1. 
   http://www.letitbleedbook.com
   

   Just when I had decided that many recording company websites are very uninspiring, this little gem comes along, beautifully themed at that. The site is supporting a Rhino Records company commemorative limited-edition book of the 1969 Rolling Stones U.S. World Tour. The plain version goes for $650, unless your champagne tastes lead you to order the deluxe edition at $950, maybe there's a discount code floating around someplace?

   The Let It Bleed site is credited to Casey Sheehan of Expo Cooperative. The EC site was featured Week #10 on MostInspired.com.

2. 
   http://blogactionday.org/

   This apropos entry and design is known for challenging social awareness issues, and this years no different. The topic of discussion for this years blog participants is Poverty.

3. 
   http://www.train-ee.com

   A big fan of Michael Boyink's ExpressionEngine resources, this site's relaunch is look-ee-n... good! Here's a holla back from one a your peeps then Mike ;)

4. 
   http://crystalheadvodka.com

   What do ectoplasm, vodka, and Indiana Jones have in common? This is no riddle just an observation to go along with this mysterious site subject. The vodka is not so mysterious, drink too much and you'll be in big trouble, but the crystal skulls are a recent phenomena, due to the latest Indiana Jones adventure on film.

5. 
   http://www.nebulaawards.com

   Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. awards site.
   Interview with the designer: http://expressionengine.com/showcase/read/tony_geer_nebula_awards/

6. 
   http://www.artofdyingmusic.com

   It seems Canada's got all the kick-ass rockbands now days (Note to self look for more kick-ass rockband websites).

7. 
   http://www.2pitch.com

   From the possibly sligthly jaded Jeff Lupien, looks like an entertaining gallery pitch.

8. 
   http://www.datedesigner.com

   Build a better date, no you don't have to be Dr. Frankenstein or a modern day Prometheus. It just takes a little planning, and with the help of this application/website you'll be a natural to be yourself, and ask out that hottie you've been avoiding. You gotta love the Swiss Army cross logo.

   This site falls under the "why didn't I think of that..." category. I'm not sure who they got to input all the locations, they've done a great job though.

9. 
   http://www.felixlaflamme.com

   Just in time for Halloween, this "Illustrator to the Rockstars" website is particularly ghoulish. Felix is responsible for the art on the Psyhco Clowns guitar picks, and other notable ventures.
   ----------------

   That's all for this week, until next time don't forget to tune in to your favorite podcasts (truth or fiction) or burn your own. Back for the attack next week with more twisted adventures of a wanna-be web developer...

Technorati : Morbid Curiosity Design, Web Standards Design, Weekly Top Standards
Del.icio.us : Morbid Curiosity Design, Web Standards Design, Weekly Top Standards

Guidelines for Supplying Artwork

Sample general guidelines for submitting print design work to a print house.

Fonts

Convert text to paths, curves or outlines (vector art).

Support Files

EPS - Illustrator/Freehand: Fonts converted Tiff - Photoshop: Save as 300dpi at actual size. PDF - PDF/X-1 a:2001, high resolution (300dpi)

General Guidelines

BLEEDS -Files must include a 1/16" bleed area, if bleeds are desired.
For example, an 8 1/2" x 11 "full bleed document will actually be 8.625"x 11.125','to account for a 1 /16" bleed on each edge.

BLACK TEXT - For best results, black text should have a CMYK breakdown of 0 Cyan, 0 Magenta, 0 Yellow, 100 Black.
The quality of 4 color black text cannot be guaranteed.

TRI-FOLD MEASUREMENTS - Front: 3.7295 Middle: 3.698 Fold-in: 3.5725
Example Tri-fold: This method works with any measurement. I will use 8.5x11" because its common.
Take the width and divide by 3 (11 /3=3.667) Take a perfect third and add .0625" (3.667+ .0625=3.729)
This is the front Panel.Take a third and add .031 "(3.667+ .031=3.698) This is the middle Panel.The rest is the fold-in Panel.

LARGE BLACK AREA - For best results on printing large black areas, rich black (20 C, 20 M, 0 Y, 100 K) should be used,
for uniform ink coverage. Using only 100k can result in uneven ink coverage, and a black that is not as dark as it could be.

FULL COLOR - We require all text and photos fall within the safe zone. All non bleed items must be .125"from the trim.

BLACK & WHITE - We require all text and photos fall within the safe zone. All non bleed items must be .312"from the trim.

Acrobat Preflight & Output Preview - will help catch any corrupt fonts, missing links or black text issues.

More Resources

1. http://www.designshard.com/print-design/tips-on-pre-flight-before-sending-to-the-printers/

Technorati : graphic design, print design
Del.icio.us : graphic design, print design

1. 
   http://www.thefarmerandthechef.com
   

   A culinary event with a rustic wooden plank background design.

2. 
   http://www.intridea.com
   

   KISS principles are hard at work here... simple gets it done! Looking a little harder though and this site has quite a few added innovative goodies, like tooltip bubbles and a ratings/improvement box. The site has enlisted in the Save The Developers campaign for certain low-level browsers, which don't support the above mentioned goodies.

3. 
   http://www.dogfish.co.uk
   

   KISS again... this one-page flyer layout design is poppin' clean and uses a fresh & vibrant color palette.

4. 
   http://fall.tnvacation.com
   

   The TNvacation seasonal family of sites is now standard fare on most CSS gallery menus. This nostalgic Fall season portal is no different! They do just an excellent job of revitalizing these sites, year-in and year-out, while also linking to many regional city and county visitors bureau and tourist attraction sites. TNvacation rocks once again...

5. 
   http://www.seoweb.co.uk
   

   Pretty cool portfolio site, the interface on the work page is buttah... The main site navigation could use some hover effects though, plenty of attention to detail otherwise.

6. 
   http://www.floggedmagazine.com
   

   Poor flogged little puppy has lost his way. :(
   A continued influx of flogged designer work and creative points of view, should make this site-magazine an interesting place to visit occasionally and possibily gain some recognition for your own designs.

   Don't feel sorry for me, any of my designs that got flogged were a valuable experience, for better-or-worse, the client had to live with the design choices as well. It's good to be open minded about these things, eventually you develop a knack for selling a design concept, while taking criticism more professionally. After the cursing is over, it doesn't hurt so bad anyways. Learn to be a flexible design ninja ...just like Mr. Bill.

   Maybe you'ld prefer to try selling your design spec work, so rudely written-off by a client that didn't quite get it. Check out Mubs' post this week for tips on Where To Sell Designs, if you'ld rather go that route.

7. 
   http://www.tvrdek.cz/en
   

   I've never really cared for narrow-width site layouts, this one is something completely different, even though it's largely very narrow, oxymoronically speaking. Interesting concept, I can see this creating some visual trends as well.

8. 
   http://tastyplanner.com
   

   Besides tasty recipes this site has some divine web 2.0 interactive goodies, like Recipe Box, Meal Planner, Grocery List and desktop widgets. Yum-ee-ee!

9. 
   http://wpcoder.com

   An imaginative layout, with subsequent pages all done as pop-overs using the jQuery Thickbox.

10. 
    http://honker.evaneckard.com

    Another free WordPress theme brought to you by SmashingMagazine, this one called Simply Ornate was designed by Evan Eckard. Featuring a transparent foreground, so all things are possible for the background image -think upgrade, Prototype.js /Script.aculo.us enhancements, and some pretty cool StereoTabs (wow... that's a great blog and a new one on me, I need to venture away from the jQuery camp a little more often) in the sidebar.

    They are offering the theme with 5 different color scheme backgrounds, with the transparent foreground, many things are possible, maybe even a flash animated background, looking for a good tutorial link for that suggestion?

    
    
    

Technorati : Web Design Journal, Websites Gallery, Weekly Top Standards
Del.icio.us : Web Design Journal, Websites Gallery, Weekly Top Standards

1. 
   http://islandphotobooth.com

   This retro layout is quite well done, with all of the fun stuff a vintage-retro layout should have. It's a pretty good fit for the subject matter of the website.

2. 
   http://www.onefastbuffalo.com

   Another vintage website, this one with an overall antique vibe to it, you'll want to ignore the validator on this one, that and the all caps in the description meta tags and blinking navigation elements that results from not using a sliding-doors CSS technique. I do like this website though, with it's slide-in vertical navigation and various antique ornamentation, including a menu for changing the wallpaper background of the page. Catch OneFastBuffalo before this traveling wild west medicine show moves on to the next stop on the stage coach line.

3. 
   http://thefirsttwenty.com

   A really tidy and complete 1-page grid layout, using a lightbox to load content above the current page, resulting in showing the user many pages within a one-page layout. This non-profit site is somewhat a tribute to the fireman, while rasing money and awareness for a great cause highlighting the everyday heroic efforts of firemen, and creating needed resources.

4. 
   http://www.usataxdollars.com

   A nice little interface to give you an idea where your federal tax dollars are going in the USA, via a pie chart and detailed breakdown. Kind of cool actually.

5. 
   http://billyhughes.oph.gov.au
   

   Considering some of the government websites out there, this site should rate very highly! The site put up as a support site for an exhibition of past Australian prime minister Billy Hughes, who held the office from 1915 to 1923, when the country was enduring the horrors of the first world war. Marvelous little site, especially if you don't know much about Australian history.

6. 
   http://www.headconference.com
   

   Another web developer event to add to your calendar, October 24-26, 2008. This one is global and all you need is web access and $99 bucks. With some big names and major players, it looks like a pretty big deal. Check it out, the site credits are in the footer on the homepage.

Technorati : Website Gallery, Weekly Top Standards
Del.icio.us : Website Gallery, Weekly Top Standards