There are many tech companies in Austin. This vibrant and fun city offers a lot to tech professionals. More and more investors in Austin are starting to look into new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain. New funds have been flowing into startup tech companies in Austin, too. In September of 2017, Chris Pacitti and John Thornton, former Austin Ventures partner, along with the former Bain consultant Sam Kentor, founded their new project, elsewhere PArtners. This Austin company plans on investing business software located in areas outside the more traditional venture capital hubs of Boston, New York, and San Francisco. Another similar accelerator, Sputnix ATC, founded by Oksana Malysheva and Joe Merrill, also stepped into the limelight. They are focused on early-stage startup tech companies in Austin, provided that they already have a viable product and at least one company. This makes them different from traditional incubators or accelerators. The culture of Austin may also be more appealing to some tech companies. Many people envision startup tech company founders as scrappy young men and women in their twenties who succeed in Silicon Valley to live the lives seen in HBO’s Silicon Valley. In Austin, things are very different and may be more welcoming both culturally financial to a different kind of tech entrepreneur. Top startups and tech companies in AustinWellsmithThere is a very bright future in store for Wellsmith. This Austin tech company creates health and wellness solutions for people looking to start living a healthier lifestyle. They received $12 million in funding in 2012, allowing them to triple the size of the Wellsmith team from 20 people to 60 people. They have plenty of room to grow, with an office with the capacity for a grand total of 150 employees. WorksmithThis Austin tech company wants to help connect businesses to communities. After all, it takes a community to take care of a business and help drive its growth. Worksmith offers a marketplace of local service providers to companies that can help them take care of their needs. Users of the Worksmith platforms can find providers of everything from facilities management, dry cleaning services, laundry, events set up, and much more. They also offer a dashboard that allows users to track all requests theta they have on the platforms and make payments easily. ‘ SubVRsiveSubVRsive runs a full-service virtual reality studio with custom cameras and audio solutions designed to fulfill the needs of any project. Some of these projects include creating a 360-degree virtual reality experience for a Showtime boxing match. It was this project that earned this Austin tech company an Emmy nomination for 2017, something few tech companies in Austin or anywhere can claim. They also received $4 million in funding. Rollick Outdoor, IncThis Austin startup company offers a marketing platform that gives consumers an individualized buying experience for powersports vehicles, RVs, boats, and motorcycles. They launched in 2017 and promptly raised $5.6 million in funding. They plan on growing and launching nationally in 2018. New KnowledgeThis Austin tech company is best known for its role in calling out Russian-backed social media users meddling in the 2016 election. It utilizes machine learning to protect brands from social media disinformation campaigns launched by competitors and trolls. The New Knowledge system can identify fake accounts, fake news, and propaganda campaigns. MineralSoftThis company creates software that helps organize complicated and fragmented data involved in oil and gas production as well as ensuring that landowners receive the royalties they are due. They also help mineral rights owners with auditing and monitoring payments, while also tracking down any missing payments. SenseyeThis Austin tech startup combines neuroscience, psychology, physics, engineering and technology to unlock a computer’s ability to read and understand human emotion, thoughts, and mental states. KindHealthThis company launched in 2015 and seek to simplify the process of buying health insurance by offering users free health insurance quotes from hundreds of providers that have been selected just for them. KindHealth also gives every user a personal advocate to help book appointments, dispute claims, pay bills, and much more. Employee WowThis platform collects ground-level feedback about customer service reps. It makes use of a “wow” scoring system that can be used for both monthly and quarterly contests to recognize exceptional customer service. RoomifyRoomify simplifies the process of moving into a dorm room for both students and parents by offering pre-packaged bundles of college living essentials at affordable prices. They recently changed their name from Dormitup.com. The Appraisal LaneThe Appraisal Lane is a real-time used car trade network that provides dealers with on-demand cash offers on “live” active trade-ins, aged inventory, and wholesale units. They enable dealers to cash out of cars quickly, while sourcing new inventory from their growing nationwide network of dealers. Pre-bid on trades at other dealerships while they’re… SwivelSwivel is a technology company working on bringing the vision of workspace-as-a-service to life. We’re partnering with leading commercial real estate companies, landlords, and tenant reps to turn remnant space into dynamic and sought-after ‘pop-up’ coworking solutions specifically designed for growing teams. StopLightStopLight is a toolkit for developers to debug, test, and monitor APIs in development or live production environments. SpyCloudSpyCloud is a pioneer in breach discovery. They strive to help businesses of all sizes mitigate data breaches by proactively alerting when employee or company assets have been compromised. They accomplish this through their early-warning breach detection service powered by a world-class team of intelligence analysts. SourceDaySourceDay is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that automates purchase order management processes by seamlessly integrating with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. SourceDay extends ERP purchasing capabilities by centralizing and managing the PO lifecycle for buyers and suppliers, eliminating manual processes while improving supplier… Skout DealsSkout Deals is a location based mobile apps used for finding the nearby deals & coupon codes for shopping in the USA. It is the best app free to use & all the deals & coupons available here are at least 25% off and more. RemedyRemedy is an Austin-based medical practice that brings board-certified medical providers to your doorstep in under two hours. With transparent pricing, they attend to your urgent care needs conveniently in the comfort of your own home or office. PullRequestCode review as a service for any language. PullRequest is a platform for code review, built for teams of all sizes. They have the world’s largest network of on-demand reviewers, backed by best-in-class automation tools. Because code quality is important. PropagoPropago is the Marketing Management Platform designed to distribute brands physically and digitally. Propago’s Marketing Management Platform allows enterprises to provide sales teams, franchises, channel partners or any authorized users with the marketing assets they need. Users can order what they need when they need it through cloud-based… PilosaPilosa is an open source, distributed bitmap index that dramatically accelerates queries across multiple, massive data sets. OverhaulOverhaul is a risk management and visibility platform serving the Global Supply Chain Industry. Overhaul provides premium shippers unique visibility and full confidence their cargo is in reliable hands, while giving their transportation network the right information and tools to be in compliance with specific Standards of Care. OvabriteTheir technologies detect fertility and gender on egg day zero. Their solutions will reduce costs, create new revenue streams and enable ethical culling. One ModelOne Model delivers a data Command, Control, and Intelligence platform that automatically manages the extraction of data from the source, data cleansing and extension, and positioning for intelligence activities. A human capital data strategy is essential for HR to start measuring, tracking, and improving the efficiency of the workforce. OlonoOne Model delivers a data Command, Control, and Intelligence platform that automatically manages the extraction of data from the source, data cleansing and extension, and positioning for intelligence activities. A human capital data strategy is essential for HR to start measuring, tracking, and improving the efficiency of the workforce. Meta SaaSSaaS is awesome but SaaS has created a management nightmare for the finance department. Meta SaaS solves this very big problem and CFOs love us for it. Project LighthouseLoom is a platform that weaves together ideas, top-tier creators and equitable compensation. They connect passionate visionaries with talented freelancers and provide tools that make it easier to bring projects to life. LawgixLawgix is a law firm and law technology company offering litigationsSupport and court appearance management technology. Kilroy BlockchainKilroy Blockchain is here to provide award-winning, trusted solutions in blockchain and AI, working with their credible partners like IBM and Ingram Micro. They are blazing the trail of truth, helping you to design a future that puts humans first. KEY ConciergeAs a specialty five-star concierge service for luxury vacation rental properties, KEY Concierge is a trusted pass to the best of the best in America’s most celebrated cities from coast to coast. Focused on saving clients precious time and energy, KEY’s customized member profiles allow a personalized experience to follow members from city to city in… Opcity IncOpCity looks to help people find their dream homes. The company also got the chance to build its own dream home recently, moving to South Austin to build the office of its dreams. This startup tech company was launched in 2015. Their platform uses machine learning and analytics to match real estate leads with the right agents. OpCity’s new office is located on a members-only frisbee golf course. It also has an on-site gym and plenty of space to accommodate their growing staffing needs. JavelinJavelin Networks protects Active Directory and provides autonomous prevention, containment, incident response, and threat hunting capabilities in an all-in-one artificial intelligence driven platform. It’s the only agentless solution that immediately contains attackers after they compromise a machine, preventing them from using Active Directory… Iris PlansHealthcare planning keeps you in control of your healthcare, resulting in better care, higher quality of life, and protection from conflict and stress for family members and caregivers. Iris Plans offers discussions with a facilitator in your home, through video conferencing. They help you create a plan that guides important, complex decisions. IntryTheir mission is to give candidates a strategic edge in getting seen and hired, and employers the opportunity to view the entire candidate. HomeBitHomeBit is an app that helps you run home maintenance and provides ways to track home value, repairs and upgrades. Set it, forget it, and let it remind you when your home needs attention. GlobeKickGlobeKick builds travel adventures that we wish existed. We’re for the serious traveler looking for more meaning rather than more stuff. GenXCommGenXComm’s robust Simultaneous Self Interference Cancellation (S-SIX) Technology enables maximal use of available spectrum just as carriers are planning their 5G cellular network deployments to cope with a flood of new wireless devices and rapidly increasing data demands on their networks. Ending thoughts on tech companies in AustinThere are a number of amazing tech companies in Austin. Tech companies in Austin look to have a promising future. The city itself also provides many benefits to tech companies. The cost of living in Austin is getting higher, but it still remains much more affordable than other tech hotspots likes New York and Silicon Valley. This allows young tech companies in Austin to keep costs lean. It was this fact the caused Sarah Ware, CEO, and co-founder of Markerly, who with husband and co-founder Justin Kline to move her 20-person marketing technology start-up, founded in 2012, from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2013. The city already has a rich entrepreneurial ecosystem. It includes hubs such as Austin Technology Incubator, located at University of Texas at Austin and the prestigious Techstars Austin accelerator, as well as a start-up density that puts it in the top 10 for the country according to the Kauffman Foundation. If you enjoyed reading this article about tech companies in Austin, you should read these as well:
The post Website showcase: Startups and tech companies in Austin appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/web-design/startups-tech-companies-austin/
0 Comments
Looking for the best laptop for graphic design? That’s not an easy task. I know because I’ve been there. No matter what business you’re into – you will eventually need the services of a graphic designer. Skilled designers, freelancers, and design students worldwide know this – therefore, they’re working hard to provide the best service to all possible industries. Indeed, design is one of the most creative and interesting jobs, and it is starting to provide passionate workers some serious amounts of money. Brands looking for uniqueness are rising the threshold of how much marketing materials can cost – if you can make them look more attractive to customers, you can count on some pretty rewarding revenue. Yet, as it is with any other job, design requires investment. You need to have the right tools and hardware to make the most of your skill, namely laptops for graphic design. We comprised such a list to help you find the best laptop for graphic design. Here it comes: Do you really need a special laptop for graphic design?Yes, you do, and our list of best laptops for graphic design will help you find it. We recommend you to go for the best laptop you can afford, given the modern and intense design software it is expected to support. Design programs and applications come with many different features, and they’re more difficult to process as the ones of regular applications. All this translates to you looking for a laptop with a great graphic card. Nothing else will be good enough to support your 500MB+PSDs, multi-layered and other top quality designs. The investment in such laptops is not exactly modest, but at the same time it won’t break the bank. There are many fairly priced design laptops and a range of used ones that you can get on budget. We advise you to make a thoughtful and well-informed decision, and to purchase your hardware from reputed vendors only. What exactly should you be looking for?Looking for the best computer for graphic design can be slightly time-consuming, as there are many things you should consider. There are several factors that define the quality of your future graphic design laptop: Its performanceThe speed and performance of any laptop depend on 3 particular parts: the processor, the RAM, and the Storage Drive. We will discuss each of these graphic design laptop requirements in detail: Every laptop has a processor, and its role is to enable applications to run simultaneously without affecting performance. The market offer of good processors is vast, but there are few particularly recommended for graphic designers: Core i5, Core i7, Intel Xeon, and AMD Ryzen. RAM (Random Access Memory) is a piece of hardware used to store data in the computer. Yet, this data is only saved temporarily, and gets lost as soon as you switch the laptop off. The more RAM you have, the more data you’ll be able to process, and that’s vital to your laptop’s performance. The Storage Drive (or Hard Drive, as more people know it) stores your data on the long run. We recommend SSD, as it comes with a very fast boot that improves the performance of your processor. The laptop design will also matter – you need a flexible gadget that is not painful to carry around. Its screenIf you’re a graphic designer, your laptop’s screen should be more important than anything else. What we have in mind here is a large screen with high resolution, as it can provide you with better color accuracy and more detailed views. As for the size, the golden standard is a 15-inch screen. You can even go for a larger one, as you need all the visibility you can afford. Its touchscreen/keyboardRemember that you won’t be using your laptop for design only. You’ll also need it to team up with colleagues or to communicate with clients, which is why you need a convenient keyboard. Besides, many of your graphic features are sensitive to shortcut keys, which make ergonomic design even more important for your work. If you use them, you won’t have to lose time looking for the right commands or rewriting and editing emails. Another popular option is getting a laptop with a touchscreen. Certain famous designers are huge fans due to facilitated zooming, while others disapprove them as tools that ‘don’t really let you learn a thing’. You can actually try both, and see which one works the best for you. Its batteryNovelty is really a designers’ thing! Their office is the world -you’ll often see these creators looking for inspiration in nature, on the beach, or in their favorite coffee shop. Would you enjoy some of this digital nomad freedom? To do so, you don’t have to look for plugs everywhere you go. What you need is a laptop with a good battery that can last up to 14 hours. Technically, you can fly over the Atlantic without charging, and have a productive working day on a plane! We’ve picked some of the best-rated samples in the last few years. Give them a look, and decide which the best laptop for graphic design is according to your budget: Apple MacBook ProIf you’re an iOS or Apple fan, worry not! You won’t have to use Windows to succeed in your work. Meet the best mac for graphic design! This makes the Apple MacBook Pro the best option for you, so that you won’t have to switch to operating systems you’re not really comfortable with. The laptop comes with 16 GB RAM and an i7 processor, and makes the graphic design experience simply incredible. Actually, MacBook Pro is probably the best laptop for graphic design. You can count on a very high-resolution screen and AMD Radeon Pro Graphics that crystallize even the tiniest detail. In addition, you’ll be getting 512 GB flash storage, which is probably more than any other company will offer. Let’s not forget also that Apple products enjoy an excellent reputation, and report fewer issues than other brands (when’s the last time someone you know complained about them?). The downside, however, is that they’re very expensive. Acer Aspire V17 NitroAcer took a while to earn some credit in the computer world, but is certainly a magnate nowadays. Its laptops are known to be durable and reliable, especially when it comes to doing creative work. The processor is once again i7, while the GPU is 2 GB. It may not be MacBook-good, but it is still a decent choice for any graphic designer. Speed is another of its main upsides – the hard disk drive offers incredible 2 TB data storage, which means that the laptop can keep thousands of your designs without ever causing an issue. Aspire V17 Nitro, in particular, has 16 GB RAM, and it is chosen by many users who’re not even into design. For instance, it is commonly purchased by passionate gamers who love its Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 2GB graphics card. Lenovo Z70Another brand that gained acknowledgment in recent years is Lenovo. Its products are often praised for speed, performance, and graphics. Besides, Lenovo’s price is very competitive to the one of other design-friendly brands, which makes it the best laptop for designers looking to save – you may get the Z70 with a 1.3 inch screen for half of what you expect to pay! What is specific about Lenovo Z70 is its anti-glare screen, which means that you can see your work even under strong sunlight. The screen is also eye-friendly, which means that you won’t have to spend on additional equipment to work safely. You can choose between 8 GB and 16 GB of RAM, depending how much you’re working. Despite of the low price, Lenovo Z70 uses a 5th generation i7 processor which makes it a very solid option. Better yet, it has HDMI to let you connect it to other devices and larger screens, and that makes it suitable for office and teamwork. Asus ROG G752VLAsus ROG G752VL, the proud member of the ‘excellent screen, speed, storage, and graphics’ category has an additional and distinctive advantage – it is really, really light! It is basically the best design-enabled laptop to carry around in meetings and events. But this is not all there is to it! It has an even more advanced processor (6th generation i7), 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and incredible 1 TB HDD. There’s no doubt that you will love it! The original target groups of Asus ROG were gamers, which are why the company introduced NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics, and designers got to love this laptop. Asus ROG also offers Plasma Cooper and Armor Titanium appearance, and will suit those looking for a laptop that doesn’t look ordinary. Asus Transformer Book T200TAWe can’t look at good laptops for graphic design without mentioning Asus Transformer. If you’re one of those designers who’d rather work on a touch screen laptop, you should definitely give it a look. For what is worth, you’ll be getting 64 GB of SSD and 4 GB of RAM storage, and a very good Quad-Core 64-bit processor. The touch screen is 12 inch wide and fully detachable, which means that you can carry and use your laptop wherever you want. Satisfied users report no problem with their graphics, as they can see everything clearly regardless of where they are. The best part, however, is yet to come – this lap top has a battery that can last up to 24 hours active usage! This means that you can set work aside to talk to clients or run a personal errand, and data will still be there. Lenovo Flex 4 Convertible Touchscreen notebookLenovo also provided us with a touchscreen laptop. Flex 4 is convertible and easily portable, and many designers choose it right because of that. One could even argue that Lenovo has more to offer than Asus Transformer, given that its Flex 4 touchscreen is larger. It works with a 2.5 GHz i7 processor, and it gives you 8 GB of RAM and 1 TB of hard drive storage. Thereof, we are convinced that it will fulfill all your speed and quality requirements, and that you will enjoy designing on it. Last but not least, Flex 4 weighs only 2.08 kg, and that makes it easy to carry around. If you don’t like to stay trapped behind your desk, you’ve got yourself a winner! MSI Computer GE72 Apache Pro-029MSI Laptops is not a giant brand like Lenovo, Acer, or Dell; but it combines all the best features graphic designers need to do their work. With it, you will enjoy 1 TB of hard disk storage, and incredible 128 GB SSD. MSI also makes your work smoother with a large, top quality display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and a 17.3 inch screen for enhanced visibility. As expected, it also uses GeForce GTX graphics to ensure an unparalleled Adobe suite experience. When it comes to design, you should know that this lap top was inspired by sports cars appearance. If you’re a fan, go for it! Toshiba Satellite Fusion 15 L55W-C5259Toshiba created one of the first tablet-like laptops called Satellite Fusion, and gave designers the opportunity to approach their work from a whole new level. What this means is that you can adopt diverse methods, techniques, and innovations. To help you do so, Fusion will provide you with a 15.6 inch IPS screen, and make each of your works look stunning. Compared to similar laptops, Toshiba is fairly priced, and you can even consider getting a used laptop on Amazon. Note, however, that there were several improvements from the base model – in its newest edition, Satellite Fusion works with Intel HD 5500 graphics, 8 GB RAM, and an Intel Core i5 processor. The weight is only 5.1 lbs, which means you can take it with you wherever you go. Toshiba CB35-B3340 ChromebookHere’s another great member of the Toshiba family. CB35-B3340 Chromebook works with an improved Intel Celeron CPU, and offers 16 GB of SSD. Put this way, it wouldn’t be the first choice of experienced designers, but it is a very attractive option for novice designers and practicing students. Chromebook’s memory is 4 GB DDR3L, which makes it the cheapest high-performance machine you can get at the moment. The display is 13.3 inch IPS, and the laptop comes with integrated Intl HD graphics that improve your design experience. Despite of being relatively limited compared to other design laptops, Chromebook has a very good 2.16 GHz Intel Celeron Dual-Core processor. Asus Zenbook UX303UBIf looking for a portable laptop, Asus Zenbook is another model you should consider. Inexpensive, well-made, and suited for designers, Zenbook will likely correspond to all of your work requirements. The processor is i7 Skylake from the 6th generation, which says enough on how amazingly it can perform. You can run all of your Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and 3D Max tasks without any problem. Zenbook owes its portability to the relatively small, yet ultra sharp QHD screen of 13.3 inches. It also offers an IPS display very rich in color, which gives you the chance to present better designs than on any other laptop. Another thing that makes designs amazing is the built-in NVidia graphics card. You also shouldn’t question the performance of this laptop, given that it offers 512 GB of SSD and 1 TB of HDD, which is more than what a professional designer needs. According to users, Zenbook is durable and reliable, and you won’t have to repair it any time soon. Microsoft Surface Book 2Surface Book 2 is Microsoft’s best attempt to par MacBook Pro – the two widgets may have different looks, but their performance metrics are pretty much the same. More precisely, Microsoft Surface Book uses a Core i7 processor and displays works on a 3000 x 2000 screen, which makes it an absolute winner for sketching. Compared to MacBook, it is also easily portable, and you can transform it into a tablet upon need. The touchscreen also comes with a stylus, to the pleasure of all old-school designers who like pre-draw their works. Dell XPS 15Dell certainly deserves a place on this list, and there are users who claim it has produced the best laptop for graphic design. Its products are primarily good bargains – you’ll be joining the design community with a powerful machine, and yet a very affordable one. Their most graphic-friendly design is XPS 15 – a laptop with a Core i7 CPU processor, a 15.6 inches display, and 16 GB of RAM. XPS also features the classy, business look, and comes with a large number of connectivity options (HDMI, SD card reader, USBs, Thunderbolt, and more. We almost forgot! Dell XPS 15 has an incredible graphic card and even 512 GB SSD, which is as far as benefits go for this price! Lenovo Flex 5If we know how good Lenovo Flex 4 is, we can only imagine the outstanding quality of Flex 5! The price is once again more than affordable! How is Flex 5 better? It will let you work on an improved 14 inches screen, and provide access to 8 GB of RAM and even 256 GB of hard disk space (upon need, you can upgrade those). There is no need to worry about the processor either – Flex 5 operates on Intel Core i5. At only a fraction of the price of Microsoft’s Surface Book or MacBook Pro, this laptop gives designers a very smooth graphic experience. It will be the right choice for any novice user who doesn’t want to invest too much in hardware. You will be surprised by its screen display, and the ultra-sensitive touchpad. HP ZBook Studio G4 Ultrabook Mobile WorkstationThe list wouldn’t be complete without an HP product, would it? This time, we’ve chosen ZBook Studio G4, or the ‘mobile workstation’, as the company likes to call it. What is really good about HP ZBook is that it works with an Intel Core i7-7500 U Processor. It has more RAM than any of its competitors (even 32 GB), and a very powerful AMD FirePro W4190M graphic card. Some of you may argue that the laptop’s production capabilities are surreal, and that’s exactly what the company is after. They were looking to create the most powerful machine for 3D designers, so that they’ll have a smooth and super fast working experience. Dell Inspirion 13.3″Dell Inspiration targets predominantly traveling designers, being one of the smallest and lightest laptops on the market. It was introduced in 2018, and it received instant recognition for its 13.3 inches flexible touch display. It brings the best of the technology world together, as it operates with an Intel Core i7 8550U Quad-Core processor, and balances performance with 8 GB RAM. Dell Precision 7530Precision is similar to Inspiration in many ways. You can consider it as a polished, redesigned version of the later, with a 15 inches display, thinner and lighter construction, and even more unique design capabilities. This is the case with all machines in the Precision family – they target creative workers with class and power, and they bring more capabilities for handling complex tasks each and every time. 7530, for instance, operates with the newest 8th generation i9 Intel Core processor, and that’s as good a design laptop can do. A fairly new addition to Dell’s Precision family – a pro-grade line of machines aimed specifically at creatives – the 7530 delivers workstation-class power, thanks to a whopping 128GB of RAM and options for i5, i7 and the new i9 eighth-generation Intel core processors, which makes it ready to handle even the most complex of creative tasks. To make matters even better, Precision 7530 offers 128 GB of RAM and 2 TB PCIe (with an additional 6 TB) SSDs, which guarantees uncompromised speed. The quality of the graphics will also be impressive, as the laptop supports both Nvidia Quadro P3200 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 4150 graphics cards. You can choose between several display options, the most expensive among them being the Ultra-HD IPS 3,840 x 2,160 displays. According to the company (and the users!), Precision can cover 100% of Adobe’s RGB color space. Considering the importance of AR and VR, buying Dell Precision 7530 may be the smartest decision you can make. HP ZBook X2HP ZBook X2 is a laptop for the creative among you. A seriously powerful machine with lots of outstanding features, ZBook deserves a look despite its pretty high price. What’s so impressive about this HP gadget? We’d go for the high number of unique and design-focused specs, such as the 100% Adobe RGB, 10-bit, 4K UHD multi-touch and dream-color display, and the number of connectivity ports. It was also pre-connected to Adobe Creative Cloud, and comes with a fully detachable and Bluetooth enabled keyboard that lets you turn it into a tablet. All these features are backed up by even 32 GB of RAM (double of what Microsoft has to offer), and Intel Core i7 processor, and NVIDIA Quadro graphics. And yet, what may stop you from choosing this laptop is the relatively short battery life. ZBook is also not as light as its competitors, and it won’t be that comfortable to move around. With a price nothing close to modest, we’d recommend you to take some time and think whether it is indeed the best bet you’ve got. HP ZBook Studio G4 DreamColorHP’s latest mobile workstation addition is the ZBook Studio G4 – a rip-roaring, all-inclusive laptop for professional designers. Praised for the amazing performance, this laptop doesn’t come cheap, but its specs are totally worth it. To start with, you’ll be enjoying an incredibly fast Core IntelXeon CPU processor, 512 GB SSD, and even 32 GB of RAM. The stunning 4K DreamColor display comes in 15.6 inches, and it allows the user to color calibrate it. The cherry on the cake is the NVIDIA Quadro M1200 graphic card wan ith additional 4 GB of VRAM. The same as with ZBook X2, you’ll have a number of great connectivity options:
Plus, these laptops come with a great set of Bang & Olufsen speakers for those looking to tune up their time in the office. To correct the mistake they did with X2, HP presented a 2 kg design that is easy to carry around, and which is only 18 mm thin. It also paid attention to security matters, and installed a handy finger-print reader to protect your work. You also have the option of purchasing HP Z Turbo NVMePCIe SED – an extremely fast and self-encrypted storage drive. Apple Macbook Pro with 13 inches touch barWorld’s leading producer Apple didn’t stay behind with touchscreen products for creative professionals. In 2018, they introduced MacBook Pro with a 13 inch touch bar, and the laptop soon won multiple awards for being the best laptop for graphic design. One could even say it is the best MacBook piece Apple ever made. Its thin OLED display can be used to scan and identify the owner with his fingerprints, while the system facilitates creative works with new, app-specific shortcuts. It’s also the best MacBook Pro that Apple has ever made. It comes with the Touch Bar, which is a thin OLED display at the top of the keyboard which can be used to scan your fingerprint to log in, or offering up app-specific shortcuts. The screen is absolutely stunning, and performance stands up to all Apple standards. The price, however, is not a modest one. Ending thoughts on the best laptop for graphic designWe may have a tip or a few on how to choose the best laptop for graphic design, but the decision is still in your hands. The ideal laptop for you should have all the features that you need, a design that you like, and a price within your planned range. The key features to look for are graphics, storage, and speed, as it is the three of them that distinguish advanced from average graphic software. If you enjoyed reading this article about the best laptop for graphic design, you should read these as well:
The post The best laptop for graphic design: which one to choose appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/tech/best-laptop-for-graphic-design/ The graphic design magazines professionals read can tell a lot about a career. When talking about graphic design, such magazines are even more valuable than the glossy ones you see in store for a general audience, as they reveal (textually and visually) what is new and trendy, which tools are the best and most exciting, and which jobs in the industry are best paid. Better yet, they’re available in digital and printed versions, and there’s little chance you’ll miss them. Here are the world’s most popular graphic design magazines to put on your list: WallpaperGraphic design is a gorgeous visual art, and that’s best displayed by the magazines writing about it. Wallpaper, for instance, is such a well-designed magazine that you can’t stop looking at it. It takes your breath away! Looks are not all there is to this paper – start reading, and you’ll discover tones of useful information. For starters, Wallpaper’s editors may inspire you to work on a new, modern design, or suggest ideas from places you’ve never visited. The tone is simply innovative, and the topics go beyond graphic design – Yup, Wallpaper writes also on traveling, lifestyle, fashion, art, love, and many related fields. 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary IllustrationIf illustration is your thing, look no further – 3×3 is your magazine! Aside from its breathtaking design and production value, this magazine doesn’t try to impose visual aesthetics. Instead, they’re inspiring people to give their best, and they pick the best illustration every year. Communication ArtsVisual communication professionals rate Communication Arts as the best trade journal. It is a leading source of inspiration for corporate design departments, creative agencies, advertisers, illustrators, freelance photographers, or in short – everyone with an interest in visual communication. What makes Communication Arts so special? Their rich editorials feature informative articles and creative publications, helping professionals gather the ideas they need. They also organize annual competitions for talented teams, and promote the highest standards in this field. Ever since 1959, Communication Arts has combined in-depth profiles and informative columns on leading design issues in all of their juried Annuals. This is what makes them the premier publication for everyone interested in this field. Digital ArtsDigital Arts is a UK publication for creative workers that can be ordered online or in print. Their content is meaningful and forward-thinking, always keeping readers in line with advancements within the digital media markets. Many of their features are exclusive in the field, which explains why they have so many subscribers. And yet, Digital Arts is celebrating only its 5th anniversary. During this period, the magazine maintained very professional readership, and gained exclusive rights on many professional reviews. What readers like the most about them is that their information is product-based and unbiased, regardless of the discipline they’re featuring. When it comes to Digital Arts, quality matters more than marketing! This magazine should also be your primary source for product reviews, as the company runs its own lab facility to test gadgets and gather top-class information. IDG’s global network provides them access to the best-informed sources in the field, which leaves us no other choice but to trust them. Computer ArtsIf interested to create digital art, look no further than Computer Arts. They provide on-point professional advice for amateurs and professionals, and cover all computer-based photo manipulating programs to teach readers on creating vector illustrations. If not sure how to work with Photoshop or Illustrator, this best-selling computer artist magazine deserves a place on your desk! They also feature a section on web and typography design, and publish articles on motion graphics, 3D, and multimedia. Basically, there is no area they don’t specialize in! EyeIf computer art magazines are your thing, you should also consider Eye. The best way to define Eye is as the international observer of developments in the graphic design world. The magazine specializes in all branches of visual culture, with beautiful collections of modern graphic designs that can inspire anyone interested in the topic. The magazine is issued once every three months, and has been on the market since 1990. Their audience is, as they like to put it, creative enthusiasts looking for some proof-backed insights. They write on a number of very specific topics, such as book design, information design, branding design, typography, and media. You can get your copy in any specialized bookstore in the UK, or order it online regardless of your location. Each issue is promoted with a Vimeo video (Eye before you buy) where you can check the content in advance. SlantedLars Harmsen and Julia Kahl established Slanted Publishers only in 2014, and became the proud owners of Slanted magazine. The paper covers all relevant topics in international design, including news, event guides, and interviews with professionals. Meanwhile, you can follow their blog for daily updates, and even schedule a video meeting with over 100 entrepreneurs from the design world. JuxtapozJuxtapoz exists since 1994, as the pilot project of few passionate art creators such as Fausto Vitello, Robert Williams, Greg Escalante, Craig Stecyk, and Eric Swenson. Their idea was to celebrate contemporary and urban art with the large audiences, and they succeeded in it. Thousands of readers and magazine designers turn to this unique digital arts mag to seek inspiration! What is specific about this magazine is how it connects seemingly uncontestable modern genres, as for instance street art with hot rod art, or psychedelic illustrations and graffiti. An even bigger achievement is making these genres blend perfectly into their historically recognized counterparts, as for instance conceptual art, master painting, or pop. What they’re looking for (and what they’re providing!) is uniqueness. IX InteractionsACM’s IX Interactions mirrors the complex relations between humans and computers, and does so from the design community’s perspective. It features conversations, discoveries, collaborations, and technology innovations; and specializes into human-computer interactions research that could help practitioners do a better job. The magazine is issued by the Association for Computer Machinery, world’s biggest scientific and educational computing society. You can get a new IX Interactions issue twice per month. GraphicGraphic was published for the first time in 2007, and is nowadays Korea’s most popular graphic design magazine. The first 8 issues were written only in Korean, but due to the popularity of the magazine, the 9th edition got its English version. You can buy this magazine on multiple locations in Korea and Europe, while the company plans expending its market reach towards the USA. Graphic is a creative arts magazine that aims to be innovative, and writes on all major graphic design achievements. You will also find it describing the characteristics of alternative art and creative phenomena, with all details that make a magazine a true source of expertise. The publication is unbiased and independent, and issued without financial assistance from sponsor and governmental agencies. This placed it directly in the quality journalism category, and speaks just enough on its emancipated and well-prepared editorial team. NOVUMHow about a German graphic design magazine? NOVUM – World of Graphic Design Features is a premium magazine that specializes in contemporary graphic design. Much of its monthly content is devoted to corporate and business design, photography, and illustration; while editors also make serious efforts to look for new talents in the industry. Issued in Germany for over 90 years, this bilingual magazine certainly deserves the attention of every designer or advertiser. With each number of NOVUM you buy, you get a plus-issue called Plus, and which specializes in a different design area every month. For instance, you could read more on print design, typography design, logo design, and so on. In short, there is no topic NOVUM’s tech team didn’t cover, which makes each issue worth of keeping. Their sources of information are trustworthy and relevant, and so are the experts preparing them. KOMMA-MAGAZINEKomma is a graphic design magazine with an interesting came-to-be story. It was launched at the Faculty of Design at Mannheim’s University of Applied Sciences, practically prepared, published, and even edited by students themselves. As the reader, you can enjoy the perspective of multiple writers and designers – Komma always brings up fresh and relevant content, and provides extremely high-quality content on up-to-date themes. There’s also where future designers can have their Bachelor/Master theses published, which makes it a pretty good source of design theory. Unlike most visual magazines, Komma is a free community project. You can subscribe on their mailing list to get a copy as soon as the new issue is out. Note – you will be surprised how many popular designers, artists, and creative agencies are following their work! A NEW TYPE OF IMPRINTA New Type of Imprint is more of a creative project than a magazine. The team aims to curate creative culture using graphic design, a brilliant idea that celebrates the true core of Norwegian art. The magazine is published since 2014 by an Oslo-based agency called Anti. The agency offers a printed and a web version of the magazine, as well as consulting, curating, and production services for interested collaborators. HOLOHolo offers over 200 pages of pure design delight. You can check the profiles and stories of the most popular designers, creative artists, and practitioners worldwide, or read the art-and-design analyses of prominent experts in this field. Holo’s long-form journalism is paired with detailed follow-up of relevant trends and paradigms, and accordingly decorated with premium photographs. The agency behind it is Creative Applications Network which does a great job mixing the emerging trajectories in technology, science, and contemporary art. The magazine is issued twice a year, and offers great designing and prototyping features that could inspire any artist. IDEAIDEA was first issued in Tokyo in 1953. Nowadays, it offers us some of the best design perspectives of Japan, and we get to enjoy it 4 times per year. Therefore, it deserves a place among the best graphic design magazines of all times. What makes IDEA magazine one of the best pieces issued in this field is the focus on visual communication. Editors bring on board serious issues from the design world, and gather materials to help graphic and typography designers get inspired. All content is translated into English, and the magazine is available all around the world. Ending thoughts on these graphic design magazines
In this article, we’ve discussed some of the best graphic design magazines you should subscribe for. Of course, this list is far from complete, and we’d love further recommendations by your side! If you enjoyed reading this article about the graphic design magazines, you should read these as well:
The post Top graphic design magazines you should read appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/graphic-design/graphic-design-magazines/ We can all agree that the legal industry is quite rigid. Not that it is a bad thing; it simply means there are certain industry standards that have to be met. Legal website users are used to seeing a specific type of site and it is important to meet their expectations when building your own legal website. There are certain rules that have to be followed if you don’t want to ruin their experience on the site. However, trends and standards change constantly and not even legal websites are immune to change. A dose of warmth and a touch more personality are now commonly a part of the online legal libraries and legal websites. So how do you dose it just right? Stay with us to learn how to build a legal website that follows the industry standards. 5 rules Legal Websites need to followThere are 5 basic rules one should keep in mind when building a legal website. Organize your Content clearlyWhen it comes to organizing content, you should stick to the basics. Create well-organized categories with clear labels and don’t go overboard with creativity. If you are building a legal information library that hosts lots of content, you should avoid anything that may distract users. You want their focus on the content itself and you need to make it as simple as possible for the users to find exactly what they are looking for. A good example of crystal-clear content architecture is Legal Anchor, an online library of legal content. Add a warm Touch to the Color PaletteThis is one of the newest standards that not only makes the users feel more welcome but it also helps them differentiate between legal pages that used to look pretty much the same a while back. We all remember the gray-navy-black legal websites with little to no personality. However, if you add a little bit of warmth in the form of some “disruptive” color, your website will be easily recognizable in the crowd. Of course, keep things classy and don’t go overboard but, for example, a simple touch of yellow can get you a long way. Take a look at this website and try to imagine it without the yellow. It makes all the difference, doesn’t it? Use Images that show the Human SideWhile the right color combination adds some personality to your website, photos that tell the story do it even better! Instead of simply using an image of Lady Justice, consider putting up some pictures of your team to show the human side of teamwork. Let the users know what is happening behind the curtains and remember that people like to work with people. If you aren’t sure how to incorporate those images into your website, take a look at this example. You can also display images that capture client meetings similarly like here. Have at least one Dynamic FactorOne of the newest trends when it comes to designing websites is incorporating dynamic factors such as videos. Having a nice presentation video on your homepage is great to attract new users and grab their attention from the very first moment they open your site. Sites like msk did it successfully and are a great example. Consider using a video filmed in the company’s HQ but if you aren’t able to do that, you could always use a stock video with VO. Another great option is to use animated 3D elements to make the website more dynamic. From 3D animated logo to animated taglines, all these elements will make your website seem more alive and interesting. Use plenty of White SpaceThe key to creating a good legal website is to avoid overwhelming the users with all that legal content. Luckily, with a few simple techniques, you can really improve the user experience and make the site seem more welcoming. First of all, stick to the minimalistic approach and keep the site simple. Use plenty of white space to take the pressure of the user, stick to centered content, and use a lot of mind-maps or simple bullet points. Here is an example of a good website layout. If you have too much content to show off and you can’t really incorporate as much white space as you would want, consider using other smart ways to keep the website well-organized yet not too overwhelming. For example, using blocks is a good technique to achieve that. ConclusionIf you are a creative type, it might be a real challenge for you to create a functional legal website, especially if you are not particularly familiar with the legal industry. Luckily, once you get familiar with the latest standards, you will be able to express your own creativity in the ways that both fulfill the users’ expectations as well as your own ideas. Even though there are certain rules to follow, you are allowed to give a personality to your website that will make it stand out from the competition in all the right ways. Just follow the above-mentioned 5 simple steps and you will be all set to create legal websites that follow the industry standards yet are entirely unique. The post How to build a legal website that follows industry standards appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/misc/build-legal-website/ There’s always room for improvement. You know that, and you’ve experienced the feeling that the work you put out could have been better. We’ve all been there, looking at a project we’ve delivered in the past. Have you ever wished you could take another crack at it? It’s not a fun feeling to know you could have done better. Having a checklist can help. With that in mind, we’ve put together this checklist of 5 ways to improve your designs. You can do so by using pre-built websites. We’ve even provided examples to show you what pre-built websites can do for you. Pre-built websites & Be Theme Intro“OK,” you say. “Maybe pre-built websites will be of some help. But how much?” Read further, as you’re about to find out. The answer is somewhere between more than you might think and one heck of a lot. Don’t be mistaken. These are not the lazy man’s approach to web design. Their an aide, albeit a very powerful one, and Be Theme has more than 390 of them – and at a one-time cost of only $59. They’re organized by content type or by industry type. They cover almost every website type or use you’re apt to become involved with. And, new ones are added every month. Here we go, so fasten your seat belt. Checklist: 5 Ways Pre-Built Websites Can Improve Your DesignsAm I aligned with the trends in this specific industry?Let’s take the fashion industry, for example. Take a look at these three recently introduced pre-built websites. Fashion websites typically have a luxurious look. They feature rich colors and textures and are loaded with bold visuals. Times change. This year fashion websites are trending toward the minimalistic menus. These prevail with simple sketches (in black and white for goodness sake!) and plenty of white space. You want to keep up with the latest trends of course. But with pre-built websites, you’re spared of having to research them. Just check out these three examples: Do I know for sure what NEEDS to be on the Homepage?Trying to decide what should be on the home page can be tough. The decision you make can, in fact, make or break your design, and for that matter your website. Having an artistic bent certainly helps, as will having a scientific background. The problem is, you need a bit of both to achieve the best possible design. Or, you can simply start with a pre-built website. Here, the basic design work has already been accomplished. It has been proven for the industry or website type in question. Put another way, the structure users will be looking for and expect to see are already there. This is illustrated in these three diverse website subjects. Should I Follow or Disrupt?Follow or disrupt? Following is easier and seemingly safer. You usually want a website that stands out from the others. But for some industries, excessive creativity on your part can do more harm than good. Sameness can be bad, or it can be what a user expects. This is where pre-built websites are helpful in that they tend to settle the debate once and for all. Their supremely-structured customizable templates provide a perfect mix of Follow and Disrupt. Yet, they allow you to add a creative touch or two without the danger of going overboard. These 3 get the message across without having to rely on “sameness”. Which of My 5 Different Ideas Goes Best with This Project?We’ve addressed a need for creativity (but not too much of it) in a general sense. But when each website project is different from the next, you have to ask all over again when to be creative. One of the problems associated with creativity is getting more ideas than you can manage. When that happens, it becomes all too easy to make a poor choice.
The net result: the creative vision you’ve implement rests on a solid, tried and proven structure. Is the Client Right or Should I Stick to My Ideas?There’s the old saying in business that “the customer is always right”. Most business owners can accurately say that they know their business better. Especially, when it comes to what should go into a website’s design. Rather than argue finer points with your clients, you can simply use a pre-built website. It adheres to the online standards for the particular business or industry. When you do so, you deliver the right type of content focus. You also use the right mix of static vs. dynamic. Then, a client will generally be more than satisfied with the results. There are of course exceptions, but that’s another story. ConclusionPre-built websites are not to be ignored if you’re looking for a fast and effective way to improve your designs. You can rely on them to keep you abreast of the latest design trends. You can also stick to a tried and tested UX approach. Pre-built websites can serve as guides for selecting the best ideas for a design. They are giving you plenty of opportunities to utilize your creative skills. You can make it easy for you to show a client what the industry standard calls for. By doing so, you’ll most often avoid like/dislike discussions since the client is more likely than not to “get it”. You’ll also improve your design skills and find it easier than ever to deliver high-quality work. All this at a cost of only $59 for a library of more than 390 of these professionally-designed gems. The post 5 Ways Pre-Built Websites can Improve Your Designs FAST appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/wp/pre-built-websites-improve-designs/ Learn how to quickly create Eye-Popping Isometric Graphics on the go for your design requirements. If you are Designer or an Illustrator, possibly less or more you are doing with the Illustrations every other day. Illustrations not only makes the Product Design aesthetically pleasing but also helps a user to understand better about the Product Functionality and Behaviour. In the world of Illustrations, we have so many different styles and they are still evolving to the infinity ∞. Isometric Illustrations are among one of the most favoured flavour of the Illustrators these days. The previous months, I was working with uvdesk Help desk Product Design (Read Story) and I created a series of Isometric styled Illustrations for the different uvdesk apps. Generally, Illustrators go with the traditional flow, which includes drawing an Isometric Grid first and then creating objects all over it manually. I am a technician with an artistic approach and not a canvas obsessed artist, however, I still love and gets inspired by art. So I chose the Geometric Technique over traditional methodology to create the eye-popping Isometric Illustrations. Getting StartedThe article is intended for novice Illustrators/Designers which have a basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. If you are quite curious about what you’ll be capable of doing after adapting the Geometric Technique after reading this 10 minutes (approx) story. Check out the Isometric Space Bucket. Geometric TechniqueA Plane is a two dimensional surface which extends to the infinity.
Steps for Creating an Isometric Object in XY Surface
Let’s compile all these steps and see it all together for once – Now the depth of the square can be extruded in Z Plane by duplicating the same square layer with You can now use Clipping Masks to add different Colours to the Scene and the final output would look something as drawn below –
Now, Let’s Create an Isometric Object in XZ Surface
Now the depth of the square can be extruded in Y Plane by duplicating the same square layer with
Let’s compile all these steps and see it all together for once –
You can now use Clipping Masks to add different Colours to the Scene and the final output would look something as drawn below –
Last but not least, Let’s Create an Isometric Object in YZ Surface
Now the depth of the square can be extruded in X Plane by duplicating the same square layer with
Let’s compile all these steps together for a quick walk through -- As previously done, You can use Clipping Masks to add different Colours to the Scene and the final output would look something as drawn below –
Hope you will like ❤️ this piece of writing and find it useful for creating atleast some illustrations or icons for your design patterns. Do write a response below about What do you think about this and Is it really helpful to you :) © Credits
The post Creating Isometric Illustrations: Made Simple with the Geometric Technique appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/design/creating-isometric-illustrations/ A pastel background and a pastel color palette lend a certain refined elegance to any web design. Many sites opt to take a minimalist approach by using washed out pastel color palettes. This gives the end result a very pure and sophisticated look. Pastel colors are a family of pale colors. The name ‘pastel’ comes from pastels, a kind of art media made up of a pigmented powder and a binder. Pastel colors came to be named after this medium because it makes such frequent use of the pastel shades. Pastel colors are often described as soft, soothing, near neutral, milky, washed out, desaturated, and lacking strong chromatic content. As uncluttered web designs become more and more popular, muted colors are also growing more common. Flat and minimal is where it’s at these days, as seen in the rise Scandinavian web designs, which are very clean and make use of colder colors. Howe, muted does not have to mean cold. Soft and soothing colors like peach, light yellow, light green, and baby pink can be sued very well in modern minimalist web design. Pastel colors are often made when a solid dark and a neat shade are mixed with white in a 1:3 ratio. The resulting color will have a naturally calming effect. They work very well for spring or summer themes. While pastel colors like pale pink and light blue are often associated with Easter eggs and baby showers, they have become more and more common in modern web design. A pastel background may be just what you need to make your site designs stand out from the rest, hitting the right calm, refreshing, and modern tone to appeal to customers.
Where To Use Pastel ColorsPastels can be used in many places, including pastel backgrounds, textures, images, logo, icons, fonts, and frames. You can actually apply several muted colors to one site or even just to one portion of the site. The end result needs to look polished and elegant. You find many vintage and flat designs use pastel color palettes. They work great at creating a retro atmosphere or a clean and precise look. Are Pastel Colors Too Feminine?Pastel colors often add a lighter tone to a web design and are considered to be very feminine. Sometimes this is true. A website that makes ample use of creamy colors tends to seem non-masculine. Lightness and softness are associated with femininity. Make use of pastels for sure if you have a site that has women as its target audience. However, this does not mean that more serious websites like business, design agencies, and personal pages can’t make smart use of pastels as well. Incorporate pastels into more masculine cool colors to help them look more sophisticated and balanced. Pastel browns and even details in pastel blue are still good fits for masculine designs, especially when you want to reassure site visitors. Make Use of Contrasting PanelsYou can create an interesting visual contrast using pastel colors by using one or two pastel shades with a stronger color like dark gray. The pastel colors will still have the same mood and look as normal pastels, but the contrast will help highlight their emotional and visual effect. Dos and Don’ts of Using Pastel Backgrounds and Pastel Color Palettes
The Effects of a Pastel Background on Web DesignA pastel background can be really great for your website design. While everyone has seen bold colors used for website backgrounds for years, pastel colors have become increasingly trendy. They create a calm atmosphere and give visitors a sense of welcome. They can also add a light and fun tone to a site, or add a feminine feel. All of these can help your website stand out from the rest. A pastel background will set the whole tone for your website.It can be glamorous and sophisticated or hip and charming. Pastel backgrounds can also enhance the look of photos. Be careful when using a pastel background, however. You need to make sure that your site does not look too washed out. You need to find a middle ground between too bold and too pastel. Balance the brighter tones with your pastel colors for the best effect. Ending thoughts on using pastel background texturesA pastel background will make your website a more calm place, offering visitors a nice refuge from the bolder corners of the web. It will make the site much more appealing. You can use pastel colors in a variety of ways, from super modern flat design to classical retro looks. Pastel colors are something you should seriously consider using for your web design. If you enjoyed reading this article about pastel background textures, you should read these as well:
The post Pastel background textures and images to download and design with appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/resources/pastel-background-textures/ Chicago used to be referred to as a “flyover city” during the late 1990s, since big venture capital funding in Boston and Silicon Valley would fly to each other looking at deals while ignoring Chicago startups entirely. They would even insist that any startup that wanted their funding needed to relocate to their city in order to get a closer look a financing, leverage their expertise, and tap into the local ecosystem. That was then. Now Chicago startups have an ecosystem all their own. Angel investors have organized into a number of networks, including Hyde Park Angels, Cornerstone Angels, and Wildcat Angels. A number of incubators, accelerators, and startup office spaces have come to the city, as well, including Lightbank, Tech Nexus, TechStars Chicago, Sandbox, Catapult, and 1871. Local universities have also done a lot to formalize their entrepreneurship programs, including U-Chicago, Northwestern, DePaul, Loyola, IIT, and UIC. Built-In Chicago, the Illinois Technology Association, and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center have done a lot to help to make business networking more accessible for digital tech startups in Chicago. This list Chicago startup documents some of the ones you should keep an eye on. These new startups are taking advantage of the unique and vibrant startup economy that has taken root in Chicago. Their new ideas, business models, and hard work are almost certain to pay off. ExplORer SurgicalThis surgery workflow tool helps to create better communications in operating rooms, a place where that is very important. The startup has created a “surgical playbook” that can be used by medical professionals in the operating room, helping everyone from surgeons to assisting staff to be sure they are on the same page. They have raised $3 million last year, $500,000 of which came from the UChicago Startup Investment Program. Kin InsuranceThis Chicago startup makes it easier to buy home insurance by making use of data from sources that better assess risk. They also put the whole process online. Data from satellite images, public records, building permits, and MLS information is used to build policies. Kin makes home insurance much easier and much smarter. BallotReadyThis startup company is a voter information company that provides people with info about all the candidates on the ballot. Their goal is to help voters be more informed on who they are voting for, especially in local elections. RXBARRXBAR is a $600 million company. They have a savvy digital marketing campaign and an undeniably delicious line of nutrition bars that uses egg whites, almonds, cashews, and dates to create healthy and filling meals for people on the go. The company has gone from its cofounder’s basement to the Kellogg Company boardroom in under four years. They are likely to become an even bigger presence after their acquisition by the food giant and plan to grow their team a lot in the coming year. CityBaseThis company wants to help local governments make their websites more accessible using cloud-based technology. They hired a new COO in 2017, former DialogTech SVP Josh Mallamud. It was recently honored by the city of Chicago by adding 50 new hires to its busy team. Braviant HoldingsThis company makes use of advanced machine learning and proprietary technology to streamline the online lending process and help improve access to credit. They have nearly tripled the size of their team since they opened their doors in 2016 and plan to keep growing. AmperAmper’s goal is to help factories improve both machine and labor productivity by monitoring machine metrics in real-time. Their app helps companies react to issues and make plans using real-time data now hat is going on their assembly lines. TrussThis commercial real estate platform helps small companies make use of tech to help find office space. Its brokerage technology helps companies to more easily manage the whole office search in one platform. A company can search for spaces, virtually tour the inside, negotiate price, and sign lease documents, all on Truss’ site. XaptumXaptum is the telecom for the internet of things, providing the infrastructure behind real-time, smart-thing communication. TapGenesTapGenes is a private family health network building healthy relationships between families, healthcare providers, and favorite consumer wellness brands. StridekickStridekick is a social fitness platform that integrates with the leading fitness trackers and smartwatches to allow individuals to participate in fun fitness challenges with friends, family and coworkers. Rheaply, Inc.Rheaply aims to drive scientific breakthrough by making science more efficient and connected. To that end, Rheaply has built a novel web application which allows academic researchers to connect with their colleagues in order to easily ask for help with experiments, find a collaborator, or search for surplus scientific supplies. RentgrataRentgrata is an apartment listing service-meets-resident referral platform that connects prospective renters with current residents of apartment communities. Users can browse apartments and chat with current residents who have also signed up with Rentgrata. Both parties can earn a split of a referral reward if the prospect signs a lease. PhenixPhenix provides global real-time IP video solutions and is the only company that can deliver synchronous streams with less than 1/2 second of latency/delay at broadcast scale. They offer an end-to-end solution by capturing signals at the source and handle encoding, ingest, transcoding, composition and content delivery to any endpoint. PackygePackyge is an open Ecommerce ship-to-store network. It’s free for retailers to participate, and consumers get cash for picking up their shipments. As usage grows they create propensity models based on online purchasing and location data to build local audiences for advertisers. The platform is also available to retail chains on a white label basis… Omega GridOmega Grid’s platform enables utility companies to create and manage a peer-to-peer energy market. OjaExpressOjaExpress is an ethnic grocery delivery platform, which allows US consumers to shop for their hard to find ethnic groceries in a convenient and efficient manner. MortgageHippoThey work with mortgage lenders to devise and implement their digital mortgage strategies on their consumer-centric SaaS platform. Their platform guides consumers through every step of the mortgage process and facilitates the transaction between a borrower, the loan officer and other important parties (e.g. real estate agent). MegalyticsThey are a real-time aggregator of big data sources, bringing the most comprehensive & relevant data sets available for commercial real estate owners and asset managers. KeyoKeyo let’s you pay with just your palm at stores, no phone, nor wallet needed. They also save stores money by reducing their payment processing fees to a flat 1% per transaction. If you have entrepreneurial spirit and would like to join a motivated and energetic team, Keyo is the place for you. Payments are evolving and Keyo is ahead of the curve… KannatopiaKannatopia is a social network for Cannabis enthusiasts and patients 21+ Kannatopia is a community to connect, socialize, experience, share, learn and explore with people who have similar interests. Their vision is to “Connect the Cannabis World & Elevate Experiences”. HeretikHeretik is a Relativity (leading eDiscovery platform) application that marries effective text analysis machine learning models and flexible document review capabilities. Their solution structures contract data for smarter, faster, and more favorable decisions. Health iPASSHealth iPASS is like Square for Healthcare Patient Payments. They are the FIRST exchange to connect Consumers with their Healthcare Providers – and bring Transparency (into Cost of Care), Convenience and Trust to Healthcare Billing. Health iPASS is an innovative patient check-in and payment technology company that secures payment. FanFoodFanFood enhances the fan experience at live events. They are a mobile ordering technology platform that delivers food and drinks to fans’ seats or picked-up via express line. FanFood is available on the iOS and Android app stores. eazyScriptsEazyScripts makes it easier for telemedicine doctors to submit prescriptions. Its cloud-based software allows doctors to submit prescriptions using their smartphone or tablet. Cooler ScreensCooler Screens is transforming retail cooler surfaces into IoT-enabled screens. Their media platform reimagines the brick-and-mortar shopping experience for consumers in the cooler and freezer aisle while delivering new marketing opportunities and smart merchandising for brands and retailers. CodeverseCodeverse® is the world’s first fully interactive coding school and educational technology platform for kids aged 6-12, founded on the mission to teach a billion kids to code. To book weekly coding classes and 2018 Spring/Summer camps, visit www.codeverse.com. CloudRangerThey make it easy to manage your backup policies, disaster recovery and server control for AWS. CivicScapeCivicScape combines data and community input to effectively deploy law enforcement. ChangEdChangEd uses spare change to help students pay off their loans! BinferBinfer is a direct device to device data transfer platform that includes File Sharing, Sync, Web Drop, Communication and Private Cloud products. User data is never stored on any third-party servers. ApartmentJetApartmentJet is a short term rental solution for the multifamily apartment industry that provides owners and property management companies the portfolio-level visibility, control, revenue opportunity, and ability to maintain a sense of community too easily sacrificed in today’s sharing economy. Ending thoughts on these Chicago startupsChicago startups have come a long way. A number of venture capital firms have started to get more aggressive in investing in the area, including Pritzker Group, MK Capital, Origin Ventures, OCA Ventures, Apex Ventures, and Chicago Ventures. The state government of Illinois and the city of Chicago have also helped Chicago startups, embracing them as a salvation for the city and state’s economic issues. This includes the launch of the Illinois Invest Venture Fund. Groupon’s incredible rise, based in Chicago, also had a large halo effect on the local startup ecosystem. It put the city on the map and offered lots of inspiration to hundreds of other startups. According to Built In Chicago, 367 digital startups launched in 2012, a 187% increase from 2011 and a 15 times increase from the 25 startups per year average that existed between 2004 to 2008, which was before Groupon. 59 of these companies successfully raised more than $1MM each, aggregating over $391MM in venture capital raised in 2012. This was a 4 times increase from the $109MM average per year between 2004 to 2008. Things do not look to be slowing down. Chicago has also drawn the attention of some major coastal venture capital firms. There have been multi-million dollar raises from Activ, Analyte Health, Avant Credit, Belly, Big Machines, Braintree, BrightTag, Cleversafe, Fruition Partners, Future Simple, Groupon, GrubHub, inXpo, Mu Sigma, Narrative Science, Networked Merchants, Retrofit, SilkRoad, Singlehop, Sprout Social, 37 signals, Total Attorneys, Trunk Club and Valence Health, invested by major coastal VC’s like Accel, Alsop Louie, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain, Battery, Benchmark, Bessemer, Digital Sky, Draper Fisher, General Atlantic, Greycroft, Greylock, Highland, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, Maveron, NEA, Sequoia, Trinity, and USV. Chicago is no longer a “flyover city” and has become a major destination for big venture funds. Chicago startups no longer need to relocate. What’s more, these Chicago startup investments are leading to some very good returns. Groupon and Textura are IPOs, and it looks Grub Hub is looking for an IPO after its merger with Seamless. Braintree was sold to PayPal/eBay for $800MM. Oracle acquired Big Machines for $400MM. Accenture bought Acquity got $316MM. ValueClick was bought by Dotomi for $259MM. This list goes and on and on, all of it very impressive. If you enjoyed reading this article about Chicago startups, you should read these as well:
The post Chicago startups you should pay attention to in the next years appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/web-design/chicago-startups/ Looking for a guide on how to design a T-Shirt? We’ve got that covered in this article. Enjoy your read. They’re ripped, they’re stained, they’re completely discolored…and yet, we still have them in our closets. The T-shirts we love are simply part of our lives – they’re the things people notice on us, and we often associate them with meaningful memories. That’s why we’re all after the perfect T-shirt design, one that conveys a message that means to us and which we want everyone to see. Knowing this, wouldn’t it feel amazing to be the one creating these shirts? Wouldn’t it be just wonderful to design a T-shirt people will create memories in? What matters is that you’re in charge. You design a shirt, and you are the person behind your band’s new outfit, the T-shirts for smart corporate apparel, or the guy who simply decided to use his artistic skills and to create the best T-shirt he ever had. Whatever it is – it’s fun! Our role in this process is to help you design a T-shirt just the way you want it. To achieve this, we will guide you through the process step by step, and explain where you should turn to have a gorgeous design mass-printed. The experience doesn’t really matter – if you have the vision, these tips will teach you everything else! How to design a t-shirt – Here is our guideSet a causeThink of the reasons why you’re designing a T-shirt. Will you use it yourself, or are you aiming to create a brand? Who are your clients? Do you know what they like? As an example, some people create T-shirts to raise awareness on a cause, while others dream of creating the coolest piece of the year everyone wants to wear. To be successful, you need to define a core message for your T-shirt designs and convey it the right way, even if that means creating an entire collection that portrays your brand in detail. Somewhere out there, there are people who think just like you. Regardless of why you want to design a T-shirt, branding is something you’ll need to think about. If you want to promote and sell T-shirts, for instance, branding is exactly what you want to achieve. Even when you want to help people look nice with no obvious reason at all, you’ll need to keep products consistent. That also counts for those who wish to commemorate an event or design shirts for personal use. So, how to make your own shirt? To help you get through the process, we’ve defined 4 essential T-shirt design goals for each of you. These goals will help you understand how to design a T-shirt, and better yet – how to make it perfect: Gifts & PromotionsIf designing T-shirts to promote your brand, you can give them away for free. Your prospective customers can than wear them at conferences, conventions, business meetings, or any other even that could draw attention towards your cause. Corporate useOnce again, your goal is to promote your brand. T-shirts are distributed to employees to thank them for their appreciation, or even warn as company uniforms. MerchandiseYou’ll need to find out where your product stands in the market, and the best way to do that is to find out what your customers want. While it is good to plan designs from your own perspective, you still need to think how to sell them: gather some quantifiable intelligence, and use it to prepare a smart business strategy. Souvenirs and memorabiliaT-shirts are among the best souvenirs that commemorate a place or a special event. Therefore, souvenir shirts designer have much in common with those designing for corporate use. In this case, however, the designs should be more casual, and oriented towards a larger audience. Plan the budget and the quantityYou can’t wait to see your T-shirts delivered to customers, and that’s perfectly understandable. But take your time! There are many issues you can fix in advance to save some designing time. Budget and quantity are the most important among them, as you need to know exactly how many T-shirts you can afford. What does your budget plan reveal? For starters, it determines the number of colors you can use. You will also be able to estimate the ideal T shirt design size, depending on how much printing space you have, and how much the printing method costs. The more flexible you are, the more it can cost you, so set clear boundaries and stick to them. The printing method will also be influenced by the number of T-shirts you want to sell. There are methods that enable bulk printing, but also such tat charge per piece and are thus suitable for smaller orders. The only way to limit the amount you’re spending is to plan wisely. Choose a printing methodPrinting is perhaps the most important part of the ‘how to make custom shirts’ learning curve. The choice of a suitable printing method depends on many factors. The material, the appearance, the cost, and the production time – they all matter. Some research on the available printing methods will help you choose the right one for you. Here are some suggestions: Screen printingScreen printing is the most common T-shirt printing method, as well as the most successful one. It allows you to print original design screens with your printer, and it thus allows bulk printing. Screen printing is suitable for: Larger batches (more than 20); multi-color designs (preferably up to 6 colors). The advantages:
The disadvantages:
Vinyl graphics printingPrinting with vinyl is another heated transfer method you can consider, and it lasts more than ink. Vinyl printing is suitable for: Unique designs that should stand out – different types of T-shirt lettering, such as slogans, names, brands, and more. It is better suited for smaller orders. The advantages:
The disadvantages:
Direct-to-garment print (or print-on-demand)This method comes quite close to actual paper printing. It is the hottest trend on the T-shirt design market that enables inkjet printing directly onto fabric. Direct-to-garment printing is suitable for: T-shirts with multiple colors (over 6) or photos; ideal for small orders; works well for beginners. The advantages:You can use all the colors that you want, and yet per less per piece. The printed designs are highly accurate, and the method works for both single and small orders. The disadvantages:You can’t use this method for bulk printing – it will cost a fortune, and become less and less viable the more you print. It doesn’t look nice on dark-colored T-shirts. Coming up with a great design conceptExplained in the simplest way, all of your T-shirt fundraising efforts depend on how good your design concept it. This is why creative processes take time – artists don’t just go for the first thing that comes to their mind, but they invest some serious time thinking how to pull everything through. Quite often, they also consult colleagues and creative friends for brainstorming sessions, and they come up with great ideas. Here’s what you should be deciding on: The type of T-shirt: We’ve focused so much on designs and how to print them that we actually forgot about shirts. At the same time, there are so many shirt types that could match our design that we may end up totally confused. What T-shirt did you imagine your design on? Was it a v-neck shirt, crew neck, snoop neck, or a tank top? The options are just endless, so follow your goals and try to pick the model your audience would be best fond of. If promoting a law firm, for instance, you’ll want to stay aside from revealing crop tops in significantly vivid colors. The next thing you should consider is the size. Your design should look well on both larger and smaller T-shirts, and that may cost you a bit more than you expected (as it is with screen printing, for instance). Get inspired: By the time you begin designing tees, the style and theme should already be set. This shouldn’t scare you though – even if you hit a dead end looking for ideas, there are several rules in goal-oriented designs that can help you. If working on corporate apparel, for example, keep the designs uniformed and professional. If it is a creative organization, sports team, or a band, make it artistic and slightly informal. Regardless of the purpose, try to picture your T-shirt being used, and you’ll have the answers to all your questions. Humor and pop-culture designs: Of course, it is important to give people something they can relate to, or to use your creativity to raise awareness of a cause. What will work always and for everybody is humor, so consider that as a potential design idea. Yet, avoid low-cost jokes and keep the message subtle. Funny T-shirts are simply everyone’s thing – you can see them on people from all generations, and they’re always relaxing and fun to look at. Before you choose this option, however, try to come up with original ideas. Pop culture motifs, for instance, are quite common on T-shirts and hoodies. If you’d go for something like this, try to design your own images in order to avoid plagiarism charges. Types of T-Shirt designAn important phase of every design process is gathering information and working on preferences. The better you’ve done your homework, the fewer mistakes you will make once designing is actually on. Here are the main 4 types of T-shirt design to choose from: Typography designs: This design type refers to all sorts of T-shirt lettering. As simple as it sounds, typography requires a lot of creativity, as you have to develop the right message, phrase, or slogan to put on the T-shirt, and then think of fonts, colors, pairings, and other features. Typography designs are simple, and they don’t require special artistic skills (if any!). You can have them done with any printing method, since you’re not working with too many colors. Pairing of phrases and fonts as well as proper word arrangement can make or break a popular T-shirt, so take it seriously. Make sure you’re original in order to avoid infringement of copyrighted and trademarked messages. Photography designs: The focal point of these T-shirts is the image on them, and it is very important to print it right. We recommend you to go for the direct-to-garment printing method, as it provides the best quality. People love image T-shirts, as they capture attention at all times. We advise you to print an original and custom-made image, so that no one can replicate your design. Printing images is more complicated, as you have to get the right size file to ensure good quality. If the image you’re using was not made by you, you’ll probably need a license to use it in order to avoid messing with copyright laws. Graphic designs: When you combine typography and illustration, your work will fall under the scope of graphic designs. The most important parameter is pairing images with lettering in an illustrative and stylized way, so that the final product is attractive rather than overwhelming. You will probably be able to use any printing method, unless your design is too colorful. Plus, you’ve got a genuine opportunity to create something unique, and not to deal with copycats. Graphic design is one of those majors where you really need to possess artistic skills. If not, you can always consider hiring a professional to do that for you. Branded designs: The sole purpose of branded designs is to promote a brand, product, or a company. If you want them to be effective, you should have a really good understanding of that brand and what it stands for, and choose the colors, styles, and fabrics that can reflect that. Each time a customer wears this T-shirt, he’ll be advocating your brand. Designs are impactful but simple, and usually don’t cost much. Better yet, you can have them printed with any method you prefer. This time, you need to be really sure that customers like your design. If they don’t wear it, you can’t sell it. The colors you can useColor is one of the most important design elements and for a good reason – it communicates style and personality easier than any other element. Take branding design as an example – buyers connect products with the brand behind them mainly because of color, be that a single tone or a combination of few. Another important thing about colors is that they have specific emotional impact on customers, such as making them trust your brand, or motivating them to do something. When you think of color, think 2 ways – the color of the print, and the color of the T-shirt itself. We don’t even have to say how important it is for these colors to complement each other. The placement of your designYou’ve got the shirt, and you’ve got the design print ready for it. Next, you have to design on how and where to place that design. You can try multiple different positions with a template or an uploader. While it is great to be creative and to come up with an original idea, there are few good all practices you should consider. In most cases, for example, you won’t be expected to cover the entire front side of the shirt, but place your design somewhere in the middle, preferably closer to the collar (at least 2” down from it). There are also T-shirts where designs placed significantly lower (even 5” from the neck line), but they don’t always pick up as much attention as the artist would expect. The more appealing your design is, the more buyers you will get! Conventional layouts are the best: You want your layout to look natural, and the best way to do that is to adhere to a safe and tried option. Here are your best shots: The best front shirt placementsLarge and centered – This is the leader of all printing locations, as it displays your awesome graphic just over the sternum, making sure that no one will miss it. It works great for all print shapes, including round graphics. Frockets – If you’re designing a logo, this is the right place for it! ‘Frocket’ stands for front pocket, and ensures an official and respectful look. If you pair it with a full-back graphic, you’ve got yourself a winner! Across the chest – If your graphic is thin and horizontally positioned, the best place to put it is across the chest. This is also the ideal placement for typography prints, ideally positioned 3” below the collar. Full back designs – If you have a large and meaningful graphic to convey, you should put it at the back of the shirt. Keep the center higher so that it will cover the shoulder blades, and pair it with a beautiful logo in the front. Yoke – Literally explained, yoke is the tool farmers used when harnessing their oxen. In T-shirt design terms, it stands for upper back prints that are impactful and relatively inexpensive to print. This is the ideal position for a small graphic or a logo, if placed in the middle between the shoulder blades. It will look just great if you pair it with a larger graphic in the front. Across the back – This is the backside version of popular across-the-chest prints, centered exactly over the shoulder blades. It works just fine for thin designs and text prints. The resolutionWhen possible, use the highest resolution. It may cost more, but you’ll be improving both the looks and the function of the T-shirt, and your fans will be impressed. We suggest you upload files at maximal dimensions (2400px x 3200px), and to work with 300 d.p.i. 150 d.p.i is also an option for those preparing simpler designs. At the same time, T-shirt designs don’t provide you the same flexibility as, let’s say, a poster. They will be worn on bodies, which means they won’t be as symmetrical as we want them to be. For this reason it is better to choose uncomplicated and flat designs. Effects: If you want to use effects, you have to make sure that they’re compatible with the printing technique you’re using. Here are some T-shirt design effects you can consider:
The specifications of your printing techniqueRegardless of what you’re printing, you have to use the adequate ink to get the best result possible. T-shirts are no exception: Plastisol – Reflective and shiny ink commonly used for screen printing Novelty – Fuzzy, glitter, suitable for hologram High-density – Creates a dimensional appearance. It works great for pop-out and 3D designs. Gel – it has similar qualities to the ones of high-density ink, but looks a bit wetter. Water-based – it is fully ingrained in the fabric, and you can’t feel it upon touching. Improving your design skillsDon’t worry if you have no experience in design. There are multiple excellent programs nowadays (The Adobe kit, for instance) that let you produce designs on your own. Yet, if you don’t learn a thing or two on these programs, you’ll only be able to come up with simple designs. An instructional guide for DIY designersIf you design a T-shirt yourself, you’ll not only have a masterpiece to be proud of, but also cut a meaningful portion of the investment. Professional designers charge solid amounts of money, which makes DIY even worthier the try. Here’s what you should remember: The best format for your files is CMYK. RGB is not an option. CMYK s designers’ favorite color model, as that’s the model printers use. Photoshop will let you do this very easily, by simply exploring its image format options. Dark garments are specific: If you’re applying your design on a darker T-shirt, you should first apply a layer of white ink. Without this base, the fabric will reduce (or absorb) the vibrancy of your design, and the T-shirt will look opaque. Transparent backgrounds ensure a better effect. Use transparent backgrounds each time when that’s possible. Not doing so may result into creating unappealing white squares around your image. Getting professional helpDesigning and selling T-shirts doesn’t necessarily require you to do all the heavy lifting. If you can afford a professional who’s already informed on design, branding, or marketing, go for it! That’s much better than spending months (or years) learning something that may not be your thing. Take care who you’re hiring. You need a designer who understands your ideas, and suggests acceptable solutions. Before you close the deal, exchange images and tips to ensure that’s they style you’re looking for. Needless to say, ask him to provide you samples of his design, or consult his former clients for a recommendation. Stay in touch with your designer all alongOnce the designer takes over, inform him on any idea you have. If you’ve worked on multiple versions of the same design, send them to him and ask whether he has a favorite. Keep him updated on your technical and marketing requirements, including the budget you have available to ensure you can actually afford to print. On your side of the table, there is more business than art, so stay pretty specific on what you want. Have your design pre-approved by key stakeholders, or at least people who’ll give you an honest opinion. This way, you’ll have an idea on how the market is about to react on your design, and you may even discover mistakes you didn’t know were there. A question you could ask is: What does this T-shirt tell you? Who would wear it, according to you? In the best scenario, you will hear exactly what you want to hear – that the T-shirt conveys the right message. In the opposite case, you’ll at least know there is something you should change about your design. Ask your designer to provide you with the right filesNow that your design is all shiny and ready to conquer the market, the last thing you want is to mess up the printing. For this too you have to maintain excellent communication with the designer. The T-shirt designs should be delivered in vector formats, preferably PDF, AI (Adobe Illustrator), or EPS. Depending on where these designs are to appear, you may also need multiple formats. For printers that do custom colors, you’ll need CMYK or Pantone color codes to get a design that looks the way you want it. Go for the best printer availableAs good as it is, your artwork will be ruined by a poor printer. Therefore, you need to choose a reliable company before you begin mass-printing T-shirts. We’d advise you to compare several imprints to see which printer works the best. Next, compare the prices, and try to close a smart deal that won’t affect the quality of the prints. You also need to check whether this printer offers the technique you need, and whether you can get some extra features that could improve your work. The process of finding a good printer may take a while, but it will spare you trouble on the long run. Here’s who you’re looking for: Printing companies with in-house art departmentsThese companies are as good for T-shirt designs as it gets, and they assess pretty accurately the digitizing needs of state-of-art machinery. This means that they can customize your art to your screen printing needs, but also that they will charge you slightly more Check some finished shirts they produced – most of them will be happy to show them. Use your presence there to consult them on printing your designs, as they specialize in the area, and they’ll certainly have some useful tips for you. If you’re satisfied with the service you got, think of maintaining a constant working relationship with the same company. Don’t discard companies that offer more services than what you need, since your designing career is only beginning. Better yet, successful printing companies are great marketing partners who could recommend you in future. Make a deal that involves pre-press proofs. It is the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises. Check well for hidden charges, as for example films or pantone color matching. Misuse happens here as it does in any other industry, so keep all cards open. Ending thoughts on how to design a T-shirtDesigning a T-shirt for you is fun, but designing T-shirts for mass sale is responsibility. You need to plan the process carefully and to explore your audiences’ preferences, as this increases your chances of success. To start with, pick the design type you’re going to work with, and make a realistic budget plan to avoid unexpected expenses. If not confident about your artistic skills, ask for professional help – what matters at the end of the day is whether these T-shirts sell well. We wish you success! If you enjoyed reading this article about how to design a T-shirt, you should read these as well:
The post How to design a T-Shirt: The best guide online appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/design/design-t-shirt/ You came here to download free dashboard templates, but do you know why they are so useful? A dashboard helps a business owner to assess the current status of his business. From current website views to financial data, the dashboard will present insights in graphic form. Your admin dashboard template will assist you with sales, client relationships, financial management, and project management, communicating with staff and improving the efficiency of your business. If you work online, you will understand the importance of having a great webpage dashboard in order to assist you with your work. So how do you go about creating your admin templates? Where should you start? Importantly, don’t waste time trying to create a website dashboard of your own. You can find a free dashboard online, which will save you both time and money. Once you’ve found a bootstrap simple admin template, all you’ll need to do is customize it. Free dashboard templatesRobustRobust is an elegant bootstrap dashboard which is laid out as two different columns. On the left side, you can find visual navigation tools, while the right gives you information on the latest site analytics. This analytics tool can show you the number of visitors to your site, your sales, to do list, current sales and much, much more. Matrix AdminMatrix Admin is an efficient program created by wrappixel. This is one of the best dashboards if you are going for a minimalist design. This is a lightweight dashboard which will save you time while operating efficiently. It is a flat design bootstrap dashboard backed by HTML, CSS3, Bootstrap 3, media queries and flat design. JanuxIf you are searching for a free admin template, Janux is an excellent choice. This template has HTML5, CSS3 and a Bootstrap 3.1 framework. The admin dashboard uses excellent web applications including CMS, CRM, SASS, eCommercebackends and more. If you have experience with such a great tool, you’ll be able to use the free dashboard to improve your E-Commerce site, blog or online portfolio. Monster AdminMonster Admin is a great free dashboard with an attractive appearance. This tool is simple and intuitive, and can be used on different devices, including your mobile phone, laptop, desktop computer or tablet. This webpage dashboard has graphs to assist you with absorbing complex data at a glance. Monster Admin is particularly helpful for E-Commerce sites, where you can monitor your site views, track your sales and respond to comments. This webpage template offers forms, graphs, charts, panels and other essential elements for running and understanding your business. SB AdminIf you have an E-Commerce team, SB Admin is the web dashboard for you. This dashboard template will enable you to manage your administration by providing easily understandable information via charts, tables, grids, dropdown menus and forms. This dashboard has a simple user interface which is easy to understand. The dashboard is a jQuery plug-in. E AdminEadmin is also a jQuery plug-in and is an excellent web dashboard. Easy to adapt to your own custom needs, this is a template which will make business appear fun. This dashboard uses HTML code, CSS, great typography chat options, tables and forms, and easy navigation. Core UICore UI is an excellent download dashboard for business and personal users alike. This dashboard is completely free, and is highly responsive, which means you can use it on your laptop, tablet or mobile phone with ease. If you are selling products online, this is a great dashboard for monitoring customer interactions. It is also simple to install which makes it one of the great free dashboard choices for you to choose from. Light Bootstrap Dashboard Angular2If you’re looking for a free bootstrap admin template, this is an excellent choice. This dashboard web design is highly responsive, making it a great choice if you are running your business from your mobile phone. You can add Google fonts, font awesome, smooth scrolling, a data table and a chats plug-in for an attractive user interface. Material DashboardThis great html5 dashboard has a great admin section with an aesthetic appearance. This dashboard has an excellent design, with easy to follow charts and tables, panels and calendars. There are 15 pages that can be used to monitor your business events, happenings and needs. KlorofilAnother html5 dashboard template is Klorofil. This is a great site which will present your data quickly and efficiently. Klorofil is simple and easy to use, and will give you the option to install buttons, bars, graphs and tables. The template is highly responsive and therefore a great choice for anyone who runs their business through a mobile phone or tablet. The UI is created in a flat style which presents a range of professional options for managing your business. Admin LTEThis free bootstrap admin template is open sourced. The design has a range of modern features to assist you with running your business efficiently and it was built using HTML5 and CSS codes. It is highly responsive, adjusting to small screens as efficiently as a desktop. This admin page template is bootstrap driven. Admin BSB Material DesignThis free bootstrap admin template offers a beautiful dashboard which has a wide range of features. The template includes 17 different themes, including inbox and timeline pages. In addition, BSB material design is quick and efficient to use, creating a rewarding user experience. This is because it has a new admin layout combined with metro chats at its core. Blur-AdminBlur-Admin is responsive admin template which comes free from BootstrapTaste. This beautiful dashboard was designed for the web development community and is a powerful open source template option which is easy to use. Material AdminThis user dashboard design comes with great plugins, a bootstrap 3.3.4 framework, smooth scrolling, charts and data tables. There is a great font selection as well as a collapsible side bar. This modern dashboard design is completely responsive and great for use on multiple devices. NovusGithub is a great source for programmers or developers to search for open source designs. This includes a great html admin template. Novus is a bootstrap admin theme free for both business and personal use. This template has a great login page, sign up, a full calendar, stats, and form plugins and data tables amongst other great features. It has an html5 editor and WISIWYG. The modern UI is easy to use. Paper DashboardPaper Dashboard is a great bootstrap admin theme available from Github. As an open source design, this free admin template is freely available and has a great dashboard web design. The many attractive features make this a great choice for business use. With calendar, stats, tables and an excellent user interface, this is one of the excellent website dashboard designs. AdminatorAs one of the best free dashboard tools available online, Adminator offers a premium product. This is one of the best website dashboard designs available. There are many attractive features, such as animated icons, chat and maps, calendars and charts. The user interface is efficient, intuitive and well designed. Adminator offers a beautiful dashboard with extras which are unexpected even in top of the range products. All in all, a great choice for your business or for personal use. GentelellaThis dashboard design template is highly professional, and offers you great features which will help while running a business. The design is heavy on text, but still visual, with texts and icons being used in excellent proportion. This is a modern dashboard with stats, insight into recent activities and a list of tasks alongside a completion list. Graphs, tables, forms, layouts and a collapsible menu all form a part of this dashboard template. Running a business has never been so easy with this great template. You’ll be able to see where to focus your attention, what has been achieved, and how your clients are interacting with your site. MetisMetis is a simple dashboard which still offers you all that you need to run your business effectively. This is because it contains all of the features you need to work well. The style switcher available with this product gives you the opportunity to re-design the template, highlighting the background or foreground colors. You’ll have nine different colors to choose from, and you can easily redesign the colors of your template, should you feel like a change. Features include maps, charts, and an excellent User Interface which will give you insight into your business. A great choice from a range of free dashboards. ANTD AdminThis is another great dashboard design template with premium features. One of the great free dashboards available. ANTD Admin offers ultra modern aesthetics, trendy colors and a clean and simple look. Although great for business use, this is an excellent site for E-commerce use. Features can be customised, and are great for trading as an online store. This site was built with Java Script, and has great interactive features. The overall aesthetics are neat and easy to understand. You can select from a small choice of charts, but like many free downloads, these features are limited. Vali AdminThis simple dashboard gives you everything you need in a clear and easy to understand format. The design takes a minimalist approach, so that you only see what you need on your screen. Only a small amount of data is shown at the screen, and blocks are therefore limited. Each block is large and easily legible. Stats are easy to read, and all you’ll need to do is hover over the charts in order to gain full access to information. If animated charts don’t appeal, you can make changes via code. Features include cards, bootstrap elements, tables, forms and widgets. VuesticThis is a great panel template built from Vuejs. Vuejs has an excellent reputation amongst developers, who appreciate the flexibility. The same is true with the Vuestic free online dashboard, which is simple, well designed and easy to use. Drop shadows help important features stand out, while the overall aesthetic is clean and easy to understand. This is a great event website template, showing the stats of viewers who engage, profile information, commitments and user signups. This is a website dashboard which can be easily customised towards your needs. Overall, this is beautiful dashboard which has all the features you need. LuminoLumino is an excellent online dashboard which is freely available to download. You can make a choice between a premium product and the free version for this dashboard. The two dashboard design templates have different features, and it is worth making a selection based on what you need. The premium version has a range of charts, color schemes and pagination. The free version has a limited range of features by comparison and cannot be customised. Lumino is a great, aesthetic dashboard which is easy to use, attractive, and legible and has a great user interface. Big blocks keep this dashboard easy to digest. However, as the blocks are large, it does mean that it is impossible to install too many at once. You can, however, add a to do list, and use the dashboard to chat with users. The premium version will give you a great selection of features, but these are somewhat limited in the free version. Bootstrap 4This great bootstrap dashboard comes with a premium and a free version. Like Lumino above, the pro version gives you a range of additional features. With the pro version, you are able to create custom coloring on your dashboard. You are also getting a range of excellent features including a range of different charts. This dashboard uses the latest version of bootstrap; it is incredibly up to date, with every modern web element available with the template. The user interface is intuitive and you can easily customise it to meet your business needs. This is one of the best dashboards for adding any element you want as there is a great amount of space available. This means you can see your profile, calendar, to do list, charts and timelines at a glance. This is a great set up for site editors who have a number of different writers or articles to manage and review. An excellent webpage dashboard. Modern Admin PanelAs the name implies, this is one of the modern dashboards available online. This is an excellent dashboard for those who offer services or goods online. You can custom design your dashboard, adding all the elements or charts you need. It’s also a dashboard which is very easy to navigate, allowing you to access the chat and profile icons with ease. You will also be shown any notifications via your dashboard. There is a minimal amount of animation within this dashboard, but each animated element is accessed by hovering over a chart or feature, and is informative to the user. Easy Admin PanelThis is a great free admin dashboard has a grid style, which arranges all the features you need in an easily accessible format. This web dashboard is arranged to give you notifications, emails, a task manager and the number of followers you have on social media. Different features are arranged in different colors, to give a quick overview of user needs. This dashboard will give you access to your to do lists as well as chat options. You’ll also be given the elements you need to customise your dashboard template. KeenKeen is not simply an admin dashboard template. Instead, it comes with a range of different developer codes. You will be given four different admin templates, each with a different purpose, so that you can select the best option for your business needs. Keen is a starter pack, which means you don’t get sophisticated features such as animated charts or sophisticated designs. However, you can custom create your dashboard, learn about the different elements available and combine the functions you need onto your template. Keen is one of the best dashboards for new users. Metro PanelThis is one of the web dashboards which come in flat design. It is easy to digest information quickly as the dashboard will give you information in large content blocks and bold, easy to read text. You’ll be able to access any information you need from the full screen design. One of the unique features of the panel template is the ability to dismiss each different card on the dashboard. This means that once you have worked with a block or element, you can simply close it. This gives you the chance to concentrate on information you need without distraction. The dashboard comes with the default features of charts, a to do list, stats on your site performance, blog options and a calendar. This is a simple dashboard option, however, and comes with a limited number of features. A simple dashboard which enables you to limit the information available to you at any one time. Dashboard PageA website dashboard template which comes in dark format, this makes a great choice for those who love dark themes. You can, however, only use this dashboard as an inspiration for your own templates. Charts are not fully operational, and you cannot use the hover effect on your template to access information about your site. Coding has been created by the developer Icebob, and you can use these codes to develop your own website template from scratch. If you are clued up on how to create an excellent admin template, this may be the choice for you. Ending thoughts on these free dashboard templatesThis list of website dashboard has been compiled so that you can explore the choices available to you, the features offered and how each dashboard will suit your individual needs. As you can see, some dashboards are designed to be suitable for a specific type of business, and some are highly responsive, and therefore suitable for those who make frequent use of mobile phones or tablets. When selecting a dashboard, consider the features you need and how each will best suit your business requirements. If you are looking for a simple dashboard which is easy to digest at a glance, you’ll make a different choice to a person searching for highly sophisticated options. You can also explore how modern your dashboard is. Another choice worth considering is whether you’re interested in the free or more basic dashboard versions, or whether it is time to move on to the pro version, which comes with a range of different choices and highly sophisticated features. We hope that this guide gives you insight into how to choose a dashboard which meets all of your individual or business needs, and the choices, features and template designs freely available online at the moment. Best of luck with your website dashboard search. If you enjoyed reading this article about the free dashboard templates, you should read these as well:
The post Free dashboard templates to download and use for a web app appeared first on Design your way. from https://www.designyourway.net/blog/resources/free-dashboard-templates/ |
AuthorPleasure to introduce myself I am Jamie 27 years old living in Searcy, AR. I am web developer and have developed over 50 sites for clients. Now a days I am focused on designing as I feel I am lacking it. Archives
April 2019
Categories |