Max Stanworth, Author at Design Shard

Review: Design Shard Now hosted with WpWebHost

Are you thinking about changing your hosting company, I have, the value and support is mind blowing. I’ve recently changed my hosting from Godaddy to WP WebHost, and its going great. You can find out more below in this review.

About Wp WebHost

WP WebHost is a hosting company that is dedicated to WordPress powered sites, they are a team of web masters that are enthusiastic about WordPress, Wp WebHost began when they were annoyed about other hosting companies not taking WordPress in to consideration on there servers and there fore not having the correct settings to run there blogs properly, so they created there own hosting service specifically for this cause, Wp WebHost, If you want to know more you can visit there about page that has plenty of information.

Pricing & Cost

They have one hosting plan that you can choose but they can also tailor a hosting plan specially for you needs, i think this makes it allot simpler to get started.

Freedom Plan

So the freedom plan which is what Design Shard is hosted on is great you get large amounts of bandwidth per month and can host up to 50 web sites on the same host. Ill outline the pricing and what you get below

50GBs of web space
500GBs of monthly bandwidth
Host up to 50 domain names
WordPress-compatible server
WordPress-savvy support team
$5/month / $80/Year / $120/2 years

Im always creating sites so I jumped at the chance to host with Wp WebHost because of the amount of websites you can have on the same host , I was hosting with Godaddy and I could only have sub domains, with this you can have up to 50 actual domains so that’s 50 website depending on your 50Gbs of storage and 500Gbs of bandwidth per month. There support team is great and would almost defiantly recommend you a hosting plan to suit your needs

I know Godaddy offers an ultimate hosting plan with multiple domains but the pricing is what put me off, if you can calculate how much bandwidth you will use per month you can clearly see how this hosting plan would benefit you.

Money Back Guarantee

Ive noticed on there site they have a guarantee of 100 days that if your not happy you get your money back you cant be fairer than that, they aren’t the sort of company to take you for a ride or at least I haven’t got that impression, I cant see why you would be unsatisfied.

Customer Support

when ever i had to contact support via email their response was within the day sometimes with in the hour which was great to fit round a busy schedule. Their team is well experienced with WordPress and can help you with your WordPress related problems with ease. I can only say good things about there support which you may not get with bigger hosting companies.

WpWebHost Features

So apart from the features I out lined above in pricing & cost you get more, ill outline some that stand out for me and I find excellent. But you can see the full list over on there specification page

99.5% Uptime
Unlimited Subdomains
Compatible for PHP, MySQL Database, and Perl scripts.
Unlimited MySQL Database
POP3, IMAP & Web-based E-mail Access
Perfect Hosting Envinronment for WordPress 2.0 – 2.7

As you can see you can create as many databases as you want as well as sub domains, its perfect for hosting WordPress but you can host you PHP and database driven web sites as well.

A few Extra Details

You maybe interested to know a few things that I noted when using this hosting service.

Control Panel

The control panel is cPanel, you may have experience with this already or not, I had not used it but had known about it, its really simple to navigate and isn’t complex.

They have Fantastico installed in the control panel which makes installing WordPress really easy.

Mail Accounts

You can create unlimited mail accounts, I managed to import all my mail from my Godaddy online account to my new one on Wp WebHost as well as downloading them to my computer with outlook.

Domain Names

All my domain names are on Godaddy so I can cancel my hosting and keep my domains, you could also transfer them to Wp WebHost but I chose not to make life easier, you have to change the name servers in Godaddy to the Wp Webhost servers and you’ll be set to go, they provide all the information in a welcome email.

Test URL

So before you change your nameservers you can set up your site on a test URL that they provide, this ensures that everything works just fine and all you files are uploaded properly before you swap over. There is basically no downtime when swapping servers as long as your current hosting is active as well.

Guides To Moving WordPress

I did a bit of Googling to see what I could find to help me change hosts without bothering support and I found an extremely useful article that I followed to move WordPress to my new server.

I followed this guide and every thing was fine: how to transfer your wordpress blog from one host to another host

Conclusion

Design Shard is now Hosted with WP Web Host and its been a really great experience so far, support is fast at responding to questions about their hosting and about WordPress, the features of there servers are better than what I was on at Godaddy! I would recommend them with confidence if your thinking of changing hosts.

They really do care, if you know of Naldzgraphics design blog, he was having alot of problems with his hosting and they were trying there best to help him out.

Comments

Do you have any recommended hosting providers, what works well for you? are you hosted with Wp WebHost? How is it going? Thinking about changing hosts? Got any questions? Please leave a comment.

Amazing Ornamental Design Inspiration – Baroque Style

This is a collection of baroque style (ornamental) design, this style originates from baroque styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the word baroque can also simply mean that something is elaborate with many details. [Further Reading]

This style can be incorporated in to Logos, T-Shirts, Posters, Type … Anything

You may also want to check out this recent post on Floral typography

Shiny Binary

I had to add shiny binaries “Perfect porftolio” piece for Digital Arts Magazine and “Mystic” that was inspired by Eastern style statues and carvings, you can clearly see the statue within the image and the ornate flourishes.

Shaeriff

This pencilled etching is great way to see how the shadows and the darker crevices give the ornamental style its three dimensions

Opera78

An Amsterdam based illustrator that goes by the studio mane of opera78 has a great drawing style so checking out some of his personal and commercial work is a good idea.

One Twenty Six

Based in New York One Twenty Six produces some great packaging and branding, you can also see some of the ornate designs in there logo designs.

Shepard Fairy

This guy has a real eye for poster design and you can check out his fine art collection for some more inspiring examples of his work. i also found this image via abduzeedos a mixed inspiration post to look through.

J R Velasco

a great example of these ornate finishes is on this website header, wrapping around other illustrations and hand drawn elements. The old vintage look gives it even more character and era.

Irish Wind

Great baroque style technical pen drawing in the making just goes to show how much time and effort goes in to such a piece like this.

Igraver

This website has a great visual tutorial on how to recreate this style from start to finish

I Cant Hear

I Cant Hear design studio with some great work and sketches of work in progress gives a good understanding of work flow to final piece, as seen below a sketch and final piece in vector form is mind blowing.

Guarniero

Has some great collections of old scans on his flickr

Eduardo Cife

Eduardo Cife of Misprinted Type has some awesome illustration work from book covers to posters. a true vintage style that you can see throughout his work.

Ansel Olson

Ansel has some inspiring sets on flickr from photos to scans like the one shown below, decorated type is another great way to incorporate this style.

Anouther Great decorated alphabet.

Bibliodyssey

Very detailed breath taking ornate typography incorporating cherubs, birds and statues.

86era

A designer from Russia known a 86era due to being born in 1986, also found via ilovetypography inspiring type

Comments

I would put this style high up in my favourites and i find it very inspiring to look at others work and how they can incorporate it in to designs such as web sites, Typography and posters you name it and it can be done, adding extra flair and interest.

Do you get inspired by this style or know some great pieces of work to share? Please leave a comment.

Amazing Floral Typography Inspiration

Floral and ornamental type dates back to medieval times when scribes were writing manuscripts, they would use the large ornamental lettering as initials and smaller plainer fonts for the body text.

Embellishment

Lettering that had been modified with such decoration is usually referred to as embellishment, this means that the decoration appears on top of the letterform, this type of decoration was copied and experimented with in the 19th century by foundries adding patterns, pictures shadows and 3D effects to there lettering.

Encompassing

The other type of lettering is refereed to as Encompassing this is when the letterform itself is decorative and is not derived from an existing letterform

Ref Book: Type and Typography

Below are a few examples from around the web to gain some inspiration in this style of design and typography that has taken form over the years.

Fourooms

Created by Fourooms a design studio in Hamburg as a Christmas gift to Si Scott, another designer who also produces similar floral and flourish type designs.

This design looks overgrown and wild with an upward movement that makes it feel like its growing.

The hand drawn version coloured with ink.

Shaz Madani

An elegant hand made design by Shaz Madani made from paper for a campaign for Artic Paper to bridge the gap between creativity and environmental thinking, such as using recycled paper.

Quinto hache

These flourishes originate from the numbers and grow upwards, there are lines in the background and also balloons floating, the space and stars on the numbers gives the design a bright vivid aura.

Yulia Brodskaya

Yulia Brodskaya originally from Russia has achived numerous awards for typographic style and design, these designs look like icing on a cake, delicate flourishes with contrasting colours.

Ginger Monkey Design

Ginger Monkey Design have had numerous features in magazines including computer arts, there designs incorporate many swirls and flourishes, This personal collection is part of there inspiring word series here can be seen compassion and selfless.

This set has great composition and simple decoration yet has a massive impact on the type as well as the though provoking colours.

Words are Pictures

Words are Pictures is a London, UK based designer that has some familiar designs, playing with typography and words is how this designers progresses his designs, as you can see the design below looks almost 3D with hidden words behind the foliage.

Inksurge

Inksurge a design company from Manila, Philippines specialising in visual arts and communication

Prouced this design for the hosting company Media Temple, a shirt design for a premium give-away for their clients and partners.

Covers the letterforms with a bouquet of ornaments and floral patterns making the it still legible to read.

Nathan Walker

Nathan Walker from Dallas, TX, United States is a freelance designer specialising in digital art.

A sketch taken in to Photoshop inspired by a quote from the bible “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

Narani Kannan

Narani Kannan is a graphic design student in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The design below is inspired by the Victorian architecture know as baroque.

Arthur Dam

Arthur Dam is a designer from Hilversum, Netherlands and has created atmospheric digital designs

The design below shows an intriquet blend of curls around a light font making the whole word eye catching even though the colours are quite dull.

Burlesque Design

Burlesque Design an array of music oriented prints and posters, the example below shows how the design is progressing from a sketch.

Nikki Farquharson

Nikki Farquharson a freelance designer from London, UK has an eye for patterns, lines, shapes and colours.

Si Scott

Si Scott is maybe one of the more well know dseigners for this style

Sumeco

sumeco is a Dutch designer who has a huge and inspiring portfolio of digital work the examples shown take on a natural typography theme with roots, vines, and branches, giving the designs a fresh feel.

Colin Lee

Colin Lee is a passionate designer from London, UK creating complex typographic treatments as well as other forms of graphic design.

Shiny Binary

Nik Ainley of Shiny Binary is an Oxford, UK based illustrator and has had some great accomplishments with publications in magazines and books, he strives to master his tools to realise his ideas.

Comments

Id have to say that this style of typography catchs my imagination more over than allot of other styles. just because of the detail and time spent on each piece, What do yo like and think about this style ?

19 Free Hi-Res Burnt Paper Textures

Ive had these burnt paper textures lying around for a few months, had them scanned in to my computer but didnt have chance to upload them, i can think of a few things that i would use these textures for including web designs.

They are relativly high resolution 1600 x 1135 px so they should be a good size to play with and add to your designs, some of them may need colour adjusments and cleaning up but im sure you know what youll do with them, so i hope you enjoy them.

[otw_is sidebar=otw-sidebar-1]

Dont forget to keep checking Texture Lovers for free textures.

10 Random textures included in the pack

( See all 19 textures here )

Rapidshare Download (3.33mb Zip File)

http://rapidshare.com/files/183381416/burnt-paper-textures.zip

Mediafire Download (3.33mb Zip File)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/thjiqyzxewm/burnt-paper-textures.zip

[donate]

Additional info:

Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ 18
Quantity: 19 Images
DPI: 72
Resolution: 1600 x 1064
Contains: Burnt Paper

Usage Terms

You are free to use these textures for what ever purpose you intend, commercial and personal, show me the work if you want id be interested to see what you make.
Please do not host these textures on you own servers for download, please link to this page or files if you want others to know about them.

Show me what you make

Post a link in the comments to your work where youve used the textures, you dont have to but it would be nice to see them being used somewhere. Also let me know if you like them !

U-printing Competition Winners

The random number generator has spoken, and we have our 3 winners for the competion kindly sponsored by U-Printing print company.

Congrats to the winners and hopefully youll beable to make good use of your prize, i hope to have a few more similar competions in the future so stay tuned everyone.

The Winners

The winners are listed below with the prize that they have won, along with there comment on how they would use their prize.

Canvas Print Winner

Name: Jason Lengstorf

“Coincidentally, I just started a personal project that involves canvas prints; I thought it would be cool to do caricatures of each of my family members, print them on canvas, and stretch them like paintings. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but I ran out of time…”

250 Postpost card Winners

Name: H Q Brannon

“I’d choose the POSTCARDS to advertise my illustration and design business – sent to current clients and new prospects!”

Name: Bill

“I would use the postcards to get the word out about my web design business”

Claiming Your Prize

All winners will be contact by me to let you know that you have won, i will also send you details to uprinting where they will then contact you about receiving your prize.