Friday, October 22, 2010

Fantastic Information Architecture and Data Visualization Resources



Jan 15



Information architecture can be a daunting subject for designers who’ve never tried it before. Also, creating successful infographics and visualizations takes skill and practice, along with some advance planning. But anyone with graphic design skills can learn to create infographics that are effective and get data across in a user-friendly manner.


Below are a collection of resources to get you going down the information architecture and data visualization path. Whether you just want to become more familiar with infographics and data visualizations for occasional use or are thinking of making it a career, the resources below will surely come in handy. There are also some beautiful examples and more roundups to see even more fantastic graphics.


1. Information Architecture Design Sites


Information architecture can be so complex, it’s no wonder there are entire sites dedicated to it. The sites below range from sites of individual information architects who share resources with their colleagues, to professional organizations, to design sites that include extensive information architecture resources.


Info Design Patterns







Stunning Abstract Black and White Photography



Jan 14




Abstract black and white photography is a popular form of art that lets you focus on your imagination and allows you to give attention to texture and context. With Abstract Black And White Photography, you can get an amazing charm and feel that mainly focuses on the feelings behind photos. We hope you like the abstract beauty of the remarkable photos presented below.


Abstract Black & White Photos



1999 CROWD







Gorgeous Typography Examples in Advertising Design



Jan 13




Typography, the art of arranging type, type design and modifying type glyphs, is often considered as a major part of promotional material and marketing. If you use typography properly, you can not meaningfully convey the message, but also strengthen the brand of your company.


Typography has always been very inspiring and nowadays many artists experiment with type treatments to achieve inspiring, unusual and beautiful results. So, without a further ado, let’s take a look at 50 tremendous print ads that use the power of typography to communicate with potential customers.


Typography Examples in Advertising Design



Complot Creativity School – Typography Course: H







How to Make Yourself Stand Out as a Freelancer



Jan 11



The cybersea is full of freelancers all out to make their mark and their money to keep their freelance fires burning. With an abundance of opportunity pouring in to the market, getting yourself out there and making sure you are heard and seen will help you sway those opportunities more your way. But with so many others striving to do that same thing, how is it you can rise above the multitudes to still be singled out? Not to mention trying rise above the agencies that are further populating the waters, and complicating the issue.








Creative and Unusual Layouts and Navigation Designs



Jan 8






/* */ if(window.OA_zones === undefined) { var OA_zones = []; } OA_zones['Content Ad'] = 11; /* // */



In this article, we’ll showcase website layouts and navigation structures that really
break the mold. The designers of these websites have seen dozens of clone websites out there but have sought their own way. The unusual website layouts and navigation that results can either be very successful and innovative or disorienting for visitors. You decide. When you browse the showcase, think not so much about functionality as about you design and develop the way you do.


Unusual Layouts


Breaking industry conventions is not always easy. Still, many designers push on to find fresh ideas and ways to innovate. Have you ever driven down a street where the homes perhaps have different-colored paint on the shutters but essentially look the same? The Internet can be the same, with designers cloning the same layouts day in and day out. But it is amazing what can be accomplished by a simple shift in the placement of website elements, while keeping the website familiar and easy to use.


Unusual Layout Best Practices


There are no “standards” for designing your own unusual layouts, only guidelines to keep you on track. The style is defined by freedom from conventional standards and by placing items where visitors are not trained to find them. Here are some ways to achieve an unusual layout:



Let your content articulate the design. Try even five or more columns without aligning everything perfectly. Prioritize usability, with layout as a secondary consideration. Let things flow naturally.



Let your users view content horizontally or vertically, without making additional content hard to find. Bring an element of surprise and excitement when presenting crucial content.


Keep in mind that
users tend to focus on faces. Guide them with visual imagery to help them find content. Also, make sure the layout does not disorient visitors. The experience should be new and delightful.




























































































































































Unusual Navigation


Developing a unique navigation scheme that does everything but conform can be a huge task, almost the Mount Everest of Web design. Not many people take on the challenge, and not many who do succeed. In this section, we cover both the victories and defeats. Unusual navigation requires a balance between innovation and practicality. If you lean too far towards innovation, the navigation can become frustrating and even unusable. The goal is to make the navigation intuitive enough for the website to be perfectly usable.


Unusual Navigation Best Practices


Unusual navigation has no set rules. Just think differently and try something that does not look, feel or function like your everyday website. And follow these guidelines:



Let your navigation float freely within the content, rather than using the typical “Z pattern” that helps users scan. Make sure the navigation is still clear and self-explanatory, even if it doesn’t sit in the usual location at the top. Make it intuitive yet simple, maybe with just a few symbols that expand into many options.


Use imagery instead of, or in addition to, text. Allow users to use the mouse buttons and click wheel as alternatives (with instructions, of course). Also allow
keyboard navigation as an alternative (instructions again, please).


Finally, include arrows that visitors can use to cycle through the main sections without using the main navigation. Allow users to drag items to reveal new content, while maintaining usability and accessibility.



















































































































































































































When Unusual Becomes Unusable


Not all unusual designs are as intuitive as their designers would like to believe. SOme can be more of a nuisance than a convenience. MIT offer some
usability guidelines for websites, which are not detailed but still useful as a quick checklist. If your website’s purpose and content are not immediately understood, you may want to rethink your design. Your content’s structure does not have to be conventional, but it should be logical. Few things are more frustrating to a user than not knowing how to navigate content.


Think of your website like a brand new vehicle. It has some things you are used to: a steering wheel, gears, a seat, etc. When you first sit in it, you immediately recognize certain items, but not others. If the gear shift has been moved from between the seats to behind the steering wheel, you might be confused at first. Not knowing how to shift detracts from the vehicle’s functionality. So, the vehicle’s controls should be clearly labeled and feel natural to use. The relocation of the gear shift is one of the more drastic advancements in the usability of automobiles in recent years and feels quite different from the “layout” of typical car.


While creativity, uniqueness and pushing boundaries always benefit the Web community as a whole, usability is far more important. Your layout and navigation must be intuitive and easy to use to be successful.


Robert Hartland is a professional designer and photographer with over seven years of experience. He owns his own clothing company
Envee Apparel, a creative theme-based lifestyle t-shirt company and accepts freelance work through his portfolio web site
Aether Design.



50 Excellent Adobe After Effects Tutorials



Jan 7






/* */ if(window.OA_zones === undefined) { var OA_zones = []; } OA_zones['Content Ad'] = 11; /* // */



This post presents a
round-up of Adobe After Effects Tutorials for your visual effects and motion graphics-related work. After Effects is getting popular as the industry of Computer Graphics and Digital Motion is growing. With After Effects, you have choice to generate dynamic and expressive motion graphics with truly stunning visual effects — very easily and quickly. So here is the list of Adobe After Effects Tutorials. We hope that it will be helpful for you!


After Effects Tutorials



Glass Orbs





In this tutorial you will learn how to use After Effects to create shiny glass orbs in 3D and Create a spherical and reflection map from images.








Jumbotron Column





In this extended tutorial learn how to identify the field order of footage and interpret it collectly; create a realistic Jumbotron-style look using CC Ball Action, Glow, Levels and Curves; turn the jumbotron into a 3D column mounted on grungy wire mesh using Zaxwerks 3D Layer Warps.








The Dark Knight





In this 30 minute tutorial you’ll learn techniques and workflow used in Adobe After Effects and Illustrator to create the dramatic effect of the Batman icon shattering apart revealing a bright light source behind.








After Effects: Explosive TV promo graphics





In this screen capture of a recent Adobe After Effects e-seminar learn how Adobe Illustrator and Maxon Cinema 4D were used, along with stock footage from Video Copilot’s Action Essentials 2, to create explosive TV promo graphics.








Lightning Strike





In this tutorial you will learn how to Add Rain & Atmosphere then build a Lightning Bolt and hwo to use Action Essentials 2 and make Sam explode








Disintegration





Here you will learn how to build a furious procedural Disintegration effect in AE and Use displacement, turbulence and particle world.








Create a Sci-Fi Movie Title Sequence





This tutorial covers the creation of a space-like si-fi title sequence from scratch. Michael shows us how you can easily create a visually interesting and impressive title animation with some simple title cards and text animation.








The Birth Of A Logo





There was an explosion of characters and thus the Logo was born. In this tutorial we’ll be using some of the new options of Trapcode Particular 2 as well as some techniques with Trapcode Form to create an epic depiction of the first logo in history.








Motion Typo Act.1: Tutorial video animation typography





In this tutorial We are going to learn to give life to our text, animating each word in a rhythmic animation, you will find a lot of things in this detailed tutorial.








Create a MoGraph Urban Jungle





In this tutorial Naim Alwan ventures outside of After Effects for a little bit of 3D Matchmoving to create this stunning Urban Jungle effect where vector graphics are perfectly tracked to some city footage.








Animated Swirls in Adobe After Effects





Animated swirls are all the rage in the motion graphics world, and there are some pretty cool things that can be done with them. But creating and animating such elements is really not as difficult and time-consuming as it would seem, even if the shapes are detailed and intricate. Bring on the swirls!








3D Motion and Position of Text Characters with After Effects





Typography is one of the qualities upon which we base most of our design work, and the type animation engine in After Effects offers a gamut of ways to express typographic flair. One of favorite is the ability to control the 3D motion and position of text characters. When combined with simple camera moves, depth of field, and some real-world studio tricks we use every day, the results can be—literally—powerful. Let’s get started.








Create a Photo Montage with After Effects





Lots of programs and plug-ins create cool photo montages easily and quickly—handy for such things as photo DVDs and slideshows. But what if you don’t have those programs or plug-ins, or you want something a little more creative (yet still as easy to replicate and reuse) using a software program you already own? A few tricks and techniques in After Effects will have you up and running in no time at all.








Making It Look Great 5





A massive 7 Hours of Kick-ass Design, Production and Workflow Techniques for Adobe After Effects








Learn How to Create an Advanced Jumper Effect





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a dynamic disappearing effect from a moving camera shot. Our camera will pan with the actor as he runs, jumps, disappears, and reappears. The actual disappearance also includes a dynamic dissolve and warp effect. And the best part is, no third party plug-ins are required.








Shine Some Light On The Situation





When working on VFX, you can often measure your success by how invisible you are. If the audience doesn’t know there was an effect created, then you did a good job. In this tutorial artist will show you all how to make turn a plain dolly shot into a dynamic room with light rays and a sky replacement.








Boharg II Breakdown





In this tutorial artist will show some Time Remapping, Distortion, and Color Correction tips that could even save you from running into yourself in an old building…








The Dancing Can





In 2008 John Dickinson did a series of roadshows for Adobe where he presented a neat little animation of a dancing can. In this series of tutorials he will walk you step-by-step through various After Effects techniques for creating this spot. This section deals with Puppet Pin tool basics and how to use the cool motion sketch feature to animate to music.








Create Whispy Spirit-like Text





Adam keeps digging through the good ol’ built in CC plugins and continues to come up with very clever and visually awesome solutions. In this tutorial Adam uses CC Smear as the basis to create text that appears in as if a spirit whisped into it.








Futuristic HUD





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create 3D interface display as seen in Iron Man’s helmet and how to Build self-animating components and artificial lighting








Energetic Titles





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use Sure Target preset to achieve advanced 3d moves and will learn advanced tips and create “3d-looking” titles.








Blowing Flowers





In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader, Eran Stern demonstrates how to create flower trails using Trapcode Particular in this special holiday episode. You’ll also work with the light emitter and use 3D layer to obscure particles.








3D Light Casting





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create an energy-ball that re-lights the road surface and use reverse-tracking and build a volumetric point light








Colorful Universe





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to Create a dynamic space world with light streams and how to use an expression to create a 3D orbit








Growing 3D Vines





In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a growing 3D vines and animate it using After Effects.








Bitweiser Light





Problems with overerexposed footage? Need to work in 32bpc for nice depth of field and motion blur? Now you can! Convert your footage from 8bpc to 32bpc with new free plugin.








Youveelizer





UV mapping finally available in After Effects. Check out this amazing tutorial to learn how to integrate your 3D artwork with After Effects to improve your workflow, save time and money. It’s a must-see!








Color Grade and Enhance a Horror Shot





In this first part James will teach how to create 2 scenes. First how to take a shot of a mansion and give it an intense and scary look through sky replacement and colour correction. Second we will take a shot of a stone gargoyle face and create a subtle yet creepy effect in which it frowns evilly at an oncoming victim. Be afraid…be very afraid.








Shape Layer Tip #3: Trim Paths





In this video tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to use shape layers to easily create that Old-School look where a red dashed line animates over a map to indicate travel destinations.








Animating Spray Paint and Stencil Effect in After Effects





In this tutorial artist is going to show you how to create a spray paint effect using After Effects. It’s a fairly simple process but I’ve got a few tricks that you may not have thought of. Here is a sample video of what you’ll be creating:








Keep Your Eye on the Ball… 3D in After Effects





Animating your After Effects design in 3D space is fun and, for the most part, easy to achieve. However, the camera and objects can have their own agendas in some instances, but a few tricks can change a seemingly uncontrollable camera animation into pure, cool cinematography…








Dynamic Bar Graphs





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a dynamic bar graph with customizable values and streamline graph production without sacrificing quality








Speed Particles





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use expressions to drive particles based on speed and how to create sandy like particles that fly off of text








P2. Lightning Explosion Part 2





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to Animate a person exploding from a lightning blast and composite footage elements from Action Essentials 2.








Light Streaks 2





Learn how to use light streaks with live action footage and enhanced coloring method and 3D layer control.








Bessie Potter





In this video tutorial, Michael Park demonstrates how to make a dark, cloudy title reveal similar to the one seen in the “Movie Which Must Not Be Named.” All textures and fonts are available in the project download as well as the final CS4 project file.








The Pusher





In this video tutorial, Eran Stern creates a watery liquid push effect and color corrects the shot using the bundled Color Finesse plug-in.








Designing a Graphic From Scratch





In this tutorial artist is going to take you through the steps in producing beautiful graphic.








Kung Fu Energy Ball





In this new tutorial from Pro Juice, Nick takes you through the steps of creating an energy ball with the Particle Filter in Adobe After Effects.





Using a layer of smoke, blurs, colour correction and some masking techniques, Nick shows you how to create the energy ball, give it a burning hot spot, animate it to fly towards the camera and reflect off the nearby fence.








Starting with After Effects





In this tutorial artist is going to explain how easy it is for any photoshop users out there that create a lot of effects-added branding to transform their work into a great and simple animation using After Effects, presumably to spice up your client presentation or intro to your website.








After Effects Tutorial Shatter Effect





A quick tutorial on the SHATTER Effect artist used in making the Promo Intro featured in his Vegas Tutorials on adding sound and sound FX to movie clips. This was made in After Effects CS4 and demonstrat…








3D Paper Crumple with Freeform AE





Now you can easily call it quits within After Effects! Rob uses the example of creating a paper crumple transition to show off the Digieffects plugin Freeform AE. Who knows… this tutorial might just save your job.








Integrating Cinema 4D into After Effects





The more you get into After Effects, the more you realize how cool it is to bring in stuff from outside the program. This tutorial shows how take a scene from Cinema 4D and bring it over into AE. After Effects is a compositing program and this is a perfect example of how to take a basic animation and add some “after effects”!








Earth Zoom





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a cosmic Earth zoom in AE and use masking and parenting to link imagery,








Learn to Make a Custom 3D Wall Text Reveal





Using basic AE tools and some expressions you will learn how to create this 3D wall made of custom shapes and a nice laser beam to reveal your text.








Superperson Opening title in After Effects





In this tutorial, Chad Castleberry will walk you through an all new, updated technique to creating an opening title sequence seen in movies like Superman or The Last Starfighter. Concepts covered: The Echo Effect, simple keyframe animation, and using fractal noise to create an interesting starscape.








Fracture Design





In this tutorial you’ll learn how to fracture layers and manipulate in 3D space with ease and how to use expressions, scripts and create a distressed title.








Creating a Tracked Head Wound





In this tutorial Mathias shows that corner pin tracking can do much more than just replacing some pictures on a wall. We are going to compose a wound on a moving head and use the Mocha tracker in combination with his script MochaImport. Trust me, this is so much easier then creating a real head wound!








Create the “My Paper Mind” Effect





This tutorial will teach you how to recreate the “My Paper Mind” effect done by Javan Ivey, but with the environment in mind, Nicolas has come up with a way to save some paper (as well as about 3 days worth of paper cuts!) It is all done in After Effects without any third party plug-ins. Enjoy!








Advanced track and clone in AE





Visual-effects and motion-graphics specialist Angie Taylor shows how to use After Effects’ Clone Stamp tool to convincingly add to moving footage.







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