Creative Community Bulletin 10 February 2014

Great con­tent found by Pariah and shared to the design and cre­ative com­mu­ni­ties on social media.

  • 46 Creative & Free Drop Down Menus in HTML5 and CSS3
    “Here, we are pre­sent­ing some of the free drop­down menus that were devel­oped by using HTML5 and CSS3. We hope that you will like this col­lec­tion and find it use­ful for you. Do share your opin­ions with us via com­ment sec­tion below. Let us have a…
  • Add Search Shortcuts to Your Smartphone for Quicker Research
    “If you’re going to search a site like YouTube or Twitter from your phone, you usu­al­ly need to launch an app and then hit the search box, or launch your brows­er and search from there. That’s a lot of taps of your fin­ger, but Digital Inspiration…
  • Use a Tag Cloud to Check What You Need to Change in Your Resume
    “You need your resume to catch the atten­tion of a recruiter, but an over-the-top cre­ative CV isn’t the answer. Instead, keep it sim­ple and make the words count. And one way to ensure those words are mak­ing an impact is with a tag cloud generato…
  • 10 Steps To Switching From Freelancing To Running a Business
    “A lot of free­lancers define them­selves as run­ning a busi­ness. In the sense that they have cre­at­ed their own job it is true. However, in this arti­cle we want to apply a slight­ly dif­fer­ent def­i­n­i­tion of busi­ness, and enti­ty that con­sist of more …
  • 10 Steps To Switching From Freelancing To Running a Business
    “A lot of free­lancers define them­selves as run­ning a busi­ness. In the sense that they have cre­at­ed their own job it is true. However, in this arti­cle we want to apply a slight­ly dif­fer­ent def­i­n­i­tion of busi­ness, and enti­ty that con­sist of more …
  • 10 Steps To Switching From Freelancing To Running a Business
    “A lot of free­lancers define them­selves as run­ning a busi­ness. In the sense that they have cre­at­ed their own job it is true. However, in this arti­cle we want to apply a slight­ly dif­fer­ent def­i­n­i­tion of busi­ness, and enti­ty that con­sist of more …
  • How to fix a bro­ken client relationship
    “Regardless of how great you are at build­ing great busi­ness rela­tion­ships, near­ly every design­er finds them­selves (even­tu­al­ly) at odds with at least one client.

  • The designer’s guide to spe­cial characters
    “The char­ac­ters on your key­board are just the tip of the ice­berg, says Jason Cranford Teague – there’s a whole oth­er world of spe­cial char­ac­ters to discover.

  • 14 Social Media Trends for 2014

    So it’s fair to ask what you can expect in the com­ing year in social media mar­ket­ing. To answer that ques­tion, I’ve scoured some of the best lists on the web and gath­ered some of the top social media trends for 2014 for you.

  • Why The Linux Desktop Doesn’t Matter Anymore
    “Linux was tout­ed as the desk­top of the future, but it nev­er suc­ceed­ed in meet­ing the needs of aver­age users.
  • Is Imprint Publishing the New Black?

    There is some­thing of a trend going on at the moment amongst pub­lish­ers. It’s not an imme­di­ate­ly notice­able pat­tern, but it’s some­thing that I think is about to take off. I’ll give you a moment to fig­ure it out….
    Figured it out yet?”

  • Typeface Designer Creates Book That Teaches Toddlers About Typography
    “To start Will on the typog­ra­phy path ear­ly, he has cre­at­ed The Clothes Letter Wears, a pic­ture book that teach­es tod­dlers about the dif­fer­ent type­faces through illus­tra­tions that shows each font as text play­ing dress-up.
  • In-flight WiFi out­side the USA: The com­plete guide

    Services are a bit more frag­ment­ed than the US, as you might imag­ine giv­en the wide geo­graph­i­cal spread, but there’s still only real­ly a hand­ful of WiFi providers that can keep deliv­er­ing your emails, LOLcats and the rest of the Web to you in the sky.

  • 2014′s 10 top gad­gets that design­ers will want to own
    “We reveal the clever giz­mos design­ers across the globe will be drool­ing over this year. Will you suc­cumb to any of these techie temptations?

  • Time Saving Tips – Organizing & Editing

    Have you ever found your­self search­ing for some­thing you need on your com­put­er, only to become frus­trat­ed amongst all the files? You don’t have to tell me how easy it is to become con­sumed by thou­sands of files that you may nev­er touch again. I am not below a sim­ple tantrum if my com­put­er starts to get crab­by with me or I can’t find some­thing I am look­ing for. But, I can tell you after devis­ing a sys­tem that works for me I no longer have to “search” for what I need because it is orga­nized with­in a fold­er system. 

  • How to get ahead as an in-house designer

    Working in-house has many advan­tages – but stay­ing inspired and moti­vat­ed can be a chal­lenge. Designers at four diverse com­pa­nies dis­cuss how to stay sharp as a one-brand band.

  • Apple Releases A Font That Consists Of Every Mac Ever Made!
    “The font can be accessed through the OS X Font Book after a quick down­load, and users will be able to copy and paste it to an ide­al location. ”
  • Designer Sends Resume In Gorgeous Hand-Lettered Envelopes, Impresses Employers

    Austin, Texas-based free­lance design­er Roxy Torres knows how impor­tant first impres­sions are in a com­pet­i­tive job market—to cap­ture the atten­tion of poten­tial employ­ers, she sent out her resume in beau­ti­ful hand-lettered mani­la envelopes that are bound to catch their eyes.

  • British design­ers are ‘still over­worked but bet­ter paid’

    The annu­al Design Industry Voices report for 2013 has been released, and it looks like last year saw some pos­i­tive changes from 2012. While clients con­tin­ue to request free pitch­es and ask us to do more work for less mon­ey, many of us have received pay ris­es in the last two years (63.4% accord­ing to the report), and pay ris­es received in 2013 out­stripped infla­tion, sug­gest­ing that the indus­try could be on the mend. 

  • How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?
    “Users often leave Web pages in 10–20 sec­onds, but pages with a clear val­ue propo­si­tion can hold peo­ple’s atten­tion for much longer because visit-durations fol­low a neg­a­tive Weibull distribution.”
  • Interactive paint­ing lets vis­i­tors hear & feel art
    “A new inter­ac­tive gallery instal­la­tion in Shoreditch uses hap­tic tech­nol­o­gy to allow vis­i­tors to hear and feel a painting.

  • Cut These Vague, Cliched, and Meaningless Words from Your Resume
    “Most resumes have to make it through an auto­mat­ed key­word sorter before they even stand a chance at get­ting a brief glance (an aver­age of 6.2 sec­onds) by an actu­al human recruiter, who first look for quick ways they can elim­i­nate your resume f…
  • Guide to the Golden Ratio
    “The Golden Ratio is a sim­ple the­o­ry that can help make your designs pleas­ing on the eye. We explain how to use it.

  • The 8 biggest respon­sive web design prob­lems (and how to avoid them)

    James Young recent­ly sur­veyed his fel­low design­ers about the biggest prob­lems they face on respon­sive sites. Here, he reports on the results – and offers his solutions.

  • Facebook Isn’t Cool With Teens, But That’s Totally NBD
    “A new study claims teens are aban­don­ing Facebook in droves. Even if that’s true, it may not matter.”
  • Facebook Isn’t Cool With Teens, But That’s Totally NBD
    “A new study claims teens are aban­don­ing Facebook in droves. Even if that’s true, it may not matter.”
  • A Step by Step Guide to Running a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
    “Okay, so you have final­ly decid­ed to raise mon­ey for your busi­ness through crowd­fund­ing. Well, below is a detailed step by step guide to set­ting up and run­ning a suc­cess­ful crowd­fund­ing cam­paign online.

  • A Step by Step Guide to Running a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
    “Okay, so you have final­ly decid­ed to raise mon­ey for your busi­ness through crowd­fund­ing. Well, below is a detailed step by step guide to set­ting up and run­ning a suc­cess­ful crowd­fund­ing cam­paign online.

  • In Praise of the Creative Support Group: How Your Friends Effect Your Design Work

    For the mod­ern cre­ative, it has nev­er been eas­i­er to show your work to audi­ences around the world. Connective tech­nol­o­gy has made it pos­si­ble to col­lab­o­rate on and dis­play your projects across time zones and bor­ders. But all of this con­nec­tiv­i­ty comes at a cost: anonymity. 

  • Enterprise In 2013: Enterprise Ascends Into The Cloud
    “Enterprises ascend, spies abound and drones descend. A look back at the the enter­prise in 2013.”
  • Enterprise In 2013: Enterprise Ascends Into The Cloud
    “Enterprises ascend, spies abound and drones descend. A look back at the the enter­prise in 2013.”
  • The You’ve Got Mail Website From 1998 Is Still Up And Wow The Internet Was Terrible Then

    If you head over to http://​you​ve​g​ot​mail​.warner​bros​.com/ – yes, we’re all sur­prised it’s not .geoc­i­ties or .angelfire, too – it’s like step­ping into an inter­net time cap­sule, where weird, impossible-to-navigate site maps were still real things. After a kind reminder that you can buy the film on DVD or VHS, you’re tak­en to the best Flash intro you’ve ever seen:”

  • Why Designers Leave
    “But some­times, it is none of these things. Sometimes, a design­er finds her­self work­ing some­where that is doing well, that has ample learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, that is wide open for impact. In such cir­cum­stances, why would a design­er leave?

  • Conflict Strategies for Nice People – Harvard Business Review

    Teams need con­flict to func­tion effec­tive­ly. Conflict allows the team to come to terms with dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions, to syn­the­size diverse per­spec­tives, and to make sure solu­tions are well thought-out. Conflict is uncom­fort­able, but it is the source of true inno­va­tion and also a crit­i­cal process in iden­ti­fy­ing and mit­i­gat­ing risks.

  • FiftyThree, Makers of the Original “Paper” App, Apply for Trademark to Fight off Facebook

    When news of Facebook’s “Paper” app first hit the Internet, I thought it sound­ed famil­iar and couldn’t put my fin­ger on why. Turns out, it’s because there’s already an app in exis­tence that’s named Paper, and its cre­ators are maaad at Facebook. 

  • Facebook’s Paper vs. Flipboard: Comparing Mobile News Apps
    “With its tiled lay­out and gesture-based user inter­face, it feels very sim­i­lar to Flipboard’s suite of apps. We put both apps side by side to see how the two stack up. Here’s how they compare:”
  • Mattel VP Insists Barbie Doesn’t Harm Girls’ Self-Images, Girls Don’t Play That Way

    Clearly, the influ­ences for girls on those types of issues, whether it’s body image or any­thing else, it’s proven, it’s peers, moms, par­ents, it’s their social cir­cles. When they’re play­ing, they’re play­ing. It’s a princess-fairy-fashionista-doctor-astronaut, and that’s all one girl. She’s tak­ing her Corvette to the moon, and her space­ship to the gro­cery store. That is lit­er­al­ly how girls play.”

  • Mattel VP Insists Barbie Doesn’t Harm Girls’ Self-Images, Girls Don’t Play That Way

    Clearly, the influ­ences for girls on those types of issues, whether it’s body image or any­thing else, it’s proven, it’s peers, moms, par­ents, it’s their social cir­cles. When they’re play­ing, they’re play­ing. It’s a princess-fairy-fashionista-doctor-astronaut, and that’s all one girl. She’s tak­ing her Corvette to the moon, and her space­ship to the gro­cery store. That is lit­er­al­ly how girls play.”

  • Mattel VP Insists Barbie Doesn’t Harm Girls’ Self-Images, Girls Don’t Play That Way

    Clearly, the influ­ences for girls on those types of issues, whether it’s body image or any­thing else, it’s proven, it’s peers, moms, par­ents, it’s their social cir­cles. When they’re play­ing, they’re play­ing. It’s a princess-fairy-fashionista-doctor-astronaut, and that’s all one girl. She’s tak­ing her Corvette to the moon, and her space­ship to the gro­cery store. That is lit­er­al­ly how girls play.”

  • 5 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Photography Business

    The first step is to deter­mine if tech­ni­cal pro­fi­cien­cy is at a lev­el to pro­vide a qual­i­ty, con­sis­tent prod­uct to each client that comes through the door. The impor­tance of deliv­er­ing con­sis­tent­ly rests in word of mouth mar­ket­ing and pre­vent­ing dis­ap­point­ment when a client’s expec­ta­tions are not met.

  • 4 Easy ways to ask for refer­rals with­out ask­ing for referrals
    “Referrals are one of the best ways to get new clients. They are a chance at new busi­ness, with a warm intro­duc­tion. Referrals are as good as gold.

    They can also be very uncom­fort­able to ask for.”

  • Are Ebook Subscription Services Worth It?
    “Just like with Netflix or Hulu, you pay a month­ly sub­scrip­tion fee, and you get access to a library of books (which coin­ci­den­tal­ly you can also get access to at your library or through Amazon’s Lending Library). Let’s start with a basic breakd…
  • Adobe’s John Nack Moving to Google Digital Photography Team

    Merlin Mann once asked me, “What do you want ten times more of?” I knew the answer: Impact. I’m so proud of the impact I’ve had at Adobe. From Smart Objects to Photoshop’s first-ever pub­lic beta* to count­less lit­tle tweaks over the years (“I swear because I care!!”), I’m proud of that lega­cy. Now, though, I’ll get a chance to work on some new projects. It’s about doing some­thing very dif­fer­ent from, and I think com­ple­men­tary to**, the work I’ve done at Adobe.”

  • Vacation Meets Remote Working – Law Firm Pays Attorneys to Take Vacations… As Long as They Work Remotely During Normal Hours
    “Everybody is used to tak­ing a vaca­tion from work, but what about tak­ing a vaca­tion to work? That’s exact­ly what one com­pa­ny is offer­ing their employ­ees: They’ll give you $2,000 to go any­where you want, and work like you’re in the office…


  • Inside the design of the Facebook Paper iPhone app
    “The inter­face has been built from the ground up for touch devices. Users can, for exam­ple, tilt their phone to show dif­fer­ent parts of a high-resolution panoram­ic pho­to from cor­ner to cor­ner, and see faces and oth­er impor­tant details up close,…