lickynee Design

High-Res Canvas Texture

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:16:00 -0800

My newest Graphicriver file: A very high quality canvas texture scan. 1000×1600px at 300DPI. Don’t forget to rate and comment if you liked it!

Mobile UI: How to Redesign the Spendometer iPhone App

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:22:00 -0700

Mobile UI: How to Redesign the Spendometer iPhone App:

Great tutorial on mobile design. And it uses my textures!

3 Tileable Bamboo Textures

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:04:00 -0700

3 Tileable Bamboo Textures:

My newest item for sale on Graphic river!

Learning Java

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:15:10 -0700

I just started a introductory class on Java programming yesterday. It’s very exciting and I’m glad to begin doing some Object Oriented (OOP) stuff. My PHP knowledge has come in pretty handy, but also annoying with some minor differences in syntax that I keep forgetting. For example, in PHP, it’s very easy to spot variables because they all have a $ symbol infront of them. On the other hand, in Java, variables are variables because of where they are placed in the line. Very confusing :/

"Do not try to bend the spoon, that is impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth…..."

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:13:00 -0700

““Do not try to bend the spoon, that is impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth… there is no spoon””

- The Matrix

Stone Textures for $5

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:49:33 -0700

Please consider purchasing my set of 5 REALLY HIGH RESOLUTION 4000x3000px stone textures, which include three tileable images. DOWNLOAD HERE

3 Wood Textures and Bonus Tileable versions

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:56:30 -0700

3 Wood Textures and Bonus Tileable versions:

A few great wood veneer scans I made for GraphicRiver

"Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone."

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:52:28 -0700

“Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone.”

- Steve Jobs

Well, I finally redesigned the site

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:53:00 -0700

And it’s looking pretty good. I decided to stay with the white on wood theme, but made it look a little bit more modern. Tell me what you think. http://lickynee.com

Free Textures

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:01:00 -0700

A bunch of great textures I took from my backyard. You can download them at http://drop.io/lickynee_freetextures Enjoy!

Crap, Photoshop crashed

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:54:49 -0800

Well, I guess I won’t be using Photoshop for awhile :/

10 Threadsy Invites - be quick!

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:21:16 -0800

10 Threadsy Invites - be quick!:

Threadsy pulls your email, facebook, and twitter together

10 Great iPhone Apps for a Web Dev

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:33:00 -0800

I threw together a list of my favorite web development applications on my iPhone.

1. Ego

Description:

The Ego app is probably my favorite application in this list. Ego provides statistics for Ember, Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, Squarespace, Twitter, and Vimeo, all displayed in a beautiful easy to use layout.

Pros:

Great UI
Information from different sources in one place

Cons:

Information and statistics aren’t very detailed. For example, you can’t view bounce rate for Google Analytics

Price: $2.99

Link

2. Twitterrific

Description:

My twitter app of choice, Twitterrific also has a great UI and supports all Twitter functions (replies, RT, DM) and multiple Twitter accounts.

Pros:

Great UI
Multiple Twitter accounts

Cons:

In-app web browser is slow and laggy
Free version has advertisements

Price: FREE

Link

*Note: This is for the Free version, there is also a Premium version available for download.

3. Tumblr

Description:

Manage your Tumblog on the go! Access to your dashboard and ability to post pictures, text, video etc…

Pros:

All the functions that are on your dashboard (pretty much)

Cons:

Asks for location everytime it’s opened

Price: FREE

Link

4. Flickr

Description:

Upload and manage photos on your Flickr stream.

Pros:

Great for sharing pictures from your iPhone

Cons:

Asks for location everytime it’s opened

Price: FREE

Link

5. MobileRSS

Description:

My RSS reader of choice, it syncs with Google Reader.

Pros:

Beautiful UI
Easy to manage (folders etc…)
Screenlocking (for sideways reading :P)

Cons:

Advertisements (Free version)

Price: FREE

Link

*Note: This is for the Free version, there is also a Full version available for download.

6. Dropbox

Description:

This mobile installment of Dropbox is one of the most useful apps I own. Access any of your Dropbox files from your iPhone! I transferred all the screenshots used in this article to my computer using the Dropbox app.

Pros:

Syncs everything with your Dropbox account
Easy to download/view files

Cons:

Can’t upload/download multiple files at once

Price: FREE

Link

7. Photoshop.com Mobile

Description:

Photoshop.com is a light version of the desktop program, and allows retouching/effects on photos. This app is the mobile version, useful for taking a phone picture (which often look crappy) and making it look awesome.

Pros:

Cropping, effects, rotating etc…
Upload pictures to your Photoshop.com account

Cons:

Limited features

Price: FREE

Link

8. iHTML

Description:

Ever wanted to view the source code of a website on your iPhone? Safari mobile doesn’t support it, but fortunately there’s iHTML! You can view the source code of any web page, and turn your device sideways to view the source and the page side by side.

Pros:

Side by side viewing
Ability to email source code

Cons:

If accessing a site with a mobile version, you can’t view the source of the original site.

Price: FREE

Link

9. 1Password

Description:

Most web designers/developers end up having a ton of accounts scattered over all sorts of sites. 1Password stores your passwords securely in your iPhone.

Pros:

Secure
Lots of different account types available

Cons:

Expensive for what it’s worth. It was free for a short time, that’s why I have it

Price: $4.99

Link

10. Color Calculator

Description:

When designing a website, you often need access to some sort of color preview/tester to find the hexidecimal code for it. I used to just open up Photoshop to do this, but my Photoshop takes a loooonnnggg time to startup (all those brushes/fonts and crap). That’s why I find color calculator useful.

Pros:

RGB and Hexidecimal color previews
Simple, fast startup time

Cons:

Icons in the navigation tray are crappy

Price: FREE

Link

Conclusion

Well, I hope this helps you out! Comment to tell me your favorite web dev apps.

Update: Dropbox recently had a new update, it’s even better now!

URL ABC

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:59:52 -0800

Inspired by Amber Turner’s post, I decided to create a URL ABC list. An URL ABC list is when you find your most visited website starting with each letter of the alphabet. This is what mine looks like:

apple.com/trailers/
bit.ly/
creattica.com/
dictionary.reference.com/
explosm.net/comics/
forum.freelanceswitch.com/
google.com/analytics/
hulu.com/
iconfinder.net/
jeffrey-way.com/
kuler.adobe.com/
lickynee.com/
myows.com/
nbc.com/
outlawdesignblog.com/
php.net/
quia.com/
reddit.com/
smush.it/
tumblr.com/
urbandictionary.com/
vector.tutsplus.com/
webtoolkit4.me/
xmlforasp.net/JSCompressor.aspx
yahoo.com/
zbra.co.za/

I hope that tells you a little about what I am like :P What does yours look like?

5 Inspirational Minimalist Designs

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:33:31 -0800

“Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design…where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features”

-Wikipedia

Having a minimalist design does not mean it isn’t functional. On the contrary, minimalist designs are often more functional due to their ease of use. I have compiled a very short list of minimalist website designs that you should take inspiration from. Enjoy!

1. Joe Nyaggah | Graphic Design

Great use of whitespace, and has a great personality with the owls!

2. Agency Zebra

Beautiful UI and nice effects.

3. Knockout Designs

A flash based website, Knockout Designs has a great 3D slider.

4. Jeffrey Way

One of the only minimalist blogs out there, Jeffrey tried to create a layout without using any images at all! For the most part, he succeeded.

5. Panic Coda

One of the classic designs out there, the Coda website makes great use of icons and their iconic slider.

Why Google Buzz will Succeed

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:51:02 -0800

jeffrey-way:

Buzz will get right what Wave got wrong. At first glance, they’re two completely different platforms that really can’t be compared. One is essentially a Twitter copycat, while the other was meant to allow for real-time collaborations.

The problem with Wave is that it wasn’t integrated into Gmail from the start. By forcing people to access a different service - one that the majority of their contacts won’t be using - Google Wave was dead on arrival.

This is where Buzz can truly shine, and perhaps evolve over the next year into something more like Wave. With this method, unless the user disables Buzz entirely, it’s nearly impossible for a Gmailer not to participate in some form or another.

Case in Point

My mom is over fifty, and only has a very modest knowledge of computers and the internet; the extent of which being how to check/send email, and browse the web. Realistically, this is probably true for most people over a certain age bracket. To my amazement, within about ten hours of Buzz’s launch, she, without the urging of any of her tech savvy children, Buzzed!

My first thought was, “How does she even know about this?” The answer, of course, being that it’s impossible not to. When you login to Gmail, you’re immediately redirected - at least at first - to the Google Buzz homepage.

The Next Step

Buzz is definitely fun, and adds a community aspect that Twitter is fully missing. If someone I respect asks a question on Twitter - one that I’m curious about the answer to - the only way for me to review the responses is to perform a search for the creator’s username. How silly!

As I mentioned earlier today, Buzz has cleverly managed to position itself as the perfect median between Twitter and Facebook: more community, and less Farmville gifts. But with all that said, it still adds yet another social network to sporadically check through out the day. To truly succeed, in my opinion, Buzz, and specifically Google, must provide the official version of what Threadsy is trying to achieve: in one window, allow me to check my email, and send/receive messages on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, their native Buzz service. As soon as this is a reality, I’ve no doubt that it’ll become a full replacement for my Twitter client of choice, Echofon. Until then, it’s only another window - and I have enough of those!

Create a Torn Paper Effect

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:03:03 -0800

Often in grunge web design, the layout calls for torn paper. There are many ways to accomplish this effect, but the one shown here is one of the easiest and simplest methods available.

*note - I am re-posting this tutorial here since I have deleted my old blog

Introduction

Specs

Difficulty: Easy
Completion time: 5-10min

Requirements

Adobe Photoshop (any version I think)
Some kind of watercolor/grunge type of brush set. I’m sorry I can’t provide a link, I have sooo many brushes
this paper texture
and this cork texture

Step 1

First we start out with a new canvas, 500x500px at 72DPI. Name it “tornpaper”

Step 2

Next, open up the paper texture and draw a rectangular marquee around a portion of the image. Copy + paste it into our canvas. Use free transform to resize it so it fits with room on the edges.

Step 3

Now use the eraser tool set to brush mode and use your grungy/watercolor brush of choice. Use the edges of the brush on the edges of the paper, you may want to click several times in the same place to get it really cut out. Different brushes make different tears. Just play with it and see what you get.

Step 4

The paper we have now looks torn, but the remaining edges still look way too straight and unatural. Use a regular brush set at 50px master diameter at 90% hardness. Erase the very edges of the paper following the contours of the paper to make it look natural.

Step 5

Now for touching up. Personally, I think the paper is a bit too dark. Let’s make it whiter. Select the paper layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels or just press Ctrl + L. Change the settings to make it look something like this.

Step 6

Time to add a background that fits the paper! Open up the cork texture and drag it in the the canvas behind the paper. The scale is a bit off with the cork bits and the paper, so I used free transform to make the cork layer smaller. The cork ends up a bit bright, so I created a layer above it, filled it with black, and set it to 10% opacity.

Step 7

Next, we add a shadow to the paper. Duplicate your paper layer, place it behind the paper layer, and add a color overlay of black.

Then nudge the shadow layer down 10px and to the right 10px.

And add a blur by going Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use the settings below.

Now we’ve got a shadow!

Step 8

And finally, we’ll add a bit of writing. I used Lucida Handwriting set to a gray color (#ababab) at 80%. Then I rasterized the type, blurred it (Filter > Blur > Blur) and used the warp tool to make it look like it’s on the paper.

All done!

Quoted on Freelance Switch

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:00:53 -0800

One of my quotes was added to a post on Freelance Switch under “On the craft”. Check it out! http://bit.ly/dtXHKz

Welcome,

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:17:34 -0800

to the Tumblr blog for lickynee.com. I’m not sure what I will do with this blog, but I’ll figure it out eventually. :)