I’m always hunting for really good advanced Photoshop tutorials. Below are a few of the better ones I’ve found:

http://www.dennisplucinik.com

http://www.photoshopgurus.com

http://www.webdesign.org

Is there an advantage to using the Z axis when designing interfaces?

Below is an example of a 2 Dimensional interface

.

In a 2 Dimensional design proximity and position are the greatest indicators of importance or emphasis. Designers place more important items at the top of the screen (usually) and less important near the bottom. Likewise similar items can be grouped by rows or columns to indicate relationships.

Below is a 3 dimensional representation of the same set

:

Notice how things have changed. Then most important items are lower on the screen and are give greater value using perspective and size. Proximity becomes a factor not only within columns and rows but also with distance. The Z axis also allows the user to see relationships better and to view more elements than before. 8 versus 5 rows are displayed using the same image dimensions.

Here’s a great example of 3 dimensional design

What do you think?

Here’s a great gallery on flicker of very nice web designs. It’s nice to browse if you’re looking for some inspiration.

Photoshop is my tool of choice for visual design. It’s incredibly powerful and has a ton of functionality to make your life easier. One of my favorite features is styles. Styles are a method for saving your layer styles for future use.

After a few tries you like the look of the last button…

In the layer style palette select New Style. You’ll be prompted for a name for your style.

And there you have it. You can recreate the style any time you want with the click of the mouse in the style palette.

I stumbled upon this (actually on Digg but who’s counting)
Web3.0 Is Coming

I think in some ways it’s a repeat of our past. The early 1.0 days were all about creating sites and worry about the finances later. In some ways we’re back in that mode. There’s a lot of VC money out there being placed in companies with cool Web 2.0 applications but very 1.0 business models. This article is about how to cross the threshold of cool and making money.

What drives trends on the web?

For instance, where did the shiny floor come from? Did everyone suddenly start using Murphy’s Oill soap on their web sites?

In the early days of the web there was a trend to mimic the physical space on-line. Making websites that looked and interacted like their physical world counterparts. There were a lot of kiosk and mall type web designs.

As the web matured and usability became a differentiator. Web designs began using the power of the virtual world to its advantage.

As far as graphic design goes I can think of three major trend setters.

1. Apple the shiny logo, cool textures, etc.
2. Microsoft, yes Microsoft. Much like Apple, they have tremendous influence over your working environment everyday. The OS is persistent surrounding every App you use everyday. Think about it, there was a huge explosion of 3D icons after the launch of XP.
3. Adobe. Their products are used by most graphic professionals. As they release features making things easier for designers, we start seeing more of those elements. Think about the gradients we see everywhere on the web. Years ago that was a painful process to create. Now it’s a one click in Photoshop.

There are loads of other influences like TV and movies but I think these are the big three for now…

Yesterday I heard the phrase “we’ll have to train our users to…”

To be fair it’s not the first time I’ve heard this phrase and the past it didn’t seem to bother me (I’ve learned better). First, if a user needs to learn and commit to memory a necessary action to use your software, the only thing you’ll train them to do is to use your competitor’s software.

I know if you have a very committed user base you can sometimes get them to jump through hoops to keep using your software but unless you’re Apple I don’t think it’s a great way to design. First, you start to piss off your best customers by taking them for granted and second you’re raising the level of difficulty for any new users. User’s already have the hardest time using your software the first time so why make it any more painful?

My suggestion: when you hear “train the user” and you’re they guy/gal in the room responsible for design, grab that one by the horns and drag it to the ground. After all, it should “just work“.