Andrew Kelsall | Graphic Designer

Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall, Creative Designer of Logos, Posters and signage in Hemsworth, South Elmsall and Worldwide

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100 Fantastic Design Blogs (and their logos)

Here is a fantastic list I have put together, showing 100 Design Blogs with their branding logos. They are shown in alphabetical order (well, mine’s at the top) together with a few words about the nature of the Blog. The blogs are primarily Graphic Design sites, with a few WordPress, Web Design and Inspiration sites thrown-in for a great mix—enjoy!

andrewkelsall cd designer Image

1 | Andrew Kelsall → Design Project Studies and Graphic Design Blog

10 steps design image

2 | 10 Steps → Photoshop Tutorials and Resources

1stwebdesigner Image

4 | 1st Web Designer → Design and Freelance

Aaron Russell Image

5 |  Aaron Russell’s Blog → Web Design Tips

abduzeedo design image

6 | Abduzeedo → Tutorials, Wallpapers and Design Showcase

aiburn design image

7 | Aiburn → Art, Inspiration and Vectors

andrew keir designer image

8 |  Andrew Keir →  Graphic Design & Inspiration Blog

andysowards Image

9 |  Andy Sowards →  Web Design and Development Links

anidandesign Image

10 |  Anidan Design → Web Development and WordPress

anti social development Image

11 | Anti-Social Development → WordPress Tips and Links

Arbenting Image

12 | Arbenting →  | Tutorials and inspiration

Bittbox design Image

13 | Bittbox → Web Development and Freebies

Blog Perfume Image

14 | Blog Perfume → WordPress Tips and Themes

Boag World Image

15 | Boag World → Web Design and Podcasting

Brian yerkes designer Image

16 | Brian Yerkes → Graphic & Web Design

chris wallace design image

17 | Chris Wallace → Worpress Themes and Blog

Colour burned Image

18 | ColourBurned → Graphic Design Resources and Tutorials

Creatica Daily Image

19 | Creatica Daily → Design Inspiration

Creative Curio Image

20 | Creative Curio → Graphic Design & Inspiration Blog

creative overflow image

15 | Creative Overflow → Photoshop and Anything Creative!

CSS Tricks Image

21 | CSS Tricks → CSS, Code and Web

david airey header image

22 | David Airey → Logo Design and Branding

dead wings design image

23 | Dead Wings Designs →Print Design and Helpful Resources

Design Blurb Image

24 | Design Blurb → Tutorials and Freebies

Designer Daily Image

25 | Designer Daily → Graphic, Web Design and Inspiration

Design Shard Image

26 | Design Shard → Design, Inspiration and Free Resources

Design Flavr Image

27 | Design Flavr → Art and Design Inspiration

Designmag Image

28 | DesignM.ag → Web Development, Galleries and Inspiration

Dev Snippets Image

29 | Dev Snippets → Code, Galleries and Inspiration

Design O Blog Image

30 | Design O’ Blog → Graphic Design and Illustration

Designus Image

31 | Designus → Design Resources and Freebies

Digital Arts Image

32 | Digital Arts → Design Inspiration Magazine

dosh dosh Image

33 | Dosh Dosh → Internet Marketing and Social Media

Dot Design Image

34 | Dot Design →  | Graphic Design & Inspiration Blog

Doug Draws logo image

35 | Doug Draws →  | Cartoons & Blogging

DzineBlog Image

36 | DzineBlog → Inspiration and Resources

echo enduring blog image

37 | Echo enduring Blog → Design, Illustration  and Writing

Elite Design Image

38 | Elite by Design → Tutorials, Inspiration, and Resources

Elliot Jay Stocks Image

39 | Elliot Jay Stocks → Design, Illustration and WordPress

Forty Seven Media Blog Image

40 | Forty Seven Media Blog → Web and Graphic Design Blog

Freelance Folder Image

41 | Freelance Folder → Freelance Advice and Resources

Freelance Switch Image

42 | Freelance Switch → Freelance Advice and Resources

Fudge Graphics Image

43 | Fudge Graphics → Free Textures and Resources

Fuel Your Creativity Image

44 | Fuel Your Creativity → Inspiration, Freebies and Articles

WeFunction Image

45 | Function → Web Design and Development Blog

gabe taviano design image

46 | Gabe Taviano → “Technology meets Eternity” Design Blog

GoMediaZine Image

47 | GoMediaZine → Tutorials, Freebies and Graphic Design Blog

helveticbrands Image

48 | Helvetic Brands → Logo Design and Branding

iDesign Studios Image

49 | iDesignStudios Blog → Web Design and Freelancing

im just creatve image

50 | I’m Just Creative → Logo Design and Brand Identity

InspirationBit Image

51 | Inspiration Bit → Web Design, Photography and Blogging

Inspiredology Image

52 | Inspiredology → Web Design and Inspiration

instant shift image

53 | InstantShift → Web Designers and Developers Daily Resource

Janko Warp Speed Image

54 | Janko At Warp Speed → Web Design, Freebies and Tutorials

Just Creative Design Image

55 | Just Creative Design → Graphic and Logo Design Blog

Kyle Steed Image

56 | Kyle Steed → Life + Design + Faith

Laughing Lion Design Blog Image

57 | Laughing Lion Design Blog → Graphic Design and Inspiration

logo design love image

58 | Logo Design Love → Logo Design Blog

Loon Design Image

59 | Loon Design → Tutorials, Comic and Freelance

Lost Taken design Image

60 | Lost and Taken → Free High Resolution Textures

Mayhem Studios Image

61 | Mayhem Studios → Graphic Design and Marketing

media loot image

62 | MediaLoot → Premium Graphic Design Resources

My Ink Blog Image

63 | MyInkBlog → Graphic and Web Design

Naldz Graphics Image

64 | Naldz Graphics → Tutorials, Freebies and Inspiration

NETTUTS Image

65 | Net Tuts → Web Tutorials and Freebies

Noupe Image

66 | Noupe → Photoshop, Tutorials and WordPress

Outlaw Design Blog Image

67 | Outlaw Design Blog → Freebies, Tutorials and Resources

pixelflips design image

68 | Pixelflips → Web & Interface Designs

Pro Blog Design Image

69 | Pro Blog Design →Wordpress, CSS and Php

PSD Fan Image

70 |  PSDFAN→ Photoshop Tutorials, Inspiration and Freebies

PSDTUTS Image

71 |  PSD Tuts → Photoshop Tutorials, Inspiration and Videos

QVectors Image

72 | QVectors → Vector Freebies and Blog

Red Swish Image

73 | Redswish → Web Design and Marketing Blog

rob cubbon design image

74 |  Rob Cubbon → Web design, print graphics & more!

Script Style design Image

75 |  Script and Style → Design and Web Development Blog

Share Brain Image

76 | Sharebrain → Web Design, Fonts and Graphics

Six Revisions Image

77 |  Six Revisions → Web Development and Design Information

Smashing Apps Image

78 | Smashing Apps → Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers

Smashing Magazine Image

79 | Smashing Magazine → Graphics, Inspiration, Coding and Design Magazine

Spoon Graphics Image

80 | Spoon Graphics → Photoshop & Illustrator Tutorials and Freebies

Stand Out Blogger Blog Image

81 | Standout Blogger → Blogging Tips To Help Improve Your Blogging

Styl-eti-me Image

82 | STYL.ETI.ME → Design news and links

texture lovers image

83 | Texture Lovers → Free Textures, Inspiration and Resources

The Design Cubicle Image

84 |  The Design Cubicle → Graphic Design, Twitter links and Inspiration

roxor design blog image

85 |  The Roxor → Freebies, Tutorials, Logos, Package Design and Photography

Die Line design Image

86 | The Dieline → Package Design and Inspiration

The Graphic Mac Image

87 | The Graphic MacMac OS X tips, tutorials, resources and software reviews

think design image

88 | Think Design → Graphic Design Freebies, Resources, and Inspiration

Tracy Grady Blog Image

89 | Tracey Grady → Graphic Design, Web Design and Illustration

Tutorial9 Image

90 | Tutorial9 → Photoshop Tutorials, Photography Tuts, and Resources

Usability Post Image

91 | Usability Post → Usability issues for Web and Design

Vectips Image

92 | Vectips → Illustrator Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

Vector Diary Image

93 | Vectordairy → Illustrator Tutorials & Tips

VectorTuts Image

94| Vector Tuts → Adobe Illustrator and Vector Tutorials

Veerles Blog Image

95 | Veerle’s Blog → Webdesign, CSS and Graphic Design Blog

We Are Not Freelancers Image

96 | We Are Not Freelancers → Web, and Design Blog from Obox Design

web designer depot image

97 | Web Designer Depot → Web  Design Resources and Tutorials

Web Design Ledger Image

98 | Web Design Ledger → Web Design Blog, Tutorials and Inspiration

Well Medicated Image

99 | Well Medicated → Graphic Design and Inspiration Blog

wordpress begginer image

100 | WP Beginner → Beginner’s Guide for WordPress + Resources

separater

Okay, I worked on this list at various times over the last couple of months, so some of the graphics will be outdated. However, I do expect that I will expand upon this list and add other sites on at a later date. There are plenty of quality design blogs out there, so if I missed your blog, it may get added on the next revision :)

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How I customized my WordPress Blog #4

Firstly, I would like to thank you, both ‘readers’ and RSS Subscribers, who are following this article series. It’s been a while since my last installment due to a heavy design-workload.

In my last installment, I wrote of how I learned to code CSS. This part is about how I chose a WordPress theme to customize. When I initially decided to use WordPress, I had three options regarding the design of the blog, as follows:

Design my own theme/template

Although there are plenty of tutorials out there on how to do this, I determined that it would take too much of my very precious time to learn about designing my own theme. Although I had the ability to code CSS, designing for a PHP-based blog would command new skills that would take time to both learn and master.

Use a pre-designed theme/template

Obviously, this option would take the least amount of time to implement, however, as a designer I needed to stand out from the crowd and stamp my own flair regarding my online presence. The way that my site is presented online is the bridge between potential clients and myself, not to mention my readers also. So for me, using a pre-designed theme, either free or “premium” (paid-for) simply wasn’t a viable option.

Customize as pre-designed theme

Well, as you guessed, this is the option I chose because it gave me the best of both worlds. I was able to design my own graphics for my blog, but using the code structure of a theme that had already been designed and tested.

If like myself, you are already a WordPress user, you will have probably seen the vast array of templates out there, both free and Premium. What I was looking for was a theme that I could strip down to the bone, as it were. I searched the net for a while looking for a theme with a great structure, not design. To elaborate, I wanted a theme that just had a basic code-structure that I could leverage to create a unique appearance out of.

The screen-shot (at the top of this post) is the theme that I chose to use — GridFocus by Derek Punsalan of 5ThirtyOne.com. Now, I had seen this template used many times before on various blogs, customized by site owners and designers. I noticed how well it could be be adjusted to any particular blog, with the only main aspect giving-away that it was GridFocus was the main navigation bar. It would be fair to assume that the majority of non-designers and non-bloggers would even notice this theme being used on various sites.

So, after downloading the theme, I set to work on customizing the images and even overall layout. This shall be covered in more detail in Part #5, be sure to subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss it.

If you have any questions or comments on this article, please type your message below…

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Logo Designs and Marketing for G.E.D.T

I was tasked by Gavin Evans, a driving instructor based in Hemsworth and Elmsall, West Yorkshire (UK) to design a logo and marketing designs for his Instructor Training Business named Gavin Evans Driver Training (or G.E.D.T). Basically, Gavin takes pupils and teachers them to drive and even does advanced motorway training courses.

After discussing his requirements, we settled on a logo design based upon a shield motif with the initials G.E.D.T incorporated into it. The image above shows this design in its print-formation (I’ll get to that next).

I initially suggested a shield-based design to Gavin, as shields represent strength, authority and stability — all positive aspects of what a Driving Instructor could possibly convey to any potential pupil.

The great thing about this logo is the varied configurations that it can possess. The image above displays an alignment that is more fitting for limited horizontal space (such as when on the bonnet of the car).

I used the logo design to design an advertisement (above) which featured in the Thompson Local (advertising directory) to both sustain and promote his growing business. As can be seen, the logo configuration I used here also coined the tag-line A Flair for Success.

This tag-line was used on all marketing and promotional material for Gavin’s Driver Training Business. The car print displayed above shows some of the general layout and colour-scheme of one of the two cars he has used to instruct pupils in. The sides of the car display his web-site address and other information.

The flyer design (postcard) shown above was printed onto 350gsm gloss-card and distributed throughout local areas around Hemsworth and Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

I also designed some business cards for Gavin printed onto the same type of card. The photo above shows one of the glossy cards, with the flyer (pamphlet) design in the background.

I also branded a web site design for Gavin, which is a place where potential pupils can contact him. The site displays his pricing structure as well as photos and other relevant information. Visit Gavin Evans Driver Training to take a look.

Recently, Gavin asked me to design some marketing material for the franchise side of his business. I suggested to him that it would be a great idea to segregate the two sides of the business with a different colour-scheme, with orange/grey being the most attractive and meaningful. As orange is associated with optimism, it ended up being chosen simply because it worked well and looked great.

Again, I designed a flyer for Gavin which is to be printed soon. This design is currently being used for various online publications on the internet.

If you run a Driver Training Business and would like me to work with you on a logo design, marketing, promotion and car print (livery print design), please contact me for details.

What do you think about these designs? I’d like to hear your opinions…

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Can you Code and Slice? Then work with me…

Original Image: Shane Pope

Hello there potential freelance/contractor. I’m still in the process of starting my new online venture, AndrewKelsall.com, and already I’ve got a couple of print jobs lined-up. However, somewhere down the pipeline I’m going to need talented Slicers/Coders to call upon.

I’m capable of coding CSS myself, but it’s not my specialty. If I work on a print job for a client, and they request web-work, I would design their site for them, but would look to great contact to slice it for me for an arranged fee.

I would never want to turn work away because I haven’t got enough contacts, so here’s a chance to add your details.

Please copy and paste the information below in the Comment Box and add the information you want.

For example,

Specialty: CSS, XHTML & PHP. Can code for WordPress and Drupal themes. I can code to web standards, including XHTML Strict [...]

Skills:

Specialty:

URL’s of Previous Work:

Price per hour:

Average Price to slice 1 PSD File:

I know that the last question, ‘Average Price to slice 1 PSD File’ is subjective and depends on the file, so leave this one blank if you want, but provide some more info on your pricing structure, etc.

If there is any other information you would like to add, please do!

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