Seventhfury Studios Blog » Design

LemonStand Announces Beta Launch Today

seventhfury — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:43:31 +0000

I’m pretty excited for the guys over at LemonStand because today they’ve opened their product up for it’s Beta launch. LemonStand is a new e-commerce solution that employs the use of AJAX and PHP in a great package with a powerful CMS. I’ve been alpha testing since early November and I’m very impressed with the possibilities that LemonStand will provide for a new generation of e-commerce sites. Here’s a list of some of the features of LemonStand:

100% Customizable
Powerful CMS included
Easy to Use
Self Hosted, PHP/MySQL
Safe & Secure
Extensible, Modular Architecture

I first heard about LemonStand back in the spring of 2009. I was actively searching for a new shopping cart system to replace the Zen Cart system that I currently employ on my shirt site, Seventh.Ink. I came across LemonStand and was immediately impressed with their attention to detail on the design of their site. I bookmarked them and got sidetracked for a bit..

..Later in the fall, I resumed my search for a new shopping cart system. LemonStand came to mind, and I started following them on Twitter and Facebook. I was waiting for the Beta, but as the weeks went on I started to get impatient so I sent them an email asking when the Beta would be available to the public. Because the guys over at LemonStand are so nice, they told me that they would put me on a list of possible alpha testers due to my interest in the product.

Needless to say, I was pretty darn excited. Within a few weeks they had opened the product up to the alpha group for testing. I jumped on the opportunity and contributed as much as I could over the last few months, sharing my ideas on the workings of the product as I crafted my new Seventh.Ink test site. The result of this experience is fantastic, not only did I get the chance to get a step ahead on using LemonStand, but I felt that my contributions were helpful in shaping some of the functionality of LemonStand.

Today marks the first day in what I believe will be many great days to come for the LemonStand brand. They have a strong product, a great design, and they’re overall fantastic to work with. If you want to help promote LemonStand, you can write about them on your own blog or vote for them to Smashing Magazine to help get LemonStand more industry recognition.

Seventhfury Version 8 in the Works

seventhfury — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:13:27 +0000

Wondering why it’s been so quiet over at Seventhfury Studios? I’ve been hard at work redesigning both the main Seventhfury Studios site and the Seventh.Ink Shirts and Apparel site, both of which I’m hoping will launch before the year’s end. After these two beauties are deployed you can expect a surge of new work to come to both sites, so keep in the know by subscribing to the blog RSS feed or the Seventh.Ink Newsletter.

Graphic Designer vs. Client: The Sad Truth

seventhfury — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:36:48 +0000

Warning: Contains Offensive Language

But it’s so damn funny.

OMG, this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Every graphic designer out there either has had or is having this experience, it’s hilarious and sad at the same time.

Maybe we should all revolt!

Giant Pink Robot Site is Alive

seventhfury — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:30:04 +0000

I recently finished developing a portfolio site for my good friend Ryan Michlitsch, with whom I’ve worked on various illustrative collaborations over the years including Moonster, Survival of the Fittest, and Screw Work. Actually, by collaboration I mean that we collaborated on the theme of the illustration and then each came up with our own interpretation of the meaning. Need to get back into doing that..

So, Michlitsch designed this beauty of a site and I pulled it together using Flash and XML. Turned out pretty tasty, if you want to check it out you can visit the site at www.GiantPinkRobot.com.

Zombie Pub Crawl Site 2009

seventhfury — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:17:04 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when moaning and groaning drowns out the city sounds of Minneapolis, the time for brains, drinks, and zombie fun. That’s right, it’s Zombie Pub Crawl time.

The annual Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl will take place on October 10th in the West Bank area of Minneapolis, MN. This year they’re expecting more than 4,000 zombies, which is a hell of a lot more than the 400 that attended the first year that I went. This will be my third year attending, I missed out last year but I’m flying in for some good ‘ol zombie fun.

I’ve had the privilege of being the web designer ever since the ZPC crew discovered my fan site, which is sorely in need of an update. This will be my third year designing the site and this time I incorporated a bit of my own illustrative skill to the header area. The new site design is up and running, check it out at www.ZombiePubCrawl.com.

V.I.Z. Tickets

One of the new and exciting things about the ZPC this year is the chance to purchase V.I.Z. Tickets, which cost $30 and include the following:

- Guaranteed admission into the finale party at the Cabooze (value: $8)
- One Zombie Pub Crawl t-shirt (value: $12)
- One limited-edition ZPC poster, screenprinted and signed by artist David Witt (value: $20)
- Discount coupons to the Oak Street Cinema (check out their new late-night horror movie series)
- NEW: The first 30 people to order VIZ tickets will also get a free download of the “Zombie Pub Crawl” iPhone game!

This is a pretty sweet deal for anyone looking to score some killer zombie schwag. The total value of this package is $50+, so if you’re interested in getting a great deal you can purchase your tickets here.

Zombie Illustration

If you dig the zombie illustration that I did for the header, you can check it out in more detail here and also purchase it on a coffee mug, as a print, or on a variety of other items. If you dig it, check it out.

So, if you’re heading out to the Zombie Pub Crawl on October 10th, come and find me and we’ll have a drink together. I’ll be the one dressed up as a zombie.

Software Galaxy Site Launched

seventhfury — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:02:45 +0000

I recently finished working on a great Wordpress-driven site called Software Galaxy. The site needed to have a strong CMS, so we decided on Wordpress and it turned out to be a great learning experience because we pushed my the limits of my knowledge on how to incorporate Wordpress as a full CMS instead of just a blog setup. With the use of some great plugins we were able to get this site very search friendly as well, so that’s a huge bonus.

The Software Galaxy project actually started with a logo design and then moved into the site design and development. Here’s how the logo turned out:

Here’s a screenshot, I suggest you check out the site to experience its full functionality.

PolicyPak Flash Demo Launched

seventhfury — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:03:36 +0000

This post is a bit overdue, but I wanted to write about my experiences in designing and animating the PolicyPak Flash Demo for PolicyPak.com. I was approached to come up with character designs and a style to fit a script for the product, so I set off on a designing spree and ended up with a suitable cast of friendly looking characters. In the end we had quite a group, but it all started with five base characters:

These five base characters set the tone for all of the other characters in the demo, including a few of my favorites such as the security guards, the robber, and the blind man:

After a bit of studio time with voice actors and finding music suitable to accompany the demo, I set out to animate it in Flash, which turned out to be a huge production. Months later, the polished demo emerged as the largest project I have taken on to date. From character design to sitting in on the studio time to animating the entire demo, this project stretched the scope of my creative skills beyond its limits and gave me some exposure to new things. Here are a few screenshots from the demo:

Check out the demo in it’s entirety at the PolicyPak website and see what all the fuss is about.

Free Wallpaper – Don’t Fear the Reaper

seventhfury — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:37:33 +0000

Don’t Fear the Reaper, sometimes his intentions are good! This wallpaper was done for a contest about good vs. evil on DeviantART. Didn’t win, but was a good time anyways. Thanks to stockers:

mjRanum
Liz Vandhal
Miguel Saavedra
Juliane Riedl
Go Fish

You can download the full wallpaper package here. If you need help getting your wallpaper set up on your desktop, follow the instructions below.

Desktop Preview

iPhone Preview

Sizes included in the download package:

800×600
1024×768
1280×854
1280×1024
1440×900
1600×1200
1680×1050
1920×1200
2560×1600
iPhone Version

Directions for Mac users or Directions for Windows users

Tutorial – Creating Scrabble Game Pieces in Photoshop CS3

seventhfury — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:05:23 +0000

Ever wished you could use Scrabble® game pieces as a part of your designs? Whether you want to use them as a header or just as another asset in your designs, the followingtutorial will help you easily create digital versions of Scrabble® game pieces in Photoshop in around 20 minutes.

Final Image Preview:

Step 1

First, you’ll need a reference file. I used this CC image that I found on Flickr, it’s a good starting point because all of the pieces are laid out nicely in order.

Step 2

Create a new file in Photoshop at 72dpi with a width of 1024px and 854px. This is the same size as your reference file, so open that up and place it into your new file as the first layer. Give the reference layer a name, such as “Reference” so you can keep tabs on it. Once you have that taken care of, select your Rounded Rectangle Tool (press U) and set the radius of the rounded rectangle to 10px. Using the tool, drag a shape over the first game piece to make the shape we’ll be using. Once you have your shape, put it in a group folder by hitting the little folder icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (or by using the keys Open Apple+G on a Mac, Control+G on a PC, I believe). Name the group “A” as this is the group for the letter A game piece.

You can set your color to anything, it won’t matter because we’ll be using blend options to make the effects for the game pieces.

Step 3

Once you’ve got your shape you’ll be perfecting the styles and eventually replicating first game piece throughout so we have a uniform set. Double-click on the shape layer you just created and you’ll see the Layer Style palette come up. Check the box next to Pattern Overlay and choose the generic wood pattern that comes with Photoshop CS3. Leave the settings as they are, but keep the Layer Style Palette open–we’ll be using it for the next few steps.

Step 4

Next we’ll be giving a slight highlight to our game piece. Select Gradient Overlay in the Layer Style palette. Change the Blend Mode to Screen, the Opacity to 47%, and change the angle to 90º. You should be able to leave the other settings, compare to this image:

Step 5

Choose the Bevel and Emboss section attribute in the Layer Style Palette. Here’s where you’re going to change a bunch of settings. Set the Style to Inner Bevel, the Technique to Smooth, the Size to 5, and you should be able to leave the rest except for the shading colors. For the Highlight, set the color to D69A54. For the Shadow, set the color to D59C4B. Your settings should look like this:

Step 6

Next we’ll be adding Contour and Texture, located underneath the Bevel and Emboss section in the Layer Styles palette. We’ll combine this into one step as it’s pretty easy. For the Contour, simply set the Opacity to 50%. For the Texture, select the same generic wood pattern that we used in Step 3, then change the Scale to 127, the Depth to +26, and then check the boxes next to Invert and Link with Layer. These are pretty subtle effects, but they help with the overall realism of the game pieces. Here are the settings:

Step 7

Next, select Inner Glow in the Layer Styles palette and set the Opacity to 10%, the Source to Center, the Choke to 0%, and the Size to 51. You can leave the rest of the settings as they are, and they should look like this:

Step 8

The last thing we’ll be doing in the Layer Styles palette is add a Drop Shadow, so check the box and set the Opacity to 48%, the Distance to 0, the Spread to 0, and the Size to 5. We’re going for a subtle effect here, and it should look like the image below. You can finally close your Layer Styles palette!

Step 9

Next we’re going to lay out the letters. I used the font Univers 47 Condensed Light for my pieces, but as it’s a commercial font not everyone may have it. Do your best to find a font as similar as possible, as this one works pretty well. You’ll want a sans-serif font that is condensed to fit well into the pieces.

For the letter I set my Univers 47 font to 103pt and for the number I set it to 40pt. I also set the Anti-Aliasing to Strong for both. Set the paragraph alignment to Center Align for both so that you can center up the letter on the game piece and change it out easily for each piece. Be sure to put both of these layers into the group folder “A” so we can keep things organized.

Step 10

Once you center up the letter on the game piece and have the number where you want it, double click on the layer for the letter to pull up the Layer Styles palette. Check the Bevel and Emboss box and set the Style to Emboss, the Direction to Down, the Size to 5, and change the Highlight color to #EACEAD. You should be able to keep the rest of the settings as-is, but compare to the image below. Once you do this, hit OK and then copy the layer style over to the number layer by holding the Alt/Option key and dragging the “FX” symbol on the letter layer to the number layer.

Step 11

Now all you have to do is copy the folder you have for the first game piece 23 times and change out the letters and numbers! It’ll go much quicker if you select a folder and then hold down Shift and Alt while you drag the pieces to their new destinations because holding Alt and dragging will give you a duplicate folder and holding Shift will keep the folder in line. Also, I’d recommend laying out the top four pieces and then selecting all four folders and holding Alt and Shift to drag down 4 times. This will give you rows of 4 to work with and will speed up the process dramatically. Here’s the final result:

I hope this tutorial has helped you get an understanding of how to do this, and hopefully you will have picked up a few other new tricks along the way. If you want to post links to examples of work you’ve done after using this tutorial, we’d love to see them! Fill out your reviews and comments below to participate.

As an added bonus, here’s an example of how you can use the game pieces in a layout. This is a DVD cover that I designed for a family event, and the pieces came in handy for it:

New Wallpaper – New Year, New Game

Free Wallpaper – Screw Work

seventhfury — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:42:19 +0000

I actually finished Screw Work a while back but have gotten a few requests to put together a wallpaper package featuring this design. Ask, and ye shall receive.

You can download the full wallpaper package here. If you need help getting your wallpaper set up on your desktop, follow the instructions below.

Desktop Preview

iPhone Preview

Sizes included in the download package:
800×600
1024×768
1280×854
1280×1024
1440×900
1600×1200
1680×1050
1920×1200
2560×1600
iPhone Version

Directions for Mac users or Directions for Windows users