Ready to use templates for iPhone, iPad and Android

As in my earlier posts, I have mentioned how important it is to have the right data at the right time. Moving further with the same thought and to make sure the designers creativity doesn’t come to a halt, I had started the ‘Quick Tips’ category. Through this post I researched and created a repository for UX and Graphic designers, a compilation of Wire-frame stencils and Photoshop source files for base devices.

iPhone

• Mock-up Stencil for Balsamiq users http://mockupstogo.net/iphone-in-app-social-networking
  This stencil has additional Twitter and Facebook screens.
• You can also upgrade your version for iPhone mock-ups from http://balsamiq.com/blog/2009/03/01/iphone-controls-new-icons-and-much-more/
• Photoshop file for visual designers http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/2010/06/14/iphone-gui-psd-v4/

iPad

• Mock-up Stencil for

Remove background from an image – Photoshop Techniques

There are times when as designers we need to quickly churn out few designs and we keep looking for the right images.

Frantically searching multiple photo-stock sites in different tabs and the ticking minutes just add to the aggravation. Still we are just not able to get the right shot with the right background. Looking at the heavily designed backgrounds in an image with the thought of extracting an object from it gives goose pimples to some of the designers.

I found a very helpful tutorial which provides different techniques for

iPad Shelf Wallpaper contest won

I’m happy to share that I have won the contest for iPad Shelf Wallpaper on http://www.appsafari.com – the entry is posted on http://www.appsafari.com/ipad-shelf-wallpaper-template-and-contest/

You can also download iPad wallpapers from below links:

Freedom Unleashed Wallpaper – Landscape (1024×768)

Freedom Unleashed Wallpaper – Portrait (768×1024)

Game of 3Ps: Points to Pixels OR Pixels to Points in Photoshop

At times I see designers struggling on “how to do” though they know “what to do”. Being a designer myself this minute of struggle not only sucks but leads into ineffective designing. My whole creativity goes for toss since I’m busy searching for the right tool with the ticking time lines.

I am sure there are many among us who are absolutely creative, and are full of ideas. However, the creativity falls short if it is not expressed the way its envisioned. And here’s where the tools that we use and our knowledge about them holds prime importance. It’s the tools that help bring our creativity to life. This very thought gave me a new direction to add in my blog – Quick Tips Category

Following is a quick tip of using the tools more efficiently.
Changing fonts/measurements from points to pixels (or) reverse in Photoshop

There are 2 ways of changing the Units:

The World of Mascots, Revisited (Part II)

The Website Mascots (Part I)

There was a time when almost every household product globally was associated with a mascot but over the years either some of the brands have dropped their mascots or rarely use them as a part of marketing documents (Note: only marketing documents, not products)

Since childhood I have been seeing them around and thought people could easily relate to the word mascot (the face that speaks a thousand words). But my earlier blog was an eye opener where I realized very few people today understand or relate to mascots. Maybe the difference is in observation a person builds since childhood.

Over the years, I saw the mascots fading and then came the trend when everyone starting creating a mascot for their brand. Immediately looking at them, it just clicked to me how mascots have moved to web in this web2.0 era. My earlier post was targeted at Website Mascots, so here’s the flashback of some mascots which existed during our growing years. Going back to the memory lane might be interesting for some of us, and make us more observant in today’s life.

Telecom Brand Mascot which was allowed to be a part of lifestyle products. Till now Mascots have been strongly visible on merchandising items only. Vodafone is the only brand which allowed its mascot ‘ZooZoo’ on products to a lifestyle brand.

The Website Mascots (Part I)

See also – The World of Mascots, Revisited (Part II)

Nowadays we see a lot of sites using mascot for their companies. I like it! It’s a nice way to represent the image of the brand and just by looking at the mascot, instantly a relation is built between the user and the brand.

Some mascots are integrated with the logo while for some sites mascot plays the role of a guiding character:

For a brand name like twitter, the birdie mascot is a representation of the concept – the birdie tweets around the web space.

Silverback usability testing application has a Guerrilla mascot on the very homepage to welcome the visitors

Google buzz logo – Uncanny similarity with MSN logo

Google recently launched its much awaited networking app – Google buzz. One can share status, have conversations, tag the buzz with location, share photos, is integrated with Gmail inbox, import data from twitter, so much to do . Google has also rolled out a version of buzz for Android and Apple iPhone.

With every new launch of Google product I wait to see Google product demo videos – Not that the products are complicated but I have always loved to watch them. Hats off to the creative team who continuously strive for more and still not make the storyboard complex. A treat for the designer’s senses Google Buzz Demo

Conceptually I love everything about Google videos but somewhere in my mind while watching the demo of Google buzz  – the butterfly concept in the video reminded me of MSN logo (maybe due to my association with msn client few years back)

There is a striking similarity between the Google buzz logo and

Match the colors of Mac Photoshop with Windows

In most of the design communities that I subscribe to, I find designers facing difficulty related to colors displayed on a Windows machine for the creatives designed on a MacBook. Though the software used to access the design is same (Adobe Photoshop) but the moment file is accessed on Windows Photoshop, the result is devastating. Colors look washed out and whole creativity seems dead.

We all know that Mac OSX have an excellent reproduction of colors and high quality display. Henceforth we might not be able to meet the colors display 100% but at least 85% can be captured in Windows Photoshop

This was a problem I had also faced and below is what I found as a resolution:-)

Color challenge for designers

As designers most of us feel, we know just the right tone of a color and no one can challenge us.

I found this interesting site which has online color challenge. I encourage designers to at least once go and take the challenge of color vision.

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

It’s an exciting activity and does not take more then 10mins. You just need to drag and drop.

The lower the score, the better color vision you have.

Best part of this color vision test is

How to design a logo – Basic principles/ Best practices

In my earlier post 2009 – Year of redesigned logos I did not consider some of the logos, since I feel the designers did not do justice with them. Redesigning a logo does not need to be a necessity if the spark and purpose is not well utilized. I again request designers not to design for the sake of designing but go deep into the reasoning. Do some homework and recognize the underlying principle of design.

5 Basic principles of Logo designing:

1. Simple, Clear & Crisp – Logo design should be uncomplicated for the viewer and designer.
2. Projection of company’s image should come across clearly & direct
3. Balancing Act – Logo designing is balancing act of creativity. One should not go overboard with the usage of design elements : font, color and shape. The key is correct use of styling and balancing of all these elements to form a composition called ‘logo’
4. Direct hit – Messaging should be direct either through graphics or text and should hit the viewers mind in one go.
5. Black & White as winner – Colors play a very important role but a logo should not lose its sheen when converted in black and white. This is a common issue we all face as designers and prefer to ignore it.

Logo conceptualization:

Color vs Black and White
The last point of logo designing principle is indeed the foremost important territory for a designer to conquer.