Design Notes - Patterned Backgrounds
Jul 20th, 07 | 6 remarksApologies for skipping out on Design Notes last week. Terrible isn’t it? Here I am trying to start a fun new segment, and I’ve already fouled up on the third one! In my defense I had this ready to publish last Friday, but I got a last minute database error (or so I thought) and couldn’t post. Ironically enough, I think I accidentally published this for a short time on Wednesday afternoon, so if you’ve seen it… well I wasn’t fully functioning yet. Ok, moving on…
This week’s pick is brought to you by the creators of another design tool recently mentioned here on DA, the StripeGenerator Team. The spotlight now falls on TartanMaker.com - a new tool for creating backgrounds online!
This tool takes about 10 seconds to figure out, and is really fun to play with - even if you’re not into plaid. Quickly add or delete colors, experiment with band or yarn sizes using scrubby sliders, and change the pattern orientation with a click. The same sharing capabilities apply to TartanMaker as with StripeGenerator - save, search and share with ease.
Drawback - you have to create yet another username to take full advantage of the service. Barely worth mentioning, I know, but it’s too bad they couldn’t tie the two services together with one login, or perhaps make it OpendID compatible? Hmm…
Destinations ~
The choice destination this week was easy, and I wasn’t even actively searching for it. This time, the site found me. It belongs to a recent commenter on DA. I try to visit the sites of all new commentators, so that I might get to know readers a little better, but somehow this one escaped me - at first.
J. Bradford of Designer’s Bloc has a done a beautiful job of theming his blog. His choice of color, background pattern, and use of small “eye-candy” type details like the post and navigation banners all tie in to an obviously well thought out theme. I was also impressed by the gravatar/comment styling, and particularly with his use of light and shadow. Very nice theme indeed.
I just finished playing with TartanMaker. It looks like a useful little tool, but I can’t think of many online uses for the patterns that it gives you, unless your design style mesh well with those patterns.
Jul 21, 07 | 10:12 amI agree. Use in design would be a bit limited, and probably would only work effectively for niche sites. Still, I thought it was a neat tool. :)
Jul 21, 07 | 1:10 pmI really like that blog theme! The guy’s obviously put an awful lot of planning and thought into it, and has done some amazing things with Wordpress!
Shame there’s not better content on there though! ;)
Jul 21, 07 | 2:42 pmThanks for the plug! I appreciate the kind words!
@Paul E: I agree, it is a shame. Guess I’m more of a designer than a blogger. I’m working on a few other things for people to look at, and I just never find the time to write. Thanks for the compliments!
Jul 23, 07 | 6:12 amHey J - I’m sorry if that sounded wrong… I didn’t mean to slag you off! ;) I just see *so many* blogs that have had little or no proper design done to them - whereas yours (ironically) is the other way round… :)
I’m sure you’ll get up to speed again - and I hope the eye feels better soon!
Jul 24, 07 | 12:44 pmthanks for the tricks! :)
Apr 6, 08 | 9:03 pm