ChibiDesign Blog

Converts a Raster Logo into Vector base logo

James — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:14:57 +0000

One of the most common problem of a web designer is when the clients fail to provide the vector format or high resolution copies of their logo, and that’s when we need the power of Vector Magic. This is a web base software which is available Online and after a few months they also developed a Windows base software too.

In case you haven’t learned or heard about what is Bitmap/Raster images and Vectors. I’ll explain the very basic understanding for each type.

Bitmaps

Raster images or Bitmap are being defined by pixels, it can also be used for prints by creating your subject on a higher DPI (dot per inch) platform, but the higher the DPI the higher the file size will be, once you finished your raster work, it will never have the same quality when you re-size it to higher multiplicand. (this is a common format on the web and photographs)

Vectors

Vectors are mathematically-defined geometric shapes-lines, objects and fills, they are being made by mathematically putting together nodes and points to create a shape which means resizing a vector image will multiply the factor according to how much you wanted them to be. (This is useful on printing such as a 20 foot billboards without losing quality and running out of storage for file size.)

For more information about Raster and Vetors you can visit an Article from Design Was Here

Now lets start using the software. We are going to convert a logo into a vector using Vector Magic Desktop Edition

First, find a logo which you wanted to convert into vector, find something which is pixelated or in low resolution. as for this article I’m going to use the Starbucks logo.

Open the vector magic and drag the logo inside. Once the logo is accepted three options will appear on the right hand side., you can choose from Fully automatic , Basic and Advance. For this project we are going to choose Basic.

After processing, vector magic will ask you about the image type of the uploaded image. choose Logo with blended edges.
The next option is about the Quality of your image, I choose High for my this project.

The next step is choosing the color mode. Two colors – the output will be in black and white. Fixed colors – will give you an option to pick the colors you wanted to see . Flexible colors – will convert your image automatically (this option is not recommended unless you are converting a photo.).

We are going to choose Fixed Colors. there are only 3 colors here. they are green, white and black, this option will give us the power to omit those other colors created by noise and pixels.

When you are finish, There are many options to save your work. you can save them into EPS , SVG or PDF.
You can also save them into BMP , JPG , PNG and TIF.
I choose to save mine to PNG with a scale of x4 (you can choose any scale you wanted even a hundred times larger.)

So that’s it, using the vectorized format I can do anything to the logo with Photoshop or Illustrator.

13Floor WordPress theme

James — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:36:32 +0000

With this design it creates something edgy, flashy and fun while still retaining an air of professionalism. It focused on the homepage with this theme in hopes of giving the users the ability to really grab their visitor’s attention. The homepage contains only a collection of page or post-based slides, but still gives you enough room to tell your readers what you’re all about without drowning them in text.

The Design of the main navigation is great. this wordpress theme comes with four different color variations. If Blue isn’t your style, then try switching to the Green, Brown, Yellow or Purple color schemes.

Even though 13Floor was created to be a CMS with a Page-Based structure, you can also run the theme like a normal blog instead.

This theme also utilizes timthumb to automatically resize your thumbnail images. Because of this, only one thumbnail images is required per post, despite the various thumbnail sizes used in the theme.

The overall design is very edgy with Details from top to bottom. 13floor templates make your life easier by giving you access to pre-made layouts and utilities. Each template can be applied to an individual page, transforming the way it looks and functions to create new and unique forms of content.

This theme is great for Software products and the likes.

Demo Purchase

Google (Doodle) Logo – May 1 , 2011

James — Sun, 01 May 2011 02:14:23 +0000

All of you must have aware of the Google Doodles, the special Google logo on the famous historic Events. Today is May 1st 2011, Google had displayed a very nice and interactive Logo for the 160th Anniversary of the First World’s fair. magnifying glass will appear as you mouse hover the logo and it will show you a clear focus on the images.

Whats cool in it is there are animations inside the logo. again for the nth time they show us again the Power of HTML 5.

I remember one of the most popular Google Doodle that is unforgettable, The one which you can play Pacman. it was so cool I keep on playing it whenever I have time on that same day.

SuperCharged Under Construction Template

James — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:37:15 +0000

This is one of the most elegant and stylish Under Construction templates ever created. Boasting with features like social media integration or beautifully animated progress bar, SuperCharged will keep your visitors coming back just to have it on their screens!

Inform your visitors about the launch date, present them with a beautiful countdown and politely ask for their email address, so they can be informed about any news or updates to the site.

Gather email addresses and store them in MySQL database or in an XML file. Record emails along with IPs and sign up date. You can then use this data with various email marketing applications.

You can use it in a different purpose too, such as Countdown timer for a wedding and other events, all you need is to change the Design of the template.

View Demo Download

The Hidden Symbols inside FedEx Logo

James — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:56:51 +0000

You might find this logo boring. But if you look at it carefully, you’ll be seeing something creative, an idea which is incredibly awesome.

It is one of those Great logos out there who uses typography wise. But unlike any other logo, this one uses hidden symbols. A symbol which is logically perfect for its company purpose, a Shipping courier which sends and drops off certain package into its destination.

It’s like an arrow pointing to a red ‘X’ mark of a treasure map. an Arrow pointing to its destination.

Incredible isn’t it?