Author: Max Stanworth

I am the creator and editor of Design Shard, I created this blog to post my inspirations, work and free resources. I hope you find them as interesting and useful as I do. By day I am a UX focused product designer.

Giveaway: Win 1 of 3 PixelKit Annual Subscriptions

The team at PixelKit have agreed to give away a total of 3 complete annual membership subscriptions. 3 lucky readers will win!

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3 lucky readers will win an Annual Subscription to PixelKit.com completely free of charge.
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Here are some of the UI Kits and Icon Sets included in the subscription:

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Swanky Outlines – Outlines Icon Set

This is a vector outline icon set that fits perfectly on a flat or metro designed site or application.

Outlines Icon Set

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Modern Touch – Flat UI Kit

Functional and fun, this flat UI kit is also highly functional. It offers the perfect balance to give a great look to the site. It allows the focus to be on content.

Flat UI Kit
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Charming Boutique – Shopping Icons

Shopping icons are ideal for use on ecommerce site or for online stores. It features 30 pixel-perfect icons with a modern, flat appearance and helps you create the best calls to action.

Shopping Icons
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Fashion Ave UI Kit – eCommerce UI Kit

This is a great ecommerce UI kit that is perfect for anyone working with a shopping site. It features a large array of options that can be used to fill your fashion shopping website requirements. Fashion Ave is a distinctive UI kit.

eCommerce UI Kit
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Mirrored Twins – iOS Icon Set

This flat and modern iOS icon set has a bipolar personality: there were created 2 versions for every icon in this collection. One is hollow and stylish, while the other one is chubby and filled with joyful pixels.

iOS Icon Set
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Gentle Edges – Minimalist Icon Set

This is a perfect choice for many sites. When you want a minimalist look, this is ideal. It has more than 1,000 vectorized icons in 46 categories – necessary for many commercial projects.

Minimalist Icon Set
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Iceberg – Elegant UI Kit

The Iceberg UI kit will make any website stand out because of it’s fresh, delicate and alluring design. The modern, elegant layout is ideal for a website that needs a contemporary feel. It is perfect for a modern, corporate site that needs a professional image.

Elegant UI Kit
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Simply leave a comment to this post explaining why you should be our lucky winner and how you’ll utilize PixelKit premium graphics if you win.

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At PixelKit, we offer a multitude of various graphics that are perfect for any website. PixelKit has completely specialized UI kits. They have all the tools you need including navigation controls, app screens, and others to make things easy. You can view all of our available options to see all the many choices to pick from including a selection of sliders, icons, buttons, and other elements.
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Take a look at the Free PixelKit Bootstrap UI Kits modern, functional HTML templates.

BLISTERS: Sound Sessions poster show is open for submissions!

The guys over at Print Club London have opened their doors for another year to allow budding illustrators and artist a chance to showcase their work and have a limited run screen print poster printed and sold to any one who takes a fancy to it!

[quote text_size=”small”]We are now open for submissions and want to get the word out there to ANY illustrators / aspiring artists who want to take part.[/quote]

Print Club London

Get the lo-down…

The Brief

1. Submit a poster in your own style inspired by your favourite band/song/musician/tour/gig.

2. The catch is, you cannot use the name of the band, song or musician! Use of other text is allowed, of course, but this should stand alone as an image/scene or typography.

3. Prepare artwork for a 500mm x 700mm print (B2 format).

4. Most importantly, your work must be COMPLETELY new and original for this project and never seen before! We will not accept any submissions that are displayed anywhere else, including your personal blog or portfolio.

[button link=”http://printclublondon.com/2013/blisters-the-sound-session/” size=”large” text_size=”beta” newtab=”on”]Find out more[/button]

The Film Posters of Director Tony Scott – Tribute

This post has come about since the death of Director Tony Scott, He directed one of my favourite films of all time, that I had no idea he had directed until today! – True Romance. The posters below are arranged in chronological order.

The Hunger

Year: 1983

Top Gun

Year: 1986

Beverly Hills Cop 2

Year: 1987

Revenge

Year: 1990

Days of Thunder

Year: 1990

The Last Boy Scout

Year: 1991

True Romance

Year: 1993

Crimson Tide

Year: 1995

The Fan

Year: 1996

Enemy of the State

Year: 1998

Spy Game

Year: 2001

Man on Fire

Year: 2004

Domino

Year: 2005

DeJa Vu

Year: 2006

The Taking of Pelham 123

Year: 2009

Unstoppable

Year: 2010

18 Free Hi-Res Paper & Cardboard Textures

Free for you to use and download are 18 various paper and cardboard textures.

You may also like these 20 Free Original Hi-Res Stained Paper Textures that I created.

The Textures On Flickr

You can preview all these textures in the Flickr set before you download any of the files below or simply use them directly from Flickr.

Download The Textures

Rapidshare 22mb: rs-design-shard-old-paper-textures.zip

Mediafire 22mb: mf-design-shard-paper-textures.zip

Additional info:

  • Scanner: Epson Perfection v500
  • Quantity: 18 Images
  • Resolution: 1600px by 2000px
  • Contains: Various Brown & White Paper Textures

Usage Terms

Free to use for commercial and non commercial work no credit or link back needed, but please don’t redistribute or sell them as your own.

9 Web Hosting Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

If you’re ready to move off Blogger and onto a web hosting service, you’ve probably got a lot of other things on your plate as well. The world of web hosting can be complex and confusing, but we’re looking out for you.

We know you want a simple solution tailored to your needs, and with great support services. We all do. But great web hosting is really different for every client.

We’ve done the research and found nine scenarios that are either red flags, or should be avoided altogether.

The One-Trick Pony

Before moving forward, companies must decide what they expect their website to be capable of accomplishing. By creating a list of essential criteria necessary for launch and growth, a road map of expectation outlines accountability for everyone. If a company can’t provide you with a clear plan, be prepared for a bumpy ride.

One Size Fits All

Credible web host companies allow customers to upgrade, downgrade and add or remove services quickly upon request. If a provider has strict rules and is slow to move, they are likely under-performing or don’t know how to best optimize their services.

You Get What You Pay For

If a hosting company’s website contains claims that are too good to be true – such as “free, unlimited web 261hosting” – that means it’s loaded with advertising jargon that could be misleading. Unlimited web hosting can be a reality; however, to maintain reputation and control, customers should purchase dedicated hosting. If you have a small- to medium-sized business, affordable shared plans are often available.

Trusting Joe Schmoe

Just because the guys you play golf with are happy with their hosting, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Skeptically peruse online testimonials and engage in extensive comparison shopping.

Don’t Forget The Fine Print

Have a knowledgeable member of your team take the time to systematically break down hosting provider services. Read the terms of service and the features of graphic design packages to avoid hidden limitations that may appear in the long run.

Being Charged Out The Nose

Web hosting payment plans are not complicated. Hosting is essentially a fixed-rate expense, so high variable costs are a red flag. If rates wildly fluctuate, cut the provider loose.

Rusty Bandwidth

Having enough bandwidth ensures life and utility for your site. If your web performance bottlenecks during heavy traffic, your users will be dissatisfied and leave. Often, they will not return, and will communicate to others their reason for not coming back. Site performance can be critical to your success, so make sure your host is reliable.

Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen

Trust those who are professionals in their trade. Work with a web company that specializes in web hosting. The company that sold you a domain is not necessarily well-versed in web hosting. Instead, find one that exclusively offers hosting services.

Support Goes Out Of The Window

When you submit a technical support ticket to the help desk, demand a quick response. If they can’t fix an issue quickly, then you shouldn’t be paying your web host to help you with any issues that may arise. Excellent customer service is non-negotiable.

We hope that helps. Good luck — it’s a digital jungle out there!

–Guest Post–