kmdesign » Design Inspiration http://blog.karentsui.com Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:37:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 en hourly 1 Useful Web Design Proposal Resources, Tools and Apps http://blog.karentsui.com/useful-web-design-proposal-resources-tools-and-apps/ http://blog.karentsui.com/useful-web-design-proposal-resources-tools-and-apps/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:31:22 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1986 Lets face it there is no enjoyment in writing a proposals. You became a web designer to build web sites, no one thought to mention anything about the processes you would have to follow to find new contracts and clients. Unfortunately, web design proposals are one of those essential processes you have to learn, and learn well.

The biggest question I have asked myself in the past is – “Are they really worth all this hassle?” The answer sadly is YES, they are.

A client contacts you regarding a new web site, you will discuss it first, you will then ask him to fill out a project questionnaire, and then they they will no doubt ask “How much will that cost?”. You will have to explain to them that you will have to analyze the details of the project and that you will be in touch in a few days with the report.
Now, it is those details that clients like. It is those details that will decide whether you get the contract or not. Not only will you have to convey, within the proposal, a comprehensive account of the processes involved in developing the project, you will also have to convince them that you know exactly what you are doing and that you are the best person for the job. It has to build your clients confidence from the start and allow them to trust your expertise.

http://speckyboy.com/2010/01/18/useful-web-design-proposal-resources-tools-and-apps/

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/useful-web-design-proposal-resources-tools-and-apps/feed/ 1 20 Email Design Best Practices and Resources http://blog.karentsui.com/20-email-design-best-practices-and-resources/ http://blog.karentsui.com/20-email-design-best-practices-and-resources/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:24:32 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1980 http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/20-email-design-best-practices-and-resources-for-beginners/

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/20-email-design-best-practices-and-resources/feed/ 0 Approximate Conversion from Points to Pixels (and Ems and %) http://blog.karentsui.com/approximate-conversion-from-points-to-pixels-and-ems-and/ http://blog.karentsui.com/approximate-conversion-from-points-to-pixels-and-ems-and/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:35:13 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1977 Here’s a chart that converts points to pixels (and ems and %). It’s an approximation, which will depend on font, browser and OS, but it’s a good starting point.

Points

Pixels

Ems

Percent

6pt

8px

0.5em

50%

7pt

9px

0.55em

55%

7.5pt

10px

0.625em

62.5%

8pt

11px

0.7em

70%

9pt

12px

0.75em

75%

10pt

13px

0.8em

80%

10.5pt

14px

0.875em

87.5%

11pt

15px

0.95em

95%

12pt

16px

1em

100%

13pt

17px

1.05em

105%

13.5pt

18px

1.125em

112.5%

14pt

19px

1.2em

120%

14.5pt

20px

1.25em

125%

15pt

21px

1.3em

130%

16pt

22px

1.4em

140%

17pt

23px

1.45em

145%

18pt

24px

1.5em

150%

20pt

26px

1.6em

160%

22pt

29px

1.8em

180%

24pt

32px

2em

200%

26pt

35px

2.2em

220%

27pt

36px

2.25em

225%

28pt

37px

2.3em

230%

29pt

38px

2.35em

235%

30pt

40px

2.45em

245%

32pt

42px

2.55em

255%

34pt

45px

2.75em

275%

36pt

48px

3em

300%
]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/approximate-conversion-from-points-to-pixels-and-ems-and/feed/ 0 Free Slideshow application: WebSlide http://blog.karentsui.com/free-slideshow-application-webslide/ http://blog.karentsui.com/free-slideshow-application-webslide/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:30:05 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1934 WebSlide is a JavaScript based web application front-end for presenting mockups and other images in a web browser. Click in the demo area and either click buttons with your mouse, or use shortcut keys →, ←, z, x, and n. WebSlide by Paul Armstrong is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. It is currently for personal use only.

webslide

Features

  • No server-side requirements
  • User-configurable
  • Create custom themes with CSS
  • Keyboard navigation
  • Zoom images in & out
  • Optional password protection

View Full Demo

Download

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All the templates are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. In simple terms, this means you’re free to use the web templates as you like.

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/14-totally-free-css-templates/feed/ 2 Free Invoicing Application: BambooInvoice http://blog.karentsui.com/free-invoicing-application-bambooinvoice/ http://blog.karentsui.com/free-invoicing-application-bambooinvoice/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:30:52 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1627 BambooInvoice is free Open Source invoicing software intended for small businesses and independent contractors. It has an Ajaxed interface (totally unobtrusive) with structured & meaningful XHTML.

bamboo_invoice

BambooInvoice enables anyone to:

  • Add/edit/delete clients & related contacts,
  • Create invoices for clients, send them via e-mail, generate PDFs or print them, and
  • Define the payments made to the system to follow them

Also, a reports feature displays a financial snapshot of the given period.

download_btn

Features

  • You are in control. BambooInvoice sits on your server. Its your data. You never need to trust your invoicing data to anyone else, and you can get it out of the system easily.
  • BambooInvoice is easy to use, and easy on the eyes.
  • BambooInvoice is actively used and developed.
  • BambooInvoice is built atop modern coding standards. Its a XHTML-strict, WAI conforming, CSS using treat!
  • BambooInvoice is internationalized. Currently it is available in English, French, German, Dutch, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Swedish, Italian, and Estonian with new languages being added all the time.
  • Built on the excellent CodeIgniter project.
  • BambooInvoice is released under the GPL.
  • You’ll be the coolest kid on your block if you use BambooInvoice

Requirements

BambooInvoice is built using PHP 5 and needs a database (MySQL and MySQLi 4.1+ are known to work, and drivers are included for MSSQL, Postgre, OCI8, SQLite, and ODBC). In order to generate PDFs, you’ll need the DOM extension enabled.

download_btn

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/free-invoicing-application-bambooinvoice/feed/ 1 Free Flash XML News Slider with AS3 http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-news-slider-with-as3/ http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-news-slider-with-as3/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:31:09 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1497 This Flash automate news slider (AS3 code) which uses XML for fetching the data. The main propose of this news slider is show news on the front page, with a title, an image, some descriptive text, and a link to the full article.

It loads 4 articles and changes from one article to another automatically in a lapsus of time, and the user could stop, rewind or forward whenever you want.

flash_news_slider

You can view the demo of this good looking news slider here, or download the source from the author’s website. There is a tutorial on author website as well.

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-news-slider-with-as3/feed/ 0 Free Flash XML Accordion Menu: FameID Menu http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-accordion-menu-fameid-menu/ http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-accordion-menu-fameid-menu/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:38:19 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1491 FameID Menu is an easily configurable and XML driven menu that allows to add navigation menus to your website in no time. It does not require any programming skills nor takes long to install and configure. It is straight-forward and can be transformed from one look to another in minutes. You can set up different configuration sets (looks) for your menu and load up any of them at any time.
It is very flexible in the way that it can be configured so that you can change almost anything in its look. Things like items’ background images, transparency levels, colours, sizes, speed of animation, general looks of items, their borders or their submenus can be changed by just editing a common confuration file, which is written in plain text.
You can see some of the examples here.
Flash_Accordion_Menu

Configuration options of this Flash XML accordion menu:

  • Background images of any menu items
  • Dimensions of the whole menu
  • Dimensions of the menu items when they are active (unfolded)
  • Transparency animation levels of menu items
  • Almost any setting for each menu item, such as colour, position, size, transparency etc.
  • Menu items’ header texts and link URLs
  • Choice of targeting simple URLs, frames or named windows
  • Addition of submenus to any menu’s item using XML
  • The look of submenu’s background panels
  • Speed of animation
  • Custom images for submenu’s button images
  • Ability to always display menu item’s text headers or only display them when the item is active
]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/free-flash-xml-accordion-menu-fameid-menu/feed/ 0 1000+ Book Cover Design Archive http://blog.karentsui.com/1000-book-cover-design-archive/ http://blog.karentsui.com/1000-book-cover-design-archive/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:42:14 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1513 Today we would like to share a website of book cover design and designers archive.
The Book Cover Archive, for the appreciation and categorization of excellence in book cover design. It is a great resource of book covers for you design nerds doing some cover artwork, or, just looking for some design inspiration. The site is edited and maintained by Ben Pieratt of General Projects and Eric Jacobsen of Whisky Van Gogh Go.

book_cover_design

Check out the website here!

]]> http://blog.karentsui.com/1000-book-cover-design-archive/feed/ 0 Advertising: Knorr Salty final TVC http://blog.karentsui.com/advertising-knorr-salty-final-tvc/ http://blog.karentsui.com/advertising-knorr-salty-final-tvc/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:05:27 +0000 kmdesign http://blog.karentsui.com/?p=1507

So sad and cute…

Agency: DDB, Toronto
Creative Director: Andrew Simon
Art Director: Paul Wallace, Shelley Lewis
Copywriter: David Ross
Agency Producer:Andrew Schulze
Director: David Hicks
Production Company: Sons and Daughters, Toronto
Director of Photography: Adam Marsden
Visual Effects: AXYZ, Toronto
Lead Animator/Shading/Lighting: Dennis Turner

Knorr Salty finalAgency: DDB, Toronto
Creative Director: Andrew Simon
Art Director: Paul Wallace, Shelley Lewis
Copywriter: David Ross
Agency Producer:Andrew Schulze
Director: David Hicks
Production Company: Sons and Daughters, Toronto
Director of Photography: Adam Marsden
Visual Effects: AXYZ, Toronto
Lead Animator/Shading/Lighting: Dennis Turner

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