As creative professionals, we are on the perpetual quest for ways and means to further enhance our understanding of the design industry. A domain which demands a quick turnaround of fresh ideas that is practical, original and impressionistic. More often than not, we pay exclusive attention to the traditional specificities within the field of design, such as aesthetic principals/trends, typographic elements and various other technical functionalities. While these facets of the design process are undeniably crucial, it is high time designers took a step back to fully understand and absorb the structure of the design process and its subsequent application in the industry.

Image from: russheb
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Today we are building an animated navigation for a watercolor-styled website which will have links that appear to be painted when it is hovered on. The watercolor graphics were created in Photoshop and we’ll be using the popular jQuery JavaScript framework for the animation.

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Guest articles (articles written for a website other than your own) are popping up all over the place. Web design websites are rapidly growing at a rate that would not be possible without the help of guest articles. Many websites are delivering quality articles on a daily basis. It is hard to imagine one person, or even a couple of people, in charge or producing all of this quality content daily. Chances are they are not the only ones and have the help of guest authors.

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Animal lovers, you’re in for a treat! Today’s collection of advertisements uses animals or creatures to attract the attention of viewers. Animals are all creatures belonging to the kingdom of Animalia, like birds, reptiles, fish, and other larger mammals. Many animals are often perceived as cute, cuddly and friendly.

Image from: DHL - Chicken or Egg

Their innocence and helplessness reach out to our inner child and our empathy. But even if you aren’t an animal lover, you are still able to objectively look at the advertisement and appreciate its humour and the creativity that went into its concept.
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WordPress is driven by a MySQL database. This is something active WordPress users would know. However, if you only just read about it here from us, here’s what you should know. MySQL is a free relational database management system available in most web hosting services. All of the WordPress data like the posts, comments, categories, and settings are stored within the MySQL database. If you wish to read up more about MySQL, you can take a look at WordPress’s Database Schema.

For example, if you needed to change some information across the board in WordPress, going through each record is very time consuming and prone to human error. By simply executing a SQL query against your WordPress database, you can make the necessary changes quickly and efficiently.
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What if one day you decide that it’s time to have a change, and want to try for another creative job?

What if you are a student, looking for a design internship?

What if you are a fresh graduate, hoping to apply for your first job at a design agency?

You could be any one of the above.

No matter what your situation is, it is always prudent to have a well crafted resume to call upon when needed. It is your ticket to new job opportunities and clients.

Image from: hellotkt

Your resume's not just a list of achievements and your education history, it is also the first and the most crucial step to opening the door of communication with the company you are applying to. Your resume represents who you are and what you know, but most importantly, it must be able to communicate that effectively. Therefore it is definitely worth investing your time to give special attention to its design and content.
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When working on large projects, with many mock-ups and style-sheets, even the smallest change on a re-occurring component can take quite some time. Going through the many mock-ups and adjusting a color or font on that re-occurring component can be a grueling task. If you have an intern that does those things for you, you are in luck, but what about us freelancers?

Do we just sit there and endure the pain? Well, not anymore! A while back, I discovered a system that enables designers to say goodbye to opening 23 PSD files just to change the header color. Instead, we can work smart, like our counter parts the developers, and import external files with something called - “Variables”.
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“God is in the details”. This is a phrase I’ve heard many times before. Perhaps this is why I love taking a closer look at all the small details that make up a whole. It is my search for every bit of perfection working together to create a whole beautiful picture. The details in a drawing give me the feeling of when I was a child, entering a huge toy store or supermarket - bliss. Looking at every little detail, like jumping into that funhouse of colorful plastic balls, has always held my interest and curiosity. Always going back for more details I might have missed at first glance and maybe even after the second look.

Especially in the design of websites, I enjoy taking the time to appreciate what the creator intended for us visitors to understand and benefit from. Like after watching a good film, even after I leave, I am constantly reflecting upon the content and design of the website as well as the purpose and the beautiful mechanics behind each detail. This excitement is similar to that of a child receiving a new toy for Christmas.

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