Rahul Tiwari

Tips and Tutorials on website design, web development and related techniques.

How To Design a Website
A step by step guide to designing a website, from research and brainstorming to creating wireframes, developing the website and promoting it.

How to Choose a Website Domain Name
Choosing a domain name for you or a client can be a long and tedious process. With so many names no longer available, creating a new one or finding the right one requires research, creativity and sometimes a significant investment.

How to Buy a Website Domain Name
Domain names or website addresses, such as google.com or facebook.com, are available for purchase from many website services or registrars. While of course the names mentioned above are far from available, there are countless website addresses that can be purchased, often whether they are already owned or not.

What to Include in a Website Proposal
A website proposal contains many aspects different from other graphic design proposals, in that technical elements must be addressed along with creative ones. While print proposals do address items such as printing procedures, website proposals must specify web hosting, systems for maintaining content, programs or programming languages to be used and other technical specifications.

Learn Adobe Illustrator Tools, Tricks, Tips and Techniques

How to Use the Adobe Illustrator Pen Tool
The pen tool is perhaps the most powerful tool in Illustrator. It can be used to create countless lines, curves and shapes, and serves as the building block for illustration and design. The tool is used by creating “anchor points,” and then by connecting those points with lines, which can be connected further to create shapes.

Use of the pen tool is perfected through practice.
How to Use the Adobe Illustrator Type Tools
There are several tools for creating type, all found on the Illustrator toolbar, and each with a different function.

How to Use the Adobe Illustrator Selection Tool
The Illustrator selection tool is for selecting objects in your layouts, such as shapes and blocks of type. Once selected, you can use the tool to move, transform, or apply any number of filters or effects to the selected objects.

Learn Adobe Photoshop Tools, Tricks, Tips and Techniques

How to Use the Photoshop Marquee Tool
The Photoshop marquee tool, a relatively simple feature, is essential for several tasks. At the most basic level, the tool is used to select areas of an image, which can then be copied, cut or cropped. There are four options within the tool to select different types of areas: rectangular, elliptical, a single row or a single column.

How to Use Photoshop Tool Presets
Creating tool presets in Photoshop is an excellent way to speed up your workflow and remember your favorite and most-used settings. A tool preset is a named, saved version of a tool and specific related settings such as width, opacity and brush size, all handled through the tool presets palette.

How to Use the Photoshop Clone Stamp Tool
Learn to use the clone stamp tool in Photoshop to retouch photos by copying one area of an image onto another area.

How to Use the Photoshop Save for Web Tool
As a graphic designer, you may often be asked to deliver web-ready images, such as photos for a web site or banner ads. The Photoshop “Save for Web” tool is a simple and easy way to prepare your JPEG files for the web, helping with the trade-off between file size and image quality.

How to Use the Photoshop Crop Tool
The Photoshop crop tool serves two main purposes. The first is to crop, which means to cut out an area of an image by selecting the area that you wish to keep. It is also handy for quickly resizing images. These functions can also be used at the same time to crop and resize a photo (or any type of image) at once.

Step-by-step tutorials demonstrating design and business techniques.

Stay Organized - How to Organize Your Business
Staying organized is extremely important when running your own graphic design business. Share your advice and experience on keeping your business organized so you can focus on design.

Brainstorming in Graphic Design
Before you even begin to create a first version of a design in graphics software, it is important to harness your creativity to come up with concepts and ideas for a project. Unless the winning idea simply pops into your head (it has been known to happen), it is often difficult to sit down and start designing without a brainstorming session.

How and Why to Get your Credit Line on Graphic Design Projects
Getting your credit line on your work is a great way to spread word-of-mouth on your business. It is satisfying, and lucrative, when someone sees your work and contacts you for a project.

How to Design a Graphic Design Business Card
Whether you are a freelancer or you own your own design firm, it is crucial to have business cards for your graphic design business. A well-designed card with the right content will help you look professional, show off your work, and land new clients.

How to Create an Email Newsletter
An email newsletter is an important tool for growing a graphic design business. It is one of most effective ways to spread the word-of-mouth on what type of work you are doing and looking for.

Interviews with graphic designers, with advice, tips and the inside scoop on their businesses and design process.

Frequently asked questions and tips for graphic designers at all levels.

How Can I Start a Design Firm if I Don’t Have Enough Money?
If you can’t afford to start a design business, how can you get into graphic design? One of the best ways is to start small. Starting a career in design doesn’t necessarily mean starting a design “firm,” at least in the traditional sense. You don’t need to start with an office space or employees… your firm, or freelance

business, can just be you.
Do I Need to Know How to Draw or Paint to be a Graphic Designer?
You don't need to be a fine artist to be a graphic designer. While it could help your career and your creative side, it is not necessary to be a sketch artist, painter or other type of artist in the traditional sense. Graphic design is about taking elements such as type, photos, illustrations, and color and combining them to create effective messages.

Sources of graphic design inspiration and ways to spark your creativity.

Design Gallery by Veerle Pieters of Duoh!

Using Photography for Graphic Design Inspiration
Photography is a great source of graphic design inspiration. There are many online resources that give you access to vast photo collections, from photography portfolios to stock photography websites.

Interior Design Blogs
Interior decorating and product design for the home are great sources of inspiration. The colors, patterns, shapes and textures of anything from a couch to a coat rack to a fully decorated room can provide great examples of well-executed design. Below are some blogs and websites on interior design to check out.

Featured Websites
Below is the ongoing list of featured websites from the about.com graphic design blog.

A Museum Directory for Graphic Design Inspiration
Visiting museums of all types can be a great source of graphic design inspiration. This museum directory has a focus on modern art, design and technology.

Practice design projects for the graphic design community to participate in.

Practice Graphic Design Projects - Design a Movie Poster or Book Cover
This exercise is a brainstorming activity and a way to practice your design skills. Design a poster for a movie about your life, or a book cover for your autobiography.

Learn tips and tricks for completing design tasks and to spark your creativity.

Design Projects (1) Inspiration (5) Frequently Asked Questions (3) Interviews (1) How-To (5) Photoshop Tutorials (5) Illustrator Tutorials (3) Website Design (4)

How to Get Organized in Your Design Business

When working as a graphic designer, it is important to get organized. If your business is not organized, there is a good chance your design will ultimately suffer. Keeping track of design tasks, leads, client requests, finances, emails, and phone calls is all part of getting, and staying, organized. This can be especially difficult for freelancers, who often handle all aspects of their business. …

How to Use the Adobe Photoshop Tools
The tools available on the Photoshop toolbar and menus are the basis for working in the software. Learning tools such as the crop, clone stamp and marquee, and the use of tool presets, will help facilitate design and improve workflow.

The Graphic Design Process
When starting a new design project, there are steps to follow that will help you to achieve the best results. You can save yourself time and energy by first researching the topic, finalizing your content, starting with simple sketches, and getting several rounds of approval on designs.

The Benefits of a Graphic Design Blog
There are many benefits to writing your own graphic design blog. Writing a blog can build a community around your website, promote your business, and help to establish yourself as an expert in the field.

The tools you need to become a graphic designer, including computer hardware, software to use and reference books.

Wacom Pen Tablets
It is often difficult and awkward to design with a mouse, especially when working on illustrations or precise image retouching. Pen tablets give graphic designers the feel of working with an actual pen and pad, and Wacom tablets are the industry standard.

Learn the differences between designing for print and for the web, from the audience experience to the actual design process to careers in each field.

Designing For Print vs. The Web
Learn the differences between designing for print and for the web, with a a focus on audience, layout, color, technology and careers.

An overview of the elements that make up design, such as colors, shapes, lines, type, illustrations and images, and how to use them.

How are Lines Used in Graphic Design?
Lines are used to divide space, direct the eye, and create forms. At the most basic level, straight lines are found in layouts to separate content, such as in magazine, newspaper, and website designs. This can of course go much further, with curved, dotted, and zigzag lines used as the defining elements on a page and as the basis for illustrations and graphics.

Using Illustration in Graphic Design
Illustration is commonly used in graphic design projects. A beautiful illustration can often grab the attention of your audience just as well as a photograph, and in many cases it can be even more effective. Illustrations are often necessary to “illustrate” a point, such as in graphs, charts and maps or in a set of icons for a website.

The Elements of Graphic Design
The elements of graphic design are used, and often combined, to create graphic works. They should not be confused with principles of design, such as balance and white space, but rather components such as color, type and images. Presented here is a list of the most commonly used elements in graphic design.

Texture in Graphic Design
Texture can refer to the actual surface of a design or to the visual appearance of a design. In the first case, the audience can actually feel the texture, making it unique from the other elements of design. In the second case, texture is implied through the style of design. Rich, layered graphics can create visual texture that
mirrors actual texture.

Using Shapes in Graphic Design
Shapes are at the root of graphic design. They are figures and forms that make up logos, illustrations and countless other elements in all types of designs. Altering the size, form, angles, colors and other characteristics of the shapes in a design can significantly impact its message and success.

Learn what graphic design is, what elements make up good design, the essential tools, hardware, and software for designers, and the difference between designing for print and the web.
Elements of Design (5) Print vs. Web (1) Essential Tools (1)
What is Graphic Design?
An introduction to the basics of graphic design and its different applications.
Essential Graphic Design Tools
There are several tools that are essential to graphic design. Below is a list of what is absolutely necessary to work in graphic design, as well as some things that are recommended.

Finding out your client's budget can make quoting jobs much easier. It can also help to determine what services you can provide to your client. Whether or not you can work with a client isn't always a simple "yes" or "no" based on the budget. If you know what the client can spend, you can often change the scope of work, printing costs, and other variables and land a job that you otherwise might have lost due to a high quote.

Chances are, the economy has affected the way you do business. Some clients may have reduced their budgets for design work, requiring you to come up with clever solutions to keep their business, while others may have cut out their design budgets completely. You may also have come up with ways to reduce your own costs, from minimizing personal promotion to changing office spaces. There are of course many ways you may have been affected beyond the answers here, so please share in the comments.

The idea is simple. Modifying a well-designed template is far easier and more profitable than starting from scratch. With the professionally designed templates, you tap the talents of designer and author Chuck Green. He has researched, designed, and meticulously formatted over 300 extraordinary layouts in a clean, simple style that it easy to build on. Instead of spending 15 minutes to create a simple layout, you'll spend 15 seconds.

The idea is simple. Modifying a well-designed template is far easier and more profitable than starting from scratch. With the professionally designed templates, you tap the talents of designer and author Chuck Green. He has researched, designed, and meticulously formatted over 300 extraordinary layouts in a clean, simple style that it easy to build on. Instead of spending 15 minutes to create a simple layout, you'll spend 15 seconds. For complex projects -- books, newsletters, catalogs, reports -- you'll save HOURS.

In this issue we discover The Princess of Shadows and her remarkably free Photoshop Actions * a good pair of wings * and some * Masterful Manipulations! You'll also learn about * Saving for the Web * light your girl on FIRE * Misprinted Type from Assemblage to Collage. We'll also show you how to Get a FREE PHOTOSHOP BOOK ... and it's all in the MAY edition of Photoshop Madness... What's in your Photoshop wallet?

Have you ever got irritated with a site just because you couldn’t find any information on it? Or maybe you got lost within the site’s structure? Or simply didn’t know where you were and decided to abandon the site altogether?
Sure you have. Just like all of us. I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t felt this at least a handful of times.

But let’s go further. As a designer, have you ever had a client calling you saying that their users complain as they can’t use the site, can’t find the information they are looking for or maybe simply got lost?

Now, who’s going to be brave enough to say I have?

Well, it surely happened to me in the past and I know how terrible feeling it is. And after an initial shock my answer to that was to rethink my approach to web design. Before that I simply understood design for web as a continuation of my work as a graphic designer. Afterwards I discovered that design although important is only one of all factors of the website’s success.

It is the usability though, or how the definition puts it “the approach to making websites easy to use for the end-user without requiring him to undergo any specific training” that can make or break the site. In other words if your site can not be easily used by anyone, no matter how beautiful it is it will cause grief to it’s visitors and will most likely be quickly abandoned.

But how do you ensure that your user can use the site without undergoing a training beforehand?

Start by following those few steps. There is of course more to usability than that and I would recommend digging deeper into the subject but for now you should always remember to:

1. Design the site’s structure to be clear to the user, not you or your client.
You do not design for your client but for their users and always have that in mind. It’s very easy to create structure that only you and people you explain it to will understand.

2. Make sure that the navigation is clearly seen straight after logging onto the site and that it’s easy to use.
Avoid complicated navigation bars, make your navigation as simple for the user to operate as possible. Also place navigation in a prominent place on the screen. There are conventions for that and you probably can tell them already after viewing hundreds of sites. Stick to those conventions, they were created for a purpose.

3. Ensure that your visitor knows exactly what the site is all about after logging in.
Make sure that each page contains enough information to reveal what the company does. Remember to have that information on every page. You don’t know which page the user will land on first.

4. Tell the user clearly where he is within the site’s structure.
There are two proven techniques for that. Mark the page in the navigation where the user is. You’ve probably seen this many times before, the font may be bold and/or in different color. Or you may change graphics behind the button. The possibilities are endless but remember to mark the page the user is currently viewing.

5. Leave breadcrumbs on your track.
You have seen them many times as well, the “you are here:…” listing on a page. Breadcrumbs help the user to recreate the path they have taken to get to a place they are in now and may provide a great help, especially on large sites.

5+. Test test test
This is a crucial, yet most commonly forgotten step. Always test your site for usability. Run the site by some users, be it someone you know or ask your client to present the site to a handful of his clients. No matter what you go for, always test your site before it goes live and gather feedback.

Of course such testing is only a limited version of a proper usability test conducted in a lab but even with that you should be able to pick up some basic problems with your site.

I've always had a fascination with all things printed. Record sleeves, t-shirts, posters and girly imags. At 15 I was designing and printing t-shirts of my favourite bands. Today I'm just as passionate about print. There's something special about being able to physically touch something you've designed, the texture on different mediums and seeing how it looks in different light. Sure, it sounds fruity I know, but that's what drives me to create the best in print.

I'll be honest here, I love computers and the internet. I spend a good portion of my day in front of the screen, designing, researching and sometimes just mucking about. Ever since I was 11 and I was given an playstation 2 gaming machine.


i love these game



I've been glued to the screen. Tomb Raider ,Tekken 3,WWE Smackdown vs. Raw: Superstar Series,Dick Smith VZ-200 > Commodore 64 > various Amiga's >Evil Dead various PCs (Windows) > . Oh mighty playstation Pro, how I fancy thee.


But, aside from the geek stuff I do allow myself to get out and about too. I like walking around, exploring and taking photos. I'm definitely just an enthusiast photographer as you can see from my photos on Flickr. Music, hanging out with my mates, drinking and eating, watching movies, learning english and traveling pretty much sums up the remainder of my time.

I call myself a graphic designer first and foremost, if only to impress the girls, yet I have skills and passions in many areas of computing, internet, programming, design, usability and troubleshooting. Okay, I lied a little. I'm not passionate about troubleshooting but I seem to have a mind that's tuned to that sort of thing. The bit about impressing girls is true though. It happened once.

I have been called a pragmatist and while that might sound boring, I like to make all my designs as simple, practical and logical as possible and if I manage to make them look great too then I feel I've succeeded. I'm really not a 'wow' kinda guy, but I do create stuff that works nicely and looks good. To quote Charles Mingus, Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

Wordpress - Can work as a great CMS (Content Management System) for your graphic design portfolio

SEO Book - The best search engine optimization book on the market. It will teach you everything you need to know about getting natural free search engine traffic to your website.

Some Great One Page Graphic Design Portfolio





I hope you found this post helpful and informative and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them as comments!

I have been doing extensive research on portfolio sites lately and what I’ve noticed and I’m sure a lot of you have noticed is the growing popularity of one page portfolio websites. I know some of you might be “anti trends”, but I think this portfolio website format is great for several reasons and I will give you tips on how to create your own one page graphic design portfolio and how you can market it for free.

I even use this one page portfolio format for my own graphic design portfolio, because I believe it works well!