With CSS becoming more prevalent in web design (thank goodness!) there are things you can do in design that was much more difficult to accomplish using tables. An area that is often overlooked for design is the sites’ footer. There is no reason not to think of footer design in the overall design of a site. Below are some terrific examples of creative footer design:

• Catalyst Logo Design: This site uses a nice graphic background behind the footer text.
• Cabana Digital: Another nice usage of a graphic background used in concert with the footer text.
• GUILOGO: In case you’ve forgotten what the logo for this site looks like, it’s included in the footer for good measure. (more…)

Andrew Clemente, Creator of Devlounge.net

Andrew Clemente is an award-winning site designer / developer and creator of Devlounge.net, a well-known design and developer resource. Devlounge provides original content covering web design standard and usability. Most people that have been in design and development for 7 years are not in high school, but Andrew is. He is 17 years old. We had to talk with Andrew to find out how he founded a successful design resource site with a larger international following before he moved away from home.

Devlounge - Homepage

Q: Andrew, I recently heard that one of your “first-ever” design projects was when you created a site close to 7 years ago for your Little League team in 2000. Can you tell us a bit about the project? (How long did it take? Is the site still up? Was this when you first started thinking about design as a “career”)?

Andrew: The site (if you can call it that) was nothing amazing. I had created a Homestead account (free at the time) and laid out a site using a WYSIWYG editor and various images from around the web. At the time I was so young and I didn’t even think what I had just figured out would be worth something some day. I was really just a kid having fun.

The site is no longer up, as Homestead went the paid road (more…)

There are many things blogging can do for a web designer—it shows your knowledge and expertise in the field, it helps you make new contacts with other designers and developers and most importantly it will improve your own writing skills. I have made several contacts with other designers I admire because of my blogging and being able to bounce my designs off them is an added bonus. It’s always beneficial to get constructive criticism from fellow designers.

When it comes to business, good writing skills can help you in your career as a web designer/developer—especially when it comes to writing Request for Quotes and other client communications. (more…)

Ever considered a career as a comic-book artist? Most people who grew up incessantly doodling have at some time considered this the pipe dream job, but it is actually a viable professional industry into which graphic designers and illustrators often segue. Though the comic book illustrator was immortalized on film as moody, antisocial visionary Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, an article in this week’s Wall Street Journal delivers a less cinematic breakdown of the professional comic book artist’s life.  

According to WSJ, the average pay rate per page is $100 to $300, though artists with industry clout can pull down as much as three times that amount. MORE

There will come a time when a client hires you and they request a design that is less than “aesthetically pleasing.” Part of the business of web design is doing something you wouldn’t normally do. I have sites that I could include in my portfolio but choose not to because they’re poorly designed by request of the client and it’s my option to not show the site. Unfortunately, we can only guide a client so far but ultimately it comes down to doing what it is they want. Of course you have options—you could give the client their deposit back and say no thanks or you can suck it up and do what they want. (more…)

So we’d love to work with you. Pleasantries and ideas have been exchanged and all the job order stuff has been filled out (?cause we both need stuff in writing, even though we’re friends). You send me (can I just talk like it’s me you’ve chosen to work with? So much easier…) the story or the job brief and we settle on a sketch due date.

Then it’s my problem. I read everything over and let it marinate in my brain for a day or two, if the timeline allows, until small ideas start popping up. Below are a few of my very very loose sketches that I start with. (Note: you’ll never see these… you’ll find out why later in my story.)

Read Penelope’s previous post | Read Penelope’s next post

The internet has changed the career landscape for graphic designers in innumerable ways, one of the most profound being the liberation of designers and the design industry from big creative hub cities. No longer do you need to live in a major center of design industry to make a name and career for yourself. With self-promotion and landing distance work made so much easier by the online portfolio, a physical presence in an office is less necessary than ever; designers are recognizing the advantages of having an “office” that requires no more than a laptop, a cell phone, and a steady stream of coffee.

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IllustratorWorld’s Package Design Contest has started (March 9th) and is open to all Illustratorworld.com registered members.

You cannot use work you have already created, but you can use any style you wish (realistic, abstract, cartoon etc). You must use one of the following applications to create the entry: Illustrator, Flash, Freehand or Corel Draw.

Get your entry in, the contest ends March 31st!

Details:

When I first started out in the business an older colleague advised me to “collect copies of any and everything that I was the least bit involved in”. I only took half of his advice, and at first I saved copies like mad but soon I was cherry-picking my favorite projects and leaving the rest to
collect dust in ad agency archives. (more…)

I am not scary. I promise.

I started off my career as a designer at an ad agency and I was a little intimidated by illustrators at first. (Should I admit that?) I guess it was mainly because I was so green, but I didn’t know the first thing about how to work with an illustrator, even though I was used to living with their work (in magazines, on tv, book covers, etc). So I waded into my first project with an illustrator very slowly… and luckily she was nice and walked me through it. (Thank you Sandra, wherever you are!)

So now that I have switched over to the other side, I’d like to speak for my fellow illustrators and say “Hello, I’m here to work with you.” WITH you. Like, collaboration and building on each other’s ideas. And it’s so much fun! (not scary)

I’m happy to be a guest blogger here on Notes on Design and I’d love to be that illustrator who walks you through it (if this is your first time). Here we go… (more…)