Anyway, I decided to do a post like this because it seems like logo inspiration websites are breeding with one another. They pretty much have the same content, the same logos and also the same featured designs. I thought it would be nice to throw some good old fashioned new eye candy into the mix in DWD fashion. Feast your eyes on these:

The Impeccable Pig Eatery Oink. designed by Splash Design

Rollersnakes designed by www.rollersnakes.co.uk

The Loose Box designed by Niche Design

Interislander designed by Clemenger Group

Bajaj Auto Limited designed by Elephant Design Limited

Nadezda Milenkovic designed by Aleksandra Prhal

Office Games designed by The Partners

10.40+ Beautiful Fish Inspired Logos by DESIGNRFIX

Fishy logo madness, take a dip into a wealth of inspiration.

9.How To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of Clients by Smashing Magazine

After all, being a designer is not just about design.

8.Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage by Seth Godin

A must read for any business owner, regardless of field or industry.

7.How To Convert PSD to XHTML

6.The Logo Olympics by Brand New

A look at the rebrand of Olympic Airlines.

5.Perfect your kerning skills by Computer Arts

A great tutorial that shows you how to lay out type professionally.

4.Brand Strategy: What’s the Big Deal? by Branding Identity Guru

Perhaps the most important article I have read all year.

3.Minimizing Complexity in User Interfaces

A great read for tech-savvy web gurus.

2.A “thing’ as logo by Brand New

Breaking the rules of logo design, Burnley style.

1.27+ Beautiful Examples Of Infographics

10.30+ PHP Best Practices for Beginners by NetTuts

A pretty good list of helpful tips and advice for the aspiring PHP programmer.

9.Vintage Airline Logos by Designboom

Inspirational logos from the world of flight from years gone by.

8.20 Most Commonly Used Plugins on WordPress Blogs by Line 25

The top WordPress plugins that any blog owner should consider installing.

7.18 Factors that will Increase the (cash) Value of Your Website by Web Designer Online

This article lists the factors that determine whether your site is worth a mint.

6.The Logo Evolution of 15 Corporate Brands by Scarlet Bits

A very interesting look at how some of the biggest brands have visually developed.

5.100 Great Resources for Design Inspiration by Design Star

A more than generous list of design goodness.

4.The Dangers of Personal Branding by Freelance Switch

A must read for any freelancer.

3.The Dieline

Not an article as such but a very inspirational packaging website.

2.25+ Astonishing Examples of Creative Photoshopped Ads by Design Reviver

A must say. The work featured here is truly stunning.

1.How Optical Illusions Work by How Optical Illusions Work

An article that features images that will leave you scratching your head.

10. Butterflies

They may be pretty nice to look at from time to time but these little critters seem to creep into illustrations everywhere. Often with no purpose or relevance, the beloved butterfly is thrown in as an after thought or maybe to fill up sacred white space of any collage. Stock butterflies are normally very basic & flat.

9. Beautiful Women

You are likely to find adorning a club flyer or poster, a beautiful female scantily clad with oversized body features. As far as I know this craze was started by the Hed Kandi albums back in the 90′s. It’s pretty obvious which ones are stock due to the lack of detail compared to the bespoke drawings.

8. Speakers

Another main feature of the “collage” trend is the vector speaker, which is more prominent in the music industry. Sometimes the speaker may be the centrepiece but it is more common for two or more to be placed symmetrically either side.

7. Sunburts

When creating a funky collage illustration you need a base, and the first port of call is to seek a sexy sunburst, right? I think this stems from summertime posters but now seems to feature all your round. What’s more worrying is that some designers are willing to pay for these considering how easy they are to make.

6. Drips/Splatters

Nothing says “urban & edgy” more than graffitti. Adding drips and splatters to your work (mainly typography) can achieve this feel but sadly this is one of the biggest cliches in design, and has been for some years. Try to only use in context if completely necessary. An alternative to buying stock is to create your own by using real spray paint on paper, scanning in and then tracing to vector. The results will probably look more realistic.

5. Swooshes

I think the first time I saw this kind of graphic element was back in the early 90′s when Microsoft slapped it all over their packaging (in some cases they still do). This can be seen mainly in use for website header images or presentation backgrounds. Over time the “futuristic” desired effect loses it’s appeal.

4. Ornates

Whenever I see these floral swirls I can’t help but think of the work of Si Scott, who in my opinion is the master of this technique. You will find this element applied to typography in the main but is also used as backgrounds for websites and in some cases for logo’s.

3. Skyline

Coupled with drips & splats the city skyline silhouhette completes the urban look. I have seen elements such as these used by corporate professionals on business cards and letterheads, which can look really cheap and tacky. I would suggest only use a silhouette of a city landscape when neccessary, eg. when drawing a nightlife illustration.

2. Team Silhouette

Some businesses seem to think that by using silhouettes of business professionals in quirky poses it makes them look “modern & hip” when it all does it show that the business is faceless. This not only lowers the element of trust but also makes your business look like thousands of competitors.

1. Globes

The beloved globe has a very special place in every chief executive’s heart. It’s meant to show that a business operates worldwide or is active on the “internet”. This is the most transparent stock illustration element that I can think of.

Can you think of any more stock vector cliches?

10.25 inspiring examples of sign up pages by Webdesigner Depot

CSS forms no longer need to be drab and dreary.

9.Fonts Used In Logos of Popular Websites by Build Internet

For all you typomaniacs who were ever curious..

8.12 Great Tutorials on Creating a New WordPress Theme by Reen Coded

Get your head around a little PHP, it’s definately worth it.

7.11 essential iPhone apps for designers by Designer Daily

More than worth a look, even if you’re not a proficient developer…

6.35 High-Quality Free Fonts For Your Designs by Instant Shift

Though, I would use them sooner rather than lately before everyone else does.

5.6 Reasons Freelance Designers Should Join Twitter by The Design Cubicle

This was written in June, but I didn’t find it until July, so it still counts, and serves a very good argument.

4.15 Stunningly Creative Business Cards/ by Swick

Taking the craft of business card design & manufacturer to new levels and beyond.

3.What to Include In Your Design Contracts by The Design Cubicle

Concise & very accurate, a must for any freelancer just starting out.

2.50 ways to become a better designer by Computer Arts

The bible of design mags serves up yet another tasty treat of design advice.

1.Elements of a Successful Brand 5: The Name by Pivotal Brands

A must read for anyone looking to start a new design venture.

10. The Telephone

Give us a call! Normally seen on the contact page as the easiest method of visual communicating that a business is available by phone. If you can find a photo of an old fashined phone then even worse.

9. The Huddle

Nothing says unity more than a group of people huddled in a circle, right? This image is used to try and show that a business is fun, friendly and approachable, unlike their competitors who just use the standard serious business team pose as shown in cliche number 3. Group Hug!

8. The Dollar

Money, money, money, after all that’s what every business is in the game for, well, almost. Non-designers think that by using images of money it shows that they can generate sales for customers, when in effect it can decrease the element of trust and makes the viewer question their ethics.

7. The Happy Family

“If you use our service we can make you this happy!” is the main message of this image. This one is easy spot a mile off, normally under the testimonials page or in extreme cases as the main header image.

6. The Staged Meeting

I have yet to see a photographer on standby in any meeting I’ve been involved with. This is tackiness at it’s best and should be avoided at all costs.

5. The Fingertips

Similar to cliche number 10, except this time the image shows that the business is so modern that it can actually be contacted not by just phone, but by the ground breaking technology of email. Drop us a line!

4. The Impressive Office

A photograph of state-of-the-art buildings may make your business look bigger than you actually are but when your customers visit your real premises you may have a little explaining to do.

3. The Business Team

We are powerful and serious, do not mess with us! Whilst this image is meant to make a business look approachable it can actually be deemed as quite intimidating.

2. The Pretty Call Centre Girl

Sexist, demeaning & predictable. Sex sells, so adding a bit of glamour to try and increase sales shouldn’t do any harm, when infact all it does is make the business in question look fake. Unfortunately, this kind of photograph is used on thousands of websites and reduces the element of trust between the viewer and the business.

1. The Almighty Handshake

This image is meant to scream trust & getting the deal done whilst at the same time maintaining that serious, corporate image. This is business. This is THE stock photography cliche of all time.

I hope you enjoyed this post and will agree with my choices. I’d be interested to know of any suggestions.

10.Take Your Design To The Next Level With CSS3 by Smashing Magazine

A great look at how the latest CSS elements can change the way you code websites forever

9.Interview With Nelson Balaban by PSD Tuts

The young talented designer Nelson Balaban offers a great insight into his creative career so far

8.60 Most Stunning Typography Inspiration Of All Time by The Design Inspiration

Typography taken to the next level, this list is a must look

7.25 Free Brilliant Fonts For Logo Design by Little Box Of Ideas

Sneh Roy takes you through a great selection of free fonts suitable for identity systems

6.The Master Of Light Effects Chuck Anderson by Abduzeedo

The designer commonly known as No Pattern asnwers some insightful questions

5.40 Photoshop Tutorials You Must See by Computer Arts

A creative guide to some fantastic Photoshop step-by-step tutorials

4.60 Rare and Unusual Vintage Signs by Smashing Magazine

A very interesting look at some graphic design from yesteryear

3.Aardman + Jam = Gavin Strange by Thunderchunky

Gavin Strange, an Aardman Animations employee answers some probing questions from the popular design portal

2.10 WordPress 2.8 Features To Look Out For by Net Tuts

Some clever tips on how the latest WordPress release can improve your blog

1.The Basic Of Clipping Paths And Opacity Masks by Vector Tuts

An invaluable article for any new or established Illustrator

The question of “What is Graphic Design” is probably asked every day, somewhere. There is even a book with the same title. I think of this question everytime somebody asks me what I do for a living, and it can be sometimes complicated trying to explain not just what a designer does, but also their role within the economy.

A suitable, and perhaps a surprising comparison I came to was that graphic design is very much like being a comedian. I don’t mean telling dirty jokes and playing the bongos, I’m referring to knowing your target audeince & working with them through good communication to get a result you are both happy with.

Continuing this analogy further, I decided that there are two main types of designer. First you have the stand-up comics. These are the guys with a lot of experience, know exactly what their doing, brimming with confidence and ready to design for any audience they come across. A good comedian will be well prepared, having done plenty of research to tailor jokes for the audience, or in the design industry, the client. If the gig is at a Women’s Convention, chances are any sexist jokes will be saved for another date, in the same way a good designer should design for the tastes of the target audience.

Like designers, comedians also feed upon feedback to improve their work. A good comic will tell a joke and gauge the reaction of the audience, if they don’t laugh he or she will move onto to something else he has in mind, but if they do laugh then the comedian knows they are on the right track. This is similar to why good communication before any creative work begins is essential to a successful design solution.

While still classed as comedians, Jester’s are less successful than their stand-up peers. A jester will run on stage with no preparation, juggling, telling all the wrong jokes, desperately seeking a rise from the audience. Almost like when a designer does no preparation or research when starting a design project, chances are the client will boo them stage. The problem with jesters are that they don’t know when to stop, a bit like designers who haven’t read the brief, talked at length about the clients needs and are constantly baffled when their designs get rejected.

At the end of the act the jester is left frustrated, angry and disullisioned with his or her profession until the next job comes along. Like a successful comedian, one of the main attributes of a good designer is being able to communicate by listening as well speaking. If a client doesn’t like the design it is more than likely the fault of the designer than the client. In other words it is our role to make the client laugh, but with us, not at us.

The photos below are snipets of my recent sketches which are random pieces of paper stuck into one blank A4 booklet. Of course this is just a snippet, I chose to leave out my secret ideas, you’ll have to pay me for a private dance.

Most of what you see above, is in use somehow, somewhere, within my work. (And yes, I am fully aware that I spelt “Disorder” wrong hehe).