The Skinny

Exotico is a huge UI set that includes commonly used resources like navigation menus, buttons, ribbons, sliders, tabbed content areas, media player elements, and more. The set includes a few hundred individual elements all designed with care and attention to detail.
With Exotico you can quickly create high-quality designs using these pre-made elements. Each element is layered, allowing you to customize the text, colors, and sizes in Photoshop.

Some of the Goodies

The premium version sells for $19, and a free version is also available with a smaller number of resources. Both the free and premium version come with an extended multi-use license that allows for use on an unlimited number of personal and commercial projects, including items like website templates and WordPress themes.

The Contest

We’re giving away the premium version to 3 lucky winners!

HOW TO ENTER: Just leave us a comment below with what element of the package you’re most interested in using and you’re in!

Contest ends Thursday May 3rd @ 5pm EST

Can’t wait to use these awesome design elements? No problem! Go ahead and purchase the premium version NOW and if you win we’ll reimburse the cost for ya!

What the heck is FITC you ask? Let me (and by ‘me’ I mean content I jacked from their website) enlighten you!

Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.

The game has changed and FITC is on it! Featuring over 70 renowned digital creators from around the globe, FITC Toronto 2012 attendees will be privy to the knowledge of the best and brightest in the digital space. Covering everything from HTML5, to making digital art, this three day festival will leave attendees inspired to create in new and innovative ways. There will also be plenty of opportunities for networking at the legendary FITC parties and through chance encounters during the day—meet your next boss, business partner or employee.

Join us at FITC Toronto 2012 for:

• Three full days, plus one day of pre-festival workshops
• Over 70 presentations and panels
• Over 1200 attendees from around the world
• Legendary FITC parties
• The FITC Awards Show

Okay so now that you know how awesome this event is going to be, let’s help you get in there!

How To Enter

There’s a pile of amazing speakers at this years event (check them out HERE). So we want to know, which speaker would you most want to sit down and have a beer with!? Throw out a tweet with the speaker of your choice with this format:

Hey @Inspiredology I want to kick it with _______ at @FITC Toronto!
(Bonus points for including their Twitter handle!)

…and who knows, we might even be able to pull some strings to make it happen!

Inspiredology Readers Discount!

For the fabulous folks that sadly don’t end up winning, don’t worry, we’ve got some love for you! We’ve romanced the nice people at FITC to extend a 10% ticket discount, just use INSPIREDOLOGY during checkout and you’ll be on your way to FITC!

Contest ends Thursday March 29th, 2012 at 3pm EST
Enter as many times as you like—Thanks and good luck!

We went out and teamed up with some of our favourite companies that offer kick-ass tools for your workflow, as well as some cool things for your workspace.

The whole prize pack goodness is below; check out what’s in store and we will tell you how YOU can walk away with it! Thanks for sticking with us for another year folks, we hope we’ve given you a great year of content. YOU’RE the reason we continue to run this site and will continue to for the years to come.

Below is our whole prize pack is below:

THE GOODS

CanvasPop – 1 Custom 16″x20″ Canvas Print

The Skinny
CanvasPop is an amazing service that takes your photos and digital works of art, then prints them on a canvas so you can proudly display them anywhere!
There’s More — Head over to their Facebook page and ‘Like’ for a chance to win $30 in credit, just put the contest name as Inspiredology and you’ll be set!

HypeForType – $75 Credit

The Skinny
HypeForType is a premiere font shop that offer iconic, hand-crafted typefaces that can take a piece of work from good to great. HypeForType offers a veritable feast of fonts for anyone interested in experimenting with typography, designers getting back in touch with the classic skill, or brands looking to commission something to standout. See what all the HYPE is about!

Spinning Hat – Rubiks Cube USB Speaker

The Skinny
Just as cool-looking as the original, but with a lot less of a puzzle to figure out. Simply connect the USB cable to a computer for power and then connect it to any audio source with the built-in audio jack and you are on your way to audio bliss. For more awesomeness check out Spinning Hat!

InvisionApp – Membership

The Skinny
Create Beautiful & Realistic Experiences — whether you’re presenting wireframes or full-fidelity mock-ups, InVision creates an accurate picture of flow & functionality. Check them out over at InvisionApp.com and get started.

Themify – Developer 1 Year Membership

The Skinny
Our good friends over at Themify WordPress Themes have been long supporters of Inspiredology. With that said, they are throwing our lucky winner a 1 year developer membership to their amazing selection of WordPress Themes!

Scout Books – Rainbow 12 Pack of Notebooks

The Skinny
This beautiful box set contains twelve Composition notebooks in every color of the rainbow – plus a few fun extras! Perfect for a whole year of Big Ideas. Make sure to check out Scout Books Rainbow Pack for the full details.

UPrinting – 1000 Die-cut Business Cards

The Skinny
Uprinting are certainly leaders in the online printing space, and have been long time supporters of Inspiredology. Every creative needs a good business card. We showcase some awesome examples here in Cool Business Card Designs.

Sparrow Mail App for Mac – Full Version License

The Skinny
If you haven’t yet heard of Sparrow, you need to! It has changed the way I work with emails. Give this video a ‘play’ and you’ll see what it’s all about!

Sparrow Mail for Mac from domleca on Vimeo.

HOW TO WIN

Entering is a 2-step process this time ’round.
STEP 1: Leave us a comment on this post telling us your favourite post from this past year.

STEP 2: Retweet one (or more) of the below tweets to all your wonderful Twitter followers! A great chance to show our supporting companies some love.

The Tweets
Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to redecorate with a custom @CanvasPop print! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to crank it to 11 on my @SpinningHatLtd Rubiks Cube Speaker! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to elevate my WordPress with a @Themify Dev Membership! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to create better prototypes with an @InvisionApp Account! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to make email fun again with @SparrowMailApp! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need to jot down my ideas on some @ScoutBooks http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

Happy Bday @Inspiredology! I need some hand-crafted typefaces from @HypeForType! http://dert.ca/inspiredbday

The contest ends Thursday February 16th at 3pm EST. The winner will be chosen at random and announced in the Friday Fix post Friday February 17th.

Tuesday January 10th Fotolia is launching their TEN Collection. TEN COLLECTION  is a unique and original project that promotes digital art to the design community with an emphasis on education. Designers will be able to download a free PSD layers file, allowing them a rare and deep look into the techniques of a top digital artist. To create TEN COLLECTION, Fotolia gathered digital art, graphical resources and educational materials from around the design community. The initiative was made possible with the partnership of two major design communities: Wisibility and Amkashop. Each month for 10 months, one digital artist will show their composition, created from images available on Fotolia, in a layered PSD file. The 10 artists in this project have worked at top agencies, major worldwide brands, cultural events, and even in the film and arts arena (www.fotolia.com/ten).

Tune in on the 10th of every month to discover the process behind each new digital transformation! Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

• In-depth knowledge and information sharing
• Insight to all the materials, elements, and special tools each digital artists uses
• A full breakdown of how each graphic component plays a part in creating the final image
• A comprehensive understanding of how the digital artists uses special techniques and tools
• A “get-to-know” interview with each featured artist
• A FREE download of the PSD for 24 hours on the 10th of each month

Interview Soemone US/EN/EU from Teaser Fotolia TEN Collection on Vimeo.

Up Next
On January 10, digital artist Trust In Elements uses abstract, geometry, fonts and manipulations to deliver a unique style with surprising finishes. You may recognize some his work from working with high-profile brands such as Lacoste, visit his site: www.trustinelements.com

The Giveaway!

The TEN Collection is already a great way to give back to the design community, but we thought we could do one better! So we’re going to give away a 3-month membership to Fotolia’s collection of awesome stock photography (25 image downloads a month for 3 months)—pretty awesome deal!

How do I enter!?

As usual, we make it super simple: just drop us a comment in this post telling us what you’d use the stock photos for! You can also enter again through Twitter by tweeting this: “Hey @Inspiredology, I need some stock photos from @Fotolia! #inspiredstock”

Contest closes Thursday at 5pm EST. Winner will be announced in this weeks Friday Fix post, Good luck!

New Snapple Site Design

Now Thats What I Call Startups

365 Awesome Designers

ResIM

Dave Gamache

From The ThemeFolder

Inky Deals Bundle – $1394 for only $49!

Themify – 40% Off All Themes and Memberships

AppSumo – $250 of AppSumo Credit for $150

MightyDeals – Complete iOS App Dev Course – only $79

Banana Skins iPhone Skins – Buy One Get One FREE

$100 for $570 worth of Vectors from Go Media’s Arsenal

Let us know if you stroll across any other solid deals for designers and we’ll add them to this post throughout the day!

Toronto, Ontario Canada is becoming a pretty great hotbed of startups and top-tier creative agencies—one of my favorites being, Jet Cooper. One of the things that I became enamored with about them, from back-in-the-day, was that they didn’t have a website; merely a placeholder saying “We know we need a website, but we know that you need one more…” followed by some contact information. They have come a long way from those days and now have their own website that beams with style, personality, and quality!

The Jet Cooper Team

We had the pleasure of spending some time with one of their awesome designers, Chris Appleton (@chris_appleton). Striving to stray away from the typical “Designer Interview” online these days, we opted for more of a rapid fire sit down.

(Queue goofy mug shot)

Tell us about yourself and design background:

• From Curtis, Ontario – currently living in Toronto
• York-Sheridan Design Program
• Artwork in highschool, design in post-secondary (since 2004)

Favorite thing about working at Jet Cooper:

• The team, great people, and they make all the difference
• The types of projects I get to work on (early-stage tech, digital products in larger companies)

Least favorite thing about working at Jet Cooper (we won’t tell, promise):

• The team…people make all the difference
• Too close to too many great coffee shops, not helping my addiction

Design heroes / Websites that you tend to draw inspiration from:

• ffffound.com
• Geoff Mcfetridge
• Mike Giant
• Frank Chimero
• Dieter Rams
• Michael Bierut
• Christopher Alexander
• Always With Honour
• Charley Harper
• Jeff Canham
• Doublenaut
• Milton Glaser

Your ‘go-to’ visual effect or signature move:

• Trying to kill off all of those because when I notice myself doing something too often, it becomes too much
• Good to have people around you that call you out, our team is great for that…

What we’ll find in a flask you’re hiding in your JC desk:

• First of all, we don’t need to hide anything in a flask at Jet Cooper, but you’ll find scotch

One thing that the other JC team members talk about behind your back (this is investigative journalism at its best):

• Coming into the office sweaty from riding my bike in the morning

Glad to talk with Chris and experience a little bit of Jet Cooper (why do I keep thinking Sterling Cooper, Mad Men?) and hope you did too. Creative agencies like this are full of creative who simply love what they do and who they work with—JC and Chris are no different. Thanks for sharing.

I know what you’re thinking, ANOTHER printing contest. We get it, there’s lot of opportunities to get business cards printed online, so we made this giveaway a little more flexible.

One winner will receive a $100USD credit with NextDayFlyers.com. Don’t let their name confuse you, they print FAR more that just flyers. We’re talking many different sized posters, postcards, banners and of course if you are in need of a little calling card, they do business cards—all delivered at light-speed!

A glimpse at the goods!

Check out a huge selection of the printing services they boast!

How to Enter

Its simple (as always): Just like our new Facebook page (we even put the like button here for you). Or just comment below on what you are planning on doing with a $100 towards NextDayFlyers. Be sure to include your twitter handle or email address.

We will announce the winner in this weeks Friday Fix post! Not familiar with The Friday Fix?

Check out this weekly Friday Fix that hits the web every Friday full of design prowess.

$360 worth of Awesome for $29.99

That’s right people, not only is there a sweet bundle to get your itching hands on, but there’s also a chance to win an iPad2 to even further enhance your productivity (so when you’re relaxing with all your newly found free time, think of us)!

The fine folks over at MacStories wrote a bang-on description of the bundle contents, and even have some reviews they have done on some of the items.

The Productivity Bundle includes:

• Evernote Pro – Capture anything from pictures, notes, audio; access it anywhere you have access to a computer or mobile device; find everything fast with advanced tagging. The bundle deal includes 3 months of their Pro subscription (standard subscription is free). (Macstories review)
• Strongspace – A great backup solution to the cloud. Your precious data is always backed up, turn it on and you’re done. It even lets you share your files or a folder with one click. Like Time Machine, it also captures full snapshots of your data and if you need something you deleted, simply roll back.
• Sparrow Mail – A minimal and fantastic alternative to Apple’s Mail.app. Sparrow has multiple account support and a unified inbox plus full IMAP support, notifications and more. (Macstories review)
• Carousel – Okay, maybe not every app in this bundle is for being productive but one needs a break, right? Browse your Instagram Feed, Popular and Profile photos with a choice of great app themes. Follow and explore users, like, comment, moderate comments, and more. Keyboard shortcuts to quickly traverse your feed, like, comment, and more. Drag & drop to save full-size photos to your Mac, or iPhoto. (Macstories review)
• Alarms – A super minimal alarm app that’s simple to use and fun. It notifies you of birthdays, sync tasks with iCal, supports Growl and has customizable keyboard shortcuts. (Macstories review)
• Flow – A web-based task management app that works in your browser, iPhone or email. There’s no syncing required and you can collaborate with anyone such as family, friends, and coworkers, all in one place. The bundle gives a 1 year subscription to new Flow users.
• Koku – Easily manage all your personal finances by keeping track using the Direct Connect to safely download your transactions as they occur. You can also have your purchases tagged automatically.
• Grasshopper – A virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs that includes a toll free and local number with unlimited extensions. Call forwarding and voicemail is also included. Manage your account online or by phone with no hardware to purchase. The bundle gives your $100 credit towards their $9.95 and higher monthly plans.
• Nottingham – Need an elegant notepad for your Mac? This app is designed to be lightweight and easy to use and it keeps all your data safe by syncing to your iPhone and the web via Simplenote.
• Inbox Assistant – Extract meetings, tasks and other important events out of your emails while it automatically adds them to your calendar. Use Natural Language Processing for entry as well.

Win an iPad2

It’s also super easy to enter the iPad2 contest—Picking up the bundle enters you automatically, but you can double your chances by sending out a tweet!

There you have it! Get after it and goodluck!

We have been busy getting you guys some great, free stuff. AppSumo is lending us a hand on this one. This contest features Vandelay premier and is no exception to our high quality giveaways—and its super easy to jump in and try to win. Read on below for the details on how to start stacking up your repertoire of design goodies.

The Low Down

Not familiar with Vandelay Premier? No problem, lets get you up to speed, the short version. It’s a one stop shop for vectors, Photoshop brushes, icons, PSD templates and everything else that a designer needs at their disposal. A farm of stock imagery and graphics so there is a wide range to suit even the strangest or obscure of projects—and all yours to keep!

What You Get

• Vandelay Premier One Year Subscription ($99.00 for one year)
• Unlimited access to textures, brushes, vectors, icons, PSDs, and more

How You Enter

• Just drop a comment in this post (or Tweet) telling us what you’re most stoked about getting your hands on. Vectors, Textures, Icons, PSD’s, Brushes…?

That’s it—super simple! Contest closes Friday, August 19th at 5pm. Winners will be contacted via email or Twitter! Best of luck to everyone!