Digitalmash

Zero for hire

If you've come here looking for a guy pulling a ribbony-swirl of work, he's no longer working here.

HiiDef Inc. Identity

Any designer will tell you the hardest job you'll ever do is to design for yourself.

A New Page (& Year)

You may have noticed — it’s been pretty quiet round these parts.

Portfolio Building

So I’m being lazy by sharing emails instead of writing blog posts — but it’s been a busy time and with any luck there should be some exciting news at the end of it.

Ignorance Avoidance

Well that was the title of an email I received last week. I thought I’d share it because I get a lot of emails asking this sort of stuff.

Dynamic Columns

I get a lot of emails asking how I output the comments in a column format. Here’s how.

Flat Shadows

Another super-simple shadow trick in Photoshop for looking down on objects.

Upright Shadows

A nifty trick for shadows on upright objects that’s dead simple in Photoshop.

The real Jim Shady

Lately I’ve been getting pretty used to having my designs ripped. Doesn’t mean I dislike it any less.

Design with a point of view

I’ve been thinking more about Scott Stevenson’s great post debating Google’s approach to designing by data.

TweetDeck icons

TweetDeck is a great application with a pretty average dock icon. This morning I decided I’d whip up an pair of alternatives.

Get creative, you hack

So you’re reading this thinking it may be slightly interesting. Maybe because the title seemed catchy, but not because this applies to you.

MacUser Magazine

So I just found out Digitalmash has been featured in last month’s MacUser ‘10 of the best online portfolios’. Huzzah!

ExpressionEngine: Quick & dirty

So as I recently mentioned, I’ve finally made the move from WordPress across to ExpressionEngine.

Back in business

Well after a wild couple of weeks, I’m back in action.

Swiss for WordPress

Introducing a minimalist, image-free, grid-based theme for WordPress in three tasty flavours.

Stepping into web design

I get a lot of people on either sides of a university degree asking me advice on how to establish themselves in the wide world of web design.

Navigation spacing in Photoshop

Here’s a tiny trick in Photoshop for having evenly spaced text items for things like horizontal navigation menus.

.NET mag fame

So the lovely folks at .NET magazine got in touch recently to ask if they could include Digitalmash.com in the gallery section of their mag.

Design by numbers

I have a confession to make. Like quite a few designers, I’ve got a sprinkling of OCD about me.

Proper propaganda

Well it’s that time of year again. Things are winding up and for most of us, we’ll have a little time away from the grindstone.

Stats: One month in

Nearly two-thirds of people know statistics are boring.

Pimped!

Isn’t it nice when people do nice things and ask for nothing in return?

The ever-watchful subconscious

So I recently had a scary realisation when I noticed a very familiar diagram on the back of the shampoo bottle in my shower.

Designing for the web: 5 things I love & hate

For anyone thinking about starting a career in web design, I’d like to share 5 things I’ve come to love and hate about designing for the web.

Ripped!

Well, a little over a week into the new site, we have our first rip of my design. Sigh…

Fun with a tablet

No, I’m not talking about drugs. I picked up a cheap drawing tablet recently and thought I’d share my first experiments with it in Photoshop.

Incestuous design

Ok, I admit — it’s a title that could turn some people off. It’s going to be a nightmare searching for it on google. But dammit, if nothing else, it’s original.

A New Beginning

So here we are. The first blog post on a fresh newly designed site. It’s like sliding into freshly pressed bed linen.

Logo marathon

Sometimes (and I mean, only sometimes) the most grueling design jobs can be the most rewarding.

Making it real

This is the story of how one idea can inform a whole campaign and visual identity.

What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? Well, I would argue that if your product’s good, then probably not that much.

Tippin’ the Balance

How do you turn a 200-page manual into something athletes will want to interact with?