Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/20-useful-woocommerce-wordpress-plugins-for-your-online-business/
WooCommerce powers about one-third of all the online stores and is as capable as any other e-commerce platform. However, like WordPress, you can enhance its functionality to utilize its full…
Visit hongkiat.com for full content.
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/XkZ1Hg3Aqho/
One Small Step for the Web…
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Collective #455 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/GV7nCJUgwkw/project-management-mastery-bundle
Do you think it is time to move ahead in your career? Now may be the best time to take a leap to a leadership role. Becoming a project manager may be the next big step for you. In this case, the Project Management Mastery Bundle will help you on your career journey. Project Management […]
The post Pay What You Want for the Project Management Mastery Bundle appeared first on designrfix.com.
Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/10/new-framer-x-initial-impressions/
The New Framer X: Initial Impressions
The New Framer X: Initial Impressions
Lachezar Petkov
2018-10-01T13:30:03+02:00
2018-10-01T11:38:55+00:00
The Framer team recently released a new prototyping tool, Framer X, and I was lucky enough to be able to test it during the beta phase. In this article, I’d like to share my thoughts about this new tool and its features. I’ll make a comparison with the “legacy” Framer app as well as other tools, and I’ll discuss its brand new features such as Stacks and Scroll, and its new Code and Design components.
This article is intended for UI and UX designers who would like to learn more about Framer X’s prototyping abilities. Since it is (in many ways) a brand new product, you don’t need to be familiar with the older Framer application to read along. However, a little bit of familiarity with HTML, CSS, React, JavaScript and Node.js are beneficial.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I have also created a prototype which is a Material exploration of the Khan Academy’s app for Android.
Note: I’m in no way affiliated with Khan Academy; I just thought this would make a cool experiment — I hope you’ll agree.
Intro To Framer X
Framer X goes a few steps further than its predecessor in trying to bridge the gap between interface design and software development. Here’s how:
Dear Designers, Meet React
The key difference between the old and the new applications in this regard is the introduction of React and JavaScript / TypeScript, as opposed to using CoffeeScript for programming microinteractions and animations, loading data, and so on.
Framer X’s most important feature: It integrates tightly with ReactJS. (Large preview)
During the beta phase, people wrote some React components that I think show us the potential of how far the tool can take us. For example, you can embed actual media players (that actually stream and play music and video) within your prototypes. Or, you can embed graphs with real-time stock market data. Or how about a component that can translate your prototype’s UI into other languages. And that’s not all: Things are just getting started.
Meet SmashingConf New York 2018 (Oct 23–24), focused on real challenges and real front-end solutions in the real world. From progressive web apps, Webpack and HTTP/2 to serverless, Vue.js and Nuxt — all the way to inclusive design, branding and machine learning. With Sarah Drasner, Sara Soueidan and many other speakers.
Check all topics and speakers ↬
The same React code you write for a Framer X prototype could — at least hypothetically — be used in a production environment after the design phase. This can be especially useful for teams that do a lot of web development in React (and perhaps for teams who write mobile apps in React Native). Personally, I shudder at the thought of me, a designer, writing any code that goes into production, but that might work for others.
“Framer X is more like Unity than like Photoshop. An IDE for design, if you will.”
—The Framer X documentation
The Framer X Interface
If you are already a Framer user, the first thing you’d notice is that the integrated code editor is gone. Instead, if you want to write any code, you can use an editor of your choice. Most people (including myself) seem to go with VS Code.
Framer X (Large preview)
There are four tabs in the sidebar:
Tools
Opens all the layout and drawing tools everyone’s familiar with (shapes, path, text, frames) as well as three new toys we’ll discuss a little later: Stacks, Link, and Scroll.
Layers
Contains, well, the layers of the selected frame, as well as its properties (color, position, border, shadow and so on). This bit is essentially the same as in the old Framer, and very similar to Sketch and Figma.
The Framer X Layers panel. (Large preview)
Components
This is for any Design or Code components you may have in the file you’ve opened.
Store
A new, huge feature in Framer X. It allows users to publish their creations — be it icons and illustrations or interactive code components for others to use. Currently, all components are free of charge, but I’d imagine people will be able to sell their stuff at the store in the future.
The Framer X Store (Large preview)
The Preview and Live Preview buttons are up at the top right corner. As with legacy Framer, you can preview your prototypes within a device picture for more realism, or preview them directly on an actual device, or in a browser.
Recommended reading: Learning Framer By Creating A Mobile App Prototype
Prototyping With Framer X
A Few Thoughts On The Prototype We’ll Create
The Khan Academy Android app isn’t a Material app, so let’s explore how it might look and behave if it was. I want to think of this as if it were a real-world project, so here are a couple of considerations that we’ll see how to handle in Framer X:
The product’s goal is to provide free education for everyone, thus it must be able to run on old and cheap devices. What this means for the design of the prototype is, it has to work on 320dp wide screens.
The design must adapt well when the app is translated into a language more verbose than English.
The first thing I’m going to do is mock up the Home screen. There are four things I want to be prominent:
A search input;
Something that will show me my most recent activity;
Something that will show me my Missions;
Something to notify me if there’s a new Mastery Challenge.
Let’s begin.
Installing Components From The Store
The first two elements I want to have here are the Android status bar and navigation bar. Instead of drawing them myself, I’ll quickly install a component bundle from the store called “Android Kit”. It contains all sorts of (static, not programmed in this case) elements like buttons, cards, switches, bars, keyboards and so on. I got my status bar and my nav bar in seconds:
Adding a component from the Store
Note: Each component is installed per-project.
The Interactive Scroll Tool
Now, if I were doing this in Sketch, I’d continue mocking up the rest of the elements on the same artboard, and if it can’t fit all elements, I’d make it taller. In Framer X, however, things work a little differently. I’ll have the content of the Home screen within a separate frame (screen/artboard) and link that frame so it scrolls beneath the navigation and status bars of the home screen:
Using the Scroll tool
Now when I run a preview, my content is scrollable:
The Scroll tool in action
Awesome! With the underlying work out of the way, I’m ready to increase the fidelity a little bit. First, I want the general style of the app to be soft and welcoming, so I’ll use 4dp (display points) border-radius for my cards and buttons, and the rounded Material icons.
Since having an actual search input is super important for this screen, I don’t want the regular Android App bar and search icon experience. I’ll go for an actual input with a CTA message along with a hamburger icon ala Google Maps.
The app bar and search input for this prototype (Large preview)
If I were to go deeper here, I’d make this bar a code component and write it so it expands to full width on scroll, like this:
The app bar, expanded on scroll (Large preview)
I won’t do that for the purpose of this article, but I have to say I think something as simple would be easier to do in legacy Framer compared to Framer X — at least in this first version.
Linking
Let’s add some basic interactivity to this thing! When I tap on the search input, I want it to pull out a keyboard from the bottom. When I tap on the menu icon, however, I want to pull out a Navigation drawer from the left side.
Whereas in legacy Framer I’d have to write a FlowComponent for this type of thing, it’s now super easy in Framer X and with its new Link tool! It’s similar to other prototyping applications in which I’d select a UI element, link it to a frame, and choose the type of transition I want. I imported the keyboard from the Android Kit component and linked to it from the search input. I set the transition to Overlay and the direction to bottom.
Once you link two frames, you can configure the link through the Links panel. (Large preview)
Because I have too many items in the navigation drawer to fit on a screen, I had to split it into two frames just like the Home screen: one container with a scroll layer linked to a frame with the actual content inside. Here’s how that looks:
The ‘Birdseye’ view of all linked frames in the prototype so far (Large preview)
Interacting with the prototype
Neat! There is a problem with this approach, though, that the Framer team will hopefully fix. When the transition of a frame is set to Overlay, it covers and dims everything beneath it. This isn’t quite what we want when we prototype for Android: The nav bar and status bar have to be above all other screen elements — including the overlays.
Same goes for the Search interface: I don’t want any screen dimming if I want to have filtering options and/or a list of recent queries when the keyboard is pulled out. Hopefully, we’ll see some fixes for these issues in future Framer X versions.
Pinning, Positioning, And Responsiveness
Back to the Home screen of the prototype. Below the search input, I want a list with my recent activity. Just as in legacy Framer and other design tools, you can pin elements within frames so they move and scale exactly as you want them to. Framer X also shows you distances and gaps between elements, snaps them together for you, and so on. Have a look:
Once my frames are pinned appropriately, designing responsively is very easy.
Design Components
I want to add a few more things to the prototype home screen: A Mastery Challenge prompt, a streak counter, list of missions, bookmarks and some UI that allows the user to explore content they might find cool or useful.
Since the recent missions and the bookmarks are going to be cards with very similar content, the best solution Framer X has for me is to use design components. I already mentioned them above (the Material Kit component bundle). Framer X’s design components work similarly to Sketch’s symbols and Figma’s components.
To convert a frame to a component, simply press Cmd + K. This creates a Master from which you can create as many instances as you want:
A Master component and its instance: Any changes applied to the Master are applied to the Instance, but not the other way around.
Anything you do to a Master component will affect its instances, but whatever you do to the instances won’t affect the Master. You can also nest Master components and go as crazy as you like.
So, here are my Recent missions and Explore sections:
Recent missions and Explore sections as horizontally scrollable frames. (Large preview)
Each section is a frame, connected to its own scroll component, and populated with components. The text strings (as well as the bitmap images in the instances) are overrides.
Stacks
Now, what if I’m not sure how to position and distribute all these cards? Well, Framer X’s Stacks feature comes into play here:
I only had to make sure that all items I wanted into a Stack are organized into frames. It works surprisingly well, and you can have components within a stack, as well as a stack within another stack, and so on. It’s huge for anyone mocking up and prototyping lists often!
Drawing Icons And Illustrations
The drawing tools in Framer X are pretty much the same as in legacy Framer. They’re good enough to do a lot, but still somewhat lagging behind Sketch’s: There are no rulers; you can’t convert strokes to outlines; you can’t flatten shapes; there’s no scissors tool.
Code Components
Creating A Simple Code Component
Finally, let’s take a closer look at the code components. Again, these are regular React components (both Stateless and Class) that can be written in either JavaScript or TypeScript (up to you). You can also install third-party libraries to use within your components in Framer.
Let’s try and use the popular styled-components library. This will allow us to style our component using actual CSS syntax within the .tsx file.
First, go to the Components tab → New Component → from Code. After you name your component and confirm, your default system editor (in my case, VS Code) will open an example Framer X component file.
Now go to File → Show project folder, open a terminal in that same folder, install yarn if you haven’t already and add styled-components to your Framer project:
$>yarn add styled-components
The library and its dependencies will be added to your package.json and you’re ready to go.
Here’s the source for my styled-components button, after I replaced the default code in my component’s .tsx file:
The Go button as a code component and its source (Large preview)
Note that the button label is customizable directly through the Framer X interface (because of the Framer library’s PropertyControls feature). Having my button written in code obviously has many advantages. It is customizable, responsive, and interactive. Along with the responsive paddings, it’s super easy to test if the design breaks in other languages.
The responsive Go button, translated quickly by changing the Text property directly in the Framer X UI. (Large preview)
Importing A Code Component From The Store
There’s a lot of video content on Khan Academy, so for my prototype, I want to open a video lesson. Instead of mocking up a ‘fake’ video player, I can directly embed an actual YouTube player in my prototype. There’s already a component in the Store for this purpose:
Playing a Khan Academy video in a Khan Academy prototype
You can fork the code of any Store component and edit it as you like. For now, the only way to do this is to right-click on it in the sidebar, copy its code and paste it in a newly created components’ file.
You can copy every Store component’s code and play with it. (Large preview)
Code Overrides And The Framer library
The Framer JavaScript library has now been ported to work with Framer X and React. As with the legacy Framer library, it provides us with tools (helper functions) to animate our designs and to listen to events (simple things like onClick and onMove, but also advanced events like pinch, whether the device has been rotated or whether an animation has ended, and more).
Code Overrides are bits of code (JS functions) that allow you to change any frame’s or component’s properties. Static changes such as color are applied before you run the preview, directly within the Framer app, and the animations/interactions can be seen in the Preview window or on your preview device.
Let’s have a quick look at one of the simplest and default examples. I drew this simple champions cup illustration for one of the prototype cards, and I decided to animate it:
The static Mastery Challenge card (Large preview)
To add an override, I have to select my target frame (in this case the illustration) and click on the Code menu item in the right sidebar. Now I need to select the override I want from Exampels (selected by default in the drop down):
The Scale code override will provide me with a fun scale animation. I can edit it’s code and adjust as I like.
Remember, overrides are just blocks of code, therefore, they can live in any file within your project. What I just selected was the Examples.tsx file which contains multiple functions for Scale, Rotation, Fade, and so on. I can create my own file and write my own Override functions, or include them in my code components source code — just as long as I keep in mind to use the Override type specifier when I export them.
Here’s the source code for the Scale override I chose:
export const Scale: Override = () => {
return {
scale: data.scale,
onTap() {
data.scale.set(0.6)
animate.spring(data.scale, 1)
},
}
}
In plain English: Set the initial scale value of the frame down to 0.6, then animate the scale to 1 with spring curve. Finally, export it with name Scale and specify that it is an Override.
Once applied, this is the result:
The Mastery Challenge card with some animation
Design Responsiveness
As I mentioned in the beginning, it is essential for this particular prototype to work on small device screens (320dp). This is very easy to test in Framer X (considering you’ve pinned your UI elements properly, as described above). Simply set the Preview mode to Canvas – Responsive:
Framer X makes it easy to test my designs for different screens.
This is super helpful — I am now aware of what problems my designs have on smaller screens, and I’m ready to come up with fixes for the next iteration!
Day And Night Modes
Finally, in Framer you have two themes: Light, called “Day” mode:
Framer X during the day (Large preview)
And dark, called “Night” mode:
Framer X at night (Large preview)
You can switch the two from the Window menu.
Protoype: Final Result
Here are all my frames linked together:
All my frames linked together (Large preview)
And here’s the prototype in action:
What I Like About Framer X
The application performs fast (though the beta choked a little with large project files) and it feels well designed. It’s a new tool, yet at the same time, it feels familiar. It also does give me that sense of it being a ‘design IDE’ and I think the Framer team is taking things in a very interesting direction.
Framer X makes mundane things like linking screens and scrolling fast and easy, as they should be. Though I hope to see even more of that type of thing in the future: prototyping is supposed to be a quick and dirty process, after all. To spend too many hours on a prototype is to miss the point of prototyping.
Having a Components Store is a great idea, and will certainly speed up my design process. I no longer have to spend time hunting down the plugins I need. I can imagine a couple of years from now there will be thousands of components with basically everything I need to put something relatively advanced together — relatively quickly. It may need some moderation in the future, though. I can see people uploading too many simple buttons, each a fork of the other, just because they can.
I like the focus on design systems through the components and the Private Store features. We all know, many teams struggle to collaborate meaningfully and tools like these are an immense help.
What I’m Not Sure I Like About Framer X
What worries me a little is that part of the “super easy playground for experimentation” experience of the original Framer tool is somewhat gone. The new features in X make it very easy to quickly prototype any “standard” feature or screen: you have all you need in the Store. But it is arguably more difficult to explore crazy and weird ideas for custom interactions — at least with this initial product release.
Learning React will be more intimidating to a lot of us, math and logic-impaired designers. For me personally, code reuse is not an option, since none of the projects I’m currently working on are built using web technologies. But even if it was an option, I’m thinking about programming in terms of it being a tool to express my design ideas. I’m not an engineer; using my code for anything but a prototype is not exactly a terrific idea.
Having said that, there’s a lot more documentation on JavaScript and React than on CoffeeScript. There’re also more people to help out, and the React community seems pretty welcoming. I’m very curious to see how Framer X will help designers and engineers collaborate more — if at all.
Framer X In My Toolset
I’ll definitely be using Framer X in production, but I can’t see it completely replacing Sketch for me just yet. In my organization, each designer is allowed to use their favorite tool, as long as it integrates with Zeplin, and Framer X doesn’t. Other things it lacks compared to Sketch (for now) are the pages, the crazy amount of plugins, and the more powerful drawing tools.
I will continue to use the original Framer for custom interactions — at least for the foreseeable future. When prototyping, things need to be done fast, and I also still have much to learn about React.
(mb, ra, yk, il)
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/kc5axqRtEIw/cleanest-font-world-typography-made-trash
The Cleanest Font In The World – Typography made from trash
abduzeedo
Oct 01, 2018
On a World cleanup day, 15th of September Slovenians didn’t just clean their country but also created an original typography from garbage.
Futura DDB and Ecologist without borders together with volunteers created the actual typeface from a waste they have collected on a respectable event held this Saturday, 15th of September. The cleanest font in the world can now be used as a reminder that every piece of trash can be RECYCLED AND REUSED – even as art. It is also vectorized so anyone can leave or type a message in a font made from real garbage.
The font includes all the letters of the Slovenian alphabet and was made by numerous volunteers from around the country when they finished with cleaning. It was made out of different sort of waste found in nature – from old cans, batteries, bottles, tires, helmets, jackets, furniture, etc.
The result: the cleanest font in the world will be published online and free to use for any NGO or individual who would like to raise awareness on any kind of problematic environmental topic. Either in full colors, as it was made and photographed from garbage or in black and white vectorized form where the user can simply install it on a computer or preferred electronic device and start typing an ecological initiative or message.
World cleanup day connected everyone in the world in an attempt to clean nature from trash left behind by the irresponsible ones. Slovenia wanted to go a step further and leave a special message to its residents and the whole world that would remind people that garbage doesn’t belong in the greens of nature.
“We want to encourage people to learn and understand the importance of the right behavior towards nature and proper waste management. That´s why we were extremely happy that we were able to create something memorable from trash together with hundreds of volunteers collecting it. Now we can finally write and send a clean message to the world as there are more appropriate places for trash than nature” stated Urša Zgojznik, The Ecologist without borders president.
If would like to find out more about the product, watch the presentation movie:
Credits
Ecologists without borders
Ecologists without Borders is a non-profit founded in 2009 and one of the leading Slovenian NGOs dedicated to improving the state of our environment — focusing on efficient resource use and active citizenship. Most of its activities deal with waste at its source, but not all are limited to Slovenia. We’re an active member of Zero Waste Europe, Let’s do it world!, Break Free From Plastic and some other networks. More at www.ebm.si/eng
Futura DDB Ljubljana
Futura DDB is one of the leading Slovenian agencies for integrated communication solutions. The company was founded in 1986 as a design studio that in 1989 became a full-service agency. Futura Group was formed throughout the two decades. Futura’s mission is to be a strategic partner of those who believes in creativity and innovation as the most powerful marketing tools to build brands. We believe that in a connected world only customer-centric brands can be influential. More at www.futura.si
Creative Director: Robert Bohinec
Art Director: Marusa Kozelj, Ana Kogovsek
Account Director: Meta Pavlin Avdic
Designer: Miha Avsenik
Event managers: Mojca Praznik Matic, Patricija Premrov
Photographer: Neza Plestenjak, Jure Novak
Additional credits: Aljaz Habot, Marjan Bozic
Try it out at http://www.fontspace.com/the-cleanest-font/the-cleanest-font-in-the-world
Typography
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/XP_FMUwAy0w/
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Collective #454 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.
Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/09/the-freelancers-guide-to-paying-tax/
When you take the leap into freelancing and self-employment, it’s really exciting at the start. Eventually, the honeymoon phase wears off and you comfortably adjust to life as a freelancer, which, in all honesty, is a really great deal.
You get to run your design business the way you want. Work with clients you like. Make as much money as your schedule allows for. Live and work from anywhere in the world (and move as frequently as you want!) This business is yours to shape and mold into whatever you want it to be and to support whatever sort of lifestyle you want to lead outside of it.
That said, while the structure of the business may fully be under your control, the income you make from it is not.
Every country holds its residents accountable for paying taxes. When you have an employer, they typically handle this for you. However, since you’re self-employed, the responsibility lies solely with you—which is no easy feat. In the following post, I’d like to first take a look at freelancer’s biggest concerns when it comes to taxation. Then, we can dig into best practices for managing and paying your taxes on time.
Biggest Concerns About Wages & Taxes
In a survey provided by QuickBooks Self-Employed, I discovered some frightening statistics regarding freelancers and taxation. The survey was conducted earlier this year and focused on the experiences of self-employed individuals in the U.S. Since tax code differs from country to country, I’m going to focus on the points most relevant to freelancers everywhere:
Top Tax-Related Challenges for Freelancers
30%: preparing tax forms correctly;
30%: keeping track of tax-related information;
23%: estimating tax payments;
20%: saving money to pay taxes;
17%: knowing what to deduct to reduce overall tax burden.
Most Common Reasons Freelancers Miss Tax Payments
42%: incorrectly estimated tax payments due and came up short at the deadline;
30%: didn’t make enough to pay off taxes in full;
16%: were unaware they had to pay taxes;
16%: forgot to pay their taxes;
10%: were unaware of how to pay for their taxes.
Reasons Why 36% of Freelancers Don’t Pay Their Taxes
9%: there was no reason for the failure to pay, they just didn’t do it;
17%: didn’t make enough to owe anything;
10%: business losses exceeded profits and so they didn’t owe taxes.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on here. Many freelancers worry about preparing tax payments correctly (which is a valid concern) while others simply don’t know they have to make them. Then there are the 32% of freelancers who choose not to report all of their income to the government.
Rather than be confused or misinformed about what taxes mean for your business, or improperly handle your taxes and put your business in danger as a result, let’s talk best practices.
Best Practices for Managing Your Taxes Throughout the Year
If you want to enjoy the rewards of running your own business and making money from said business, then you need to reduce any concerns or confusion you have around taxes. You can do that by becoming more mindful of these best practices when managing taxes:
1. Figure Out Who You Owe Taxes To
This will be different based on where you live as well as where your home country is (if different). Here are some things to consider:
In some countries, you have to pay a federal (national) tax as well as a state (regional) tax;
Goods and services taxes (also referred to as GST and VAT) come into play in some countries;
Different business structures are taxed at different rates as well;
If you work abroad, be sure to brush up on the rules for taxation. You can usually find these under a “taxes for expats” search. (This is especially important so that you don’t get doubly taxed by your home country and country of residence.)
2. Watch Your Income and Expenses
One of the reasons freelancers struggled to make tax payments on time, according to the QuickBooks survey, was because they hadn’t calculated estimates correctly. Now, that’s likely to happen anyway, but it usually works in favor of the freelancer… unless the error is because you made more money than expected.
To avoid this problem, pay closer attention to your income. Download reports every month that provide data on how much money you made (and by “made”, I mean actually collected from clients) compared to how much went out the door in expenses. By staying on top of your changing revenue stream, you can more accurately estimate how much you owe in taxes. You can also adjust your rates if you find that you’re not making enough to stay up on payments.
3. Mark Your Calendar
In some countries, taxes are owed to the government quarterly. In others, you only have to pay once a year. In my opinion, neither option is ideal as it can lead to a more lax attitude about saving up enough money to make payments on time.
Instead, I would suggest you mark your calendar once a month. Even if you don’t want to go through the hassle of submitting payments to the government every 30 days, you can at least do your calculations and put that money aside in a dedicated account. The dedicated account is crucial as it keeps that taxed income safe from other expenses and ensures you don’t have to face any late payment penalties later on.
4. Use Accounting Software to Automate
Hiring an accountant can be quite expensive, even if you only retain their services during tax season. Thankfully, accounting software can automate a lot of the work an accountant would otherwise do for you. It will also spare you the trouble of having to manually keep track of your finances on a regular basis.
Of course, you’ll still have to file your own taxes, but accounting software will:
Pull in data about business-related transactions (income and expenses);
Categorize those transactions for easier filing of taxes;
Estimate tax payments based on your earnings/losses for the month/quarter/year;
Alert you to upcoming tax deadlines.
Some accounting software may even integrate with your tax software, so the uploading of the year’s financial information can be streamlined as well.
Wrapping Up
It doesn’t matter if you’re working full-time or part-time as a web designer. If you’ve earned revenue for your business, and it exceeds the minimum taxable amount defined by your government, then you have to pay taxes. The matter of taxes can get complicated, though, if you wait too long to handle them, so have a plan in place that allows you to prepare for tax payments all year long.
Featured image via Depositphotos.
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/TPMQRpnBnE8/beautiful-surf-soul-illustrations-lizzy
Beautiful Surf & Soul illustrations by Lizzy
GisMullr
Sep 28, 2018
I found Lizzy’s beautiful illustrations while looking for some surf related artworks for my daughter’s bedroom. We live at the beach and love the ocean. So I thought it would be a great idea to have an artwork reflecting that on my daughter’s wall. While browsing some surf related hashtags on Instagram I found Lizzy. And I’m really glad I did! Besides finding the perfect artwork for my daughter’s room, I also fell in love with her work. I started to follow her and got to admire the artist even more. Not only she is a super talented and creative person, but you can really feel her love for the ocean and for surfing in her pieces. Her illustrations are beautiful and are filled with style. Oh the style. She captures all the coolness of long boarders and puts it all on her pieces. Lizzy calls her art Soul & Surf illustration. And I totally agree. Her pieces have a Bohemian vibe that all ocean lovers will understand and love.
You can really see her passion for the ocean in her work. And as Lizzy says, the ocean is her master. That relationship is clear on her work. From hang tens to chilling by the beach. From casual surfing to resting in a hammock. Lizzy’s illustrations are simply fantastic. You better put your Beach Boys soundtrack on and take your time to enjoy these images. And make sure to visit the artist’s website for more.
Im Portuguese surfer girl living by the sea in Peniche, Portugal. Since 2013 I’m developing some illustration work inspired in my simple life by the Ocean, and what it represents for me. I see surf as a way for spiritual and self improvement, and the Ocean my great master. The ocean teaches me, and what I draw is a consequence of what I learned from it. Drawing is my way of sharing my truths. I like to call my art “Soul & Surf” illustration. A mix of Bohemian inspirations, ethnical colors and patterns, mandalas, american indian representations, feathers, birds, eyes, geometric figures, retro surf iconography and the classic surf movements are my main representations.
More links:
lizzyartworkshop.com
Instagram
cargocollective.com/lizzyartwork
illustration
Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/09/mailchimp-unveils-quirky-rebrand/
If any single tech company embodies the spirit of web-savvy, then it is Mailchimp. Since its beginnings as a side-project in the early-2000s the marketing service has walked the line between creative experiences, and simple usability. Mailchimp is one of those companies that saunters onto the court, lobs a shot over its shoulder, and gets nothing but net.
Now, with their latest rebrand courtesy of brand agency Collins (as ever, alongside an in-house team) Mailchimp has got almost everything right. Almost.
Chimp lovers will be relieved to discover that Freddie has survived the rebrand, and remains as the logomark, albeit redrawn in a simpler form. He’s lost his “M”, a bit of fur’s gone, the ear’s simpler. Essentially Freddie is more usable, more translatable, more international.
The most visually arresting element of the rebrand is the new brand color. Yellow is tough to design with, but it’s by far the most satisfying color when it’s got right, which in this case it is. It is used to tie the whole identity together in a way that wouldn’t work with anything less bold.
The most interesting—not necessarily in a good way—decision has been to abandon Jessica Hische’s much-loved redrawing of the original Mailchimp script. It’s been replaced with an oddly proportioned, retro-feel sans that lacks rhythm, and the syllables of which are crowbarred apart by an obnoxious “c”; strange given that the brand is keen to deemphasise that letter—it’s “Mailchimp” now, not “MailChimp”. There’s a half-baked explanation offered about the script’s incompatibility with the Freddie logomark. Initially I hated the new logotype; a hour later, I loved it; now I’m back to hating it again. The logotype seems destined to divide opinion, but at least it isn’t a geometric sans-serif.
Coupled with this logotype Mailchimp has adopted Cooper Light as its corporate typeface, giving everything a distinctly 1970s feel.
It’s not really any surprise that Mailchimp have labored to retain their quirky edge, it is after all what made them stand out (they have “chimp” in their name!) but what might come as a surprise is just how quirky Mailchimp have gone, particularly with their illustrations, which lie somewhere between Dr Seuss, and Quentin Blake, by way of Tove Jansson. The black and white illustrations with a strategic touch of brand yellow are sourced from illustrators around the world. (Although individual illustrations haven’t been attributed, several appear to be in the distinctive hand of Amber Vittoria.)
Mailchimp have also introduced a brand photography style that is easy to overlook amidst the joyful illustration. The photo examples themselves are well-taken, but their inclusion feels superfluous.
The rebrand is mostly excellent. The quirkiness is courageous and fitting. The color choice is striking. The type is debatable. The photography is questionable. But the whole is nothing if not fun. The biggest success is that despite growth—over 1 billion emails per day, 14,000 new users daily, $525m annual revenue—Mailchimp hasn’t lost sight of what made it a tool we wanted to use in the first place.
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/jwz4RM8qpG4/7-tips-for-completing-inktober-2017
Believe it or not it's October next week, and for illustrators that means it's time to pull out your pens for Inktober. If you're not familiar with Inktober, it's an annual challenge created by Jake Parker that calls on artists to create an ink-based drawing every day of the month and share their creations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #inktober #inktober2018.
The best drawing tablets
Inktober might not sound too difficult on paper, but finding time to ink an image every day for 31 days can quickly become daunting. If you're like us, you'll soon find yourself asking how amazing artists like Lüleiya (who drew the breathtaking illustration above for day one of a previous year's challenge) keep up the pace.
We're still admiring the amazing Inktober 2017 artists who made the whole challenge look effortless, but if you're struggling to get going with Inktober, or if you need a creative pick-me-up, as well as reading our tips on how to get started with ink drawing, we've put together some tips to help you on your way.
01. Follow the prompts
Each day of the month is assigned a single word prompt to provide the starting point for an illustration. These include a range of ideas, such as swollen, gift, muddy. Of course you don't have to stick to these prompts, but they're there if you need them. You can also make your own list of prompts. If you're stuck, check out our article on 20 ways to overcome creative block for inspiration.
02. Browse the hashtag
If the official prompts aren't working for you, there's always the hashtag to explore for inspiration. Simply type #Inktober or #Inktober2018 into the Twitter or Instagram search box and you'll instantly get a glimpse into how other illustrators are tackling the challenge.
Not only that, but you get to browse social media and not feel guilty that you're wasting time when you should be drawing. It's a win-win. Don't forget to comment on pieces you like with words of encouragement: the support goes a long way to helping other artists persevere.
03. Take your tools with you
You never know when you might grab a spare five minutes, or whether or not you're going to get struck by inspiration, so carrying your ink pens and a notebook with you wherever you go is another way to make Inktober more manageable.
Lugging your tools with you is also just good artistic practice. And seeing as Inktober is as much about refining your artistic discipline as it is about drawing a masterpiece day in day out, you might as well take the opportunity to start two good habits at the same time.
04. Ink from left to right
Time for some straight up technical advice that should save you some headaches further down the road. In this video by Kiara Lashay over on her YouTube channel Kiara's Studio, she recommends working from left to right to avoid smudging when illustrating with ink.
And for all you left handers out there, don't worry. Lashay recommends that you do the opposite and ink from right to left. (Speaking from personal experience as a lefty, I find fountain pens difficult to use in terms of pressure, so maybe markers are the way forward.)
05. Pick a theme
If you like the idea of using the Inktober prompts we mentioned earlier, another way to make the most of them is to pick a theme you can hang them around. We've seen lots of artists doing this over on the Inktober hashtag, and it looks like a genius way to narrow down your decision making over the coming weeks.
Not only that, but by picking a theme you're comfortable with, you get to play to your strengths by illustrating something you care about. This could be anything from Disney princesses to robots – or, as Twitter user Joey Hernandez demonstrates, the TV series Lost.
06. Get ahead
Bit of a controversial one, this. Given that life is busy and that it's hard to make the time for creative side projects, artists need all the help they can get to crank out an ink illustration every day for 31 days straight.
To this end, Windy Iris suggests in the video above that doing some groundwork in the form of preparatory drawing is fair game. As long as you're just sketching ideas in pencil and not actually inking your work it's not breaking the rules… is it?
We're sure that some Inktober purists out there will be marching on Creative Bloq towers with torches and pitchforks for suggesting such a thing, but give yourself a break. Inktober is a long challenge, so it makes sense to get ahead if you want to.
07. Have fun!
We've bleated on and on about how Inktober is great for polishing your artistic skills and discipline, but remember it's also a fantastic opportunity to simply have fun.
Be sure not to go too hard on yourself, and if you need to skip a few days it's not the end of the world. Nothing stalls a creative roll like unnecessary stress, and this pressure will definitely come across in your work. So keep your art looking good by relaxing.
Indeed, Parker says you can take it slower if you like: "You can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. Whatever you decide, just be consistent with it. Inktober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better."
If you see illustrations you like on social media, make sure you share them with your followers. Hopefully you'll make some new friends along the way and discover exciting artists you've never heard of before.
Related articles:
How to draw a character in pen and inkAdd digital colours to pencil drawingsHow to draw: the best drawing tutorials
