Anyways, below is a list of useful websites that can help generate some backgrounds for websites.

1. Background Image Maker




2. Stripmania




3. Ajaxload

This is a blog that has some templates to display your artwork on (i.e. stationary templates, packaging templates), all with a simple Layer Options > Multiply.


Clear images for Identity Design

Source:      Synergistech Communications, Inc.
Job Code:    SUD818
Job Title:   Director of User Experience
Cash/Prizes: Very generous* base salary plus competitive benefits and pre-IPO stock options. (* Our source has asked us to keep their salary range confidential.)
Audience:    Jobseekers accessing company's corporate recruiting platform
Location:    San Francisco
On/Offsite:  Mostly onsite
Relo/Visa:  No

Company Industry/Products/Services:
SaaS recruitment application for small and medium-sized businesses that involves all employees in the hiring process, leveraging their social and professional networks, and managing all aspects of the workflow

Company Size:
[x] Small
[ ] Medium
[ ] Large
[ ] Very Large

Company History:
[x] Pre-IPO Startup
[ ] Established Company
[ ] Industry Leader

Team:
You'd be the first member of the User Experience (UX) team, so will be pivotal in defining and leading the product's user experience, beginning with identifying and hiring key talent to build a world-class team including information architects and application designers.

Tasks:

• Understand the complex, collaborative, multi-user landscape of the recruiting and applicant tracking software space
• Create new user scenarios while maintaining consistency of UI framework and design patterns
• Introduce new technologies and best practices, analyze requirements, and design and implement new features and functionality
• Design creative solutions for current and future services with a balanced understanding of strategy, research, usability, interaction, and visual design
• Build and manage a team of interaction designers, graphic designers, and usability experts, and create a collaborative team atmosphere
• Direct the design and development of the corporate web site to provide a compelling brand experience for potential customers

Required:

• At least five (5) years' management experience with design/usability teams
• Degree in Computer Science, Psychology, HCI, Human Factors, or Design (interaction design, visual communications, or related fields)
• Demonstrated experience designing and developing complete web 2.0 applications (not just web sites and/or enterprise apps)
• Track record that demonstrates strong visual and interaction design skills with a thorough understanding of usability engineering and research
• Proven ability to thoroughly understand the mindset of the user -- including their challenges and needs -- and to be the users’ advocate
• Deep understanding of user objectives, user scenarios, key product strategy, point of differentiation, usability principles, web applications framework, and the development of a product road map
• Expert understanding of methods for designing easy-to-use interfaces, including user and task analysis, information architecture, interface design, heuristic evaluation, and usability testing
• Hands-on skills in web development and the ability to work with Marketing and Engineering to drive a cohesive UI strategy
• Expertise in interaction design, visual design, HTML, and CSS
• Understanding of JavaScript, AJAX, and Flash

Desired:

• Proven success building great design teams and mentoring team members
• Preference for a dynamic, collaborative environment

Summary:
Ambitious web 2.0 startup developing a SaaS (software-as-a-service) recruiting platform seeks an accomplished Director of User Experience (UX) to build and lead a talented team creating intuitive web interfaces to their powerful collaborative hiring tools.

Posted: 7/23/2008

Starts: ASAP

To apply:
Email andrew@synergistech.com with your resume in Word format, and please cite job "SUD818"

Basically you answer 12 questions, type the answers into Flickr, and pick your favorite result on the first page of your query, then use those pictures to make a mosaic. It's easy and quick, all you need is internet access, which clearly you already have, and windows paint, or whatever they use to do simple copy and pasting crap on a Mac. (probably named something retarded and unrelated to what it does, and filled with counter-intuitive buttons and shit, cause that's how apple rolls) (no offense to you Apple whores) Then you have the internet's portrait of what you look like as a twelve question Flickr search, that is to say, not really what you look likeat all, but possibly interesting anyway. The twelve questions are as follows:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you attend?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite desert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. Choose one word to describe you.

12. Your blog’s name?

So now that you're all rearing to know what I look like naked, and by naked I mean naked except wearing a mosaic, here goes nothing.

Apparently Flickr search has little or no relevance to anything you are actually searching for, unless that something is random crap. So here's what it all means, for those of you who haven't memorized the tags for every picture on the internet, and therefore clearly know just exactly who I am and what I'm about now.

1) My name: Josh, but that will be Mr. Lounge to you.

2) Favorite food: That would be north Carolina style barbecue, shown here with mac-n-cheese, greens, and fried chicken. Now that's all good and all, but if you want the real experience, you need the NC style bbq, some mashed or baked potatoes, some fried chicken, hush puppies, slaw, and baked beans. If it's available it doesn't hurt to have some potato salad, some macaroni salad, some actual salad, biscuits with jam or jelly and butter, lima beans, and pecan pie for desert, with sweet tea to wash it all down of course.

3) Apparently no one from my high school has ever posted any pictures of it, at all. So maybe I wasn't the only one who hated that place, but anyway, I did find an Asian man taking a bath, which might have been slightly preferable to what I actually went through while attending high school. (maybe not, the discovery of recreational drugs was pretty fun, and there were some fine/slutty girls prancing around)

4) My favorite color is green which also happens to be the color of old Asian ladies with nose rings, according to the internet and it's peculiar logic.

5) Ok, I can't pick one celebrity crush. I have crushed many, many celebrities in my time. Everyone from John Holmes to Brad Pitt. So when I couldn't pick just one, I thought about what celebrity I would have the most fun with if I were allowed to have an hour or two of guilt free, wildly inappropriate, (and possible criminal against nature and God) sexual intercourse with. There were a couple of close ones, but they lost in the end. For instance it turns out that it doesn't matter how great your body is, once you've done the dirty with Billy Bob Thornton your vagina is an erection killer. So I picked Vida Guerra. She's not only one of the hottest women ever, and better endowed than the virgin Mary herself, but she's also not famous enough for me to know who she's slept with before my fantasy romp.

6) Beer is my favorite drink. This picture had nothing to do with beer, but they did suggest that if you are trying British cuisine and you want to deep fry a guinea pig, that you beer batter it first. And now I want to try it.

7) Ok I cheated on this one. The reason being is that, my dream vacation would be to go to Toronto to see Emerald, my woman. On the very first result page, they actually had a satellite picture of the neighborhood she lives in, or general area I suppose, I'm still a bit shaky on how big their neighborhoods are. But I could so see her house in it. Then it turns out it was a .gif file and not a flippin .jpg file, so long story short, I just jumped on Google earth and without actually showing her exact location, showed a satellite view of the most famous thing near her, the University of Toronto campus, and whatever else is around it. Again, I haven't been there, so I don't really know. Also, it might be called something else besides the University of Toronto, but I don't care to look it up, cause I'm tired, and that sounds right. Anyway, fuck Amsterdam, I want to go to Toronto.

8 ) My favorite dessert is chocolate covered pretzels, hands down. I like cheese cake. I like German chocolate cake. I like baklava, and flan, and Turkish delight. But I'm telling you, sex with Vida Guerra would have to wait till I was done with my damn pretzels. Especially if that chocolate is white, the best of all kinds of chocolate.

9) Well, I wanted to be a graphic designer until this post when I changed my mind to an alien x-ray. Again, Google is in the clear lead here with accurate search results.

10) I love Emerald most in life. This picture was dumb, but not as dumb as the others.

11) One word to describe me would be snarky. Another word would be confused as to why pictures of strippers in demotivational pictures keep coming up when I search for snarky. Apparently a lot of people think demotivational posters are snarky, along with one thirty something woman who labels every single picture of herself as snarky, and what appeared to be a black, tranny, hooker getting drunk on the curb with Jack Daniels. I so would have gone with that picture, but it was in the wrong format again. Gay ass computers.

12) My blogs name. Wow. I didn't actually read any of the information about this picture, cause it appeared to be by some faggy art douche who thinks everyone cares about his little drawings as much as they care about my awesomely interesting meme post. There was another picture of five little girls dressed alike skipping through a garden, which really delighted some part of me inside that wishes they really were sprinting to hell, but I liked this chicken like dinosaur about to devour it's helpless prey even more. If only the dino was stalking little girls it would have been perfect.

Laura

Laura Longarini, 25 anni, laureata in Disegno Industriale con indirizzo grafico alla facoltà di Architettura di Ascoli PIceno, laureanda in Comunicazioni Visive e Multimediali alla facoltà IUAV di Venezia. Insomma la mia carriera universitaria sta per completarsi e mio padre aggiungerebbe..ERA ORA! L'intento di questo blog è quello di farmi conoscere e di sfogarmi un po', che fa sempre bene!

Your logo plays a big role on your brand building. Solid business background and excellent aesthetical approach need to meet for you to have a strong corporate identity.

Being on a logo designing business I assure that my work satisfies my clients need as well as creating a good impact to the market. Feel free to contact Darlene Sanguenza, a freelance logo designer at:

email: dyen_20@yahoo.com
mobile: +63928 657 6425

Press green button to play:

http://www.urbanfonts.com
http://www.fontspace.com
http://www.1001freefonts.com

Please refer to this link for specific application instructions: http://www.ppic.org/main/position.asp?i=1933

Position Summary
Manage the production, packaging, and publication of PPIC products. Coordinate production team to create a variety of high-quality, accessible, and engaging publications in print and web formats. The production editor will report to the associate director for communications.

Responsibilities

• Manage production of a variety of print and online publications.
• Supervise production and graphics associates.
• Direct traffic from receipt of document to final product working with in-house staff and external vendors, including printers and designers.
• Maintain the institute’s overall production schedule and publications procedures and work across departments on publications work plans.
• Serve as primary production contact for several types of publications. Assist with graphics on an as-needed basis.
• Coordinate development of new products and communications vehicles.
• Oversee publications budget, monitor costs and performance of external vendors.
• Remain abreast of new techniques in print and web production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus a minimum of five years experience directly managing production of publications or similar product, or equivalent experience.
• Pre-press and graphic design skills and experience in multiple formats.
• Direct experience managing staff.
• Strong project management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage vendors, costs, and quality.
• Strong detail orientation.
• Ability to multitask, prioritize job flow/scheduling, and work with tight deadlines.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills and ability to work diplomatically with many different people and departments.
• Proofreading experience a plus.
• Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access) and Adobe CS3 (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat).

PPIC values the wide variety of backgrounds and experiences of our staff, and key elements in the consideration of qualified candidates include excellence; diversity of talents, backgrounds, and viewpoints; and a strong fit with our mission and goals.

To apply:
Email Anneke Gaul a completed PPIC Employment Application, cover letter, and your resume, indicating “Job 200826" in the subject line.

A nice list of things us designers tend to do. I find a lot of them to be true. Original List from CG Files, I've added a few of my own in here.

1. You’ve almost rear-ended the car in front of you because you were analyzing a font on a billboard.
2. You get pissed when a free Photoshop brush you download is less than 1000px in size.
3. You’d rather study the paisley pattern on your boyfriend/girlfriend’s shirt than listen to what he/she has to say.
4. You can use keyboard shortcuts at light speed, blindfolded, but you can’t type a paragraph of text without staring at the keyboard.
5. You’ve had “Software Nightmares,” when you’ve been working way too much.
6. You consider meals, interruptions.
7. You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word “final” in any file name when saving.
8. You clean your keyboard more often than you wash your car.
9. You’ve intentionally given up trying to explain your projects to non-designers.
10. You see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.
11. You’d rather organize your desktop than your sock drawer.
12. When you heard that Adobe was acquiring Macromedia, you had a Design Orgasm.
13. When you look at Album art all you see are grunge Photoshop Brushes. (Then you see the album art a couple minutes later)
14. You’ve Photoshopped out a watermark for a comp or mock-up.
15. Everytime you come across an intricately designed site, you must take it apart and figure out how it's done using the wed developer tools in Firefox.
16. You’ve actually $paid for a font.
17. You’ve totally slaughtered a great design concept because the client thinks he/she knows best. (everyone thinks they are a designer)
18. The amount of words you’ve written with a sharpie labeling burned discs total more than the amount of words you’ve read in novels.
19. A lot of time is spent browsing CSS websites for inspiration.
20. You’ve had to explain to a client that a layered file wasn’t part of the deal.
21. You’ve kept a ragged concert ticket just so you could scan it.
22. You’ve nicknamed the OSX spinning wheel. (and not affectionately)
23. You bookmark a resource more often than you have a fun night out on the town.
24. You’ve intentionally overbid a project because you can sniff out a bad client from a mile away.
25. You can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.
26. You download the weekly free image at istockphoto.
27. You have an amazingly huge font collection, and an amazingly short temper.
28. If you had a penny for every mouse click, you would have been a trillionaire 3 years ago.
29. Lunch break at work is spent working, sketching or thinking up design concepts for your freelance clients.
30. You cannot watch TV without having your laptop in front of you (it just wouldn't be right!).
31. While away on vacation, your laptop is most missed.
    

I was surfing Digg today and came across a link to this artists website named David Lanham who is mainly famous for his icons works but also does sketches and other pieces of artwork, I had a browse at his stuff and was amazed. His style is very unique and his designs are often random with odd looking creatures yet they are still beautiful works, a lot of them are also available as wallpapers for your desktop and also for purchase as physical art for your home, I really encourage you to check this guy out here.

Art MoCo

Matt W. Moore has taken doodling to a new level with his various series of eye-catching illustrations and graphics. Vectorfunk 2 is a series of posters that combine line, form and colour in ways that pop – all of which contribute to a sense of action and movement within each piece. The Geometry posters incorporate symmetry, which does not take away from the excitement, but rather adds a kaleidoscopic aspect to MWM’s work. Looking at these pieces feels like being a kid at an amusement park, with access to all the rides, carny games and candy.
Artist: Matt W. Moore
+ mwmgraphics.com

I told her "well maybe she was just being nice."

She replied, "You really think someone would say that just to be nice?"

"Yeah." I replied with a chuckle.

"The lady in charge of marketing?"

!#)*$#& - I froze. "I don't know." I replied almost as to say this was a joke, let it go.

My boss smiled and said in a not so serious tone "Well, we'll have to have a talk."

So I laughed and said "okay".

I start walking away and she says "No, Marie. I really need to have a talk with you."

I turn around and sit down with her. She then says "I was going to wait a few more days to say something, but I think I should just say it now. I know you own your own business and you're a very talented designer, but a lot of the time you're disconnected from the design. You then say you're confused as to what I wanted but I've never had someone so confused as you. In the 30 years I've been a boss, I've never had someone as confused as you. Julia would always bring a paper and write down everything I'd say." She looked at me and smiled. I almost rolled my eyes at her but stopped myself, still in shock over the whole thing. This was the MILLIONTH time she'd used the previous designer as her boiling point. In her eyes this girl could do no wrong! Even though at times she'd say I was more into the design aspect and better at it than this other girl was. I was sick of being compared to this girl! I would ALWAYS write down things my boss would say during our meetings and she'd always tell me some half thought then ramble on to another topic then jump back to our previous one, say the exact same thing she'd already said but add the phrase "I'll come up with more ideas. Don't worry about that right now. We'll talk about it later." And heck yes, I am confused when it comes to some of her designs. She'll come back to me a month or so later and say things like "I want that thing over the other thing on that one design we're doing."

"What design?" I'm working on a hundred different designs!

None of the people who are my boss, I have 3..., none of them know a single thing about Design but they claim they do because they've been reading design books. Yeah, that makes them as much a designer as my reading a medical book makes me a brain surgeon. Anyone have a problem? I can totally give you the best surgery you've EVER had! I've read medical books and watched all the seasons of Grey's Anatomy. ;) *note my sarcasm, it's great, isn't it?*
Well she continues on and says "I've also heard from [my other boss] that you told him that I said to stop the Andy Warhal idea you had. And then I told him something you'd told me and he said he hadn't said that to you... So there's a lot of miscommunication going on..."

I never knew what it meant to feel the blood drain from your face, but I felt it at that moment. Tingles sprinkled all over my face. I felt like I was about to die! I stopped her and said "Wait, when did he said I told him you said that? Why would I stop that project?! You and I were BOTH excited about it and I didn't want to stop that project! You never told me that! That was the first project YOU told me I could jump out of the box with!"

"Well I don't know. That's just what he told me."...

My mind tuned out of her mumbles and I had the thought race to my mind - "Don't quit the MTC because you're about to be fired right now."

I don't say anything so she says to me "Don't cry, we'll just talk with [my other boss] about this on Monday and try to clear up some miscommunication. He and I know we're giving you too many counter productive instructions and we're trying to work on that."
"I'm not going to cry" that irritated me because number one all I did was sit there quitetly. She always thinks I'll cry. (Twit...)

Anyway... I told her "I'm not going to cry, I'm just a little irritated that you would think I told him that you told me to stop working on a project that we both love."

At that moment my other boss walked down the stairs and into the room. I got up and left because my female boss wanted to talk to him. I went back to my office and couldn't even sit at my desk! I was about ready to punch the wall

I'm supposed to have my 3 month review and get a raise on Monday and then this crap comes up! WHAT THE HECK!!!! I'm not getting a raise. I'm getting fired! I just know it! I'm so sick of all the drama at work! I want to quit!

As I sat down finally at my desk I noticed I had a email come in on my personal account. I opened it and amazingly enough it was from a graphic design company who had received my resume and wanted to interview me.

Marie,

You have expressed interest in applying for the position of part-time graphic designer. I have received your resume and believe you may have the qualities and attributes to be a strong employment candidate. I would like to invite you to come to our corporate office for an interview. We have time available at 2pm on June 23^rd-25^th, and 27^th, Mon-Wed and Fri, or at 10am on June 26^th or 27^th. Please let me know two of the times you would prefer. I will do our best to accommodate your preference. If either of these times do not work, please let me know on which day you would be available.

The interview will last roughly 40 minutes, and includes a review of your portfolio (a portfolio is required). Following your interview you will be given 30 minutes to create a design utilizing your skills related to Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop (Images and text will be provided). You will meeting with myself and a senior manager...

I didn't care anymore that I was only a beginner at InDesign. I could tell them that during the interview if they really cared. This was the first interview offer I'd had since I first started looking for work back in May! Any other option was a great option in my eyes! I sat for a moment and realized something. I'd only been downstairs for maybe 10 minutes tops. Before I left with my boss to go look at the ad I'd checked my personal email and had nothing new. I'd left the window up on accident! The company had probably emailed me right when my boss was giving me that big crappy speech!

So I'll be hopefully interviewing for this position on the 26th or 27th. I'm waiting for them to contact me back.

Have fun!! ;)

How many of us have heard the line "Can you make the logo bigger?". This is a brilliant ballad composed and performed by Burn Back for I Have An Idea's Portfolio Night 5. This was posted on Speak Up
Listen to 'Make the Logo Bigger' Song

Make The Logo Bigger (Lyrics)



Make the logo big.

Make the logo bigger.

Make the logo big.

Make the logo bigger.




Chorus

Make the logo as big as you can.

And make the logo bigger.




That logo isn't big enough.

So, make the logo bigger.

Bigger, bigger, make it big.

Make the logo bigger.




Chorus
Make the logo as big as you can.

And make the logo bigger.




Yelling
Don't try to be the brave guy!

We don't have a job for you!

You know what you've got to do!

You gotta stick to the process!

Make the damn logo as big as you can!




Chorus

Make the logo as big as you can.

And make the logo bigger.




I don't want to tell you how to do your job.

But, could you make the logo bigger?

Bigger, bigger, make it big.

Make the logo bigger.




Chorus

Make the logo as big as you can.

And make the logo bigger.

Make my Logo Bigger Cream



Mac vs PC

Key Responsibilities:

• Design mocks for advertisers during the Pre-Sales process
• Design and launch all promotional assets for advertiser programs, marketing programs and promotions including Profile and Group pages, custom ad units and any additional custom creative/innovative solutions
• Interact with cross-functional teams to confirm that all build requirements are met, including tech, tracking, sales and ad operations
• Manage multiple deliverables on-time with high-quality client solutions
• Partner with internal departments to achieve project goals
• Proactively makes suggestions for business best practices and process improvements
• Manage external design resources when necessary

Designer Qualifications:

• 3 to 5 years of web design experience primarily focusing on professional Web and interactive products with a consumer-oriented audience
• Experience in an online media environment/creative agency working with external clients
• Expert proficiency with Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash
• Solid knowledge of CSS, XHTML, JavaScript and Mac OS (AJAX/DHTML and hand-coding are strong assets) and the capabilities of Web browsers is essential
• Knowledge of Rich Media Advertising
• Knowledge of interactive design concepts, wireframes and user-flow diagrams
• Knowledge of typographical, print, motion graphic, and interaction design skills
• Strong organization and prioritization skills in a fast-paced environment with short deadlines and changing needs
• Strong communications skills
• Strong attention to detail

To apply:
Email HR