Design Vitality

As a designer I see the Photoshop startup screen several times a day. I can easily recall what each one looks like, from 5.0 to CS3. This got me wondering: What did the startup screen look like before I ever used Photoshop?

After some research I was able to find the Photoshop startup screen from the very first retail version all the way until CS3. Take a walk down memory lane and see how many of these you remember and discover the humble beginnings of the world’s most powerful image editor.

• Photoshop 1.0.7
  
  The very first retail edition of Photoshop, and the eye that would appear for many startups.
• Photoshop 2.0.1
  
  The next version introduced color to the splash. Notice the eye in the lens.
• Photoshop 2.5
  
  Version 2.5 had an identical splash, although you no longer had to click anything to continue on. This was also the first version to be ported over to Microsoft Windows.
• Photoshop 3.0
  
  Photoshop 3.0 continued with the paint palette. The eye has now moved on to film strip. This version of Photoshop introduced layers, something that every designer on Earth uses. Tabbed palettes also joined the club, allowing more tools in the same amount of space.
• Photoshop 4.0
  
  The palette and film are now gone, and the eye has become the centerpiece. Photoshop 4.0 brought about adjustment layers and actions. Actions are a life saver for anyone who has done repetitive tasks.
• Photoshop 5.0
  
  Photoshop 5.0 brings back a camera lens. 5.0 also introduced the history palette, allowing multiple undos. Type also remained editable, previously it was rasterized as soon as you left the type tool. Read the rest of this post »

If you are a designer and you haven’t heard of Firefox, I want to know where you’ve been. Seriously. No need to panic, because today is the official download day for the new Firefox 3.

Firefox offers a faster, safer browsing experience. To get the details, check out this page where you’ll find out more about what makes Firefox a better browser.

Today is the day that the Firefox community, and the Firefox users who love this browser are coming together to set a Guinness World Record. To help Firefox 3 earn the title of the most software downloads in 24 hours, simply participate by downloading it for yourself.

Now that fixed width layouts are all the craze, what are we to do with all that blank background space? You could go the tried-and-true route with a gradient, but it doesn’t always add much to the background. Why not add some beauty and texture by having a pattern take up some space?

Using this collection of links you should be able to find the perfect background to fill the void in your design!

1. Squidfingers - Patterns
   158 free patterns from Squidfingers.
   
2. Brusheezy - Patterns
   Lots of patterns available for download. The site even includes a rating system to see what others thought of them.
   
3. Photoshop Patterns @ deviantART
   A TON of free patterns by Deviant Art users.
   
4. BioRUST.com :: Adobe Photoshop Patterns
   Free photoshop patterns from Biorust.
   
5. TipClique Photoshop Patterns - Set 001
   5 high resolution Photoshop patterns. Be sure to check the site for collections 2 and 3.
   
   Read the rest of this post »

Having a wide variety of brushes gives designers a larger toolset when creating images. Grunge brushes can be used to create a textured site design, floral brushes can help fill empty voids and even more brushes can be used to create nice little touches. Below is a collection of resources for expanding your Adobe Photoshop brush palette:

1. Free Brushes at Brusheezy!
   This site has a very large collection of high quality brushes.
   
2. PS Brushes.net - Photoshop Brushes
   This site currently has 511 quality brushes of all varieties.
   
3. Getbrushes.com - 150+ High Quality Brushes
   Like the name implies, get all your photoshop brushes here.
   
4. Designfruit » Photosho Brushes
   Amazing photoshop brushes made by Design Fruit. All the brushes are also available for purchase as vectors.
   
5. Photoshop Support - Photoshop Brushes
   A mix of swirling and stylish brushes.
   Read the rest of this post »

In today’s busy world it can be hard to be tied down to one computer. With web based applications becoming so advanced it is now possible to still get work done anywhere there is a computer without installing any software. From image editing to Word documents, you can do it all online.

Here are 40 excellent web based tools to help you design from anywhere:

Read the rest of this post »

Well, the voting period is over for our 2007 WordPress theme design competition and the winners have been determined.

Here are the top three winning WordPress theme designs that you, the readers, have chosen!

Each winning theme author will receive one of our cool prizes.

So without further ado, we present to you…

Read the rest of this post »

We present to you the qualifying themes for the 2007 DesignVitality WordPress Theme Design competition. We have created a gallery including a preview of each WordPress theme and the authors name. All the themes are available for you to download and enjoy.

Vote for your favorite themes and help the theme designer win one of $1,500 worth of prizes.

Get a look at all the hot new WordPress themes here.

First off, we would like to wish everyone of our readers a happy new year. May it be your best year yet. We will be making all the WordPress theme entries available for viewing, downloading, voting and all around enjoyment on January 7th. Read the rest of this post »

No matter how many fonts you have now, if you are a designer and you see a free font that you like you download it. Period. Of course whenever you go looking for free fonts, a crap load of the search results that show up will get you interested by showing you some good looking fonts and then tell you to pull out your credit card for that one you really liked.

Fortunately, we found just the thing to let you tell those sites that try to charge for fonts to take a hike. Read the rest of this post »

A lot of people have emailed us requesting more time to complete their entries and after hearing it from so many people, we have decided to go ahead and give you one more chance to win some of the cool prizes. The last day to submit your entry is now December 19th.

There will be no more extensions, so wrap up your themes and get them submitted! Read the rest of this post »