We’ve published this guide over at YouPublish.com. Click here to purchase your copy now!

If you’re expecting online image editors to be anemic, you’ll be surprised by the extensive features of many of the nominees like Sumo Paint. Sporting a toolbar, image navigator, swatches, and layers, Sumo Paint does more than just crop and rotate images. In addition to having layers, as some other editors do, Sumo Paint has support for blending modes and other advanced layering magic like drop shadow and outer glow. The brushes and ink tools offer a wide variety of shapes and textures. If you like some of the paint-centric features of Sumo Paint, you’ll definitely want to check out the Gravity tool, which creates some pretty interesting abstract paint effects. Sumo Paint also supports drag and drop image opening for pictures you have stored in your Sumo Paint account. Sumo Paint doesn’t require a login for use, but if you sign up for a free account you can store images online and participate in the Sumo Paint community by submitting your work and ranking the work of others.

Check it out here.

Surprisingly, we’ve had some clients that have come pretty close to saying those exact words to us, regarding the construction of their website. So if you’re not sure of where to start, let us offer five tips (which may or may not also apply to home construction).

1. Decide what the main objective(s) of your site are. Is it a membership site? E-commerce site? Informative/interactive site? Blog?

2. Decide how many pages your site is going to have and develop some content for them. It’s okay to change this later (and it probably will), but having an idea of the type of content helps when constructing the layout of your site.

3. Create a list of websites that you like. Note what you like about them. Is it the layout, features, color scheme?

4. Sketch a draft of your site. This would show where you want the header images, navigation, content, widgets and other areas of your site placed. (Hint: it’s okay to involve the web designer at this point).

5. Be flexible. You may want every widget, gadget and calculator on your front page, and it may work for you. However, be flexible if your designer points out alternatives that will make it easier for the web surfer to navigate your site.

If you follow some of these basic tips, you’ll go a long way to creating the awesome site that’s in your head. “I’ll know it when I see it…” is okay, but “I know it because I planned it…” is a much better way to go.

Another thing is that, it also says a lot in the overall design of your website. It is therefore important to choose a font that is legible and pleasing to the eyes as well.

Here are some factors that you should consider when choosing fonts for your website:

1. Font size

- this is an important consideration when choosing a font. You should determine what font size will do the job that you expect it to do. For your overall content, you should make sure that they are big enough to be readable by average readers.

Also make the size varied for different elements such as the content, the headline and the header. Also consider offering an option for changing the font sizes for the convenience of your readers.

2. Font type

- apart from the graphics, the font type also says a lot in the overall design of your website so you should choose your font type carefully. In general, fonts used nowadays are sans serif fonts which are easier on the eyes. Arial is probably the most widely-used of these sans serif fonts.

3. Color

- once you’ve got the color scheme of your entire website figured out, choosing the color of your font would be a breeze. However, keep in mind that the color should contrast well enough with the background so that it will be easy to read.

However, it is also rooted in learning the fundamentals well. Time has proven that the basics work and they should always be the most important tools that any designers should have.

Here are some basic skills that help one become a good graphic designer.

1. Subtlety

- each era will have its own sense of style. Amateurs will always exploit the new trends and use it on every occasion possible. But this makes designs look amateurish and tacky. Great designers, on the other hand, learn the new styles and keep its use to a minimum.

2. Simplicity

- this is somehow connected with the first skill. Simplicity is not making things bare and dull, but it is making things work. A simple design will always have its timeless appeal and it will always help new visitors of websites navigate the site easily.

3. Willingness to Learn

- another good thing about great designers is that they never cease to learn. For them, there is something new to pick up everyday. The willingness to learn helps designers stay fresh and relevant even styles and tastes have changed.

The things listed above seem easy enough to follow. However, things are different in the real world. There will always be the temptation to design like the rest. But as always, great designers will always find ways to stand out.

Created a new look for Meridian Food Bank recently and will be utilizing it on their new website as well. The client stressed that it was important to keep the “bowl theme”, because that was a strong memory for he and his wife from their missionary work. “Too many empty bowls.” he said, during our initial meeting. New look is already being utilized in various fund raising projects for this non-profit. If you feel obliged, you can still donate via the current website by clicking here.

Cheers.

On one of our projects the client had to secure a new domain name – which sucks for them because all of their collateral material, (cards, letterhead, brochures, etc.) were branded with the old domain name. Luckily the site is down because the server is gone but what if it wasn’t? You would have your customers going to your old site, with outdated info and not much you could do about it.

So the key lesson here is register your own domain name – you own it, you control it. If you need to change webhost providers it’s a simple case of updating the nameservers. It doesn’t take a lot of time to register a domain, the expense is relatively small (especially if you register for multiple years) and it might save you a big headache down the road. Any questions feel free to contact us!

I’d like to thank those of you (especially tacullum) who had my back and replied that I was going for a scam. Now I know why he kept sending that to me, cause he kept seeing my freakin’ tweet every 15 minutes! Dude is cool though, cause he cared enough to tweet and that’s why I love Twitter – you get to meet nice people.

Oh, and if you don’t know what the Nigerian Bank scam is, check your junk mail or click here. And for heaven’s sake, don’t you dare fall for the scam. Tweep out.