The importance of building a congruent color palette for web design is paramount. A person’s eye will automatically make judgments on color based upon their human instinct. Green is seen as a representative of nature, purple reflects that of royalty, and white portrays a feeling of neutralness and so forth. When selecting your own color scheme from a photo, online color palette generators can be a helpful tool to practice with.

In order to do it from scratch, you will need a good photo with the feeling you are trying convey and maybe only two strong colors. Start off by choosing the most vibrant color, then the second most vibrant to compliment the first. The remaining three colors to select will be less saturated and designed to balance the first two. This is a tricky thing to do, so if it doesn’t give you the result you are looking for the first time, keep practicing, and maybe choose another photo.

Online color palette generators each provide a different result. The best way to find the one for you, is to try the same image in all of them, to see who gives you the results you are looking for.
Below are some examples using DeGraeve.com

The fantastic thing about this color palette generator is that not only can you use your own image, but the results provide you with a selection of five dull and five vibrant colors to choose from.

Some of Our Favorite Color Links

DeGraeve.com
The fantastic thing about this colour palette generator is that not only can you use your own image, but the results provide you with a selection of five dull and five vibrant colours to choose from.

Colourlovers.com
This article is a long time favorite. Eighteen different colour palettes chosen entirely from butterflies. It is really a spectacular resource to check out.

Bighugelabs.com
Here is a colour palette generator with some flexibility. Choose a photo from Flickr, Photobucket, a URL, or upload one right from your computer.

wpdfd.com
An in-depth article about the use of colour and palettes on the web.

Colorhunter.com
Upload your own photo to automatically create a colour palette, and view other people’s results. You can also join the community and save your favorite colour palette’s.

We wanted to start a collection of great eco based companies around the world that are really making a difference. We are starting with 101 companies and will be expanding this list in the future to include some up and coming bright start-up companies. If you have any other suggestions for this list please feel free to contact us with your ideas.

We must also thank PSDTuts for the great design tutorial for the green grass post image, you can view the tutorial here. Thank you and enjoy!

Top Eco Blogs from Around the World

ECOBLE.COM
All about ecological design, innovation and sustainability.

NIGELSECOSTORE.COM
The eco blog of an environmentally friendly clothing and products company.

SOLARKATECO.BLOGSPOT.COM
An environmentalist, who posts about eco news, natural products, food and much more.

INHABITAT.COM
A blog devoted to green construction, green design and everything environmental.

IJDESIGN.COM
News about making a difference, design tips and green Graphic Design.

GDUSA.COM
An online magazine focusing on green Graphic Design and other environmentalism.

ENVIROBLOG.ORG
Public Health concerns in relation to the changing environment.

GREEN-BLOG.ORG
A nicely designed blog with tons of green topics to choose from.

FABGREEN.COM
Fashion, decorating and design topics, with a green twist.

ECO-CAN.CA
Canada’s place for environmental news and product information.

GREENYOURDECOR.COM
All about stylish, eco-friendly decor.

NATURALCOLLECTION.TYPEPAD.COM
The blog of the green clothing company Natural Collection.

Environmental Clothing Companies

GREENLABEL.COM
100% Certified Organic T-Shirts, with tons of great pro-earth designs.

INHABITAT.COM
Organic T-Shirts with nice tree designs.

ETIKO.COM.AU
Fair trade sports gear and fashion apparel.

HTNATURALS.COM
A selection of all natural and organically grown textile products.

PATAGONIA.COM
All natural outdoor clothing and travel gear.

MEC.CA
Outdoor clothing, adventure gear and sports equipment from a company that is driven by environmental integrity.

RAPANUICLOTHING.COM
Organic clothing and surfwear manufactured in a factory powered by wind and solar power.

DANDELIONCLOTHINGCOMPANY.COM
Women’s and men’s fair trade and homemade apparel and accessories.

THEOKOBOX.COM
Women’s and men’s fair trade and homemade apparel and accessories.

GREENISBLACK.CA
Fashion for environmentally conscious men and women.

KATEQUINNORGANICS.COM
Organic cotton baby clothes, children’s clothes and bedding.

Green Printers

GREENPRINTERONLINE.COM
An online printer that uses CO2 friendly eco papers and vegetable based inks.

BAREFOOTPRESS.COM
American printing company that uses soy ink on recycled paper.

GREENERPRINTER.COM
Eco-friendly online printing, using 100% wind power.

PRINTGREENER.COM
Green Print provides software to help eliminate unwanted printing.

GREENFIELDPAPER.COM
Hemp paper, handmade paper, recycled wrapping paper, business cards and more.

MARKETSINITIATIVE.ORG
This handy reference tells the truth about different eco-paper labels.

ECOPAPER.COM
Providing tree-free paper made with sustainable and organic materials.

LOVELYASATREE.COM
Helps Graphic Designers to choose paper and printers that are environmentally friendly.

INKWORKSPRESS.ORG
A certified Green Business, by using exclusively recycled papers and vegetable oil inks.

Online Communities and Information

TREEHUGGER.COM
The largest green community on the internet.

EARTHEASY.COM
The informative portion of the Eartheasy website. Discussing how you can make environmentally friendly choices in your daily life.

EC.GC.CA
A Canadian government info site. Providing information on reducing your impact on the environment in your personal life.

ZEROFOOTPRINT.NET
Large non-profit website with information, carbon calculators, green news and an entire community.

DESIGN21SDN.COM
The online community for socially conscious designers of all kinds.

ECOWORLD.COM
Tons of articles featuring green focused technology, nature and current news from around the world.

GREENLIVINGONLINE.COM
A Canadian online magazine devoted to living a green life.

LIGHTERFOOTSTEP.COM
Dedicated to helping you live a lighter, more sustainable lifestyle.

Natural Products

EARTHEASY.COM
The shopping portion of the Eartheasy website. They provide all sorts of great sustainable products.

ECO-COSMETICS.COM
Cosmetic products relying on substances from certified organic plants and innovative combinations.

ECOLOGO.ORG
This site provides information on “Certified” green companies and products.

GRASSROOTSSTORE.COM
A large selection of environmental consumer products.

ECO-HANDBAGS.CA
Fantastic handbags made of recycled materials.

NIGELSECOSTORE.COM
Great environmentally friendly products, wearables and energy saving devices.

ECO-COSMETICSUK.COM
Developers of inexpensive and certified natural cosmetics.

ECOCOSMETICS.COM.AU
A range of skincare products using only the purest plant-based ingredients.

NATURALCOLLECTION.COM
From clothing and accessories to home and office.

ZIAANDTIA.COM
Organic children’s clothing, furniture and skincare.

LITTLEGREENBAGS.CA
Earth-friendly bags, dedicated to being fair trade and biodegradable.

GREENKNICKERS.ORG
Fair trade organic underwear for men and women.

Green Designers

SEGD.ORG
The Society for Environmental Graphic Design.

ZODSHOPCO.UK
Graphic Design company that works with businesses and people concerned about environmental issues.

IJDESIGN.COM
Green web design and Graphic Design.

MORSEBROWNDESIGN.CO.UK
A Graphic Design business with a strong environmental conscience.

FREERANGESTUDIOS.COM
Selling ideas that build a more just and sustainable world.

CREATINGMEDIA.CO.UK
Web design and Graphic Design ethically driven and environmentally compassionate.

ALRDESIGN.COM
Socially conscious and environmentally friendly Graphic Design.

MICHAUD-DESIGN.COM
Environmentally conscious Graphic Design.

CUMULUS-DESIGN.COM
Cumulus is proud to offer you a wide range of eco-friendly printing, paper and packaging products designed to fit all needs and budgets.

COMPOSITE-PROJECTS.COM
Working to minimize Graphic Design’s impact on the environment.

LUNARMEDIA.NET
Graphic Design that uses green printing and wind powered web hosting.

Eco Hosting

AISO.NET
Providers of 100% solar energy web hosting, servicing major clients such as the Discovery Channel.

SOLARHOST.CO.UK
Web hosting powered by 100% solar power.

SUSTAINABLEHOSTING.COM
Powered by renewable wind energy Sustainable Hosting is dedicated to being carbon neutral.

ETHICALHOST.CA
Web hosting services 100% powered by renewable wind power, with 10% of profits going to social and environmental organizations.

DREAMHOST.COM
A carbon-neutral organization since 2007.

GREENHOSTING.ORG
Canadian wind powered web hosting.

GOGREENHOSTING.COM
Certified wind power web hosting from an ethical company.

SUSTAINABLEWEBSITES.COM
100% carbon neutral web hosting.

SOLARENERGYHOST.COM
Solar powered web hosting, by a carbon neutral company.

IMOUNTAIN.COM
A solar web hosting provider, that gives back to the community.

THINKHOST.COM
Providing high quality earth-friendly web hosting and supporting positive social change.

Global Warming

ALGORE.COM
Al Gore’s official website, focusing on his fight against climate change.

CLIMATECRISIS.NET
The website for Al Gore’s famous movie on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth.

THECLIMATEPROJECT.ORG
Dedicated to raising awareness about climate change.

EPA.GOV/CLIMATECHANGE
The United States Environmental Protection Agency site with extensive resources on climate change.

CLIMATEHOTMAP.ORG
The early warning signs of global warming.

NASA.GOV
NASA’s take on Global Warming.

REALCLIMATE.ORG
A blog dedicated to the science of our climate.

Environmental Photography

BRAASCHPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Photography from amazing places all over the world.

IANADAMSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Award-winning sustainable photography.

JMG-GALLERIES.COM
A talented photographer with stunning environmental photos.

WILDSITE.COM.AU
Environmental photos that feel like they are alive.

DANIELALDOGOMEZ.COM
Photography from Antarctica to the Amazon and Argentina.

GARYWHITE-PHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Travel photography from London photographer Gary White.

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
Article: Environmental Photographer of the Year winner.

STUARTMEIKLEPHOTO.CO.UK
Stunning imagery by an award winning photographer.

HANGINGPIXELS.COM
Beautiful environmental photographs for purchase.

Articles

TIME.COM
Discussing the new face of environmentalism.

ARSTECHNICA.COM
The results of the new UN environmental report.

DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Save the planet, by eating insects!

SCIAM.COM
What would happen to the world if human’s disappeared?

TREEHUGGER.COM
Americans care more about gay marriage than Global Warming.

ODDITYCENTRAL.COM
A Sea of Garbage in Indonesia.

GUARDIAN.CO.UK
The true impact of Global Warming.

GLOBALWARMING-FACTS.INFO
50 things you can do to stop Global Warming.

LIGHTERFOOTSTEP.COM
Five things that are worse than Global Warming.

NWF.ORG
The effects of climate change on wildlife.

PHYSORG.COM
Major cities turn off power to raise environmental awareness.

As a graphic designer, the practice of prowling the web for the latest trends, tips and tricks is a common one. Here we have composed a list of common resources we use. The primary focus of this list is inspiration, it can come from a photograph, font, or a website. The secondary focus is improving your design skills, which can be done by keeping up to date with tutorials and reading other graphic design blogs. We hope you enjoy our personal list of great sites, and we will be adding to this list in the coming weeks and months as there are a lot of great new sites coming online every other day now.

Free Font Downloads

Free Fonts and Other Resources: Web Page Publicity
Huge Collection of Free Fonts: Da Font
Nice Selection of Free Fonts: Urban Fonts
Fonts and Other Freebies: Simply The Best Fonts
1001 Free Fonts for Download: 1001 Free Fonts
Over 9000 Free Fonts: Creamundo
A Small List of Free Fonts: Best Free Fonts

Paid Font Sites

A Large Selection of Fonts for Purchase: My Fonts
Quality Fonts for Purchase: Veer
Information and Fonts for Purchase: Fonts
Font Resources and Sales: Font Haus

Stock Photos and Vectors

The Best Stock Photo and Vector Website: iStockphoto
Quality Photos for Purchase: Shutterstock
Stock Photos and Other Pay Downloads: Veer
Quality, Affordable Vectors for Purchase: Vector Stock
Stock Photos With a Great Selection: Jupiter Images
Stock Photos and Photography Network: Stock Vault
Quality Stock Photos: Corbis

Free Photos and Vectors

Submit Vectors or Download Others for Free: Open Source Vector Art
Tons of Great Free Vectors and Photos: Deviant Art
59 Pages of Free Vector Art: Free Vectors
Large Gallery of Free Vectors: Vecteezy
Quality Vector Downloads: Vector 4 Free
Neat Collection of Free Photos From Around the World: Free Stock Photos
Great Collection of Free Vectors and Resources: You The Designer
Great Free Stock Photos: Free Foto
A List of Free Downloads: Bittbox
700 Free Stock Photos: Free Picture Click

Website Templates

A Few High Quality Wordpress Themes: Evan Eckard
Over 2000 Free Web Templates: OSWD
A Small Selection of Nice Templates: Open Source Templates
A Large List of Free Templates: Free CSS Templates
Nice Wordpress Templates for Download: Free CSS Templates
A Combination of Free and Pay Templates: Free Templates Online
Affordable, Quality Templates: Templamatic
Free Blog Templates: Blogging Themes

CSS Galleries

The Best Sites on the Web: CSS Remix
A Frequently Updated Gallery of Sites: CSS Mania
An Organized List of Nice Sites: Most Inspired
CSS Gallery of Quality Sites: CSS Design Yorkshire
A Selection of Only Nature Based Sites: CSS Nature
A Selective List of Well Designed Sites: Web Creme
High Quality CSS Showcase: CSS Tux
Nice CSS Websites: The Designed Tree
A CSS Collection Organized by Category: CSS Elite

Inspiration

A Great Site About Everything Type: I Love Typography
An Incredible Illustrator: Burst of Beaden
A Great Designer and Illustrator: Fully Illustrated
Customizable List of Design Resources: Cork Dump
The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada: GDC
Freelance Advice Blog and Resources: Freelance Switch
Amazing Collection of Logos: Logopond
Stunning Desktop Wallpapers: Desktopography
A Graphic Design Magazine: Computer Arts

Tutorials

The Best Photoshop Tutorials: PSD Tuts
A Talented Photoshop Designer: Abduzeedo
Photoshop Tutorials and Web Design Resources: Web Design Library
Tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and More: Tutorial Vault
A Few Neat Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials: Design Spice
Great Photoshop Tutorials and Downloads: PS Wish
Tutorials for Every Computer Program: Tutorialing

Free Photoshop Downloads

A Couple Free Patterns for Download: Design Spice
Free Photoshop Brushes: Design Fruit
Free Photoshop Actions: Visual Blast
Tons of Free Photoshop Brushes: Brusheezy
A Few Nice Free Photoshop Brushes: Obsidian Dawn
Great Grunge Brushes and Others: Photoshop Brushes
Free Background Patterns for Photoshop: Free BG
Over 150 Free Background Patterns: Squidfingers

Design Blogs

A Frequently Updated Design Blog: Veerle’s Blog
A Design Magazine and Blog: Smashing Magazine
A European Design Blog: Design In Europe
A Unique Nerdy Blog: Design You Trust
The Personal Blog of a Graphic Designer: Larissa Meek
A German Design Blog: David Hellmann
The Blog of a Canadian Geek/Model: Mostly Lisa
A Graphic Design Blog: Bittbox
A Blog About Freelance Graphic Design Advice: Freelance Switch
A Design Blog Full of Resources: You The Designer
A Popular Design Blog: Fazai 38

Colour Palettes

A Flash Site of User Generated Colour Palettes: Adobe Kuler
Using Colours From Photos: Colr
Colours, Palettes and Patterns: COLOURlovers
A Colour Palette Generated From Your Images: Color Palette Generator
See The Results of Your Palette on a Website: Color Spire
Create and Email Colour Palettes: Color Blender

Tips and Tricks

Vector Do’s and Dont’s: iStockphoto
The Web Design Polish: PSD Tuts
Promote Your Design Business: Freelance Switch
How To Increase Web Traffic: You The Designer

Coders

Quality Programming: XHTMLized
Professional Web Slicing: PSD Slicing
XHTML in 24 Hours: We Use Scissors
Affordable, Quality Coding: PSD2HTML
From Design to Code, Quick and Cheap: Front Enders

Designer Geek Merch

Great Nerdy Clothing and Accessories: Veer
Nice T-Shirt Collection: Design Loot
Graphic Design T-Shirts and Accessories: Cafepress
Geek Merchandise For Everyone: Think Geek
Graphic Design T-Shirts: Zazzle
Unique T-Shirt Designs You Can’t Find Anywhere Else: Allmightys

Why choose eco-hosting?
Deforestation, global warming and polluted waterways are just a few of the myriad of environmental disasters hitting the headlines each day. As web professionals, there’s something substantial and economical we can do to help address the problem and to demonstrate to our clients our social conscious. The strategy is simple ─ choose a green web host for hosting sites. This strategy will help boost our bottom line and build our clientèle.

Electing to host your sites with a provider powered by renewable energy goes way past the warm and fuzzy aspects of doing good for the planet. Here are some reasons why it’s an excellent business decision to opt for a carbon-neutral hosting service such as ThinkHost.

1. Reducing the environmental impact of hosting

In 2005, the amount of electricity consumed by data centers globally was equivalent to the production of 14 coal-fired 1,000-megawatt power plants. Given the huge growth in the technology sector since then, the impact would be even more devastating today, particularly when you take into account that traditional coal-fired electricity generation spews around 1,970 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per megawatt hour. As educated, professional people we know that it goes well beyond a desire to reduce our own business impact on the environment and becomes more of a responsibility.

2. Responding to customer concerns

Long gone are the days when environmental concerns were the realm of hippies ─ it’s now very much mainstream. The average consumer wants to reduce his and her carbon footprint and insists that companies they do business with do the same. This demand goes right up the supply chain, past the products that companies sell, to their administrative infrastructure and ancillary services such as web hosting. By hosting with a green provider such as ThinkHost, you can get ahead of the curve and have a distinct edge over your competitors.

3. Helping your clients, helping you boost your bottom line

A great aspect of hosting on a server powered by 100% renewable energy is that you can advertise this fact on sites you develop for your clients. It will help those clients boost their own sales ─ a great selling feature for your own services you can highlight in proposals. According to Michael Bloch, ThinkHost’s Business Development Manager, the green aspect is one of the major draw cards for the increasing number of web developers who choose to use ThinkHost’s services.

4. An economical choice

While green web hosting used to be expensive and lean on features, you’ll find that pricing nowadays is akin to typical web hosting. The more investment that occurs in renewable energy, the lower the infrastructure costs, until hopefully one day electricity generation by environmentally destructive methods such as coal-fired generation becomes a shameful memory. The huge investment in renewable energy has already brought prices down which has flowed on to hosting companies. For example, ThinkHost offers full-featured unlimited domain hosting for under $10 a month and solid reseller options at economical prices.

5. Choosing a green web hosting company

Quite a few web hosts have jumped on the green bandwagon in recent years, which is wonderful to see. Unfortunately, with some it’s just a token gesture, a marketing tool, and eco-savvy consumers will recognize this and consider it greenwashing.
When selecting a green web host, dig into the company’s background and see what else they are doing about lightening their environmental footprint. ThinkHost is not only powered by 100% renewable energy, but their staff telecommutes, saving thousands of gallons of fuel each year. Additionally, the company sponsors the planting of a tree for each new account and puts 10 per cent of their revenue value back into the community on projects relating to positive social change and the environment.

Interested? As a special offer to readers of this blog, ThinkHost is offering a $20 discount on any of their plans. The coupon code to use is THINKHOST20.

Once in a while we come across a fantastic website that we find very helpful in our daily reading. Deziner Folio is a blog full of fantastic design resources with an emphasis on tips, tricks, and downloads. The site is run by a talented photographer who understands composition and colour theory, and how to apply those elements to design. Check out the Flickr stream for examples of some amazing photography.

Here’s a brief list of some areas of interest that we found very useful for web and graphic design:

Simple Photographic Results in Photoshop

If you’re new to editing photos, or are just looking to expand your bag of Photoshop tricks, this post is for you. The focus here is on four different ways to enhance images: Overlay, Gradient Map, Levels, and Curves. Also, as an added bonus, all of the actions described are offered as a free download.

Ultimate Web 2.0 Layer Styles Download

One of our absolute favourite resources on this site is the free download of a custom Web 2.0 Photoshop Layer Styles set. When doing web design, achieving the perfect Web 2.0 look is very important. These styles will speed up the design process by having this glossy look achieved in one click.

A Great Approach to CSS and XHTML Coding

For all of the coders out there, this post describes a great way to organize your CSS files. This is a major issue for a lot of companies when files are getting passed around because everyone needs to be able to find what they’re looking for in order to keep things moving forward in a timely manner.

Top 50 Super Cool Free Icon Sets

This post features 50 cool free icon sets. This is a great way to personalize your computer and avoid having to use the default icons. Another great use for these is to jazz up website navigation by representing each section with an icon beside the navigation text.

We hope you enjoy exploring this site. There are many useful posts that link out to other blogs of interest.

We find it very helpful to build on our current design skill sets on a daily basis. An excellent resource site we have found (and check daily) is a site called PsdTuts. They offer Photoshop tutorials, inspiration, articles and an entire community of design related people. Another great design resource if you have time to check it out is the Flickr stream of user submitted artwork and completed tutorials.

Here we have composed a list of a few tutorials from PsdTuts that you might find useful when doing web and logo design.

How to construct a 3D shelf element in Photoshop

Our first recommendation is Creating a 3D Shelf Element, which is useful when designing a unique website. Even if your aren’t interested in creating a shelf element, this tutorial provides some neat tips on creating dimension.

How to create a brushed metal serface in Photoshop

The next tutorial we think you might find useful is Creating a Brushed Metal Surface. This tutorial is fantastic when creating a modern metallic logo for a client, or adding details to existing elements in web design.

How to create a slick web 2.0 footer in Photoshop

This next tutorial Creating a Web 2.0 Footer is a must read for any web designer. Not only does it have a link to a fantastic Web 2.0 Gradients package, but it provides inspiration for creating professional website footers.

How to create a textured tag element in Photoshop

This tutorial, Creating a Textured Tag, is fantastic when you need to come up with a different way of displaying a logo in a client’s website. It will also show you how to create details that give your designs a polished look.

How to create a wood texture in Photoshop

This Creating a Wood Texture tutorial is a great addition to your toolkit. With the growing trend of environmentalism and creating a natural, organic feel for websites, this is a valuable skill to understand.

Final thoughts
We hope you enjoy the site as much as we do. Doing tutorials can greatly improve your Photoshop skills and going to PsdTuts as part of your daily routine is a great way to accomplish that.

What is the core reason for creating Sprout?
At our core, we want to free people from having to think about how to get information. People shouldn’t waste their time and brain power on where information is and how to find it. So, we created Sprout to give users news and blog articles that they’ll enjoy with a minimum amount of effort. Sprout is just the beginning in our low-cognitive load, information solutions. To find out more, check out our white paper here.

What steps have you taken to bring Sprout to completion?
Well, it’s been a long road these past few months, but we’re very proud of our results. Of course, the first step was to take it from an intangible idea and put it on paper both as a spec and as a business plan. We then got a team of talented programmers together and started the long task of taking a plan and making it a reality. Like any idea, it evolved as we researched and tested our theories with an actual product.

Sprout is our company’s first offering and we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to bring a product to completion. In fact, Sprout is still in beta, with our full launch scheduled for the end of July 2008, so our development is ongoing. We’re certainly learning a lot from our beta testers.

What is next in the development process?
Right now, Sprout is in beta. We’re learning lots and Sprout gets better every day. New features depend on what feedback we get from our beta testers, so visit http://www.yoursprout.ca/sign-up.html to start enjoying Sprout beta now and so that you can give us your feedback.

What we’re really excited about is the official launch of Sprout in July.

What business model did you chose, and why?
We’ll be charging a subscription fee to use our software. We’re avoiding an ad-based revenue model. We feel strongly that people care about what they pay for and that there are too many ad-supported software applications; the market can’t indefinitely support all of them. Instead, we’ve built an application that costs a nominal fee but that provides real, ongoing value to the user.

What advice would you give to a young startup company.
1. Get support from the tech and business communities around you early and tap into them often. We’ve been blessed to have our offices at the Vancouver Island Technology Park (VITP) and are surrounded with helpful, knowledgeable business and technology experts. Being supported by those who have been there and have seen it all has been incredibly beneficial to us.
2. Know that starting a business – especially in software – is fraught with mistakes, errors and oversights. Basically, don’t lose heart and prepare to learn lots from your missteps. We certainly have.
3. Try your best to understand your customer so that you build something people actually want, even if they don’t know they want it yet. Our beta test has taught us so much about our product. It’s been a great experience for all of us.

What future ideas and concepts are coming to Sprout?
We’ve got a lot of ideas floating around about what Sprout could be in the future.
Fundamentally, we want to reach a wide array of people with Sprout and we want to improve our content offerings and our ability to deliver that content. We’re also exploring some other areas where information overload can be addressed by using our approach to information delivery.

How did you enter the world of graphic design?
I’ve always been interested in design. Even when I was a child, I loved to draw and had an eye for detail and colours. I didn’t go down the traditional route of university. Instead, I taught myself how to use programs such as Photoshop and Cinema 4d to create art, and eventually built up a basic portfolio of work. I then applied for jobs locally and now am a graphic designer for a small company.

What inspires you to create such amazingly positive work?
It’s been a bumpy road to get to a point where I’m confident in myself to publish what is positive in my art. I think it’s a quality which is inspired by others, love, and general happiness which I get from making the art itself. I love to look at a piece of my art and if it makes me happy, it usually goes online!

What techniques do you use to create movement in your designs?
I think it’s just knowing the tools and planning what the idea of the composition is about. To create movement, you need a good sense of space, and colouring and blending between different areas of the design. It’s good to drive a person from one end of the canvas to the other, which can be done in a variety of ways, from light streaks in my case, to simple flow.

What are your goals for the future? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I’m always looking for ways to better myself and drive myself forward. In the last three years, I feel I have progressed beyond what I ever expected with my work and art, so who knows what the future holds. All I know is that I’ll be having fun making my future into something I enjoy!

What advice do you have for those just starting out?
Working freelance can be hard. One week it can be very quiet and another week it can be hectic. I think it’s finding a balance of work which you feel you can handle, and coming to time agreements with your clients which you are both happy with. It’s great to be able to pick the work you do. However, sometimes you have to settle for jobs you don’t particularly enjoy, but that’s part of the learning experience. I’m currently bombarded with work from various clients, but I’m in a position where I’m able to select what I feel I’ll enjoy rather than what will pay the most money. I think if you’re just starting out, it’s good to have a solid base of people wanting to hire you for your skills, a good portfolio and a style which stands out. It’s always good to take time out to develop your personal style which will help others see what you enjoy doing, and hopefully you’ll get hired for it!

Visit Adam Woodhouse Design Portfolio

How did you first come up with the concept of Mailplane?
I’ve used and tried many different email clients and services and was never happy with them. Spam was a problem, or I didn’t get my attachment through or email never reached me. Plus, I was always deleting mail to make room and searching my inbox wasn’t working right. Then came Gmail. It solved most problems and suddenly email was good again. But because Gmail runs in a browser, I missed features that were normal in installed email clients like Mail.app (like easily sending a picture attachment, or tight integration with iPhoto).

How did you go from concept to end product?
In July 2006, I wrote an iPhoto plug-in to compose a Gmail message instead of using Mail.app. Then I shared it with my brother and a friend. They used and liked it. From this idea grew Mailplane, a dedicated Gmail client that is both a web browser and client application. In March 2007, I searched for 200 beta users. Many more users followed. The beta users input led to many features like multiple accounts, screenshots, text snippets, and a menu bar icon.

What are your current goals for Mailplane?
Mailplane has been released to the public and now exists in two versions: stable and cutting edge. Cutting edge is like the new beta, with support for Gmail 2, with better picture optimization, better CSS support, background account notifications, and much more. See http://mailplaneapp.com/info/cutting_edge.html for all new features. My goal is to improve and stabilize the cutting edge version and then release it as the new stable Mailplane version.

What are your thoughts on software development in general?
I think it depends on the goals. There is freeware, donation ware, subscriptions, shareware and more. Each has its pro and cons. To make a living (or part of it), I believe shareware is the way to go. This model is widely used by many software developers on Mac.

Finding the right idea: Make sure it’s something you use yourself. “Eat your own dog food” is so important. It helps to deliver the right solution to the users with similar needs.

Listen to your users and communicate with them. Creating an application is only 30% programming. The rest of the time is emailing, blogging, promoting and whatnot. So don’t feel bad if you’re not coding.

Keep your vision: New features should fit with the vision you have of the product. If you add every possible feature people suggest, the application will eventually break down. In short: You can’t please everyone!

Where did the idea for Corkdump come from?
The idea came to me, like most ideas do, right out the blue while I was browsing a popular web design/developer resource website. This particular site, and many others like it, is set up as a huge list of links that are divided up into categories and then thrown together on one giant page. I thought there had to be a more organized and easier way of compiling this information.

So the idea was to put together a resource site that would allow users to pick favourites, sort them in different ways, and save those settings to make it easy to find what they’re looking for when they return to the site. Like a web 2.0 Delicious.com for web developers and designers.

What steps did you take to get the idea to development?
I was able to design the site in a few hours because it was such a simple idea ─ basically a corkboard with the resources stapled and push-pinned in place (so to speak). I thought it would be a neat idea since corkboards are always being updated and it’s where you go for current information.
Beyond that, it’s a simple PHP/MySQL site with some JavaScript thrown in for live updating and sorting.

What features are coming in the next 3 months?
I haven’t thought about this yet! There are some obvious things that stick out in my mind, though. I’d like to have RSS feeds for all of the resources which would update users with the most recent ones for each category.
Beyond that, I’d like to have a way for a visitor to grab a JavaScript snippet and display their favourite resources somewhere externally, like a blog. I’m sure other ideas will come to me!

What three pieces of advice would you give to developers?
Usability, usability, usability. Seriously, this is the most important thing. Make it easy as pie to use and then focus on the rest. None of your awesome functionality and interface design will matter if it’s not easy to use.

What is your long-term vision for this site?
I want to see it grow into a resource list in the thousands so it can really do what it was meant to do, which is organize a lot of stuff on one page. I’d like to get some great sponsors to post their business cards. It’d be nice to have a little collection of cards all over the site. No spam, no un-related content, just great sponsors that actually have a reason to be involved with a resource site for designers and developers.

Now get out there and dump some resources!