BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Nature is a popular subject amongst the Photoshop community, and subsequently is featured in a lot of photo manipulation work. Nature is really the perfect subject for photo manipulations as it’s so visually engaging. Think of the four elements, or a beautiful landscape, or a fierce animal. All these things are products of nature, and all of them are visually engaging.

When done right, integrating nature into your Photoshop work can produce some truly fantastic works. That’s why today we’ve compiled a range of incredible photo manipulations based around the theme of nature to inspire you. Each of these works is beautiful in it’s own right, but try to notice recurring patterns amongst them. Most of them have vibrant colors, great lighting and a keen sense of detail. It’s also worth noting how often various elements of nature can combine to produce wonderful results (for example the fusion of fire and water).

Example of Photo Manipulations Featuring Nature:

Our Kingdom
A very striking photo manipulation that makes great use of light effects. The central lion and horses actually take on the appearance of a light painting, and their eerie glow gives them an aura-like feel. The gold on black color palette works beautifully, and helps the detail lighting and smoke effects really pop. The swirling whirlpool in the center of the piece draws the eye, and provides a huge amount of depth, giving the impression of an endless abyss.

Out of Frame Nature
A bold and vibrant photo manipulation, this composition uses an out of frame technique to make it more unique. Water has been manipulated to pour out of a central hanging frame, whilst a mix of various photographs/landscapes are combined to create a scenic environment.

Ice Queen
This photo manipulation really makes you feel the chill! Using a limited blue/white color palette and some great icy effects the final piece is really engaging. The glowing central figure is what draws our eye, as most of the lighting in the piece is centered around her. The surrounding environment has been constructed by blending multiple winter landscapes to create a fantasy background. Ice textures have been applied over the entire composition to give an added layer of detail and distress.

Animal Textured Typography
A really creative concept, using various animal textures and surfaces to construct unique animal typography. Each letter has been hand designed, with some cool 3D effects, great lighting and huge varieties in surface. Extra visual elements have been included to really capture the character and life of each animal (for example trunks, tongues and tails).

Illuminati
Illuminati is a striking photo manipulation featuring a neon-lit owl. A lot of work has gone into this composition, as you can tell from the beautiful details of the background texture to the subtle nature of the lighting. The generally grayscale color palette gives extra emphasis to the colored, glowing lights weaving around the owl, as well as the creature’s piercing eyes. The owl itself has been given a hand-drawn effect, using a variety of Photoshop brushes and filters.

Ascendii Nature
A busy, yet effective photo manipulation, combining various places and scenes into a single cohesive piece. There’s some great blending happening in this piece, such as the tree branches enveloping the earth and the addition of leaves/plants over the doorway. Overall this composition is fun and fantasy filled!

Volcano
This photo manipulation is a relatively simple concept, but is executed beautifully. The base of the volcano is blending perfectly into the man’s hair, and the artist has even made the lava flick out like a stray strand of hair to complete the look. The attention to detail is great, as light from the burning lava is cast down onto the man’s head. The contrast between the vibrancy of the volcano and the washed out man’s face also creates a nice level of contrast.

“Tree House”
One of my absolute favorite nature themed photo manipulations. The artist has constructed an artificial floating landscape from various stock photos, and then seamlessly blended them together. He carefully extracted several tree routes to give an overgrown effect, and finished off the piece by applying a subtle paper texture – giving a final fantasy storybook feel.

Rapture
Rapture is a fairly famous photo manipulation, and it’s not hard to see why! The details and colors of this piece are simply astonishing. The artist has photo manipulated the tree branches to break off and float up into the sky, defying the laws of gravity. Combined with the light source coming from the top of the composition we imagine some alien presence pulling the man and branches upwards. Further focus on the man is given by the glow of the background landscape and sharper highlights on his torso.

Jellyfish Typography
Beautifully lit typography comprised entirely of jellyfish! The artist has photo manipulated dozens of jellyfish to construct lettering, and then applied additional lighting and coloring to bring out the natural glow of the deep sea creatures. A cool example of how nature carries with it a lot of natural beauty.

Sing
An awesome photo manipulation that constructs a woman entirely from flower petals. I love how the petals range in size from fairly large in the foreground, to absolutely tiny in some of the facial details. The end result feels light and airy, and the soft pastel colors make this very easy on the eyes. You can see that a lot of work has gone into shading and shaping the petals to create realistic depth and surface. Further detail is provided by some colorful sketchy lines in the background.

Kreativa Studio Lettering
Kreativa Studio have come up with a unique typographic photo manipulation featuring several elements of nature. They’ve done really well to capture the varying densities, textures and lighting of nature’s elements. The water feels deep, blue and gaseous, whilst the greenery feels lush and healthy. I like how the letter seems to contain an entire world, including cloudy sky, sun and even ships! This piece is elevated by the attention to detail, such as the thin stream of water gushing out of a crack in the side of the lettering. The lighting is also effective, as the light from the underwater scene illuminates the surface which the letter rests on.

Mother Nature
Mother Nature is a beautiful natural composition with plenty of great details. The woman’s hair has been blended with glowing strands of grass, and further grass has been applied for accessories such as her bracelets. The rich green color palette gives an overbearing natural feel to the piece.

Unleashed
Unleashed is a dark and vibrant photo manipulation. The floating tiger heads really capture the ferocity of the animal, and the lighting/lightening effects swooping up with them add to their energy. Interestingly the tigers have been places in an incongruous space setting. However, despite the unusual setting the composition is really beautiful, using a beautiful rich purple color palette with stunning blue highlights.

Tidal Wave
Taking note from The Day After Tomorrow this is a photo manipulation of epic proportions! Photoshop has been used to show the true destructive force of nature as a monster wave washes through a huge bridge. The artist has skillfully combined two images of vastly different dimensions to construct a fantasy scenario. Most impressive is how cohesive the lighting is, making the outcome truly believable. I also like the attention to detail shown in the extra splashes of water as the wave hits the bridge.

Zen
Zen is a magical photo manipulation that truly distorts the laws of physics. The floating rocky landscape feels very dreamlike, which is accentuated by the subtle fog cast over the scene. The colors have been blended well to give everything a slight pink/purple hue, and the varying sizes of floating rock help establish a lot of depth/perspective.

Isla
I’ve seen this photo manipulation concept attempted a few times, but this is surely one of the more successful outcomes. Plenty of details are introduced to make the underwater hippo more believable. Take a look at the subtle bubbles coming from his mouth, the clouds of sand where he’s moved his feet and the lighting cast upon him from the water.

Beach Disaster
Another cool natural disaster scene that’s been constructed entirely in Photoshop. This composition features a tidal wave, which has been blended well with the surrounding beach scene. It’s also inspiring to check out the photo-manipulated sand castle, whereby an actual castle has been manipulated to look like it’s constructed from sand. The running children and splashes from the young boy add an extra dimension of energy and panic to the scene.

Heaven
The title of this photo-manipulation is really fitting, as this composition instantly suggests freedom and peace. The true color and vivacity of nature is captured in the bright, vibrant flowers that weave around the woman. The implication is that the woman is truly at one with nature, as it flows around and through her. The piece is accentuated by the pastel, abstract background and subtle clouds overlapping the dancer.

Wall
Wall is a stunning photo manipulation used for an Advanced Photoshop tutorial. The composition combines several wooden crates, each which is covered with it’s own natural landscape. The detail in this piece is immense, including detailed windows with light flooding out of them, openings emitting bubbles, and paint splattering outwards. The design has a lot of depth, in part due to it’s intense shadows and highlights. The eye is drawn naturally down the design to the chair at the base. A great example of using shapes, size and perspective!

Mother Nature
A really impressive manipulation, that you actually have to look at closer to fully appreciate. The overall composition is vibrant and attractive. However, the real mastery lies in the central figure, which has been artfully constructed using many branch/root stocks. The way that the artist has blended, warped and adjusted these branches into a realistic wooden figure is really inspiring.

Fire Flower
This burning flower is a wonderful example of combining several elements of nature. The two concepts of flower and fire would not usually be associated with one another, yet once combined they create a piece that is both elegant and intense/ominous. The plain background really lets you focus on the intense flames and lighting coming from them. I love the subtle use of sparks/light speks on the petals.

Element
Element is a beautiful typography illustration that has a very natural feel to it. The artist has manipulated branches to construct elegant lettering. They have then shaded/lit the lettering expertly, and introduced further elements such as the leaves, grass, sculpture and bird. This is a good example of how photo manipulation can really capture the texture and essence of an entity. You can almost reach out and grab the branches, and they don’t appear the least bit fake.

Keep on Fire
Keep on Fire is one of those photo manipulations that puts you right in the middle of the action. From the falling statue figure to the fierce flames we really feel the intensity of the scene. The juxtaposition of fire and water is a great visual combination, seamlessly integrating both natural elements into a cohesive piece. The lighting in the piece is superb, as the amber flames cast out a subtle glow on the surrounding rocks and figures.

Nature
Another bright and vibrant piece combining multiple elements of nature. This design has manipulated flowing waterfalls, cloud formations and trees to combine to a fantasy sky landscape. The background is unrealistically bright and colorful, yet helps enhance the fantasy setting. Elements are well blended together, retaining the sharpness and movement of the flowing water rather than over-blurring or masking it.

Contemplation
Contemplation is a very detailed photo manipulation and integrates several natural elements. The entire central structure is set against a scenic backdrop, whilst the buddha sits amidst a dazzling variety of flowers, scrubs and falling leaves. The design uses a very naturalistic, autumnal color palette, ranging from deep yellows/oranges to rich greens.

Wildlife Poster
This photo manipulation is for a fictional wildlife TV show. The central zebra has been masked off using various splatter brush sets in Photoshop to create a grungy, abstract edge for the animal. The backdrop is a glowing African landscape, enhanced by details such as the subtle zebra stripes overlaid, as well as a build up of light effects to draw your focus towards the center of the design.

The Choice
One of my all time favorite photo manipulations concerning nature. The message created is clear – a choice between a lush natural landscape or one destroyed by the actions of man. The piece is visually striking, with great contrast between the verdant greens of the right half, and the orange flames and barren gray landscape on the left. The two halves have been blended really well, with details such as the overlap of leaves, or the light cast by the flames showing how the two halves leak into one another.

Extraordinary Island
Another photo manipulation that distorts reality. The artist has created a hugely detailed natural island, which is all but submerged in a tumultuous sea. The perspective and angle of the sea is clearly impossible, yet works really well as part of a fantasy landscape. Further depth is added by the birds flocking towards the island, which through their larger size help establish perspective (especially when compared to the animals on land).

One With Nature
One With Nature is exactly what the title suggests – an epic photo manipulation that truly integrates man with nature. Almost every part of the model has been worked into the natural setting in some way, from his afro hair (constructed from a hedge), to his central core, entwined around the earth. The details and lighting on this piece are really engaging, and the floating leaves help to establish depth and movement. The sharp glowing edges on the man give more definition and impact.

Collegium
Collegium is a bright and vibrant photo manipulation that uses the earth as the central focus. The artist has constructed various landmasses stemming out from the water, which are clearly of unrealistic proportions. However, the final result is really fun and friendly, and has plenty of depth. I love how the fantasy world moves from a tropical paradise at the top, to a desolate frozen land at the bottom. Interestingly the rays of light from the upper left logo are continued out to light the entire piece.

Act
A hugely creative concept that really captures the essence of nature. The idea of holding nature in your hands helps to make it palpable and comprehensible. I love the 3D effect given to the water in the bottom hand, which is especially impressive if you notice all the floating debris and detail in the water. The pouring water coming from the top hand is artfully done, and creates a really natural transition between the two nature scenes.

Striking Nature Scene
A deceptively detailed photo manipulation. The man’s torso has been constructed by many layers of weaving tree branches, which blend down seamlessly into a root formation. The muted colors of the piece ensure that you focus on the central figure, and the weaving tree routes help guide your eye this way.

Nature’s Defiance
This piece creates a great juxtaposition between the man-made and the natural. Ultimately it is nature who wins in this scenario, as the huge tree overwhelms the urban surroundings. The composition effectively positions nature as superior to man in several ways. Aside from the obvious size of the tree, it is clearly more colorful than the duller surroundings (thus it draws the eye more). Additionally the swirling light effect around the trunk of the tree gives the structure a magical element which sets it apart from the boring surroundings.

Earthcology
This bright, verdant composition uses a pink butterfly to form part of this planet’s structure. Everything from the lighting the color palette has been amplified to make this piece stand out, and it’s really effective. The detail in the butterfly is immense, including a series of complex patterns that appear to have been superimposed over the wings. The various bushes and trees constructing the planet have been blending and warped to form a realistic planet structure, which is surrounded by a bright glow, helping it stand out even more against the dark blue background.

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As designers we’re always looking for new fonts to integrate into our designs. Adding new fonts to your library can often help inspire you, giving a fresh feel to your designs. Unfortunately it can be really hard to locate quality free fonts amidst the thousands of mediocre ones.

Luckily we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of professional free fonts to enhance your designs. We’ve left out all the ‘filler’ fonts you find in a lot of roundups, so that every font below is really high quality and applicable.

The Fonts

Muli

Code Pro

Claire Hand

Knubbel

Rokkitt

Speedway

FF Sero

Anivers

Calluna Sans

Geotica

Museo

Museo Sans

Museo Slab

Clutchee

Chunk

St Transmission

Delicious

Cube 02

League Gothic

Deja Rip

Jura

PT Sans

Melbourne

Bebas Neue

Nevis

St Ryde

Maven Pro

Aller

Colaborate

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Typography is the art or technique of arranging type. It’s a broad medium, covering areas such as typeface selection, line length, line spacing, kerning, tracking, and of course wider design features such as color, lighting etc…

Typography is a growing phenomenon amongst graphic designers, many of whom have gone beyond the basic placement of lettering, and turned typography pieces into their own works of art. Often typography designs feature elements of photo manipulation, light effects and even 3D elements. Today we bring you a collection of highly inspiring typography designs, showing just how far the medium can be pushed. These pieces are all works of art in their own right, and we encourage you to go and check out each artist’s portfolio.

The Type

Heartbreak
Heartbreak is a clever concept, whereby the word ‘heart’ is clearly visible, whilst the ‘break’ is implied through a graphical means. The text shatter effect is the basis for this complex, detailed typographic design, and the shattering shards help add great depth to the piece as they appear to be firing out towards the viewer. The colors have been carefully selected and the transitions between blue hues and reds is smooth and attractive.

Desire
A simple, yet effective typographic design. This type appears to have been handdrawn and then colored in Photoshop. The calligraphic nature of the letters gives the text an archaic feel, whilst the painted effect used to color the letters adds a nice touch of creativity. A subtle highlight is used on the top of each letter to add a subtle bevel effect, making the letters really pop against their darker background.

Splash Some Love
Splash Some Love is another visual representation of a concept. Whilst ‘love’ is displayed through the medium of words, the ‘splash’ concept is clearly shown in a graphical medium through the exploding letters. The splash effect is really engaging, as is the hot pink on black background color palette used. The piece screams creative freedom and exploration, as the color literally breaks through the boundaries of the original type.

You in White
A wonderful example of 3D typography. This piece has been rendered using 3D software and then imported into Photoshop for further lighting, coloring and texturing. By combining various mediums in this way the final result is much richer and has plenty of depth and detail. Notice how essential the background is in the success of this piece, as the clever ‘natural’ lighting helps push the letters out from the background, and provide further depth and framing.

Surge
A cool text effect which captures electricity really well. The combination of the old school neon light effect on the text and the waves of electric current and light make this a busy, but engaging piece. The wide variety of neon colors fit well with the concept, and light is effectively used to draw the eye.

Hope Rising
A very clever visual exploration of the concept of ‘hope’. The dove, a classic epitome of hope or freedom has been used as the foundation for the lettering in this piece. The result is a typography piece with a huge amount of detail, and a kind of double layering, whereby the piece can be viewed initially as a kind of custom font creation, and the upon closer inspection a rich illustration. The way that the birds break out from the constrains of the letter shapes helps to accentuate the concept of freedom and ‘rising’.

Shake Your Body
A good example of dripping typography, a trend which has become more and more popular in the graphic design industry. Something about dripping or melting typographic gives a great sense of physicality, and this example shows this perfectly. The neon green ooze in this piece drips effortlessly between letters and words and in doing so brings the typography together into a cohesive whole.

Colors
A bright and vibrant piece based around the notion of color. The rainbow lighting effect on this typography is really eye catching, and creates a visual harmony between the visual exploration of color and the lexicon ‘colors’. The lettering is given a hand painted effect, with plenty of splashes, splatters and intricate details. Light spots are used to draw the eye to specific areas of lettering and add further depth to the piece, isolating it from it’s dark background.

Epic Six
Epic Six uses a cool glossy effect to create good-enough-to-eat typography. The font is hand drawn and then colored in Photoshop, and you can tell a lot of work has gone into the lighting and shading on each letter. The glossy effect combined with shadowing on each letter makes them feel very 3D, and the type really pops against a much darker blue background. The final piece is really fluid as each letter links smoothly into the next. This is a benefit of designing your own font, as most standard fonts wouldn’t allow for this fluidity.

Slash
A stunning typographic portrait, ‘Slash’ constructs the face of the famous guitarist using words relevant to his music and life. This piece shows how malleable type can be, as words are transformed and contorted to provide structure and depth. The hair in this piece is particularly inspiring, as words spiral and tumble downwards in ribbon like fashion.

Ansilmi
This typographic piece offers the feel of a fantasy hollywood movie poster. The archaic type selection fits perfectly with the golden texturing and lighting, and the central beam of light almost feels like a portal into another world. I love how the central light beam casts light outwards on the surrounding letters. Overall a very cohesive, impressive piece.

Crush
Crush is a very heavy-duty, solid feeling piece. The bulky metallic lettering feels powerful and immovable, and the glowing lava-like outline adds to the intense, industrial visual. This piece is a great example of how effective typography can really capture or evoke a feeling or place. For me this piece feels like the typographic representation of an iron smelt – hot, dirty and intense!

Typo Attack
This piece certainly is a visual attack, as the 3D splashes and renders zooming in from the left of the composition actually knock away letters and partially destroy the composition. Love how the splatters weave through the letters as well as destroying them, and the letters themselves begin to splatter outwards and explode. The piece has a limited color palette, yet the black, gray and blues work perfectly together.

Process:Typeface
A sweet custom typeface that simply had to be included in this compilation. Each letter feels lovingly hand crafted and contains epic amounts of detail. Love the effect of combining the multi-colored shards to create an ultimately very legible typeface. The typeface evokes sharpness and precision, definitely not one for the softies out there!

Free at Last
This piece has a very retro feel, with the large rounded lettering and colored stripes constructing the background. The text is given a 3D appearance due to the glossy overlay, lighting, and beveled effect. The lettering both stands out from and blends in with the background. When you’re reading the words they are reasonably legible, but if you start to look at the piece as a whole the letters simply become part of a colorful, geometric, abstract design.

Haeckelbet A
An incredible custom lettering project, each letter has been carefully hand drawn. This is a perfect example of each letter being it’s own work of art. The artist appears to have sketched each letter using pencil, scanned it into Photoshop and then added a sepia overlay effect and some background lighting. All this Photoshop work only really serves to highlight the artistic merits of the piece, as the wood-like weaves which form the letter show enormous talent and artistic skill.

Candy Cane Typography
A really fun typography piece, and another example of taking an object and transforming it to typographic form. The color scheme works really well and the lively pink type really pops against the rich, deep purple background. The lettering is a custom job, and weaves creatively across the canvas to create a really unique final design. The lettering is given a subtle bevel effect, and fairly strong drop shadow to add depth and impact.

Yummy Typography
A very summery typography illustration. This design uses a sunny color palette of yellows and oranges to create a lively, warm mood. The type itself has been given a subtle 3D render effect, which is accentuated by floating shapes and objects intertwining with the letters.

This is Me
A great typographic illustration, this self portrait actually constructs the artist using a collection of words all highly personal to herself. The portrait is especially impressive as words have been positioned to be relevant (e.g.: near the ear are words relevant to the artist’s music taste, and near the ear drum ‘bass’ etc…). The dark watercolor style background perfectly frames the face, which is harshly lit to provide plenty of impact. The depth is incredible in this piece, as the letters are strongly lit from the profile.

Type Fluid Experiment
A really unique typographic experiment that used 3D render software to create a fluid effect. The team behind this project have crafted every letter of the alphabet, which aside from the staggering amounts of RAM required is a testament to their artistic abilities. The collapsing fluid gives each letter plenty of energy, and you can really get a sense of the rapid movement being captured in freeze frame.

Try Your Own Typographic Piece

We hope that this collection has inspired you to go and try your own typographic piece. However, if you’re a little unsure of how to create such awesome text effects then the following tutorials should help you:

Create an Atmospheric Under-Water Text Effect

Dramatic Text on Fire Effect in Photoshop

Transparent Glass Lettering in Photoshop

Designing a Typographic Concept Poster

Awesome Milk Typography Effect

The New Way to Create 3D Text

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Since their inception, blogs have often had some of the most innovative, beautiful and creative designs in the web design community. This is perhaps because bloggers are naturally expressive individuals who enjoy visual and written expression.

Whatever the reason, blogs are always a great source of inspiration if you’re working on a new website design. But what exactly makes a blog design successful? Personally I believe that truly great blog design lies in balance. Successful blog designs must balance the various elements such as typography, color, graphics and layout in unison. No one element should damage another, and where relevant these elements should come together in order to promote the content and user experience.

Today we bring you 30 incredibly inspiring blog designs. These blogs are quite simply examples of great design. We haven’t filled this list with blogs promoting overly flashy graphics or distracting visual elements. Rather, these sites each show great visual balance, poise and unique style. I encourage you to read the descriptions for each design and go and explore some of the awesome features and subtle details discussed yourself.

The Blogs

Illustrators Lounge
Illustrators Lounge uses a great monotone color-scheme that puts an emphasis on content. The charcoal covered layout is simple and clean, yet includes subtle touches of grunge, such as the watercolor splatters in the header background. The site utilizes @font-face in order to integrate some visually appealing typography in the post titles and date areas. Despite the limited color-scheme the site uses light and shadow to direct the readers eye – dark solid areas draw the eye, whilst white space is used for padding and balance.

Jon Phillips
A perfect example of a wonderfully simple, elegant blog. This site proves that simple doesn’t mean boring. The design itself seems effortlessly simple and clean, but is full of subtle designer touches to make it stand out. Notable examples of this include the watermarked background reading ‘blog’, the faint pattern/light effect in the top left corner of the page, the @font-face integration, and the underline/drop shadow css effect on the active menu state. In short, this website makes content king through a simplistic layout, yet provides plenty of ‘visual dazzle’ through the small touches.

Darwin Foodies
This blog displays it’s posts in a really creative way. The thumbnail style post previews fit perfectly with the site’s theme, as they are easy to scan, similar to a menu. This food blog utilizes enticing pictures to draw in the reader, as well as some great hover effects (the bold rollover ‘read this review’ really catches the eye). The menu is simple and effective, with a classic active menu state clearly depicting the current page.

The Brief
The Brief is a great travel blog with a highly unique design. The site’s content is split into clear categories, which are then organized via a series of colorful tags (e.g.: ‘sleep’, ‘see’ ‘do’). These categories names are more intriguing than most blogs and really help draw in the reader, through the emotive connotations. The typography is clean and elegant, using plenty of kerning for a classic look. The multicolored layout is held together well by the most prominent blue/gray combination.

Freelance Five
FreelanceFive is bold, clean and simple. The combination of very dark gray, orange and white is classic and effective. The content is well padded and feels very well balanced, avoiding the cramped feeling a lot of blogs have. As the brightest color, orange is used to draw attention, particularly on calls to action (e.g.: ‘be interviewed)’. The site has stuck to the basics, removing any clutter and focusing on key content only. This makes it a pleasure to browse, and you never feel lost. The tagline ‘Inspiring freelancer interviews – five questions at a time’ is succinct and informative, and provides a great welcome for new readers.

Jayme Stone
A highly creative blog, the header design of this site is incredibly eye catching. The handdrawn style instantly sets a homey, artistic feel for the blog, and the sketchy typographic menu just begs to be explored. The post content is somewhat cleaner in it’s presentation, yet still includes subtle artistic touches such as the typography and faint watercolor smudges behind the post dates. The black on white design provides plenty of contrast, which is used to help distinguish content areas.

Queer Lisboa
This film festival site uses a reasonably standard layout, but is made much more interesting through it’s vibrant color-scheme and abstract diagonal lines. The header has a somewhat retro feel to it, using simplistic illustrations and patterns to add a creative touch. The content is expertly laid out, giving the site a really airy, well padded feel, whilst still dealing with quite a high volume of content. The visual hierarchy is very effective, drawing the eye down the page, from the logo, to the menu, to the post/section headings.

Simple Bits
SimpleBits has been a forerunner in the web design scene for years now, and they’ve always inspired simple, clean designs. Their latest iteration is no different, and is simplicity encapsulated. The design is largely based on great typography and visual spacing, yet this is beautifully framed by a subtle grungy background. The limited use of color is used to highlight links, whilst the menu consists of just four basic items. A wonderfully balanced website consisting of earthy hues and elegant fonts.

Mad About Makeup
Made About Makeup have used a really creative design for their blog. Everything about the design screams style and fashion. The charcoal background design is full of subtle marks and shapes, and provides a great frame for the central layout. The prominent product reviews area uses an animated jquery content slider, and is evocative of high-end fashion ads. The design uses plenty of subtle design touches such as ripped paper edges, wrap around heading areas and text drop shadows. Overall the pink, black and gray design works really well, with a large amount of content being displayed in a restrained, professional fashion.

Pelican Fly
One of those sites where it pays to delve into the subpages. Each page of this blog is like a work of art. The elegant typography and experimental HTML5/CSS3 features make it a joy to browse. The art is really in the details, and once you begin to notice the hover effects, indentations of content and text presentation you’ll really be inspired by this design. Not to be justified by a simple screenshot, click through and explore!

Table 37
Another clean and simple blog design with a lot to offer. The light gray backgrounds of this site mean that the darker typography and bright logo area really pop. The use of subtle shadows helps distinguish content areas and adds depth – particularly in the header area. Content is well padded and presented, and the stripped down approach makes the site highly usable. The content is the most prominent feature of this site, and as such you can’t help but explore the blog posts on offer.

Gourmade at Home
A really light design that fits well with the foody theme. The simple illustration in the header instantly established a theme for the site, and the green color-scheme feels cohesive and relevant. As with a lot of food blogs this one is quite image heavy (after all – we apparently eat with our eyes). The post titles, sidebar headings and date areas utilize @font-face to integrate some awesome typography, and the bold orange hover effect is really eye catching.

Rogue-Dolls
Rogue-Dolls uses a really creative header as the key to their design. The charming illustration featuring multi-colored rain, combined with the umbrella logo sets the mood for a creative, unique blogger. The post layout itself is fairly basic, yet utilizes a nice heading area wrap around effective to add depth. The blue/green color-scheme fits well with the concept of rain depicted in the header, and is surprisingly impactful upon the mood of the posts and the reader.

Little Miss Heirlooms
A lovely blog design, featuring some of the nicest watercolor background effects seen around. The muted, watercolor color palette feels very homemade and artistic, and fits well with the vintage, creative theme. The featured posts area is engaging and breaks up the header/post area well. This site is yet another great example of @font-face integration, and the post titles and sidebar headings look beautiful.

Granville Island Works
Granville Island Works uses a very retro design, featuring western style typography, and an attractive fabric style page background. The welcome area creatively overlaps a two column layout, and the hand-drawn illustration fits perfectly with the site. The color palette is limited, and constrained to earthy tones (reds, browns, creams etc…).

Art Equals Work
A very atmospheric, dreamy blog design. The light blue color scheme gives the impression of a skyline backdrop for the content, and the lack of harsh colors or strong contrast makes the site very easy on the eyes. Despite having multiple columns the central column containing the blog posts is clearly the most prominent, and the post titles help establish a clear visual hierarchy for the website. The subtle lighting and illustrations in the background are the key to what makes this layout so visually interesting, and the content seems to revolve around this foundation.

Brice Lechatellier
One of the most richly colored blog designs we’ve come across, this site is simply beautiful. The subtle transitions in background colors create a really engaging lighting effect, whilst the colorful content typography adds to this multi-colored treat. The navigation is simple and clear, and the indented active state makes browsing the site extremely easy. The logo is very faint, a mere indent in the top left corner of the page, yet it serves to represent an elegant, understated brand.

Riyuu
A soft, girlish website that captures the personality of the blogger perfectly. The fun illustrations add a lot of creativity to the page, and the various colors comprising the design are cohesive and well selected. A clear visual hierarchy is established as the eye is drawn down the page from the logo to the various blog post titles.

Spyre Studios
Spyre Studios is a really clean, well designed blog that makes excellent use of padding and a limited color palette. The limited colors of the site ensure that the content is the focus, something which is further emphasized through the use of large typography (see the blog post titles). They also have a great area in their footer which conveniently displays their latest freebies and community news.

The Netsetter
The Netsetter is now obsolete (although it’s moved to a blog column at Work Awesome), yet in it’s day was a well loved blog with an awesome design. The clean, bold, red design helps establish the site as a brand, whilst some very large typography makes the posts engaging and eye catching. The site is incredibly pleasant to browse, and it’s very easy to find the content that you’re after. The top featured post area is particularly eye catching and really helps draw you into the inner content pages of the site.

The CP Diary
A very emotional blog, as Jesse writes about her experiences living with cerebral palsy. The blog itself is beautiful, and the welcome area is not only emotionally engaging, but visually engaging. The artful typography used for the headings and subtle lighting effects throughout the site really set this blog apart and make it something truly special.

Nanyate
Nanyate is a wonderfully creative blog, with a great illustrative background design. The vector background sets the mood for the rest of the site, wherein the blog posts appear to be underwater. The colors are bold, but limited, and work well together. The menu is very simple and makes the site easy to browse. Each blog post uses a bright red call to action button (‘Read More’), which helps draw readers in.

Web is Love
A very understated, charming design. The paper textures that comprise the background add a nice artistic feel to this blog, as does the earthy color-scheme. The content has plenty of padding and is pleasant to browse through. I recommend that while you explore the site you check out their free font ‘Napa’ as it’s awesome!

Vaullt
A great monochrome blog design with a strong logo and featured area. The typography is the crowning achievement of this blog, and it’s applied with expert precision. Every letter spacing, line spacing, color and word placement seems to have been well thought out. The video area also has a great ‘overlay FX’ option, with some snazzy coding going on!

Salvator
Salvator is simply background design done right. The background is so subtle that you hardly notice it, and it doesn’t get in the way of the content. However, it adds a huge amount to the site, providing texture, depth and detail, and is much more effective than a plain background would be. The sketchy photo manipulation in the blog header adds another touch of creativity, and the splashes of red throughout the site help tie everything together nicely. The content feels balanced and well presented, and the typography is really inspiring.

NKM Blog
Another great example of subtle background design, NKM utilizes subtle watercolor background details and a faint texture. The header area includes several photos of the blogger, positioned in polaroid fashion, to add a personal touch. The color palette for the site is limited, yet it uses touches of green to draw the eye to important areas (links and calls to action).

5 Pieces
5 Pieces is a bit of a classic blog, but still has some great design features to inspire us. The high contrast white/yellow on dark blue is really striking and the header graphic blends really well with the main background. The site uses several colors, yet doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Leihu
A deceptively simple blog, this site should really be explored to see what it has to offer. There are tons of great touches to the design, such as a multi-colored menu hover effect, awesome menu active state, really nice image hover effects, and a cool ‘top of page’ slider effect. Overall the design is clean and beautifully designed. The font choices and colors all feel ‘soft’, making the site a really pleasant browsing experience.

EEPAP
A really bold and bright blog design, with a vibrant red background. The site has utilized abstract shapes to create a more unique experience for visitors. The green menu feels very interactive, as you’re encouraged to explore the creative icons. The bokeh background effect is a little busy for some, yet does create additional depth for the design.

The Big Noob
The Big Noob is a well known and respected blog, in large part due to it’s innovative design. The site uses some great typography which is laid over a rich blue gradient background. Splashes of lime green are used to accentuate calls to action, whilst white is used for a second accent color. The large welcome area includes a rotating intriguing image aimed to draw people further into the blog.

(rb)

Many websites these days have some form of welcome area on their homepage. Welcome pages generally act as an introduction for new visitors, explain the website and often prompt an action on the part of the user.

Website welcome pages are typically more prevalent at personal websites, portfolios, and traditional businesses. They are less popular on news websites (where the headline story acts as the introduction). Of course, welcome areas aren’t considered necessary on sites with a clear purpose and established audience – there would be no point having a welcome page at CNN.com, as their user base most likely already knows who they are.

Often a slogan can suffice to help establish what a site offers. If you are pushed for space, or consider a full welcome area to be obsolete then a brief tag-line explaining what your site does is a handy alternative.

Below is an outline of common traits that are seen throughout popular welcome pages:

• Large, bold typography. Welcome messages are easy to read and have more impact when the type is large, clear and legible. This means good contrast against it’s background, and often bold font choice.
• Plenty of color. In researching this article a definite trend of colorful welcome areas was noticeable. The reason behind this makes sense – the eye is drawn to color.
• Artistic/creative typography and graphics. Often the wider content will have more standard web-safe typography, but the welcome area will have elaborate fonts, complex graphics, lighting effects and imagery. This means that rather than just blend in as another area of content, the welcome area will act as a graphical composition in it’s own right.
• A simple and concise message. You can save the paragraphs of text for elsewhere on your website, a successful website should be summing up your website as concisely as possible, just a few sentences max.
• Informative photos. If a picture speaks a thousand words, then it makes sense to include photos in your welcome area. For a personal site a photo can add a nice human touch, or for a more corporate site a great product shot can speak wonders about the quality of the website/company.

Inspiring Welcome Areas:

To better illustrate these traits, here are some analyses of a range of successful website welcome pages below:

Syropia Labs
Syropia Labs use some really elegant typography in a retro style to create an engaging welcome area. The font choices are reminiscent of a 50s American diner, and the retro patterns and shapes used accentuate this theme. The text concisely and clearly summarizes the site’s content.

Olive and Twist
This welcome message uses bold typography to catch the users eye. The concise line ‘Creative design studio’ perfectly summarizes the site. The fact that this text is the lightest text on the page set against a predominantly dark background means that it really stands out.

Adrenalin Media
The bright, colorful imagery of this welcome area immediately draws the eye. This welcome message is part of an interactive slideshow area, constructed using jquery. The capitalized text is bold, with a subtle drop shadow to contrast it further against the bright blue background.

Luca Vercellio
Luca Vercellio uses a very minimal homepage design, where the welcome message comprises most of the page. The welcome area is relatively subtle, with a soft light effect, and white on light blue color palette. The typography varies quite a lot, but is all light and clear, fitting with the modern, clean website design. Nothing too elaborate here, just a nice simple message, with a personal touch ‘Hello I’m Luca’.

Somersby Cider
Much more a visual spectacle, than a typography welcome area. There is the basic welcome slogan ‘stay open-minded’ but the really impression is created by the beautiful photo manipulation, which features the product in an attractive way. The fantasy world presented creates a magical mood for new visitors, and a sense of intrigue and wonder that should encourage them to check out more of the site.

Sentel
A clean and minimal welcome area with a limited color palette. The key words ‘designing’ and ‘promoting’ which describe company’s key services are highlighted in blue in order to make them more prominent. The welcome message uses a light font, with a solid colored background to help contrast it against the main pixelated website background.

BeMobile
Be Mobile is a really bold website, combining black, yellow and white for a colorscheme with plenty of impact. This welcome message uses creative copy, starting each line with ‘Be’, leading up to their company name ‘Be Mobile’ at the bottom line. In addition to this is a bold, black call to action button, ensuring that the users eye is drawn first down the page, then into taking action.

Aleks Faure
Another example of great copy. This copy introduces the designer, establishes what he does, and adds a sentiment about his quality and work ethic. The welcome area is simple but effective, and uses @font-face to integrate a creative font.

Narax
A really engaging welcome area, with a moving animation of an origami arc to fit with the slogan. The simple slogan ‘Your ark to the web’ is a little ambiguous, and doesn’t really describe what the site does. However, it does create intrigue. It’s actually the under slogan which explains the services offered. The pastel colors and cross-hatched paper area give a feeling of creativity, which fits well with the design theme of the company.

Syropia
This welcome area uses a retro look to help draw in users. The typography is varied, but comes together well as part of a great piece of imagery to headline the site. The copy has a nice personal touch as the webmaster states ‘I’m here to help you get there’. Color is uses sparingly, but red is used to emphasize key words.

Giebe Graphics
Another great example of copy defining the welcome area. The welcome message is very personal, and the grayscale color palette is broken by splashes of blue on key words. The opening line in speech marks (“nice to meet you!”) puts across a lot of energy and really helps connect with the visitor. The font is large and bold, with a subtle indented design to help it stand out against the page background.

Tiny Verse
In my opinion this welcome area has too much text after the initial headline, and it’s not all that legible against the background. However, what really makes this welcome area successful is the exciting photo manipulation in the right. The welcome area background is also really eye catching, and the space age cloud theme is sure to entice people.

Noutes
A bold and bright welcome area that acts as a header to the rest of the website. This welcome area utilizes a large icon for imagery, which provides a shiny, professional touch. The typography is fairly basic, yet instantly and concisely sums up the aims of the website. There is also a large, prominent Facebook Connect call to action.

Touch Tech
Touch Tech uses a great memorable illustration, with relevant imagery of clouds and mobile devices. The typography is large, professional, yet with a friendly aspect to it, using rounded lettering. The copy is very basic, yet instantly establishes who the company are and what they do (‘mobile and cloud developers’).

Gabriel Aloysius
A wonderfully simple welcome area, with some hugely creative typography. Rather than use plain type, the letters act as a mask, letting imagery show through them. This imagery is constantly changing as part of a montage to showcase the photographers work, creating a welcome area with a double function. The way that the letter shapes contain her work acts almost like a window, where you’re wanting to see in.

Bear Grylls Live on Stage
A totally immersive welcome area experience. The jungle backdrop creates an enormous sense of depth, as does the huge 3D typography and foreground photographs. This welcome area perfectly captures the feeling intended by his live shows – that you as viewer are part of the action.

Goodsie
A simple but effective welcome area. The welcome beings with their mission station ‘Online retail should be easy’, which is effective as rather than trying to directly sell themselves, their selling point becomes their integrity and company values. The large, elegant white typography contrasts well against the dark blue background, and the bright call to action button attracts plenty of attention. Notice how the blue background also integrates silhouettes of retail products, creating a subtle but relevant backdrop for the welcome message.

Epic Fleet
A bold, striking welcome area with some nice copy. The emboldened text ‘you can afford’ underlines the central message of this company, which is value. The concise message also instantly states what they provide (‘web design’). Underneath this some examples of their work are attractively displayed in a fan pattern, in order to create additional visual intrigue.

We Are Pandr
A stylish welcome area in an illustrative style. The welcome copy is highlighted by using a simple black backdrop featuring white typography. The main green background uses simplistic illustrations and patterns so as not to detract from the central message. The colors are bright, clean but limited, so the eye cannot help be drawn to the welcome headline.

Bear Hat Studios
A classic example of a welcome area using HUGE typography. The simple textured background ensures that the large text is the central focus, particularly as it takes up 80% of the homepage. There are no fancy words here, just simple copy that clearly states what this company provides. The typography is made more interesting through subtle gradient overlays and faint drop shadows. All of these design features serve to emphasize the welcome text.

Made by Vadim
A creative welcome area with a stylized, abstract illustration at it’s center. The welcome message itself serves to introduce the designer and clarify exactly what he does. The personal ‘Hello’ message is emphasized through the use of scripted typography and large text. The abstract illustration of the designer not only provides a personal insight into his world, but helps to show off his design skills.

Putra Roeung
Another welcome area that concisely states what the website owner does. The subtle background design of this welcome area really works well. If you look closely you’ll see examples of their work and design processes behind the main text. The logo badge is a nice grungy touch to add creativity to the design, and the two call to action buttons are accentuated by sketchy arrows pointing to click them.

Spout Creative
A quaint, easy-on-the-eyes welcome area, this site utilizes pastel colors and soft illustrations to provide a friendly welcome for people. The typography is well organized and uses reasonably informal fonts to add to the casual mood of the website. The illustration of the girl using the megaphone gives the text more of an auditory aspect, as she is clearly announcing the welcome message.

CMYK08
A great example of a highly personal welcome area. This designer combines a personal photo, an informal greeting (‘hello folks!’) and some nice grungy/sketchy touches to reflect his design style and personality. He has manipulated his own photo to fit with the limited color palette of the website, where blue, light gray and black combine to result in a stylish welcome page. The tagline by his photo ‘I think I need a haircut’ is another insight into his humor and presumably approach to design.

Chapter Three
A reasonably formal welcome area, this design uses bright teal colored lettering for the main welcome headline, which contrasts effectively against the dark gray background. Key words are highlighted in orange, and their location (San Francisco) is integrated very creatively into the shape of the Drupal logo (which of course is relevant to the services they provide).

Masswerks
A very simple but attractive welcome area. The copy is a friendly greeting, followed by a description of the firm’s services. The bold black text contrasts well against the bright orange backdrop, and is emphasized further by use of a thin white drop shadow. The fact that the logo and welcome message are on a single line gives a unified sense to the design, and visually connects the company’s brand with the sentiments of their welcome message.

Alan Power
This welcome area avoids being overly busy, but creating a great visual hierarchy, drawing the eye diagonally down the header. The bold, large typography of the welcome area is really eye catching and the splashes of red work nicely. The simple gray background helps foreground the welcome message, which is emphasized by the examples of the company’s work to the left. Ultimately the eye is drawn down the header to the nicely textured call to action button, encouraging client contact.

New Concept
This welcome area uses photography to enhance the message within the copy. ‘Beautiful & Elegant’ describes their designs, but is also depicted by the beautiful, elegant butterfly to the right of the welcome text. When you hover over the butterfly image a magnified circle pops up, providing an interactive element to the welcome area, which helps maintain people’s interest.

Uproar PR
A great example of effective typography in a welcome area. Not only is the welcome type large and eye catching, but it impacts upon the surrounding environment. In this case we see the word ‘NOISE’ actually cracking the surface that it rests on, which creates a much more real environment for visitors. The lens flare effect and metallic sheen also draw the eye. The imperative nature of the copy ‘make some noise!’ is a much more aggressive message than other examples in this post, yet fits with the cut-throat nature of the PR industry.

Joe Guarino
Another designer who uses an informal welcome approach for potential clients. Rather than hide behind a false corporate mask, Joe presents himself honestly and openly, through a fun self portrait illustration and some funky typography. The informal copy ‘Hi, man!’ establishes a friendly vibe for potential clients and helps draw them further into his site.

Kendra Schaefer
This site uses photography as the principle feature of the welcome area. The typography is reasonably large, but isn’t all that legible, and doesn’t provide a huge amount of information. It’s more there for a humorous, abstract message. The photography is the real gem of this welcome area, as it’s dark, moody and emotion, and captures a lot of attention. As a visitor we want to know more about the figure depicted, and as a result browse around the rest of the page for clues.

Shout Digital
A bright, colorful welcome area with a crazy Flash animation. The actual text of the welcome area comes below this animated area, but the quality of illustration and animation is so superb that the site has already won you over.

Convax
This welcome area integrates examples of the company’s work really creatively, by positioning them as a billboard in amongst a sketched out cityscape. The call to action button ‘get in touch’ is creatively integrated into the background, sitting within a sketched cloud shape.

Amit Tishler
A welcome area that’s highly appropriate for an animated, showcasing an awesome vector backdrop for the page. The welcome area includes a Youtube video, which showcasing the animator’s work better than a static image could.

Jeremy Man
This welcome area has an awesome western theme that fits well with the overall site. The welcome text actually isn’t an image, and uses @font-face and some cool css effects to style it. The indented illustrations and background textures create an authentic cowboy aesthetic, as does the copy (‘Heckuva’ Frontier Wranglin’).

NorthEast Creative
North East Creative use some great background lighting effects to foreground their concise welcome message. The colors of this area compliment each other well, and the bright yellow text stands out against the deep purple background. There is a central fan design displaying examples of their work, which works to create depth and a visual attraction for visitors.

Web Munky
Web Munky use their cheeky mascot and colorful logo at the centerpiece for their welcome area. However, the tagline ‘we craft online experiences’ provides an informative sub text for the area. The bright, vibrant colors draw the users eye, and the visual hierarchy effectively prompts you to scroll down the page and find out more about their services.

Media Germ
Another great example of text masking. This media company lets their work show through the shape of the welcome area lettering. The typography is really bright and eye catching, although the legibility is slightly hindered by the busy fill. The length of each line of text means that the eye is naturally drawn down the block of text to the smaller call to action button.

Raven Tools
Raven Tools use a relatively reserved color palette for their welcome area. However, the great background lighting and creative typography adds a lot of impact. The copy is concise and immediately lets users know what the company does: ‘A powerful internet marketing platform for agencies and professionals’. The screenshots beneath this help showcase how the platform works, followed by a bright call-to-action button.

Crssrd
A really artistic welcome area that shows off the artist’s talents. The grungy illustration fits in perfectly with the surrounding textured website and typography. Even without analyzing the copy of this welcome page it had to be included as an example of how a great central design can make a welcome area memorable. Remember – a picture can often be worth 1000 words, and in this example no text is required to showcase the designers skill.

(rb)