Design

A Collection of Eye Catching Poster Design


  

Poster design is a true art form. Often the best posters will be bold, eye catching and visually intense, yet minimal and elegant at the same time. As with logo design, often a great poster will be great for what it omits, as well as what it features.

Really the effectiveness of a poster’s design depends upon it’s purpose. Whilst some posters require a basic typographic treatment, others may suit an elaborate visual design. When designing your own posters always try to bear in mind the poster’s audience, and what you are representing.

Often poster designs will need to be pixel perfect, and very carefully designed as they will be printed at very high resolutions. The smallest details will become more obvious in this medium, so it is important for the designer to take extra care in their process.

Today we have featured a wide range of poster designs, each demonstrating a different style, purpose and agenda. We were also lucky enough to speak with James White, and receive permission to feature his inspired poster designs.

The Poster Designs

James White’s Poster Designs

Whilst this post showcases a variety of artist’s and styles, with James White’s permission to feature his poster designs as part of this article, we had to load up on his works. As James is such an inspiration in the design community, and has become hugely successful, largely due to his unique poster designs, a mini-feature was not out of order.

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Alejandro de Antonio’s Minimal Movie Poster Designs

Minimal posters are very trendy, and Alejandro de Antonio has produced an excellent set of minimal movie posters in this vein. He has an uncanny ability to capture the essence of a popular movie and represent it via a simplistic, but elegant illustration.

His designs showcase how strong the brand is behind the movies, as we instantly connect with the represented protagonists.

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Grzegorz Domaradzki’s Vector Posters

Polish digital artist Grzegorz Domaradzki produces some awesome vector designs, including a large collection of vector movie poster designs. It’s really interesting to see how he adapts the original visuals of these films into totally original works of art. Each movie poster is super detailed, mixing complex drawings, lighting effects and typography.

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Inspiring Poster Designs

Retro Vector Poster by Fabio Sasso

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DAM Poster by Project GRAPHICS

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Vintage Swissair Travel Poster by Colaja

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Reservoir Dogs Minimal Movie Poster by Doaly

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Rooney and the Minglers Gig Poster by Doaly

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Addictive Stuidios Promo Poster by Addictive Studios

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The Joker Typographic Poster by Doaly

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Tokyo 2016 Poster by Andreas Leonidou

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Poster Design Tutorials

If you’re looking to design your own poster then there are some great tutorials out there to walk you through the process step by step. The following tutorials cover a wide range of techniques and outcomes, which should give you a great foundation in digital poster design:

Dark, Moody Movie Poster

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Minimal New Years Poster by Abduzeedo

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Abstract Fan Poster by Constantin Potorac

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Slick Club Poster

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Furious Pink Panther Poster by Alex Beltechi

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Dark and Surreal Poster by Constantin Potorac

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Poster with Handdrawn Elements by Alex Beltechi

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What Do You Think?

I hope that you enjoyed this article. Did you have any favorite designs that stood out to you? Perhaps you know some epic poster designs that weren’t included? Let us know in the comments below.

(rb)


The Smashing Book #3 “Redesign The Web” Is Out!


  

The new Smashing Books have finally arrived—freshly printed, neatly packed and ready to be shipped to you, our dear reader. We believe this is by far the best book we’ve produced so far. We are very proud and excited, and the initial verdict has been thoroughly positive, yet in the end it’s up to you to decide how valuable and useful they really are. Get your books now!

Why the Theme of “Redesign�?

In recent years, the Web has changed—a lot. The Web designer’s tools are now advanced, and browsers are highly capable. Designers have established clever coding and design techniques, and they face new challenges and are 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. The new Smashing books will change the way you design websites for the better.

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? The books explain what you need to know in order to create effective websites today, and what you need to know to be prepared for the future. Well-known experts share practical know-how and introduce a whole new mindset for progressive, future-proof Web design.

Smashing Book #3 (Printed & eBook)

The Smashing Book #3 With over 40 people having worked on the project, a lot of thorough editing and consideration needed to be done to fine-tune each chapter’s content and order to make the most sense. In the end, 11 of the most outstanding articles made it into the Smashing Book #3, covering topics ranging from the business side of design to mobile approaches and responsive design.

The Smashing Book #3 covers innovative coding, design and UX techniques and discusses the peculiarities of the mobile context and emotional design. It also presents practical HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript techniques, as well as a bulletproof workflow for responsive Web design. The book challenges you to think differently about your work, your code and your designs.

Table of Contents

AUTHOR CHAPTER DETAILS
Elliot Jay Stocks Preface

Elliot Jay StocksElliot Jay Stocks introduces the new Smashing Book #3 by making us think about our workflow, the quality of our work, our industry and our community. Working in an industry that evolves at an incredible speed takes a lot of effort—at the same time, it’s what keeps us going.

Paul Boag The Business Side of Redesign
Paul BoagA redesign is the best thing that a Web designer can experience. Yet before leaping head on into a project, we must consider the business behind the redesign. By its nature, a redesign has the potential to make a website successful, but it also has the power to destroy a perfectly good idea. Important considerations to keep in mind before engaging in a redesign project include common dangers, required research, the working process with the client and testing. Paul Boag leads you through this process step by step.

Chapter keywords: business model, redesign timing, scope of redesign, redesign considerations, realignment, project pitfalls.

Rachel Andrew Selecting a Platform for Redesign
Rachel AndrewOnce you have understood the business side of the redesign project, the next step is to choose the right platform. Understanding all of the requirements of a project will save you valuable time in aligning the new functionality with the technological circumstances. Take stock of existing structures such as the CMS, e-commerce system and payment gateway. Beware of the project constraints, including the budget and wishes of the client. Only then will you be able to concentrate fully on the project, without encountering unpleasant surprises ahead.

Chapter keywords: technical requirements, CMS, eCommerce, payment gateway, refactoring, platform choice, redesign project constraints.

Ben Schwarz Jumping Into HTML5
Ben SchwarzBen Schwarz takes away the fear that many Web developers suffer when confronted with a new technology—by encouraging experimentation. The chapter guides you through the new HTML5 elements and discusses the possibilities that come with the adaptation to these elements. This is a practical, compact guide to HTML5, with everything you need to know today in order to create flexible and maintainable websites for the future.

Chapter keywords: HTML5, semantics, semantic outlining, ARIA, client-side storage.

Lea Verou, David Storey Restyle, Recode, Reimagine With CSS3
Lea VerouDavid StoreySome CSS workarounds that have hung around from earlier days prevent us from becoming better, more efficient designers. Learn how to recode CSS to reduce the number of images, HTTP requests, presentational JavaScript and wrapper divs on the page, while making the style more flexible and maintainable. Learn about the rem unit, Flexible Box Layout, source-order independence with flex order, multiple backgrounds and gradients, background clipping, border images, transforms, transitions, box sizing and new CSS3 selectors. Restyle, recode, reimagine: because CSS3 is here to stay!

Chapter keywords: CSS3, techniques, Flexbox, multiple backgrounds and gradients, transforms, transitions, box-sizing, selectors, layout.

Christian Heilmann JavaScript Rediscovered
Christian HeilmannEven though jQuery is written in JavaScript, it is not the same; nor is it native to browsers. The large jQuery library abstracts away a lot of issues that Web developers face, yet sometimes it’s used without a real purpose. Christian Heilmann takes us back to its origins and shows us how to implement simple JavaScript solutions without resorting to jQuery, achieving the same result in a slimmer and less process-intensive way.

Chapter keywords: JavaScript, jQuery, CSS selectors, classlist, localStorage, tutorials.

Dmitry Fadeyev Techniques for Building Better User Experiences
Dmitry FadeyevUser experience means good design, and the central aim of design is not to decorate, but to solve problems. Whether that means getting more sign-ups, inviting users to post more content or making the interface easier and faster to use, this is ultimately the sort of design that delivers a great user experience. This chapter features powerful UX techniques that you can easily apply to your products and websites. Make sure users stay on your website for the right reasons, and get an edge over the competition by improving user-targeted processes. Also, explore experimental approaches and avoid some misleading design techniques.

Chapter keywords: UX design, forms, good defaults, customer service, copywriting, storytelling, experimental techniques, design pitfalls.

Marc Edwards Designing for The Future, Using Photoshop
Marc EdwardsBecause good design and user experience are almost mandatory for success today, the lines between desktop software, mobile software and the Web are increasingly blurry. We have to continually change our tools and techniques to meet new requirements. Marc Edwards addresses some of the challenges that Web designers face today and will in the future when using Photoshop. Realism, scale, screen sizes, resolutions, formats, techniques—this chapter touches on all of it. There is no reason to surrender to scaleability and liquid image requirements when using Photoshop!

Chapter keywords: Photoshop, screen sizes, pixel density, scale, gradients, shapes, color profile, mobile, Retina display.

Aaron Walter Redesigning With Personality
Aaron WalterAny design that does not effectively establish a connection with its audience has missed its goal. Getting to know your user is just as important as knowing yourself and the personality behind the brand; this will set you apart from competitors. This chapter describes how to develop your own design persona and define the key characteristics to guide your project’s path. New technologies and techniques are not what build connections with users, but rather the empathy evoked by the personality behind them. Aaron Walter explains how to bring out the personality at the heart of your work.

Chapter keywords: personality, brand sympathy, engagement methods, design persona, voice and tone.

Aral Balkan Mobile Considerations in UX Design: Web or Native?
Aral BalkanThe native vs. Web debate is meaningless and counterproductive. All products nowadays have high demands for UX design. Web designers turn into UX designers by gaining specialized knowledge of the Web and by mastering auxiliary frameworks and their components. Not only do the aesthetics of an interaction object count, but also how the object behaves upon contact. Designing documents and designing applications requires knowledge of basic responsive design principles and progressive enhancement. This chapter helps you understand your medium, explains what exactly it means for an application to be “native,� and goes over how to choose the right tools and technologies for the job.

Chapter keywords: mobile, user experience, native applications, native as culture, interaction design principles, responsive Web design.

Stephen Hay Workflow Redesigned: A Future-Friendly Approach
Stephen HayWeb design changes quickly. In multiplatform design, where websites and apps are used on many and varied devices, we are confronted with multiple destinations. How do you go about integrating as many devices as possible? Is targeting as many different platforms as possible really important? In this chapter, Stephen Hay suggest a new design workflow for responsive Web design. A new way of thinking leads to a new way of design—the sooner you get the hang of it, the sooner you will be ready to discover what works best for your projects.

Chapter keywords: responsive Web design, device-agnostic approach, content inventory, future-friendly approach, breakpoint graphing, designing in the browser.

Andy Clarke Becoming Fabulously Flexible
Andy Clarke There are significant upsides to responsive Web design for designers, especially in workflows that embrace flexibility. Responsive Web design still asks more questions than it answers, and it challenges the working relationships and interactions between everyone involved in every process. Andy Clarke gives you some insight into the techniques that helped him become fabulously flexible when developing responsive designs. Learn his approach to designing atoms and elements of a design first and see if it works for you. It might enable you to create many facets of the same experience within a single workflow.

Chapter keywords: Responsive Web design, design challenges, style tiles, design atmosphere, flexibility, designing components first.

Well-respected professionals have poured their heart and expertise into these contributions. To ensure quality, every chapter of this book has been thoroughly reviewed by experts, including Jon Hicks, Tab Atkins, Paul Irish, Russ Weakley, Josh Clark, Anders M. Andersen, Bryan Rieger, Joshua Porter, Ryan Carson and Elliot Jay Stocks.

Technical Details

Get your  Smashing Book #3 today.

Pre-order the printed bundle with Smashing Books #3 and 3 1/3 Pre-order the eBook Bundle (PDF, EPUB, Kindle) Pre-order the full Smashing Book #3 Bundle: Print + eBooks
Our new books: the Smashing Book 3 and Smashing Book 3⅓—The Extension. Both are available as a print bundle, as eBooks and as a complete print + eBooks Bundle.

Smashing Book #3⅓ — The Extension

Smashing Book #3 ⅓

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 platform. 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.

Smashing Book 3⅓, otherwise known as “The Extension,â€� presents practical applications of storytelling to Web design, reviews emerging navigation design patterns and helps you understand how to meaningfully employ content strategy on your websites. A case study of Smashing Magazine’s responsive redesign illustrates how this approach could look like in practice.

Table of Contents

AUTHOR CHAPTER DETAILS
Iris Lješnjanin Preface

Iris LjeÅ¡njaninThe Smashing Book #3 was limited to a certain size and format, making it impossible to include all of the chapters without compromising the book’s overall integrity. The Smashing Book #3⅓ is a challenge: explore the possibilities that modern technology and our design legacy have in store for us Web designers.

Denise Jacobs The Missing Element of Redesign: Story

Denise JacobsToday’s Web audience is on the search for more than just information. Consumers expect to be engaged and want to be drawn in by a website, one that makes them feel something and manages to inspire. While changing the look and feel of a website used to be somewhat easy, it is time to reconsider the fundamentals of our approach to a redesign. Learn how to successfully capture attention by using copywriting and storytelling, and understand the important relationship between emotion, design and story.

Chapter keywords: storytelling, invisible design, literature, narrative devices.

Christian Holst and Jamie Appleseed Rethinking Navigation: Techniques and Design Patterns

Christian Holst Jamie AppleseedNavigation is what lends a page interactivity, connecting otherwise isolated pages into a logical order. Still, its design must fit the content and purpose of the website, not the other way around. Organic content calls for new and adaptive navigational elements. But how do we go about that? This chapter gives you useful insight into rethinking your approach to navigation.

Chapter keywords: navigation, design patterns, filtering, mega menus, checklist.

Colleen Jones Rework Your Content So It Works for You

Colleen JonesIf you invest much time and effort in the design of your website, but not the content, you’re taking a big risk. Don’t disappoint your users with the same old content after raising expectations with an impressive design. This chapter takes a strategic approach to content and explains the basics of formulating the right content strategy for your website redesign.

Chapter keywords: content strategy, content inventory, audit, context, maintenance, results assessment.

Vitaly Friedman Responsive Smashing Redesign: A Case Study

Vitaly Friedman Redesigns usually introduce unexpected changes and are rarely applauded; moreover, a large-scale redesign is a tough and risky game to play. Smashing Magazine faced a long list of technical and UX changes in July 2011, and the team decided to act. This chapter presents a detailed case study of the whole redesign process, from A to Z, as it happened, and it sheds some light on the design, UX and technical considerations that actually led to the redesign.

Chapter keywords: redesign trap, responsive Web design, advertising constraints, design persona, typography-out approach, designing in the browser, redesign manifesto.

Technical Details


Cover Design by Veerle Pieters

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.

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An excerpt of Veerle’s final cover design for the Smashing Book #3.

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

Exclusive Artwork by Kate McLelland

If you have the Smashing Book 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.


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

Each illustration employs a different metaphor that relates to the accompanying chapter. 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 points to how so many components have to come together for a successful redesign.

Reviews and Testimonials

We’re looking forward to honest, objective reviews of the brand new Smashing Books. Please share your photos, opinions and feedback on Twitter using the hashtag #smbook3. The first feedback has been throughout positive and, in fact, we’ve discovered the first reviews of the books as well:

“The entire book is wonderfully balanced between theoretical and practical, with each author contributing a strong point of view on their area of expertise as well as a thorough explanation of how to execute it in a way that is useful. [...] curating the most cutting edge perspectives on the Web and offering the tools and information that the rest of us need to build upon them. If you’re into that, check out this book.”

— Christopher Butler, Book Review: Smashing Book #3

“This book is worth buying and reading for yourself. It really covers many aspects of modern website production in eleven in-depth chapters. There will likely be a few you don’t care for—we all have our own tastes—but I’d be surprised if any genuinely leave you disappointed given the chance. I was quite prepared to write something less positive, the first Smashing Book didn’t excite me, but this one very much did.”

— David Bushell, Smashing Book #3

“The Smashing Book #3 is an invaluable resource for Web designers, regardless of skill level or experience and we highly recommend it.”

— Cameron Chapman, Review: Smashing Book #3

Please feel free to submit a link to your review in the comments to the post and we’ll add your testimonial into this article. Feel free to provide criticism or praise: we’d love to hear your honest opinions!

Get the Smashing Book #3!
A quick peek into the Smashing Book #3. Yes, we do like animated GIFs.

The Smashing Anthology

If you haven’t purchased Smashing Books #1 and #2 yet, we’ve prepared a couple of complete bundles for your convenience. Even though the first two books were published a couple of years ago, they remain relevant and valuable, because they were designed by our editorial team to be timeless. Save 20% off the price and get yourself the Smashing Anthology, a collection of all of our books as of today:


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to buy the new Smashing Book. We welcome all suggestions and advice that could improve Smashing Magazine’s user-friendliness. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the Smashing Books #3 and #3⅓:

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 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 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.

What’s this extra Smashing Book #3⅓?

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 #3⅓: 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 in future, but we have not made arrangements for that yet, so don’t hold your breath.

Are the Smashing Books #3 and #3⅓ available as eBooks?

Yes, the books are available in PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket formats, and you can order an eBook bundle right now.

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 are 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 have a question that is not covered here.

Please leave a comment below, or get in touch with us via the contact form or via @SmashingSupport on Twitter. We would love to help you in any way we can!

Please Spread The Word!

These new books took seven months of production time, from brainstorming to delivery; 43 people worked on the content, design, layout, editing and proofreading of the book; 623 animals are hidden in various places in the Smashing Book #3; and the production costs for initial circulation, excluding marketing costs, required a six-figure budget. That’s what it took us to ensure that our Berlin warehouses are stocked with these new valuable books, waiting to be shipped right away as soon as you place your order.

Elliot Jay StocksPaul BoagRachel AndrewBen SchwarzLea VerouDavid StoreyChristian Heilmann Dmitry FadeyevMarc EdwardsAarron WalterAral BalkanStephen HayAndy Clarke Iris Lješnjanin Denise JacobsChristian HolstJamie AppleseedColleen JonesVitaly Friedman
The authors of the new Smashing books.

Here at Smashing Magazine, we do our best to support and enrich the design community. Yet we also rely heavily on community opinion—in fact, the magazine would not be what it is today without the constant feedback of the community. That’s where you come in: we now pass the book onto you. Use it, enjoy it, test it, read it, rate it, evaluate it, criticize it or praise it—and share your honest opinion of it with the rest of the world.

Feel free to take as many pictures of it as you like and to use the Smashing Book #3 media kit (.zip, 9 Mb), which is full of interesting facts, figures and images related to the book. Be one of the first to give the community a critical view of the book; stir the discussion, and encourage feedback on your website.

Your criticism helps us further improve future projects, shapes the selection of topics and enables us to stay close to the pulse of the community. We sincerely appreciate your support.

(il)


iOS orientation change and automatic text resizing

Most web developers who have viewed their work in an iOS device know that Safari for iOS likes to zoom in on the page and do weird things to font size when you change the device’s orientation from portrait to landscape. A too common way to prevent that is to completely disable the user’s ability to zoom, which you really do not want to do.

Luckily there is A Fix for the iOS Orientationchange Zoom Bug, a very clever one too. I’ve been using this in a few projects and have found it to work well. I have however run into a couple of issues (that in hindsight are pretty obvious) that I want to note here as a reminder to my future self.

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Copyright © Roger Johansson



World of Watercolor: Beautiful Watercolor Effects in Web Design and Tutorials


  

Using watercolor in web design is not a new thing that designers are implementing, by any means. In fact, it has been used in web design for years. In no small part due to the fact that digital watercolor effects are inspiring and attention-grabbing, and on top of that, easy to achieve. In this collection, we have put together some beautiful examples of watercolor effects in web design for your inspiration.

All of the sites and tutorials have been hand-picked, and demonstrate the allure and beauty that this wonderful effect can add to the web. So, let us take a close look at this collection, and get some inspiring and tempting ideas for web design projects to come. Enjoy!

World of Watercolor

Boompa makes use of appealing and soothing watercolor effects that look astonishingly beautiful and mesmerizing.

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Istok Pavlovic‘s website showcases some excellent and visually pleasing watercolor effects not only in the background, but also all over the site.

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Chris Sharp uses watercolor effects against a black background, which can be tricky to do and have the effects stand out. But here the balance has been found nicely.

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Five Points Interactive uses watercolor effects very decoratively throughout the background and header.

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Giancarlo Fajardo, you’ll notice, has some darker tones that blend perfectly with the lighter toned background giving the whole design a very soft look.

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Syster has amazing watercolor effects used in the design. And while the header really shines here, the top navigation menus as well as the footer have also been designed quite creatively.

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Weberica, while not the most outstanding site design on the list, the large, decorative header makes this design’s use of watercolor effects stand out.

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Corvus Art has a very beautiful and visually alluring header design with some exceptional effects that complement the entire site.

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Le Bloe‘s designer tried to give a very charming and shimmering look to the design that was accomplished wonderfully with the use of watercolors.

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CSS Addict has a very calming and pleasing look, and the watercolor effects used make it even more so.

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All for Design, though it is somewhat similar to the design of CSS Addict, it stands apart from it mainly because of the type of watercolor effects used. The big difference is the header.

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Football Made in Africa‘s overly imaginative design is full of impressive watercolor effects that add a grungy textured look to the site.

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Web Designer Wall is a popular site whose use of watercolor effects really stand out and make the header shine.

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Imoments takes an imaginative approach to using watercolors in the web design. The page does not feature any significant content rather just the graphics and astonishing watercolor effects.

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Bcandullo
This website’s layout is somewhat busy and full of different kinds of elements. The use of watercolors in the header is quite lively and represents an energetic spirit.

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Wccnet contains various beautiful watercolor effects in the footer area, which stands out against rest of the site which is very understated and plain.

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Deborah Cavenaugh uses watercolors to great extent, and the effects have been incorporated very well within the design to give it a complete and interesting look.

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Davide Savelli‘s website is designed on the concept of minimalism and does not contain too much in the way of graphical elements, which makes the watercolor effects used really pop.

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Sunrise Design uses vivid watercolor effects and has successfully pulled it off. The bright green and yellow colors gives the web design a feel of happiness and joy.

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Big Cartel‘s use of cool green shades and beautiful illustrations are the main visual draws in this otherwise very simple design.

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Small White Bear‘s design brings out a very positive and soothing change in your mood with its soft, comforting watercolor effects.

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Efinterns‘s beautiful and gratifying use of watercolor effects works well with this quite unusual, and quite dynamic design.

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Pallygiraffe‘s vivid and energetic colors brings the design a feel of liveliness and vigor.

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Designer Interviews‘ simple, sophisticated design uses watercolor effects quite minimally, yet they stand apart from the rest of the site.

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Billyhughes.oph‘s various shades of blue with beautiful mouse over effects in the header are sufficient enough to grab the attention and make this website a memorable one.

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N.design Studio‘s design, uses watercolor effects quite creatively throughout, with big, bold typography and large images.

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Xhtml Cafe has a very appealing design with watercolor effects not only in the header, but also in the footer to make it look even more stunning.

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Sietedefebrero limits the use of watercolor effects to the header, but the header itself speaks volume about its creation.

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Moon Beam Illustrations website stands out, mainly because of the use of excellent watercolor effects. The background textures fully enhance the beauty.

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Tutorials

Watercolored Design Studio Blog Layout
In this tutorial you will learn how to make a clean and simple watercolor based layout for a blog. The PSD is available for download.

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Creating an Abstract Watercolor Wallpaper
There are plenty of ways to create a watercolor effect in Photoshop. Some are very cheesy and you can easily tell that a simple filter has been used. In this tutorial, we will be using Layer Masking.

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Create Cool Watercolor Effects in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will learn how to create cool watercolor effects of your very own in Photoshop to build up your design arsenal.

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Create Convincing Watercolor Effects Using Photoshop
This is a short tutorial about creating convincing watercolor effects in Photoshop. We’ll use a picture of a crane, several watercolor brushes and a texture to obtain this particular effect.

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Create a Nature Inspired Painted Background in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will show you some techniques for creating watercolor effect backgrounds.

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Super Cool Watercolor Effect in 10 steps in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will learn how to create a quick and easy watercolor effect for your design needs.

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Create a Watercolor-Themed Website Design with Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Art History Brush and combine it with watercolor custom brushes to create a nice background header image and more for web design projects.

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Easy Watercolor Painting Effect In Photoshop
In this Photoshop tutorial, you learn how to easily make a photo look more like a watercolor painting. This photo effect works best on images where maintaining rich colors and strong contrast is more important than keeping any fine details, since you’ll be losing a lot of detail with this effect.

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All for Now

That wraps up the post on our side, now we are turning the discussion over to you. Use the comment section to tell us your thoughts on the collection and to share some of your favorite sites and tutorials that feature watercolor effects.

(rb)


The Human Touch: Building User Relationships and Trust In Web Design


  

When creating websites you have to consider a great deal of aspects such as usability, visual-appeal, the technical side, and last but not least, brand building. Many successful and profitable businesses have been tackled this brand building with user-centric website design. They do this for different reasons, but the one that tends to draw most brands in this direction, is the way it often helps build a relationship with their users.

There are several ways that one can go about building user relationships and trust through web design, and putting a face with the design is one that, when done well, can score a lot of points for you and your brand. To add that personal element to your brand, your website can be one of your brand’s most effective weapons. But it has to be done with care to ensure that it is handled properly.

Below is a list that is filled with great examples of people making their website designs not only visually appealing, but also trustworthy by adding the human touch.

The Human Touch

1. Beyond Commerce recreates a sense of the individual approach to every customer using a properly selected slogan and the image of the singing song in your honor.

Beyond Commerce

2. Hitmo studio shows eagerness to fighting on your side and working as a team against the problems. The image also plays the role of visual interpretation of the main slogan.

hitmo studio

3. Netbluez provokes good feelings that are usually associated with the image of child-like keenness, honesty and purity of mind. The well treated photo highlights the main message and completes the whole design.

Netbluez

4. Creative People is a great example, where the image not only makes the whole design look fresh and mysterious, but also gets users to believe that this agency works with really talented people, who definitely use unconventional approaches.

Creative People

5. Forty Seven Media presents people behind the scene with a touch of quaintness. The appearance of the potential performers shine with eagerness and creativity, convincing us of their good intentions.

Forty Seven Media

6. Gavin Castleton‘s site uses a masterful photomanipulation to both divide the website into two functional parts and to inspire confidence by means of showing off the designer’s skills.

Gavin Castleton

7. Digital Hands like with the previous example, the agency bets on creativeness and skillfulness of their workers, using an exceptional image that should convince users that such talented people wont let us down.

Digital Hands

8.  Jorge Rigabert‘s whole website design is made with such a scrupulousness and attention to the smallest details that the self-portrait of the executor only adds seriousness to his intentions to do the job perfectly.

Jorge Rigabert

9. Chandan Roy Sanyal is not afraid to show his dark side. This unwonted and peculiar image can be regarded as an attempt to be honest with the users.

Chandan Roy Sanyal

10. SEOCOM plays with the illustrated names of search engines and social media websites to bring users the idea that they are on familiar terms with web giants, thus making users feel that they are real pros.

SEOCOM

11. Griffinabox uses a trick with transparent display to say “Hey, this is the guy who will do all the work for you�, and he is always within reach.

Griffinabox

12. Gauged2 shows all their staff by creating offbeat photos and small descriptions. Focusing on making visitors familiar with all the members of the team and making an impression of an honest and open company.

Gauged2

13. Raffaele Leone greets you with open arms and with serenity on his face. Raffaele wants to make his website a welcoming place where you will feel safe and sound.

Raffaele Leone

14. Jeremija Webdesign uses the power of gestures, putting in users minds that he is talking directly to them. Simply establishing the bond between him and the person behind the screen.

Jeremija webdesign

15. Thathurtabit uses another powerful psychological tool – facial expression. A great deal of people associate  smile and “hi-fiveâ€� gesture with goodwill, fairness and eagerness. And  he really does know about it.

Thathurtabit

16. Michael Wong presents himself as a daring and responsible warrior of website design and development, who will lead you through the web jungles and won’t leave you in any case. Making users believe that with him they will be safe.

Michael Wong

17. Quodis calls on your imagination, creating a whimsical slider that instills the idea of full understanding and perfect cooperation among all the members, making their company the place to visit.

Quodis

18. Volunteer Louisiana incorporates images of its members and of the people who regularly volunteer. Showing appreciation – cause for others to “remove their shieldsâ€� and be more friendly and thoughtful.

Volunteer Louisiana

19. Jorge Riera realizes the importance of eye contact between himself and the user behind the screen, adding amiability and geniality with his smile.

Jorge Riera

20. Soul Media does a good job of using geekiness, instilling the sense of hopeless dedication to you and your project.

Soul Media

21. Bokche builds a brand around himself, integrating the impression of stability, gravity and safety. Making the customers believe that they really can rely on him.

Bokche

22. Michele Giorgi concentrates on several images, each of which depicts different emotions. The first shows tranquility, the second the artistic side of Michele, and the last one displays a willingness and eagerness to start working.

Michele Giorgi

23. Smultron‘s imagery conveys the sense that “everything is going to be alright”.

Smultron

Share Your Thoughts

That concludes this side of the showcase, but things are just getting started. What are some of your favorite sites that use the human touch to help make a connection with their users and begin building that trust in their brand? Be they on this list, or not. Leave us your thoughts in the comment section.

(rb)


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