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[ReRixo]

I suggest if you're gonna make it look like a gold strip... make it look like a gold strip. Like others have said, it looks odd.

Threw this up as an example. In something like a nav bar, you never want an element that distracts from your nav items, in your case it's the first thing I saw.

I'd also avoid using the free vector swooshes and floral elements. All 3 of your content blocks don't follow the grid, ex . Your images, text and content blocks are all at different grid levels. Make coding the site easier by aligning them all. Also, logo soups are usually smaller in size and all one colour. Grey perhaps that would overlay to a colour version when you hover over.

Just some food for though, I'm not trying to be harsh

Thanks a lot, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Just wanted some fresh input to take back to the drawing board. Made a few small changes, what do you think?

 

[killertofu]

This might have been covered before but what do you guys recommend as a beginner design book?
One that shows theories and explains concepts

 

[Buckethead]

ReRixo, I suggest sticking to a color scheme. Too much going on there.

Also, make the blog text larger and with a nicer typeface.

It'd do a lot, I think.

Anyway bed. I'll be back.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Pretty sure it's this: Brandon Grotesque Black

Thanks, I think that's it!

 

[RDreamer]

Thanks a lot, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Just wanted some fresh input to take back to the drawing board. Made a few small changes, what do you think?

Overall I think it's pretty good. For some reason the picture chosen for the top irks me a bit. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just don't like it and how it works with the page. The ribbon, since it's supposed to be a 3D element sitting on top of that picture needs just a slight drop shadow to complete the effect. Right now it looks kind of oddly pasted on. The next chunk of the page in the parentheses feels a bit weird to me. It feels very divorced in feeling from the top banner and picture, because of the change in color scheme, but at the same time it's not given the spacing of a separate element. There's a lot more spacing between every other element and that one. You can keep it stuck to the top one, but I think it needs to be a bit more cohesive with the top elements. As is, it needs a bit more space. That pink on the left side of that element feels a bit divorced, too. It almost grabs my eye too much. I keep going back to it when trying to read every other element. There's none of that pink anywhere else on the page, and it's such a huge contrast, so that's why that's happening. Also, I think the fact that the texture is nowhere to be found in that second element doesn't help. You could tie it in simply by using that texture on all the buttons there, too.

 

[cbox]

For that picture to be effective in the header, it'd have to be black and white methinks.

 

[VICTORsaurio]

I got a job offer a couple of weeks ago that I accepted. I've been working as a freelance designer for almost a year after being burned out at an agency. I wasn't really looking for another permanent job but a friend contacted me about it so out of courtesy I went there just to talk it out.

I told them upfront that I couldn't take the job right away because I'm on the middle of a big project right now. So they made me an offer to start in late August/early September and I accepted. It's not like they offered me an amazing income but I just thought "what the heck, I'm not doing anything anyway, so I might just give it another try".

Now I think I'm going to turn it down, because I know someone who works in the US that I have been doing some work with sporadically and she wants me to go and work with her for a month on a big project, in September. There's no way I'm gonna turn that down, I live in Venezuela, this is a shithole and I really want to leave if there's a chance to do it. So far it's not like I'm being offered a permanent job in the US but I definitely want to go and try, push that relationship further and maybe open up some more doors that could lead to a permanent job in the future.

I didn't really sign any contract or any legal stuff but still I'm dreading having to call them and turn them down since we did have a sort of verbal agreement. But I know I have to do it ASAP so they can look for someone else to take the job I was going to do.

 

[RDreamer]

For that picture to be effective in the header, it'd have to be black and white methinks.

I don't think I'm going to agree with that at all. I think it could work in black and white, but I think it can very well work in color. The rest of the page is filled with vibrant colors, and so the picture being in color also fits this aesthetic.

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

I don't think I'm going to agree with that at all. I think it could work in black and white, but I think it can very well work in color. The rest of the page is filled with vibrant colors, and so the picture being in color also fits this aesthetic.

It certainly doesn't need to be black and white, but it does look overly saturated and crushed.

Knock it back a bit.

 

[RDreamer]

It certainly doesn't need to be black and white, but it does look overly saturated and crushed.

Knock it back a bit.

I suppose. I think my main problem is with the content of the picture and its cropping. You essentially have the back of 3 people's heads and only one person is really seen. I think that sort of picture may work if it were a politician's page, where you really do only care about one person, but this isn't that. It's supposed to be about a whole group of people.

 

[phillipgessert]

And the view of the gentleman on the left is not flattering. Not a crack on the dude, it's just that this angle and his particular look gives the whole photo a slightly snapshot-esque vibe. And not in a way that suggests deliberate style choice.

 

[cbox]

I don't think I'm going to agree with that at all. I think it could work in black and white, but I think it can very well work in color. The rest of the page is filled with vibrant colors, and so the picture being in color also fits this aesthetic.

That's the problem. The photo isn't directly saying anything to the audience, therefore it shouldn't be the centre of attention. That's why I have a problem with it being in colour, just because you have vibrant colours on your site doesn't' mean everything has to be vibrant.

 

[PantherLotus]

I think that makes it much, much worse.

 

[cbox]

eh worth a shot, I think a new picture would solve it.

 

[Flek]

Hey guys can you recommend any graphic design podcast? I used to listen to the forest cast but they are more programing based

 

[noah111]

Anyone here on Dribble? I'd like to follow you all. Not to mention see if anyone has invites to give out. I love lurking there but it's a pain when you want to comment on a specific piece and can't. :|

Spoiler

Now I know how GAF lurkers feel.

 

[dangrib]

I'd love to get a Dribbble account to show progress of my work at 3nil (threenil.com) but seems so hard to get one.

 

[phillipgessert]

Same. the zero effort I've put into securing an invite is really not paying off at all.

 

[Futureman]

any advice on saving a .psd dozens/hundreds of times?

will the file quality start to degrade, or is a .psd basically lossless?

I'm making a cartoon and I'm doing the puppets in Photoshop. I'm worried about opening and saving too often. I THINK what I'm seeing is a little bit of digital "gunk" on some files, but this may be from bad practices when I started making the puppets around last November. I'm much better now with how I draw and color stuff.

 

[phillipgessert]

any advice on saving a .psd dozens/hundreds of times?

will the file quality start to degrade, or is a .psd basically lossless?

I'm making a cartoon and I'm doing the puppets in Photoshop. I'm worried about opening and saving too often. I THINK what I'm seeing is a little bit of digital "gunk" on some files, but this may be from bad practices when I started making the puppets around last November. I'm much better now with how I draw and color stuff.

There shouldn't be any kind of generation loss or anything like that with opening, saving, and closing the same file over and over again in and of itself. As you say though, there may be something cumulative going on due to practices—which could then be captured by the save each time it happens. But again, that's not down to degradation of the file as a simple extension of the open > save > close process repeated many times over.

So yes, PSD is effectively 'lossless'. If it weren't, designers would never save their work.

 

[JaseMath]

Finally finished my tribute the Russian space program. Large format; 20x11.
What do you guys think?

 

[Jzero]

Finally finished my tribute the Russian space program. Large format; 20x11.
What do you guys think?

I don't know what it says, but it looks good.

 

[Blackhead]

Finally finished my tribute the Russian space program. Large format; 20x11.
What do you guys think?

http://mrgroff.com/blog_img/Yuri61.jpg

I know nothing about these things but a skull in a spacesuit isn't exactly a "tribute", is it?

 

[Futureman]

anyone have experience with printing?

I use this book machine thingy at work and I'm printing a cover. The cover is a grayscale .pdf. When I print from our Mac to the Canon Pro9000 Mark II, the cover has a black and white photo on it and it comes out with a red cast on the photo.

basically I can't figure out how to force it to ignore this color information that I guess is imbedded in the file and just print in straight grayscale.

here's the cover in question:
http://www.gregburgh.com/random/beck.pdf

 

[aristotle]

anyone have experience with printing?

I use this book machine thingy at work and I'm printing a cover. The cover is a grayscale .pdf. When I print from our Mac to the Canon Pro9000 Mark II, the cover has a black and white photo on it and it comes out with a red cast on the photo.

basically I can't figure out how to force it to ignore this color information that I guess is imbedded in the file and just print in straight grayscale.

here's the cover in question:
http://www.gregburgh.com/random/beck.pdf

It's because there's fake color in the image and in the name "Max (something - didn't zoom in)".

If you're in Acrobat Pro., used the advanced editting menu....edit object tool...Right click and edit object. It should pop it into an image editor and you can convert the image to grayscale from there. At my workplace we use a plugin for Acrobat called "Quite A Box of Tricks" that has a simple one click to convert everything to CMYK or grayscale. For the text, since you're just printing on a regular printer, you probably don't have to worry about it. You can see what colors are in your PDF by find the menu item "Output Preview" in the advanced menu (I believe).

 

[phillipgessert]

You can actually just convert the whole cover in one shot with Acrobat using Tools > Convert Colors > Conversion Profile: Dot Gain 15%. Even though there are only a couple problem objects, it might save a step or two to just refry the whole thing this way.

Alternately, I'd guess there was a black and white option in the rip or print dialogue for that Canon. Somewhere.

 

[noah111]

Finally finished my tribute the Russian space program. Large format; 20x11.
What do you guys think?

Looks good (even though I can't read), love the fact that you didn't use a generic star backdrop but rather something that looks a bit like space debris/the astroid belt instead. I'm not sure about what's iconic about russian space suits but you could probably add a little something to the hemet/suit to push that fact home. Oh and the skull's a bit scary (esp. veins/cracks) for a tribute, but still fits imo.

 

[rocksteady1983]

Calendar of my pug I put together. Nothing too crazy.

 

[Jzero]

Calendar of my pug I put together. Nothing too crazy.

Aww :3

 

[SteeloDMZ]

Calendar of my pug I put together. Nothing too crazy.

Did you make that just for fun? It looks great.

 

[Battlezone]

I'd love to get a Dribbble account to show progress of my work at 3nil (threenil.com) but seems so hard to get one.

I have a dribbble account, but I'm not nearly as good about updating it as I should be. Plus, a lot of the stuff I'm working on I can't show. But I'm going to finish my rebranding here this week, and start working on my website next week, then I'm diving into some other personal projects, so I'm going to get busy here soon.

I might have some invites, but honestly, the last time I mentioned it, I got bombarded with emails and messages about it, that I stopped looking to see if they're there. If I do, I'll be glad to share them with GAF, though.

dribble.com/studiobattle

 

[mescalineeyes]

haha yeah, I can't really show any of my work on Dribbble either. Love it for inspiration though.

 

[rocksteady1983]

Did you make that just for fun? It looks great.

Thanks! Yea, I have made a calendar of her for the past 3 years.

Also here is a logo I did for a Pug Rescue, just to help them out. Their current logo is basically text that looks like it was made in 1998.

 

[mik]

Sticking with the canine theme... some logo concepts I'm working on:

 

[Dreaver]

What is a good place to dump my graphic work?
I am mostly busy with video (Youtube) and photography (Flickr) but I would like a good ('professional') spot for my graphic work (I just want to post some stuff I make sometimes, nothing too professional but it also ain't crap).

I guess Dribbble is the best out there, but sadly it is invite-only.
Now I now there is DeviantArt but I don't really like it (too much stuff on the website, especially full of manga/anime kids).

What would you guys suggest? I prefer sites with communities.

 

[Misterinenja]

What is a good place to dump my graphic work?
I am mostly busy with video (Youtube) and photography (Flickr) but I would like a good ('professional') spot for my graphic work (I just want to post some stuff I make sometimes, nothing too professional but it also ain't crap).

I guess Dribbble is the best out there, but sadly it is invite-only.
Now I now there is DeviantArt but I don't really like it (too much stuff on the website, especially full of manga/anime kids).

What would you guys suggest? I prefer sites with communities.

Tumblr?

I'm also thinking about this.

 

[Towser]

Sticking with the canine theme... some logo concepts I'm working on:

Nice work - top one gets my thumbs up. I'de maybe tweak the flappy ears though as it might look a bit confusing - but then I could be wrong!

 

[phillipgessert]

What is a good place to dump my graphic work?
I am mostly busy with video (Youtube) and photography (Flickr) but I would like a good ('professional') spot for my graphic work (I just want to post some stuff I make sometimes, nothing too professional but it also ain't crap).

I guess Dribbble is the best out there, but sadly it is invite-only.
Now I now there is DeviantArt but I don't really like it (too much stuff on the website, especially full of manga/anime kids).

What would you guys suggest? I prefer sites with communities.

I once used Behance, and it was alright for me when I used it. Now I use Tumblr. In my opinion, sites that are TOO design-community-ish tend to devolve into pretty severe and hollow praise-swapping, so I wouldn't attach too much importance to those sites. Personally.

 

[cbox]

Sticking with the canine theme... some logo concepts I'm working on:

Dude these are great! I love the last one. Did you illustrate the dogs?

 

[Milchjon]

Sticking with the canine theme... some logo concepts I'm working on:

Ha, those are fun. I especially love the idea of the bottom one, although the first might make a better logo.

 

[mik]

Dude these are great! I love the last one. Did you illustrate the dogs?

Thanks! I did--though, the great dane is mostly traced from a photo, then exaggerated to make it a little more comic/cartoony.

 

[Hieberrr]

Creating a simple and personal logo is so hard Especially when my initials are ugly (HN)

 

[mik]

Another one I just finished for a friend's copywriting business...

 

[Jzero]

Does anyone know where i can print or get some transparent decals made? i already have design made but everywhere i've seen requires you to buy bulks of the same design and not individual pieces.

It's for my bike btw.

 

[cbox]

Thanks! I did--though, the great dane is mostly traced from a photo, then exaggerated to make it a little more comic/cartoony.

Awesome job, your illustrations are crisp!

 

[MrBig]

Does anyone know where i can print or get some transparent decals made? i already have design made but everywhere i've seen requires you to buy bulks of the same design and not individual pieces.

It's for my bike btw.

Find a local place that does vinyl print for cars or advertising

 

[mik]

New logo job I just finished up for a local dental practice:

 

[Milchjon]

Another one I just finished for a friend's copywriting business...

New logo job I just finished up for a local dental practice:

Man, your illustratons are great. So much fun, and very fitting. Very creative.

As a logo, do they work in b/w?

 

[mik]

I'm still sorting that out on the owl one.

And thanks!

 

[mik]

Good clients are priceless. That dentist noticed an awful, awful robot image in the corner of one of my pasteboards. I liked the idea, but didn't really think to develop it. To his credit, he thought it could be interesting and asked if I'd develop it further if he threw some more money at me. Now I can't decide which I like more. (probably still the owl--I think it's funny)