Here are 20 must own gifts and gadgets for all geeks to wish for this Christmas. I’ve got the Ariel Atom on my list as it’s friggin awesome, maybe asking for too much though!
I had the idea of doing a photography project where I take a picture of my face everyday for a year, slap it into a video and animate how it changes across the length of the year. That was until I came across this video where this guy did the same thing, only across 8 years! 8 years! I mean seriously, WTF! Enjoy!
WOW what a weekend! I traveled through to Scarborough to see my little girl as usual this weekend and was ecstatic to be greeted by 6 inches of snow to play in. Weirdly on the way I didn’t see a single flake until I hit Malton, about 15 miles outside of Scarborough. The fields slowly started to gradiate from green to white as I drove further and further into the wintery wonderland. I thought I’d share some snaps for those who weren’t lucky enough to see any snow.
What a lovely weekend, the snow is worth the wait, especially when it comes in such a quantity 
Following on from the 9xb digital staff portraits, new starter Gyles Seward has had his very own created. After suffering hours of digital torcher in Frog’s special Frankenstein-esk Lab this hideous creation appeared.
See this in action on the 9xb site.
A few months ago I got approached by a contact of mine to see if I was interested in getting involved in a project they were starting. After a very productive meeting, a certain FROG leaped away extremely excited by the prospect of spear heading the complete brand design of this new venture.
The aim of the project is to deliver a revolutionary global website aimed at taking the housing market by storm. The website will be aimed specifically at private home sellers, offering them an opportunity to miss out the middleman (the dreaded estate agent) and potentially save themselves thousands in agents commission fees. We aim to offer the service completely FREE to help direct the housing market in a new direction.
The unique selling point of the website is that it’s targeting the complete housing chain, from those searching for a room to rent, to those wanting to sell their English Country Estate. Buyers, Sellers, Landlords, Renters, Room searchers and those offering a spare room, www.bethemiddleman.com is for you.
Www.bethemiddleman.com currently has a holding page up detailing, in summary, the new service they are offering and inviting people to signup and be first in line to use the new website when it’s launched.
Anyway, enough selling of it, it’s exciting times not just for me, but for the housing market. It’s was only a couple of weeks or so before this started that we were talking about how bad the current websites were out there and how a lot of people still don’t know about the options they have for selling privately. I’ve been lucky enough to experience first hand the complete property chain cycle, I’ve bought, renovated, and sold a few houses in the past, I have rented a number of times, I’ve been a landlord (still am come to think of it), rented a room and even let a room. I know first hand that there isn’t a single website out there that offers me a complete service, a one stop shop for everything housing. Well now there is!
The site will be fun, light and easy to use, and as I’m feeling ecstatic at the moment I’m even going to show you a few screenshots (Rough draft versions but a taster none the less).
Homepage design for bethemiddleman.com
Homepage, allowing users to search for homes to buy, rent or rooms up for rent. three call to actions for advertisers follow below with further information lower down.
Property listings
Search results feature an interactive map so users can see visually the location of homes for sale, with the option to see nearby schools and train stations.
To end…
Unfortunately that’s all I’m allowed to show at this point in time. To stay up to date with progress you can on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bethemiddleman.
Please signup at www.bethemiddleman.com.
You know how this goes! Cow… Bells… Ring… Tone …and so on, and so on!
Let’s start with ….. FROG!
Never ever ever use tables for layout!
Visit: shouldiusetablesforlayout.com
You’ll see a mock towards those who use tables for layout.
It’s such a geeky website, but if you look at the source code it’s even better… Kudos to the developer who had this idea.
<!-- Honestly, no. --> <!-- <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center">No.</td> </tr> </table> --> <!-- Fact: Chuck Norris hates layout tables! -->
I have just discovered that there is an 87% chance that my pussy cat is trying to kill me.
If you don’t hear from me for a while send in the hounds. In the meantime click on the picture to see whether you need to be afraid and read the background about this threat here.
Hi faithful blog fans.
Nothing much to report – busy with the kitchen, have replaced the rotten joists (read: door frames, grrr!) and laid new laminate. On with the new units now
Oh, and upgraded to Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, seamlessly as always – it’s such a great operating system, please ditch Windows for a day and try it – just burn the live CD and give it a go, you don’t even have to remove windows to use the live CD. Plus, you can ‘install’ it into Windows if you try it with Wubi.
I work in the web design industry and I’m amazed every single day by the lack on knowledge, respect and understanding of the basic design principles that I take for granted. I trained for 4 years in Graphic Design by some of the best, or more accurately traditional, designers in the business where I had these principles drilled into me. Taking these basic design principles and any talent for design and creation, I have forged another 7 successful years in the industry.
My aim with this post is to lightly guide those of lesser experience in the right direction with a series of examples and explanations, gliding over some pretty basic teachings so that we can approach our next job with a real educated grounding in the why’s, how’s and when’s of design.
Proximity
The basic theory of proximity is concerned with the arrangement or categorisation of elements that relate to one another. To understand why, when elements of a similar nature are grouped together the information becomes a visual unit. This provides a viewer with a visual clue as to the concept you are communicating rather than being confronted with a scattering of unrelated graphical elements. When a number of graphic elements are close in proximity a relationship is implied. If elements are logically positioned they connect to form a structure to your design, this is also known as Visual Hierarchy.
Visual Hierarchy
Visual Hierarchy arranges elements to create focal points by positioning their priority within a concept as a whole. To do this you will need to ask yourself what the key elements of your design are, which graphics communicate your concept most strongly? Which graphics support your concept and how could you illustrate them to create a visual structure from most to least important? You may consider displaying your graphics using different sizes and colours to give them visual weight.
Visual weight refers to the relative size and scale of the various elements in a design. This gives meaning to the relationship between objects, or parts, of a whole. Scale is used to create the contrasting relationship of size between elements in a composition.
Study your design concept and take note of what attracts your eye first, where do you look next and how does your eye move around the visual elements of your design? Is a relationship implied in the ordering, grouping and placements of your graphical elements?
Symmetry / Asymmetry
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The principle of alignment focuses on the placement of graphical elements and their relationship to each other and as a whole. Following the principle of proximity, alignment allows a visual connection with elements in your design to be formed even if they are not close in proximity. Alignment helps to create unity and balance.
Balance is the concept of visual equilibrium. It is the combination of opposing elements in a composition that results in visual stability. Most successful compositions achieve balance using symmetry or asymmetry.
Symmetry refers to the organisation of elements in which a balanced visual hierarchy is achieved through the alignment of graphics along a horizontal or vertical axis. This means that your design can be reflected precisely over a central axis like a mirrored image.
In contrast, design elements that display an unbalanced visual weighting that are made up of elements differing in size, colour and shape are organized and positioned against one another to create asymmetry.
Repetition
Repetitive elements throughout a design piece can be used to enhance and clarify information. Repetition adds visual interest to your design, and helps to identify elements that belong together. It can be considered a way of adding consistency to your design.
The consistent repetition of graphic elements works to create visual unity. These elements can be as simple as colour, spatial relationships, a shape, a texture or a typeface. Sometimes repetitive elements are not identical in appearance but are in fact so similar that their connection is clear.
Unity
Unity is the underlying principle that sums up all of the principles and elements of design. Unity refers to the combination of all elements successfully working together to achieve a sense of harmony in your design. This can be achieved through the consistent use of graphic elements. Using repetition or patterns is one of the most basic factors in creating a strong sense of unity.
Contrast
An effective use of contrast enables you to add interest to your design by highlighting specific graphic elements. This will result in a more visually striking composition. To achieve this ‘contrast’ is employed as a means of creating a visual hierarchy among different graphic elements. It can be applied to graphic elements, as light, dark, warm, cool, large, small; etc.
Contrast is most effective when it is strong; the focal point of a design is usually a result of contrast where the eyes will naturally be drawn. Here contrast can be used to direct the focus of a composition. When used as a device to emphasize or highlight design elements it is important to remember that an ineffective use of contrast may result in confusion.
Dynamics
Dynamics is the arrangement of visual elements in a composition to suggest the illusion of movement or direction. The effective use of dynamics in a design can add an emotive characteristic to your design making it appear restful and calming or active and energetic.
Dynamics can exist in four basic forms:
Rhythmic: A steady rhythm that creates predictability and order in a composition.
Arrhythmic: Follows an unstructured rhythm to add visual interest to a composition.
Random: Without a structured approach or a defined order that creates spontaneity in a composition.
Directional: The use of graphic elements used in such as way that implies a visual connection to lead the eyes to move in a particular direction.
Creating a dynamic composition involves the use of patterns or the repetition of graphic elements and movement to be effective in its execution. The suggestion of motion by the use of repeated structures creates dynamics.
Emphasis
Emphasis refers to the focal point or centre of interest of a composition. This is an area that is visually dominant and eye-catching that a designer has emphasized through the clever placement of graphic elements.
Used effectively in combination with the principle of visual hierarchy ‘emphasis’ can assist to establish a primary focus and an alternative secondary emphases in another area of the composition.
Emphasis can be achieved by use of repetition to highlight and draw attention to a repetitive element. When used with ‘repetition’ the emphasis is usually a break in the basic structure or visual rhythm of a pattern that causes your eye to pause or focus on a particular element.
Contrast achieves emphasis by accentuating an area to visually separate one element from another. Contrast in color, texture, scale, or shape attracts attention to a definite area, which may consist of strategically positioned graphics to call attention to a single element of your design.
Full credit: Swinburne Multimedia
Images: Wikipedia
