There are quite a few trends in web design right now. Some still use a lot of twirly flowerly ornaments, others, following the trends dictated by psdtuts.com and abduzeedo.com have proceeded to glowing lines and starry psychedelic effects but the problem remains with creating the shape in the first place. While some designers, like myself, prefer working with Photoshop shapes, it looks like brushes are still a far more popular and accessible tool for many, so here are the top 10 brushes releases for Summer 2008, which can help you greatly in your artwork or web design.1.  Twirly Glowing Lines Photoshop Brushes

 2. Abstract Glowing Lines Photoshop Brushes

3. Scanlines Photoshop Brushes

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The so-called “vintage” effect is becoming more and more popular, however, not everyone knows how exactly to achieve it. It takes more than a mere sephia effect and adding grain-like, semi-visible  noise. So, allow me to introduce: Hand-coloured Vintage Photoshop action. Action includes: Aging; Colour; Cracks; Bending and as a bonus you have the facility of adding Old Paper Style effect. Moreover, bending the photo, as well as adding the shadow, gives the picture not only a vintage-like result, but also a very nice 3D effect. This can ideally work for a minimalistic wallpaper, portfolio website layout or a collage.

TIP! If you want to see all the steps in the action and learn something (actions are great learning tools), check the “step by step” or “pause for XXX sec” on the playback options. Commands within an action can be also toggled on or off, giving you the option to play each command or bypass recorded commands within the action during playback.

Download the action over artist’s page here. Please remember that this action is for personal use only, if you wish to make use of it for commercial purposes, you need Jenny’s permission.

As you can see from the few examples in the Demo Image, this Vintage Wash Photoshop action gives your creativity and artistism a lot of space for customizing the result.. Each Action will create a layer on top of the one you’re working on, so that you can delete it in case you did not like the effect or want to try another one. Moreover, it’s it’s only one additional layer on top of your photo, it allows you to play with the opacity until you achieve the desired result. To download the Action set, please visit the author’s page here.

When followed, this guide will prove to be quite a valuable web design resource. From the inexperienced to the experienced, this guide has something for everyone.

The Process of Great Web Design Just to make sure we are all on the same page, lets begin with the basic definition for “web design”. According to Wikipedia, web design is:

“a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media delivery via Internet in the form of Markup language suitable for interpretation by Web browser and display as Graphical user interface”.

The process of web design can be compared to the process of writing a research paper. In the conceptualization/planning stage, flowcharts (the outline) are created which illustrate the navigational structure of your website. In the modeling stage, static wireframes are created (the rough draft) which illustrate the skeletal layout for each section of your website. After the wire frames are created, graphics, colors and text are used to create the design of your web pages based on the layout of the wire frames. In the execution stage, your design is converted into a format supported by web browsers, text and content are added, and finally, your website is published live to the Internet for the world to see (final draft).

All three stages of the design process are equally important. Many web designers skip a stage in order to save time or because they don’t think that is is necessary. However, all three stages are necessary if your goal is to create a successful design and respectable website. Even if the three stages are used, there are many mistakes that web designers can make that will lead to poor-quality, non user-friendly websites.
It’s time to clean out the cabinet of bad web design practices and restock it with the good ones.

Stage 1: Conceptualization and planning
This stage is skipped more often than the other two stages. Most writers don’t enjoy creating outlines for research papers, and most web designers don’t like creating flowcharts either. Don’t be lazy. If you put forth the effort and plan out your website, then you will find the web design process to go smoothly with fewer mistakes made along the way.

There are a few things that you will need in order to effectively conceptualize and plan your website:

-a brain
-a pen and paper
-(optional) flowchart software
-a general idea of the different sections of your website Read the rest of this entry »

This is a very generous collection of Photoshop brushes by a Czech guy — Ario Asten. The set includes 195 different brushes, ideal for DK and photo editing. Even though the set mainly concentrates on smudges, semi-transparent and somewhat grungy brushes, it also included lashes, blurry dots, and various smudged shapes. Unfortunately some brushes come in a very small resolution (like 15 pixels in diameter) which means enlarging them results in loss of quality, however others come in a huge format of over 500px.

Bottom line is, this is a very big and useful download that brings you almost 200 artistic and original brushes for rendering, creating effects, and polishing your art.

Download the brushes pack (.abr file)