Evan Varsamis, Part time web / graphic designer / developer, with the passion in Graphics and visual arts. Web junkie & a Minimalist, loves Apple products and designing all day long, also founder of BeautifulMac.com Wanna find out more ? Check out his Interview at  http://setupsandspaces.com , Say hi @ evarsamis[at]me.com

From: http://smokingdesigners.com/27-unique-examples-abstract-surreal-photography/ on SmokingDesigners

Our product — Sothink SWF Decompiler can help you out in minutes. Sothink SWF Decompiler is a leading-industry Flash decompiling tool which can be used to extract elements, such as shapes, images, sprites, etc. from Flash movies. In this tutorial, I will show you how to extract SWF resources from a SWF file by Sothink SWF Decompiler.

Software Required: Sothink SWF Decompiler

Estimated Time of Completion: 2 Minutes

Step One: Explore SWF File

After you launch the program of Sothink SWF Decompiler, you will see the “Explorer” window on the left. You can browse to find the prepared SWF file in which you want to extract elements. We take the “lace1-300×250” file included in the SWF folder on desktop for example.

Then you can click on the “lace1-300×250” file, it will automatically play in the preview window.

Step Two: Choose Elements

You can click the “+” sign in the “Export” panel on the right to expand the files. The program will parse and list all resources included in the SWF here. You can check all the files to extract and export them later.

Step Three: Export Resources

After you choose the files you want to extract, you can directly click “Export Resources” button to extract them for reusing.

A pop-up dialogue will appear then.

Then you can set the file type you want these resources to be saved and select the path to place them in your computer. Then you can directly follow the pop-up window to check the folder which the SWF resources are saved just now.

Then you can freely reuse these SWF resources according to your specific requirement. Just Enjoy!

To get more free vector graphics, you can visit the homepage of Sothink SWF Decompiler to take part in our Twitter Retweet Campaign. 1000+ free vector graphics are waiting for you! What you should do is just to retweet a message from our official Twitter account.

How to win this chance?

1. Buy through Mac App Store

2. Write review on Mac App Store after using

3. Get Your Money Refund

Note: Winners are randomly chosen. Every user has 20% chance to win. If you are lucky to win this chance, our customer supporting team will contact you later.

This campaign will last for one week. Action quickly!

Order Sothink SWF Decompiler for Mac via Mac App Store>>

About Sothink SWF Decompiler for Mac

Sothink SWF Decompiler for Mac is a professional SWF to FLA, SWF to FLEX converter on Mac OS X. It easily extracts Flash resources like shape, image, sound (mp3, wav), video (flv), text, sprite, ActionScript, etc; Replaces image/shape/text/sound for SWF; Supports Flash CS3/CS4/CS5 and ActionScript 2.0/3.0; Able to get XFL file from Flash CS5 SWF; Globally searches all ActionScript; Exports SWF resources in batch; Multilingual and user-friendly.

Screenshot of Sothink SWF Decompiler for Mac

What is this Small Business Startup Pack like? This package is worth $199.9 which is composed of three parts:

• 20 website templates (you can choose freely from 300+ templates covering 20 industries);
• Professional Logo Maker 30-Day Full Function Trial (Sothink Logo Maker)
• A useful e-book of Small Business Start-Up Guide.

What are you still waiting for? Just open the homepage of Sothink Logo Maker and click “Click Here to Tweet and Win” button to send the tweet that has been filled in for you. After tweeting, you will see the pack’s download URL from the bio info of a recommended Twitter account. Just copy that URL to your browser address bar and download.

About Sothink Logo Maker

Sothink Logo Maker is a professional easy-to-use logo design tool that enables you to be a color master for designing logos. With it, even novice can create professional and good-looking logos in just 5 minutes. It offers rich editable logo templates, 3,800+ ready-to-use graphic resources, lots of built-in effects, diverse exquisitely designed color schemes, etc.

Main features of Sothink Logo Maker:

Ø  Create infinite logos as you like, no design experience required

Ø  Ever-increasing templates & resources with FREE upgrades

Ø  Re-editable project file for convenient further alteration

Ø  Test everything directly before you buy, and no hidden fee

Ø  Powerful vector editing via easily drag-and-drop or mouse clicks

Sothink Logo Maker Samples:

Logo Arena is a great place for logo designers to earn some extra cash on the side. It’s a crowd-sourcing website where you can host a logo design contest. Minimum payout for winning a contest is $249 but most of the contests have higher payout. You must have a developed portfolio to apply at Logo Arena because they only accept professional designers. It takes about 24 hours for designer application to get processed. Acceptance in the Logo Arena community is dependent on the quality of your portfolio.

Once you get accepted at Logo Arena, you have to deliver custom designs. You may not use clipart, traced images or copyrighted designs. If you win a contest, you have to deliver the final files in EPG and JPEG formats. Once you deliver the files, wait for the contest holder to accept your files. As soon as the files are accepted by the contest holder, you will receive your cash prize. Logo designers also receive virtual awards and points which are counted toward global ranking. Sign up today and start competing against world class designers at Logo Arena.

You can try to make an amazing logo with Sothink Logo Maker to take part in our contest.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to simply convert PDF to re-editable DWG.

Required Software: Sothink PDF to DWG Converter

Download PDF to DWG Converter >> (30-day free trial)

Estimated Time: 3 Minutes

At first, please see the intuitive interface of the PDF to DWG Converter:

Step 1: Select PDF File(s)

Click the “Add File” or “Add Folder” button to select the PDF file(s) that you want to convert. You can convert one or more single-page or multi-page PDF files to DWG at a time.

Step 2: Set Output Folder

Click the “Browse…” button to specify a folder to save the output DWG files.

Step 3: One-click Conversion

After choosing the PDF files that you want to convert and setting the output folder, you just need to click the “Convert” button, and then the selected PDF files will be fast converted to high-quality DWG.

See video tutorial of converting PDF to DWG >>

Now you have successfully converted the PDF files into reusable DWG, so you can open the DWG in your native AutoCAD and directly edit it as you like.

If you have experienced this software, you will find it really a practical program which does not require any technical knowledge. This program has simple and clean user interface which is very convenient for you to use and operate.

Now, let me tell you how to convert PDF files to images with just 3 steps.

Step 1: Add Files

Click “Add Files” to navigate the folder and select the PDF file you want to convert to image. You can also click “Add Folder” button to select multiple PDF files at one time. After you add files, the selected PDF file will automatically show below in the PDF Files window.

Step 2: Set Output Properties

You can set output properties in Sothink PDF to Image Converter like the image formats. You can also set the resolution for your image like width or height, which will decide the image size after converting.

Step 3: One-click Convert

You can click “…” button to choose the output folder your converted image will be placed in your computer. Then click “Convert” button to convert the PDF files you add by just one click.

Now, you are done!

In a word, Sothink PDF to Image Converter is really a useful program, with which the PDF files can be converted to images in 2 minutes.

What are you waiting for? Just refer to this page to Download for Free Trial.

What makes a good logo? A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic, simple in form and conveys an intended message.

There are five principles that you should follow to ensure that this is so…

An effective logo is (in no particular order):

• Simple
• Memorable
• Timeless
• Versatile
• Appropriate

1. Simple

A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unique without being overdrawn.

While in college in the mid-70’s an instructor introduced me to the K.I.S.S. Principle of design; which translates to: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It does convey a very important design consideration. Simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client. A refined and distilled identity will also catch the attention of a viewer zipping by signage at 70 miles per hour, on packaging on the crowded shelves of a store, or in any other vehicle used for advertising, marketing and promotion. Remember, the basis of the hugely effective international branding for the world’s largest shoe manufacturer is a very simple graphic swoosh.

~ Jeff Fisher

2. Memorable

Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo.

You may be interested to see some examples of bad logo designs.

Surprising to many, the subject matter of a logo is of relatively little importance, and even appropriateness of content does not always play a significant role.

This does not imply that appropriateness is undesirable. It merely indicates that a one-to-one relationship between a symbol and what it symbolized is very often impossible to achieve and, under certain conditions, objectionable. Ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear.

~ Paul Rand

3. Timeless

An effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time. Will the logo still be effective in 10, 20, 50 years?

Leave trends to the fashion industry – Trends come and go, and when you’re talking about changing a pair of jeans, or buying a new dress, that’s fine, but where your brand identity is concerned, longevity is key. Don’t follow the pack. Stand out.

~ David Airey

Probably the best example of a timeless logo is the Coca-Cola logo… if you compare it to the Pepsi logo below, you can see just how effective creating a timeless logo can be. Notice how the Coca Cola logo has barely changed since 1885? That is timeless design.

Update: 8/08/09 – Underconsideration has posted an updated timeline of the Pepsi vs CocaCola logo. Thanks for the tip off Jon.

4. Versatile

An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo should be able to work both in horizontal and vertical formats.

Ask yourself; is a logo still effective if:

• Printed in one colour?
• Printed on the something the size of a postage stamp?
• Printed on something as large as a billboard?
• Printed in reverse (ie. light logo on dark background)

One way around creating a versatile logo is to begin designing in black and white only. This allows one to focus on the concept and shape, rather than the subjective nature of colour. One must also remember printing costs – the more colors used, the more expensive it will be for the business over the long term.

I like to work first in black and white to ensure that the logo will look good in its simplest form. Color is very subjective and emotional. This can distract from the overall design – say if you saw your logo in all red, that color may be the first thing that you respond to and not the composition of the design elements. I will not even consider submitting color suggestions to a client for review until they have signed off on a final black and white logo.

~ Patrick Winfield

One should also familiarise themself with the commercial printing process so as not to come into printing problems further down the track. Learn to know the difference between the CMYK, Pantone and RGB color systems. When designing logos, the Pantone colour system is recommended.

5. Appropriate

How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, if you are designing a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & colour scheme. This would not be so appropriate for a law firm.

It is also important to state that that a logo doesn’t need to show what a business sells or offers as a service. ie. Car logos don’t need to show cars, computer logos don’t need to show computers. The Harley Davidson logo isn’t a motorcycle, nor is the Nokia logo a mobile phone. A logo is purely for identification.

For further evidence of this, take the top 50 brands of the world – 94% of the logos do not describe what the company does.

Paul Rand also has a say on this topic:

Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. A logo derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.

~ Paul Rand

What makes a great logo in your opinion?

From: http://justcreativedesign.com/2009/07/27/what-makes-a-good-logo/

We all love a well-designed webpage. The days of ugly, drab listings are over. It’s all cool now.

Well, that thought struck me when I saw this UK Government site addressing the issues of student loans.

Initially, I might have cheered this swanky design for a government website. But what bothered me later, is how the design may not at all be in tune with the message, with the subject matter.

Not to go into politics too much, but from what I gather, student loans in the UK have not been very popular. A new law was passed that makes costs and pay-backs heftier for the students, and protests (and even riots) were all over the news.

So, when a subject is that tricky to touch on, does it warrant a ‘pretty design’?

I can’t help but think that a ‘look and feel’ like this would in fact work adversely on its audience. But the same goes for all matters of social and public services: does Amnesty International need to look cool? Does cancer research need a cutting edge logo? In fact, did Obama need the visual identity his campaigners applied so well?

Here, is part of a redesign for something called the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

It’s a great example of data visualization of public space “through dif­fer­ent dis­ci­plines of geog­ra­phy, art, sci­ence, and architecture”. But this is a conceptual project. Would it be the right design choice for examining “the often overlooked and seemingly desolate fringes of Los Angeles”?

As designers, it seems we sometimes lose sense of the boundaries of what belongs on Dribbble, and what is appropriate for a public, mainstream website.

It’s no crime to design with style. However, what happens to professionalism when everything you do has to impress your peers, rather than work in function of the intended audience?

Let’s finish with an elaborate quote from what Andy Rutledge in Design Professionalism calls the ‘Sports Culture’ in design.

The unhealthy preoccupation with industry or association contests and awards is a common mistake that leads designers into unprofessional practices and distorts functional ideals.

[...]

Yes, it is heartening to be recognized by your industry peers, yet only seldom are awards and recognition based on the efficacy of a design’s results. Therefore most of this activity hovers around decoration and daring.

That, to me, is spot on.

Designing is a great job. It’s work hard, play hard. But it’s not all play, and only the true professional will realize that and work accordingly, delivering work that is not just pretty, but good.

We can all be good, professional designers, but we need to want to work on becoming that; not just act it out on Twitter.

From: http://journal.drawar.com/d/the-boundaries-of-pretty-design/ ]]> http://www.sothink.com/blog/the-boundaries-of-pretty-design/feed/ 1 http://www.sothink.com/blog/one-click-to-download-online-flash-with-100-free-firefox-4-add-on/ http://www.sothink.com/blog/one-click-to-download-online-flash-with-100-free-firefox-4-add-on/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:53:12 +0000 Sothink http://www.sothink.com/blog/?p=3815 With Firefox 4 release, Sothink Flash Downloader for Firefox, as a free Firefox add-on, tightly follows its steps to upgrade its version to 1.5, which is compatible with Firefox 4, and helps the viewers download online Flash from Firefox 4 smoothly.

To save Flash from web with Flash downloader, this is the easiest and totally no-fee method to get those amazing Flash movies.

Let us analyze the normal download methods:

• Get Flash URL; input it in address bar of browser to save Flash movie

• Install download software to download your favorite SWF

• Open the Flash webpage, and enter the related “Temporary Internet Files” to find SWF file

With Sothink Flash downloader for Firefox, we can say “no” for the above complicated operations to download Flash; instead, we can save Flash in easy and fast way.

1. With Flash webpage open on Firefox, Flash URLs are detected automatically;
2. Just one-click to save Flash movies to the target local disk;
3. Download multiple Flash SWF at the same time;
4. Flash downloader is available on Windows and MAC;
5. Support multi-language interface: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, Traditional Chinese, Korean and German
6. Directly saves online SWF, and converts SWF to FLA file (Sothink SWF Decompiler installed)

Two steps to save online Flash:
1.    Open Flash webpage on Firefox, all Flash movies will be listed in sidebar automatically.

2.    Right click the Flash movie in the Sidebar and select “Save..”. to save Flash movie to local disk.

Learn more to use Sothink Flash Downloader for Firefox >>
Sothink Flash Downloader is an absolutely good choice for Flash download after viewing above comparison; in addition, it is totally free, why not download Sothink Flash Downloader for Firefox to experience it? I believe you will like it.