Showcase
The best CSS and Flash web galleries - Places to inspire
Ever found yourself blank, with no inspiration or in a situation in which every idea you come up with seems not good enough ? Well, don’t worry. Every designer has these kind of moments.
CSS and Flash web galleries are great places to get inspiration from. Most galleries showcase loads of good and original concepts which can get you over these kind of moments.
CSS Beauty
Probably the oldest (it was started in 2004) and most known and appreciated CSS gallery. It’s maintained by Alex Giron, co-founder and senior consultant of nclud and includes besides the web gallery a job board, a design news section and one of the best CSS forums on the web.
Info :
- Alexa : 100828
- Google Pagerank : 7 / 10
- Technorati Rank : 10135
- Submission page link
Design Snack
Design Snack is our personal favorite (except CLD Web Gallery of course) CSS and Flash web gallery. It’s a user controlled web design showcase, meaning that the content is decided by the users, not by the admins.
Info :
- Alexa : 114653
- Google Pagerank : 3 / 10
- Technorati Rank : n/a
- Submission page link
CSS Mania
CSS Mania is another great web gallery with a 4 year tradition behind. Currently it indexes over 10000 websites and has over 13000 RSS subscribers. Started by Gabriel Segura, one of the founders of Blogs Media, featuring a powerful perl/php/mysql script mix, CSS Mania offers besides the web gallery a really nice job board.
Info :
- Alexa : 83986
- Google Pagerank : 7 / 10
- Technorati Rank : 7740
- Submission page link
CSS Remix
“A fresh blend of the best-designed Web 2.0 sites” as they call themselves, CSS Remix is one of the giants of the niche with over 13000 readers. It’s powered by the strong content management system Expresion Engine which makes CSS Remix one of the most reliable websites of its kind.
Info :
- Alexa : 189754
- Google Pagerank : 4 / 10
- Technorati Rank : 20303
- Submission page link
Best Web Gallery
Best Web Gallery is a really stylish CSS and Flash websites showcase. It’s maintained by Nick La, the founder of Web Designer Wall and N.Design-Studio . Powered by Wordpress, this web gallery has quickly became one of the top names of the niche.
Info :
- Alexa : 94154
- Google Pagerank : 7 / 10
- Technorati Rank : 8374
- Submission page link
CSS Elite
CSS Elite, started in March 2006, is a great CSS gallery and web development resources website. Also powered by Wordpress, what sets this gallery apart is the great collection of design resources, fit for any web developer.
Info :
- Alexa : 106707
- Google Pagerank : 6 / 10
- Technorati Rank : 34741
- Submission page link
Wallpaper Designs #4
- Lollipop
- Love
- Dreams of Youth
Designs by Larissa Meek
Featured Designer #6 - Lauren Marie / Creative Curio
For this issue of the Featured Designer we have an interesting interview with the lovely and talented Lauren Marie, the creator of Creative Curio design blog, a must read graphic design blog.
Q : I know you are really passionate about art. Before you started as a graphic designer, what sort of work did you do ?
A : I was originally studying Psychology and Spanish but when I met my (now) husband, he was at Design school. He started showing me how to edit pictures in Photoshop and I fell in love (with design and him!). I’ve always liked art, but had been told it’s not a way to make a living because it can be so unpredictable. This is a way to be an artist (of sorts) and still make money!
Q : You’re running quite a lovely design blog. Tell us a little about how you started blogging and what drove you into it?
A : Thank you! I started getting into the blog world back in May 2007 when I found Tara’s Graphic Design Blog. I commented (a reeeeally long comment) on her post about inspiration, that Vivien invited me to post as an actual article on Inspiration Bit. I guest posted one more time for Vivien, another time for Tara and started a meme (with help from Tara), When Do You Consider Yourself a Successful Designer? After much pushing from the bloggers I had become quite active with, I started my own blog focused on learning graphic design.
Q : You graduated in 2006 as BS in Multimedia Design Technology from Mt Sierra College, Monrovia, Summa Cum Laude. There’s a well known debate in the design community regarding the role of education in a designer’s work versus no design education and loads of design experience. What do you think about this ?
A : Experience is the most important teacher, hands down. I think it’s good to go to school for design, but it’s certainly not the only way to learn. School gives you a head start and for the less self-motivated lot, it provides a structure for learning the craft. But it really is very recent that schools have even started offering graphic design specific majors (formerly they were generally art majors). And even if you do go school, you’ll learn more about the field in your first six months than you did your whole time in school! There are some things only experience can help you learn.
Q : You are curently a graphic designer for Prudential Real Estate and Relocation. Tell us a little bit about that.
A : Most of the work I do for Prudential is internal. The national advertising and such is handled by another firm. I have created graphics for our intranet, annual sales convention, individual broker marketing materials and a whole lot of recruiting materials (to convince real estate brokers to buy a Prudential franchise and sell under our name). 98% of the work I do is for print and I really love it!
Q : As your resume mentiones you are very well qualified for both bitmap and vectorial graphic design. Do you enjoy one type more than other and what’s your favorite graphic design software?
A : I am by far the most familiar with Photoshop, so it’s what I tend to work in. Because of the heavy emphasis of my print work, though, InDesign is becoming one of my favorite programs! I can’t stand trying to lay out text in Photoshop or Illustrator!
Q : Your websites are packed with quotes from famous people. It’s quite clear you are very well read. What’s your favorite quote regarding art / design ?
A : Oh man, there are just so many good ones!
Art is either plagiarism or revolution. - Paul Gauguin
Creativity without strategy is called ‘art.’ Creativity with strategy is called ‘advertising.’ - Jef I. Richards
Or I like to replace “art” (first quote) and “advertising” (second quote) with “design”!
Q : You are an active member of one of the best design forums on the web, Estetica Design Forum. Do you follow other design communities?
A : Hehe, yes, I wish I could get involved more often. Estetica is the only forum I am a member of right now, but I try to get around to quite a few design and writing blogs.
Q : In your opinion what are the top 3 resource websites for designers?
A : This is a hard one, because a lot of it depends on what kind of designer you are (web, print, motion graphics, etc) and what you are looking for (technical help, inspiration, resources, business advice, etc). If I had to only pick three…
I Love Typography
Smashing Magazine
Google.com - because I couldn’t decide on one more, I didn’t want to leave out anybody, and it really is the best place to find everything!
Q : Besides design, what do you like to do in your spare time?
A : I am a person of many interests! Among my favorites are blogging, scrapbook, backpack, SCUBA dive, waste time online (read: social media!), airsoft, bellydance, read, video games (RPG/adventure, FPS like UT, and MMOs), letterpress, theater (as in going to stage productions) um… that’s all I can think of right now!
Q : And for the last question … a classic : Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?
A : I hope to still be running my blog and keeping up with design, but I’ll probably be in the full swing of parenthood by then! I hope to continue designing by moving more into freelancing and/or consulting.
Here are some of Lauren Marie’s designs :
Visit Creative Curio Graphic Design blog
Featured Designer #5 - Jonathan Winbush
Jonathan Winbush is a motion graphics artist that works in the field of broadcast, theatrical, game, menus and trailer art. In his own words :
I design as well as animate whole packages. In my works I try to establish a visual relationship between the work and the actual viewer.
Some of his work :
20 Corporate Logos redesigned for Web 2.0
The images were first created by the users on the YayHooray Forums.
