Rainbow obsidian from r/BeAmazed

Can’t stop looking at how beautiful obsidian is! It’s weird how all the beauty is trapped until the rock is broken, for light to interact with.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Simple but stylish! 1??2??3?? Rate 1 to 10! ? ———————————————————————— ? – Credit ? ~ @gracecallidesigns . . . . . . . #calligraphy #lettering #art #arty #arts #crafts #handlettering #design #type #arabic #typing #handwriting #typography #typographical #calligraphydaily #calligraphyvideo #letters #font #fonts #illustration #graphicdesign #calligraphylove #sketch #lettered #handwritingchallenge

A post shared by Calligraphy Clips (@swiftcalligraphy) on May 27, 2019 at 10:12am PDT

If you’ve just now published your first book, you are FINALLY ready to move on to the next big task: marketing and promotion! There are many proven methods when it comes to marketing your book. If you’ve published through IngramSpark or Amazon’s KDP, you’re off to a good start with world-wide distribution to retailers and wholesalers.  Congratulations! Now what? What can you do in addition so you can sell more books directly and cut out the middle-man to reap a better profit? Lets take a look at a few possibilities. 

… [Read More]

If you’re a soon-to-be first time self-publisher, one thing you need to know upfront is how crucial creating good metadata is for the discoverability of your titles in the book industry. If you do not have good metadata, you simply will not sell your books. You may have valuable content and extensive inside knowledge about a subject, yet your title will go unnoticed if this step in the publishing process is neglected or overlooked – which unfortunately happens quite often by authors.

… [Read More]

Once you’ve obtained your ISBN numbers, you may be interested in getting a Copyright for your book. This is another important step in the publishing process and can be done while you’re in the process of or even after you’ve received the printed book from whomever your publisher might be. You can relax, however, because any manuscript you produce is automatically protected with the first stroke of a pen. The benefit of registering your work with the Copyright Office is streamlined legal protection should you actually have to contend with a naughty manuscript thief.

… [Read More]

If you’re an author who is looking to self-publish a book you’ll need to understand some of the industry standards necessary for successful publishing and distribution. Purchasing an ISBN number is one of them. In this article we’ll cover all the basics you need to know to get going, so let’s get started!

… [Read More]

The harvest is in and it’s a big one! If you were looking for vat full of ripe wine bottle label graphic design ideas, you’ve come to the right vineyard. Roll up your pants and start stomping through this list. You’ll be inebriated with the ideas that flow out, and inspiration will be the least of your worries. There is more incredible design here than you can imbibe in a month!

Marketing wine is all about perception

Ok, down to business regarding what we have picked out for you. First, great wine bottle design is essential for the success of any winery. It’s all about the image. The labels have to be eye-catching and superbly produced in order to stand out with the overwhelming surplus of competition lining the shelves at any given store. The designer must be exquisitely attuned to the top competitors, consumer desires, and market trends in the industry. A great designer for this niche also has to have a good understanding of wine varieties, culture, and region. Being a wine drinker will also score you some points!

… [Read More]

Once again it’s that season where we round up the best graphic design blogs of the year! And per usual, there are some perennial favorites, and really not much in the way of surprises.

If you are new to the graphic design community on the web, you will find this list instructive. You’ll quickly find your favorites among them, and become devoted fans for sure.

And speaking of favorites, we’d like to give a shout out to David Airey for helping us get going on blogging way back in 2009, and for being an example of what focusing on a niche looks like both theory and practice.

BONUS! Be sure to check out David’s logo-focused blog, Logo Design Love — always a treat!

And without any further delay…the list!

… [Read More]

“Graphics Sifu” –  Everything you need from a squeeze page templates package

Every now and then I come across a crazy deal as owner of this design blog. I don’t know how people make money on some of these packages they put together, but this one is LOADED to capacity! Let’s not ask how they make money, but rather, how can we take advantage of their hard work to put this together.

If you are like me, you are tired of wasting time 1) searching for the right product and 2) discovering you bought the wrong one.

The best product for something like putting together squeeze pages is one that has EVERYTHING you need in it, and it shows you in a transparent way. Fonts, graphics, templates, HTML snippets, buttons, dividers, text-effects, ribbons, etc. In short, all the standard items you know you have seen on squeeze pages (that YOU yourself have bought things through!) are right here and you can “see what’s in the box” before purchasing! Boom! Transparency works for you in this case.

Look at all the value they packed in this deal! If you need all the pieces to slap together a squeeze page template or a landing page template, this one dinky purchase will save you a ridiculous amount of time. Here is a list of what it contains. It’s too long to read so just skim it. Basically, it’s in there:

And look at these previews! Yep, it’s all there and then some. Click below to see them all:

So, take a look at this deal up close. You can download all this for HOW MUCH? How can this be possible? Click through for the price (we hid it because you have to see it to believe it…and you’ve read this far!).

P.S.: Remember, in the time it took you to even READ this article, much less read another, what, 20 more, you can download this sucker and start playing with it. Don’t waste any more time: this is the squeeze page templates and landing page templates package you were looking for 🙂

P.S.S.: Click the “instant access button” and stop looking for “better” free ones. You haven’t even seen the price yet! Once you see it, you’ll regret having wasted time looking in other places. Click above!

---

Yo, Font-Addict! Make sure to check out The Big Book of Font Combinations. Go grab a copy from Amazon or B&N, or grab the DISCOUNTED ebook PDF digital download version (40% OFF the hardcover retail price!) from the BonFX Store, and stare at all 350+ examples of informative font combinations for web and print. You know you want to!

---

UPDATE: 12/14/2105: Big updates and price drop – head right over to Oxbow Domains to check it out!

Elliot and I have been working on “Ox” for months! From concept, code, logo and brand identity, to typography and e-commerce! There are a lot of disciplines all wrapped up in our beta release of Ox, our expired domain scraper. The free period is only during beta, but check it out and get on the list for updates on the commercial release. Note that every beta will have a free trial period! Whatever expired domains you find you get to keep! So check out the latest entry into the realm of expired domain software with a modern, clean-design, cross-platform twist.

..Current release is 0.9.3. This is the free (as in beer!) beta release of Ox, our standalone domain scraping app, which can find hundreds or even thousands of expired domains in just hours. Ox supports proxies and automatically returns DA and PA for each available domain, and domain availability checking is provided by Namecheap (you can check their supported TLDs page to get an idea of what’s available. Basically, just about everything).

…

Ox is in beta so it’s a totally free expired domains scraper during this time. But when it goes on sale…[s]ay goodbye to subscription payments–Ox will pay for itself the very first day. No caps: Since Ox is running from home, you don’t have to worry about arbitrary limits being placed on your searches. Run it as long as you want! Searches 1m+ are quite easy and you can find thousands of domains from one URL.

…

Oh, and the beta expires June 7th, so don’t waste time and free domains. Give it a shot now!

Source: Ox Expired Domains Scraper

Are you planning your own wedding? Making your own invites? You need all the help you can get, right? Well, we’ve compiled 20 contemporary wedding invitation examples along with a few tips for those of you who are thinking about DIY wedding announcements. I enjoyed scanning wedding sites for these images–all the design associated with weddings in general are more artsy and beautiful than ever before. Hopefully this helps you a little, saves you some time, and gives you some ideas to think outside the box to make your special day just that much more special!… [Read More]

The principles of design are simple guidelines used to organize the various elements of design (line, texture, color, etc.) in a composition. Five basic principles that we illustrate here are: balance, unity, rhythm, proportion and emphasis. Good art has both elements AND principles of design cooperating well together creating a composition aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Below we show examples of fun wine bottle designs where several of these principles have been applied…. [Read More]

To save you time and help shorten your list of wedding t0-do’s, we’ve collected a list of resources for DIY wedding invitations and wedding blogs. (It’s just a fun little precursor as we get ready to release our upcoming book–The Big Book of Free Wedding Font Combinations!)

As we all know, weddings are not cheap! A few ways to cut back on your expenses is by creating your own wedding invitations and wedding blogs. But where in the world do you begin? Below we’ve whittled down and compiled some of the TOP resources for these two fun DIY projects, that when outsourced to local artists, can be costly.… [Read More]

Creating your own DIY invites? Find the top 20 free Google wedding font combinations below!

After researching some of the classic to modern fonts, we’ve combined a sampling of just a few of our favorites. The font combos include both a decorative font, as well as a more readable print font–so you can include a variety of information on your invites. Go ahead and Print the PDF’s!  And be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming book–The Big Book of Free Wedding Font Combinations, coming soon!

Just to get your creative juices flowing, here’s a few sites that showcase beautiful avant-garde and minimalist style invitations. Enjoy!

… [Read More]

Creative energies stagnant? Need to mix things up or gain a fresh perspective? Here’s a little poster design inspiration for your upcoming projects, articles or blogs.

We all get stuck from time to time and when this happens, nothing is more valuable than investing your time “stealing” ideas from wherever you can get them. Scanning beautiful portfolios, clever illustrations, typographic styles and good use of design elements (in addition to stepping outside or grabbing a coffee) are all effective ways to build upon and improve your work…. [Read More]

If you’re looking for a quick smattering of popular free wedding fonts, look no further. Here’s a collection of favorites from fellow bloggers. Of course you’ll see the best fonts overlap. Most posts have the links for download. Happy Browsing–

1. 50 Free Fonts | Best Free Fonts for Wedding Invitations
2. My Top 16 Favorite Free Fonts For Weddings
3. 40 Best Wedding Fonts
4. Free Fonts for Your DIY Wedding Invitations
5. Free Fonts for Your DIY Wedding Invitations-Vol. 3
6. 25 Romantic Fonts
7. Our Favorite Free Fonts
8. Wedding Invite Font Combinations
9. For Designers: Favorite Fonts
10. Southern Weddings: Our Favorite Free Fonts
11. My Top Ten Script Fonts
12. 20 Free and Awesome Fonts for Weddings

Are you losing your passion for design? Is your drive, or personal vision in your work lacking?

Here are some great books to help rekindle your creativity, or help you re-evaluate your life purpose. We all go through dry periods when we lose site of our vision and languish in our inspiration–whether in our life, career, or just the next project. Every now and then, we need a kick in the pants–or at least a little encouragement from other like-minded, and very human artists! If you’re in need of a creative reboot, consider a few of these books written by those who through sheer determination traveled upstream to follow their inner calling…. [Read More]

Tarkovsky could sum up his life’s work as one of integrating creativity and truth. He strongly believed life was about finding your calling (in his case, an artist) and living it out fully. After a long and arduous journey of his own self-discovery, he points others to do the same. To be true to yourself, you must discover who you are and live for a higher purpose authentically.

This inspiring cinematic memoir is essential for anyone who’s interest is in the Visual Arts. Whether or not you are studying film or even familiar with the work of Tarkovsky, this book will enlighten you as an artist and help you rethink the purpose of your own work. Tarkovsky not only sets out methods for film making, he writes profoundly on the philosophy of aesthetics–pointing out the power visual poetry has in helping the audience transcend what we ordinarily call real–into a much more potent world of spirituality. He doesn’t believe in art as an outlet of  “self expression”, so much as a duty of self-sacrifice, to love and enrich the lives of others. He says when the artist creates authentically, they communicate from a higher level of existence, ultimately linking us to Absolute Truth–the Source of all creation.

In this very personal book, Tarkovsky writes honestly about his own mistakes and hard lessons learned along the way. He shares his inspirations, thoughts and techniques in his films–Ivan’s Childhood, Andrey Rublyov, Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker, Nostalgia, and The Sacrifice. 

From his book–Sculpting in Time, Tarkovsky writes:

“Masterpieces are born of the artists’s struggle to express his ethical ideals. If he loves life, has an overwhelming need to know it, change it, try to make it better, -in short, if he aims to cooperate in enhancing the value of life, then there is no danger in the fact that the picture of reality will have passed through  filter of his subjective concepts, through his states of mind. For his work will always be a spiritual endeavor which aspires to make man more perfect: an image of the world that captivates us by its harmony of feeling and thought, its nobility and restraint.”

 “In artistic creation the personality does not assert itself, it serves another, higher and communal idea. The artist is always a servant, and is perpetually trying to pay for the fit that has been given to him as if by a miracle. Modern man, however, does not want to make any sacrifice, even though true affirmation of self can only be expressed in sacrifice. We are gradually forgetting about this, and at the same time, inevitably, losing all sense of our human calling.”

“The great function of art is communication, since mutual understanding is a force to unite people, and the spirit of communion is one of the most important aspects of artistic creativity.” –A. Tarkovsky

Update 1/2019: We shut down our tracking stats! Sorry to see it go, but we moved on to other projects!

We are tracking nearly 2000 of the most popular web fonts across 10,000 of the most visited websites ranked by Alexa. Head on over to Fonts of the World to see and explore the data, and click some examples to see what you are missing!

The data is very interesting. Arial has the lions share of usage. Will Arial be the most popular font…forever? And look at how widespread the usage of icon fonts has become: as of today, the fifth most popular web fonts in the world is an icon font.

Most popular web fonts usage trends: coming soon!

We are adding weekly data and trending charts so we can track web font usage over time. It will be fascinating to see what the data reveals as the weeks go by and the data piles up.

Stop by Fonts of the World, and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter!