First, I would like to thank Carsonified and Lisa Price (marketing director of Carsonified), who offered a free admission to this year hottest design event — Future of Web Design, New York 2007. For those who don’t know about the FOWD event, it is a design event and workshop organized by Carsonified. They also organize many other events, visit their website for more details. Anyway, if you are going to the event, feel free to contact me and perhaps we can meet up. And if you haven’t registered, it is still not too late yet (couple days left).

PROCEDE® is the R.BIRD method for exploring creative strategies and greater possibilities. Its principles are drawn from more than a quarter century of experience and, not, merely invented for the sake of marketing. Our work at R.BIRD respects our Procede principles on every project. I’d like to share some thoughts with you on the fourth principle of Procede:

There are no wrong answers

A few people have asked me how did I create the sidebar menu on Web Designer Wall. Some people thought it was done by Javascript. Actually, it is just some basic CSS image replacement tricks. So I decided to write a tutorial on how to design and code an advanced CSS menu. Typically, a CSS menu either goes horizontal or vertical. In this tutorial I will show you how to utilize the CSS position property and place the menu buttons anywhere you want [...]

Patterns, our series of reports on observations in package design for consumer products is quite popular. In fact, the most popular report we’ve published is about Energy Drinks. The Energy Drinks report has been downloaded thousands of times and viewed online many thousands more. Our report on Energy Drinks documents our experienced observations on how the makers, marketers and designers of these drinks use visual cues to communicate and attract buyers.

Skipping through a recent issue of Real Simple magazine over lunch with R.BIRD creative director, Joseph Favata, our page-flipping was unavoidably interrupted by the stiffness - and thickness - of an “yellow tail” advertising insert (top-left-inset). Pulling on a tab embedded in the insert set off a series of yellow blinking lights on the tails of what might be lightning bugs. Curious, as always, we decided to tear this insert apart to find out what’s ticking inside.

Want to build a custom and dynamic WordPress theme as seen on my sites: N.Design Studio, Web Designer Wall, and Best Web Gallery? Check out my recent article, WordPress Theme Hacks on Web Designer Wall. I have listed most of the common used WordPress features (with code samples) such as Conditional Tags, Query Posts, Custom Fields, WP List Pages, and Page Template. Check out the theme hacks article [...]

I’ve always wondered why anyone with taste would pay thousands of dollars to publish one of those text-heavy, type-awful, full-page magazine advertisements void of any semblance of graphic design nuance or sophistication.

It is now a Design Observer tradition to host the best party at the AIGA Biennal Conference. This year's event is in Denver at The Milk Bar @ The Shelter. Friday, October 12 from 9:00pm to 2:00am. 1037 Broadway, "South of Colfax Nightlife District."