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My New Project: A Curated, Quality New Marketplace for Designers

Today I have a really exciting update, sharing exactly what I've been working on for the past year. At my other website Design Cuts, we've just launched the most curated, high quality marketplace anywhere for designers just like you!




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Inspiration: Annual Report Designs

An annual report is a document a company presents at Annual General Meeting for approval by its shareholders, or a charitable organization presents its trustees.

1. Featured showcase: IMC Annual Report

For IMC, Fitzroy designed a unique annual report. IMC – a renowned derivative trading house with over 500 employees worldwide – is an active trader in almost every stock market in the world. They constantly have to deal with stock exhanges’ information and its ever changing highs and lows.

In the annual report, this information is translated in a unique way by showing in 24 pages the 24 hours of a trading day. Which stock exhange opens and which one closes; what information is relevant. By using the green (increase) and red (decline) filters, the data of a hectic trading day are pushed to the background, so that only IMC’s active fields (the stock markets and the arrows) remain visible.

A final detail: based on GMT the stock exchanges trading at night are displayed in blue, while the ones trading during the day are displayed in yellow.

Out of the box designs

The following design examples are great inspiration for out of the box thinking.

2. Agency: Kuhlmann Leavitt

This impactful piece captures the reader with exquisite black and white photography and classic yet whimsical typography customized to each shot. - Visit the agency Kuhlmann Leavitt popup: yes for more information and photos

3. Agency: Bruketa Zinic

Well Done: a food company annual report that has to be cooked first. Croatian creative agency Bruketa & Zinić have designed an annual report for food company Podravka that has to be baked in an oven before it can be read. - Visit the design company Bruketa Zinic popup:yes - See this great full pictured article popup:yes about this exceptional annual report.

4. Agency: Migreyes

Unique annual report that highlights Konami’s goal to target beyond Japan. - Visit the detailed information about Konami’s Annual Report at Migreyes popup:yes

5. Feltron

A unique layout and information presenting annual report from Feltron. - Take a look at the website for more photos and screenshots of Feltron’s Annual Report popup:yes

Simply beautiful Annual Report Design

Just beautiful annual report design with great color usage, typography and photo use.

6. British Council Annual Report

Navig8 won in a bid against the British Council’s prestigious list of suppliers to design and print manage their annual report. - Visit the Navig8 popup:yes website for more information.

7. Airtricity Annual Report

Great design, creative view on getting numbers to look attractive. The photos and quotes included in this annual report are great designed. - Take a look at the agency website popup:yes for more information.

8. Catalyst Recruitment

Our clients will no doubt have a clearer understanding of the diversity of our business and specialist areas and we would have no hesitation in recommending Lemonade to other customers due to their professional service, follow through and innovative creative design. - Visit the website Lemonade Agency popup:yes for more information about this fabulous annual report.

9. Agency Methodologie

Univar NV is one of the world’s leading independent distributors of industrial chemicals and providers of related specialty services, operating throughout North America and Europe. Designed by Methodologie, an award winning design agency with a creative view on annual reporting. - Visit the website Methodologie popup:yes for more information and their portfolio.

10. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Annual Report

This annual design is designed with many photos and good typography usage. This serious subject is presented in a great designed annual report. - Visit the website and download the completePDF annual report popup:yes.

11. Stedelijk Museum Jaarverslag

The design Agency Deel Drie designed the annual report for Het Stedelijk museum Amsterdam, with large black/white headlines combined with colorful photos this is great work. - Visit the website and download popup:yes the complete annual report for Het Stedelijk Musuem.

12. Geest Annual Report

Designed by Navyblue, the Geest annual report has won the ProShare Award for Best Annual Report for Private Investors (FTSE 500) for an unprecedented five years in succession. - Visit the agency website popup:yes for more information

13. Agency Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group

Legacy’s campaigns are designed to engage, and this report had to do the same. That strong cover statement—“The Story of the Year”—leads the reader into a variety of campaign voices and intimate portraits backed by strong colors. - Visit the website from Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group popup:yes for more information.

14. Agency SamataMason

For Strategic Hotels and Resorts SamataMason designed a wonderful paper sculptor and the typography. - Visit the website from SamataMason popup:yes for more information.

15. Agency Sibley/Peteet Design Austin

For Tropical Sportswear Sibley/Peteet Design Austin created a beautiful crafted annual report, titled “The Perfect Pair”, the front cover communicates the title on a hang tag on the back pocket of a pair of khakis. - See the website popup:yes for more information and examples.

16. BNP Paribas Annual Report

BNP Paribas Assurance develops and markets savings, protection and property & casualty insurance products in 42 countries under two brands, those brand are financially reported in this nice designed annual report. - Visit the website BNP Paribas popup:yes for a full PDF version of the Annual Report 2006 and 2007.

17. The Equality Authority

An attractive and innovative document that reaches out and communicates very effectively with the very diverse audience we strive to serve. - Visit the website popup:yes for more information and a full PDF download.

18. Annual Report Transparency International 2006

Transparency International’s Annual Report 2006 showcases last year’s successes for the anti-corruption movement, as well as innovation in measurement tools, targeted advocacy work and sector-specific projects from TI chapters. - Visit the website Transparency popup:yes to download the full PDF version.

19. Overall design tips for Annual Report Design

A well-written and designed annual report is a must to reinforce a hard won reputation. Stakeholders need to be assured the organisation is not in the business of cutting corners or taking the easy way out - Visit the website popup:yes for more tips about annual reporting design.

Worth mentioning

_20. Delta Lloyd Jaarverslag, the complete annual report viewable as a website or to download from the website.
_21. Unilever Jaarverslag, download the complete PDF version from the website.
_22.Koninklijke Ahold Jaarverslag, download the complete PDF version from the Ahold website.
_23.IBM Annual reporting, available from 1994 to 2007, download the complete PDF versions from the website.
_24. IMF Annual report, available from 1996 to 2007, download the complete PDF versions from the website.
_25. A complete huide for annual reports, visit the website AnnualReport.com for additional information.
_26. StepInside, a design related website with top 100 company’s and annual reporting, see the website for additional information.




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Dutch government corporate identity

Typeface: Rijksoverheid Sans / Serif

Currently there are over 200 departments and ministries which all have different logos and uses different typefaces as their brand identity. In a pitch held by the Dutch government studio Dumbar won this competition and introduced a new logo and 1 brand identity: 1 Logo.

From the beginning of 2008 Peter Verheul was asked by studio Dumbar to take his typeface Versa and transform the typeface usable for a larger audience. He changed the look and feel of the Serif version of Versa Serif and created a complete new set of letters for the Sans version. The fonts are named Rijksoverheid Sans and Rijksoverheid Serif. The name of the typeface is recognizable as “government” and will be used in every way of visual communication.

The Rijksoverheid Sans will be used mainly for headings of text and in signage or wayfinding systems. The Rijksoverheid Serif is used as bread letter for reading text. In just under nine months Peter Verheul managed to finalize the fonts and released them in four different variations, from Regular, Italic to Bold.

Designing the Rijksoverheid typeface

First notebook sketches by Peter Verheul, designing the bracket of Rijksoverheid Serif.
Print preview of the typeface as workhorse.

Letterijk book

During the time of creation Peter Verheul did not have much time to take pictures (as said in his introduction speech) but he kept a note book full of drawings and notes of creating and designing the typefaces. After finishing the typefaces he donated them to Bijzondere Collecties, a Dutch important collection of valuable work from Dutch graphical, typographical- artists. The Bijzondere Collections hosts the booklet, first printouts and everything that is related in creating the typeface Rijksoverheid.

Letterrijk Book is a story about the birth and why of creation the typeface Rijksoverheid written by Mathieu Lommen, published by De Buitenkant Publishers. The booklet covers everything from the start of the project and the combination with project 1 Logo, a story about how the typography started working together, with many drawn examples of early stages of letter design. It also covers the complete glyphs of the typeface variations, with over 700 glyphs each this typeface is multi-language proof. With the design of the typeface several key factors of demands where given to Peter Verheul and Studio Dumbar.

The typeface should be easy to read, should not be too wide in order to reduce printing costs, it could be used for all forms of visual communication of the Dutch Government and every department will use it therefore it will reduce the costs of different typeface licenses. The typeface will function as a bridge between society and government, a typeface that everybody will feel comfortable with.

Rijksoverheids typeface

The Rijksoverheid Sans, an easy to read typeface with a large x-height. This allows maximum legibility for heading text, signage, wayfinding and other forms of visual identity. In the introduction speech Peter Verheul mentioned that he was impressed by the way the Sans version would be used for bread letter. He is interested to see the further development of Rijksoverheid Sans in this field.

Rijksoverheid Serif is the bread letter for reading text, I have read the booklet a couple of times and it seems to be a very legible typeface. Which will form the basis of the whole brand identity of the Dutch Government.

Project 1 Logo

The Dutch government brand identity was not concise or consistent, with over 200 departments and ministries costs were rising of each department havigd their own logo, typeface, print materials, signage and everything that involves the visual communication of that department. There was not a direct link to society and confusion about the identity the government wants to presents themselves. Project 1 Logo was born to bring back all brand identity of the Dutch government and give one signal to society about what the government stands for. In a pitch several design studios participated in order to create 1 Logo, 1 brand, 1 identity, 1 way of communicating between society and government, coming all together as 1 government.

From 2009 until 2011 every department should use the new logo and typeface in all forms of visual communication, a huge operation which involves many parties. I believe there will be a brand guideline from studio Dumbar to lead everything into the correct, concise and consistent use of the brand identity.

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What is a Wayfinding Strategy?

Wayfinding strategy approach

The basic principle of a wayfinding strategy is to create a legible environment, to find destinations and to exclude random seeking. A wayfinding strategy helps to create areas, environments, buildings to be easy to navigate places for people and to have a seamless journey experience.

Within the wayfinding strategy there are three (3) main wayfinding tasks defined;

  1. Naive Search
    Where the user has no exact knowledge of the whereabouts of the destination’s location.
  2. Primed Search
    Where the user knows the destination’s location.
  3. Exploration
    Any wayfinding task in which there is no set destination.

Wayfinding tasks

Each area, environment requires different approach to wayfinding. Depending on the required wayfinding a task a strategy can be chosen for people to understand their surroundings. For instance in Airports the tasks can be different than wondering in the park. Below you will find examples of wayfinding tasks that can be applied in a wayfinding strategy.

  • Route following
  • Inference
  • Aiming
  • Map reading
  • Technology

Discover each of these strategies to create legible environments and focus on delivering end-user information.

Route following

Route Following is a strategy to describe a way in which the observer is using signs with arrows to go from one place to another. The target of location is known, but a direct path towards it is unknown. Along the route, information is displayed to inform the observer towards the target. The signs are working together to create a network of connections between locations. The consistency in terminology- and hierarchy of information as well as marking decision points is important for Route Following to be an effective way of directing people from one place to another.

Route following can be applied for instance in areas to point towards an entrance, exit. A situation where a directive wayfinding task is required to guide towards a destination.

Inference

Inference is a wayfinding strategy that involves systematic searching, the understanding of a direction by reading numerical and alphabetical information in sequences. This methodology is based on creating an environment in a logical, understandable order. Combined with conventional cultural patterns Inference is a logical approach to create a legible environment build on expectations.

Inference can be applied in areas for instance at Airports, Railway stations or Stadiums. Upfront information such as "Your flight departs from Gate H3" is required as wayfinding taks, to follow a logical approach "H1, H2, H3, etc".

Aiming

Object (aiming) wayfinding strategy is divided into two categories, direct- and indirect visual contact with the target. In a direct visual contact, the observer has a visual reference of the target and chooses the desired path towards it. In an indirect visual contact, the observer chooses to follow logical steps to find a place where visual contact can be made, then follows the desired path towards the target.

Aiming as wayfinding taks can be applied in for instance cities or wide spread areas, where you can see landmarks and make your way towards the destination.

Map reading

Map Reading is a strategy to inform the observer about their surroundings, e.g. "You are Here". Based upon the understanding of the map in relation to the environment the observer makes a choice of navigation. Map Reading is usually supported by a compass rose to have a better understanding of direction. Techniques such as; to display maps in a heads-up direction can empathize a greater understanding between the map and the environment.

Map reading as a wayfinding task can be applied in cities, for example as in the Legible London mapping system. A heads-up map shows destinations, paths, safe routes and landmarks within a certain walking distance. A quick and easy way to navigate unknown areas, locate destinations and serendipity (to explore previous unknown destinations).

Technology

Technology driven strategies are usually hand-held devices or digital kiosks where input from the observer leads to orientation and navigational information. With the use of technology, dynamic information can be displayed to the observer and could be mixed with personal preference and social learning. Meaning technology has the ability to show narrow casted information, leaving out the overflow of information for the user.

The role of technology in wayfinding is set to show tailored information to the user. The phone navigational options for wayfinding usually works best open areas such as cities to locate and path towards a destination. The usage of mobile phones in buildings seems a more difficult taks, as there are lesser options for distinctiveness and technology difficulties.

Main takeaways

A wayfinding strategy is tailored to the required tasks in an environment and focused at the user. Different areas, buildings, transportation hubs, etc required their own approach in wayfinding.

  • What is the required wayfinding task?
  • What kind of area, environment, building?

Try different approaches while developing a wayfinding strategy and user-test scenarios to create a seamless journey experience.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is a Wayfinding Strategy?

A wayfinding strategy is a approach to the required wayfinding tasks in a area, environment or building. A set of rules to define how the information is presented to the user. Wayfinding Strategies include route following, inference aiming, map reading. The required task determines the wayfinding strategy.




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Unique Illustrated Portraits by Anthony Ventura

Anthony Ventura, an award-winning Canadian artist, is known for his highly detailed and expressive illustrated portraits. A graduate of Sheridan College’s Illustration program, he has worked with major clients like Playboy, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Doritos, and ESPN, with standout celebrity pieces featuring Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Nikki Sixx that showcase his exceptional linework […]




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Whimsical Cigarette Ad Posters Illustrated by Juan Carlos Huergo in the Early 20th Century

Early 20th-century cigarette ads glamorized smoking as a symbol of sophistication, elegance, and modernity, using stylish imagery and catchy slogans like “More doctors smoke Camels” and “It’s Toasted” to imply quality and safety. These advertisements, often featuring celebrities, marketed smoking as part of a glamorous lifestyle, making it appear desirable and socially acceptable despite the […]




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Mastering WordPress for E-commerce: Proven Strategies to Boost Your Online Store

With over 5 billion internet users worldwide, businesses are now tapping into E-commerce to expand market reach, which was inaccessible through traditional brick-and-mortar stores. However, success doesn’t end with merely establishing an E-commerce website.  Tools are needed to do well in this competitive market. One tool is the Content Management System (CMS), which provides the...

The post Mastering WordPress for E-commerce: Proven Strategies to Boost Your Online Store appeared first on noupe.




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The Impact of Generative AI on Content Creation

Thanks to generative AI, content creation has become one of the most important trends in today’s world, with a completely new approach. It is revolutionizing the creative field in many different ways, from advertising to marketing to automated newspapers and magazines. Users of this technology must note its opportunities and problems. This blog discusses generative...

The post The Impact of Generative AI on Content Creation appeared first on noupe.




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Protecting Your Unique Presentation Designs: IP Strategies for Creators

The requirement of safeguarding original presentation designs has never been more crucial as presentations get increasingly interactive, visually appealing, and indispensable in both corporate and creative domains. Your work is valuable, whether you are a tech entrepreneur creating software that changes the way presentations are done or a designer creating fresh slide decks for customers. ...

The post Protecting Your Unique Presentation Designs: IP Strategies for Creators appeared first on noupe.




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Creative Approaches to Technical Illustrations

Thomas Bohm rethinks technical illustrations and data visualizations, sharing interesting and uncommon examples of how to present data and information. Bar graphs and pie charts are great, but there’s so much more to explore!




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13 Essential Financial Risk Management Strategies for Small Business Owners

Are you prepared with the financial risk management strategies that can keep your business steady […]



  • Point of View

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Illustrator Tutorial: Design a Retro VHS Cover Inspired Poster

The retro artwork that used to appear on old VHS tape covers has become an iconic design style that is often mimicked today. Follow along with this tutorial to create your own fun retro style poster based on the artwork of those VHS cassette covers. We’ll use Illustrator to construct the design with text and […]

The post Illustrator Tutorial: Design a Retro VHS Cover Inspired Poster appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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Design a Modern Gradient Logo Using Adobe Illustrator’s Shape Builder Tool

Follow along with this Adobe Illustrator tutorial to create a colourful gradient logo design. I’ll show you how Illustrator’s shape builder tool makes it easy to construct the basic vector logo design, then we’ll apply a vibrant colour scheme using gradients. Subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel Source File Download with membership

The post Design a Modern Gradient Logo Using Adobe Illustrator’s Shape Builder Tool appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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20+ Remarkable Dark Websites For Inspiration

Colors are always so fun and interesting. Present your website in a darker theme is not bad though. It could attract more traffics than what you thought. It could emphasize and focus readers on the right things.

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Superlative Collection of Icons – Illustrator Tutorials

Today in this icon design tutorials roundup we sharing icon tutorials using adobe illustrator because if you need high-quality graphics then prefer vector based tool to make catchy icons design, nowadays icons not only using in web designs these are also wanted in mobile applications...

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18 Beautiful and Creative Illustrations from Photograph

These days illustration from photograph is getting really popular which is mostly used in print media. Designer mix real life photography with illustration to show us combined reality and dream, drawing objects with effects over photograph.

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How Accurate is the Movie, "The Vow"?

Real life is always more complicated than fiction, especially when it comes to brain injury.




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Automatically generate Shownotes, Summaries and Chapters from Recordings

We're thrilled to introduce our Automatic Shownotes and Chapters feature. This AI-powered tool effortlessly generates concise summaries, intuitive chapter timestamps and relevant keywords for your podcasts, audio and video files.
See our Examples and the How To section below for details.

Why do I need Shownotes and Chapters?

In addition to links and other information, shownotes contain short summaries of the main topics of your episode, and inserted chapter marks allow you to timestamp sections with different topics of a podcast or video. This makes your content more accessible and user-friendly, enabeling listeners to quickly navigate to specific sections of the episode or find a previous episode to brush up on a particular topic.

Shownotes are also very likely to boost your show's Search Engine Optimization and eventually its popularity, leading to an increase in listeners.

However, especially structuring the content and finding useful positions for chapter marks is a very time-consuming process, that can be fully automated with our new feature.

Besides the obvious use of creating shownotes and chapters for podcasts, you can also use our new feature to easily generate an abstract of your lecture recording, take the summary of your show as the starting point for a social media post, or choose your favourite chapter title as the podcast name.

What happens behind the Scenes?

When the Automatic Shownotes and Chapters feature is selected, the first step is speech transcription by either our internal Auphonic Whisper ASR or any integrated External ASR Service of your choice.

Some open source tools and ChatGPT will then summarize the ASR resulting text in different levels of detail, analyze the content to identify sections with the different topics discussed, and finally complete each section with timestamps for easy navigation.
Beginning with the generation of a Long Summary, the number of characters is further reduced for a Brief Summary and from the brief summary a Subtitle and some Keywords for the main topics are extracted.

Depending on the duration of the input audio or video file, the level of detail of the thematic sections is also slightly adjusted, resulting in a reasonable number of chapters for very short 5-minute audio files as well as for long 180-minute audio files.

How to automatically generate Shownotes and Chapters in Auphonic


If you are a paying or beta user, you can automatically generate shownotes and chapters by checking the Automatic Shownotes and Chapters Checkbox in the Auphonic singletrack or multitrack Production Form with any of our ASR Services enabled.
Once your production is done, the generated data will show up in your transcript result files and in the well-known Auphonic Transcript Editor above the speech recognition transcript section.
By clicking on a chapter title in the Chapters section of the transcript editor, you can jump directly to that chapter in your transcript to review and edit that section.

Unless you have manually entered content before, the generated data will also be automatically stored in your audio files' metadata as follows:

  • Generated Long Summary stored in metadata field Summary.
  • Generated Subtitle stored in metadata field Subtitle.
  • Generated Keywords stored in metadata field Tags.
  • Generated Timestamps for thematic sections stored as Start Time of Chapters Marks.
  • Generated Headlines for thematic sections stored as Chapter Title of Chapters Marks.
The metadata is automatically displayed with your audio file wherever you import your audio for further editing.

Please note that not all of our supported Output File Formats are designed to use metadata.
For details see our previous blog posts: ID3 Tags Metadata (used in MP3 output files), Vorbis Comment Metadata (used in FLAC, Opus and Ogg Vorbis output files) and MPEG-4 iTunes-style Metadata (used in AAC, M4A/M4B/MP4 and ALAC output files).

Example

As a real-life example, we automatically generated shownotes and chapters for the Lex Fridman Podcast #367: "Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI".

Check out our transcript and generated shownotes:
LexFridmanPodcast367-transcript.html



Conclusion

The automatic generation of shownotes and chapters is a huge time-saver for podcasters and video creators, as it speeds up the tedious process of manually structuring and summarizing your content.

For now it is available for all paying or beta users. If you would like to become a beta user, or have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us!







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Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies

Does this scenario sound familiar? You’ve poured countless hours into creating something amazing—perhaps a product, website, artwork, or work presentation. With anticipation, you release it to the world, sharing it with your intended audience. Then… silence. No response, no engagement. It’s as if no one cares. Frustrated, you might find yourself enviously eyeing other creators, wondering how they manage to gain traction while your equally impressive work struggles for attention. You review your process, searching for mistakes, but find none. After all, you followed advice from experts, books, and industry gurus. You meticulously planned, designed, and executed your strategy. Moreover, you promoted extensively, creating accounts on every social platform and using all the right hashtags—yet still, crickets. So what’s the missing piece? Why are others succeeding where you’re not?While it’s tempting to blame factors like bigger budgets or larger teams, these aren’t the real culprits. Although such resources can be helpful, the true key to gaining traction is simpler: building an audience.Fortunately, I’m here to help. Let’s explore five crucial steps to effectively build and grow your audience: 1. Balance Creation and Promotion As creators, we often focus solely on producing content. However, to make a real impact, it’s essential...

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies appeared first on Chase Jarvis.




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Simple Trick to Build Trust in Your Creative Collaborations

In this episode, Stanford behavioral scientist Dr. Jamil Zaki unpacks the power of trust and the dangers of cynicism. We dive into how our beliefs shape our reality, with trust leading to incredible social and economic gains, while mistrust spirals into cynicism. Dr. Zaki shares insights on empathy, the post-pandemic rise in disconnection, and practical ways to break free from negativity, emphasizing the importance of real-life connections over media-driven cynicism. This conversation is packed with actionable advice on how to foster trust and spread optimism in our daily lives. Some highlights we explore: The ripple effects of trust and mistrust. Practical strategies to challenge and overcome cynicism. The role of media in shaping our perceptions and how to stay grounded. And more! Enjoy! FOLLOW DR. JAMIL ZAKI: instagram | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post Simple Trick to Build Trust in Your Creative Collaborations first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Simple Trick to Build Trust in Your Creative Collaborations appeared first on Chase Jarvis.




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Creative Burnout Destroying Your Passion? (Try These 4 Quick Strategies)

Feeling uninspired and exhausted? Discover how to overcome creative burnout with these 4 actionable strategies to reignite your passion.

The post Creative Burnout Destroying Your Passion? (Try These 4 Quick Strategies) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Creative Burnout Destroying Your Passion? (Try These 4 Quick Strategies) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.




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Why Strategy Always Beats Talent

Seth Godin returns to talk strategy and why getting the direction right is way more crucial than just moving fast. We chat about how creatives and entrepreneurs often confuse tactics with strategy and how fixing that could transform careers. Seth shares stories, insights, and the tough decisions he’s made to get better results, like firing major clients to create bigger opportunities. It’s all about finding your path and making the right moves for long-term success. Some highlights we explore: Why most creatives mistake tactics for true strategy. How picking the right clients sets up your future. The role of empathy and tension in creating impactful work. Enjoy! FOLLOW SETH GODIN: instagram | facebook | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post Why Strategy Always Beats Talent first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Why Strategy Always Beats Talent appeared first on Chase Jarvis.




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All new: Truth & Beauty Operations

After many months — building your own sites is hard! — I am finally able to launch truth-and-beauty.net, my new portfolio site! It replaces the old moritz.stefaner.eu, which now lives at archive.stefaner.eu, as I was not able to (and probably won’t) migrate all old contents over. A few notes on technology – I knew I […]




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Collaborative Backlog Management in Scrum

Scrum is an agile project management framework that relies on collaboration between the product owner, scrum master, and development team. One of the key artifacts in Scrum is the product backlog, which contains a prioritized list of features, requirements, and [...]

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The post Collaborative Backlog Management in Scrum first appeared on CSS Reset.




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Create a Stylized Ocean Design in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we’ll be making a nautical scene with underwater elements. We’ll be using basic geometric shapes as well as creating our own brushes and doing some freehand drawing to create a unique ocean design. Let’s get started! Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC Difficulty: Intermediate Topics Covered: Shape Building, Paintbrush Tool, […]

The post Create a Stylized Ocean Design in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.




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How to Draw a Smiling Heart for St. Valentine’s Day in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we will be creating a cute smiling heart with floral decorations, that can be easily turned into a postcard by adding text to the composition. We’ll be using basic shapes and tools for creating the smiling heart itself and adding details. Let’s get started! Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC […]

The post How to Draw a Smiling Heart for St. Valentine’s Day in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.




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Design a Flat Teacup Logotype in Adobe Illustrator

Follow this tutorial to create a trendy flat teacup logotype in Adobe Illustrator! We’ll be using and modifying basic geometric shapes, working with Align panel, Pathfinder functions and learning simple yet very useful tips and tricks. Let’s get started!   Tutorial details: Program: Adobe Illustrator CC Difficulty: Beginner Topics Covered: Logotype Design, Shape Building, Compositional Skills Estimated […]

The post Design a Flat Teacup Logotype in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.




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How to review a migration decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)

One of the questions we are asked regularly when a client has a visa refused is – What are my chances of success if I appeal? Statistics would seem to indicate that the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) often takes an unreasonable approach to their decision making. In the AAT Migration and Refugee Division caseload report […]

The post How to review a migration decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.




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Important Changes to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) Effective from 1 July 2024

The Australian government is making a significant update to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), reflecting its ongoing commitment to maintaining fair wages and conditions for skilled migrants. From 1 July 2024, the TSMIT will increase from $70,000 to $73,150. This change is part of the broader initiatives announced during the Jobs and Skills […]

The post Important Changes to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) Effective from 1 July 2024 appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.




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12 thought provoking quotes to inspire gratitude and contentment

I love a good quote. There’s just something about finding a sentence or phrase that speaks directly to the part of your brain that needed convincing. So when I see a good quote, something that speaks to me or illuminates a concept that I needed to see more clearly, I take notice and try to …

The post 12 thought provoking quotes to inspire gratitude and contentment appeared first on Nathan Rice.




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How to Make a Grid in Adobe Illustrator (Rectangular and Polar)

Are you looking for a way to create an effective grid system in Adobe Illustrator? If so, then you've come to the right place! This quick tutorial will teach you how to make a comprehensive and visually appealing grid using the popular vector graphics software. While creating grids manually can be time-consuming, with this tutorial,...

The post How to Make a Grid in Adobe Illustrator (Rectangular and Polar) appeared first on Bittbox.




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Scale Tool in Illustrator: What It Does and How to Use It 

Ready to add the finishing touches to your design in Adobe Illustrator? But the objects aren’t properly aligned? Does your design look unprofessional because it isn’t adjusted properly? Well, worry no more! Because with just a few steps, this tutorial explains how to use Illustrator's Scale Tool to resize, adjust, and align your design perfectly.  ...

The post Scale Tool in Illustrator: What It Does and How to Use It  appeared first on Bittbox.




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How to Change the Background Color in Adobe Illustrator

The background plays a significant role in making a design pop. As a designer, changing the background color is something you'll probably do frequently when working in Adobe Illustrator. There are several ways to change the background color in Adobe Illustrator. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to change the background color in Illustrator quickly...

The post How to Change the Background Color in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.




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How to Duplicate a Layer in Adobe Illustrator

When you're working in Adobe Illustrator, you may need multiple layers. And when we're talking about having multiple layers, it's easy to confuse layers with artboards. However, duplicating layers and duplicating artboards are not the same. You can have multiple artboards (or canvases) in Illustrator, and you can create multiple layers on a single artboard....

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Guide to the Free Transform Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Who doesn't want their designs to stand out? If you want to make your design unique, you have to go beyond the same old shapes. In such case, the Free Transform Tool is what you need. This tool allows you to manipulate your objects and shapes in many ways. This tutorial will provide you with...

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How to Recolor Artwork in Adobe Illustrator

We all know that color is the essence of any artwork. It's the language through which artwork communicates its message and tone. And recoloring artwork can bring new life to a design, giving it a fresh and captivating look. Fortunately, Adobe Illustrator offers a fantastic tool that makes recoloring artwork easy, smooth, and flexible. In...

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How to Use the Slice Tool in Adobe Illustrator

The Slice Tool in Illustrator is an excellent tool for dividing artwork into smaller pieces for various purposes, like web design, logo creation, creating interactive elements, and more. It separates parts of an element that can be saved as individual images. In this tutorial, we'll discuss the concept of the Slice Tool and provide a...

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Illustration: Japan Earthquake 11-03-2011

I’ve recently created new illustration, Japan Earthquake 11-03-2011, that was inspired by the recent disaster in Japan. With this illustration I’ve joined force with To Japan with Love, a group of artists who are aiming at raising funds for Japan earthquake relief efforts. My illustration will be showcased at the art show (May 4th, 2011 […]




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Get My Illustration Prints on Society6

I just uploaded four of my illustrations (Koi, Peacock, Abstract Pheonix, and Japan 11-03-11) on Society6, a print shop that sell art prints on behalf of the artists around the world. You can get illustrations printed on various meterials: sketched canvases, posters, T-shirts, hoodies, laptop and iPhone cases.




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Cake Based on Phoenix Illustration

Check out this awesome cake made by Elena based on my Phoenix illustration. According to Elena, it took her about a week, 5 hours each day, to finish it. I’m amazed with the details and colors she input on the work. It depicts the features of the Chinese phoenix. The cake was for a local cake […]




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New Illustration: Redesign The Web

Below is the latest illustration, Redesign the Web Poster, that I did for Smashing Magazine’s poster design contest: Redesign the Web, Redesign the World. The work is done with Adobe Illustrator and then touched up with Photoshop.




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The Lost Generation, by Kevin Gilbert

880 billion images will be made this year, in the USA alone. How important is it to makes sure image loss is minimised not to have a Lost Generation?




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Migrating from GoDaddy Website Builder to WooCommerce

Ready to migrate from GoDaddy to WooCommerce? 6 signs you should make the move. GoDaddy vs Woo comparison chart. Pros & cons. 3 ways to switch.




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2024 Black Friday trends: Top strategies from Woo stores and partners

Black Friday trends: Understand the best practices and favorite tools for your WooCommerce store's Black Friday marketing strategy.




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M-trust Co.,Ltd. Corporate

M-trust Co.,Ltd. is a company with high-skilled professionals who solve social issues from the real estate business.




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How Generative AI Can Add Human Delight to Your Virtual Event

We just celebrated 24 years of Viget. That’s two dozen years! This year, our Spring TTT in celebration of “Viget24” was a virtual extravaganza. We’ve put on a lot of virtual events over the years. Some with really strong themes and swag bags; some that focus on simple, meaningful time together; and others that let us enjoy learning something new as a team. Regardless of the rest of the experience, a key component of all of our virtual events is joyachieved often through intentional levity. We think it’s important to laugh together! We see laughter as a way to expedite connection, and connection leads to rapport which makes us better at collaborating — and in turn leads to more quality products for our clients. 

Experimenting and iterating is a critical way we try to continually get delight right. We’re pretty pleased with one of our experiments from Viget24 that we called “Lovely Spring Day”.

A Lovely Spring Day

As we were brainstorming for this TTT, we thought about how to throw some joyful levity pizzazz into the pieces of our virtual events puzzle that have become pretty standard. How do we add lots of delight without adding lots of time to the action-packed schedule? We zeroed in on the virtual backgrounds we’ve been creating for every event — they add a layer of specialness. Of place. This isn’t any old virtual meeting. This is a TTT! 

A small collection of past event-specific virtual backgrounds

Another key consideration for our team is figuring out creative ways to tie in inspiration from our industry and our work. AI has been an obvious contender —  we’ve discussed it and tied it in to some extent for the past several TTTs. But this time, we wanted to see how we could use AI for delight — marrying it with virtual backgrounds felt obvious. And so, a ”Lovely Spring Day” was born. 

The TL;DR is that we generated custom virtual backgrounds for every Viget employee that encapsulates their “ideal spring day.” We then played a 15-minute guessing game where people tried to guess who the background “belonged to.” Then, people had access to the full folder of AI-generated virtual backgrounds to look through. Vigets could then choose the background that spoke to them most and set it as their background. 

Read on for more on how we put this together!

Pre-Event Survey

To support all of our TTTs, we send out thoughtful pre-event logistics surveys 2-3 weeks before the big day. The survey lets us know where folks are joining from (where can we send their activity + snack packages?) and gives folks a chance to provide input on how the People Team can help folks enjoy and be present for TTT. This time, we also snuck in three questions, just “for giggles.”

  • In one sentence, describe your ideal spring day.
  • List three things that spark joy.
  • What color do you think suits you best?

We did not share why we asked these questions. Sneaky, sneaky! When it’s low-key like this, the element of surprise is often a quick way to level up the delight.

Asking for a Friend

With rich data in hand about what makes people happy in spring, we were ready to generate the backgrounds. I was stoked! I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT for some time, so it was fun to be able to use the DALL-E 3 side of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model

Who knew Prompt Engineering would be part of my role as a recruiter-who-helps-support-TTT-planning? I played around with a couple different prompts to generate these background images. Ultimately, my goal was to create backgrounds that were meaningfully different from one another but still felt good (i.e., something you might feasibly want to set as your virtual background and nothing freakily AI, like uncanny valley hands).

Here are the prompts I landed on that got me to our set of virtual backgrounds:

  • Please generate an image (dimensions of a virtual meeting background) that encapsulates the vibe of a day with [ BLANK ].
  • Please generate an image (dimensions of a virtual meeting background) that features [ BLANK ].

In the blanks, I wrote the things people included in their surveys. Those blanks were filled with everything ranging from dogs, cats, and friends to beverages, specific temperatures, yard games, carbohydrates, hammocks and more! Sometimes, I’d include a detail I knew about that person myself, even if it wasn’t in their survey. Yes, I occasionally editorialized for both clarity and whimsy! This was for delight purposes, but also helped serve my goal of having the backgrounds be “meaningfully different from one another.” It’s amazing how many people’s ideal spring day is as simple as having 1) moderate temperatures and 2) no pollen!

I generated 55 images. Throughout the process, DALL-E nailed it. I only needed to regenerate 2 or 3 images with clarifiers (and only because they included AI-specific outliers like disembodied hands). Huzzah!

Here are some of my favorites, along with their prompts in the captions. Can you guess who they belong to?

Please generate an image (dimensions of a virtual meeting background) that features an outdoor brewery/taproom in the appalachian mountains. There's a playground with kids in the very distance. In the foreground, frisbee, soccer, volleyball, etc. with friends and family.
Please generate an image that encapsulates the vibe of a day ending with an outdoor dinner with lights near an outdoor shower. There should be some hiking boots scattered about.
Please generate an image that features a nice hot bath after a cold but sunny day, with a beautiful mug of green tea and a box of takeout that looks really good. The calendar shows April 25th.
Please generate an image that encapsulates the vibe of sitting outside in a nice purple adirondack chair with buc-ees paraphernalia around.
Please generate an image that encapsulates the vibe of a sunny, 65 degree day with a slight breeze at the ballpark watching a game. The image should feature cats, baseball, and art.
Please generate an image that encapsulates the vibe of being outside in a canoe along with carbs, bad jokes, and games (video OR board games).
Please generate an image that features endless mountain bike trails, a blue bike with a cup of coffee in the cupholder, and roaming cats.

IRL

Ok, so for the actual activity we had the images ready to go in a private Google Folder. I took twelve of the images and put them in a very simple deck. I shared my screen, introduced the activity, and invited people to guess who they think each image belonged to in Slack. It was so fun seeing people throw out guesses and then narrow in with any verbal hints I gave!

Each image took about a minute. Then, we shared access to the Google Folder, gave folks a couple minutes to choose a background that called to them (their own image or someone else’s), and set it as their background. It felt like a magical moment to witness people finding and resonating with their own image or delighting in the ridiculousness of their coworkers’. We saved about 5 minutes for this piece, which felt right.

The whole Lovely Spring Day activity took just over 15 minutes! It was a perfect way to transition from a long meal break into our next grouping of content. And, we got to see the different backgrounds throughout the rest of the meeting.

Oh, the humanity!

I think this activity was successful for a couple of reasons.

1. People laughed! 

Color commentary in the #ttt Slack channel

2. People felt seen. Some of these backgrounds were incredibly on point. Some of that was due to key folks having well-documented interests and a Slack-Famous Dog. 

Laura Sweltz has a famous love of books and an incredibly iconic beagle named Phoebe.

But some of it was due to the People Team knowing about our people — our coworkers — beyond the sentence they wrote in. This uniquely human involvement helped me call an audible as needed and tweak prompts slightly to make the backgrounds feel even more relatable.

Steven, Carolyn, and Laura Sweltz felt seen.

3. We could commiserate about our eventual AI overlords. (Did you notice that I say “please” in my prompts?!) Listen, Viget has plenty of practical, healthily skeptical people who are dubious about AI. GenAI is not always a fun, lighthearted thing. But using it in a fun, lighthearted way to do something it’s really good at was a nice use case and thought-provoking exposure even for people who are not into it.

4. We could see where we all align, and where we differ! It was amazing to see just how many people love picnics, covet their caffeine, and appreciate a bike ride. It was also cool to see some unique folks who simply crave a rainy spring day, or some beloved Buc-ee’s. What a rich tapestry of individuals — literally!




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Why the Cheapest Hourly Rate Often isn’t the Cheapest Option

When choosing an outsourcing partner for design and development, many decision-makers naturally start by comparing hourly rates. At first glance, it seems logical: a lower hourly rate means lower project costs, right?

The truth is, hourly rates can be a misleading metric. The actual cost of outsourcing is much more complex than the dollar amount tied to hourly rates. In this article, we’ll explore why focusing on hourly rates can obscure the true cost of a project and why it’s crucial to dig deeper when evaluating potential partners. I’ll end by suggesting a few things to focus on instead of or in addition to the hourly rate.

Efficiency vs. Hourly Rates

Imagine you have two outsourcing options for a specific task:

  • Pat: A developer who charges $100/hour and takes 3 hours to complete the task. 
  • Terry: A developer who charges $200/hour but only takes 2 hours to complete the same task.

Pat’s hourly rate is lower and Pat’s total cost looks cheaper. The total cost for Pat is $300, while for Terry, it's $400. But there's more at play than the hourly breakdown.

Terry may be faster because they are more skilled, experienced, or familiar with the problem. They produce a higher-quality output that might need little to no revision, while Pat may deliver work requiring additional oversight, rework, or fine-tuning.

This brings us to a crucial point: efficiency and expertise often outweigh raw hourly cost.

Hidden Costs of Oversight and Management

The cost of managing lower-cost teams can quickly add up. Inexperienced or less skilled developers often require more:

  • Guidance and supervision: You or your in-house team may have to spend significant time managing or directing work, which adds hidden costs to the project.
  • Rework and revisions: Less-experienced teams may not get it right the first time, and even small mistakes can snowball into major issues that need to be fixed later on.
  • Communication barriers: Some outsourcing teams might not be as effective in communicating progress or roadblocks, which can slow down the entire project and lead to missed deadlines.

Each of these factors chips away at the apparent "savings" from choosing a lower hourly rate.

Quality: The Long-Term Investment

Design and development work (insourced or outsourced) is an investment, not just a cost. High-quality work may come with a higher hourly rate, but the long-term savings are substantial:

  • Fewer bugs and technical debt: A more experienced development team will likely deliver better code, resulting in fewer bugs and long-term maintenance issues. A more experienced designer is more likely to think through and design for all edge cases, filling in all the gaps.
  • Faster delivery: A skilled team is often more familiar with best practices, frameworks, and tools that allow them to complete tasks efficiently.
  • Scalability: High-quality designers and developers think ahead and design systems that can scale with your needs, preventing costly future refactoring.

The Cost of "Cheap" Work

Sometimes, "cheap" work ends up being the most expensive in the long run. Lower-quality outsourcing might require you to:

  • Hire another team to fix or rebuild the work.
  • Delay product launches due to unanticipated project overruns.
  • Damage customer trust by releasing subpar products riddled with bugs or poor design.

In some cases, teams that seem "affordable" may not have the expertise to foresee potential pitfalls, which means costly issues arise later in the process.

Calculating the Total Cost of Ownership

To truly compare outsourcing options, decision-makers should consider the total cost of ownership (TCO), not just the hourly rate. TCO includes:

  • Efficiency: How quickly and effectively can the team complete the work?
  • Oversight: How much management and guidance will the team require?
  • Quality: Will the output meet your expectations, or will it need significant revisions or rework?
  • Maintenance: What will it cost to maintain or scale the system after the initial work is done?

A team with a higher hourly rate but lower total costs in these areas may be the more cost-effective choice in the long run. For a more complete example:

  • Pat: Your $100/hr developer completes a task in 3 hours ($300), requires 1 hour of oversight from an in-house Senior Developer ($150), and eventually needs to be refactored or rebuilt entirely ($1,000).
  • Terry: Your $200/hr developer completed a task in 2 hours ($400) based on a 10-minute overview from an in-house Senior Developer ($15), and makes an above-and-beyond measurable impact on page performance (priceless).

The best long-term investment becomes more clear when you consider all the variables. 

Conclusion: Think Beyond Hourly Rates

When investing in design or development, your goal should be to maximize ROI, not minimize hourly rates. When comparing outsourcing options, focus on the bigger picture—their efficiency, quality, and the hidden costs of oversight and management. Consider how your prospective partners measure up in terms of:

  • Results: can they point to clear results of their work in which they played some critical role?
  • References: would previous clients choose to hire them again (indicating they are worth their cost)?
  • Communication: do they respond quickly and with clarity?
  • Expertise: do they provide opinions and advice or are they simply order takers?
  • Relevance: is their prior experience directly relevant to your needs? 
  • If not, do they have a track record for navigating novelty well?

The right team might not always be the cheapest on paper, but they’ll deliver the greatest long-term value. Outsourcing isn’t about getting work done cheaply—it’s about getting it done right, and more often than not, the old mantra “you get what you pay for” holds.




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4 Business Scaling Strategies to Implement in 2023

Business scaling is setting the stage to support growth in your company. In other words, it means investing in cutting-edge technology, hiring top talent, and executing effective marketing campaigns to successfully grow your business. And while business owners often wish to achieve success overnight, scaling requires a long-term, sustainable strategy.  Scaling a business is often […]




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The Apple TV 4K Device is a Deeply Flawed and Frustrating Product… for Me

About 12 years ago, in 2006, I had what at the time felt like the biggest technological change in my life. I switched from a PC to my first MacBook Pro. Switching computer operating systems at the time seemed like a massive chasm to overcome, but I did it and I’m glad I did. My …




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Adobe Illustrator 2025 Splash Screen Illustration: TRÜF’s “Weird Fishes”

Adobe Illustrator 2025 Splash Screen Illustration: TRÜF’s “Weird Fishes”

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Discover how TRÜF’s “Weird Fishes” splash screen for Adobe Illustrator 2025 celebrates creativity with vibrant, minimalist illustration.

The Adobe Illustrator 2025 splash screen opens with a statement: creativity meets minimalism. Designed by TRÜF Studio, the “Weird Fishes” artwork that greets users embodies Adobe’s tools while making an instant visual impact. This splash screen not only excites users about the app but also showcases Illustrator’s dynamic possibilities, creating a memorable start to the creative process. Here’s a look at the creative vision, tools, and collaboration behind this unique splash screen update.

“Weird Fishes”: A Showcase of Creative Tools

TRÜF’s “Weird Fishes” centers on playfully stylized fish, created using Adobe Illustrator’s updated typography and 3D tools, which highlight the 2025 release’s expanded capabilities. This splash screen is a celebration of how Illustrator can bring out unique textures, gradients, and typographic designs, making it feel like a blend of traditional and digital artistry. The design follows Adam G’s distinctive style—minimal yet quirky, with each element purposefully crafted to show off Adobe’s creative potential.

The splash screen, as Adobe intended, isn’t just a loading screen. It’s a reminder of what Illustrator users can “Dream Up.” As Alex Fernald and Gleren Meneghin, Adobe’s staff designers, emphasized, the splash screens are not only entry points into the app but connections to Adobe’s creative community. They bring in commissioned art, linking Illustrator users to other creators while inviting exploration of the software’s capabilities.

Balancing Art and Function in the Design

This splash screen’s journey began the old-fashioned way—on paper. This initial sketching phase gave TRÜF the freedom to experiment with the composition, exploring the balance of shapes and lines. Once refined, the concept moved into Illustrator, where TRÜF fully explored the software’s features to enhance the digital version. In a brief, 90-second process video, TRÜF showcased their workflow from sketch to the finished splash screen, a rare peek into how minimalist, impactful design comes together.

A User-Centric Approach to Illustration

Adobe’s splash screens, including “Weird Fishes,” are a result of ongoing feedback from users. Through surveys sent to product teams, Adobe designers Alex and Gleren learned the nuances that users valued in the loading screen—like minimal launch delays and artist recognition. This feedback shaped the design, ensuring the new splash screens would spotlight the artist while maintaining the program’s efficiency.

To make the splash screen visually immersive, Adobe made adjustments based on past feedback. The artwork was enlarged, and the artist’s name appears in a larger, bold typeface, creating a clearer hierarchy that celebrates both the art and artist. As the Adobe Spectrum design system evolved, so did the splash screens, aligning with modern standards while preserving Adobe’s commitment to showcasing diverse creative voices.

Reflecting Adobe’s Evolution with Modern Minimalism

Historically, Illustrator splash screens have evolved alongside the Adobe brand. From early versions in the 1980s, featuring iconic art references, to today’s community-focused pieces, these screens highlight a shift from static visuals to dynamic creative introductions. Adobe’s recent redesign, led by Fernald and Meneghin, reimagined this format to center both the artist and the Adobe brand, using clean type and colors while expanding the visual space for the artwork. This shift reaffirms Adobe’s mission to foster connections within its creative ecosystem.

The splash screens across Adobe products are meant to offer a consistent brand experience, but each one also tells a unique story, showcasing the latest in illustration and design through collaboration with Studio team artists. Adobe’s team expanded the artwork’s size, adjusting its specs back to 2019 dimensions to create a more immersive user experience. The Adobe wordmark in red stands beside the product name in black, emphasizing the connection between Adobe and its creative community.

The Legacy and Future of Adobe Splash Screens

“What’s next?” is a question Adobe’s designers are always answering. With the 2025 Illustrator splash screen’s debut at Adobe MAX 2024, Adobe introduced the latest evolution in Creative Cloud. These splash screens remain essential touchpoints, showcasing new work, enhancing user experience, and connecting each user to Adobe’s creative network.

TRÜF’s “Weird Fishes” invites Illustrator users to think beyond the ordinary. It’s a nod to the creative possibilities the software enables, a tribute to digital and analog techniques, and a reminder that every creative journey begins with opening Adobe Illustrator.

This splash screen illustration is a subtle invitation for creatives to make the most of Illustrator’s tools and capabilities, setting the stage for inspired design from the moment they open the app.

Illustration artifacts

Pillow manufactured by Adobe. Photo courtesy of Adobe