Web Design Blog | Web Design Fan | Resources for Web Designers and Graphic Designers » Resources

Resource Roundup: 10 Fresh Textures

Zachary Brown — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:37:40 +0000

Today we have some fresh new textures for you to improve your designs with. Textures are always interesting because of how deeply yet subtly they can transform a design. A good texture isn’t too busy or distracting, but adds an element that you can’t achieve with flat color. Play around with these textures and see what they can do for you.

Without further adieu, here are 10 fresh textures.

Apple Linen Texture

Stone

Watercolor 1

Subtle Grunge

Grungy

Vintage Paper

Lighter Grungy

Watercolor 2

Burnt

Tree Bark

Get MB6-205 demos for 70-444 when you download, 100% success guaranteed. Our high quality MB4-218 prepares you well before appearing in the final exams of 70-513.

Best Grunge Backgrounds for Web Design

Tara Hornor — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:55:21 +0000

The term “grunge” within graphic design is often mistaken to mean dirty; however, a grunge look is simply one that is achieved by including natural elements into your design. For instance, you may create typography from vine images or your background could be a photo of cement. Some websites even use every day items, such as paper towels, to create backgrounds and texture within the design. Incorporating grunge into your website can be obvious with lots of dirt and grime or subtle with only a fabric background. So, whatever level of grunge you intend to take your website, one of the following backgrounds may be exactly what you need to help you achieve the perfect amount of grunge in your project.
Trials and Tribulations

Subtle Grunge 2

Texture 73

Psychosomatic Texture

Music Grunge Backgrounds

Yellow Grunge Wallpaper

Red and Black Grunge Wallpaper

Grunge Background 2

Grunge 8 from Celebbest.com

Grunge Lamps Twitter Background

Abstract Grunge Background

Dirty Grunge Blue Background

Purple and Green Grunge

Blue Grunge Backgrounds

Old Grunge Backgrounds

Grunge Brick Wall Background

Hot Pink Background

Abstract Grunge Melody

9 Retro Grunge Wallpapers

Cool Grunge Background – White Paint

Cool Grunge Backgrounds – Yellow Paint

WDF Launch WordPress Theme Download

Web Design Fan — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:31 +0000

Join the Fan Club!

You are currently viewing a premium “Member’s Only” post from the Web Design Fan Club. To continue viewing this awesome content after June 16, you can become a member for the heavily discounted of $36/year or join us on a monthly basis for $9/month after June 16.

Did you read that right? Yes, yes you did. $36 for the year (8 months free) if you become a yearly subscriber before June 16. Seems kind of foolish to pass something like that up, eh?

Joining the Web Design Fan Club grants you access to all the incredible resources and knowledge you need to become an expert web designer. From WordPress themes to premium icon sets and vectors, advanced tutorials to educational resources and files, the Web Design Fan Club delivers. Not only that, but you gain access to interviews with some of the best web designers and developers working today.

Today we have a cool treat for everyone. We’ve taken the theme you see here at Web Design Fan (once for sale) and packaged it up for the Web Design Fan Club. Now you too can enjoy our beautiful design, as well as build your own variations of it.

In the package comes the full WordPress theme as well as 2 PSDs: the home page and a post page. Also included is documentation to help you through the process of installation and modification.

Download link: Click here

Get demos for testking mcsa exam with 100% guaranteed success. Our best quality 70-562 and MB7-226 prepares you well before appearing in the final exams of 70-649.

5 Awesome Mockup Tools for Designers

Zachary Brown — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:12:59 +0000

Planning a website for a client can sometimes be a frustrating exercise. You must be able to take your vision and translate it into something that everyone can understand and interact with. Last week we discussed having a sketch/idea book to perform tasks like this with, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. You need something more interactive, more professional, and less messy.

Luckily, there are dozens of fantastic mockup tools available on the web to help you do just that. Below we will outline 5 of the top choices.

1. Balsamiq Mockups

I think by now, almost everyone knows abut Balsamiq. It helps software designers and developers build great software by letting them easily sketch out their ideas, then quickly collaborate and iterate over them. Check out the free web demo to get a handle on the programs usability.

Price: $79

2. Mocksup

A newer tool on the scene, Mocksup is great. It allows quick and easy element linking so that you can present a draft to a client with roughly the same functionality the real design will feature. It also allows you to brand each mockup on your own and has some nifty note-taking tools to help you collaborate. Better yet, they have a free plan so you can test it out.

Price: Free, $9/month, $19/month, $29/month

3. Mockingbird

Mockingbird is another great tool that is completely web-based. It is a bit more expensive than some other solutions, but the quality is top-notch. I found it to be incredibly easy to use and iterate on designs.

Price: $9/month, $20/month, $40/month, $85/month

4. HotGloo

HotGloo was actually the first wireframing tool I ever used. It immediately improved my workflow and opened my eyes to how easy it could be to create mocks before actually designing. It has good pricing and about the same features as the others. Hover/active states on buttons and links are great and it is easy to collaborate in real time. Give this a shot.

Price: $7/month, $14/month, $48/month

5. FlairBuilder

FlairBuilder is a great tool for mocking up both websites and mobile apps. It is a desktop app made with Adobe Air and thus works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Mockups makde with FlairBuilder tend to be a bit more refined visually because of their large collection of components. Although it is slightly more expensive than it’s main desktop competitor, Balsamiq, they do offer a 15 day free trial so it is worth a try.

Price: $99

Anything else?

There are plenty of other great mockup tools on the market that I didn’t touch on? Got one that should be on the list? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Ultimate Flag Icons Collection

Tomas Laurinavicius — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:02:17 +0000

Introducing the ultimate flag icons set with 2700+ different icons. Within this collection, you will definitely be able to find your favourite country flag in desired format or size. Collected icons are very various, starting from glossy, wavy, rounded and finishing with minimalistic style icons. I hope you will find this collection useful for your desktop, app or web design project.

Important:

You should read the license of each icon set before using them in your designs. Some of the icon sets are available only for personal use.

1. Flag Icons

247 icons in GIF and PNG formats. These flag icons are available for free use for any purpose with no requirement for attribution.

2. Free 37 Country Flag Icons in PNG, ICO and ICNS Format

37 country flag icons which are rendered at 256×256, 128×128, 64×64, 48×48, 32×32, 16×16 pixels. These icons are available for free download in formats like PNG, CO and ICNS.

3. 2400 Flag Icon Set

These icons are in several sizes so they’ll look great no matter where you’re using them – 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48 and 64×64. Icons provided in 2 variants – as flat and standard, and with a lovely glossy finish. Free for personal use.

4. Flag Button Devkit

Great tool for creating your own icons. To create a new button, just duplicate a layer group and paste the new flag into the respective layer. It’s as simple as that.

5. 200+ Country Flags – Massive Freebie Icon Pack

Icon pack includes PNG and PSD files for all kinds of projects. Released as a freebie, author would love to get a link to chethstudios if you use it anywhere.

6. 243 Free World Flag Icons

All 243 PNG icon flags in 3 sizes linked from this page are made free by Icon Drawer.

7. Download Free Flag Set in PNG

Neat, glossy flag set, covering all major countries and states in the world, for a prior project. All of them are saved in PNG-24 format with semi-transparency. Please include a link to nordicfactory.com on your page when using the flags.

8. European Union Flags

Free icons created by Doofy Design. Includes 512×512, 256×256, 128×128, 64×64 and 32×32 px sizes and JPG, PNG, PNG (no background) formats. Free for personal and commercial use.

9. Country flag icon set for iphone map

The Country Flag Icons for the iPhone come in PNG, ICO and ICNS formats. Available sizes include: 256×256 px, 128×128 px, 64×64 px, 48×48 px, 32×32 px and 16×16 px. There are 230 country icons in the set. Free for non-commercial use.

10. Flag Icons

One of the largest free collections. 278 free flag icons representing countries and unions all over the world. PNG format. Also with ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. Sizes : 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48. If you wish to use them on website, please place link to www.icondrawer.com on your site.

11. Ultimate Free Web Designer’s Icon Set (Including Flag Icons)

This icon set is a huge collection of icons that focus on web design but also includes national flags icons. There are a total of 94 flag icons in the set. You can freely use it for both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes.

12. National Flag Icons

The National Flag Icons are a collection of 250 individual icons, in PNG format and sized at 48×48 px, 32×32 px and 16×16 px.

13. Flag Favicons

These basic (and slightly old-fashioned) world flag icons were created many years ago when the standard color and size formats recommended were 16 colors and 16X16 respectively. They come in ICO format and are sized at 16×16 px. These are free to download, use and modify in any way you like.

14. 50 Flag Buttons

This set includes 50 flags created into iPhone style buttons for the Mac (ICNS format). Free for non-commercial use.

15. Flag Creator

Another useful tool for creating your own stylish flags. This is an automatic waver. Simply gets your arts and waves them like a flag with click of a mouse.

16. 105 Country Flag Icons (PNG & ICO)

105 Country Flag Icons in Web 2.0 style.Icon formats: PNG, ICO, ICNS and sized at 288×288 px.

17. Not a Patriot

Free icon set called Not a Patriot. Set includes ICO, PNG and ICNS formats. Free for personal use only.

18. Rounded World Flags

Rounded world flags set includes ICO, PNG and ICNS formats. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.

19. Europe Icons

Europe countries flags. Free for personal non-commercial use. Include a link back to author site.

20. Africa Icons

African flags icons. Free icons available in ICO, ICNS and PNG formats. Free for personal non-commercial use. Include a link back to author site.