BryanWatson.ca

Lisa Tse Design Dollars

Bryan Watson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:51:38 +0000

Source

TheDieline.com

Lisa Tse Creative Consulting prints their own money: “In uncertain times, creative strategy in business has never been more valuable.”

Reflecting the economic challenges on every firm’s mind, Lisa Tse Ltd has printed its own currency, Design Dollars, to distribute to friends and clients during these tough times. These signature black one hundred design dollar bills can be shared and represent the commercial value design affords, where creative thinking plays an integral part in any successful business strategy.

Lisa Tse Design Dollars have been produced in a limited circulation. “Lucky recipients are invited to explore new opportunities and witness the dividends a creative approach to business can deliver.”

25 Handwritten Fonts

Bryan Watson — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:37:55 +0000

Source

Steven Snell of DesignM.ag
http://designm.ag

I came across this in my daily crawl of design sites, this was too good a resource to not re-post. I’ve used many of these fonts in both professional and personal projects.

Handwritten fonts add a personal touch that is often forgotten among the trend of sans-serifs currently. These free fonts have the ability to give emotion to a piece, and more importantly reinforce the idea that there is a human behind this website or design. There is someone actually trying to communicate to the audience, and it’s not ‘computer generated perfection’. The variations and characteristics of each font makes these resources an essential tool for any designer.

The use of certain fonts is an easy way to give a design a hand-drawn effect. Fortunately, there are a number of fonts in this style that are freely available. In this post we’ll showcase 25 of the best. As always when you are dealing with freebies, be sure to check the usage restrictions from the designer.

Whiteboard Modern Demo

Mia’s Scribblings

Estrya’s Handwriting

Wireless Electricity

Bryan Watson — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:45:25 +0000

Eric Giler wants to untangle our wired lives with cable-free electric power. Here, he covers what this sci-fi tech offers, and demos MIT’s breakthrough version, WiTricity — a near-to-market invention that may soon recharge your cell phone, car, pacemaker.(Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 10:10)

This a very practical use of conceptual theory that turned into a soon-to-be everyday technology. Eventually, we will be able to do away with batteries and wires completely, making everything truly modular.

WordPress Customization

Bryan Watson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:29:30 +0000

Software Used:

Photoshop CS3

Dreamweaver CS3

WordPress Customization. A customized WordPress front and backend for a company’s Staff Portal. Featuring a user interface and visual style consistent with their website, this staff portal is a great example of the flexibility of WordPress as a content management system.

Gathering inspiration, imagery, and content from their website set a solid standpoint for the visual communication, and overall user interface for the CMS. Complementing the attractive frontend design is a simplified self-administrated backend. This web panel allows for their outlets across the nation to update and create new content without having to worry about the code, as the post options feature a complete WSYIWYG editor.

The overall goal for this project was to create a portal for this company’s Staff all across Canada, and have a flexible design to incorporate multiple ads, as well as being a hub for quarterly produced video newsletters that will be hosted on the site. This was achieved with the customization of WordPress, and met all of the client’s expectations and more.

View WordPress Customization

Alliance Web Design

Bryan Watson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:36:08 +0000

Software Used:

Photoshop CS4

Dreamweaver CS4

Flash CS4

Coda

Alliance Tree Care Web Design. A full website complete with custom Flash carousel, Lightbox, and professionally styled contact forms.

Alliance Tree Care came to me to build their online presence, and provide an easy way to supply information about their services, and interact with potential customers on a more personal level. The site infrastructure was based around their needs, and a flash carousel and lightbox were incorporated to increase the visual appeal and quality of their company. An earth tone color scheme matched their corporate color, and tied the entire feel of the website together.

Also, a custom contact form allows their clients to ask topical based questions about their services, at the same time providing Alliance Tree Care with a strong database of contact information. This was a great project to be a part of, and Alliance Tree Care was ecstatic about the end result.