20+ Recommended Brilliant Portfolio Websites

For a web-designer, the portfolio website is not only a portfolio but also an example of their designs. The subtle balance between putting the focus on the portfolio elements or putting it on the website design, is very difficult to achieve. There are some tricks to the trade, as displayed by the following grab-bag of portfolio sites. These websites are selected to demonstrate specific points, they’re all great and have some fantastic design techniques and in each portfolio have some shining quality.

Grzegorz Kozak

With the single column portfolio being halfway down a very, very long website, the designer has used a curiosity device to keep you scrolling down. Very clever.

Free Download Awesome Icon Sets for Christmas

The days are moving fast!!! It’s almost Christmas… Are you still looking for freebies for your desktop? Worry no more! Here’s another set of items that you can download right into your PC. These are various Christmas Icons. These icons were created to spread the feeling of Christmas even just in computers. You may have already changed your wallpapers to Christmas-themed ones, but hey! We still got something for you.
A Collection of Free Unique Christmas Icon Sets are listed below just for you… Accessorize your desktop with the these icons and feel the spirit of christmas even more. Take a look at this icons and do not hesitate to get one. Have fun!

Christmas Mini Pack

The set is composed of 12 icons.

Free Download HQ Gadgets iPad and Many more PSD Files

Nowadays that most designers uses Photoshop, tons of free PSD files are available all over the web. It’s up to you where to find and get the best quality of PSD to download. In related to this, we’ve decided to compile a collection of Photoshop Documents for your future use. Of course since every designers have different needs and interest, we will categorize it to make things easier to browse and select.
For our first ever PSD resource collection, 30+ Free High Quality Handy Gadget PSD Files are showcased below for designers who are looking for PSD files that can be utilized for their designs. These resources are themed around the most high-tech gadgets offered by technology in our society today. Just in case you have a project that need some gadget related to be include, these will be a great add-on to your future images and design. Since it’s a PSD file, you can change and manipulate everything until you’re satisfied.

Free Gadget PSD Files

Apple iPad: Fully editable PSD

Free Business Card Design Tutorials and Plus PSD Files

n the past, we have came up with free business card giveaways for lucky readers and even business card designs for inspiration… Today, we bring you Free  Business Card Design Tutorials and Plus PSD Files  that you will find helpful in creating your own business cards and a cool collection of business cards in PSD file. With the tips and techniques that you’ll get in this tutorials, you’ll be able to fully utilize the tools in Photoshop and get amazing results. Not to mention the PSD that you can edit into something cooler!!!
So check out this unique list that we have prepared for you and read through each article thoroughly. You may be surprised at the knowledge that you’ll gain in each tutorial that you’ll visit and the resources that you may find handy in your designs. This post is divided into two parts: Business Card Tutorials and Business Cards PSD… Have fun!!!

Business Card Tutorials

Design a Print Ready Business Card for Designers

Free Download Graffiti Stylee Fonts

Graffiti is a term used for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. It is any type of public markings that appears in the forms of simple written words and/or elaborate wall paintings. With our previous posts on free download fonts, here is a follow-up post to your growing collection to provide more font options on your daily design works and activity.
These Free Download Graffiti Style Fonts is a compilation of cool graffiti fonts for your future designs and typography. Stock as many fonts as you can for future use, and use these resources wisely… Have fun!!!

Free Graffiti Fonts

Most Wasted

Collections of Complex Blend Ornate Patterns and Textures

Patterns vary from a simple repetition of shapes to a more complex blend of colors and designs. Textures in the other hand are often visual features of objects like rocks, wood, leaf, etc. Today, patterns and textures are used by designers to make their websites more attractive and eye-catching to their viewers. Bloggers must see to it they have a splendid design for their website so that it will attract more viewers/readers, otherwise the blog will become dull and boring.

Today we will be showcasing collections of Ornate Patterns and Textures. We have gathered Collections of Complex Blend Patterns and Texturess that will suite your designs and websites well. This collection gives you wide array of choices of textures you need. These are all free to download so don’t hesitate to choose your preference.

Ornate Patterns and Textures

Floral Texture

Psychotic Photo Manipulations with Imagination and Execution is So Perfect

Have you ever had a dream so surreal and so bizarre that it left you feeling very vulnerable and unreal? Were you all alone or trapped in a nightmarish place with no way out? Did you see visions of things that only psychotic minds think of? If you have, then you are just like everyone else on this planet who experiences the same thing time and time again. If you haven’t, then well, you have but you just don’t remember it. Our dreams whether we remember or not are manifestations of our deepest fears and our strongest unfulfilled desires. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that I secretly wish to be trapped on a long, endless bridge which is only as wide as my feet, stretched endlessly over the vast ocean. Yes, that is my recurring nightmare and if anyone knows what it means, please enlighten me!
The creepy, bizarre and some strangely terrifying photo manipulations I have rounded for you today shine with their creator’s brilliance. These amazing artists manage to reach the recesses of their minds while still awake, a task which some of us can’t achieve even while we sleep. Their imagination and execution is so perfect, it is scary. I MUST WARN you! These images are not for the faint-hearted, so if you scare easily, go check out my Yummy Cartoon Vectors roundup. The brave souls that will venture forth from here, be warned, you might be traumatized everytime you peel a lychee or eat a jellybean or stand in front of a vending machine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Lost Virgin By Elena Oprea

Some Amazing Logos that Have Monkeys in them

I am probably going to get a lot of flak for the title of this post, but hold your horses. In this case, I mean it quite literally. Because, today I am showcasing some amazing logos that have monkeys in them. There are all kinds .. shy ones, rebellious ones, funny ones, cute ones, geeky ones and corporate ones. I’ve also thrown in some angry monkeys, some evil monkeys and even a whistling primate for good measure. Who would’ve thought that monkeys would make such great logos. I hope that didn’t come out all wrong!

Logos that are based around animals are not only fun to create but great to look at too. Because each animal illustration is very unique, they tend to stick in your head longer than your average logo based on an inanimate object. A few months ago when I was researching before making my Whistling Monkey logo, there were not as many primate brands out there as there are now. Most definitely, using monkeys in brands is on the rise. They usually bring a touch of humor to an otherwise formal logo or a degree of swanky urban class if designed in a dark abstract manner for street brands, entertainment and fashion. As they become more popular, the trend catches on and we are sure to see many more monkey businesses cropping up.

 

Top Logo Designers Share Their Design

Twitter is a funny one, yes it is. It is highly malleable. It bends and twists to suit your needs. And though it might not feature on any of those lists that design bloggers love to concoct as a place to find inspiration, it definitely is one such place on the web. I find random bursts of inspiration on Twitter everyday and the idea for this blog post came in one such burst. I asked a bunch of logo designers whether they wanted to share their first logo ever made and their latest one and 14 of them gladly obliged, well 15 if you count me too. Nathan Sarlow of CobaltCow did a similar post where logo designers shared their first paid logos, which was fun to see. Today a different bunch of creative people boldly share their first ever logo for the whole world to see and also their latest, a visual manner to span their designing journey over the years [months for some]. I want to thank you guys for sharing your work, it has been real fun seeing where you guys started out and where you’ve arrived.

Michael Mangelli | Michael Mangelli on Logopond
"I have been doing logo design for a year, although I have been doing webdesign and print work for 3-5 years."

Awesome Photoshoped Photos for Movi Posters

 

Special effects in movies have sky-rocketed. The one-sheets and posters for movies are released much in advance and help create a hype about the movie. With a cartload of movies releasing every week, the poster for a movie takes emminence in branding and promoting the movie early on. For that very reason, it also has to be memorable and different while conveying the essence of the movie at a glance. That effect is very difficult to achieve for your standard run-of-the-mill drama, romance and comedy movies. It is a whole different ball game for thrillers, sci-fi, horror and action. I have rounded up some amazing photo manipulation movie posters in these very genres from recent and upcoming movies that are generating quite a buzz. These are a wonderful study in bringing together graphics and typography for effect. For those of you who are hazy about what photo manipulation or photo-manip means, it is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion.

Simple Logo Inspirations for Imagine Your Business

A logo is to your work what your name is to your existence. It is an essential front, your identity, your brand image. And it is extremely vital to your business. Some might think otherwise, but imagine a world without names and then imagine businesses without logos. Same chaos right? Not only would there be no color and no uniqueness, there would also be no order and structure. How would you differentiate the technical giant Apple from the stall at your local market touting the same name and selling out all their granny smiths faster than you can say "ipod"? Hence a logo.
There are so many unique, creative and brilliant logos out there. A lot of them speak nothing about the brand they represent while a lot of them portray their origins beautifully. There are as many shapes, sizes, colors and types of logos as there are people. What I am going to showcase today are those especially brilliant logos that are a tiny bit tongue-in-cheek and a whole lot witty. These logos make you go "Aaah I see it!" and they surely must’ve made their designers dance a victory jig when it all came together for them.

Perfect Twitter Logos Inspiration Based Competition

Twitter is everywhere. In the past few days alone, hundreds and thousands of more people have been educated about Twitter, thanks to the shenanigans of Ashton Kutcher, CNN and Oprah. Ashton Kutcher beat CNN to reach 1 million Twitter followers first and Oprah started a frenzy when she decided to tweet her first tweet live on her show. Twitter is essentially what microblogging is all about. In 140 characters or less, you tell the world what you are upto, a status update. If you are interesting enough, you will gain followers who will read everytime you "tweet" and add their two cents along the way. It is an excellent tool for business networking, mindless time wasting and gaining new friends and knowledge through a million other perspectives. It is barely 2 years old, but Twitter is peaking right now! A cartload of twitter based applications and services are starting to do the rounds in "Twitterverse" and elsewhere on blogs and tech websites around the world. "Tweeples", as people who tweet are fondly referred to, are exploring this social phenomenon to the fullest. It is but apt then as a feverish logo designer and connoiseur, that I roundup a list of Twitter based logos. With Incspring holding a Twitter logo based competition this month, logos with the dear little blue bird are literally exploding on the scene.
I have rounded up 46 awesome Twitter based logos, some already being used and established, some up for grabs. Perfect Twitter inspiration!