Digital Design Advice » new media

High Speed Imagery

LucyP — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:50:10 +0000

I love photography and it is something that I will do in my spare time. Recently I have been looking at different types of photography and the different finishes you can achieve and I stumbled across high speed photography. For those of you who are not sure what high speed photography is it is the ability to capture images with remarkably quick speed which most photographers use to catch images that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by the naked eye. It is amazing what photographers capture and the different perspective you get from seeing a high speed photograph.

If you would like to try taking a high speed photograph, I really recommend giving it a go, you will need an SLR camera, generally speaking an expensive camera can reach a much faster shutter speed and high speed photography is the game of shutter speed.

Here are some of my favorite high speed photographs:-

If you have taken some high speed photography and have some photos to share please drop a link in the post, I am going to try and take some this weekend. I am hoping that I get some good quality images.

Happy New Year

LucyP — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:35:11 +0000

Firstly I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year, I think 2010 is going to be a good year for DDA and design in general and to mark the turn of the new year I thought we would look at some designs that we won’t forget. Creating a design that will stick in people’s mind is more important than ever. So what designs caught your eye this year?

Here are a few of my favorites which I came across on one of my favorite sites Web Design Ledger.

My first favorite is this one, it is the Anti Breakage Shampoo : Rapunzel. I like how they have used a well known character to promote shampoo.

Not being a huge fan of heights, I am not sure that I would do very well with this and would have to take the stairs.

I also love the ones that can make you smile,

I have only chosen a few that I really liked, please visit the site to see more advertisements not to be forgotten.

Enjoy design in 2010.

Christmas at DDA

LucyP — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:45:58 +0000

Here at Digital Design Advice we are really excited about Christmas and have added snow to our design. What do you think? Fingers crossed for snow on Thursday if the weather people are right ;o). So instead of the usual design post I thought we would take a look at Christmas gift ideas – we have just picked our secret santas.

So here is a quick look at possible gift ideas:-

USB stick

How about a Lego USB stick, which you can make by following the instructions.

Or how about the teddy USB drive

I like this idea too, the human sleeping bag. I am not sure it would go down very well with the receiver but the person does look snuggly warm.

These are only quick ideas and I am obviously keeping my secret santa gift top secret until we exchanged them.

Merry Christmas everyone

Typekit – Next Big Thing for Font

LucyP — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:49:33 +0000

Sorry we have not been around much lately so much, we relocated offices which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare – people should realise that the internet is a priority. We are all settled now in our new offices and have the internet – which does help. It is a lot nicer than the ones we had before and now that we have some of the major projects out of the way we thought we would return to DDA.

I thought since we came back this week we would take a look at Typekit which has just come out of beta which is great news as it provides designers with a library of fonts which you can easily integrate into your designs and best of all you can currently sign up for free.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Typekit it is the “easiest way to use real fonts on the web”. The issue in the past has been that it has not always been legal to use some fonts as they are protected by copyright even some that are available for free. When you are limited with your typeface in a design it can be really frustrating and sometimes make you feel that you have compromised your design which is why Typekit works so well.

Typekit offers the solution, with its web only font linking license, hosting both free and commercial fonts whilst eliminating the problem of how different browsers render the font. Typekit also state that in most cases, the css and fonts will be served up faster than your own web pages. Which is a huge step forward from what we have had to rely on previously.

We think Typekit is easy and simple to use which makes this a great tool for any designer and with the range of typefaces now available we should see some great designs/fonts appearing on the web. Watch this space!

Web design trends for 2009

Chloe — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:05:21 +0000

Over the past few months we have looked at a number of web site designs. But which of the developments and trends that we’ve seen will continue, which will go mainstream and become a classic approach? Here are some of the web design trends that DDA think designers are beginning to accept as standard approaches.

Single Page Layouts

We visited single page portfolio designs in a previous DDA post on showcase and showreel sites but I felt it was important enough to include as a prediction for 2009 too, as I believe we will be seeing a lot more of these types of designs – not just restricted to portfolio sites.

Pikaboo.be

Paolo Boccardi – Photographer

Modal Boxes / Lightboxes

This method of displaying media or capturing data is fast becoming the norm for web sites. Modal Boxes enable the user to input information, make selections or view images and videos without having to navigate away from the page they are viewing.

The Typographic Desk Reference

WordPress

Fabric and Textures

Adding texture to a web site is a simple way to add interest and depth to your design. Background images are the most common area of use but adding it to headers, footers, content areas, sidebars and even fonts can give a design the extra edge.

There’s a good tutorial here if you want to know more.

Bern

Web Designer Wall

NarfStuff

Retro & Vintage

Vintage design elements are becoming the ‘new thing’ in web design. Left out of digital design in preference of hi-tec glossy effects, retro is making a comeback. Used effectively it evokes a nostalgia that most find hard to resist.

Target Scope
Level2D

Prahba

Dynamic Tabs

Dynamic Tabs are going to become a popular choice for multi tiered web sites in 2009. A tabbed area whos content can be changed dynamically will provide an area for promotion without the user having to load the whole page to find out it’s not what they’re looking for. Expression Engine demonstrates this perfectly with their site.

Expression Engine

Komodo Media

If you would like to know more about creating dynamic tabs visit NetTuts.com

Merry Christmas from Digital Design

LucyP — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:03:31 +0000

We have been busy finishing projects before Christmas, and I am glad to say that we have managed to get them all done, which is great news. So this afternoon we have had the chance to put our Christmas decorations up in the office and buy some treats in – yummy mince pies. We have also exchanged our secret santa gifts, the budget was a fiver and I got an Air Zooka, we have had a lot of fun with it in the office this afternoon. Just in case you aren’t sure what an Air Zooka looks like.

We have our Christmas party tomorrow night and we are all really looking forward to it, we looked back over party photos from last years, I cannot believe it has been a whole year since then. Some of the photos are really funny and I nearly posted some on but didn’t think it was appropriate!!

I read a nice article on the BBC, which is a nice cheery Christmas article for the Friday before Christmas.

“A Sheffield man who lent a penniless Australian tourist £5 to pay for a ferry trip in 1969 has been repaid his debt nearly 40 years later.”

It is nice to see that Christmas spirit is still going strong and even after 40 years people still remember the kindness that was extended to them.

We have a bet on at work and I am betting on snow for Christmas so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.