Resources

Logo inspiration sites you should’t miss

. Art & Design, Inspiration, Resources, Web 2.0

Everything needs identity. For human, we have name as our basic identity. In medieval era, heraldry was used as identity, which now is still visible in modern world. For companies, brands, society etc, they need a logo as identification. Logo is important because it represents the company to the world. So logo has to be eye catchy, unique yet easy to remember.

Designing logo can be fun, but actually it can be a painful process too. I can struggled easily during the logo design development. You need to do some research, or look into other logos to get design inspiration. So here I compiled some sites that will help you to get inspiration.

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10 simple ways to make glossy button

. Art & Design, Resources, Tutorial, Web 2.0

Woot. My first tutorial! Glossy button is current in thing in web design, because it is eye-catchy, pretty and friendly. Not sure about how the trand started but I pretty sure is Apple button style! There are some ways to “glossify” a button, which I will teach you how to make below. Tutorial work file is included also. But first, let me teach you the simple steps of making a glossy button.

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Where to get Quality Free Fonts?

. Resources, Typography, Web Design

Where to get Quality Free Fonts?

Since the early age of human race, communication is playing the vital role, either using body language, eye signal, or by using drawings. Then, to make communication better, human invented symbols then refined to become text. In the past, books were hand written, and thanks to Johannes Guternberg’s first printed book “42 Line Bible” by using movable type, books can be publish easily. Now in modern age, typefaces were transformed into digital format or “font”. Although David Carson once declared “The end of print”, but for me text and print is still important.

There are so many free fonts for download over the net but, only quite a few that provides quality, here are some of my selection.

Fontleech

This site provides nice free fonts from different font foundry from around the world. Must visit.

Fontleech

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25 Websites We/I Can’t Live Without

. Inspiration, Resources

Today I came across this link about 25 Sites We Can’t Live Without, presented by TIME. Well, I actually quite curious what website will be in the list so I go and read it. Read it if you are curious too. Well actually there is some sites in that list is I really can’t live without. So, I also want to make a list of websites that I rely the most and visit almost everyday. There you go.

Websites I Can’t Live Without.

Daily Visit / Web Application
1. Lowyat.net – I can’t live without it. Joined this forum and visit this site almost everyday.
2. Del.icio.us – Discover nice sites and useful articles through here.
3. Wikipedia – One stop knowledge center.
4. Last.fm – To check my music taste-o-meter and various charts.
5. Google – Probably the website that I visit and rely the most.
6. Gmail – The email client that I trust.
7. Photobucket – Use this website to upload my pictures.

Graphic, Design and Images
8. DeviantArt – My daily design inspiration.
9. Stock Exchange – Think of royalty free images, think Stock Exchange.
10. Flickr – Another great site to search for photo inspiration.
11. SmashingMagazine – Inspiration, resources etc, great info on web design is here.
12. TheBestDesigns – Gallery of great websites
13. CSSBeauty – There is so much CSS sites, but I rely this the most.

Japan!
14. Jpopsuki – A great site to get latest J-pop goodies.
15. myTVBT – Get latest J-dramas from here! Chinese Sub!
16. Imagegarden – Great site for J-Idol pictures.
17. Tokyograph – Japan Entertainment news in english.

Games
18. NFSunlimited – I’m NFS fan. So I go to this site regularly to get latest buzz of NFS.
19. PCGameWorld – Sites that I visit to get games related stuffs.

Languages
19. Wordlingo Translator – Need this site to translate some foreign languages.
20. Kanji Converter – Need this site to convert kanji to romaji.
21. Dictionary.com – Rely this website more than dictionary now!

NBA
22. Yahoo NBA – Get the latest NBA news, match results here.

Site Management
23. Feedburner – Obviously, I have to check how is my site going.
24. WordPress – & WordPress related websites like themes and plugins library.
25. Jay-han.com – Last and not least, my own precious personal websites.

Ok lah, here is the lists of websites that plays important role in my daily surfing activity. I do visit a lot of other website and RSS it. Probably I will post them in the future. Thanks! šŸ˜€

Where to get free patterns?

. Inspiration, Resources, Web Design

Because of Web 2.0 trend, patterns is kinda gaining back its popularity. But indeed, patterns will really enhance the beauty of a website. Besides to used as web design, patterns also can use as desktop wallpapers! I’m not saying those Windows ugly wallpaper patterns, but here, I compiled a list of 4 websites that provides free and nice patterns.

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Free carbon fibre photoshop pattern

. Resources

Jay-han.com first ever freebies! And this is carbon fibre pattern texture. Download the gif below to your computer, and then open it in Photoshop. Go to Edit > Define Pattern.. , then a windows pop up, rename it and click OK. Tada, the pattern is installed and you can use Pattern Stamp Tool and start playing! Have fun!

Download pattern here (or right click > Save Link As).

Where to get quality free vectors?

. Inspiration, Resources

Vectors are cool. Unlike bitmap, vectors are lightweight and won’t losing its quality even you enlarge it or shrink it. Here I compiled a list of websites where you can get free, open source vectors for collection! Yoroshiku!

VectorVault free downloads

Everyweek, Vector Vault will have new free vectors available for download. Join their mailing list to get notified!

Go Media’s Arsenal sample vector

Go Media has awesome vector packs. They give out sample for free testing too.

Vecteezy

A great compilation site of free vectors

Briar Press Cuts

An extensive vector collection site. More on flourish ornaments.

Extras

Besides that, TutorialBlog here has created a great list of free vector resources, be sure to check out some awesome freebies there! Other honorable mentioned great vector sites are DeviantArt and BittBox. Thanks šŸ˜€

Testing with Highslide JS

. Resources, Web Design

Last Thursday when I surfing the net, I stumbled upon this website. I found it a very cool way to enlarging thumbnails without refreshing the whole page. So I try it and I like it very much, because it is very convenient, lightweight and cool! Im using a similar service which is Lightbox 2, and I prefer HighSlide JS method. Below is my testing with HighSlide JS. Click on the picture and try it!

Instruction: Click to enlarge, use left or right arrow key to change image. Esc to return.