September 2011

Essential Magento Extensions for your eCommerce Store.

Magento is arguably the most popular open source eCommerce platform. There is a huge collection of useful extensions to add functionality to your web store, and Slodive has selected a bunch of the best. Check it out.

10 Photoshop Actions to create Instagram style effects.

One of the best features of Instagram is the ability to easily apply retro and vintage style filters to your snapshots. But you will need Photoshop to achieve these effects with your high-res photographs. Spoongraphics has some handy Actions that will create these effects at the touch of a button.

A Primer on A/B Testing.

A/B tests, or split tests, are one of the easiest ways to measure the effect of different design, content, or functionality. Split testing can help your team make decisions based on fact rather than opinion. Sounds simple? Check out the Primer at AListApart.

How to design a Magazine Cover that will stand out.

With all the competition online, it’s getting tougher to sell magazines these days. You get one shot at attracting the reader, and that’s usually the cover. The magazine industry has been honing their skills for many years, and there are some tips and tricks that seem to work. Check out the guide at NaldzGraphics.

Ten things you must know about eCommerce.

Setting up a new business in the real world is complex, difficult and fraught with dangers. Your livelihood depends on getting the details right and being wary of pitfalls. It’s no different when you create an online business. In fact, doing business online presents additional concerns that can send you to the wall. Newfangled answers ten frequently asked questions about eCommerce that newbies must know and understand before taking the leap.

Free Fonts for Serious Designers.

Free fonts are everywhere these days, so it’s nice when somebody goes to the trouble of sifting the wheat from the chaff. GuidesAndGrids presents it’s first handpicked selection of some of the best free fonts available today.

August 2011

Efficient Tools for Building Online Forms.

Collecting information or feedback from your website is common practice. Whether it’s a survey, order form or simple contact information, you will need to build online forms. If you lack the skills or don’t have the time, there’s a bunch of useful tools online to help you out. This list at BlueBlots features some free and some commercial tools that make the whole process quite simple.

The Lost Art of Design Etiquette.

Two words spring to mind when inheriting a website created by someone else… fear and loathing (sorry Hunter). What condition are the files in? How clean is the code? All too often one is confronted by sloppiness and laziness, making any future work frustrating and irritating. There is a certain ‘etiquette’ that web designers and developers should follow to make further work run like clockwork. SmashingMagazine enlightens us with the lost art of web design etiquette.

Wonderful Milk Packaging Designs.

Crikey! When I was a kid (groan), milk was milk and it came in a glass bottle with a foil cap. Then they Homogenised the stuff so you didn’t have to put up with cream floating on the top (it wasn’t THAT hard to shake the bottle). Now we’re confronted by scores of variations in supermarket fridges (or long-life on the shelves). This is a wonderful boon to Packaging Designers, and the myriad designs can be quite inspiring. Check out this showcase at InspirationFeed.

20 delicious Pizza Logos.

Pizza Shops are everywhere, in most cities across the planet. As well as the ubiquitous franchises such as Dominos and Pizza Hut, there are thousands of small businesses all vying for a slice of the action. And they all have to have a unique identity. Check out this selection at CreativeFan.