The history of the visual design of user interfaces can be described as a gradual change towards more realism. As computers have become faster, designers have added increasingly realistic details such as color, 3D effects, shadows, translucency, and even simple physics. Some of these changes have helped usability. Shadows behind windows help us see which window is active. The physicality of the iPhone’s user interface makes the device more natural to use…. continue reading article…

http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2010/01/21/realism_in_ui_design/

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Tweeters Hockey Club

Logo and Jersey Design

I follow a hockey jersey blog called Icethetics that keeps a constant update on new jerseys and concepts. I had this idea to create a hockey logo based off Twitter called “The Tweeters“. I used the Pittsburgh Penguins vintage jersey to start, tweaking the color to more teal. I also referenced the Penguins logo and made some sketches so the bird looked like Twitter’s logo. Its nothing really new but I had fun creating it in the couple of hours that I put into the design.

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Spring / Summer 2010

COLOR TRENDS AND FORECASTING

Overview

The connection between old and new, east and west, and a sense of community..the glamour of the 70′s mixed with Moroccan colors and exotic jewels from India; ethnic mixtures of patterns and textures from Japan and China; reflecting the diversity of the world..

Feathers play a large part in many cultures. The wide variety of natural and dyed feathers add a lot of color and texture making them perfect embellishments.

Feathers are seen all over the runways for Spring/Summer 2010 in multiple types of applications, from accessories like head gear and jewelry to skirts and tops.

Key Colors

Acidic Greens
Earthy Hues
Frosted Pastels
Indigo
Jewel Tones
Neutrals
Shades of Grey
Sky Tones of Blue
Sunny Yellows
Taupe, Beige and Mauve
Turquoise
Violets

Moods and Inspirations

Cultures from around the world – primary Africa, China, Japan, and Latin America
Vintage, Romantic and Soft

Embellishments and Trimmings

Beaded Light Cottons
Brushed, Tarnished or Matte finished metals
Feather Circled Motifs – such as Feather Medallions
Feather Fringes
Fringe used at hemlines, necklines and sleeves
Graffiti on Denim
Leather w/Metallic Finishes
Metallic Embroidery
Paisleys and Ethnic Designs Blended with Bright Color

Key Themes and Trends

Birds and Floral Embellishments
Emphasizes on the Wrist
Floral Prints
Folk Craft
Haute Hippie
Large 70.s patterns
Silk Tulle and Feathers
Thick Belts and Wraps
Vintage Silk Scarves and Purses
Wood and Plastic Accessories

Interiors
Ancient Africa Inspires Rich Color
Black, White and Grey as Timeless Centerpieces
Importance of Neutrals
Influence of Japanese Culture
Need to Preserve and Reserve
Understated Meets Sophisticated

Feather Wreaths, Trees, Flowers and Stems provide consumers with eco friendly decorative by-products that are sustainable.

Many Feather Products are available in neutral tones for home decor, including Pheasant, Peacock and Rooster Feathers, which have also been made into feather pads and medallions for all your decor needs.

Spring / Summer 2010

	BLUE			BROWN
Pantone:	15-4825 TCX	16-4134 TCX	19-4037 TCX	17-1230 TCX	19-1333 TCX	18-1031 TCX
	Blue Curacao	Bonnie Blue	Bright Cobalt	Mocha Mousse	Sequoia	Toffie
ZFP Color:	LT – Lt Tuquoise		RL – Royal		R/N – Nat Red	BN – Brown
	GREEN			NEUTRAL
Pantone:	16-0110 TCX	14-6329 TCX	17-0230 TCX	13-0000 TCX	12-0813 TCX	14-1012 TCX
	Desert Sage	Absinthe Green	Forrest Green	Moon Beam	Autumn Blonde	Champagne Beige
ZFP Color:	CD – Celedon	FLG – Flour. Lime Green			EG – Eggshell	BE – Beige
	ORANGE			PINK
Pantone:	14-1219 TCX	16-1543 TCX	15-1247 TCX	11-1408 TCX	15-2214 TCX	16-2111 TCX
	Peach Parfait	Fusion Coral	Tangerine	Rose Water	Rose Bloom	Mauve Orchid
ZFP Color:	SH – Shrimp		O – Orange	CP – Candy Pink		DRE – Dusty Rose
	PURPLE			RED
Pantone:	15-3620 TCX	19-3536 TCX	19-3847 TCX	18-1664 TCX	18-1661 TCX	18-2027 TCX
	Lavendula	Amaranth Purple	Deep Blue	Fiery Red	Tomato Puree	Beaujolais
ZFP Color:	OR – Orchid	PU – Purple	RE – Regal	R – Red		BU – Burgundy
	YELLOW
Pantone:	12-0752 TCX	14-0848 TCX	15-0955 TCX
	Buttercup	Mimosa	Old Gold
ZFP Color:	Y – Yellow		AGO – Antique Gold

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Brodeur Sherwood Pads

I’m a goaltender myself and a huge fan of goalie masks and equipment. I found this gem of a post online tonight about what NHL goalies are wearing this year, compared to last year. It’s commented by a rep at Bauer so it’s quite thorough as it’s his job to keep track of this for future contracts.

Lukas: Uni Watch 2009-10 NHL goalie gear guide

Keeping track of NHL uniforms, which Uni Watchcovered Wednesday, is simple enough if you apply yourself to the task. But keeping track of goalie pads, blockers and catching mitts — arguably the most visually distinctive aspect of the sport — is a lot trickier. There’s no central registry, no official team or league style guides, and the goalies are constantly changing their gear.

Fortunately, Uni Watch reader Tyler Hull works for Bauer, and as part of his job, he keeps track of what goalies are wearing. So if you’ve never devoted much thought to goalie pads yourself, don’t sweat it — Hull has already done most of the thinking for you.

“Goalies mainly chose their pads based on their style of play,” Hull explains. “It’s the only sports equipment I can think of that’s based on the athlete’s style. I know baseball players use different gloves, but that’s more for position than style. Look at the pads we offer at Bauer. On the far left is the Vapor X:60, which has knee rolls and is a little softer and more flexible — good for goalies who play more of a stand-up or hybrid style, because they move around more and want that flexibility. On the far right is the Supreme 100, which is flat with less side roll, for butterfly goalies. The flat, hard pad helps them maintain the butterfly and covers more space down low. The red and black pads in the middle are our Reflex line, for goalies who like the mixture of a flat base with some give.”

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G.I. Joe Characters: Featuring Snake Eyes

I love G.I.Joe. Growing up I collected all of the toys and played with them for hours. My brother collected the comic books and I looked at the pictures.

With the hype of the new G.I.Joe movie coming out in the summer of 2009, I thought it would be fun to create my own concept of the infamous Snake Eyes!

I have already started to model him but have not gotten very far yet. I will post updates along the way. For now, this is a concept, an idea. I have bigger plans for a short movie clip of him animated too.

Snake Eyes: A Commando with Ninja skills.

That is how I like to view him. Even his backstory tells us how he was a war hero first and later trains to become a Ninja with his brother-in-arms, Storm Shadow. I am not going to debate this, I just liked the idea of him being more “real” so I went with traditional army gear. However, since he has been trained to be a ninja, he keeps his weapons close to his body, each having a place that is quick to access. In this concept he wears traditional black army boots but that may change to something slightly more up to date.

The toy soldier is my guide for creating something more realistic in proportions. These toys are excellent reference for any character artist working on high resolution designs in zBrush!

Be sure to checkout the new G.I.Joe comic books published by IDW. I like their new character designs.

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What a wonderfully, inspiring speech! Visit www.barackobama.com.

Some people have asked why I would post a political statement?

Well, that’s another story I am not about to get into on my blog. I’ll leave that to the politicians. What I did like was how powerful and inspiring this speech was. It was history in the making and he delivered a message that I would compare to John F. Kennedy and even Martin Luther King. But again, that’s a story I am not about to debate.

Let’s move on to Barack Obama’s website. I have been following Barack’s career since about 2006 before he was even on the scene running for President. He was promoting his book “The Audacity of Hope“. For a long time he has been using the Internet and his blog as a way to reach out to the public without spending a whole lot of money (let’s face it, the web is cheap). He is the first politician I know to fully utilize the web to send his message and took viral marketing to a new level.

Since his presidential campaign, his website has been given a major upgrade. It is beautiful! The colors are vibrant and clean. It gives a hopeful message. The entire site fits well together from his images in the top banner to the icon set on the people page. The mixed blue on blue gradients are subtle, yet attractive and I have always been a fan of white on white with the Apple style of reflective icons.

He also led the way with my.barackobama.com, a tool on his website used to connect people, organize events, and respond to the media creating an experience of inclusion and accessibility.

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I frequently visit another blog called Icethetics that talks specifically about hockey and art.

I really don’t like some of the new RBK Edge hockey jerseys currently being used, so I decided to create my own versions to fix them, rather than change them completely.

EDMONTON OILERS RE-DESIGN

Take the Edmonton Oilers, for instance. They decided to throw out their heritage and tradition completely and go with the new trendy “Edge” design, ala vertical piping. I HATE THIS DESIGN! Hockey jerseys are not meant to be vertical, horizontal stripes are traditional because they are strong and powerful. Not only that, the Captain “C” and Assistant “A” on the front overlap the vertical piping and looks hideous. And those arm bands… don’t even get me started… did they not have enough fabric to put them all the way around the arms!?

So I went back to something the Oilers built on for years, but with a few tweaks. The old 80′s jersey had quite a lot of orange in them so I toned that down and added white numbering instead and no orange on the end of the sleeves. I also opted out of using the red color they’ve had the last number of years to give a more bold blue/orange/white jersey. Overall, this jersey would look great on the tv and at a distance.

LOS ANGELES KINGS RE-DESIGN

Now as for the Kings, I have never liked their new Crown logo. It feels weak and fragile (much like their current team). I like the purple/silver/black color combination so I kept that… however I did not use Purple in the logo, just the jersey color. I have always been a fan of the “Gretzky” Era logo so I just wanted to update it using the new workmark. I’ve updated the crown a bit as well. I don’t like how detailed and 3D the new crown looks, plus its a lot smaller. I did not use the “Kings” streak effect since the font is stylized enough on its own and would detract from the design. It’s understandable some people don’t like this logo because of its resemblance to Chevy but I feel the original was a solid design.

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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (PC)
http://www.dawnofwargame.com

I designed the original HUD and Frontend for the PC video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. This was actually my first “official” video game to ship although I did assist on the pre-vis UI Design for Homeworld 2.

These screenshots illustrate how I created the Head Up Display (HUD) for the Space Marines race. I started off by setting up a scene in 3D Studio Max using a camera set to Ortho view (I didn’t want any perspective since my measurements had to be precise). After roughing out the shapes in 3D, I rendered out the interface design using Global Illumination to give me a nice, soft render.

I then used these layered renders and brought them into Photoshop, where I continued to color and texture the pieces. You can see a screenshot of the UI Editor I originally used for Dawn of War. At the time, we had no tool to create the interface for our game. Working with two programmers, I designed the look and feel for the UI Editor itself, and helped get the functionality working as well. It ended up working similar to tools I used on a regular basis; Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver.

Today, Adobe Flash is being used as the authoring tool, along with Scaleform for the UI Design on Dawn of War 2.

Since the original HUD was not real-time 3D, I could paint textures onto the display as I pleased. The near-finished result is posted below. I’ve also included screenshots from Dawn of War: Dark Crusade where I created the HUD for the Necrons and Tau races.

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Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
XFire Skin

Xfire^TM is a free tool that automatically keeps track of when and where gamers are playing PC games online and lets their friends join them easily. It works regardless of game type, server browser, or gaming service that a player is using. Xfire eliminates the hassles of running multiple programs like IRC, instant messengers, or in-game friends lists to keep track of when and where a gamer’s friends are playing. It supports the best and the latest online PC games including server and non-server-based First Person Shooters, Real Time Strategy, and Role Playing Games.

This was a custom skin I made for Xfire using key UI elements from the game.

You can download the skin here.

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