Resources of the Week - Mar 4/2011

Here are the best design resources I found while surfing this week:

General Reading:
Why Does Clean Markup Matter in Web Design? via webdesigner depot
HTML5 Specification (from WHATWG)
15 Useful Design Tips/Articles to Create a Great Resume via ibrand studio
De-Motivational Posters for Freelancers via FreelanceSwitch
In Search Of The Perfect CAPTCHA via Smashing Magazine
A Review of the iPad 2

Coding:
Essential JavaScript Design Patterns For Beginners

Freelancing/Job Hunting:
Five Popular Design Portfolio Website Styles via Six Revisions

Resources of the Week - Feb 25/2011

Here are the best design resources I found while surfing this week:

General Reading:
Best 2010 Google Logos Design Inspiration via Logolithic
29 Things that All Young Designers Need to Know via HOW
10 Things You Can Do To Become A Better Web Designer via vanseodesign
960 Grid System

Freelancing/Job Hunting:
Creating an Effective Online Portfolio: 40+ Tips, Tools & Inspirations via 1WD.co

Tutorials
Create a Wooden Social Media Icon Quickly with Photoshop via Design Instruct
Design And Develop A Complete Website (A Tuts+ Mini Series, Pt 1) via WebDesignTuts+

Tools:
The Hello Bar

Resources of the Week - Feb 18/2011

Here are the best design resources I found while surfing this week:

General Reading:
A Comprehensive Guide to Web Terminology via PelFusion
25 Super Web-based HTML & CSS Tools via AppStorm
Designing with Web Standards via Layers Magazine
100 + Must Have Cheat Sheets and Quick References For Web Designers and Developers via Designbeep
The Beginner's Guide To SEO

Freelancing/Job Hunting:
Cold-Calling via Inc.

Tutorials
Design a Beautifully Detailed Web Button via WebDesignTuts+
25 Cool light effect tutorials in Photoshop via MachoArts

Freebies:
Tree Bark: Texture Pack via Design Instruct

Resources of the Week - Feb 11/2011

Here are the best design resources I found while surfing this week:

Events:
FITC Toronto - A Flash and Interactive Content Developer Conference

General Reading:
8 Tips for Freelance Designers to Get Paid Faster via Designmodo
What Everyone Ought to Know about Initial Client Meeting via 1wd.co
6 Essential Things All Freelancers Should Be Doing via Six Revisions
15 Best Resources in Designing a Perfect Business Card via iBrandStudio
Four Constants in the Ever-changing Web Design Industry via Six Revisions
Must Read Links for Web Designers and Developers – Volume 1 via TechKing

Tutorials
Text Effects Session via PSDTuts+ (a series of interesting text effects)
Start Using the Brush Tool – Basix via PSDTuts+
Create an Awesome Typographic Piece of Art in Photoshop via TechKing

Software
NexusFont - great free font manager

Freebies:
5 Free Business Card PSD's via Designmodo
Huge Collection of 55 Vector Silouettes Free to Download via designresourcebox
Premium Icon Freebies From The Design World – 35 Icon Sets via designresourcebox
Free Serif Fonts – Tradition of Typography via cruzine

Walking the Talk

There has been a lot of chatter on the Twitter about life-long learning and how we embody that as professionals and instill the same into our students. It is very easy to say you are a life-long learner and perhaps just as easy to extol the virtues of it to your students. However, I find when trying to instill new habits, a little bit of modeling can go a long way.

If you want your students to become life-long learners you need to not only talk about it - you need to demonstrate it. Start the class with a comment like "I just found this yesterday ..." or "I just learned about this and wanted to share it ...". Show students that knowledge is not something that can be amassed and then ignored.

So, to ensure that I walk my talk I have decided to add a weekly post summarizing the best design and coding resources I have stumbled upon during that week. I normally post them to my class wiki site however things have a way of becoming buried in there.

So what do you think? Is this an idea you could adapt to your classroom? How else can you show your students the benefits of life-long learning through not just your talk but also through your actions?

Resources of the Week - Feb 4/2011

Here are the best design resources I found while surfing this week:

General Reading:
5 Pitfalls to Avoid for New Web Designers from webdesign tuts+

How to Tell When Your Rates are too Low from FreelanceSwitch

16 Useful and Free eBooks for Web Designers and Developers from Skyje

Inspriation:
The Crazy Evolution Of 10 Major Brands' Logos

Tutorials
Best of the Web - Jan 2011 from psd tuts+

Photoshop Basix video tutorial series from psd tuts+

Futuristic Space Scene from PixelTango

Freebies:
150 Free Business & Application Icons from graphicriver

30 Fun Free Blogger Templates from Tintation

An Introduction to Glogster

Note: This is an accompaniment to my article Word Clouds, Collages, and Glogs - Oh My! published in the January 2011 issue of STAO Crucible.

Glogster EDU is a website that will allow you to create interactive posters. Sign-up is free and as an educator provides you with the ability to create student accounts.

Upon arriving at the Glogster EDU site, choose Register from the top right corner. Fill out the details to create your new Glogster account. You will then be taken to your personal dashboard.

Here you can create a new glog by clicking on the Create New Glog button near your profile description (note that Glogster requires you to have Adobe Flash Player installed). This will present you with a blank 'canvas' upon which to create your new masterpiece


.



The toolbar on the left has a variety of built in graphics, text layouts, images, and backgrounds to play with. You can also add in video and audio or other files (such as .pdf) on the wall. Finally the Draw option allows you to do whatever you like by painting on the screen. You can give your glog a name at the top of the screen and choose Save Or Publish to either save your work or publish it to the public gallery.

Glogster provides a unique way for students to express themselves graphically. It is fun and easy to use. So what are you waiting for ... get glogging!