One of the most well known land line and cell phone providers on the planet, AT&T, designed some really interesting ads to market their mobile phones. Check out the collection below. Hope you enjoy.

HTML 5 is on its way to becoming the standard for web development. Although it’s still in development a lot of people are ahead of the game. Check out the sites below for some great examples of what’s to come…

1. Jamie Calabro

2. Tim Benniks

3. Nimbupani

4. Antilight

5. Jeroen Homan

Thanks to sites like logopond.com, logofaves.com, and logodesignlove.com there are a ton of places to find great inspiration for logo development. Here are 5 of my favorites this week.

1. Spartan Golf Club

2. Love Clip

3. Dodo Grill Restaurant

4. Starbucks “5 Year in Turkey” Logo

5. 8 Interactive

What are the biggest differences between the good freelance designers and the great freelance designers? If you are thinking raw design talent you are wrong. Yes it’s a plus if you have a talent in art and design, but that talent alone can only take you so far. Here are 5 hidden talents that make up a successful freelance designer.

1. Secretary/Accountant

Know your business. All great freelance business owners spend lots of their time running financial reports, tracking client payment schedules, answering calls, returning emails, scheduling appointments, and following up with prospects. You already know how to design, so why not take a little time to focus on the business tasks? This will greatly help you in the long run and ultimately lead you on an upward path to success.

2. The Salesman

All great freelance designers are salesman. You have to know how to sell yourself and your work! Don’t be afraid to go after the big clients either. The worst they can say is no. Use your professional knowledge and quote the client out properly. Also make sure to always ask for their business!! For more tips on how to close the deal check out 7 tips to help freelance designers close the deal.

3. Time Managment

All of the best freelancers have great time management skills. Let’s face it, being a freelancer leaves you with a lot of “free” time on your hands. Set aside your work schedule and stick to it. Something I love to do is set weekly and daily goals, working diligently until I have completed my tasks. Then I reward myself for all my hard work.

4. Administrative

Running day to day business administrative tasks can be extremely daunting but it is an understood practice amongst the great freelance designers. I would highly recommend spending lots of time on this section of the business before hiring someone else to do it for you.

5. PR/Marketing/Account Management

Every great designer out there is also a social butterfly and spends countless hours marketing themselves, going to social events, blogging,  promoting their company, and updated stats feeds on social media sites such as facebook and twitter. This is an absolute “have to” when it comes to being a successful freelance designer. You never know who you might bump into!

What about you?

I know there are multiple other hidden talents that us designers have so what is your secret weapon? I would love some feedback. Leave your comments below.

When it comes to creativity, great fonts are a must. Fonts can either make or break your design. I ran into some really nice looking creative fonts the other day and wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

1. MDRS-FD01 – by mindriders

2. SquaretypeB – by digitalAM

3. Velocity

4. Exus Pilot – by mauroh

5. Dirt To Death – by Keepwaiting

6. PT Banana Split

7. Avant Garde

8. ABC Font – by MyFox

9. Karabine

10. Val Font

Here are some other font resources you may want to check out:

1st Web Designer – 65 Popular and Professional Free Fonts

76 Dirty and Extreme Creative Fonts

Creative Nerds – 50 Best Free Fonts of 2009

There are multiple browsers out there to view the web but did you know that most of them also have lots of useful add-ons and plugins that really help with efficiency? I choose Firefox as my browser of choice because its smooth, easy to use, and there are multiple add-ons that help me out with day to day web design tasks. Here is a list of my top 5 favorites. Hope you enjoy!!

1. Window Resizer

Resize your browser to various standard resolution sizes.

The Browser Window Resizer is useful for testing different screen sizes. It accurately resizes your browser so you can test to see what a web page looks like in all of the standard resolution sizes.
Supports the 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1600×1200 resolutions.
Resize the current page via the Context menu, Tool menu or Toolbar button.

2. Grid Fox

GridFox is a Firefox extension that overlays a grid on any website. If you can open it in Firefox, you can put a grid on top of it. It’s easy to customize, allowing you to create the exact grid you designed your layout around.

3. HTML Validator

HTML Validator is a Mozilla extension that adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing.

4. CSS Viewer

A simple CSS property viewer.

5. Pixel Perfect

Pixel Perfect is a Firefox/Firebug extension that allows web developers and designers to easily overlay a web composition over top of the developed HTML.

What About You?

What is your favorite add-ons. I would love your feedback. Until next time…

Designer: I want to be able to keep track of my project time on my iPhone. Is that possible?

Apple: Yes! There’s an app for that….

There is an app for just about anything these days. Some are paid and Some are free. Below I have compiled a list of 5 of my top used apps for production. All of them are FREE. Hope you enjoy!

1. What Da Font

Ever seen a great font in a magazine ad, poster, or on the web and wondered what font it is? Whip out your iPhone and snap a photo, and WhatTheFont for iPhone will identify that font in seconds! WhatTheFont for iPhone connects directly to MyFonts’ acclaimed font identification service, which has been helping customers pinpoint mystery fonts for 10 years. It works via Wi-Fi or the mobile phone network, so you can get your font fix right there on the spot.

2. Font Shuffle

Wouldn’t it be great if a whole font catalog would fit into your shirt pocket? If you could find a typeface without knowing its name, just by comparing its shapes? If it were possible to e-mail the marketing department your desired typeface for a client presentation while still at the airport?

3. Toggl

Toggl released a native iPhone application for the popular Toggl time tracking website. It enables you to track your time on the go. The timer supports online tracking and also works offline in case you have no network connection. Data is synchronized automatically with the server the next time you’ll be online.

4. Thinkink

It’s revolutionary. And it’s free. The Think Ink iPhone application from Neenah Paper puts powerful design and color theory tools in the palm of your hand.

5. Evernote

Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free.

Here are some other resources for paid applications that I love also:

Inked.com – 25 Best iPhone Apps for Designers

Moonsail Design – Top 10 Free iphone Apps for Designers

Web Design Ledger – 15 Best iPone Apps for Web Designers

What About You?

What apps do you use to help with production. I would love to hear about them. Leave your comments below. Until next time…

In case you are new to Twitter, a feed is the time line of your live tweets. Your feed includes your messages, links, hash tags, time, and date. If you are twitter fanatic like me then it would be really beneficial to show your feed on your website. Being active in your industries community is the best way to establish your self as a professional amongst your peers.  Here is the easiest way I have found to add your feed to a static website or your facebook account.

1. Go to www.twitter.com/widgets

This is Twitters own widget creator. It is super easy to set up, implement, and it is fully customizable. With multiple display options you can show your visitors as much or as little of your feed as you would like.

2. Select “My Website”

After you select “My Website” you will see 4 display options. They all have detailed descriptions so you can pick the correct one for your needs. Select the one that works for you and then add your Twitter user name.

3. Customize as needed

You can now use the tabs on the left to customize your preferences, appearance, and dimensions of your feed widget.  When your finished select the “Finish & Grab Code” button at the bottom and that’s it! Add the code to your website, refresh your browser and now you have a live twitter feed on your static site.

When you first start using Illustrator as your design program make sure to have an open mind. Most tasks are a bit different than Photoshop and it can get a little frustrating when your not familiar with the tools and techniques. 6 years ago I taught myself how to use Illustrator and now 90% of my designs are created with this program. Below are some great tutorials and will help you get started. Hope you enjoy!!

1. Create A Cute Panda Bear Face Icon

2. How To Create Shiny Vector Dice

3. Illustrator Cs3 Vectoring An Eye

4. Design And Print Bold Promo Cards

5. Creating Geometric Patterns In Illustrator

6. Bling Bling Text Effect

7. How To Make 3D Vintage Stars

8. 3D Lighted Text Effect

9. How To Create A Landscape Wallpaper For Your Desktop

10. Creative Masking Techniques In Illustrator

11. Understanding The Pathfinder Tool

12. Illustrator Masking Tutorial

13. 3 Ways To Apply A Line Pattern Effect On Text

14. Create A Vector RSS Icon

15. Perfect Silhouettes with Illustrator’s Live Trace Feature

When it comes to good designs I usually tend to go with a clean layout and great typography and Bound By Stars has just that. The bold headers are easy to read and compliment the nice image scrolling effect to show off Jeff’s portfolio. From the logo and branding all the way to the contact form and footer this site has a great look and feel. Take a look below.

About Bound By Stars – Boundbystars.com is the online playing ground for Jeff Boshers, an ambitious twenty-something from the No Coast area of the states (Tennessee), who dreams in Illustrator and lives in CSS. Jeff brings diversity and creativity all in one package, not being shy of the off the wall and unique elements other designers seem to be afraid to tackle. Jeff is willing to take risks that he believes will benefit not only the client but the client’s customers. Taking risks is how real success is made. Jeff turns ordinary pre-existing websites into rare masterpieces that will transform the way your customers access your site.

To see more website goodness make sure to check out www.boundbystars.com. Also make sure to follow @boundbystars on Twitter. Until next time…