Parallax scrolling is a web design technique that involves the background images appearing to move slower than the content in the foreground. It’s an interesting idea that helps to make the foreground “pop” when you scroll, and gives the illusion of depth.

When it comes to web design, it can be a really useful technique for having your content stand out from the crowd a bit more. Of course, it’s not that easy to design and code – it can take a lot of work to get something that looks just right, but when it’s done well the results can be truly astonishing.

To help give you some inspiration, we’ve collected some of our favourite examples of websites that make use of parallax scrolling. If you’re a designer and you’ve not tried the technique before – give it a go and see what you think. And if you design anything that uses parallax scrolling, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

DSPG School of Creative Media

Grooveshark

Every Last Drop

Game Insight

TokioLab

I Shot Him

Spotify

M.dot

Brandon Text

MailChimp’s Annual Report

Smartphood

CSS Piffle’s Pitch Deck

Ala

Scroll for your health

Piccsy

Have you found any examples of creative, well-crafted parallax scrolling designs? Let us know in the comments!

Windows 8 has been the subject of a phenomenal amount of negative feedback thanks to the ‘restrictive’ nature of its App store, which is seen by many as putting a set of artificial limitations on developers. However, these restrictions are little more than an expanded form of quality control, and may help newer developers by providing some much-needed structure to their production cycle.

Microsoft‘s standards mean that there are a number of things you must plan for before you actually get down to the business of designing and coding a Windows 8 app. We’ll take a look at the main preliminary steps here, as well as at some of the developer support features that have been programmed into the system in order to make your life slightly easier.

One of the more fiddly aspects of the Windows 8 development experience is the need to acquire and renew a development license. Windows Store development licences need to be renewed every 30 days (or 90 days if you’re working through a Store account), but are completely free. Unlike Apple‘s developer programs, the Windows developer license is universal, and can be used for development on any platform, whether it be mobile- or laptop-based. The renewal policy may seem like a pain initially, but you’ll quickly come to think of it as a performance incentive: the more efficiently you can develop your product, the less tiresome the process will be! Licenses can be acquired via Visual Studio, or, if you have a working Windows Account, through command prompt: Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration. If you do get yourself a development license, be advised that this will also make your computer vulnerable, as the license allows non-certified apps to be run on your machine.

Microsoft appears to be doing its level best to make the development process for their App store as efficient and regimented as possible, and has laid out criteria to ensure their developers are kept in line. In particular, you should place a high degree of focus on how you plan to monetise your content (whether by selling the app itself, selling additional features, in-line advertising or even curating third-party transactions). The Store will subject your finished product to a series of quality benchmarks, so you should familiarise yourself with these checks and balances before you start the process and endeavor to build your app accordingly.

Although more free-spirited developers may be put off by Microsoft’s rather paternalistic approach towards development, less seasoned programmers will probably appreciate the wide variety of app templates on offer. It looks like Microsoft aims to host apps with a very particular profile, and they’re doing their hardest to try and create an environment in which they will be produced by developers by force of habit. As with the rest of the developer tools available for the Windows Store, these templates are available for free, allowing you complete access as long as you have a development license.

Beyond these considerations, you’ll be happy to learn that there has been at least some drive to attract new talent from a variety of different programming schools – this even extends to attempts to poach talent from iOS. Much effort has been put into making the development process for both platforms as streamlined and similar as possible. There have even been explicit overtures from Microsoft to persuade iOS developers to recreate similar apps for the Windows 8 platform. Guides for achieving this type of synchronicity are available directly from the Microsoft site itself. For all the noise that has been made about overly-restrictive rules, it does seem that developing on Windows 8 may actually be a much more amenable place to start for junior digital creatives.

Most designers would agree that any logo design must represent a brand effectively by communicating ideas for the kind of services provided. Automotive logo designs do this beautifully through iconic symbols that are easily recognisable.

Checked flags are popular amongst motor sport logo designs, whilst tyres are common for car mechanics. If you are looking to rent a smart car, look out for a prestige logo with elaborate typography. It appears within this industry every logo has a story, this story is told well through design.

Whilst logo designs represent different services well they must also have a strong and bold presence so for your design on inspiration we have selected the most powerful and memorable logos within the auto motive industry.

You might also like these logo design inspirations

Collection of 40 Animal Inspired Logo Designs
Collection Of 35 Minimal Typography Logos
Collection of Red Colored Logos
30+ Music Inspired Logo Designs

Car Logo Designs

Kingdom Cars

This logo has very cleverly merged a castle and car together to form the perfect logo

Feel Fire

Feel fire uses a tyre on fire to catch the attention of customers

Vegas Motor Sports

A classic motor sports logo with iconic checked flag

XG Tuning

This beautiful logo was designed for a car tuning company.

Driveway Grand Prix

This logo is designed on the front of a car, the shape and typography has a slight vintage effect.

Family Classic Cars

Classic car logos are known for their prestigious feel and this logo showcases elegance beautifully.

Auto A La Medida

With a chrome look, this logo is smart enough for any new business

Car Complaints

Car complaints uses a vintage and light hearted approach to their logo design

DNA Speedometers

DNA have very cleverly used a car clock for their logo design

Lito Auto Car Retail

Another vintage inspired logo, this time with a smart car in the spot light!

In its broadest meaning, ‘open source’ usually describes a program which is freely viewable to the general public and can be modified from its original form.

This development model has led to some great and varied software over the years, from office suites like OpenOffice, to an entire operating system, Linux. It’s a fantastic alternative for anyone on a tight budget who can’t afford to fork out for expensive paid software.

We’ve begun to see open source creep into the world of web design more and more in recent years. Blogging platforms have given everyone a relatively simple way to set up their own site (as well as introducing a large number of people to the rudimentary principles of website construction). And as more people become aware of the potential of open source on the web, perhaps we should be asking the question: is open source the future? Is bespoke web design on the way out altogether?

To get a realistic projection, we must take a look at the current state of open source web design. There are many sites out there that offer free open source web templates, such as oswd.org. Most of the templates you can find on the web are functional and attractively designed. A search will reveal the typical sort of thing you can expect to find, such as this template from openwebdesign.org.

There are a few arguments put forward by those in favour of open source web design. Foremost among these is that using a template provides a pre-built skeleton for your website, greatly reducing the time it takes to develop it into a full site, as well as driving down costs. We are also seeing the rise of companies such as Viteb, which offer to take a template and customise it to suit your company’s specific needs.

Using an open source template as a starting point can be a great choice for budding web designers, especially if you’re on a budget. It’s now easy to get hold of a powerful ultrabook, which is capable of running Photoshop and other demanding applications used by web designers. If you have a good enough machine, there’s no reason not to have a go at customising a template that is already out there. You’ll probably end up with a unique design and you won’t have to pay someone to do it for you. Moreover, you’ll most likely learn some valuable web design skills along the way.

The other main advantage held by open source is that many templates are offered as cross-platform. This means that as well as a desktop version, they can also be used on mobile devices, a field of web design that is becoming increasingly important and cannot afford to be overlooked. Using an open source template is a good way to ensure that your site will work smoothly on both PCs and mobile devices.

The problem is that, as the example demonstrates, most open source web templates on offer are by necessity quite generic. In order to maximise traffic for the sites that offer them, these templates need to be able to appeal to a large number of people. This leads to a degree of homogenisation that, ultimately, means you’ll be lucky to find a design which exactly matches your site’s requirements in terms of visual aesthetic.

Web design requirements vary on an individual basis, meaning that open source will always be more problematic when applied to web design, as opposed to software, which can be effectively utilised by a large demographic. If you don’t have the skills or time to do it yourself, the only way to know that you’re getting exactly the design that you want is to employ a bespoke web design firm to build it from the ground up.

For the time being at least, bespoke web design is still the best solution, both in terms of improving your site’s chances of success, and for getting exactly the design that suits your site. A professionally designed site will almost always look slicker, and will usually function better, than an open source template, even if that template has been customised by a firm like Viteb. That said, open source still has a lot of potential to become a viable alternative in future.

The life of a web designer is not easy at all; he or she has a lot of decisions to make before actually getting down to business and because of that the completion of a task could be quite slow and painstaking.

Anyway, the following lines will help you deal with the choice of the right design technique. There will be presented the main reasons why you should choose the flat design for your future projects?

But, the first thing you should know is that the flat design is quite controversial, since there are some people who claim that it has some problems in interfaces with some complexity, while others say that it is user centered, usable and very efficient. However, in order to see which side you are on, you should learn more about the features and advantages of this technique, which is why you should direct your attention towards the following paragraphs.

1. There are no 3-D effects

In order to begin enumerating the reasons why this is this is the right choice one must mention the fact that with the flat design there are no 3-D effects, no unnecessary elements, no shadows, no gradients, and so on. As a result it deals with a two dimensional nature, in which colors, typography and white space matter a lot.

2. It is very efficient

Due to the fact that there are no cluttering elements, your visitors will find much easier the things they need, which will make your website efficient and effective. Also, there is something else that will please your audience a lot: because people won’t have a problem in finding immediately what they were looking for, your web page will prove to be time saving as well. And we all know how important time is! In other words, this efficient design will help you keep your audience and it will even make it grow.

3. It is beautiful and refreshing

The reason why the flat design could be characterized as appealing and as a fresh breath of air is due to the fact that it has a minimalistic nature which people regard as very modern and fresh. It is true that when creating something web designers put the usability first and the appearance second, but with the flat design you could have them both, thus creating quite a beautiful environment for your customers.

4. It is trendy

Times change, everything improves and as result the web artist should pay attention to these changes, in order to perfect his or her way of creating a web page. Besides that, if you are stubborn and if you don’t embrace the change your work will have a lot to suffer. Thus, update your ways of designing because this way your pieces of work will become better, people will visit you and you will continue to make money.

5. It is faster to design

I bet you have taken various projects that had a tight deadline, so far. Well, time will no longer represent a problem with the flat design, since there are no effects to create, no additional elements to include and no flashy icons to place here and there. You will just have to focus on emphasizing the main idea of the website and thus you will be able to respect the deadline and to please your customers.

6. It is easier to become responsive

You all know that responsive web designs are very fashionable these days, precisely because people no longer access the Internet just from their computer screens but from their mobile phones as well. But, because of the minimalistic style of the flat design, websites presenting this technique will have their content scaled easily on various screen sizes.

7. It is not boring

Some believe that this is too dull and monotonous because it lacks effects and patterns. Well, these people are not right because bright and beautiful colors compensate for these so-called shortcomings. This means that whenever the designer wants to put emphasis on a certain call to action button or link this will be possible with the help lively colors. In other words, flat designs may be simple and minimalistic, but when it comes to colors these are full of live.

8. The texts are to the point

In one of the previous paragraphs it was mentioned the fact that flat designs help people save their time. Well then, it is a must to post texts that do not include unnecessary lines, so that people will be able to find the information they need faster. Not to mention that without the cluttering chunks of text, your readers will understand much easier what you are trying to say and thus they will be able to complete their tasks without much fuss. Also, as far as this matter is concerned you should know that if you will choose sans serif typography then your texts will appear clean and organized.

Anyway besides of these eight reasons what should totally convince you to pick the flat design is the fact that it puts the users in the center of attention, or in other words the user is king / queen when it comes to the flat design. From looking at the words written above you will understand why. Everything is designed in such a manner that will allow people to save their time, to find efficiency, to focus on their tasks, or to understand better what they are dealing with. Of course that making people feel like royalty has its perks. One of these advantages could be the fact that you will become famous for your works, which will bring you more customers. Besides that people will keep visiting your websites because they know there it is possible to find the right thing without much effort.

In the end, it is up to you to decide if a flat design will be the suitable choice for your projects. As you can see there are a lot of reasons why one should go for it, but only the web designer is the one who knows best if this method will help him or her send a message.

A growing number of artists are moving towards a fully digital production cycle. At the same time, thanks to improvements in storage and memory, tablets are rapidly becoming a viable and cost-effective way of producing digital art.

You may be wondering what the best tablet for you might be – and you have good options from Apple, Samsung, and Lenovo – but you may also be looking for apps and programs that you can use to make the most of your tablet. Here, we will briefly explore some of the options available to artists in the modern mobile market.

As should be expected, comparing the capabilities of the best tablet apps to those of more robust desktop software packages is a futile exercise at this point. Currently, a variety of tricks can be employed to turn your Apple, Android, or Windows tablet into a makeshift graphic tablet for your PC (as seen with GIMP on Android). Hacks like this can often provide a simple way for the majority of artists to cheaply replicate the more expensive alternative of shelling out for a Wacom Cintiq or similar piece of specialised kit. For those who wish to create and manipulate art exclusively on their tablet or smartphone, a range of software options exist.

Beginning with an old favourite, Adobe brings us Photoshop Touch for Apple and Android. This app provides full and powerful photo-manipulation functionality, and although it lacks some features seen in the desktop version (masking, for instance, is conspicuous in its absence), they are fairly few and far between. Although it comes with a fairly high price point for a mobile app, it represents the most comprehensive package available, and in terms of Adobe’s usual approach to pricing, can’t really be considered too expensive.

ArtStudio (iOS) probably represents the most complete option available to the iPad user for both drawing and painting, having a comparable feature-set to Photoshop with a similar feel, professional design, and a relatively low price point. For Android, its closest equivalent is probably SketchBook Pro (iOS & Android), which has a similar range of features, but with a slightly less user-friendly interface, with some of its more basic features proving a little tricky to locate. 3-D modelling is also better served for the iPad than Android, with Posable (iOS) providing a simple and cheap piece of software ideal for creating dynamic, 3D scenes that can be viewed from any angle.

Beyond these more professional options, several more basic (though still high quality) drawing apps are available. For Android, the most notable is probably Infinite Design, which comes in Free and Premium versions, and boasts both a fluid user-interface and the unique feature of an infinitely zoomable canvas. For the Apple market, the most versatile of these is probably Paper, a freemium app that allows access to a host of customisable features through in-app purchase.

Perceptive readers will have spotted a major absence in the above stakes: Windows. Of the three major competitors in the market, Apple and Android’s share of drawing and graphics apps currently far outstrips those available for Microsoft-based devices. Unfortunately, thanks to their relatively late entry into the market at a competitive level, the latest crop of Windows 8 tablets are woefully underserved in this regard (despite the new OS’s emphasis on touch). However, it is relatively early days for Windows in this area, and we can probably expect to see significant developments in graphic art for the Windows tablet over the coming year.

The internet has truly democratised just about every art form there is. Artists today have access to digital drawing programs that professionals use, as well as the more traditional art materials like canvas and watercolours.

Moreover, the internet has put celebrities closer to their fans, making them feel more accessible.

When these two things combine, it can result in some amazing fan art. Below is a showcase of some stunning examples of celebrity fan art.

Steve Carrell by JunebugHardee

This digital painting looks almost like a photograph, but the really impressive part is how the artist has captured Carrell’s trademark comedic style, where he makes us sympathise with his character as we laugh at him.

Rihanna by Brian Golden

Rihanna has had many looks over her career, and this digital painting captures her current incarnation. She looks hardened, but she never loses a softness and femininity that allows her to seem approachable.

Natalie Portman by JCapela

This digital portrait takes a surreal approach to fan art, without looking amateurish. Portman’s hair melts into inkblots while the bouquet she holds seems to explode from her, creating a dynamic quality that contrasts with the calm yet intense expression on her face.

Morgan Freeman by ~Tolio-Design

Morgan Freeman is associated with the wise, nurturing grandparents we all wish we had. No wonder he always plays God on film. This digital painting captures his innate warmth and radiance perfectly.

House (Hugh Laurie) by ~whmurai

This digital portrait takes a slightly different approach. The artist has turned House into a cartoon character, which really is appropriate, given the nature of the character. It plays up the humour Hugh Laurie brings to the role, whilst also underlining the character’s pessimism.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) by *JPRart

This digital portrait also depicts a famous character, but it almost does the reverse of the one above. Jack Sparrow scowls at the viewer, giving a sense of the darkness and depth that Depp gave the character.

Zoe Saldana by Joey-Zero

This digital portrait doesn’t reflect Saldana’s personality as much as the other portraits do with their subjects. Instead, it almost seems to imagine what Andy Warhol would be doing if he were still doing his Pop Art thing today.

LemmyKilmister by ~Life-takers-crayons

The first portrait in this showcase that is a photograph of a real work, this portrait of Lemmy is acrylic on canvas. It is rough, worn, totally hard-core, full of pride and nonetheless a little dignified, just like the subject himself.

Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) by ~shockwave-b2635488

Kurt Russell is a favourite of the artist, who used pencil and gouache on an unknown base to depict Stuntman Mike from Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. The sunny background contrasts with the murderous character to a chilling effect.

Ed Cullen (Robert Pattison) by *Thorane

Despite what you may think of the subject, you’ll find it hard to argue that this portrait is not impressive. Using graphite on Bristol paper, the artist captured the mysteriousness of the character so accurately that it is hard to pull your eyes away from the subject’s.

And a few odd ones…

Not every piece of fan art is amazing, as the ones below demonstrate.

Kylie Minogue by ~Prince-Endymion

Using oil on canvas, the artist reimagined Kylie Minogue as manga character Sailor Moon. That is unsettling enough, but the odd angles on Minogue’s face and shoulders really pushes it into the arena of creepy portraits.

Robert Pattison by *VivalaVida

This is just about the polar opposite of the fan art above. This pencil on paper drawing depicts Robert Pattison, but his face seems too small and weirdly off-set on his head.

Whoopi Goldberg by ~Blueberry-Blueberry

This digital portrait of Whoopi Goldberg as the archetypal Great Mother really takes the crazy cake. Whoopi Goldberg as a venerated figure is odd enough, but replacing the baby Jesus’s head with a blueberry is simply inexplicable.

A well-designed homepage for your website not only boosts traffic, but helps to establish a firm and effective brand. Your website represents your first point of contact with your customers, especially as mobile technology becomes better suited to browsing.

However, the increased use of mobile platforms – particularly following the launch of the latest generation of iPad and Windows 8 tablet devices – presents a uniquely challenging environment for designers. To ready your site for a world in which manufacturers are becoming increasingly prolific, you should prepare to alter your entire design philosophy.

1. Function over form

Firstly, and most importantly, keep designs simple. Apple has already done its bit to discourage the use of gimmicks and overdesign by abandoning support for Flash, but there are still many things to avoid in a mobile world. Memory or processor intensive features, such as heavy reliance on Javascript, may be fine for desktops or laptops, as these computers have the power to handle such features (and large screens to showcase your designs) – yet, they might be less convenient for a modestly specked tablet and or mobile phone. Stick to HTML5 to provide users across all platforms with a unified experience and to avoid alienating users of particular devices.

2. You can touch this

A crucial aspect of developing for smartphones and tablets is their unique focus on touch-interface, requiring numerous subtle design adjustments. Crucially, remember that the human finger lacks the precision clicking power of a computer cursor, and respond accordingly by increasing text padding around links. Care should also be taken to increase line spacing in text, to avoid interactive elements clashing. The ascendency of the touchscreen also requires that designers abandon scrolling in favour of a more “pagelike” format, to fully exploit the swipe function.

3. Flexible scaling

With mobile devices now becoming the go-to technology for web access, designers must be mindful of the fact that not all users will be viewing their page on standard monitors. This is particularly true in light of the recent upswing in popularity of the Windows tablet and the resulting diversification of screen sizes. With this in mind, designers should always be willing to scale content appropriately, and be willing to accommodate multiple screen orientations. It is worth taking the time to scale for both landscape and portrait, allowing you to maximize the comfort and convenience to your users while giving them a more integrated “app-like” experience.

4. Make fonts easy on the eye

In the small world of tablet and phone browsing, extra attention should be paid to typography to spare headaches in the user. This means adjusting not only the size of the text to prevent unnecessary swiping and zooming, but also selecting an appropriate font. Unfortunately, this aspect of design is all about trial, error, and optimization, and can’t be achieved through consulting how-to guides. You’ll need to play around a bit before you find a combination that is both easy to read and easy to navigate on a smaller scale.

5. Don’t despair

From what’s been said here, you might come away thinking that mobile web optimisation is a mire of pitfalls and artificial limitations. But while the specifics of working on this new platform may appear daunting at first, they represent timeless common-sense design principles. Limitations such as these should be viewed first and foremost as an opportunity to innovate, and this is especially true in an area where many struggle to adapt. By sticking to the basics and focusing on developing a site which can be intuitively navigated and easily read, you’ll not only end up with a great site, but your visitors will thank you by sticking around, too.

An effective landing page is perhaps the most important marketing tool for generating leads for your business. More than simply displaying product information like a website does, a landing page focuses visitors’ attention on one offer – therefore eliminating distractions and encouraging action. It’s a great way to convert visitors into customers in a measurable way that promotes return business.

A good and optimized landing page is still the most effective in attracting potential customers – weather you sell books online, or trying to make them sign-up for a service or newsletter, or selling other products online or building up a network. Here are some ways to optimize the results of your landing page.

1. Use Clear Call-to-Action

Notice that “call-to-action” is not plural: it’s important for your landing page to have a single, clear focus your visitor can act on. Whether you’re pushing a newsletter subscription, a special deal or a registration form, the focus of the landing page should be on just that offer. Some things to remember:

• Set the offer and the call-to-action apart on the page so they’re easy to find. Display them above the fold so visitors don’t have to scroll.
• Understand the context of how your visitors found your page (e.g., know what kind of websites and search results your online ads are displayed on) to better relate to users.
• Align your offer with your online ad to build trust with your visitors.

2. Simplify Content

The goal of a landing page is to remove the distractions of a full website, so keep your copy concise and actionable. You can turn text into “hooks” for visitors, making them want to read more and ultimately take action. You can do this by using a descriptive headline and actionable buttons.

Posterous is successful in using a limited amount of text and call-to-action buttons that are easy to locate.

3. Use Minimalistic Design

An easy way to minimize your design is to simply remove any elements that don’t directly support your conversion goal. This includes distracting rich-media content, blocks of text, links and self-promotion.

Using icons is a functional way to convey a message, as it relies on visual imagery rather than text that visitors have to read.

Tumblr uses simple icons to convey initial information, and section headings to guide the viewer’s eye throughout the page.

4. Use Images and Video

Be careful with this one; make sure to use images and videos with intention. An eye-catching visual that doesn’t support your goal is a distraction. But effective use of these elements can greatly enhance the way you communicate your message.

For example,Animoto uses a video to make its point. This is useful because most web users would rather interact with images and sound than read text.

5. Make it Easy to Share

A well-rounded marketing campaign makes use of social networking, as social buzz spreads information much more quickly than traditional promotion methods. You want people talking about your business on the web because it drives business to your site. Include easy share buttons for popular social sites to extend your audience reach.

Milk Inc. uses clean, white space to emphasize each element – including easily recognizable social share buttons.

Use these tips to start building more effective landing pages, and remember that the ultimately goal of a landing page is conversion. If you’re implementing anything on your landing page that isnot directed towards conversion, you need to reevaluate that element.

When you’re designing anything that uses text, the typeface you choose can have a huge impact on the overall aesthetic, tone and message. The font needs to match the message and tone, so a professional design would – for example – look wrong with a curvy, fun, quirky font.

The typeface you choose has a huge impact on the design, and using a font that’s not commonly seen is a great way of standing out. We’ve brought together a collection of some incredible, stunningly crafted and beautifully put together fonts to help you out with your next design.

For each font, please do make sure you check the attribution – they’re all available for free, but they may require attribution and there may be some limitations around whether they can be used in commercial projects. We hope you find the collection a useful in your font stack.

Archive

Higher

Vincent

KanKin

COCO

Jokal

Lavanderia

Muncie

Kelson Sans

Attitude

FV Deventer

Nelma

Rex

Airplane

Lovelo

Are there any beautifully designed, free fonts that we’ve missed in our roundup? Let us know what you’ve found in the comments!