This best of the week roundup is heavily influenced by a lovely web design conference I attended in Boston. Lots of great usability and web design links – with a few sprinkles of motion design and mac-related time wasting!
There are alot of apps out there that will help you get things done, work faster and have fun. I have gathered a small collection of the apps that I have found helpful and use on a daily basis. Enjoy!
Have you ever wondered how often your website (or your clients websites) go down? Its usually the clients complaining about this, but now you can have the upper hand! Chris Coyier (the css-tricks guy!) released Are My Sites Up? a few months ago that monitors your websites and notifies you (via email, sms, twitter) if they go down. The site even has a companion iPhone app! This service has saved my butt a time or two – so go check it out!
I love the funny slogans on Stefano Lionetti’s typographic posters. I’m also diggin the soho typeface thats used. I’m such a sucker for ultra-bold type! Also check out some of Stefano’s other work in his portfolio!
via ilovetypography
Today I’m very excited to announce that we’re taking the lid off our newest Envato Marketplace: GraphicRiver, a marketplace for premium design components like Layered Photoshop Graphics, Vector Illustrations, Icons, and Adobe Add-ons like Brushes, Patterns and Textures at very affordable prices. You could almost say it’s like having a graphic art department at your fingertips!
I know you guys are probably sick of hearing about helvetica this…helvetica that, but feast your eyes on the beautiful simplicity of this notebook: Helvetica Moleskine. I know alot of designers are nuts about these notebooks (myself included) but this one is just….lovely :)
Velocity magazine Editor Steven Watson sent us this link to his new service Stack.
Stack, is a new service that searches out the best independent magazines and sends them direct to your door. The idea came in part from a blog post I read by Russell Davies, which said we should all read a different new magazine every week as a way of staying interesting.
This looks like a really cool and pretty useful ap! Check out Layers by Screen Forensics.
Press the capture hotkey or customize your capture in the inspector. You’ll obtain a full fledged PSD file with one layer per window, including menu and desktop icons, dock and menubar.
In the last few years WordPress has been growing as an essential tool in the web designer toolkit. Between regular blog themes and the increasing number of themes that turn WordPress into anything from a portfolio site to a shop, its use as a general purpose CMS has made it a staple of web design tutorials and galleries.
So I’m very happy to announce that after many months of work, our latest Rockable Press book is on sale – How to Be a Rockstar WordPress Designer, co-authored by myself and Harley Alexander – a WP up and comer from my hometown of Sydney!
Designer Jeff Sheldon sent us a link to his apparel store Ugmonk, featuring fresh, simple t-shirt designs.
As a designer I have always been drawn to clean lines, bold typography, and simple design. As the world continues to become saturated with chaotic, overly-complex design, I wanted to start a brand with just the opposite and that’s why I created Ugmonk.
