Chris Barnett | GD252 Blog

Graphic Design Week

// May 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Graphic Design, Inspiration, Tutorials

I just got word on Twitter via @chrisspooner that It’s Graphic Design Week on Psdtuts+ & Vectortuts+. I found out this morning and have wanted to find a chance to learn some more cool things about graphic design. I pick up on a few things at school but I wanted a structured, extra curricular learning experience with graphic design. After reading the schedule it looks like I’ll have a pretty busy weeek of learning. When possible, I will post things throughout the week as I learn new techniques from watching tutorials, find inspiration, or just discover something interesting. Stay tuned, for MY graphic design week. I encourage the rest of you to share about YOUR graphic design week!

Enlarge Images With Lightbox

// May 13th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Tutorials, Web Design, Wordpress

In response to Chris’ post on making links to full size images I decided you all might be able to benefit from a tutorial on how to achieve a cool lightbox effect when viewing images.

The Idea:

Imagine utilizing Wordpress to create an entire portfolio. With the help of a plugin for wordpress called Lightbox 2 presenting your work in a cool way is very easy to achieve. Effortless way to post new work, and maintain a blog at the same time. All powered by a standards compliant platform that we are all becoming familiar with.

The Process:

The first step is to organize your assets. That means prepare a set of smaller thumbnail images you wish to include in a portfolio page as well as full size renditions of that same project. Save, and hold onto them to upload to your post.

Next, download the Lightbox 2 plugin for Wordpress.

Install the plugin by clicking Add New in the plugins tab located on the left hand side of your Dashboad.

Here you will browse for the .zip file that you downloaded from the plugin homepage. After the file has been uploaded click Install Now.

After that, the newly installed plugin has to be activated in order for it to work. To activate the Lightbox 2 plugin click on Installed in the same Plugin tab in the previous step. Now it’s active and ready to be configured.

Under the settings tab you will find Lightbox. Click there to configure some custom settings to meet your needs.

Custom Options:

• Change background color
• Choose overlay opacity
• Set resize speed
• Declare which sections you want to use Lightbox
• Set Lightbox to automatically enable on all images

Explore the power of Wordress and plugins, they can really make your blog/site stand out. If you have any questions leave them in the comments. I’m happy to help.

Custom Icons

// May 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Graphic Design, Tutorials

My Macbook Pro is anything but stock. In addition to cool apps that make my workflow more efficient I have customized most of the icons on my system. Everything from folders to external hard drives. It really gives the interface a cool, unique look. My favorites are the ones that I see in my dock.

Custom icons are no secret. I found the set I use on my computer called Litho at the Iconfactory. It is a free set of downloads including a standard system set and there are now 5 additional sets for other various applications.

How to Replace System Defaults

You can go about this a couple different ways. First I’ll explain the teadious, boring way of switching over to a slick new set of icons. This technique can be effective if you only want to change a handful of icons.

First, get the info for the icon you wish to use to customize the look of your application. To do this select the icon in the Finder window and press command + I.

Do the same for the application you want to replace the icon for by going to the Applications folder, finding the application, and again pressing command + I.

Next, it is just a matter of copying and pasting the new, custom icon over the old, default one. To do this click on the new icon in the top left of the “get info” window. This will highlight the icon in blue. Press command + C to copy that icon. Then switch over to the “get info” window for the default icon and click on it. Then press command + V. That’s it, the icon will be replaced with a new, cool look!

Now just do that for the other hundreds of icons you might want to replace on your computer. Yeah right! This is where Candy Bar comes in. Candy Bar lets you collect, organize, and change Mac OS icons and works well with the Iconfactory’s download options. When downloading an icon set you have to option to chooce from a Mac, Windows and an iContainer download. iContainers are the files that Candy Bar uses to help you implement your new icons. I managed to get all the icons on my entire computer switched during the free trial period of Candy Bar. This app is such a life saver because it lets you change a big batch of icons with just one click. It also supports a cool drag and drop feature to avoid copying and pasteing. Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, show come comment love!

Envato Empire

// April 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Branding, Graphic Design, Inspiration, Jobs, Networking, Organization, Photography, Promotion, Rants, Tutorials, Web Design, Wordpress

When considering all the information that I come across on the internet most of the things I see are influenced by Twitter, and my RSS reader. This got me thinking… If I were stranded on a desert island and I only had access to one group of networked sites it would have be the Envato Network. I swear by their umbrella of Tuts+ sites for great tutorials for all my favorite applications. I have touched slightly on the marketplace structure of sites they have including the most recent and a favorite of mine, Graphic River. Another one of those, “Why didn’t I think of this?”, moments when seeing these sites that allow anyone to buy and sell design related goods and services. That’s not all… In case you didn’t have enough excellent content to expand your knowledge there is a handfull of other services they offer. From AppStorm, for everything Mac related, to the must have RSS feed for any freelancer, Freelance Switch. Stranded and alone, I could survive with the Envato Network. Do you know of any networks this diverse? I want to open this one up for feedback, maybe to see if anyone reads these things.

Organized Chaos

// April 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Organization, Rants, Tutorials

With so much going on lately between school, work, life and the internet things can get kind of overwhelming. I am talking about TONS of information, digital files, websites and meetings all needing to be organized, and easy to find. I have had dreams of a day when I will have time to organize my already cluttered harddrives and bookmarks, manage a to-do list, and never miss an appointment. After looking around the web for time management applications and techniques for organizing and backing up digital files I have now decided I only need three essential things.

The first is OmniFocus made by a Seattle based company The Omni Group. It is a task management application that can be used on the Mac and syncs with the iPhone effortlessly. Easy of use is not even a question with OmniFocus with the ability to add, organize, and complete tasks from anywhere. OmniFocus plays nicely with native Mac apps like Mail and iCal and is becoming my go to app for staying on top of things. Check out an online screencast covering the basics of OmniFocus.

Second on my list of things to get me on track is Carbon Copy Cloner. It is offered as a FREE download from Bombich Software. (Yes, that’s what it’s called) When it comes to backing up data, it might be the most important part of my workflow. Carbon Copy Cloner allows for schdeuled backups and synchronization of hard drives. For a free service, this application has a lot of great features that I definitely recomend trying out.

The last thing that I plan on using to keep everything under control I discovered today when I stumbled upon the Color Charge Blog. Specifically, this article on Tips For Organizing Your Files With Colors. The concept is simple and the article describes techniques for using features on your Mac (Leopard) to help organize files and make your life easier. I definitely could have used this when I first started school. Guess it is better late than never!

TutsPlus Empire

// April 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Graphic Design, Inspiration, Photography, Tutorials, Web Design

There are so many great places on the internet to look for resources, inspiration, and tutorials it can be a little overwhelming sometimes. Why not have everything you might need all under one roof? From graphics to web development, audio to video and more, TutsPlus has it all. Unless you have been living under a rock then you have most likely seen a few tutorials, or articles from one of the TutsPlus sites. I found myself learning enough from these sites it made sense to get a monthy membership and have access to bonus tutorials and other great resources. At only $9 it is hard to say no to such a great price on an endless amount of creative inspiration and knowledge.

Wordpress For Designers

// April 7th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Tutorials, Web Design, Wordpress

Until I can find some time to put together a little tutorial for the GD252 class you might want to check The WP Video Series from the In The Woods Blog. They have just released day 12 of the series and have covered everything from installation and the admin panel to slicing PSDs and using widgets. These guys always put out great video tutorials and have even been helpful when I have had questions about web development. As always, if you are going through these videos and have questions about Wordpress find me in class or send me an email.

Creative and Colorful Wordpress Themes

// April 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tutorials, Web Design

Your Wordpress blog can look the way you want it! (Or better than it looks now)

A recent post on one of my favorite sites Tutorial9.net shows off some cool, creative, and colorful themes for Wordpress. The post was written by guest author Danny Outlaw who has written a few times for Tutorial9. Be sure to check out Danny’s blog as well. Something BIG is happening over there and is worth keeping an eye on.

Also, keep an eye out here on my blog this week because I plan on writing a little something that might help you guys out. You can look forward to a tutorial on how to install Wordpress, use a cool theme, and customize it to meet your needs.