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!

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!

They are giving away 10×7 day subscription tester packs worth over $45 each to ten lucky readers. So that’s 245 credits or 35 credits a day. That’s enough to get over 80 medium sized images. This is a great opportunity for all designers. Stock photography works very well as image place holders or in particular, specific projects—they also work well for reference and have so many other great uses. Take advantage of this unique opportunity!

How can I participate ?

• Comment on this article telling us why you’d like to test drive Pixmac
• Or Tweet the comment “Test Drive Pixmac Subscription Giveaway with Inspiredology http://bit.ly/oFh5rH #TheLab @Pixmac”

We will then select the winners at random and contact you on how to go about getting your prize.

Good luck from the folks at Inspiredology and Pixmac Microstock!

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!

As a thanks for joining the team, we are offering a dribbble invite.

The dribbble community offers a lot to aspiring and veteran artists. A previous article I wrote on Inspiredology talks about dribbble’s infancy and the direction a newcomers role can play. You’re going to help push the dribbble community in new and positive directions. You are hardworking and dedicated, your designs will inspire and motive. Mere pixel pusher, no more. You are a player.

Here’s how to get drafted:

• Leave a comment below with a link to your portfolio—this can be personal, professional, or both!
• Follow me on twitter and tweet the phrase “Inspired for a @dribbble invite! The Inspiredology lab has one: http://dert.ca/qHixh3“
  

Dribbble is show & tell for creatives. Designers, developers and other creatives shareshots—small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on.

Winner’s Grand Prize:

• A dribbble invite to join the club!

We will make a decision on the 17th of August with an announcement of the winner on the August 19th Friday Fix. This should give you ample time to get some goodies online as well as complete any finishing touches on your latest. If you have any questions please feel free to post in the comments or send us a tweet and we will do our best to address. Thanks for competing and best of luck!

UPDATE #1: This contest is now CLOSED. We are currently finalizing our decision between all the great candidates. We thank everyone who participated, we will be announcing a winner on this Friday’s Fix (19th).

UPDATE #2: Thanks everyone for participating. Our winner has been chosen and this contest is now closed. Check out to see who won. We will have another contest should we fall onto another dribbble invite.

What makes this post unique is we have embedded the contest on this post, so you can navigate through the entire contest. You can view other submissions, rules, and contest details. When posting design contests we take them very seriously, we only stand behind the contest that are awesome, come on it’s Rod Stewart. Have fun!

We had a great response on this contest, and some great answers, and both Dan and myself picked the below four winners. Some great comments here – be sure to show us your finished projects when they are done.

Congratulations to:

Jamie @ Business Card Critic

I would put my website URL on one side, and each card with have a different code on the back, and when someone comes to the website and enters the code it will bring them to a unique page.

Rhonda Brown

I would like to promote my website templates with the business cards. I would start by printing several different images of templates I plan to sell on one side of the card and my contact info on the other, so that when I talk to particular clients I can offer them the opportunity to choose any particular design on the cards. Even if the template has been sold the cards can work as a showcase of my work.

Pascale

I would have a really intriguing photo on each card that when placed adjacent other cards creates a larger picture, like a puzzle. Then I would put a unique code on each card that when punched into my website, would show them which parts of the puzzle-codes have been punched in to date. If they want to see the whole picture, they have to check back. Even better if they send leads my way who then get their own business card and reinforce the process.

Contact info on the reverse side, of course…

I don’t know, but something interactive like that.

Matthew Mikulsky

[Concept Name: Pick a Card... Any Card.]

I’d make a deck of creative playing cards. Allow the person I meet to pick a card. Depending on the card they pick could result in winning free prizes. It could make the process really fun, and I really couldn’t do it any other way then using MOO! The card would be designed to look like a normal deck, but the king could be someone who looked like “Steve Jobs” the jokers could be “Bill Gates”. It would all be design related.

Pick a Card… Any Card

We would like to thank Moo.com again for offering these great prizes.

MOO’s own printing technology ‘printfinity’ allows you to place a different image or design on every business card in a pack to really stand out. This is an excellent way to show off a portfolio, designs or business.

More About MOO

MOO was born from a love of beautiful, high-quality print and design. They make printing beautiful and unique business cards, PostCards and MiniCards easy!

You can upload your own images or artwork to create truly unique cards. If you don’t have any designs of your own you can choose from a range of templates and designs for your cards and personalise them with your own details.

How to Enter

For a chance to win one of the 4 sets of 100 business cards – all you have to do is post a comment below and tell us one way you would make your cards stand out from the rest of the crowd.
We are looking for fun, creative and unique answers.

Comments will be closed on Thursday July 2 at 5:00 EST. Winners will be chosen from the comments below and announced on this week’s Friday Fix! Please enter a valid email address so we are able to contact you if you win!

The iPad has hit the world by storm for a second time around, and since everyone in the world now has an iPad or iPad2. Why not “geek” it up a bit with some “geek” gadgets!

What’s up for grabs!?

Joystick-IT Tablet Stick

The perfect gaming accessory for iPad users, the portable Joystick-IT easily attaches to your iPad and works with thousands of different game apps. All you need to do to use the joystick, is place it over the on-screen control pad and gently push down – no wires, batteries or connections are needed. The Joystick-IT sticks to the glass of your display and is ready to go! When you’re finished, you simply remove the Joystick from the screen.

iPad Flip Jacket

The Flip Jacket for the Apple iPad is ideal for readers who prefer a modern look for their iPad accessories. Ultra lightweight and compact, the Flip Jacket is designed with both style and protection in mind. Durable canvas construction allows for safe device travel while providing a modern, stylish feel. The Flip Jacket opens vertically like a notepad and allows access to all ports and buttons. Elastic tabs along the interior spine make managing your earbud cables easy. A lightweight elastic closure strap keeps front cover closed when device is not in use.

Contest Details

As we usually do here at Inspiredology we are going to pick one winner from our Comment List and one winner from our ReTweets.

COMMENTS: Just tell us your favourite PAST Inspiredology post!

RETWEET THIS MSG: ” RT to Win a “geeked” iPad gadget from WhoIsHostingThis and Inspiredology.com – http://bit.ly/gF60HQ “

Contest closes Thursday April 28th, 2011 at 5pm EST, we will announce the winners on the April 29th, edition of the Friday Fix!