Rollip.com has a very simple and user-friendly interface. Just sign up with your email address and you’re good to go. To take you on a walk-through of the service, I have set up an account so I can apply this very cool pencil-sketch effect on a digital photo. Here you can see the result of the effect I applied in a matter of seconds:

As soon as you log in, you can browse through and select from a expansive range of digital photo effects including vintage, black/white filters, or even make your photos look like old Polaroids. To get the sketch-like effect like the one shown above, navigate to the Extreme Stylized effects and select the pencil sketch effect.

By clicking one of the previews, it will take you to a page where you can upload your photo. It will open a window for you to easily select the image to process and after a few surprisingly short moments, it will be uploaded to the site and processed.

After the image is uploaded, Rollip will show you a preview of the effect applied on the original photo. By pressing the Click here to process in high-quality button, Rollip will further refine and process your image again, applying the full high-quality effect.

Rollip is truly a remarkable tool for amateurs and professionals alike. It brings the best out of everyday digital photos right on the web and it has great potential to become a very powerful and widely used service. Never before has a professional service for photographers been so easy and versatile. I look forward to Rollip’s future developments and prospects and experiencing its many yet-to-be announced features.

LOOKS.GD is giving away free premium Rollip accounts loaded with 30 credits (original price US$5.98). Quantities are limited and they will be distributed on a first come first serve basis. To sign up for the sweepstakes, subscribe to our feed by email here. Enjoy!

Francesco Poroli

Glenn Addicott

James White

Jon Mutch

kaneda99

Laachi

Lovevla

mamjed

Nicholas Guarino

seventhfury

Hello LED

Pencil

Hug a Panda

Fold It

Elephant Talk

NorthColour

talkmore

Arrowfish

Wiesinger Music – Piano Service

Greener

Elevate Night Club

Multiformat

Mouse Universe

Woodenhouse

Silent Monkey

Zip

Taurus Construction

Shift

illusion

BarCode

Ed’s Electric

Time Watch

Evolution X

Act Research

David Gheorghita: Hi! First of all thanks for the opportunity of being interviewed on LOOKS.GD. I discovered your website a few weeks ago and since then I’m checking it regularly – I’m impressed with the quality of the articles.

I was born and I currently live in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Maybe most of you never heard of Cluj-Napoca, but is the fourth largest city in Romania and is the capital of the historical province of Transylvania. If you want to see some old pics from Cluj-Napoca you can check out www.iubesteclujul.com.

I studied journalism at university but when I started my studies I never thought that I would become a graphic designer. In 2003-2004 I started playing in Photoshop and doing wallpapers for a Dream Theater fan wallpaper website called dt-x.com (it’s still online) and since then, my interest for graphic arts constantly grew and developed. In February 2005, I heard on the radio that a music production studio from Cluj was looking for a graphic designer to hire. I put some of my works on a CD and I went to the studio. I was really nervous because I was afraid that I wasn’t experienced enough for that high level of work (and to be honest I wasn’t!), but they really liked my stuff, so I got the job instantly. From February 2005 to August 2007 I designed over 100 CD/DVD covers, made all the promoting materials for the bands, posters for tours (within Romania or European tours as well), fliers etc. The thing I didn’t like about this job is that many of the projects were urgent; sometimes I had to make a CD cover in a few hours and send it to print because the artist needed the CDs urgently. So I couldn’t experiment and create as much as I wanted so in the summer of 2007 it was time to move on. An art director job was open at an advertising agency. I got the job and working there was cool. The agency had clients from  some pretty major companies and I learned many things about advertising. Unfortunately the agency had some bad management issues and I decided to leave and since then I’ve been working as a freelancer.

Have you always been artistic since childhood? Or was it something you have discovered later in life? How have you evolved as a designer since then?

D.G.: It’s weird because during my childhood, I kinda sucked at drawing and stuff; my drawing teachers’ old-fashioned methods didn’t really attract me and we were never challenged, so I wasn’t passionate about it. But the taste for art grew when I started to work as a designer; the whole perspective about visual arts has changed because I was starting to be a part of it. Doing design almost every day for the past four years helped my skills  evolve and develop a lot.

What does your typical day look like? Do you follow a specific routine or schedule?

D.G.: Being a freelancer has some advantages and one of them is that you can use your time however you want, make your own schedule that fits your needs. I hate routine, you know, waking up at 7 AM going to work at 8 AM, coming home really tired at 5 PM and so on. Doing this for a few years can really drive you mad. Usually I work in the morning taking breaks for checking what’s new in the design world. This is the same for working in the evening or at night. I also like to go out every day even if it’s just for a few minutes to go buy something to drink or something.

Can you describe your work? What is your favorite style of digital art?

D.G.: I’m attracted to traditional painting and drawing techniques like brush strokes, stains, splatters, watercolor, paper, textures and so on, so that’s what I’m trying to reproduce in my works. I also like vintage style in graphic design. I dream of having my own art studio with traditional painting tools and Wacom tablet to make the transition between traditional and modern techniques easier. I don’t know if my works are good enough to be called art but I really like to think that there are people out there who would like one of my works on their walls.

Who are some designers you admire and why? Have you ever had opportunities to work with any of them? If yes, how was it and what did you work on?

D.G.: Designers I admire? Wow, there are so many great artists out there that it would be really hard to name all of them. I love the works of David Carson, Lasse Hoile, Robert Lindström, Si Scott, Raphael Vicenzi, Alberto Seveso, Vlad Gerasimov and many, many others.

I didn’t have the opportunity to work with other designers, but I’d like to. Although, I did work a few years ago with an amazing artist, the sculptor Liviu Mocan. I designed a CD cover with one of his works on the front cover, and it turned out great.

How are you inspired? Any websites, artists, or things in real life that are your favorite sources of inspiration?

D.G.: Most of the time, my inspiration comes from the internet – there are tons of galleries and articles that showcase best the designers out there. Twitter also can be really useful when it comes to inspiration, there are many designers that tweet inspirational articles and other useful resources. Of course I can also be inspired by the things in real life, such as things I see around me and in nature. A flock of birds for example can be really inspirational; I use birds in many of my designs.

Music also can be really inspiring – it can take you to a certain mood and influence your work a lot. I love well designed CD covers; for me music and visual arts were always connected. Interpreting a piece of music visually is a real challenge.

Paintings also inspire me, I have some favorite contemporary painters that I admire like Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock, Wasilly Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt and so on.

Which project in your career are you most proud of? What are you working on right now? And what would you see yourself doing in 5 years time?

D.G.: I think my favorite stuff from my portfolio are the personal projects, which I made for myself and not for a client so I was not limited by anything. I’m proud of my Mutatio Mentis poster, and PT series posters (lazarus, what happens now & heartattack in a layby). I’m also really satisfied with the poster I made for Paula Seling’s concert. I think those are the designs that I’m most proud of.

Right now I’m working on a web design project and two logos that need redesigns.

Besides design, music is a really important component of my life. I’m currently playing drums in a band so in 5 years I see myself touring with my band or working in my art studio that I was talking about earlier… who knows?! Both sound great : )

What is your opinion on social media and how has it influenced your career?

D.G.: I didn’t pay much attention to it and didn’t realize its importance until a few months ago. I’m still learning how to use it and I continue to be amazed by the fabulous power of social media. I started using twitter just a few months ago when I didn’t really know what twitter was about and now I’m blown away by the amount of information that comes to me within seconds! Unbelievable! I’m still a beginner when it comes to social media but I started to understand how to use it. By the way my twitter username is @colourofair, if any of your readers want to follow me (I tweet most about design and occasionally about good music).

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts and advice you wish to share with our readers?

D.G.: Well this was my first interview so I hope your readers didn’t fell asleep while reading this : ) And thank you for taking interest in me and my works, I had a great time sharing this stuff. In the end I have something for your readers, a quote by Pablo Picasso that somehow represents me: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

Thanks again to David for doing this interview with us, here is where you can find him on the web:

• David’s Website | Portfolio
• Twitter (@colourofair)
• Behance
• Flickr

Nike Run

Mars Chilled

BMW of Bridgeport

Coop’s Paint (Nationwide Insurance)

Silberman’s Fitness Center

Cingular

Smart ForFour

Coca-Cola

Bic Shavers

Puma

WWF Paper Conservation

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate

McDonalds Open 24 Hours Campaign

Nestle Chocolate Products

96.3 Rock Radio

Duracell Batteries

Bergmann Funeral Services

Sharpie Permanent Fineline Markers

Mr. Clean  Crosswalk

Lego Building Crane

Guinness Beer

Sony PSP

IKEA Billboard Ad

FedEx

Liquid Paper

The Day After Tomorrow (Film)

Anti-Drunk Driving Advertisement

Formula Toothpaste

Miele Vacuum Cleaner Billboard

Eskom Energy Conservation Ad

Floralp Butter

Sources

14 Creative Advertisements – Toxel.com

Clever and Creative Billboard Advertising – Toxel.com

Creative Ads – Zuzafun.com

Creative Advertisements Around the World – Hemmy.net

15 Creative Ads in Unusual Places – Oddee.com

2. Catwave

3. Colourful Autobahn

4. Composition #72

5. Cubes

6. Currently Occupied by David Lanham

7. Hexo

8. Helvetica by I Love Typography

9. Illumination

10. Influx

11. Retro Wood Wall

12. Sous-Verres

13. -Stop-

14. Untitled by Super Silo

15. Untitled by Volll.com

16. With

17. X3 Studios Wallpaper

(Image courtesy of Novague Design Studio)

Rocking Shell Chair by Novague Design Studio. You can check out more of their works at http://www.novague.com/

Contrastingly, if you look at volll.com, you can see the site uses a lot of comic-like illustrative elements but they are not necessarily used for branding purposes.

The following is a list of websites I have compiled that creatively uses illustrations and mascots to enhance their design and build their brand.

MailChimp

The MailChimp mascot not only effectively represents its company and product, but also depicts the company’s efficiency and competence. The great visual appeal of the mascot makes customers want to use the product and trust the brand. This is easily one of my favorite mascots on the web.

Freelanceswitch

In one form or another, this mascot appears on every single page of this website. Having different variations of the mascot (for example the same character doing a different action or holding a different prop) throughout the site makes it more interactive and fun for the audience.

Joyent

Joyent.com uses characters in a cartoon style although they were not intended to be used as mascots as different characters appear on each page. These illustrations are merely used to embellish the site design.

branded07

Rob Palmer’s represents himself with a cartoon puffin bird as a mascot in his web portfolio. The bird appears throughout the site in different variations – sometimes holding up signs and sometimes burrowed in the sidebar.

Cork’d

Another example of a simple, yet effective mascot. This one depicts a person holding a wine bottle. It is positioned beside the site features to encourage new users to sign up to the site.

volll

I want to conclude with this particular site because not only is it beautifully illustrated, the site layout is so creative and ingenious.

Putting characters and mascots in your designs can effectively change its look and feel. There are no definite rules for implementing mascots/characters in a web design, but keep in mind that you should always design to fit the purpose. If it is a company mascot, it should convey confident expressions and shouldn’t have negative expressions as it must represent the company in a positive way.

This app allows you to take a photo, select photos from your existing library, or snap a web page and share it online using QuickSnapper. You can tag your photos and add information to them before sharing them online.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Groups – $2.99

Groups is a highly innovative contact management app. With Groups you can drag and drop to sort your contacts into groups and sync them with your computer.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Convertbot – $0.99

Although there are many unit converters for the iPhone, Convertbot is much unlike its competitors. It sports a wheel dial interface offering a fantastic user experience and user-friendly data input buttons making it one of the best and most attractive converter apps out there.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Weightbot – $1.99

From the creators of Convertbot, Weightbot is a weight-monitoring app for those who want to lose weight. First you set a goal and record your weight at any interval and monitor your progress on a graph.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Facebook – Free

The official Facebook app makes connecting with your friends on the go easier than ever. This app allows users to chat with friends, upload/view/tag photos, and much more.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

cliqcliq Colors – $2.99

This is a must-have app for developers – an innovative color scheming tool with a friendly interface and practical design.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Inquisitor – Free

Inquisitor speeds up and simplifies your web search with an easy to read and easy to use clean interface.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Guitar Toolkit – $9.99

Guitar Toolkit is a collection of essential guitar utilities. It includes a guitar tuner, metronome, and a vast library of over 1500 chord variations.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Remember the Milk – Free

A task manager app for the iPhone. Organize upcoming tasks, view tasks that are located nearby, and add and complete tasks on the go.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Things – $9.99

Another task manager for the iPhone. This feature-packed app also allows users to sync wirelessly with the desktop version of Things via Wi-Fi.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Ego – $1.99

An app that checks your web statistics. It supports Google Analytics, Google PageRank, Twitter, Feedburner, Mint, and Squarespace useful for website developers and owners.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Cities – $0.99

This app allows you to see what time it is in other parts of the world and compare the times in the perspective in any other city including your own.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Cha-Ching – $2.99

A budget management app with a simple and clear interface. It features location based transaction entry and beautiful, easy-to-read budgets, and ability to manage all your accounts on the go.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Tweetie – $2.99

Tweetie is a Twitter client for the iPhone with an incredibly well designed user interface offering many features such as viewing timelines, multiple Twitter accounts, and many more.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Classics – $0.99

A reader for timeless literature classics. The interface is cleverly designed to even look and feel like a real book!

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Beats – $1.99

Working out the BPM (beats per minute) of a song couldn’t be simpler—just tap along with the song. Unlike some other counters, Beats uses intelligent averaging that hones in on the correct BPM the more you tap.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

iStat – $2.99 $1.99

With iStat, you can remotely monitor your computer’s CPU, memory, temperature, fan speeds, and any vital stats straight from your iPhone. You can also view your iPhone’s own stats for memory, disk space, etc.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Night Stand – $1.99

Nightstand displays a vintage LCD clock on your iPhone with 2 variations: flip clock and vintage LCD display. The built-in smart alarm does everything from waking you up to keeping you awake.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Satisfaction Remote – $1.99

Satisfaction Remote is a customer service community that helps people get the most out of the products they use. It encourages companies to get real with their customers.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Where To? – $2.99

A slick and intuitive app that offers points and interests around you based on your current position.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

Delivery Status Touch – $2.99

This is the ultimate package tracking app that lets you track your packages from UPS, FedEx, DHL, TNT, and many other shipping companies. You can also track orders from Amazon and Apple before they even ship.

Visit Website | Get it at the App Store

A successful color scheme is key to building the mood and atmosphere for any kind of design. A common mistake that is often made by web designers is that they overlook the importance of a well-planned out color scheme. The choice of color not only affects the aesthetic appeal but also user experience of the target audience.

Many experienced web-designers have learned that colors should be relevant to the purpose of the design and correspond to the mood of the content. For example Feed Stitch uses bright and vivid colors from the spectrum to illustrate a lively and fun mood, which is directly linked to its purpose of combining different syndication feeds into one unified feed.

There are times and situations where there is a need to hold back and put a restraint on using bright and eye-catching colors as it is just not appropriate for the design. There are other ways of achieving quality with less exaggerated color schemes. Ploc Media is a fine example for this – The aqua marine blue emphasizes the product/service on the dark grey design. The designer effectively highlighted the primary focus of the website by creating this contrast.

Deciding on a color scheme can be difficult so designers should constantly experiment and find out which hues go well together, but at the same time making sure the colors are relevant to the product/service the website is promoting.

Spacing and Negative Space

Just because there is an empty area, doesn’t mean it has to be filled. Design elements should be spread out and clear. Even the space between text can make a huge difference to the overall appearance of the website.

White space on a page is often called negative space (and isn’t always white). It balances the overall layout and adds contrast to the page. Magazine adverts for luxury items like expensive cars and watches laid over a 2-page spread often make use of empty space to accentuate the product making it appear more elegant and chic. The Digital Mash website is an example of a well spaced design. The header navigation and the links at the bottom are well spaced, yet the elements are not too far away from each other making it a very practical design also. The main graphic exhibits a lot of empty space which doesn’t appear to be wasteful at all.

Another example of an excellently spaced design is the front page of Cultured Code. At the top you can see a user-friendly navigation bar with each and every item appropriately divided. Then, following a big gap is the heading and the 2 large icons that are also spaced evenly within each other. This creates a very welcoming yet simple front page.

Like color, spacing is really just another thing designers should experiment and play around with. The trial and error method can be used to find out what looks the best. Negative space also forces designers to display only the important content without cramming large amounts of information in a small space. Also, designing with a grid system or css frameworks such as 960 and blueprint gives designers the opportunity to learn more about spacing and understand the importance of it in quality design.

Typography

The appearance of the content is defined by the typographic choices made by the designer. It is up to the designer to make sure the text content is legible and easy to follow. Many people think typography is just about fonts but it is actually much more complicated than that. You also have to consider about the font spacing, the font sizes, and spacing (yes, here comes spacing again).

The Netsetter is a brilliant example of good typography in web design. Its combination of sans-serif and serif typefaces is outstanding. The paragraphs are well structured and each line is clear and readable. A heavy and bold font style used in the headings and titles give emphasis to the article. The spacing between each line and paragraph is optimal and makes the articles very comfortable to read.

Generally, the default values for font styles are not enough. For example the default line spacing is too little and doesn’t make large chunks of text very readable. The technique of changing the line spacing is called leading which originates from the printing press process where they placed lead bars of varying thickness between lines. Keep this in mind as it significantly affects the overall structure and legibility of the content.

Detail and Subtlety

Subtle additions to a web design can make such a big difference to an overall appearance. Web designers often focus on adding small, subtle details such as gradients, shadows, and inset pixel dividers. The following are examples of web designs that use these extra elements to enhance the overall design.

If you take a closer look at the borders and edges in Tutorial 9’s design you can see the designer added a 1 pixel highlight to the edges to make each section stand out on its own. It draws attention to the content inside the box and gives a sense of 3D and realism.

Deaxon and MetaLab Design are also great examples of design with pixel-perfect details. Especially with MetaLab, the user interface feels very interactive and slick.

Engage in best web design practices only at web design school Cincinnati.