Sharing is caring…or so I was told. And because I care, im willing to share two vector packs with you all!

A set of 6 Casino Chips:

A set of 4 Speech Bubbles:

You can also find these under my account at vecteezy. If you happen to use these vectors in a project let me know, as Id love to see what you have created.

I know the Internet has 1000+ tutorials on how to make a simple icon….but it couldn’t hurt to have another. This is the first tutorial I have written so please, go easy on me.

OK lets get started, I’m using Adobe Illustrator CS3 to make this but the process is pretty much the same on CS4 and CS5.

Open up Illustrator  and create a new Document, select the following settings :

When you are ready click the ELLIPSE TOOL in the tool bar. Or you could hit L on the keyboard, what ever you find the easiest.

With the Ellipse Tool selected, left click once in the middle of the page. A pop up box should appear, copy the following:

64PX x 64PX is usually the larger sized icon, but dont worry about size at the minute (that’s what she said!). So after that we should have something along the lines of this:

Next we want to add a gradient and remove the stroke. To make it super easy I’m using a free set of Web 2.0 swatches that you can find over at Dezinerfolio. I’m just going to stick to this funky lime green color, but you can pick anything you like. Next we want to create an inner circle, make sure your icon is selected and on the menu bar go to OBJECT>>PATH>>OFFSET PATH you should see a small pop up, copy the following settings:

Select the new inner circle and copy the following settings FILL: none, STROKE: white, STROKE WIDTH:1px

Next we will create the symbol for inside our icon, again select the ELLIPSE TOOL and left click once inside the icon, input the following settings WIDTH:43px HEIGHT: 30px, You should have something that looks like this:

Using the pen tool draw a curved triangle fill it with white and set the stroke to none:

Once you have created the curved triangle we need to stick it to our speech bubble. We need to make sure our pathfinder window is open, on the menu bar go to WINDOW>>PATHFINDER. Position the curved triangle to the bottom left of the speech bubble, with both of them selected ( Shift + Click to select both) click Add to shape in the pathfinder window:

we should now have something that looks like this:

Now we are going to create a sexy shine to give it that web 2.0 look. While holding ALT on your keyboard click and drag the outer  circle to the left, this duplicates it, do it again and line up your two new circles like you see below:

Now select both of your circles and click the SUBTRACT FROM SHAPE button on the pathfinder toolbar then hit expand, you should have something that looks like a half moon, like this:

Change the colour of your half moon shape to white. Over your half moon draw a rectangular box and give it a gradient from black to white like this:

Now on the menu bar select VIEW>>PREVIEW, the page should look like this:

While holding down shift select both the gradient rectangle and the half moon shape, you can now return the view back to normal by going to VIEW>>PREVIEW. Make sure you don’t deselect the shapes. With them both still selected open your transparency window WINDOW>>TRANSPARENCY, hit the options button in the top right and select MAKE OPACITY MASK.

Now all you have to do is line up the half moon shape with the other elements, if the shine doesn’t look right try ticking the Invert Mask selection in the Transparency box. Also if you think its too bright, drop the opacity down to about 80…that’s usually the sweet spot :

Well I hope that wasn’t too long winded? It is my first tutorial after all! Please let me know what you think in the comments! Here’s a few icons I created in the same fashion and they, along with a few others should be available for download soon!! Thanks for reading!

As part of a recent college assignment I had to come up with a viral marketing campaign for a weekly newspaper. Stuck for ideas and in need of inspiration, I searched the net for this new but successful way of advertising. Check out what I found!

Viral Marketing explained in a nutshell:
“Marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brand-able software, images, or even text messages” (Thanks wikipedia)

Eventually I had enough information and know how  to start my assignment, but while I was searching I came across this brilliant example by Samsung. It was created to promote their new I8910 HD phone. Check it out below!

And now how they did it! Brilliant

Here’s a quick animated intro I did for our AV Techniques group at college. Thanks to Videocopilot.net for the great tutorial. I used Adobe After Effects to create this, Im amazed by how much you can actually do with it….brilliant piece of software!

WordPress is an amazing tool thanks to the thousands of people who use it. Having worked on several web site’s for local musicians, Ive come across many plug-ins that are great for enhancing your online presence while establishing a good relationship with your fans. Here I have picked my top 5 to help you boost interest in your band and get positive traffic coming your way!

Audio Player:

There’s no better way to get fans or an important Record Label listening to your music in seconds!
The player I have picked is : Flash MP3 Player JW2.3

Why I have picked it:

• This player is simple to install as a sidebar widget
• You can also add your Album artwork
• Customizable background
• Play-lists including a Shuffle feature

You can download or check out a demo here!

Gallery:

Live gig’s, Band practice, Behind the scenes…shoot it, post it!
The gallery I have picked: NextGEN Gallery

Why I have picked it:

• Easy to manage
• Lightbox function
• Multiple galleries
• Looks great!

You can download or check out a demo here!

Shop:

Merchandise, Albums or E.P’s? You have them…Sell them!
The shop i have picked: WP e-Commerce

Why I have picked it:

• Perfect for Bands
• One page checkout
• Integration with Facebook market
• Paypal & Google Checkout friendly

You can download or check out a demo here!

Gig Calender

“Am I free tonight?…let me check my calender! NO WAY….MY FAVOURITE BAND ARE PLAYING!!”
the Gig calender I have picked: Gig Press

Why I have picked it:

• Manage your past and future gigs!
• Add Venue, Time and Entrance fee
• Features RSS and iCalendar feeds
• Really easy to use!

You can download or check out a demo here!

Mailing List

“Hey look I got an email from my favourite band”! Keep your fans updated on forth coming gigs, recordings or just any old news at all!
The Mailing List I have picked: G-Lock Double Opt-In Manager

Why I have picked it:

• Easy install
• User’s can subscribe straight from you site
• sends a welcome email to each new subscriber (optional)
• You can export your mailing list from WordPress for the use in your email program
• You can customize the sign up form as you like!

You can download or check out a demo here!

And that’s it, with the help of these plug-ins your band site should be rockin’ in no time, and if you have any suggestions for the list let me know !

Recently I’ve been learning about brand identities and iconic logos, which is probably why I haven’t been blogging much. I find it amazing how a designer or a team of designers, can develop a trademark for a multinational company which will be seen by millions if not billions of people across the world! Maybe its just me but I find it fascinating. Take the McDonald’s logo for instance, Designed in 1962 by Jim Schindler to resemble the arch shape on the side of the new restaurants, such a simple idea but yet an iconic symbol known worldwide.

I wanted to know more from behind the scenes and the theory/thought process behind logo design. After a while of searching I stumbled upon logodesignlove.com a blog run by David Airey, a graphic designer from Northern Ireland. The site is filled with valuable information including an engaging interview with Tom Geismar. After reading everything I needed more, I craved more…Luckily for me Airey has a brand new book out – Logo Design Love, a compilation of everything he knows!

I have since bought Logo Design Love from amazon, and I must say its a cracking read. Its exactly what I was looking for, with precious advice including pricing, practical logo design tips and how to keep motivated. If you are in anyway interested in logo design this is the book for you!

Oh you can also get a sneak peak at Chapter Seven : From Pencil to PDF

Personally I’m not a huge fan of Coldplay, but the music video for Strawberry swing is amazing.I find the artwork and originality enriching. At time’s you forget that Chris Martin is lying on the ground, the stop start animation blends him in nicely with the chalked characters and surroundings. See for yourself!!

Recently I purchased a snazzy new net book for college. A lot of people out there hate the idea of a net book, but I needed something uber portable and with a half decent battery. In the end I bought a Toshiba NB200, Windows 7, 1GB of RAM, 250GB Hard Drive and an Intel Atom Processor (clock speed of around 1.66GHz) good specs for a net book methinks! The best thing about this baby is that it has a 9 hour battery life, which suits me as I don’t have to cart around a charger in college.

The only thing letting this puppy down was its built in speaker…well it’s to be expected I suppose. This sent me on the hunt for a set of speakers, but these speakers would have to be just as portable as the net book. After an age of trawling through google and YouTube I came across the X-mini 2, the reviews were excellent…5 stars, 10 out of 10′s and they also won a reddot design award. I must have viewed 20+ videos to get an idea of the sound quality, in the end it was this video that sealed it for me. I took the plunge and bought off eBay, a little dearer than amazon.co.uk but the postage was promised quicker and I’m impatient when it comes to gadgets .

At first I was surprised at its size, it fitted neatly into the palm of my hand. The X-mini also felt sturdy and well built, which is handy as I have a tendency to drop things. The best was yet to come, it wasn’t until I plugged the X-mini into my net book that I was literally blown away by the sound…well not literally but it was highly impressive. The bass from this little beauty was spot on, treble was also perfect and at full volume there was no distortion or hissing. Another speciality of this pocket sized boom-box is its ‘buddy-jack’ feature, if you happen to be a lucky guy or gal and have more than one X-mini, you can daisy chain them for extra ear bleeding volume. The speaker charges through USB and will give you roughly 12 hours playback time, exceptional for anyone on the go.

Check out my pictures  below to get an idea of the size and quality. And that’s it what more can I say…if you are in dire need of a portable speaker that packs a punch or even if you’re looking to spend some money on a shiny new gadget, go out and get an X-mini 2!