Ten awesome, grungy rock-n-roll fonts

Two of the latest design trends over the past year have been unique, outstanding typography and grungy website and graphic designs. Although not all trends should be followed, this is one that's caught my attention and has warranted a lot of interest. While doing a lot of browsing on the web, I compiled a list of some of my favorite grungy fonts that are available – for free. Take a look; you might find something you can use in a design concept. If nothing else, just take the time to look at how far typography for the web has come since the days of Comic Sans and Verdana.

1. Old Press

Old Press lives up to its name; it has this nice, old school punk rock feel to it. The eroded print makes it look almost like it came from newspaper. It's perfect for posters or designs that have newspaper elements to them.

2. Birth of a Hero

This font caught my interest because it looks a lot like a font one of my favorite bands uses for their logo. The difference here is that the clean, sophisticated lines are juxtaposed with deconstruction. It gives it this nice grungy look without being overwhelming or looking too dirty. This is one of the cleaner grungy fonts out there – it's sure to catch attention when used in posters, banners, and graphics.

3. Acid Label

Acid Label reminds me a lot of something you'd find on an alternative clothing label. The hatching and speckled displacement is in all the right places to make a really spectacular impact. You won't forget this one easily.

4. Far Cry

While some of the other fonts could be described as punk rock if compared to a genre of music, Far Cry is more reminiscent of 80's arena and glam rock. The way some of the characters are larger than others makes them really stand out and draw attention – it's a bold statement in more than one way.

5. Requiem

Although I tend to prefer sans serif fonts, Requiem caught my eye. It's a strong font that makes its statement – it's grungy but elegant.

6. HVD Poster

7. VTKS Ink

8. Denial

There's something about Denial; maybe it's the backwards N character that drew me in, or the subtle stroke lines around the lettering. This font looks like something you'd use on a stamp – it's bold and loud with an industrial flair.

9. Keyboard Plaque

10. Trash

Trash is one of the most interesting grunge fonts I came across. I love how it looks like it's been cut out of a magazine, with the print smeared. But what really makes this font fantastic is how the letters are at varying angles. It's a real eye- catcher.

Even if you aren't a designer or aren't interested in being involved in designing something, hopefully these free fonts have given you some inspiration for a concept. You can contact a designer, like Codank Web Design, to discuss any ideas you have and set up an appointment to launch your design project into reality.

What to offer on your mobile website

As a business owner, you have to be in tune with the latest developments so you can keep up with the world and promote your business on top. The latest development, as you may already be aware of and have experienced yourself, is for sites to offer a mobile version of their websites. With mobile device use on the rise, even at home, it is important to offer people quick and easy access to your information. So when you're looking for a web developer to complete your site, here are a few tips you should keep in mind to discuss.

Provide the same engaging content. You might have heard people talking about having a "stripped down" site. I have even mentioned it in past articles. However, we have to think about the meaning of "stripped down." It does not mean that you should include almost no information except for a few lines and your contact information. People don't just visit mobile sites to find a phone number or an address; many people regularly browse the Internet using their smart phones or tablet computers. Therefore, it is important to develop content that provides all the necessary information. You can provide an abridged version, but do not sacrifice important information or points. Cut out any introductory speech or fluff if you need to; get straight to the point and your users will thank you.

Include interesting visuals. Just like with your desktop version, you need to include pictures, graphs, and anything else you have on your regular site. You can edit the size of the files yourself or you can have your graphic or web designer do it for you. You can use some of the same pictures as your desktop version, just scaled down and saved in a format that optimizes the size for mobile sites to decrease the loading time. Provide bold, attention-grabbing pictures; the small text on mobile screens is sometimes difficult to read, so graphics are more important than ever to draw the eye to the areas you need your users to look at. If you want to create graphics (such as buttons and banners) or include photographs you don't have on your desktop site, be sure that it doesn't add information the desktop site doesn't have; the only difference should be that they are bolder and designed specifically for mobile use.

The design should be similar to the desktop version. Your design is part of your brand, your corporate identity, and you don't want to jump too far from that. Furthermore, users shouldn't be confused or question what site they've visited; it's important to maintain consistency with colors, logos, and styles. With more people using mobile, you also want to give them a good user experience and make the site seem inviting. You don't need to only display a white background, the logo, and contact information anymore. Mobile design has come a long way, giving you more freedom than ever before. There are many beautiful mobile designs out there – you just have to spend some extra time discussing it with your developer.

Mobile design is becoming increasingly important. Many believe mobile Internet will be the next big thing, overtaking desktop usage over the next couple of years. Don't be left behind the times; contact a web development company, such as Codank Web Design, and get started on your mobile site today.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

How to whiten teeth in Photoshop CS4

Many artists will photoshop models and actors these days for magazines, shows, or advertisements. One of the most prevalent changes has to do with teeth whitening, which is not that difficult to do. Even if you're not working on professional photos, you still might have some pictures you want to clean up. So in this tutorial, we're going to look at how to whiten a model's teeth using Photoshop CS4.

First, open the picture you want to use in Photoshop. I'm using a stock photo of teeth from MorgueFile. Once you've loaded the document, press Q on your keyboard to enter quick mask mode; this will allow us to paint a selection. Click on the brush tool on the Tools panel (on the left hand side of the workspace), then click on the color swatch at the bottom of the Tools panel and change the color to black. You'll use black to make a selection and white to erase a part of a selection. Make sure you have a relatively small brush size to start with by clicking the arrow next to the brush tip preview along the top bar (mine's set to 24 px).



Using the brush tool, paint a selection around the edges of the teeth first. Carefully outline them; a pink-red color should appear as you paint. If you make a mistake or slip, you can always change the color to white and paint over it to erase it. Keep working until you've outlined all the teeth neatly.



Now change the brush size to something larger (like 66 px) and brush over the middle of each tooth, taking care to stay inside the outlines. Again, if you make a mistake, you can brush over it using white.



Once you've made sure you've painted over every bit that you want included in the selection, press Q to exit quick mask mode. You'll see the marching ants marquee appear around the area and the rest of the picture; this means that everything except the teeth are selected. So we need to click Select (along the top bar) and Inverse in order to select the teeth.



Now it's time to whiten the teeth. To do this, we need to add an adjustment layer. Click on Layer, then New Adjustment Layer, then Hue/Saturation. Navigate to the right hand side of the workspace and find the adjustments panel above the layer panel, then move the saturation slider to the left to desaturate it and get rid of the yellow. I've moved mine down to about -40. Then you can move the Lightness slider up a little bit (I've moved mine to about +15) so add more whiteness. If you find any places where the white overlaps the gums, then you can grab a black brush to fix it.





It's that simple! You can play around with it to get the amount of whiteness you want; just be sure that it looks somewhat natural and that you don't have too much gray by desaturating too much.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

20 beautiful winter stock photos

It’s that time of year again. When the days get shorter and the temperature drops, we start anticipating snow. Many northern states and regions have already experienced their first snowfall for the year. However, for those of us where snow is a rare occasion, looking at photographs of winter wonderlands and chillingly beautiful, frost-covered landscapes is a real treat and the best way to enjoy the season. So while some of you may be sick of snow covering your streets and driveways and may anticipate spring, you can still kick back, relax, and enjoy the beauty from the comfort of your own warm, cozy home. Here we have compiled a list of 20 beautiful, free stock photos for your viewing pleasure – or for your personal use in seasonal projects.





































Photo by steppelandstock on deviantart.com.



Photo by crazymadness on deviantart.com.



Photo by philippel on deviantart.com.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Web Design vs. Web Development

Over the years, many people have used web design and web development synonymously. When people think of web design (and sometimes even graphic design), they generally think of the entire process of creating the site from the conceptualization of the design to the back end programming and database work. Although there are many web designers who can do these things, web design typically refers to a smaller niche of web development. In order to clear up the roles of web designers and web developers, let's take a closer look.

Web design refers to planning and creating the site as well as the graphic and media elements. This is where web development and graphic design cross; many graphic designers also create the concepts and designs for web pages, using programs such as Adobe Fireworks or Photoshop. Many web designers also know HTML and CSS, and how to write JavaScript. However, this does not mean that web designers are always programmers. As a whole, web design generally has to do with the front end work on the site, focusing on the appearance, the layout, and the first impression.

Web development, on the other hand, refers to the overall creation and maintenance of the website. This can include web and graphic design, but it more often than not refers to work with coding and programming the site functionality; this includes database work, application development, networking, and work with servers - back end work. Web development is a more general term that covers all niches of the Internet and website creation.

When seeking out someone to work on your websites, you should understand the difference and know what you are looking for. In many small scale cases, web design and development are handled by the same person, but for larger scale sites, you should look into hiring a web development company, such as Codank Web Design and Application Development.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

How to paste a picture on a TV in Photoshop CS4

If you pay attention to advertising, then you might have wondered how the photographer captured the picture on television and computer screens so clearly. Generally, taking a picture of a screen won't render properly and will leave you with a poor photograph. For this reason, graphic designers usually photoshop the picture on blank television or computer screens. In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to paste a photograph on a television screen in Photoshop CS4.

First, select the pictures you want to use. I'm using a stock photo of a television from stock.xchng and a stock photo of a butterfly from MorgueFile. Open both files in Photoshop and look at their sizes by pressing Ctrl + Alt + I or going to the top bar and clicking Image and then Image Size. Compare their sizes and - making sure the constrain proportions and scale styles checkboxes are selected - reduce the size of the butterfly. I've reduced the width to 800 px (though this can always be made larger or smaller later).



Now switch back to the photo of the TV. We need to select the inside of the screen, and the easiest way to do that is with the polygonal lasso tool. Click on the little black arrow at the corner of the lasso tool for more options and select the polygonal lasso tool.



Click on each of the four corners of the television screen, making sure to draw the line just the smallest bit past the black edge framing it because you don't want to leave any white spaces. Once you finish, click back on the first point to complete the selection; you should see the marching ants marquee appear.



Switch back to the butterfly picture and select it by pressing Ctrl + A or going to the top bar and clicking Select then All. Copy the picture and go back to the tab with the television. Next, go to the top bar and click Edit then Paste Into to put the picture inside your selection.



The picture will appear, but it won't fit the screen just right because of the angle of the television. To adjust the picture angle to match the television, we need to transform it. Go to the top bar and click Edit, then Transform, then Perspective.



Use the corners on the bounding box to tilt the picture to the right; since the television's right side is pushed back, you should pull on the right side of the picture as well. Once you are done with that, click on the arrow at the top of the workspace to apply the transformation. Then, press Ctrl + T to further transform the picture and make it bigger to fit the TV screen. Hold down on the Shift key while pulling on one of the corners to constrain the proportions. You may have to give it more perspective when you're finished scaling it.



The only thing left to do is give the picture layer an inner shadow to give it some depth. Click on the fx at the bottom of the Layers panel on the right hand side of the workspace. From there, choose Blending Options and then Inner Shadow. You want the distance and the size to be 8 px and the angle to be 30 degrees.



And it's that simple! Once you get the hang of it, editing images of televisions and computers for your ads will be a snap. You can always call a web and graphic design company, such as Codank Web Design, for help with your graphics.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

How to make regular photos look like miniature models

You may have come across photographs that make something normal (like a street with cars) look like a miniature model. Normally, this effect is created by something called tilt-shift photography, which requires a specific lens that can be extremely expensive. Although you can learn to create this effect through photography if you want, it is easier (and cheaper) to achieve it by using a digital photo editing program. In this tutorial, we're going to see how to recreate a tilt-shift effect using Photoshop CS4.

First, find the picture you want to use. I'm using a stock photo of a city from Morguefile, but you can use any photo you'd like, as long as it was taken from an angle that is higher than the object you want to focus on. Once you've found your photograph, open it in Photoshop and select the gradient tool from the Tools panel on the left hand side of the workspace. If you don't see the gradient tool, click the little black arrow at the corner of the paint bucket tool to show more options.



Click the drowdown arrow next to the gradient preview bar and choose the black to white gradient. Then, choose the reflected gradient type from the options next to the preview bar (it's the second to last one).



Press the Q key to enter quick mask mode. Then find one of the taller buildings and click a third of the way from the top, dragging the gradient down a little (but don't drag it all the way down). You may need to keep playing with this until you're satisfied with the selection (it will show up in red).



Press the Q key again to exit quick mask mode. The marching ants marquee should appear everywhere but the selection you made in quick mask mode. Now we're ready to add a blur to make it look like the photograph is being taken from closer than it is. Go to the top bar and click Filter, then Blur, then Lens Blur.



A preview window that fills the whole screen will appear. Keep the default settings (unless you wish to play around with them) except for the radius, which will be changed to 20. This will change the amount of blur in the picture.



Once you've applied the Lens blur, you can leave it at that if you want - or you can play with adjustments to enhance the picture a bit more. I wanted to adjust the saturation and the contrast, so I decided to add some adjustment layers. To do this, I clicked on Layer, then New Adjustment Layer, then Hue/Saturation.



The adjustments window should appear in the panels on the right hand side of the screen. I dragged mine out of the panels, but you can leave yours where it is. Play around with the saturation until you're satisfied with the way the picture looks; I changed mine to 30.



Go back to the top bar and click on Layer and New Adjustment Layer again. This time, select Brightness/Contrast from the list of options. I just wanted to darken the contrast a little bit, so I set the contrast to 5. If you'd prefer a different value, then you can play around and find what looks best for the photo you're using.



And that's it! Creating a tilt-shift effect in Photoshop isn't hard and it doesn't take that long. The most time will be spent figuring out where you want the blur to be and tweaking the adjustments.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com