Exciting new things are happening in the Klangwelt Design office and we just couldn’t wait to share them with you!

First of all, we rolled out a new major section in our offering services list: UI / UX Design and Engineering. User experience was/is a growing and ongoing interest of us in the last few years, so we are proud to introduce this exciting field into our area of expertise.

Why is UX important to us? Because our goal is to deliver not just simple designs, but meaningful experiences – for both our clients and the end users. Also, because we believe that clarity and sophistication can co-exist beautifully and a great experience design can shape the behaviors and the future of the society.

For us, our mission statement is not just a pile of empty words, is the fuel that fires our everyday lives and keeps us on the lookout for the next mountain top to conquer.

Besides the new UI/UX venture, we also updated our portfolio with new works and projects.

The most notable project here is, for sure, the design and development of the web interface for The Chemistry of Sound podcast.

We decided to give this project a twist and combine the classic showcase with a little bit of “behind the scenes” flavor.

We find the regular screenshot type of portfolio organization a little bit outdated and we are planning of changing all of our sections and projects to the new format, which is – in our opinion – much more soulful, friendly and clean. After all… our designs are made by humans and we all encounter challenges, “a-ha” moments and milestones in our work.

Of course, this is not all. We are working daily to bring improvements to our website and our work. As you already know, Klangwelt Design is our first fully responsive website and we are still having challenges and frustrations with making everything look great even in older versions of browsers – so thank you for your patience and constant support.

We are also planning on adding new creative services very soon – like portrait and product photography. Photography is another old hobby that I’ve been holding dear for a while, and it is something I am trying to learn more every day.

All this being said, we thank you for reading and, as always, we welcome your feedback and if you consider this valuable… do not forget to share it with your friends.

Apps, gadgets, tablets, widgets and other gizmos all come to help us save time, be more productive and improve the quality of our life. And to celebrate this philosophy, we created a list of online generators that save web designers’ a great deal of time from the boring and redundant coding – just so they can have more minutes to focus on what they love the most: DESIGNING and pushing boundaries further.

1. CSS3 Generator

Link: http://css3generator.com/

CSS3 Generator allows you to use CSS3 rules by selecting separate generators that serve different purposes. Includes CSS Transitions, Gradients, Selectors, Box Resizing, Text Shadows and other exciting features.

2. CSS Arrow Please

Link: http://cssarrowplease.com/

Did you ever wonder how you can make those smart little arrows underneath a box of text or title without loosing a lot of time and cluttering your code with a lot of images? CSS Arrow Please is your answer!

3. Pure CSS speech bubbles

Link: http://nicolasgallagher.com/pure-css-speech-bubbles/

Similar to the previous generator on the list there is Pure CSS speech bubbles – which shows you how to generate more advanced “speech bubble” type of boxes.

4. Rounded corners generator

Link: http://cssround.com/

CssRound provides easy to use tools for rounded corner divs with several cool features, like opacity and drop shadow.

5. Border radius generator

Link: http://border-radius.com/

Border radius is a very minimalist and straight-forward website that generates the css for border radius divs according to the values that you type in for every corner.

6. CSS3 Pie

Link: http://css3pie.com/

PIE makes Internet Explorer 6-9 capable of rendering several of the most useful CSS3 decoration features.

7. CSS3 Shapes

Link: http://www.css3shapes.com/

Thanks to CSS3 Shapes you can use fun and useful shapes in your design without worrying about background images.

8. CSS3 Button Generator

Link: http://css3button.net/

CSS3 Button Generator helps you create cool, cross-browser and fully scalable buttons without using any images. The CSS3 Button Generator lets you to choose the font, the padding and the background of the button and even share your style with others. If you need some inspiration for your button, the “showcase” section is there to help you with that.

9. Zen BG

Link: http://mudcu.be/bg/

Create beautiful backgrounds for websites or desktops. This project includes a large collection of textures — wood, rust, paper, concrete and more from Texturise — which can be combined with linear-gradients or colors to create a wide assortment of themes.

10. Visual.css.tools

Link: http://www.visualcsstools.com/

Visual CSS Tools is a CSS + SVG + Canvas cross-browser gradient generator for web designers. What sets this generator apart is the possibility to choose an angle for a linear gradient, to specify a radial gradient in terms of a shape and repeat radial and linear gradients.

Well that’s it… Thank you for reading. If you found this article useful and informative please consider sharing it with your friends on your favorite social network and let us know how these tools made your life easier.

Along the years we benefited from the resources and tutorials kindly shared by our fellow designers, so now it is time to give back to the community something to help others as well. We carefully prepared and hand-picked two texture packs perfect for backgrounds or any design which requires soft and delicate blurs. The images come in very high resolution (mostly 5184 x 3456 pixels) to suit any creative needs, and haven’t been retouched or processed at all, so it is up to you to transform them and correct them as you need.

You are free to use them in both commercial and personal projects, but you may NOT modify and redistribute them as your own or sell them anywhere on the internet and the world – it’s all we ask back for the hours put into the making of these resources, so please be respectful of that.

Needless to say we would love to see what you come up with using our freebies, so feel free to share your designs with us in the comments below.

» Click here to DOWNLOAD

» Click here to DOWNLOAD

If you liked these resource packs, please consider sharing this post on your favorite social networks or blogs.

The solution is: retouching! Retouching is an art form in itself that brings out the best features of a subject, improves the quality of an image and cleans out the unnecessary clutter that could distract user’s focus from the target. Retouching enhances the natural attributes of a photograph and helps make use of the its strengths instead of being washed out by its imperfections.

As part of our digital products, we offer affordable retouching services for all your branding or personal needs. Whether you need a better image for your press kit, more vibrant photographs for your website or just a simple touch up of your portfolio, we are the place to come to. Write us and let us know how we could help you today in your retouching aim.

See more awesomeness on Jonas Eriksson Website or follow him on Twitter.

But how are we, as designers or directors, deciding which style or image reflects the identity of a brand perfectly?

Sometimes we get precise indications from clients and the direction is obvious. But what happens when our client has no idea and needs YOU to solve this problem for him? Or alternatively, when the client desires something, but taking that lead would be a bad decision for the brand?

The answers are simple: 1. research and 2. know your target.

Without this we’ll definitely be left in the dark, only hoping that the design we’re making is going to be the right one.

Every time we encounter this, the first natural step would be to understand the problem better, and we do this by researching. Has this problem happened before? How are other professionals solving this problem? What are the possible ways in which I could find the best solution?

And I can’t help at this point not to make an analogy with logical schemas. I remember when I studied IT in school there was this object (field) called “algorithmics” and there we were taught how to design the iteration steps of a small program (software). We were given a problem and we had to draw a logical schema illustrating which options and possible solutions exist for the problem. Below you can see an example how a thing like this looked like.

Later in life I realized that the same algorithmic thinking can be applied in design and it can help me visualize possible scenarios for the project. I come up with questions and then I try to answer them with “yes” or “no” and see what other questions are deriving from each decision.

Another vital factor in decision making is knowing your target market. It is very important to know who will be the end users of your products, to whom is this addressing. The more I get to know people, the more I realize that not everybody thinks the way I do, and not everybody likes the same things as someone else.

There are people who are following trends and people who are revolting against the trends. There are people who have different cultures and different systems of values than others. There are people who appreciate originality and innovation and people who seek things that have been tested before. That’s why it’s very important to try to put ourselves in their shoes for a short time while trying to trace possible situations that could evolve. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that others could do things differently than we do, but it is always a real possibility that they do.

Following trends only for the sake of following trends can lead to failure instead of success (as expected). You never know…! Everything must be based on answers to real questions.

Your users: what are they searching for? What do they need? From where are they coming from? What do they want to achieve by using your design, product, website, etc? What is it that you would like them to achieve?

In a constantly moving world, it is always important to have a point of reference in which to make decisions and take directions.

What is the next step?

Audien – on his real name Nate Rathbun – is a music producer based in Connecticut, USA. With his incredible sense of beautiful melodies and a production quality that deserves a lot of recognition, Nate “Audien” Rathbun is starting to show off his skills in a trance and progressive scene that many had mistaken for being dead and gone.

What were the requirements?

Our client needed a logo that will stand out from the crowd, something that will set off the unique traits of his music.

He stated:

“I’m after a logo, one that is memorable, catchy, and clean. I need something that can go on fliers, and be readable. I will leave the creativity to you! :-) I like asymmetrical logos as well. I’d love to see what you come up with!”

The creative process

The first step was playing around with different concepts and to brainstorm about possible directions to which I could take this logo. I needed something powerful, but in the same time something to capture the soft, artistic, essence of his productions, the core of music – as an art form – itself, the youth and freshness of Audien as a newcomer on the music field.

Here are some of the sketches I started with.

The “E” as piano keys was my personal favorite concept.

After finding a few ideas that I liked, it was time to put the pencil down and the paper aside to proceed with designing the first proposals in Adobe Photoshop. The final number of the first batch of logo designs was six, with a couple of variations on the second and sixth concept.

The client chose idea number 6, desiring to see a little bit more variations on this design.

“Is it possible to get some more variations of logo06, I have a feeling there are other variations of that logo that will stand out even more. Also, on logo06, would it be possible to attempt making the A and the N in audien bigger than the other letters? (keeping it symmetrical) I had the idea because the edges are very sharp, and I feel that if the A and the N are bigger, it would have a dramatic effect.”

I played around with more sketches, until I got the feeling of what I will continue with in the next phase.

Then it was time to translate these new concepts into digital form and send them to the client for new feedback. Another batch of six logo proposals…

Number 6 was lucky once again, because the last logo was the one that got picked. So now that we have a “winner” it is time for the fine tuning of the design and the final step of the process: “vectorize-ation”.

For this I turned to Adobe Illustrator’s help, that makes this step easier with its vector dedicated tools.

At this point I think I have accomplished the mission successfully. Let’s take a look at the final product:

Once the package containing the logo was delivered, the client was kindly happy to say a few words about our collaboration and the entire project as well, thing that got us very excited. After all, fruitful joint efforts and close communication from both ends is the desired outcome in any partnership, besides the indisputable requirements like the quality of the services or an affordable price.

“If you’re after quality, affordable and fitting graphics, Klangwelt Design is your best option! I received my logo in a short period of time, and I was instantly happy with the results. It’s very clear that this company takes the time to deliver a satisfying complete project. I would recommend Klangwelt Design to any of my friends and colleagues.”

I hope you enjoyed the journey through the creative process of designing a logo here on Klangwelt Design Studios. In case you are interested in seeing other logo design work I invite you to visit our Logos Collection and also don’t forget that if you consider our design services suited for making your business more successful, your artistry more visible and your brand identity voice louder, you are welcome to request a quote.

And that thought led me – two years ago in the eve of my 24th birthday – to begin a process of self-discovery and self-development. I used to think working on my professional skills is the absolute everything in life. I used to think that doing my job perfectly (and the extra-mile) would lead me that ideal of perfection. That made me stay in the office until late hours daily and postpone my dreams to “someday”. Until that one day when I realized… it never stops. As long as we live we have something new to learn – of course – if we are opened to it. Even though it’s something little… it can change your life a bit. Even if it’s not directly related to your work it can help you in ways you could never imagine. There is no point in waiting, because the future begins NOW. The point is unleashing its full potential.

In the middle of an explosion of blogs and websites who claim to offer the ultimate “recipe for success” the last thing I want is to sound like yet another smart-ass. All I can relate to is my personal experience. And I’ve learned that developing in the direction that YOU want is the most beneficial thing you can do. It’s hard and confusing in the beginning. You’re like a rocket with no direction. You don’t know who (what) to listen to. But… “when in doubt, trust what your gut is telling you“. I cannot tell you how to be the next Picasso or the next Mozart or the next Coco Chanel, but from my journey so far on this Earth I’ve noticed a few things that do matter.

The first is… be a good communicator. Whether you are a designer, a vocalist or a record label manager, the key is to be able to communicate your ideas in an efficient manner. Number one sentence on my self-development “to do” list was “Become a better communicator”.

Recognizing your flaws never comes easy. I knew I suck at presenting things at a “face to face” meeting. But I knew I can organize my ideas well in writing (especially when I have to make a pitch). That’s why I focused on growing my business in the online medium – where I can WRITE. I don’t do long phone calls, I don’t carry around business cards everywhere I go and I do not present myself as a “networking guru”. As a matter a fact, even after a Skype conference call I feel like I’ve just been out of a boxing match. Some of you might feel offended by what I just said and I am sorry if you feel this way. I know it’s in the manual of what you “should” do. Yes, it works just great for some. But what about the rest who are just struggling and crying their eyes out trying to figure it out what are they doing wrong that they’re not so successful?

The thing is… work on what YOU think and feel is right for you at a time. Don’t force it. Until the field is ready, there won’t be any significant crop. Find that one communication skill that you are good at and sky-rocket it. The others will follow in time… when you’re prepared.

I had the privilege to work (for a short period of time) in an advertising company that was doing just that. Forcing. There weren’t any sales representatives, any sales managers, nobody between the client and the creation team. Each person had to communicate directly with the client, expose their concepts, ideas and solutions and also to hear directly the needs and the feedback of the client. All good so far. EXCEPT… nobody told us how to do that. Nobody invested the time to find out how each individual of the team expresses itself best. The idea is noble, but without a former preparation, what supposed to be a business meeting was turned into a throwing straight into the lion’s cage.

So this experience taught me to learn HOW to express my visions and concept to the client in order to be perceived in an understandable light by all the parties involved in the equation. Because nobody is in your head to really know what you can do for them. Unless you communicate that. In every way possible.

Another point on my self-development list was “Manifesting my goals in reality. No more dreaming, start living!”. After a few sessions of tests and brainstorming i realized that what was preventing me for actually doing what i would love to do was the FEAR of failure and the ILLUSION of stability. Of course, it’s easy to fall into what the people around you are telling you… “You’ll never make it!”, “That thing is not for you!”, “If you don’t follow these exact rules you’ll never going to do it!”, “You’re not worth it!” and so on. Or to buy into the self talk like “Yeah but i have a good thing going on here…”, “It’s not exactly what i want but it’s better than nothing…”, “I won’t find something better than this…” etc. And yes, you do risk a lot! You risk failure, you risk some people not liking you as “the new you”, you risk stepping on some people’s toes. But not trying to do what you want, denying your desires and denying your talents is risking not to EVER experience knowledge and never have a taste of your dreams. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take a lot of work and maybe some sacrifices. And working on yourself is maybe the hardest work ever, but it is a process. A never-ending process… A beautiful journey filled with rewards and joys and genuine moments.

Another one on my list was “Finding my inner voice”. I knew there were a lot of things that were making me unique, but i was afraid that bringing that out will lead me to not being accepted. And yes, it is a great thing to be accepted – not saying you should go out on the streets in your underwear and trashing down corner-shops! What i mean is bring out those shades of your personality that you think in your head they might cause disagreements. Like for example admitting you are truly passionate about painting when your family wants you to be an economist.

It was hard carving my way in the design world, especially because i had my fair share of opposition – starting from the ones closest to me and ending with suspicious workmates – but it worth it every second. And even now, when i am running my own business, it’s not always easy to hold on to my ideals and values. Some competitors pretend to do the fastest work, some pretend to have the lowest prices. I could claim all that, i could claim i do magic, but this isn’t who i really am.

I encourage you to find your voice and i can help you craft it! I encourage you to try to be the best that you can be, and not for me, and not for them or for the world… But for you and all the amazing things you have to offer and discover in yourself.

I guess some artist spaces are being messy so they (the artists) can shut themselves in a place where they can pick the first thing that comes in hand and still being surprised. Creativity… is being surprised.

The “Oh!”, the “Ahhh…”, the “Wow”.

We are habitual creatures and to some sort of extent we tend to make the things we enjoy… a habit. The morning coffee, the evening news, Sunday’s night movie… It gives us a sense of control and stability. But the process of being creative shouldn’t be one (a habit). When one starts to use the same steps with each creative endeavor it takes, there are more chances that the solution / idea / end product will look (or function) the same as others made before.

Many times it is happening to myself to fall under a sign of habit – sometimes due to the lack of time, sometimes due to the client’s requests or sometimes simply due to a lack of diversity at a daily level (especially when i have to follow a particular work routine). But i know it’s time for a change when what i do starts to bore me. Nothing extraordinary has been accomplished from a place of boredom or plain routine. Common things speak to common situations.

Creativity is the surprise. The unexpected end of a book, a movie that keeps you guessing, a shape you haven’t seen before, a certain color combination, a tool or fabric that you’d never think of, a different way of laying things together…

The “Oh!”, the “Ahhh…”, the “Wow”, the startle of an unpredicted touch upon your heart.

One thing that i have learned from my 6 years of employment and – almost – an year of freelancing is that everything starts from loving your job. And i’m not necessarily talking in the traditional sense of the word “job”. If you do not love what you do, if you do not absolutely adore every task that comes on your desk (or inbox) it’s not worth it. And another thing is to ALWAYS learn something new with every project. Now… if you think that your job is going to be sweet and fluffy all the time, well you are wrong. There are going to be a lot of moments when you will be drained by the requests of your managers or clients, when you’ll sleep three hours a night just to learn a new “trick”, a new “catch”, to use in your next project or when you will have to put up with inimaginable conditions just to go through the month. But, what matters is that, at the end of the day, you will be filled with the best feeling that exists: doing what you love.

And you know what? Nobody can give you this feeling, it’s only up to you to make it real. And nothing else can replace it. So many people are lost and caught up in the illusion of what makes them happy, in the run after standards imposed by the society or the people around them, in the clinging to persons or situations they think will save them. But the thing is that it goes the other way around. You must first do what you love, you must allow yourself to be filled with a passion for all the small parts that compose your life, for everything that you are, was and will be, and THEN the rest will follow. Or at least you will have a solid enough reason to wake up every morning.

After all, when you truly love something you love it with the goods AND the bads, not just the goods. And being happy and positive doesn’t mean you won’t have bad days, doesn’t mean you won’t stumble into problems and doesn’t mean you won’t have to worry about anything ever again. But it does mean that you don’t regret anything, even the silly mistakes you made along the way, and if you would be able to choose, you would do it all again in the exact same way.

During my life journey so far i was inspired by a bunch of people and all my heroes come from the fields of music and arts. And they all whispered to me through their works “follow your dream”. You can always feel when somebody puts heart and soul into what he does. And i could feel all this in every piece of their art. Many of them suffered rejections, lack of understanding from their counterparts or times of distress when they had absolutely nothing else apart from their passions. But they didn’t gave up because they knew that what they believe in is something stronger and more rewarding than everything else they could have.

So right when you’re about to say “but my dream is stupid” – think again! Even if it might sound stupid to others, if it makes you happy it’s all that matters and besides, the whole concepts of what is “stupid” or “not stupid”, what is “possible” or “impossible”, “real” or “imaginary” are relative. One day someone out there was the first person who said it is possible, who turned imagination into reality, who set a vibe for a whole new direction. That spark lives in all of us, all you have to do is bring it out to the surface.

I know all these things have been said before. Be daring, people, because somewhere in between your passions and your dreams lies your whole life! Don’t waste it.