Archive for August, 2007
What is the “eezy” Trifecta? Three. Awesome. Resources. Bookmark gold for a most any designer. The sites are simple and it goes like this: Vecteezy.com is a free vector site, Brusheezy.com is a free Photoshop Brush site, and Fresheezy.com is a free WordPress theme site. And these aren’t search engines or databases. All of the content has to be submitted by the owner, and is subject to “make the cut.” Only the good stuff makes it into the mix. You’ll see some of my vectors and Photoshop brushes as you snoop around.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a sucker for fonts. Here’s another good one you shouldn’t miss – Myndraine by Christopher Miller. Not only is it decent looking and clean, Myndraine is a pretty robust font, with tons of extra characters and uncommon glyphs. The download includes both .ttf (true type) and .otf (open type) formats! You may not have a use for this font now, but I always like to keep them in the bag for later. I can picture this font used in a website/blog logo. Also, if you are a font junkie and a BittBox regular, you will notice that “Fonts” is the latest addition to the categories. (p.s. More additions/features coming very soon ;)
If you download a lot of Photoshop brushes, or presets to extend any software for that matter, there is a very easy way to install them quickly on a Mac using OS X. This little OS X tip could shave off at least 1 or 2 clicks from your installation process.
Ive worked long and hard to bring you the latest version of BittBox. I would have been able to launch the redesign weeks earlier if it weren’t for Internet Explorer’s refusal to conform to web standards. (thanks, Microsoft) But anyway, I normally would see no reason to post about a design change, but BittBox IS a design blog, and I realize a lot of you might want to comment on the new design. Read more about the changes and upcoming new features below.
**This post marks the birth of a new BittBox category: Resources**
In case you might have missed this in the social-media scene, I wanted to make sure everyone knew about IconFinder.net, an essential bookmark for every web designer (in my opinion). Iconfinder is a simple, elegant icon search engine that’s easy to use, and has tons of icons in its database. All icons are licensed with either Creative Commons, GPL, or LGPL. Below is a quick screenshot tour, and If you are a Mac OS X user, they have a Dashboard Search Widget you can download as well.
Every once in a while we might find ourselves needing to get that “inset” or “beveled” look for text, probably more often for buttons and web design, than anything else. But whatever reason you might need or want inset text, here’s a quick tip to get that effect without using a filter, effect, layer style or appearance. Why? By not using filters, your file is more solid and reliable, you can open it in previous versions of the same software with less headache, and if you send vector files to print it will give you less errors by only using paths instead of filters/effects. I will be using Illustrator in the example, but this technique can be applied to just about any software you use to set your typography.
Time for another free vector pack folks. These vector flowers are available in AI, EPS, and SVG for your designing pleasure. I never get to use shapes like these, but I like making them, so hopefully some of you can put them to good use.
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- New Post: http://t.co/yq8XkgjK
- New Blog Post: How To Create A Set Of PS Brushes From A Single Texture Photo: Creating Photoshop brushes is rath... http://t.co/ljZ39pJf
- New Blog Post: Free Texture Tuesday: 5 Split Wood Textures: http://t.co/GcEkrC6z
- New Blog Post: Freebie Friday: 6 Abstract Lines Brushes: Happy Friday everyone! Today I’m releasing this set of... http://t.co/xhCZBTPq
