Funky Friday Collection – 3 April 2009

Here’s the latest selection of the coolest stuff I found on the web this week. Hope you enjoy.

Design Inspiration

Lonely Tweet | Comforting Lonely Twitterers

So many Twitter services and applications are about a big mashup of information and collating information on lots of Tweets. This site is a really beautiful way of presenting the individual activity of the overall Twitter feed. It can be quite hypnotic.

My Faucet Is Better Than Yours : Yanko Design

The best inspiration is often not something digital at all. Here’s a showcase of how something as simple as a faucet can be reimagined with great style and new functionality. Very cool.

The Dollar Dreadful Family Library

I’m a sucker for vintage, Victoriana, retro or steampunk style designs, and I know how hard they can be to implement in a digital medium. This is a great site that’s not just reminiscent of 19th century newspaper styles, it’s a near perfect replication in webpage form.

20 Unique Ad Designs You Might Not Have Seen Yet : Best Design Options

Some superbly original and engaging advertising here, with inspiration for all kinds of design mediums. I particularly like the Ashtanga Yoga Centre Ad and Temple.

Design Technique

Guidelines For Developing Your Own CSS Framework : w3avenue

CSS frameworks are something I kinda use, but probably not as effectively as I should. Any web design should take the time to look over this article on the best practice for putting together a CSS framework for efficient work and fast web development. The best article on the subject I’ve found.

Redesign Your Portfolio Site : freelancefolder

A designer’s portfolio is most often the first impression they give to the world, including potential clients. Yet there’s many shoddy or uninspiring portfolio websites around (I know I’m far from entirely happy with my own portfolio section). Here’s some great advice on how to punch up your portfolio to put your work in the most light possible.

6 Things To Include For A User Friendly Footer : UX Booth

A site’s footer is often put in at the last minute, or just seen as a minor add on to the overall design. It can be much more than that though, as an integral part of the over design both in style and functionality. Here’s a handy guide to make you think about how to use page footers more effectively.

Design Resources

50 Excellent Image Galleries You Can Use Today : nettuts +

A great collection of image galleries that you can easily plug into a web page design to better showcase your pictures.

Freelancing

Why Most Designers Will Be Freelancers Within 20 Years: freelancefolder

I decided to take the plunge recently, and apparently I’m far from alone. An examination of the trends that make it likely that the freelance route will become more and more common in the design industry.

Social Media

Condition Readers To Share Your Content : TheFutureBuzz

You’ve got a great blog, and you’ve even got a few readers. How do you go about extending that initial success so that your blog becomes one of the ones where people want to share all your posts? It increases your audience massively, gives you greater authority, and can only be beneficial. Here’s how you go about training those readers to share!

Geek Interest

If Web Browsers Were The Super Friends : Download Squad

There’s a lot of browsers out there these days, and everyone seems to have an emotional investment in the tool that they use. Here’s an amusing piece comparing each of the browsers to a superhero, and some surprisingly accurate insights!

In addition to all the web pages linked to here, I’m choosing one of my favourite Flickr images from the past week available under Creative Commons. This week’s original image is by Flickr user natalia_gustafson.