The Philosophy of Typography

A sixty-page book covering the philosophical & semiotic aspects of typography, with content based on lectures by a SCAD professor & Robert Bringhurst’s “The Elements of Typographic Style.”

Check out Steven Acres on: BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO | TWITTER

The Definition of RSS

RSS (most commonly expanded as “Really Simple Syndication“) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed” or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.
def – wiki

Using RSS in Blogging

Running a blog and having a RSS address is really useful in not only one way. Having a RSS FEED entitles your readers to have access to your blogs content without having to visit your actual blog. They subscribe to your RSS FEED through the address and then open your blogs feed in the reader of their choice. This makes it easier for readers to decide where they will be commenting and visiting. What I mean is that the reader can now decide if its worth navigating to the actual blog or moving on to the next article of another blog. I know that I don’t want to keep visiting different blogs to find out what content they have in store for me today and then they have a article that I’m not interested in at all. Following your favorite blogs through a Feed Reader is just so much easier and it saves you time.

Different Feed Readers

There are numerous feed readers around that you can use to subscribe to the different blogs of your choice, but the most popular feed readers are:

1. Google Reader

2. Feed Reader 3

3. Bloglines

4. FeedDemon

5. NetVibes

6. RSSOwl

All these readers are eligible to handle your Subscribed feeds with ease and they are very easy to set up. I personally prefer Google Reader, due to having it linked with one of my email accounts. You are free to choose any one you like though.

Making Your Feed Stand Out

Once you have setup your feed address for your blog make sure it is clearly visible to first time visitors. I recommend putting at the top of your blog layout and at the bottom of your single posts layout. Having your Feed Stand out makes it easier for visitors to notice and subscribe. Another option is to display your Feed Subscriber count, this shows users that you have a decent following and that you are delivering content worth reading.  I have rounded up 5 RSS examples that shows you how you have to make your RSS stand out, yet keeping it simple and fine tuned.

Email Subscriptions

Another key benefit for your readers is to have your feeds delivered straight to their email addresses. That’s why having the option to subscribe via email on your blog front page is really worth it. You will be surprised to know how many people actually subscribe to feeds via email. If you don’t have your email subscription setup yet. Go to your Feedburner.com homepage and click on Publicize and then navigate to Email Subscriptions. Follow the instructions on page and activate your email subscription service. Use the Sign Up address provided and incorporate it into your blog.

Hopefully this article helped you out a bit.

I have sorted them in alphabetical order with their RSS links Right Next to the titles.

1. 1st Webdesigner | RSS

2. Abduzeedo | RSS

3. Already Been Chewed | RSS

4. BittBox | RSS

5. Blog SpoonGraphics | RSS

6. ColorBurned | RSS

7. Design Informer | RSS

8. Design Reviver | RSS

9. DesignM.ag | RSS

10. Blog of Francesco Mugnai | RSS

11. Fudge Graphics | RSS

12. Fuel Your Blogging | RSS

13. Fuel Your Creativity | RSS

14. GoMedia Zine | RSS

15. Inspired Magazine | RSS

16. InstantShift | RSS

17. Media Militia | RSS

18. Naldz Graphics | RSS

19. Noupe | RSS

20. Six Revisions | RSS

21. Smashing Magazine | RSS

22. The Design Cubicle | RSS

23. The Pro Designer | RSS

24. Think Design | RSS

25. Vandelay Design | RSS

26. Visual Swirl | RSS

27. Web Design Booth | RSS

28. WebDesigner Depot | RSS

29. WebDesignFan | RSS

30. Work Awesome | RSS

Step One: Keep Track of Your Time

Image: wwarby

Time is money, so it’s one of the freelancer’s most valuable assets. Managing your time efficiently can make all the difference to your finances so it is essential to maintain control of work schedules. Harvest (www.getharvest.com) is a simple time-tracking and invoicing application that enables effective time management. The package allows users to quickly and intuitively track schedules, log expenses, run reports and bill clients.

Step Two: Manage Your Invoices

Image: vvvracer

It’s important to manage your invoices to make sure you get paid on time and that your finances are up to date. FreshBooks (www.freshbooks.com) is a great application for swiftly and simply sending, tracking and collecting payments. The package has features that can ease organisation of finances, make invoices look professional and enable tracking on the go with the connected iPhone app.

Step Three: Make the most of Online Banking

Image: aresauburn

Internet banking allows simple bank transfers, and it’s simple to check your bank accounts online to monitor income and outgoings. Anyone who has used eBay will be familiar with PayPal as a means to pay for goods, but it is also a useful tool to fall back on to receive online payments from clients. It’s also useful to have separate bank account for all your freelance finances, separate from your personal accounts, to maintain a boundary between business and leisure.

Step Four: Track Your Expenses

Image: AndresRueda

It’s important to keep accurate records of all your expenditure throughout the financial year to ensure you don’t waste money unnecessarily. Wesabe (www.wesabe.com) is a great package for tracking expenditure, setting and checking targets, and graphically visualising spending. Importantly, Wesabe is a community-based application, so growing numbers of users can share financial tips and real-life experiences.

Step Five: Get Your Taxes Right

Image: alancleaver 2000

If you are a freelancer working alone for a handful of clients the yearly tax return should be reasonably straight forward, and HMRC’s online self-assessment (www.hmrc.gov.uk) is a fairly intuitive way to file your tax return. If, however, you are outsourcing work, employing staff or renting workspace then taxes may become more complicated. The bigger your business, the more complex your tax issues are likely to be, so it might be necessary to get help of some sort. This could be in the form of software such as TurboTax (www.turbotax.intuit.com), an application for preparing tax returns ensuring you pay the correct amount. The package can be tailored to suit the nature and size of your business. It may also be necessary to employ the services of a professional accountant; if so make sure it is someone affordable within your budget and whom you can comfortably discuss your financial affairs.

Step Six: Get the Best Help

Image: futureshape

When working as a freelancer it is important to acknowledge your capabilities and limitations, so if your finances are become difficult or you can’t unravel your accounts then it’s good to get help and advice. Aside from accountants, there are many other sources of financial information for freelancers including online advice from sites such as Freelance: UK (www.freelanceuk.com). If you run into difficulties with your finances, the Citizens Advice Bureau (www.citizensadvice.org.uk) offers free information and guidance services.

Step Seven: Enjoy the Freelancing Life

Image: Matt Honan

There are many reasons to become a freelancer, but it is unlikely to be for the joys of managing your own accounts. The freedom to work independently shouldn’t get bogged down in troublesome financial difficulties. By managing your finances efficiently and seeking the right help when you need it, you can hopefully achieve the right balance and concentrate on the creative work that is at the center of the freelancing life.

Freelancing gets easier with the amount of experience that you build up over time and that’s how you become successful in what you do. My Main inspiration for this article was when I read DesignReviver’s – So You Call Yourself A Designer? written by Niki Brown. Its funny how many people just purchase Computers and get Design Software and call themselves Designers or Freelancers, to be honest they don’t know the first thing about Designing or Freelancing. They definitely don’t know that it’s one of the Hardest Jobs in the world, I suppose a lot of people don’t know that Freelancing is one of the Hardest Jobs in the world? That just the reason for me writing this article, to actually tell people that what we do isn’t a very easy job at all. Let’s get on with the article.

1. Freelancers deal with the Feast and Famine Cycle.

Like I noted in my introduction to this article, Freelancers have a very inconsistent job, one month they could be soaring above the clouds and the next month they could be nipping to pay the bills. The experience gained by these different situations are definitely critical for the future of the Freelancer and he/she learns from their mistakes.

2. Working from home comes with a lot of Distractions.

Yes, being a freelancer you have the opportunity to work from home and be close to your family, but this comes with distractions. Like the quote from the popular movie Spider written by Stan Lee, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” We could fit that quote in with working from home, “With Comfort comes Distractions.” What I am saying is that if you are working on a major project and Timmy “Your Son” falls off his bike, you aren’t going to continue working, you’re going to run to his aid and help him out and explain to him what he had done wrong etc. Another scenario with working from home is that there is always noise in and around the house with the kids and their friends or your wife having a get together with her friends. Those are just two examples, believe me there is much more.

3. If you don’t find Clients, you don’t have any work.

This is one problem a lot of beginning freelancers face, not having enough work to make it through the month. You will have to literally search for your clients the first few months of freelancing, mainly because no one really knows you just yet. I’m not talking about your family and friends, I’m talking about the market. Freelancers have to Market themselves, it isn’t like being in a Agency where you advertise Big.

4. If you’re Sick or Hospitalized, your Business stands still.

It isn’t like being part of a Agency where you get paid even if you’re absent from work. In this case if you don’t work, your absent or sick your business comes to a staggering halt. You don’t get paid, you aren’t able to pay the bills and you aren’t able to uphold your family, be sure to prepare for any situation or tragedy that could arise.

5. You have to manage every aspect of the Business on your own.

Managing your Business solely on your own could be a very heavy burden if you aren’t prepared for it. You have to take care of the physical services, Invoicing, quoting, clients, marketing, branding to mention a few. If you haven’t prepared for these tasks they could really become quite heavy on your shoulders, perhaps sending you into a downward spiral. If you are motivated and determined that is yet another story.

6. Balancing Your Work and Social Life.

Working from home you could find it hard to balance your work and social life. You will constantly be in contact with your working environment and constantly be thinking about clients, you won’t be able to rest or take time off. You have to separate your working environment from your social environment, meaning LOCK your home office when the weekend comes, so you don’t accidentally stray into working mode.

Artist: Jacques van Heerden // An1ken
Occupation: Digital Artist
Portfolio: www.an1ken.net
Blog: www.creativeoverflow.net

Final Preview:

Tutorial Requirements:

Time: 20-30mins
Difficulty: Beginner
Brushes: Grunge | Splatter

Step 1:

Open up Photoshop and create a new canvas with the size 2000 x 1500px, now create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer (CTRL+ SHIFT+N) and fill it with Purple #8a39c2. Now right click on your new layer and select Blending Options, or Double Click on your Layer. Now select Gradient Overlay from the side panel and use the settings I used below and you should have the same outcome that I do below.

Step 2:

Now set your foreground color to Light Purple #b690d0 and grab your Custom Shape Tool (Shift+U) and right click on your canvas, this will bring up a Selection panel. Make sure you have All your shapes present in the Custom Shape tool, if you aren’t sure click the small arrow on the top right of the box and then select “All”. Append your selection IF prompted, if not then don’t worry about it. Scroll down the shapes and select the Illusion type circle, I have marked it below.

Now Create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer (CTRL + SHIFT+N) remember to check that your foreground color is still #b690d0 and then Create Your Shape On your Canvas, but make the edges overlap your Canvas. It will be a pretty big Shape. At the moment you will only see a outline, these are called Paths. To fill the Path select your pen tool and right click on the canvas and hit Fill Path. Then right click on the canvas again after you have filled your path and select Delete Path. My screen shot below shows you the size of my shape before I deleted the Paths.

Set the blending mode of your Shape layer to Soft Light, it should start looking better. Now go up to Filter>Distort>Twirl set the Angle to 286 degress and hit OK. Now Press CTRL+F or go to Filter>Twirl, using the Shortcut (CTRL+F) it repeats the last effect used. Here is my result so far.

Step 3:

Now create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer and set your foreground color to Light Purple #c379d7 and select your brush tool. For this step your going to need Grunge Brushes and Splatter Brushes, Come up with something unique, remember to keep the foreground color #c379d7. Here is my outcome after adding some brushes.

Step 4:

Here comes the part where you transform the entire piece, you wouldn’t think something so simple would be able to pull it off. Here it goes. Go up to Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient FIll now hit OK when prompted. Use the settings below that I used to see the result. The gradient used is a default Photoshop Gradient. I have pointed it out below.

Now Hit OK and there you go. Effect achieved.

Step 5:

Now to add the little details. Create a New Layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N) and set your foreground color to Black #000000 now go to your brush tool and choose a 15px hard brush and now select your pen tool. With your Newly created layer selected draw a line 45 degrees between the two colors. Now right click your pen tool on the canvas and hit Stroke Path. Make sure you have chosen Brush and that simulate Pressure is turned off. Make sure to delete the path when you are done.

Now Create another New layer and select your Circle Marquee tool and draw a circle in the middle of the canvas and fill it with Black #000000. Now go to Select>Deselect and then grab your Type Tool and make sure your Type Color is White #FFFFFF and position your type in the middle of The black circle and your done. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

1. Freelancers work much less than in-house Designers

Being a Freelancer definitely doesn’t mean you work much less than a In-house Designer, it actually means you work more. Yes, thats correct you work more than a In-house Designer. Reason being you don’t have set working hours and you don’t have colleague’s to help you out with little things. You have to do everything yourself.

2. Freelancers are unsupervised, they never get their work done on time.

This is a common statement from clients that hire their first Freelance Designers. I can tell you though that Freelancers are really professional in what they do because they have to make a living from their work. This means if he/she doesn’t work and finish the clients projects, he/she doesn’t get payed. Without payment he/she can’t eat, feed the family or pay the bills which ends up with being homeless, without a job. Mainly for this reason Freelance Designers are Professional in their field and get their work done on time.

3. Freelancers don’t have a social life, they spend the entire day on their own.

This isn’t true at all. Freelancers usually take their work to Coffee Shops, or Group Meetings where they interact with people or work together whilst being social. Weekends, depending on the business you run, you can have a lot of social interaction. Just because you work alone doesn’t mean you live being alone.

4. Freelancers only Freelance because they can’t get a real job.

This is definitely a Myth that should be thrown as far away from the word “Freelance” as possible. The only reason Freelancers Freelance is because they know how difficult and irritating it is to work for a Boss or to have a 9-5 job with a company. Other reasons could include that they have already gone through the employment phase and decided to go rogue with the designing career or they have better motivation to work alone than to work in a company environment and being told what to do by a boss.

5. Freelancing is a lot less stressful than working for someone else.

This definitely isn’t true, maybe in some aspects yes, but that undermines the fact that you have to get your own clients and source your own work. If you don’t do that you won’t be earning a income this month. We have already gone through the steps to what happens if you don’t get a income – No Money>No Food>No Bills>No House>HOMELESS. Their is a lot of stress riding on a Freelancers back, but I can say that its definitely the best feeling to be the Owner of your own company or to Freelance by yourself.

THE WINNERS ARE

Congratulations to our Winners, hope you enjoy your prizes.
Looking forward to the next giveaway on Creativeoverflow.

Till then, have a great time.

Artist: Jacques van Heerden // An1ken
Occupation: Digital Artist
Portfolio: An1ken
Blog: Creativeoverflow

Final Preview:

Tutorial Requirements:

Time: 45mins
Difficulty: Beginner
Stocks: Smashed Glass – I have no Idea where I got the Smashed Glass Texture from, anyone to help?
Texture: 24 High-Res Concrete Textures

Introduction:

Today we will creating a Text Effect Tutorial. In this Tutorial we will be smashing the Creative Block into pieces, Literally. I will be teaching you how to use the simple tools of photoshop to your advantage and create a striking text effect. We will be breaking apart the text with simple methods and bring across a message to everyone.

Step 1:

Open up photoshop and create a new canvas with the sizes 1500 x 720px and fill it with Black #000000. Once you have that set up, grab your text tool (T) and choose a nice bold font. In this case I used MyriadBold, at a size of 70pt and Filled White #FFFFFF. I centered the text on the canvas and then rasterized the layer. To Rasterize make sure your text layer is selected and then go to Layer>Rasterize>Type – this will turn your text layer into a flat layer, ready for editing. Name the layer Creative. You should have something like this below.

Step 2:

Now that you have your Type setup on the canvas and your layer Rasterized. Its time to get editing. Grab your pen tool – make sure at the top that you have Paths option selected, we don’t want to work with Shape Layers in this tutorial. Make sure your Creative layer is selected, now use your pen tool and draw a line around the middle part of the C, then when you have closed your path make sure you right click and hit Make Selection, Make sure you choose 0 Radius when the box comes up – just hit OK. Then go to Edit>Cut (CTRL + X) Now go to Edit>Paste (CTRL + V) this should paste half the C into a new layer. By using the Move Tool (V) you are able to move the half C around and position it as you like. This is my outcome.

Pen Tool:

Outcome:

Step 3:

In this step I will show you have I made the R stretch up like that. Firstly Duplicate your Creative Layer by selecting the layer and going to Layer>Duplicate layer… Now hide that layer by clicking the Little Eye Icon next the the layer name on the left hand side. Now create a new layer below your Creative copy layer and grab your pen tool. Now create a Sharp Triangle Shape over the R and then fill it with Black #000000, be sure that you filled the layer in the New Layer you created below the Creative Copy Layer.

Now that you have your black filled shape covering your R unhide the Creative copy layer above it and then right click the layer and select Create Clipping Mask (CTRL + ALT + G). You shouldn’t see a change just yet, but grab your move tool (V) and move the Creative copy Layer down a bit, you will see it influences the feel of the R. Move the layer to a position that you are happy with.

Step 4:

Now that we have our R sorted out its time to move onto the next letters. Using the Same techniques as earlier let’s shift and delete and play around with the EATIVE text. A brief run through the steps are Make sure your Creative Layer is selected and grab your Pen tool, select the part of the letter you want to move and then Cut it, Edit>Cut (CTRL+X) and then Paste it Edit>Paste (CTRL+V) and then use the Move Tool (V) to shift the shapes around. I will give you some time now to run through the letters, I will show you the progress of my letters below.

E:

A:

T:

I:

V:

E:

Step 5:

Now that your Creative word is totaly sliced up and moved around its time to bring in our second word. “Block” Grab your type tool and Type BLOCK with the same font and a size of 40pt filled white #FFFFFF. Rasterize the layer by going to Layer>Rasterize>Type or Right Click>Rasterize. Now your word is setup and ready to go. Their is nothing fancy about cutting up the word block in this tutorial, play around and use your imagination. Select the parts and cut and paste them and move them around to create a sliced feel of the word. This was my outcome after I sliced up the word Block as well.

Step 6:

Now we are past the hard part of the tutorial. Now we are going to use stock images to just spice up the piece a bit. Firstly get yourself a nice concrete texture, I used one out of my 24 High-Res Concrete Textures available here on Creativeoverflow. I placed the concrete texture above all my other layers and then set the Blending Mode to Darken. Now, this might take some concentration, you have to Hold down CTRL + SHIFT and click each individual Layer’s Tiny Window. This will highlight the Layer with the selection tool. Go down your layers list and be sure to select all of them. This is what your selected items should look like with the texture on top.

Now go to your Texture layer and select it by just clicking on it and then select the Add Vector Mask button on your layers pallett, its right next the the FX button at the bottom. Another alternative is to go to Layer>Vector Mask>Hide all and then use your brush with white to fill the highlighted areas.

Step 7:

I know that the piece doesn’t look very attractive at the moment, but we will change that. Go to your Textured layer and select your Burn Tool (O). Set the exposure to 50% and choose a medium sized soft brush. Burn the edges of the Letters to create a contrasting effect. I have pointed them out to you in the preview below.

Step 8:

Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness and Contrast – Set the Brightness to +14 and the Contrast to +100. This should add some depth to your Lettering, but not enough. We are going to a layer style to the sliced pieces. Double click on one of the sliced pieces and choose a Drop Shadow and. Use the settings below. then hit OK.

Now right click on your layer that you just adding the Layer Style to and select Copy Layer Style. Now Select all the Sliced Layers, excluding your two word layers (Creative and Block), Your R layer and Textured Layer. You can select them by holding down CTRL and clicking on each layers name. Once you have them all selected right click on anyone of them and select Paste Layer Style. This should add a large amount of depth and diversity to your letters.

Step 9:

Now create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N) and then fill it with Black #000000 now set the blending mode of the layer to Color Dodge and select your brush tool. Use a fairly large soft brush with striking colors, example orange, Green, Pink, Blue. I used Green and orange and vaguely touched the edges of the Text. Next I created another New Layer and filled it with Black #000000, I set the Blending Mode to Overlay and grabbed my Brush tool with the same soft brush and just selected White #FFFFFF as my foreground color. I brushed on the lettering to bring out some light and highlights in the text.

Step 10:

Our final step for this tutorial is pretty basic, we use the Smashed Glass image and import it into our Composition. We set the blending mode of the layer to Linear Dodge and we erase some of the parts that we don’t want. Now you are done with the tutorial. Hopefully you have smashed your creative block into pieces. You are more than welcome to add on your own bits and pieces, but I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.