BlogmyQuery – BMQ

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over two years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.

We continue to nourish you with a monthly spoon of inspiration. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for March 2012. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!

Please note that:

• All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
• You can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

Keep Running Up That Hill

"Keep working towards that new years resolution! Be it getting a promotion, learning a skill or getting fit, whatever it is – keep running!" Designed by Andy Patrick from Canada.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

I Love My Software

"Since it is my birthday this month, I decided to pay a little tribute to 3 softwares that pay my bills and have had made my a job a pleasure to be at :)." Designed by Rihards Gromuls from Latvia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Lucky Month

"A lucky Irish saying to make you go through St. Patrick’s month." Designed by Agathe Altwegg from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1200
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1200

Canoe By The Lake

Designed by Virginia Saint from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

The Smiley Collector

Designed by George Kasapis from Cyprus.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

The Golden Eyed Cat

Designed by Omer Faruk Ayranci from Turkey.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Ides Of March

"This is inspired by the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, that I read a few years ago in school." Designed by Mohammed Aaqib from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Waiting For Spring

"As days are getting longer again and the first few flowers start to bloom, we are all waiting for Spring to finally arrive. First day of Spring is marked in the calendar for you to remember :)." Designed by Naioo from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Good Morning

"Good morning!" Designed by Maja Bencic from Croatia.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 800×600, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 800×600, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Cookie Fun

Designed by Pietje Precies from The Netherlands.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

March Fusion

Designed by Rio Creativo from Poland.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Spring Creek

"A boy and a cat playing near the creek." Designed by Cheloveche.ru from Russia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Letter From Spring

"My calendar represents a dropped letter from spring who is leting us know that she is arriving and soon enogh. I chose the colors red and white because in Romania are some traditions related to this colors for the month of March." Designed by Miclaus Andreea from Romania.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

Hello Spring

Designed by Forsaken from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1080, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1080, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

The Spring

"Springtime!" Designed by Kris Koubaddy from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

8vo Gas

Designed by Octavo Designs from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Cyrkiel

Designed by Michal Michno from Poland.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Spring And Owl

Designed by Katerina Bobkova from Ukraine.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Shock The Monkey

"Shock the monkey to spring." Designed by Riccardo Salucco from Italy.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Marching Martians

"Mars, Martians and marching, all joined together in this wallpaper." Designed by Ron Gilad from Israel.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 640×960, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1152, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600, 2560×2048
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 640×960, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1152, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600, 2560×2048

Join In Next Month!

Please note that we respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

A big thank you to all designers for their participation. Join in next month!

What’s Your Favourite?

What’s your favorite theme or wallpaper for this month? Please let us know in the comment section below.

Stay creative and keep on smashing!

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial Team for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

Yes, the brand new Smashing Book #3 is coming. The printing press is warming up, the illustrations are finished, and the chapters are being proofread. This third book is the best printed book we’ve produced so far: it is a valuable, cutting-edge, high-quality printed book that any Web designer should have on their bookshelf. This time, we’ve also prepared an extra book 3⅓ that offers even more exclusive content.

We’re releasing two new printed books: the main Smashing Book 3 and Smashing Book 3⅓. Both are available as a print bundle, as eBooks and as a complete print + eBooks Bundle.

Pre-order now and add your name into the printed book: a double-page spread has been reserved to print out all of the names of the pre-sale buyers. We will contact you in March 2012 and ask you for the name you would like to have published within the book. Space is limited, so you’d better hurry up!

What’s In The Smashing Book 3?

Unlike its predecessors, the new Smashing Book #3 has a theme: Redesign. It is a professional guide on how to redesign websites and it also introduces a whole new mindset for progressive Web design. In this ever-changing Web design industry, the book challenges you to think differently about your work and will change the way you design websites forever.

A detailed look at the business and technical side of redesign is followed by a comprehensive overview of advanced HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript techniques that you can use today. You will get useful advice on innovative UX techniques, learn about the peculiarities of mobile context in Web design and discover appropriate Photoshop techniques. You’ll study a practical hands-on guide to a bulletproof workflow for responsive Web design. Finally, you will also dive deep into emotional design, content strategy and storytelling.

Table of Contents

Gallery of the authors of the Smashing Book #3.

Well-respected professionals have poured their heart and expertise into these contributions. To ensure the quality of the book, every chapter of the book has been thoroughly reviewed by experts including Jon Hicks, Tab Atkins, Paul Irish, Russ Weakley, Peter-Paul Koch, Bryan Rieger, Joshua Porter, Ryan Carson and Elliot Jay Stocks. Please notice that some details (e.g. titles of the chapters, the number of pages, etc.) may slightly change until release date.

A detail of a chapter illustration, designed by Kate McLelland.

Extra Book: Smashing Book #3â…“ — The Extension

Our authors have turned out to be much more productive than we anticipated and have produced more exciting chapters than one book could handle. Adding these chapters to the book would have increased its size and weight — and, hence, shipping cost — substantially.

Not wanting to withhold these chapters, we have decided to release them separately. We are proud to present an extra book, Smashing Book #3â…“ — The Extension, filled with four additional chapters of quick quality reading!

Gallery of the authors of the Smashing Book #3â…“.

About Smashing Book #3â…“

With Web design, we can do much more than inform the audience. The power of storytelling and content strategy is in creating engaging, emotional connections that transcend their platforms. In this book, we will review emerging navigation design patterns and understand how to employ a content strategy — which is an important process, often underestimated and dependent on many factors. A case study of Smashing Magazine’s responsive redesign beautifully illustrates what this approach could look like in practice.

Features Of The Smashing Books 3 + 3â…“

• Two separate printed books.
• 11 + 4 chapters, written by Web design experts.
• Quality flexibound cover (lighter than hardcover, heavier than softcover), with stitched binding and a ribbon page marker.
• Smashing Book #3: approx. 320 pages, 165 × 240 mm (6.5 × 9.5 inches).
• Delivery from Berlin, Germany, via air mail only (3 to 15 working days).
• $5 shipping per delivery (even if you buy both books!).
• Also available as eBooks (PDF, EPUB, Kindle).
• Release scheduled in the last weeks of April 2012.
• Pre-ordering starts today, with up to 30% off!

We’ll soon be releasing two new printed books: the main Smashing Book #3 and Smashing Book #3⅓. Both are available as a print bundle, as eBooks and as a complete print + eBooks Bundle.

Why The Theme Of Redesign?

The reason is simple. In recent years, the Web has changed a lot. The Web designer’s tools now are advanced, and browsers are highly capable. Designers have established clever coding and design techniques, and they are facing new challenges and embracing new technologies. These changes are fundamental and require us to reconsider how we approach Web design. It’s time to rethink and reinvent: it is time to redesign the Web.

But are we all prepared for this? How does responsive design fit into your workflow? What UX and mobile techniques do you follow when designing websites? And if you have a redesign project on the horizon, how do you approach it and work your way through it? This is what the Smashing Book #3 is all about: it explains what you need to know to create effective websites today, and what you need to know to be prepared for the future.

Exclusive Artwork and Design

The Smashing Book series has gotten a rather eye-catching facelift. The well-respected Belgian artist Veerle Pieters has taken on the significant task of putting together an innovative, bold cover design. And the result is bold indeed. Veerle’s styling of Smashing Magazine’s “S� reflects the many aspects that make up a Web designer’s workflow today.

Veerle’s recent sketches for the cover of the Smashing Book #3.

Veerle’s recent sketches for the cover of the Smashing Book #3.

If you have Smashing Books 1 and 2, you’ll know that animals play a distinct role — forming almost a tradition for the series. This time, we have asked the talented young illustrator Kate McLelland to illustrate the introductory pages for all of the chapters. Kate has been impressively creative in her designs; the theme of redesign has obviously shaped the tone of her artwork. Each chapter begins with an elaborate drop cap.

A detail of a chapter illustration, designed by Kate McLelland.

Each illustration employs a different metaphor that relates to the accompanying chapter. Try to see what they all are once you get your hands on the book. Appropriately enough, when strung together, the drop caps spell out “Redesign the Web.� The composite style of the illustrations reflects how so many components have to come together for a successful redesign.

Pre-Order Now And Get Your Name In The Book!

As with the Smashing Book #2, we’ve decided to print the names of our readers right in the pages of the Smashing Book #3. A double-page spread has been reserved to print out all of the names of the pre-sale buyers. We will contact you in March 2012 and ask you for the name you would like to have published within the book. The names will make up the Smashing Magazine logo: ASCII art at its best! Space is limited, so you’d better hurry up!

Please note: the sooner you order your copy, the higher the discount. With a pre-sale purchase, you can save up to 30%:

• Pre-order Smashing Book #3 printed book for $27.90,
• Pre-order Smashing Books #3 and #3â…“ bundle (both printed books) for $37.80,
• Pre-order Smashing Books #3 and #3â…“ eBook bundle (both eBooks) for $13.90,
• Pre-order full Smashing Book #3 and #3â…“ bundle (both printed books + both eBooks) for $49.90.

The books will be sent via air mail, and delivery should take no longer than 3 to 15 working days. Shipping starts in Berlin, Germany, and ends at your front door. If you run into trouble or have questions about your order, please don’t hesitate to contact our customer service or send us a tweet @SmashingSupport — we’d love to help out!

We’re releasing two new printed books: the main Smashing Book 3 and Smashing Book 3⅓. Both are available as a print bundle, as eBooks and as a complete print + eBooks Bundle.

FAQ

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the Smashing Books #3 and #3â…“:

Content-Related Questions

• What’s the difference between Smashing Books 1, 2 and 3?
  The first two books covered best practices in modern Web design; although they had similarities, the two books covered different areas of Web design. Smashing Book #3 has a particular theme: redesign. It covers both the redesign process per se as well as cutting-edge approaches to Web design on a broader scale. It focuses on the most recent developments and the current demands of today’s rapidly changing environment. Smashing Book #3 gives professional advice on the what, when and how of responsive and bulletproof Web design, according to the requirements of today’s Web.
• Is Smashing Book #3 a completely new book?
  Yes, all of the content has been written from scratch, and all of the chapters have been written exclusively for this book.
• What’s this extra Smashing Book #3â…“?
  Our authors have turned out to be much more productive than we anticipated, coming up with more exciting chapters than one book could handle. Adding these chapters to the book would have increased the size and weight — and, hence, shipping cost — substantially. Not wanting to withhold these chapters, we have decided to release them separately. We are proud to present the Smashing Book #3â…“ — The Extension, four extra chapters of quick quality reading. Buy it as part of a bundle and save!
• Will the book be available in other languages?
  Maybe, but we have no plans for that yet, so don’t hold your breath.
• Will Smashing Books #3 and #3â…“ be available as eBooks?
  Yes, the books will be available in PDF, EPUB and MobiPocket, and you can pre-order an eBook bundle today.

You can find detailed shipping costs and delivery times in the Smashing Shop.

Purchasing-Related Questions

• What are the costs for shipping to my country?
  The shipping cost for one book or a bundle is $5 — wherever you are in the world. We are paying a share of the shipping costs ourselves to make it possible for anyone to purchase the book. Our prices are transparent: we don’t have any hidden costs, and we won’t confuse you with tricky calculations. What you see is what you pay!
• How long will delivery take to my country?
  All books will be shipped via air mail to keep delivery times as short as possible. You can find the anticipated delivery time for your country in the delivery times overview.
• What payment methods are accepted?
  We accept PayPal, VISA, MasterCard and American Express. We use a secure connection, with 256-bit AES encryption and a green GeoTrust Extended Validation SSL CA certificate.
• Is there a money-back guarantee?
  Yes, absolutely! No risk is involved. Our 100-day full money-back guarantee keeps you safe. Don’t hesitate to return your purchase. You’ll get your money back — no ifs, ands or buts about it.
• I can’t pre-order now. Will you inform me when the book is available?
  No problem. Just subscribe to our email newsletter, and we will let you know when the book is published (probably mid to late April 2012)!
• I have a question that is not covered here.
  Please leave a comment below, or get in touch with us via the contact form or @SmashingSupport on Twitter. We would love to help you in any way we can!

We’re releasing two new printed books: the main Smashing Book 3 and Smashing Book 3⅓. Both are available as a print bundle, as eBooks and as a complete print + eBooks Bundle.

© Smashing Editorial Team for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

Every now and then, we release useful freebies for all of our highly valued readers. Today, it is our pleasure to present to you Cuberto‘s fantastic St. Valentine’s icon set  —  exclusively designed for Smashing Magazine and its loyal readers. The icons presented are available in transparent PNGs as well as Photoshop PSDs (128×128 px) and are perfect for any projects you have coming up for St. Valentine’s Day. Enjoy!

Download the Set for free!

This icon set is completely free to use for commercial or personal applications without any restrictions. Please link to this article if you want to spread the word.

• large preview
• download the .zip-package (.zip, 2 Mb)

Initial sketches of Cuberto’s St. Valentine’s icon set.

Quick preview of the icons in the set.

Behind the Design

As always, here are some insights from the designers:

“Our goal was not only to create nice icons but also a functional set that can be used in navigation elements as well as gifts throughout social networks on the upcoming sweet Valentine’s day. Please link to this article if you want to spread the word.”
 —  Peace and Love

Thanks Cuberto, we sincerely appreciate your time and your intentions!

(il)

© Smashing Editorial Team for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over two years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.

We continue to nourish you with a monthly spoon of inspiration. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for February 2012. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!

Please note that:

• All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
• You can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

Colored Edge

"For February, the month of spring, love and 29 days." Designed by Rahul.s from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1440×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 800×600, 1680×1200, 1920×1200

Hungry Owl

"February, just one more cold month.. :)." Designed by Katerina Bobkova from Ukraine.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Hot Drinks

"Which drink will you choose to make you feel better during the cold season?" Designed by Agathe Altwegg from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1200

Bold

Designed by Elisabetta Borseti from Italy.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

February Prison Break

"We suggest – do not mess with February." Designed by Marek GuziÑ�ski From Rio Creativo from Poland.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2540×1440
• without calendar: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2540×1440

All You Need Is Love

"Love is all you need." Designed by Kaspars Dedzis from Latvia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

February Splashes

Designed by Roland Szabу from Hungary.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Penguin Hockey

"No coward plays hockey!" Designed by Cheloveche.ru from Russia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Mr. & Ms. Nice

Designed by Diana Morgado from Portugal.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Jealous Much?

"Calendar for February 2012." Designed by Annabelle Bay from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×240, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×240, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Heartbroken

"Illustrated wallpaper for february on the theme of heartbreak.1920 x 1200." Designed by Danae Botha from South Africa.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

The Shortest Month

Designed by Forsaken from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Kids And Dragon

"My drawings are mostly black-and-white and the year of the Black Dragon inspired me to start drawing another picture. Let the Dragon this year be friendly and playful ;)." Designed by Jelena Tљekulajeva from Estonia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Heart On A String

"For hopeless romantics that let others play with their heart." Designed by Jacob Giesler from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

A Shadow’s Chance

"A nod at Groundhog Day! The artwork provided with a calendar has a winter color, because the groundhog sees his shadow which means six more weeks of winter. And the other (Green) has no calendar and no shadow which denotes anearly spring." Designed by Joseph Brooks from United States.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1080, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

Be Mine

"A cutsie calendar theme." Designed by Sandi | Pop Up Factory.com from Toronto, ON, Canada.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050

It’s The Love Signal

"Let’s beam our love to the universe!" Designed by Lew Su-ann from Brunei Darussalam.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Winter Church

Designed by Pietje Precies from The Netherlands.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Lock Your Love

"February is the month of couples and love, so if you do have that one special person in your life! Then this would be the prefect month to show how much you love her or him :)." Designed by Rihards Gromuls from Latvia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Cyclops Encounter

"I am a big fan of the Odyssey. Cyclopses are awesome." Designed by Glorm from Canada.

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• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1400×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1400×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Gloomy Light

"Sometimes we ever feel’s like useless, moody, gloomy, that’s so sadly. Maybe it just like an old gloomy paper effect on my calendar template. But, we can change it with give it colors, this year our life will be not far from heaviness like our years before, just bright it up and make a colors in your moody days!" Designed by Dwi Prastika from Indonesia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1440

Chillout

"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, where you will not be online…" Designed by Chilid Interactive Agency from Poland.

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• with calendar: 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1440

All You Need Is Love

"The Beatles said it best! Love is all you need." Designed by Allison Brown from Canada.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Fight For You

"This valentine we should fight for the ones we love." Designed by Tonie Tannous from Lebanon.

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• with calendar: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Ice Melted

"Ice melted is coming back soon." Designed by Yank from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1200

Load Time

"What Scott Adams means about load time." Designed by Fredrik Jensen from Norway.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Love Is In The Air

Designed by Andreas Sofantzis from Greece.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Join In Next Month!

Please note that we respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

A big thank you to all designers for their participation. Join in next month!

What’s Your Favourite?

What’s your favorite theme or wallpaper for this month? Please let us know in the comment section below! We are looking forward to your submissions next month!

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial Team for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

Every now and then, we look around, select fresh free high-quality fonts and present them to you in a brief overview. The choice is enormous, so the time you need to find them is usually time you should be investing in your projects. We search for them and find them so that you don’t have to.

In this selection, we’re pleased to present Homestead, Bree Serif, Levanderia, Valencia, Nomed Font, Carton and other quality fonts. Please note that while most fonts are available for commercial projects, some are for personal use only and are clearly marked as such in their descriptions. Also, please read the licensing agreements carefully before using the fonts; they may change from time to time.

Free Fonts

Homestead
Homestead is a very distinctive Slab Serif typeface that leaves a lasting impression with its geometric forms and a modern, progressive look. The family is available in 6 weights: Regular, Inline Display, One, Two and Three. Released by the Lost Type foundry with the “name-your-price” pricing scheme. Homestead can be used freely for any personal or commercial use.

Bree Serif Regular
This typeface is the serif cousin of the playful, charming and versatile type family Bree which was designed by Veronika Burian and José Scaglione back in 2008. Actually, Bree is also the typeface used in the Smashing Cartoons. An italic font weight of Bree Serif should be available very soon. Released under the liberal OFL license (via Typografie.info).

Lavanderia
Lavanderia is a script font based on lettering found on Laundromat windows of San Francisco’s Mission District. It features numerous OpenType features such as swashes, titling alternates, figures, stylistic alternates, ligatures. It is available in three weights, with Uppercase, Lowercase, Numerals and Punctuation sets. Designed by the talented type designer James T. Edmondson and released by the Lost Type Co-Op foundry. Free for personal and commercial use.

RBNo2
This new gothic sans serif font was inspired by the late 19th century industrial fonts that contained german roots regarding straightness and geometry. Combined with other sans serifs, slab serifs and serif fonts, it catches the eye when used in headlines and short copy texts. Alternate versions turn the font into a perfect partner for modern, technical and contemporary impressions as well as high-quality, luxury and timeless environments. Free to use in commercial and non-commercial projects. Designed by Rene Bieder.

Cassannet
Cassannet is a geometrical art deco typeface available in Regular, Bold and Outline weights, based on lettering seen on Cassandre posters. This typeface contains ligatures, capitals, numbers, small capitals and also titling alternates. You can pay a random amount of money or alternatively send out a tweet or a Facebook post to download the fonts for free.

Valencia
Valencia is a condensed, art-deco inspired typeface that includes five weights, ranging from hairline to black, with matching obliques for each weight. The typeface has a nice corporate vintage look which makes it a great fit for large headlines and prints as well as any collateral or stationery. Valencia’s distinctive appearance stems from its low horizontal crossbars and its full-circle curves. Released by the Lost-Type Co-Op foundry with the “name-your-price” pricing scheme and hence freely available for personal and commercial use.

Jura
Jura is an elegant serif typeface with narrow proportions and distinguishing details. The rounded, wedge-shaped serifs offer a contemporary feel and also achieve to maintain legibility even with its range of small sizes. This typeface is available in four weights: Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic and is available for free download and use.

Nomed Font
Nomed Font is a free typeface that can help you achieve a modern and sophisticated look in your designs. The triangular geometric shapes may be a bit hard to read but that’s exactly the highlight of this particular style, and it makes the typography unique and original.

Carton
This typeface, designed by Nick McCosker, is a strong yet sensitive slab-serif inspired by letterpress. Its sturdy appearance makes it a perfect fit for posters, headings and taglines, in both classic and contemporary contexts. Released by the Lost Type Co-Op under the “name-your-price” pricing scheme.

Novecento (Registration on MyFonts is required!)
This typeface is an uppercase-only font family with some pretty impressive geometric forms that have been inspired by historical European typographic tendencies. It was designed to be used mostly for headlines, visual identities or short sentences — both in big and small sizes. The family contains 471 glyphs and 32 font weights whereas six of the font weights of the wide-version (Light, Book, Normal, Medium, Demibold and Bold) are available for free download and use.

Fjord
Fjord is serif typeface that has specifically been designed for book publications. It is intended to be used in long texts and in relatively small print size. Fjord features sturdy construction, prominent serifs, low-contrast modulation and long elegant ascenders as well as descenders relative to the ‘x’ height. Fjord performs well in sizes starting from 12px and higher; nevertheless, it can also be a distinctive font choice for larger text headlines and in corporate design. This serif typeface include Cyrillic and Greek characters and is available at Google Web Fonts. It has been released under the SIL Open Font License, 1.1. Feel free to take a look at the designer’s free font Armata as well.

Hero
Hero is a crisp geometrical typeface applicable for any type of use: print, Web, logos, posters, booklets. This typeface contains 162 characters and is free for personal and commercial use. Available in the OpenType format for PC and Mac.

Otama e.p.
Here’s a quite confident typeface to use for expensive and fashionable designs. Strong steams and thin serifs shows similarities to the well-known traditional Didot typeface. This typeface is free for personal and commercial use.

Ribbon
This typeface is a geometric display face which includes OpenType features for an alternate alphabet. The family contains sets for Uppercase, Numerals and Punctuation. Released by the Lost Type Co-Op under the “name-your-price” pricing scheme and designed by Dan Gneiding. If you decide to buy the font for $30 or more, you will get a beautiful Ribbon Specimen Book as well.

Movavi
Movavi is a sans serif font that is available only in the font weights Black and Black Italic. Obviously, the typeface wouldn’t work for body copy, but it might work nicely in short headings or “groovy” art works. Available for free download and use on PC and Mac.

Satellite
Satellite is a geometric sans serif font designed by Matt Yow. The typeface can be a great fit for short headlines, short body copy or slogans. Released under the SIL Open Font License.

Open Sans
Open Sans is a very clean font family by Ascender Fonts. It includes ten styles (Light, Regular, Italic, Semibold, Bold, Bold Italic, Extrabold) and each one consists of more than 900 glyphs: Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, many of the regular diacrytic letters as well as “hanging” numbers. Also available at Google Web Fonts and released under the Apache License version 2.

Mosaic Leaf
The glyphs of this expressive typeface are built out of leaves of different sizes. Mosaic Leaf also contains numbers, punctuation and currency symbols. The .zip-package contains PDF, OTF and TTF files; the fonts support Western and Central European encoding, and also Baltic, Nordic and Turkish. The typeface is free to use in commercial and non-commercial projects. Designed and prepared by Lukasz Kulakowski and Zbyszek Czapnik.

Amaranth
Amaranth is a sans serif font family of four basic styles (regular, italic, bold, bold italic) with individually shaped letter forms that makes typeface more playful. Suitable for both Web and print, longer texts and headings. Available at Google Web Fonts and licensed under the SIT OpenType License. Image credit and source: dersven.

Siruca Pictograms
A pictogram open source font made as a part of Siruca signage system designed by Fabrizio Schiavi. The font contains many picograms related to sport, signage, home, social meetings, free time activities and business.

Erler Dingbats
For the first time in the entire history of Unicode standard, the full encoding range for dingbats is now covered by a complete, contemporary quality font. FF Dingbats 2.0 features more than 800 glyphs and is mainly a tool for professional designers and has been created for everyday communication purposes. It includes a wide range of popular symbols and pictograms such as arrows, pens, phones, stars, crosses and checkmarks, plus three sets of cameo figures on round backgrounds. Free of charge. (via fontblog)

Further Free Fonts

SD Sansimillia
SD Sansimillia is a playful, yet elegant typeface suitable for many different applications. Originally cut for a local advertising brand, SD Sansimillia is inspired by the Antenna Family built by Cyrus Highsmith in 2007 as well as Erik Spiekermann’s FF Din Family cut in 1994. It is issued in regular, bold and black weights.

Mimic Roman
Mimic Roman is a modern sans serif face with evenly balanced strokes and a counter on a slight angle, giving it a 1950s retro look.

Roboto
Roboto Family is a linear sans serif font, available in 8 different styles of which each includes more than 900 glyphs — Greek and Cyrillic, too. This font was designed by Google for Andorid and is licensed under the Google Android License.

Mate
An elegant serif font designed by Eduardo Tunni. This typeface was primarily designed to be used in longer body copies in printed material. It is simple in structure and has sharp as well as generous counter-shapes which create a medium texture that calls for page color. It can also be used as display typography and is available at Google Web Fonts.

Last Click

Shape Type
If you are passionate about typography and have fun experimenting with glyphs, then you will certainly like the rather unusual type-design game created by the interaction designer Mark MacKay. The idea of this JavaScript-based letter-shaping game is simple: you get 10 modified letters from various classic typefaces, and you have to try to make them right by dragging curves along their axes. It’s an engaging way to explore what makes or breaks a glyph.

Font-Bot Project
It is time for your favorite font to stand its ground. The idea is to build robots out of a type face, showcase them and hope others put together a potential opponent. Once there are two font-bots ready to compete against each other, only thing left would be to “let the battle begin!” Participating is not hard, the rules are clear: all robots must be built of type alone (letters A to Z). Let’s see if your font has what it takes to defend its corner. Fight!

Further Resources

• Lost Type Co-Op
  The Lost Type Co-Op is a Pay-What-You-Want Type foundry. Users have the opportunity to pay whatever they like for a font; you can type in ‘$0′ for a free download. 100% of all funds from these sales go directly to the designers of the fonts themselves, respectively.
• The League of Moveable Type
  The open-source type movement for bringing high-quality tyepfaces to the Web. The creators of the project keep releasing quality fonts every now and then so be sure to stay tuned!
• Google Web Fonts
  A growing directory of hundreds of free, open-source fonts optimized for the Web. Google also provides ready-to-use snippets for integrating the fonts to your website.
• Typography and Free Fonts on Smashing Magazine
  An overview of typography-related articles and free font round-ups on Smashing Magazine.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort of all type designers featured in this post. Please keep in mind that type design is a time-consuming craft which truly deserves reward and support. Please consider supporting type designers who create and release amazing typefaces for all of us to use.

(vf) (il)

© Smashing Editorial Team for Smashing Magazine, 2012.