Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/dVUqDZbkEP4/

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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/UN4tRVM5K4o/2021-come-motion-design-monday

2021, Come On ! Motion Design Monday

abduzeedo01.04.21

For our first Monday of 2021, we bring a film and motion design shared with us by Régis RAFFIN title 2021, Come On !

Come on 2021, we’re ready for you! Do you feel like starting this year pedal to the metal? On the great « come on » performed by The Hives, Director Régis Raffin offers us a shot of pure adrenaline with this short 3D animated film. A bit of crazy and fun to kickstart 2021 with enthusiasm and determination!

Happy new year everyone !

Credits

A film by REGIS RAFFIN 2D
character animation – CAMILLE GUILLOT
Music – “Come on” by THE HIVES

Original Source: https://smashingmagazine.com/2021/01/towards-ad-free-web-diversifying-online-economy/

Money talks, and there is an awful lot of money on the web these days. That is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it does seem to have hamstrung how websites are designed and financed. The pandemic — and the consequent collapse of an already warped online ad ecosystem — makes it all the clearer that the web needs to diversify the way it makes money, and who it ultimately serves.

State Of The Web

The Internet is not in the best shape right now. Back in 2017, the founder of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, said:

“The system is failing. The way ad revenue works with clickbait is not fulfilling the goal of helping humanity promote truth and democracy.”

I think it’s safe to say things have largely gotten worse since then. Ads everywhere, tracking run amok, clickbait, misinformation, net neutrality under siege… engagement is king — more important than nuance, ethics, or truth — because that’s where the money is. The average user sees thousands of ads per day. The World Wide Web isn’t exactly humanity’s shining light right now, at a time when a whole lot of things are compounding our general sense of inescapable doom.

In the midst of this dog-track-dog online culture, the common website has been browbeaten into meek, insipid husks of what they could be. Can we get another ad in there? What about a few more pop-ups? Maybe a few affiliate links. We’ve all experienced the insidiousness of the modern web, we’ve all seen the pop-ups saying ‘We care about your privacy’ before asking us to sign away our privacy. One tires of being lied to so often, and so casually.

Still, I’m not here to complain. At least, I’m not just here to complain. There are flickers of light in the darkness. There are other ways to pay for websites. It’s just as well too because legislation will catch up with the wild wild World Wide Web eventually and then ads will be worth even less.

That’s what this piece is about: alternatives, and why they’re worth embracing. There will always be ads, and up to a point that’s fine, but there shouldn’t only be ads.

Further Reading

“The High Privacy Cost of a “Free” Website,” Matt Chase
10 States Accuse Google of Abusing Monopoly in Online Ads, David McCabe & Daisuke Wakabayashi

Exploring Alternatives

Not every website needs to make money. Let’s get that out of the way. Making money is not the measure of a thing. Not every website needs to care about cost. Hobbies, blogs, forums, digital art… plenty of things are worth doing for their own sake.

This article is directed at sites or web apps that offer some kind of service, with operational costs and long-term financial factors that extend beyond a few dollars on a domain name. This article is about widening the horizon of the online economy beyond ads, ads, and more ads.

Subscriptions

This is probably the most obvious alternative to ads, and trickier than you might think to implement. The principle of it is simple: a website does something of value and asks users to pay for it.

A major advantage of subscriptions is their simplicity. Want X? Pay for X. More and more people are wising up to the fact that few things online are truly free. More often than not when an online service is ‘free’ its users are the product. A valuable service reasonably priced is a welcome antidote to that.

A high profile example of this is Medium. Signing up for a few dollars a month gives members access to articles. It’s an increasingly popular approach in editorial circles. Some publications, like The Guardian, make their content accessible to everyone, while the likes of The New York Times use a paywall. In either case, the pitch is the same: help make what we do possible by subscribing.

Smashing itself does this well, having pivoted away from ads during the big site redesign a few years back. Ads still play a big part, yes, but they’re not the only part. Sustainability online isn’t about moving all your eggs from one basket to another — it’s about variety, about escaping the tunnel vision of advertising.

There are examples of subscriptions and donations working away from editorial contexts. Lynda charges for its courses. Wikipedia, mercifully, is ad-free, sustained by intermittent donation drives to its parent organization, the Wikimedia Foundation.

The subscription approach isn’t for everyone. The above examples all happen to be household names, after all. Strange that. Trust is such a big factor, and if you’re new on the block how many people are likely to give you their moola?

And, of course, there is also the Catch-22 situation of paywalls making a site inaccessible to most of the Internet. It’s bad for growing an audience and at odds with the web’s founding spirit of openness and transparency. That doesn’t sit well with a lot of people — including myself.

I think the saving grace here is that the ‘subscription model’ is much more of a spectrum than it was even five years ago. You can have everything from paywalls to ‘buy me a coffee’ buttons depending on what a website does.

If you provide a service — be it quality editorial content, useful tools, open access to data, or whatever else — don’t be shy about asking for support. And don’t be shy about incorporating those requests into the website’s design. A variety of tools and platforms can be integrated into existing sites with relative ease. Patreon, Ko-fi, and plenty more.

This is not about making people feel guilty. Not everyone can afford to support the sites they visit, and not everyone will think you’re worth supporting. It’s on you to make a positive case for yourself. Crowdfunding platforms like Open Collective and Chuffed are especially good reference points for this, modeling behavior such as:

Not making visitors feel guilty;
Telling stories people want to be part of and support;
Transparency about where the money’s going.

There is also the question of integration. Buttons, pop-ups, prudently placed CTAs. It all adds up, having started and pushed a reader patron scheme at a previous job.

Further Reading & Resources

Monetising With Buy Me a Coffee, Does it Work?, Michael Brockbank
Open Collective, a platform for transparent financing

Micropayments

It’s early days for this one, but something to keep an eye on. Web Monetization is a concept whereby Internet users have a kind of fund they top up regularly — let’s say $5 every month. When time is spent on a site, a fraction of the fund is transferred to that site.

The Brave web browser is a major example of this. Another is Web Monetization, which is being proposed as a W3C standard. Or Scroll, a kind of catch-all ad-free web package.

This approach seems to have struck a nerve, I think because it hits a balance between a Wild West Internet and a corporate one. The more people believe in it, the better it works. Three billion people use the web. If 10% signed up for three bucks a month that would still be a cool ten billion dollars up for grabs.

For the time being results are closer to pennies. But hey, nothing worth having comes easy. Supporting this approach is a two-way street. Depending on the system, implementation can be as simple as adding a line of code to the <head> of your website. It’s also a case of walking the walk.

Will this approach alone save the Internet? Probably not, but again, moving away from ads is about diversification, not finding a silver bullet.

Free, Non-Corporate Platforms

Now obviously, free platforms are not the answer to large-scale applications and web experiences. They are, however, often a perfect way to have an online presence without being sucked into the engagement black hole of modern social media.

Places like Neocities — a homage of sorts to GeoCities — still have a lot of life in them. I know, I’m on it. Independent, playful non-corporate platforms feel like something from another time, but they’re still perfectly good ways of planting your flag online.

It seems marketing has hammered into people that the only website worth having is one you’re paying through the nose for. Not so. The DIY weird web is alive and well.

With the likes of Netlify and GitHub pages about it’s perfectly possible to piggyback along without paying for anything more than a domain name, and even that is optional.

Of course, there is a limit to this kind of approach, but that doesn’t make it any less viable. By the time a website is bringing in enough traffic to warrant a dedicated hosting plan, it’s likely well placed to be asking for support.

Further Reading

Autonomy Online: A Case For The IndieWeb, Ana Rodrigues

Taking Control Of Your Data

All this talk of diversification and sustainability ties into a broader discussion going on right now about privacy. Half the battle is messaging. Although awareness is growing, a lot of people still don’t know about the costs of ‘free’ online experiences. That’s not an accident. Take the time to explain that if someone subscribes to a website’s service, they’re not just receiving the service. They’re receiving priority, respect, and privacy.

Advocating for a less ad-centric web means taking an honest look at who our masters are online. When you make a site, who is the site for? Is it for advertisers? Affiliates? Clients? Or is it for the people visiting the site? How lovely would it be to have robust, ethical income strategies that made websites beholden first and foremost to the people who use them.

The Role Of Developers

In a line of work where projects are increasingly fragmented, it’s easy to remove oneself from the moral failings of any given project. Edward Snowden said the same was true of the NSA spying programs he leaked in 2013. Just this year he identified social networks and apps as carrying similar risks.

Incorporate sustainability into your designs. Communicate what you do and how you survive and what people can do to help. Progress does not happen on its own. It never has and it never will. We have to be the change we want to see.

Original Source: https://smashingmagazine.com/2020/12/desktop-wallpaper-calendars-january-2021/

Maybe you’ve already started into 2021 as you’re reading this, maybe you’re still waiting for the countdown to begin. Either way, it’s never too late or too early for some New Year’s inspiration!

For this wallpapers post, artists and designers from across the globe once again put their creative skills to the test and designed beautiful and unique wallpapers to welcome January 2021. All of them come with a calendar, and, in case you want to stick with your favorite even after January has ended, we’ve got you covered with non-calendar versions of each design, too. A big thank-you to everyone who created a wallpaper and shared it with us this time around — you are truly smashing!

At the end of this post, there’s also a little bonus goodie waiting for you: a hand-picked selection of January treasures that we rediscovered deep down in our wallpaper archives. Have a happy and healthy 2021!

All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

Ready for New Adventures

“2020 was a bumpy ride, but we are not to be disheartened. We are entering 2021 with enthusiasm, optimism, vigor, and bravery to face all challenges that come our way, effortlessly glide through all difficulties, and jump over any hurdles that stand between us and our goals.”
— Designed by PopArt Studio from Novi Sad, Serbia.

preview
with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Stars In A Bottle

“Hoping for a better year in 2021, we created this warm wallpaper to get you into the Holidays mood. We know it’s been a rough year for everyone, and we have high hopes for the future. Until then, let’s enjoy the winter holidays at home!”
— Designed by Ovidiu Pall from France.

preview
with calendar: 800×600, 1024×1024, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 2560×1440
without calendar: 800×600, 1024×1024, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

Spread The Love Online

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

preview
with calendar: 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440, 3840×2160
without calendar: 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440, 3840×2160

Oldies But Goodies

What inspired the community to design a New Year’s wallpaper in past years? Join us on a stroll down memory lane, and maybe you’ll spot one of your favorites among the oldies, too. (Please note that these wallpapers don’t come with a calendar.)

Start Somewhere

“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives. Start today — somewhere, anywhere.”
— Designed by Shawna Armstrong from the United States.

preview
without calendar: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Open The Doors Of The New Year

“January is the first month of the year and usually the coldest winter month in the Northern hemisphere. The name of the month of January comes from ‘ianua’, the Latin word for door, so this month denotes the door to the new year and a new beginning. Let’s open the doors of the new year together and hope it will be the best so far!”
— Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Winter Leaves

Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1200, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

A New Start

“The new year brings hope, festivity, lots and lots of resolutions, and many more goals that need to be achieved. This wallpaper is based on the idea of ‘A New Start’.” — Designed by Damn Perfect from India.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Happy Hot Tea Month

“You wake me up to a beautiful day; lift my spirit when I’m feeling blue. When I’m home you relieve me of the long day’s stress. You help me have a good time with my loved ones; give me company when I’m all alone. You’re none other than my favourite cup of hot tea.”
— Designed by Acodez IT Solutions from India.

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without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

A New Beginning

“I wanted to do a lettering-based wallpaper because I love lettering. I chose January because for a lot of people the new year is perceived as a new beginning and I wish to make them feel as positive about it as possible! The idea is to make them feel like the new year is (just) the start of something really great.”
— Designed by Carolina Sequeira from Portugal.

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without calendar: 320×480, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 2560×1440

Oaken January

“In our country, Christmas is celebrated in January when oak branches and leaves are burnt to symbolize the beginning of the new year and new life. It’s the time when we gather with our families and celebrate the arrival of the new year in a warm and cuddly atmosphere.”
— Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Hidden Gem

“Kingfishers are called ‘ijsvogels’ (ice-birds) in Dutch. Not because they like the winter cold, but because of the intense blue and teal colors.”
— Designed by Franke Margrete from the Netherlands.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 360×480, 376×668, 768×1024, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1366×1050, 1440×900, 1536×864, 1600×900, 1920×1080, 1920×1440, 2560×1440, 2560×1600, 3840×2160, 5120×2880

Wolf-Month

“Wolf-month (in Dutch ‘wolfsmaand’) is another name for January.”
— Designed by Chiara Faes from Belgium.

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without calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

The Early January Bird

“January is the month of a new beginning, hope and inspiration. That’s why it reminds me of an early bird.”
— Designed by Zlatina Petrova from Bulgaria.

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without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

January Fish

“My fish tank at home inspired me to make a wallpaper with a fish.”
— Designed by Arno De Decker from Belgium.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Blue Neon Sign

Designed by Jong S. Kim from the United States.

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without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Rubber Ducky Day

“Winter can be such a gloomy time of the year. The sun sets earlier, the wind feels colder and our heating bills skyrocket. I hope to brighten up your month with my wallpaper for Rubber Ducky Day!”
— Designed by Ilya Plyusnin from Belgium.

preview
without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Winter Melancholy

Designed by Aleksandra Laczek from Poland.

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without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Carry Warmth Carry Each Other

Designed by Marika Smirnova from Russia.

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without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Caucasian Mountains

“From Caucasus with love!” Designed by Ilona from Russia.

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without calendar: 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Rest Up For The New Year

“I was browsing for themes when I found this “Festival of Sleep” that takes place on the 3rd, and I’m a big fan of sleep… Especially in these cold months after the holiday craziness, it’s nice to get cozy and take a nice nap.”
— Designed by Dorothy Timmer from Central Florida, USA.

preview
without calendar: 640×480, 640×1136, 750×1334, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Freedom

“It is great to take shots of birds and think about the freedom they have. Then I start dreaming of becoming one and flying around the world with their beautiful wings.”
— Designed by Marija Zaric from Belgrade, Serbia.

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without calendar: 800×450, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1440×810, 1600×900, 1680×945, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

Reindeer

Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

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without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Submit your wallpaper

Did you know that you could get featured in one of our upcoming wallpapers posts, too? We are always looking for creative talent, so if you have an idea for a wallpaper for February, please don’t hesitate to submit it. We’d love to see what you’ll come up with. Join in! →