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By Michael, February 10th, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 14 Comments

Social media applications such as Twitter can be effectively utilized as a tool for freelancers like yourself to promote your services. In a time when the world is connected through the internet, failing to employ such a simple strategy to connect with your potential and existing clients is a waste of opportunity. Remember that you are promoting to the rest of the world each time you post something in Twitter.

(Image source: Fotolia)

The content then, is what matters. You can update your existing clients on your latest projects and network with freelancers like yourself. In your Twitter, you may link your followers to your professional blog where they can further explore your work and even better, re-tweet it to their own network. All these can bring you more business in the long run as these people go on to recommend you to potential clients.

Here are five possible ways to make good use of Twitter for your freelance business:

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By Cameron Chapman, February 9th, 2012 | Inspiration | 12 Comments

So by this point most of us are familiar with the steampunk aesthetic. But how many people out there know about dieselpunk? Dieselpunk style is similar to steampunk, but there are distinct differences. While steampunk focuses on Victorian-age sci-fi, dieselpunk is based on the style and technology of the early 20th century, from World War I through World War II. The “punk” suffix on the word indicates its counter-cultural influence in regard to its opposition to historically-accurate and contemporary aesthetics. It’s similar in many ways to the noir styles of the time, though isn’t necessarily as dark.

The term “dieselpunk” was coined in 2001 by game designer Lewis Pollak to describe the style of his role-playing game Children of the Sun, but it has since grown to encompass the style of a number of mediums, including art, music, movies, fiction, and more. There are two basic styles of dieselpunk, one based on the roaring twenties with a mostly positive view of technology and culture, and the other based on World War II with a much darker style and often based on widespread warfare.

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By Alvaris Falcon, February 8th, 2012 | Web Design | 21 Comments

Look at the graphics below, awesome Photoshop works right? Nah, they’re created by CSS3. Yes, they’re completely “drawn” by CSS3! When we have seen enough CSS3 animations we thought those are all CSS3 can do as a potential Flash killer, but we’re wrong. Developers perhaps don’t satisfy with the fun of animation, so again, they push the boundaries of CSS3 to challenge the graphic editor’s realm.

With this post comes 35 carefully crafted CSS3 graphics which even include something you wouldn’t relate with CSS3 like Apple iPhone, cartoon character Doraemon, and more surprises! Heck, some of them even come with detailed tutorial that teach you how to achieve it! So don’t miss the great chance to learn to create graphic using CSS3 and little bit of HTML, let’s get naughty with CSS3!

You are strongly recommended to view these demos using the latest version of Safari or Developer version of Google Chrome. Most demos support the latest version of Firefox and Google Chrome, though.

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By Cameron Chapman, February 7th, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 25 Comments

Facebook now has over 800 million active users around the world. If it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world (right behind China and India), and more than twice the size of the United States.

So it’s pretty much vital for anyone trying to promote a product, service, event, or cause to create a Facebook page. While other social networks (Google+ among them) are making gains, Facebook is still the largest and most popular out there, and that’s unlikely to change in the immediate future (and besides, Google+ doesn’t even allow brand pages yet).

One of the biggest mistakes brands make when creating Facebook pages is to just use the default tabs and default content. They post nothing but self-promotional updates and have no realy ways of interacting with their fans. Basically, their pages are boring.

The answer to this common problem is to make use of all the custom content applications and tabs available for Facebook pages. You can add custom welcome tabs, video tabs, feed your blog or other RSS feed into your news feed, import your tweets, and a lot more. Finding the apps to do all this, though, is a bit trickier.

In this guide, we’ll show you some of the best apps for Facebook pages and how to best use them. While it would be impossible to cover every app available (there are thousands that can be used on pages), this post will get you started.

More related posts:

• Customizing Business’s Facebook Fan Page
• 20 Facebook Tips and Tricks
• Creative Facebook Timeline covers
• Integrate Facebook Open Graph With WordPress

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By Karol K., February 6th, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 12 Comments

I’m sure you can relate to this and agree that selecting the right people to reach out to is the most important step on your way to success (whatever success is, since we’re talking networking).

If you do this right, clearly, you’ll be able to build strong relationships with great people. If you take a more random or less thought-through approach then your mileage may vary, so to speak.

Clearly, contacting everyone whose email address you can get your hands on is not the best idea. You don’t need to be in touch with the whole world. A small group of people who you really want to meet and get to know is more than enough.

Quick note:
This post is a part of a series titled – Networking Guide for Bloggers. Be sure to check back next week for more! If you’ve missed the previous post(s), here are the links:

• Part 1 – Networking for Bloggers: Why It Is Important
• Part 2 – Networking for Bloggers: Setting Your Goals and Rules

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By Sonia Tracy, February 4th, 2012 | Web Design | 9 Comments

Black and white are too of the most emotive visuals in nature. Polar opposites, the two seem to stand for opposing metaphors, as well. Black is usually seen as dark, a symbol of authority and power, and, occasionally, as a symbol of evil. White is a sign of purity and brightness and of a natural innocence that combats its opponent.

(Image source: Fotolia)

The real benefit of these two shades is to meld together in a contrasting design. Using such a stark dichotomy, you immediately establish a dynamic in the design that is impossible for the viewer to ignore. It is clean, can be either simple or complex, and has endless opportunities that other color schemes just don’t manage to generate. It all just balances itself out.

Many graphic designers today see that the best way to stick out in today’s full color world is not to join them but to set themselves apart by refusing to follow the norm. Duality has become the name of the game, giving us every reason to try it ourselves to see the effect.

Let’s take a look at how black-and-white designs are being used in various graphics, with great success.

You may also be interested in:

• Black and White: Beautiful web design
• Black and White: Photography tips
• Black and White: Portrait Photography showcase
• Black and White: Animal Photography showcase
• Black and White: Water Photography showcase

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By Michael, February 3rd, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 11 Comments

The demand for creativity from employees is rising in this age of rapid technological advancement. This is evident when we see multinational companies like Google setting up something known as a the 20 percent program or policy where Google developers get to spend 20 percent of their working hours (a day at work) on side projects. It was an attempt to give employees the time and space to think innovatively. Indeed, the policy works well, with some of the best products of Google (e.g. Google News) originating from the program.

(Image source: Fotolia)

Some of you may think that creativity is an inborn trait rather than something that can be learned and developed. This may be so, but without a conducive environment for creativity to be expressed, how can we expect to see ideas arising from creative employees? This is precisely what this article is about, to show you ways which you can adopt in the workplace to encourage employees to seek innovation in their work.

More related posts:

• The science of creativity
• Beating designer’s block: Tips to get back your creativity

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By Cameron Chapman, February 2nd, 2012 | Tools | 17 Comments

Video content has been growing in popularity and influence online for the past few years as more and more people worldwide gain access to broadband internet access. Now, video is almost a necessary component to any brand’s online presence, and is being used in virtually every industry (for evidence of this, one need only look at the popular Blendtec series “Will It Blend?“).

But most companies and content creators don’t realize the volume of sites out there that are available for hosting your videos. YouTube is just one site, but there are dozens of others out there, too, of varying quality. Below, we’ve covered twenty of the best (including YouTube), with information on content restrictions, cost, and whether they permit commercial content, as well as key features of each.

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By Alvaris Falcon, February 1st, 2012 | Inspiration | 13 Comments

Hands and fingers are the greatest assets of every human born in this world. With hands and fingers, human created great arts that shine in the human history. They are really great, but can they be artistic as well? It’s hard to answer this kind of questions with a ‘no’, especially in this technological age, when everything can possibly become an art with the might of creativity and the power of the Photoshop.

(Image Source: Coltography)

In this showcase you won’t see any regular hands and fingers, as we brought to you 35 manipulation works with artistic attempts on hands and fingers. So let’s see what artists and designers can do when it comes to brush up their own hands and fingers!

More related:

• Human photo manipulation
• Water photo manipulation
• Fire & flames photo manipulation
• "Big head" photo manipulation

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By Daniel Smeek, January 31st, 2012 | Graphics | 29 Comments

Looking for some User Interface (UI) design for inspiration or free UI PSDs for your next design project? We dived into Dribbble.com, and handpicked you some of the finest (and free) PSDs shared by various designers.

Check out the entire list after jump.

For more PSD downloads – we recommend checking out our freebie section and the following posts:

• Webpage templates in PSD
• High quality PSD templates I, II

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By Karol K., January 30th, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 13 Comments

For me, there are two things that should be considered as the starting point of a well thought out networking strategy. The headline of this post gives a good hint on what I’m talking about, so let me just say it upfront: start by setting your goals and understanding the basic rules.

Quick note:
This post is a part of a series titled – Networking Guide for Bloggers. Be sure to check back next week for more! If you’ve missed the previous post(s), here are the links:

• Part 1 – Networking for Bloggers: Why It Is Important

Continue reading »

By Michael, January 27th, 2012 | Web 2.0 | 24 Comments

One of the best ways to gauge the health of your blog readership is to check out how many comments you have for your posts. More comments mean that your readers are actively engaged in what you have to say. Such positive engagement between the readers and yourself creates a lively community that sustains readership and attracts more visitors to your blog.

Not getting the amount of comments that you would like to have? Don’t worry; it may not have anything to do with the content you’re providing. You may be providing quality content and information to readers, but not sufficiently stimulating them to provide inputs to your posts.

Here are a few ways to get your readers more involved before you scrutinize your content for any potential flaws. Full list after jump.

Related posts:

• Marketing your blog
• How to run blogs that I.N.S.P.I.R.E
• Journalism for Blogging
• Improving blog traffics: 5 Must-Have Qualities

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By hongkiat, January 27th, 2012 | Icons |