discusses her creative inspirations, favorite typefaces and the evolution of fonts.

Treating Design as Art

Speaker: Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, wants to spread her appreciation of design in all shapes and forms around the world.

Practice Makes Pixel Perfect

Speaker: Ryan Sims
Ryan Sims speaks about how to understand talent and how to become a great designer.

Intricate Beauty by Design

Speaker: Marian Bantjes
In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is considered heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to store fronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.

Designing for the Tablet

Speaker: Marian Bantjes
Books, magazines, televisions. We hear these words and understand well what shape their content will take. But tablet? Digital magazine? How does the size of the object frame the user experience? How does it affect the object’s portability and accessibility? How will our experience with these devices compare with that of more “full-figuredâ€� media? Do we need to consider grid, typography and behavior differently? Hear four perspectives on how telling stories in new spaces creates new experiences.

[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]

Other Resources

• Videos about design at the TED Conference
• Videos about design at the 99 Percent Conference
• Videos about design on Vimeo
• Adobe Design Center: Video Workshop
• Seven Must-See Web Design Videos and Presentations
• Adobe Photoshop Video Tutorials: Best Of
• 20 Beautiful Video Motion Pieces
• Seven Must-See Web Design Videos and Presentations

(al)

© Otba Mushaweh for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags:

Sometimes, we all begin to deviate from a project we are working on due to finding something that we may find interesting or the cause of distractions from devices or services. However, such deviation or procrastination may cause delays and possibly lead to lies and angry clientele.

Furthermore, deviation or procrastination is a general symptom among designers and freelancers alike that hits us on occasion. Moreover, we discuss six methods or tips that can help you stay focused as a designer to avoid deviation and or procrastination.

Working on an Aspect You Don’t Care For

This happens to everyone, we are “pumped up” when we first begin working on a design and as we complete the parts we enjoy and transition to the aspects we sometimes hate to do, our productivity level begins to decrease and procrastination takes place. In most designs we work on, we can usually begin on any aspect we desire.

With that said, in order to prevent possible deviation and or procrastination, I myself tend to do a bit of the parts I love and hate, which means I will be working on a mixture of both throughout, decreasing my chances of deviation or procrastination. Do note however, this method may sometimes not apply to some situations and you may have to finish one to get to the other.

In such a case, try to do the aspect you dislike more first before getting to the enjoyable part of the job or project. As humans, we usually tend to look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel rather than the opposite; the same feeling can apply here by leaving what you enjoy for the end.

Nap Time

No, we are not trying to bring you back to your childhood or preschool days, but we are getting to our point. Taking breaks away from your computer is a great way to increase productivity. We all tend to slow down every now and then and do a stare down at our screen for several minutes trying to analyze a situation or attempt to release frustration.

A better method is to schedule several breaks in between your working hours even if they are quick breaks. This not only clears your mind, it also refreshes your thinking process allowing you to get back to work in a more productive manner and being able to tackle what you were inevitably stuck on.

Say No to Interruptions

A major problem we have during our work hours is we accept a plethora of interruptions such as phone calls or from instant messages. If you are not expecting important phone calls, do not answer them and rather get back to them during a break or after work hours when the time is appropriate, this also applies to text messaging, try silencing your phone while working to avoid such distractions.

A cluttered environment also hinders your performance; thus, assure your workspace is clear from many distractions that can eat up on your time such as paperwork or electronic devices. Additionally, make sure your computer is clear of distractions, keep your Twitter, Facebook , and Skype clients off as well as your instant messenger clients unless need-be.

By turning off these distractions, you can remain focused on the work that needs to be accomplished rather on things that are supposed to be used during leisure time. If during working hours you must leave an IM client open, make sure whomever is on your contact list are people that you may need to talk to during working hours and vice versa. In other words, do not have your friends or family on this contact list, and save chatting with them after hours.

Break Your Project into Sections

As humans, we generally love to see continuous progress, but with a large project, progress seems to go by quite slowly. In order to keep yourself motivated with larger projects, try breaking down the project into small sections or parts. That way when you complete a part, you feel that you have accomplished more than you would without breaking the project down, thus, you keep your productivity rate high, while remaining motivated.

Don’t Over Do it

Accepting too many clients than what you can actually handle is common mistake made not only among designers but also among other self-employed freelancers. When you accept too many clients, you begin to dislike what you do and therefore become unmotivated toward any project you get your hands on with the additional stress for overworking yourself.

While accepting many clients may not be a choice but rather a must to keep bills paid, try to accept larger projects and fewer clients to balance out the change. This increases the enjoyment of what you do as a profession, while keeping you motivated and focused.

Client Search

Sometimes we spend far too much time searching for future clientele rather than actually working on what we currently have going on. Not only is this a distraction, but it additionally causes delays for your ongoing projects which may cause stress when you begin to run out of time. Furthermore, instead of searching for clientele on workdays that should be spent on priority projects, try setting a day out of your week specifically for finding clientele.

This not only helps you stay focused on your projects but it also helps you stay focused on searching for clientele, making it a win-win situation. Remember, time organization is a key aspect to staying focused and being on time. Without time management or organization, procrastination comes to play which causes your schedule to fall apart.

Overall, remaining focused, as a designer is quite a challenge especially if you do not work with others such as a team to keep each other motivated. While these six methods may or may not work for you, they do help by providing you ideas to create your own methods that work for you and your environment to remain focused, which is key to remaining productive.

Our topic for today’s Design Reviver Answers news round-up is a question that was recently asked on PHP. And to be more specific the question was How Do I Show Different Content to Visitors From a Specific Country Using PHP?

Do you have an alternative solution, maybe a fresher technique? You can leave your comment below, or you can leave a your answer on the original question on Answers here

How Do I Show Different Content to Visitors From a Specific Country Using PHP?

This question was originally asked by a Devone, and you will find the best answer below:

The Best Answer came from an Unregistered User:

The Next Answer came from a Pablo G:

Unanswered Answers

That is now five weeks without any unanswered questions!!!

Thanks to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time and effort to offer helpful and useful answers.