20 Famous Animated Logos for Your Inspiration

Original Source: http://justcreative.com/2017/10/15/20-famous-animated-logos-for-your-inspiration/

This article was contributed by Anil Parmar.

Looking for logo animation ideas? You’ve come to the right place.

Animated logos have the power to draw attention and communicate messages in ways that a static logo can not. Get inspired by these 20 famous animated logo designs.

Amazon

Amazon Logo Animation

The Amazon logo not only delivers a smile but it also depicts that they sell everything from A to Z.

Takeaway

Define the services you provide in the logo itself.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox Logo Animation

The well-known browser shows a fiery fox encircling the earth conveying its global reach around the entire world. The fox represents the blazing speed of the browser.

Takeaway

Convey your brand’s values within the logo. eg. speed

Google

Google Logo Animation

This name needs no introduction. The animation demonstrates the Google Speak Now functionality in the brand’s colors.

Takeaway

Use color and motion to convey your brand in its simplest form.

Intel

Intel Logo Animation

Intel is the world’s best commercial microprocessor chip making company. The logo conveys this, showing that it makes processors for tablets, computers and mobile phones.

Takeaway

Make your animation show your unique selling point, such as Intel’s chips.

Burger-King

Burger King Logo Animation

The Burger King logo is animated in piece by piece, in a 3D manner.

Takeaway

Consider giving dimension to your logo animation.

FedEx

FedEx Logo Animation

A well known courier delivery service uses the arrow for demonstrating its service.

Takeaway

Use your logo’s key feature / negative space to convey motion.

Hype Film

Hype Logo Animation

Hype film is a production company and camera film revolves around a loudspeaker to spell HYPE.

Takeaway

Don’t be afraid to add new elements to the logo animation sequence such as how HYPE uses film to build their loudspeaker.

Pixate

Pixate Logo Animation 

Pixate runs mobile app prototypes and the black background with four colorful leaves shows the creative side of the app.

Takeaway

Speed is crucial in animation, making for a smooth animation.

Nat Geo

National Geographic Logo Animation

The National Geographic’s famous yellow border is broken up and brought in piece by piece.

Takeaway

Don’t be afraid to split your logo into separate pieces for the animation.

Mail Chimp Snap

Mailchimp Snap Logo Animation

Send simple email newsletters from your mobile. (now discontinued)

Takeaway

Build your logo up, with dimension.

Fanta

Fanta Animated Logo

The bubbly fun nature of the type and orange circle shape is brought to life with animation.

Takeaway

Use your logo’s key attritbutes for the animation such as the type and orange circle in this case.

Uber

Uber Animated Logo

Building on the line ways points of a map, it creates a nice sequence to reveal the logo.

Takeaway

Use elements from your app or brand for the animation.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

The professional network connects business people all over the world, which is conveyed by the bouncy man and case.

Takeaway

Business can also be fun!

Instagram

Instagram Animated Logo

The photo sharing app owned by Facebook combines the traditional camera and polaroid to form their text based logo.

Takeaway

Illustrate your brand’s key features and then the logo itself.

Vimeo

Vimeo Animated Logo

Vimeo’s video sharing platform uses video buttons such as play, pause to illustrate their service.

Takeaway

Make the logo functional and leave subtle hints to the brand.

Master Card

Mastercard Animated Logo

Mastercard illustrate’s its multifaceted uses such as experiences, travel and food. Priceless.

Takeaway

Show how diverse your product is by illustrating various elements.

Dell

Dell Animated Logo

Dell’s high-performance laptops  and PCS are illustrated by 4 icons coming together. The ultimate collaboration of security, handling documents, analytics and cloud storage.

Takeaway

Depict the most effective characteristics of the product you supply to your customers.

Spotify

Spotify Animated Logo

Get instant access to millions of songs with Spotify.

Takeaway

Pick the logical part from the service/product and give it motion.

Pinterest

Pinterest Animated Logo

The logo in the animation shows a pin / P followed by written text ‘Pinterest’, a platform to discover information globally, by images.

Takeaway

A single symbol can show the entire motive of the brand and its identity.

Flickr

Flickr is one of the most significant platforms for sharing videos and photos. The logo conveys a world of creativity and inspiration.

Takeaway

A simple idea is often the most effective. Two dots can evolve into something so large!

Nike

Nike Animated Logo

The Nike Swoosh animated with bright vivid paint, highlighting the active nature of the swoosh.

Takeaway

If your logo already has motion, use it to its advantage.

Do you have any other favorite famous animated logos? Let us know!

Anil Parmar is the co-founder of Glorywebs that aims to help clients with professional web design services, app design & development, digital marketing and more. Find him on Twitter @abparmar99.

20 Free Portfolio Themes for WordPress to Download

Original Source: https://webdesignledger.com/20-free-portfolio-themes-for-wordpress-to-download/

As a designer, the best way to showcase your work is an online portfolio. An online portfolio is a proof of your expertise, experience, and skills. A portfolio site helps your potential clients to look at your advantages over other creatives out there.

The best and the easiest way to create a portfolio today is to use a creative free portfolio theme for WordPress. We decided to make this task more comfortable for you and collected 20 amazing free portfolio themes which you can customize and use.

1. Portfolio Gallery theme

portfolio-gallery-theme

2. Minimalist Portfolio

minimalist-portfolio-theme

3. Adventure Lite

adventure-lite-theme

4. TheMoments

the-moments-theme

5. panoply theme

panoply-theme

6. Hestia theme

hestia-theme

7. Zyloplus

zyloplus-theme

8. Shapely

shapely-theme

9. Eight Sec

eight-sec-theme

10. Seguente

seguente-theme

11. Business Press

business-press-theme

12. Vega

revolve-theme

13. Revolve

coral-drive-theme

14. Coral Drive

vega-theme

15. Hitchcock

hitchcock-theme

16. Coral Dark

coral-dark-theme

17. Pinnacle

pinnacle-theme

18. AccessPress Parallax

access-press-parallax-theme

19. Pure & Simple

pure-simple-theme

20. Innovation Lite

innovation-lite-theme

Read More at 20 Free Portfolio Themes for WordPress to Download

Designing a Great Logo: Tips & Mistakes to Avoid

Original Source: http://justcreative.com/2017/10/22/logo-design-tips-mistakes/

This article was contributed by Krzysztof Gilowski.

Although the recipe for a perfect logo does not exist, the knowledge of the features that distinguish legendary designs from the average ones, will allow you to get closer to greatness.

In this article you will get to know the rules that underlie the designs of some of the most valuable brands in the world.

Recognizability is everything

The best logo designs communicate the whole brand image in no time. Lego embodies the joy of children playing with toys. The Mercedes’ logo expresses luxury with an elegant typeface and a geometric abstract symbol.

lego mercedes logo

The most famous logos have a story to tell and that makes them unique.

Simplicity is the key to success

Less is more

What do the  world’s most recognizable logos have in common? The McDonald’s “M”, Nike’s swoosh, or the Apple’s apple with a bite (or byte) taken out of it? They are all extremely simple.

“The only mandate in logo design is that they be distinctive, memorable and clear.”

-Paul Rand

A good logo is original, but it is not exaggerated. An extremely complex logotype will not make your brand look sophisticated. It will only mean that the designer did not understand the meaning of simplicity.

Versatility – saving your nerves and money

Adapting Logos

A logo should present itself well in every possible format: small and large; in black and white (positive / negative); vertically and horizontally. It must be equally effective displayed on a variety of media – smartphones, tablets, computer screens and printed advertising.

Make sure the logo is recognizable after reversing the colors and decreasing the size. Check out how it looks on a stamp and on a truck. Don’t be afraid to make different versions of your logo (aka responsive logos).

A good logo must be timeless

The most beautiful and effective logo is not based on the current trends in the market. These are timeless pieces of work. Their authors, thanks to their experience in design, can predict whether the logo will still be valid in 10, 20 or 50 years.

The BMW’s logo is an example of such a graphic sign. The original logo was designed in 1916 and has changed very little ever since. The style keeps being altered according to the era but the concept remains the same. See more logo evolutions here.

BMW Logo Evolution

6 rules followed by logo designers

Start with black and white

Fitucci Custom Windows Doors Logo

In the early stages of the design the colors are of secondary importance. Moreover, they can draw people’s attention away from the logo itself. Most of the recognizable logos start with black and white drawings and sketches.

Use three colors at most

Examples of valuable logos that would break this rule are rare. Do not try to make an exception here – reality shows that it does not pay off. Paradoxically, a timeless logo that would be memorable is very simple and minimal colors.

Use the right colors depending on the mood you want to create. Learn color psychology.

Color in Logos

Use one or two fonts

To keep your logo clear and transparent, you may want to limit your design to one or two types of fonts. Depending on the nature of your business, use fonts with sharp or soft lines. See here for great font combinations.

Choose practicality over originality

Your logo has to be easily remembered. Accept the principle that a graphic design should be easy to describe on the phone.

A good logo should be easy to describe on the phone.

Something that will stay in someone’s memory should not be very complicated. Always choose practicality over originality.

Below you can see a case study of 1500 people attempting to draw logos from memory. It’s difficult!

Hand drawn logos from memory

Avoid unnecessary details

Remove anything that is unnecessary from your design. The ideal logo is not the one that cannot have anything added to it. The best one is the one that cannot have a single element removed from it.

Do not use ready-made graphics

Under no circumstances, create a logo with ready-made items (stock graphics, cliparts, pre-made designs). Creating your logo from ready-made templates and pictures makes your logo non-unique and replicable. Not to mention that a part of your logo may be legally used in your competitors’ graphics.

Stock Logos No

4 major characteristics of projects that lack professionalism

If you are looking for a logo design, the following tips will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your designer’s work.

Materials full of defects

The files with logo designs that you receive from your designer should not contain any technical imperfections. The curves should not overlap and should be as smooth as possible and the nodal points should be minimized. If the logo is symmetrical, then the symmetry should be perfect such as below.

Remember that the presentation of a logotype in a different scale, such as zooming and placing it on a truck, will expose all of its possible errors and defects.

Below is a logo by that has been designed by Jeroen van Eerden with a grid system to avoid these defects.

Zen Logo

Monogram as a starting point

An inexperienced designer often cannot resist the temptation to create a logo based on the company’s initials (for example, the name “Great Company” would create the logo form ‘G’ and ‘C’).

While this seems like a good idea, it’s hard to build company’s credibility or convey branding information with that kind of logo. It’s quite common in the fashion industry although they have huge marketing budgets. Monograms do not work for all industries.

Monogram Logos

Shortening the name to acronym

It is often a mistake to try to shorten the name of a new company to acronym size. Yes, this is an effective strategy, as demonstrated by the IBM’s, KFC’s, or AOL’s logos. However, the names of these companies became acronyms only after many years of market presence and costly exposure.

Using graphics programs does not guarantee quality

A logo created in Photoshop or Gimp may not be usable when you want to engrave it or significantly enlarge it. A professional logo should look just as good on different devices, but a raster logo (presenting the image with a pixel grid) does not assure that effect.

A vector logo (which defines points mathematically) created in software such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw will provide appropriate image reproduction on any scale – without the loss of quality.

Do you have any further logo design tips or mistakes to avoid?

About the author: Krzysztof Gilowski is CEO at Juicy – a company that creates memorable brands for small companies. Check out their guide on designing a restaurant logo on their blog.

Easy CSS Animation With Transition & Transforms

Original Source: http://webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/easy-css-animation-transition-transforms

Recently, I walked you through how to create a simple landing page that used a couple different CSS animation techniques. “Animation” is a loose term, in web design usually referring to anything that involves movement. CSS transitions are one tool we are given to manipulate elements on state changes or mouse events, and when combines […]

The post Easy CSS Animation With Transition & Transforms appeared first on Web Designer Wall – Design Trends and Tutorials.

2018 Graphic Design Trends + Inspirational Showcase

Original Source: http://justcreative.com/2017/11/28/graphic-design-trends-2018/

Every year, some design trends fade away while others burst onto the scene. This will be as true as ever in 2018, when visual contrast dominates the digital landscape and designers seek clarity and distinction, both subtle and bold.

What are the top graphic design trends of 2018?

Intersecting Elements
Duotone & Double Exposure
Retro-modern illustrations
Creative Background Patterns
Bright Gradients
Thoughtful Animations
Isometric Design
Split Page Design
Responsive Logos (see our responsive logo guide & logo design trends)
Gradients
Extra Depth (with semi-flat design)
Dazzling duotones
80s & 90s color paletes & patterns
Animated Logos
Cinemagraphs & GIFs
Bold typography & more serifs
Custom graphics & illustration
Authentic photography
Detailed vintage

Read on for a more detailed description of 2018’s design trends forecast.

2018 Graphic Design Trends Infographic

2018 Design Trends

A huge thank you to Coastal Creative for the above design trends infographic.

Intersecting Elements

Categorize this under a version of bold typography, we’ve seen a huge upswing in typography that intersects with shapes and graphics. It’s a strong visual that plays with perspective and shows confidence.

Duotone & Double Exposure

The duotone look has been a recent favorite across many design mediums, but it reached mass exposure via Spotify and their playlist images. Since duotone has risen to prominence, we’ve been seeing further iterations that layer the effect with double exposure. We expect to be seeing a lot more of this trend in 2018.

Retro-modern illustrations

Can something be both retro and modern? Yes, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with this trend that combines the sleek lines of modern vectors with throw-back color palettes. Modern illustrations with retro-respect: the best of both worlds.

Creative Background Patterns

Like wallpaper going in and out of fashion in home design, we’re seeing a resurgence of patterned backgrounds. Think of it like the grown-up version of the tiled backgrounds you may have used to trick out your very first online profile. These are often whimsical icons or custom illustrations that take the design to a personal level.

Bright Gradients

Bright Gradients

This may have been continuing for a little while, but we’re seeing this trend diversifying and holding strong since it made a strong comeback in 2017. Designers are having fun experimenting with gradient innovations using bright colors and a variety of textures.

Thoughtful Animations

Online animations have come a long way since banner ads circa 1999 that aggressively flashed “Click Me!”. These are thoughtful movements built with intention, created to delight and signal interaction. We’re big fans and hope they won’t become overdone.

Isometric Design

Perhaps as a reaction to flat design taking over the design world in past years, isometric design is making a strong comeback. Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions.

Split Page Design

As an evolution of the now-stale hero image concept, split design juxtaposes contrasting elements for a striking effect that shows multiplicity. We embrace this fresh change for its great design and usefulness.

The below trends were outlined in 99Design’s inspirational 2018 graphic design trends post.

Responsive Logos

See here for a detailed guide to responsive logos.

Responsive Logo Trend

Gradients

Gradient Trend

By Anton Avilov

Bright Gradients

by Yueyuan design.

80s & 90s color pallets & patterns

80s 90s Trend

80s Website

By Daria Kwon.

Movement: animations, GIFs, cinemagraphs

Animations

By Kit8.

Cinemagraph Trend

Dazzling duotones

Duotones Trend

By Spotify.

Extra Depth (with semi-flat design)

Subtle Depth

UI Depth

Bold typography & more serifs

Bold Type

By Nuture Digital.

Bold Type

By Vasjen Katro.

Custom graphics & illustration

Custom Illustration

By Willie H

Game of Thrones Illustration

By Alexandr Alexandrov

Authentic photography

Original Photography Trend

YOKO by Tom Arends for Bert

Authentic Photography

By Yeti.

Detailed Modern Vintage

Detailed Vintage

By DekoRatio and Szani Mészáros.

Beer Vintage

By Oscar Bastidas

Do you have any further graphic design trends to add?

Artist names have been supplied where known. Top hammer image by Steve Bullock.

Recruiting Engineers Who Aren’t Scared to Talk to People

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/buildinternet/~3/3FNzNoNKMb0/

We believe to be a good citizen of the developer and open source community is to hire good engineers for One Mighty Roar. This means engineers that can build utility apps like Lantern, connected device platforms like Robin, and hardware projects like Tableduino.

Rules for hiring

When we started, we made the decision to only hire engineers who were fully capable of interacting well with fellow engineers, but can also confidently talk to clients and present at events. Here’s how we we hire tech people with a personality:

Research before setting up an interview

We look at what you have built, who knows you, how you are to work with, what reputation you have, and if folks think you are curious and engaging. We prefer doing it the hard way – talking to people, expanding out networks, looking for talent where many don’t, and ignoring resumes. There are no shortcuts to recruiting exceptional people.

Interviews are free flowing conversations.

We don’t believe in traditional interviews and industry techniques. We want you to do extensive research on us (including diving deep into our GitHub and Dribbble), play with our apps and sites, look at individual Twitter accounts.

Hire makers

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a junior apprentice or an experienced engineer, even non-technical team members should be able to describe you as a “maker”. It shows in your open-source contributions, blogging, and many examples of applications and/or other things you have built and released.

Hire adults

Being an adult doesn’t have much to do with your age, but rather your attitude toward other people, sense of responsibility, and respect for the company. Also, if you are above pitching in to stock the fridge, cleanup, load the dishwasher, or keeping your work areas in respectable shape, these are warning signs to us.

Add people who can add another point of view

Since we are a product development company, monolithic thinking is simply not compatible with our business model. Caveat: you have to be just as comfortable sharing your insights as diving deep into how other members of the team and our clients think.

Look for people with a personal goal

Look for people who are clear on how they want to grow professionally, and who care deeply about personal “brand”. You’re the one that creates the roadmap. The company is just a tool for your growth.

Hire those who grew up aspiring to be an engineer

As we interview, we try to dig deep into when your passion for the craft started, who were your role models, and who inspires you. Those who became engineers because there is money to be made, are not for us.

Find people who can manage your own time, distractions, and workload

You need to find time to work out, eat a proper meal, and take the time-off. You also don’t require monastic environment, because we are not the kind of place.

Hire for the “after 5 o’clock” personality

We pride ourselves on a professional and respectful work environment where you don’t have to put on “corporate face”. That is an unnecessary overhead for a company comprised of genuinely nice, fun, and respectful people.

Strong team, strong company

We fully understand our methodology is not for everyone, but we strongly believe this is something that is allowing us to scale sustainably while handling a large number of projects. This hiring approach is part of what’s allowed us to remain self-funded four years in. The right team makes a company resilient.


Coding with Dyspraxia: If I Can Do It, so Can You

Original Source: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/coding-with-dyspraxia

Coding with Dyspraxia

As I start writing this blog, I’ve just spent the last hour on a cold November afternoon getting to grips with Saving Instance state in Android.

It was a lot of fun, challenging but fun. After watching the video a couple of times, I’m beginning to get more of a handle on what’s involved. And after testing the result,  I’ve seen that the Android Lifecycle saves the “state” of the app when I rotate the screen so even though Android creates a new instance of the app it appears to the user that nothing has changed at all.

After this, I feel empowered. This is why I spend so much time learning about new tech. The feeling of learning and understanding something new is very exciting and I’m at the top of my game.

Then, I move on to something new and I don’t know where the knowledge goes. It’s not that its “gone”, exactly, more like it’s just parked somewhere in my brain that can’t retrieve the information and I feel like I’m back to square one.

I’m Jonathan and I’ve been a Treehouse student and Community Moderator for over 3 years. You may recognize my name from a previous post on the Treehouse blog in which I shared my experience with Dyspraxia. Today, I want to talk to you about the difficulties of learning tech for neurodiverse people like me and a few techniques I use to get over those barriers.

I live in England where 5% – 10% of the UK population are estimated to have Dyspraxia. That’s 3 children in every class of 30. It’s a lifelong brain-based condition that basically means messages in the brain are “muddled” when they try to get to where they need to be. It’s a minor form of brain damage but described as an “immaturity of the way the brain transmits information”. This causes a number of challenges such as problems with movements, tasks, speech, and language and the main problem for me, perception and thought.

Coding with Dyspraxia is a difficult thing indeed. The conundrum I described above with Android is common for me and may well be for others but I feel and live with these issues every day.

Overcoming barriers

Now, I would like to explain what this means for me in terms of coding, the techniques I use to get past my problems and hopefully inspire others who have a similar condition to me.

Dyspraxia is like fog in my mind. I don’t really sit down and type code on the fly in the way I perceive (perhaps wrongly) other coders do. I think methodically, use frameworks where possible and break down projects into stages. In my life, I have always taken each day as it comes.

I need to see code to write it and I spend as much time thinking as I do coding. It doesn’t seem to matter how experienced I become with programming concepts. For example, I have worked with WordPress long enough and have coded the WordPress Loop countless times, but I still don’t remember it from scratch. However, I recognize it when I see it and I know how to implement it.

It’s not about not understanding what I’ve been taught; it’s about what my brain does with the understanding.

Now I do this a lot. I look at a problem before me or a project that I’m about to begin and it seems like the goal is at the top of a massive mountain, followed by the unshakeable thought that I’m not good enough for the job.

When this happens it is because I’m making comparisons to others; Treehouse teachers, students, my peers who are in similar jobs to me. This is a folly and a folly I’m still trying to teach myself to get around. I recently read a tweet from @CodePenHull about a talk by Treehouse alumni Andrew Chalkey and thought: could I learn to do that someday to0? How can I learn to do these things and retain the knowledge do to another similar project? How do people retain their programming knowledge?

Visual thinker

I’m very much a visual thinker in this respect. When I’m developing with Sass for example, I like to write out CSS and then convert to Sass rather than go straight into writing Sass. So I’ll prepare a Sass configuration file and break up the code into partial files.

Doing it this way means I can quickly use my CSS knowledge to put something visual into the browser and then I can visualize how the Sass is going to work in my mind. It allows me to take away the blank canvas issue and build the code from lines and lines of CSS to a more professional project.

I also spend a lot of time inspecting elements behind the scenes and even testing new styles via the browsers development tools (my favorite being Chrome DevTools). I would encourage others to do the same.

I try and take the same approach when I’m learning programming.

Some encouragement for you all

Lastly, I want to encourage the rest of you – especially if you have a learning difficulty like Dyslexia or Dyspraxia – who are struggling with your confidence. This post of mine in the Treehouse Community received a lot of positive feedback. In it, I describe the 5 things I remind myself when studying to make myself better at coding: learn to code from memory, keep code snippets, remember concepts, ask for help and take time to practice.

I know I get down at times when I’m trying to learn code and sometimes even wonder why I’m putting myself through it, and I’ll probably go through that cycle again… But if I can keep up my resolve and determination and if I can learn to code, I’m pretty sure you all can too.

I hope this post has been helpful and encouraging. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

If you would like to see some of Jonnie’s projects and follow his progress, check out his awesome portfolio here. Or if you’d like to learn about Dyspraxia, you can also read more here. 

The post Coding with Dyspraxia: If I Can Do It, so Can You appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

Webinar recap: Creating customized training programs

Original Source: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/webinar-recap-creating-customized-training-programs

Deciding on a curriculum can be the hardest part of starting a new training program, especially when the topics covered are highly technical and need to fit your business’s specific tech stack. That’s why we dedicated an entire webinar to help you define and build customized curriculums.

If you couldn’t make it to the webinar, don’t worry – you can catch the on-demand recording of it here.

building-a-customized-training-program-for-your-team

Matt Krzyzynski, our Customer Success Manager, and Matt Moss, our Product Manager, hosted the webinar, where they clarified why custom curriculums can seem daunting, but are ultimately easier to maintain in the long run. Because technology is always evolving, your technical training curriculum needs to be able to adapt to changes in your tech stack and help your teams take advantage of new digital tools. Customizing curriculums puts you in control of the content learners interact with and helps you use their time efficiently, while training them in only the tools and skills you need them to learn.

building-a-customized-training-program-for-your-team-1

Matt Krzyzynski works with Treehouse customers every day, helping them to define their training programs. During the webinar, he gave real-life examples of the custom tracks he’s built tailored to solve the unique problems that each business is trying to solve with their training programs. By grouping the examples into three common problems, he makes it easy to see exactly what the hurdles were, and how we recommend solving them with best practices, alternate tiering or pacing solutions, and training in specific topics. At the end, Matt Moss outlined your next steps and shared a handy worksheet for you to use as you build your training programs and create your tailored technical curriculum.

If you’re interested in hearing how we solve three of the most common problems our customers are trying to solve for with their training programs, see real-life curriculum examples, or want access to the training program worksheet, watch the full webinar here.  And if you haven’t already, be sure to register for the last live webinar in our series, where we’ll cover how to structure your technical training programs to support your learning goals and desired outcomes.

Webinar series: How to launch an effective technical training program

The post Webinar recap: Creating customized training programs appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

How to Tackle The 5 Big Challenges of Working Remotely

Original Source: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/how-to-tackle-the-5-big-challenges-of-working-remotely

People tend to have an idealistic view of what it’s like to work remotely – especially when it comes to working from home. But, with the unique freedom and flexibility of working remotely, there are also some unique challenges. The majority of the Treehouse team are remote, and over the past 7 years, we’ve collectively gained a lot of experience for how to successfully work remotely. Whether you’re working from home, a co-working space, coffee shops or the limitless other locations you may choose, there are a few common challenges that you’ll likely encounter at one time or another. Here’s our list of the 5 most common challenges of working remotely, and more importantly how to overcome them.

Start learning to code today with your free trial on Treehouse.

1. Keep your motivation

Whether you work remotely as a freelancer or for a company, ultimately you’re the manager of your own time. Not having someone overseeing your daily work can be an empowering perk of working outside of a traditional office, but at the same time, that level of trust comes with the added pressure to keep yourself productive and efficient. Finding ways to self-motivate can be very challenging, especially if you’re new to working remotely. But, I can assure you that with time, you’ll establish routines and ways of keeping yourself on track.

Maintaining motivation can be one of the greatest challenges of working remotely, but the good news is that most of the tips shared in this post will help feed into your motivation. However, there’s one particularly valuable piece of advice that I find helps, and that’s to think carefully about your working environment. By establishing an ideal workspace for yourself, you’ll find yourself working comfortably, but productivity. For me, that’s a spacious and uncluttered desk space and a window view, which is something I’ve created in my home office, but I can also replicate in a coffee shop or at my co-working space.

2. Fend off distractions

One of the benefits of working remotely is you don’t have the challenge of dealing with office distractions. But, working in other places can present an entirely new set of distractions. For example, just because you’re working from home, it doesn’t mean you should catch up on house chores. Treat working hours as exactly that, working hours. Keeping that strict division is something you should establish at the start as it sets the right precedent to keep you focused on your work.

Similarly, working in a coffee shop or co-working space may come with the distractions of a loud, busy environment. If you’re anything like me and can find that very distracting, so invest in a good set of noise-canceling headphones and rely on a few go-to playlists that help you focus. When you aren’t in an office setting, also remember that trust from your employer and team plays a big factor. Be self-disciplined and accountable for your time. Make the most of the awesome flexibility you’ve been given by working as effectively as possible.

3. Avoid working in isolation

Working remotely – especially from home – can sometimes lead to working in your own “silo”. It can be easy to fall into the pattern of starting work in the morning and powering through the day on your computer, which can take a toll mentally. While this might feel like you’re being productive, it’s important that you also take short breaks through the day to give your mind and your eyes a chance to refresh (and no, that doesn’t mean scrolling through your social feeds). When working from home, I find the best way to do that is to get out the house first thing in the morning or at lunchtime for a walk. It helps me reconnect with the world around me and once I’m back at my keyboard I feel refreshed.

Joining a co-working, even if it only means working there a day or two a week, is another great way of ensuring you don’t work in too much isolation. Today you have countless options to choose from, so be patient while you search and find a space that’s right for you: Look for somewhere that feels like the right working environment, speak to other members to get a feel for what the culture is like, and ask about events at the space.

Another related challenge of working remotely is that you’ll likely miss company culture and human interaction. Co-working spaces can help remedy that. But in addition, most remote-friendly companies today are aware of that and put extra measures in place to ensure their culture reaches all of their remote team. For example, at  Treehouse we rely heavily on tools like Slack and Zoom to keep our team connected, encourage individuals to join co-working spaces and even bring our team together in-person for company-wide Meetups. But there are also things you can do for yourself to help with the challenge. Make the effort to get to know other people working in your co-working space, or attend local Meetups and networking events. I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many other people work remotely, and it’s great to connect with others to share advice, experiences, and to socialize!

4. Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Aside from the mental challenges of working in isolation, parking yourself at a desk all day is also bad for your health. You may not notice it at first, but trust me, over time it will have an impact. So instead, keep yourself moving through the day. One great and practical recommendation is to invest in an adjustable high desk (we use GeekDesks at Treehouse), so you can stand and work for part of your day. I also rely on my FitBit to remind me to keep moving through the day. It’s also important you try to commit to a healthy daily routine. Given you’ll likely be saving time not having to commute, why not use that time to exercise in the morning before work or after you wrap up in the evenings? Working from home also means you’re not restricted to having to grab lunch on the go. Instead, whip up something healthy for yourself, there’s really no excuse with your own kitchen at your disposal!

5. Know when to disconnect

One of the hardest parts of working remotely (especially from home) is “switching off” from work. Instead of an office structure with 9-5 hours, you can access your virtual office at any time of the day or night. That can make it hard to justify ending your workday when there’s still more to be done. The temptation might even be to head offline in the evening, only to return later to complete a quick task… fast forward to 11.30pm and you may find yourself still working. Of course, there will be times when that is necessary, but really try not to make a habit of working late as ultimately it will burn you out. One of the most effective ways to avoid this is to ensure you keep your work environment at home (and your computer) separate from where you spend your free time. That way, when you come to the end of the working day, you can close the door on that space, disconnect and switch off until tomorrow.

We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If you work remotely, we’d love to hear about your experience. Are there additional challenges you’ve faced? How have you overcome them?

7 Compelling Reasons to Work Remotely

The post How to Tackle The 5 Big Challenges of Working Remotely appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

2017 Black Friday + Cyber Monday Deals for Graphic & Web Designers

Original Source: http://justcreative.com/2017/11/19/2017-black-friday-cyber-monday-deals-for-graphic-web-designers/

After the success of 2015 & 2016‘s compilation, I’ve again compiled some of the best 2017 Black Friday Deals and Cyber Monday Sales for graphic designers, web professionals, creatives, freelancers and more.

I will be updating this page frequently until all sales are over. If you have your own deal, email me and I’ll update the post with your deal.

Please share the love with your fellow designers!

Copy and paste the below to share:

2017 Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for designers & web professionals! https://buff.ly/2iygMX5 #BlackFriday #CyberMonday via @justcreative

Click here to tweet.

When is Black Friday 2017?

Black Friday is on November 24, but sales generally run from November 24-27.

Cyber Monday is on Monday, November 27.

Black Friday Cyber Monday Deals

Top Black Friday Deals Overview

For full details, valid dates & coupon codes you must scroll on further.

Online Courses from Udemy – $10-$15 (90% off)
Skillshare Premium Membership – 2 Free months
Shutterstock Stock Photos & Vectors – 20% off
StockUnlimited – 97% off 3 year subscription
MyFonts – Best Sellers & Special Offers – 20-80% off
Adobe Creative Cloud – 20% off
Booking.com – $15 Free
NordVPN – 75% off
Web Hosting with BlueHost – 66% off
The Ultimate Guide to Logo Design eBook – 35% off
IconFinder – 2 Million Icons – 60% Off
Amazon – 10-80% off
Getting A Mentor As a Designer Guaranteed Book – Free Audio Book
SleekLens Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Products – 20-30% Off. Code BLKFRIDAY
35,000 Icons: RoundIcons – Everything – 50% Off
Mockup Zone – 70% Off
FontBundles.net Marketplace Items – 50% off
InkyDeals – 25-95% Off + extra 60% Off Site Wide
MightyDeals – 25-99% Off
DesignCuts – 25-99% Off
MyDesignDeals – 25-97% Off
CreativeMarket – 20% Off
CodeCollege – 50% Off all memberships and courses. Use code BLACKFRIDAY2017

 Many more deals are listed at the very bottom of this post and will be updated as they come in.

Master A New Skill with an Online Course from Udemy – Just $10
Udemy Black Friday Deal

Master a new skill with an online course from Udemy for just $10 which gives you up to 90% off any particular course!

SkillShare 1-2 Months FREE Premium Membership
Skillshare Classes

The second most popular deal from last year is the FREE 2 month Premium Membership from Skillshare. These classes are much more ‘snack-sized’ than Udemy’s in-depth courses. So, learn a new skill today, enroll in a class from Skillshare. With this deal you will get 1 or 2 free months of Skillshare Premium membership.

Adobe Creative Cloud – 20% Off All App Memberships

Adobe Black Friday

20% discount on Creative Cloud all apps membership (US$39.99 instead of US$49.99 )
Stock Bundle US$39.99 All apps + US$29.99 for Stock
Lightroom Bundle US$39.99 All apps (includes new Lightroom) + 200GB Storage add on

Available until Nov 24.

StockUnlimited 3 Years Access – Image Subscription 93% Off

Stock Unlimited Black Friday

93% OFF on Photos, Vectors and Illustrations with Promo Code CYBER17. Offer valid till 01/12/2017.

AppSumo – 5x Awesome App Deals 75-99% Off

AppSumo Black Friday

AppSumo have got 5 great deals going for Black Friday 2017! Deals go live Nov 24 at 12:01am EST.

Grum – (95% Off)  – Schedule your future Instagram posts directly from your computer.

DesignBold (97% Off) – Create professional quality designs in just minutes.

Brain.fm – (75% Off) – The ‘Get Sh*t Done’ app that helps you focus better and sleep deeper using incredible

Invanto (98% Off) – Create, market, and launch products with this intuitive business platform.

KingSumo – (75% Off) – Get the tool that AppSumo used to grow our list to 750K email subscribers.

Envato Market Place – 50% Off

Envato

Get 50% off over 500 digital assets, templates and files from Envato’s sites including Themeforest, Codecanyon, Graphicriver, VideoHive and AudioJungle. Plus 34% off annual subscriptions. Until Nov 29. No coupon required.

Amazon Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals Week
Amazon Cyber Monday

Amazon have an awesome Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals week page that lists everything from electronics, toys, kitchen tools, pet supplies, and more.

I recommend using their Electronic Gift Guide and Holiday Gift Guide too.

iStock – Save 20%

iStock Sale

Save 20% on Photos, Videos, and Illustrations with promo code NOV20. Offer valid 27/11/17 to 01/12/17.

MockUp Zone – 70% Off Site Wide
Mockup Zone

Mockup Zone gives you realistic and easy to edit mockup files for your portfolio designs or design presentations. Get 70% off until 28 November.

Shutterstock Stock Photos & Vectors – 10-20% off
Shutterstock

Get over 60 million stock photos, vectors, videos and music tracks from Shutterstock.

Get 20% off 750 image subscription plans with the code ‘SSUB’ or get 10% off any order with code ‘SS10’.

MyFonts Best Sellers & Special Offers
MyFonts Deal

Browse the MyFonts best sellers and special offers page and grab some great Black Friday deals deals!

Need a Vacation? Get US $15 off any booking at Booking.com
Booking.com

Booking is my favourite online hotel booking engine, due to all of its features and simplicity. And today, you can get US$15 off your next stay!

> Click here to get $15 off your next Booking

The $15 will be refunded to you after checking out of your hotel. Booking.com will send an email with the refund. You must have a Booking.com account to get refunded. Have any questions? See their FAQ.

DesignCuts Marketplace Black Friday – 40% Off 

DesignCuts 40% Off

You can save a massive 40% on the best quality creative assets from some of DesignCut most popular designers. Valid to 12PM, Tuesday 28th November, UK time.

TheHungryJPEG.com – Different deals every day!

HungryJPG

Home to premium design resources for designers, crafters, newbies, seasoned graphic design ninjas and well, anybody with an interest in the design world.
Up to 99% OFF, plus 5 days of different deals from Nov 23 to 27. Check in every day for a brand new deal (especially the last day).

SmartMockups App – 35% Off 

Smartmockups

Smartmockups is exactly what it sounds like… A smart mockup tool that gives you the power, speed and resources you need to create stunning photo-realistic mockup designs, in just a few clicks. Save 35% off between Nov 22nd-29th.

NordVPN (75% Off)
NordVPN Laptop

NordVPN is the easiest to use VPN provider out there. You can watched previously banned TV from other parts of the world, while increasing your online privacy.

Get an exclusive 77% discount on a 3 Year Plan making it just $3 a month. Use code ‘3ydeal’ to claim, until November 29.

BlueHost Web Hosting + FREE Domain – 66% Off
Bluehost

BlueHost is my recommended web host for small to mid-sized businesses. Easy to use, great value, great support and my first choice for clients. Just Creative readers save 66% off their hosting and a free domain. See my tutorial on how to set up your own website. Valid Friday 24 to 27th at 11:59PM MST.

Totally Artistic, Vector Supply Kit, for 99% Off

Artistic Vectors

Fantastic quality vectors are fundamental building blocks for all designers. That is why it is so important to have a great selection of vector tools at your disposal, and this bundle gives you just that and so much more! DesignCuts have teamed up with the best vector designers in the business to bring you this all-new bundle with 1000s of the best quality vectors you can find today, without the hefty price tag!

This vector supply kit would typically cost you $2995, but until Dec 5 it’s available for you for just $29!

The Ultimate Guide to Logo Design eBook – 35% Off
Kyle Courtright Logo eBook

The Ultimate Logo Design eBook by Kyle Courtright is the “definitive guide to logo design”. This eBook would go for $29 however you can get $10 (35% off) the book, making it just $19. This is your chance to up your logo & branding game – there really is no other resource like this. Use coupon code ‘JUST10OFF’ at checkout.

IconFinder – 2 Million Icons 60% Off 
Iconfinder

IconFinder is offering Just Creative readers 60% off the first month of membership. Get it here.

LogoWave Awards Competition – 20% Off

LogoWave BlackFriday

LogoWave entries get 20% off for any entries from Black Friday through 12/1 with promo “WAVE20“.

Getting A Mentor As a Designer Guaranteed Book
Ram Castillo

Ram Castillo is one inspiring dude and he has two great books, his latest is based on finding a mentor to allow you to “see blind spots and succeed faster”. Get the free audio book with the purchase of the paperback (please email Ram after purchasing and he will send it to you). Also see Ram’s other book, How to Get a Job as a Designer Guaranteed.

SleekLens – Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Products – 30% Off

Sleeklens

Receive discounts of up to 20-30% off on select products for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Simply use the promo code BLKFRIDAY during checkout. Get the deal here.

50% Off All Marketplace Items at FontBundles.net
Font Bundles

Get 50% off all marketplace items at FontBundles.net between Nov 25-28. Browse items.

Smart Slider 3 Responsive Slider for WordPress  – 60% Off

smartslider

Smart Slider 3 is the perfect responsive slider for WordPress. You can create beautiful sliders and animated blocks easily with the next generation visual editor. You don’t have to think about any technical details, the drag&drop interface will help you. You won’t believe how easy it is! We are excited to offer a huge 60% discount on all plans! Head over to smartslider3.com and enter code BF2017 at checkout! Valid from November 23rd to 28th.

Taco Shop  Shirts & Swag – US Free Shipping

Taco Gear

For taco lovers out there, get free shipping in the USA for Taco Gear products.

Creative Market – 20% Off

CreativeMarket

Get 20% off stock resources from CreativeMarket.

Elementor Pro Page Builder – 25% Off

Elementor Pro

Create stunning professional websites in minutes. Get 25% off with code ‘blackfriday2017’.

React, Node & ES6 Courses – 50% Off

Wes Deal

Take 50% off all courses and skill up before the year is over.

Learn React for Beginners
Learn Node
Learn ES6+

MotoCMS – 55% Off Plugins, Themes, Membership

MotoCMS
MotoPress offers 55% discount on everything – all professional WordPress themes, user-friendly plugins like the WordPress Page Builder plugin and all other products! Use MPBESTBUY discount code during checkout. The deal is valid from November, 23 until November, 27.

123RF.com – 15% Off Stock Imagery 

123RF Black Friday
Download from 90+ million stock photos, vectors, videos and music tracks at 123RF.com. Get 15% off image subscription plans / 15% more credits with the code “HYPERCYBER”. Get started!

More Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals

Courses

Online Courses from Udemy – $10-$15 (90% off)
Skillshare Premium Membership – 2 Free months
NuSchool – All classes and book are on sale for $217. $197 discount. Until Nov 29.
CodeCollege – 50% Off all memberships and courses. Use code BLACKFRIDAY2017
Codeschool – 51% off a year membership

Graphic Design Assets / Marketplaces

MightyDeals – Design resources 25-99% Off
DesignCuts – Design Marketplace 25-99% Off
MyDesignDeals – 25-97% Off
CreativeMarket – Graphic design marketplace 20% Off
Envato – 50% off 500 items, and 34% off annual subscriptions
InkyDeals – 25-95% Off + extra 60% Off Site Wide
Designmodo – 70% off. Coupon code: BLACK
FontBundles.net Marketplace Items – 50% off
Craftwork UI Assets – 50% off all products.
CraftBundles – 20% Off
MasterBundles – 50% OFF. Use code “BlackFriday2017” 23 Nov till 28 Nov
Ramotion – 50% discount for all mockups. Coupon: BLACK17
Vecras – Product mockups, vector cut outs, graphic packs – 30% off. 25-27th Nov. Use code SPECIAL30%OFF
Mockup Zone – 70% Off

Stock Photography & Vectors

Shutterstock Stock Photos & Vectors – 20% off
StockUnlimited – 97% off 
iStock – Save 20%  – with promo code NOV20
123RF.com – 15% Off Stock Imagery

Hosting, Domains & Web Dev

BlueHost – 66% off and free domain.
Flywheel Web Hosting – Get 3 months free, that’s 25% off. Use code flyday17. Nov 20-28.
Namecheap – 70% off on domains, hosting, SSL, and emails. Black Friday
Oonie Web Templates & Development – 50% Off (email enquiry@oonie.co.za)

Web Apps / Software

Unclutter – 50% off – Mac three-in-one productivity app will be 50% OFF. Nov 24-29.
Framer – 40% off + iPhoneX giveaway. Create interactive designs from scratch
Proto.io – 30% Off all annual plans. Create fully-interactive high-fidelity prototypes.
FontSelf – 30% OFF Create your own fonts in minutes from Illustrator & Photoshop CC!
RightFont – 30% off on Black Friday
Elementor Pro – 25% off – Create stunning pro websites in minutes. Coupon: blackfriday2017.
PureVPN – 75% Off on Cyber Monday
ActiTime – Time Tracking Software – Cyber Monday 50% Off
Content Snare – Helps designers and digital agencies get content from their clients. 20% off all Plans with code BF17. Expires Nov 28.
Webflow – 75% off any template till 11/30 with the code #000FRIDAY
Optimage – Advanced image optimisation – 40% off
Design + Code – Pre-order for $30 with discounts for Sketch and Angle and 6 months free of InVision.
WrapPixel – 25% off on Premium Admin Dashboard Templates

Plugins

AstuteGraphics – 20% off selected Adobe Illustrator plug-ins
Design Plugins Plugins down to $5
SketchKeys –  Accelerate your design and development workflows. Use code just-creative-friday 

Icons

Futuramo Icons – 40% off Icons PRO 1-year subscription. Coupon: 40WBN8E1WYMNJWH2
IconJar – 30% off at checkout
IconFinder – 2 Million Icons – 60% Off
35,000 Icons: RoundIcons – Everything – 50% Off
SwiftIcons – 50% off

Other

Lagom Magazine – 25% off + 25% to charity. Code BF17.
O’Reilly Books & Video – 10 day free trial
MyFonts – Best Sellers & Special Offers – 20-80% off
The Ultimate Guide to Logo Design eBook – 35% off
Amazon – 10-80% off
Getting A Mentor As a Designer Guaranteed Book – Free Audio Book
SleekLens Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Products – 20-30% Off. Code BLKFRIDAY

Submit your own sale and I’ll add it above.

Other Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deal Compilations

Designer News compilation
TemplateMonster compilation
CreativeBloq Black Friday compilation 
CreativeBloq Cyber Monday compilation
Web3Canvas compilation
eWebDesign compilation
WeFunction compilation

Thanks to the above compilations for some submissions.

Please share the love with your fellow designers!

Copy and paste the below to share:

2017 Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for designers & web professionals! https://buff.ly/2iygMX5 #BlackFriday #CyberMonday via @justcreative

Click here to tweet.