There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says "工欲善其事，必先利其器"; the direct English translation means "In order to do a good job, once must have a good tool." When it comes to the design industry, the tool is Photoshop.

Photoshop is truly a designer’s best friend. It is used to design almost anything, be it icons, websites, photo enhancements, etc and the list goes on.

Here’s a list of 31 wonderful Photoshop Tutorials that gives you step by step tutorial how gadgets are created. Full list after jump

Realistic Gadget Design with Photoshop

Black iMac
This tutorial will help you create a realistic black iMac in Photoshop. The image is recreated in Photoshop using a front look iMac picture found via Google Images. It is  a step-by-step tutorial to help you easily create an iMac of your own, in PhotoShop that is.

Apple Remote
Apple has always throbbed our hearts with their exceptionally innovative and beautifully designed products. Apple remote is no different. Here is a tutorial to teach how to design a Apple remote in Photoshop with a realistic view and shiny looks. The tutorial also shows you how to change colors of such objects in photoshop easily.

Sony Playstation 3
A gadget like Playstation is great to play with and it can add a lot more fun if we could turn it into a Photoshop image. And it’s not a tough task when you have a very well written tutorial infront of you.

Nokia 5300
Using just multiple vector shapes, layer styles and some other tools, you can easily create mobile phone mockup in PhotoShop. The tutorial here shows you how to create a look-alike of Nokia 5300 Mobile phone.

PlayStation Portable
Designing a portable gaming console couldn’t get easier that this. Here is a revamped tutorial for creating beautiful PSP in PhotoShop. No-doubt it is going to take some time to finish this up, but in the end you will have refreshed your photoshop skills and have a cool-looking PlayStaion Portable to add to your PhotoShop creations.

Nintendo Gameboy
If making a PSP in photoShop doesn’t get you excited, how about a Nintendo Game Boy? The tutorial will help you create a truly realistic Game Boy in PhotoShop and it involves using just basic tools that PhotoShop users use everyday.

USB Stick
This tutorial explains USB stick image formation in Photoshop. It is a pretty basic tutorial and you can even have the PSD if you want.

Mouse
Simple things are always fun to create in PhotoShop. This is a tutorial for creating a realistic computer mouse in  PhotoShop. You will alos be able to get a free PSD from the author’s blog.

XBox 360
Microsoft’s XBox 360 is a very eye-catchy gadget. The looks are stunning and what’s more interesting is that you can create it in PhotoShop too. Here is a step-by-step tutorial for creating a Xbox 360 look-alike in PhotoShop. There are simple techniques involved in this tutorial, like gradient tool and pen tool which, most likely, every Photoshop user should be used-to.

Nintendo DS Lite
This tutorial is not for newbies. Although it is easy to follow, but the author doesn’t explain the minute details. However if you are an intermediate level PhotoShop user, you can easy follow along and make you own DS Lite in PhotoShop with this tutorial.

Digital MP3 Player
Creating an image of an mp3 player in 3D view is certainly an interesting thing to do in Photoshop. But that won’t be easy if you just hang around without knowing the techniques. Here is a tutorial which guides you throughout the procedure of recreating the image in 3D view.

Custom MP3 Player
This tutorial shows you how to create a custom MP3 player in Photoshop complete with buttons and the display. It can be done at ease when you know what steps to follow and this tutorial will provide you the steps in a very detailed manner. You can also work on shade, the button dimensions and the button patterns.

LCD Monitor
Creating shiny gadgets in Photoshop is fun. Creating a Monitor is no different. The easy steps in this tutorial will guide you through the procedure to accomplish it.

Microsoft Zune 2
This is a tutorial which teaches you how to create a Microsoft Zune media player in Photoshop from scratch.

Loox Pocket PC
Here is a tutorial to create a Loox Pocket PC in photoshop and boost your PhotoShop creativity.

Detailed Audio Player
Yet another Photoshop tutorial about creating an audio player with minute details. This tutorial will be a great opportunity for all designers to practice the Shape Tools and Layer Styles skills. It involves a los of adding and subtracting of Shapes.

Sony Ericsson S500
In this tutorial you will learn how to make a glossy, shiny and a very beautiful mobile phone in PhotoShop. The author has provided a PSD file too, incase you need take it as a reference to create your own design.

HTC Touch Diamond
In this tutorial, Constantin Potorac shows how he created an amazing look-alike of HTC Touch Diamond phone.

Apple iPhone
Apple iPhone is a great innovative and heart throbbing gadget. The sleekness along the curves, the ‘Home’ button and and other minutes details are not that easy to design in Photoshop. But, this tutorial shows you how to create a realistic iPhone easily. You just have to follow the clear instructions on this tutorial carefully and with-in no time you will be an expert in creating  an iPhone in PhotoShop.

Sony Ericsson W800
This tutorial shows you to create a Walkman phone in PhotoShop. The designing of Sony Ericsson W800 will require some skills with the brush and pen tool though.

Strawberry Mobile Phone
Now here is an interesting tutorial to look at. This tutorial will guide you to create a Straberry phone in Photoshop. You just need images of strawberry and your mobile phone as reference images.

iPod Nano Video
Refresh your layer structure and pen tool skills by recreating an iPod Nano Video in PhotoShop.This tutorial will also give you a glimpse of how to recreate objects in PhotoShop from an original image.

Apple MacBook
Apple’s sleek gadgets are fun to create in photoshop because they look beautiful on the screen as well as in the real life. Here is a step-by-step guide for creating a MacBook from scratch in Photoshop.

Wii Controller The Wii controller in the image below is a true creation of Photoshop. Learn to create a simillar one in Photoshop by following this simple tutorial.

Woofer
Here is a tutorial to create a woofer in Photoshop with a wooden texture background. This tutorial also shows how to put on screws on the woofer to make it look more realistic.

Portable Media Player
Fancy creating a portable media player in Photoshop? Now you can. Create your video mp3 player in Photoshop by following some simple steps detailed in this tutorial. The reference image used in the tutorial is of RCA Lyra X3030 portable media player.

Retro Atari Game Catridge
If you have ever owned an Atari gaming console, you will definitely love to create this mockup in Photoshop.  This tutorial is about making a super retro game cartridge. Theme of the tutorial is to teach you to create a very easy, but really cool, 3D and geometric effect in Photoshop.

Blackberry Mobile Phone
Obsessed with Blackberries? You will love to create one in PhotoShop too. You will learn how to create a blackberry mobile phone look-alike in Photoshop by followwing the instructions in this tutorial. Author has explained in a detailed manner how to use Vector Shapes, Masks, and mostly Layer Effects to create this elegant design.

iPod Classic
A very simple yet inspiring tutorial of creating an Apple iPod Classic in PhotoShop from scratch.

iPod Shuffle
iPod Shuffle is one of the simplest gadgets to design in photoshop. If you are just starting to design tech related stuff in Photoshop, you should start with the iPod shuffle. Read the tutorial, and create one of your own.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
While Apple fanboys may enjoy designing the iPhone, there are Nokia fanboys out there too who will love to design Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. This tutorial is a 12 step precedure for attaining something like the below image.

iStockPhoto http://www.istockphoto.com/

ShutterStock http://www.shutterstock.com/

Fonts Identity http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Banner Mall http://www.bannersmall.com/

Standard Banner Sizes http://www.designerstoolbox.com/designresources/banners//

Logo Mojo http://www.logomojo.com/

Logo Design Pros http://www.logodesignpros.com/

Design Guru Ryan http://www.designgururyan.com/

Trendy ECovers http://www.trendyecovers.com/

ECover Geeks http://www.ecoverbee.com/

Pulp Minisites http://www.minisitefrog.com/

CSS Galleries are places where we can submit our web design and let others vote/rate about it. They are places where we can get inspiration too.

Today, we are going to share about 110+ CSS Galleries that you may want to look into when submitting your design or when you want to get some inspirations for your project. 

Photoshop is an excellent application for web designers. No matter you are beginner of expert of Photoshop, you can easily get tutorials and resources by using the search engine.

Most of the theme developers/designers will done their website design using Photoshop, and then slice and convert them into CSS/HTML template. Here, i had collected 30+ easy to follow Photoshop layout design tutorials. You can follow them step by step to learn how to create a website layout design by using Photoshop.

1. Carbon Fiber Layout

2. Business WordPress PSD Layout

3. Watercolored Background Web Portfolio Design

4. Clean and Colorful Web Layout

5. Creative Studio Web Page

6. Dark Portfolio Pixel Layout

7. Awesome Portfolio Layout

8. Create A Clean Blog Theme In Photoshop

9. Design A Creative Unusual Layout

10. Design a Layout for a Non-Profit Organization in Photoshop

11. Professional Looking Design Studio Web Page Layout

12. Graphic Design Studio Web Layout

13. Design a premium WordPress blog with Photoshop

14. Website Gallery Layout Design

15. How to Create a “Worn Paper” Web Layout Using Photoshop

16. Design an awesome colorful layout

17. Design Studio Layout

18. Freelance Portfolio Design

19. Design a trendy business & finance layout

20. GreenPress WordPress Theme Design

21. Design a Web Template using the “960 Grid System”

22. Design a realistic website layout in photoshop

23. Create a Vibrant Modern Blog Design in Photoshop

24. Create a Sleek, High-End Web Design from Scratch

25. How to Create an Illustrative Web Design in Photoshop

26. How to Create a Stunning Grunge Portfolio

27. How to Design a Web 2.0 Website Template-Seller Photoshop Mockup

28. Chocolate Pro WordPress Style Layout

29. Web 2.0 photoshop layout tutorial

30. Portfolio Gallery Layout

31. Photoshop tutorial to design a clean business layout

For Photoshop design,PSD file is helpful for designers,so here ,we collecet 40 Free PSD File Sites For Designers To Download.

       Photoshop Tutorials Collection

01. PSlover

02. freePSD

03. Zcool (Chinese)

04. PSDfreebee

05. Pixey

06. PSDtuts

07. Smashingmagazine

08. Officialpsds

09. PSgalaxy

10. Deviantart

11. Jackrebel

12. Dezinerfolio

13. Designers-revolution

14. Dezignus

15. PSDcentral

16. PSwish

17. Designbum

18. Bittbox

19. Freepsdfiles

20. Ganato

21. Toptut

22. Frooweb

23. DownloadPSD

24. Freephotoshop

25. Aaronovadia

26. Lordofdesign

27. Photoshopfiles

28. PSDprotocol

29. Photoshopcandy

30. Creativemyk

31. HTMLtree

32. PSDspy

33. Creativosonline

34. Keepdesigning

35. Photoshopstar

36. Photoshopit

37. TheFreeLogomakers

38. Hiddenpixels

39. Gfxfever

40. Freephotoshop

There are many excellent resources for finding logo design inspiration. Here are more than 20 for you to check out. Some are galleries dedicated to logo design and others include a specific section or category for logo design.

LogoPond

Creattica

LogoMoose

Logo Faves

LogoGala

Logospire

Logo of the Day

Logofi

Logo Galleria

Logo Portfolios on Carbonmade

The Design Inspiration

Logo Fury

Logoed

Lemonflip

LogoGallery.net

The Identity Archives Project

Logos at deviantART

Other sources of logo design inspiration:

• Stationary Style
• LogoLounge
• Iconic Logo Designers
• lo8os
• LogoSauce
• Logo from Dreams

Logo Blogs:

If you want to follow some blogs that cover topics related to logo design, here are a few suggestions.

Logo Design Love

David Airey

Brand New

ImJustCreative

Just Creative Design

Logo Designer Blog

Logo Design Tutorials:

The following tutorials will teach different methods for designing logos in Illustrator or Photoshop.

Zee Logo in Illustrator

Obama Logo Tutorial

Google Chrome Logo Design

How to Make a Badass WordPress Logo

Creating a Crazy Cool Logo

Web 2.0 Logo Reflection in Vector Format with Illustrator

Create Rainbow Logos with Warped Grids

How to Design the Firefox Logo in Photoshop

Making of Metallic Transformers Logo

Create a Black and White Logo

Create a Logo Identity

Create a Cool Music Logo on a Grunge Background

Cartoon Style Cereal Box Logo in Adobe Illustrator Cs3

Drawing the Volkswagon Logo

Articles and Case Studies:

Case studies can be an excellent way to learn about logo design. While tutorials can show you how to do something, case studies will help you to understand the reasons why. In addition to case studies, we’ll also provide links in this section to general articles on logo design that are worth a read.

Henri Ehrhart Brand Identity Design – David Airey

VISSUMO Brand Identity Design – David Airey

Logo Design for KnowFree – David Airey

Tammy Lenski Brand Identity Design – David Airey

Miskeeto Brand Identity Design – David Airey

Logo Design Process and Walkthrough for Vivid Ways – Chris Spooner

MyNiteLife Logo Design Step by Step Walkthrough – Chris Spooner

Logo Design Case Study: Victory Marketing Agency – Brian Yerkes

Logo Design Case Study: JMR INsurance Group – Brian Yerkes

Logo Design Case Study: Bayfront Bistro – Brian Yerkes

Logo Design Process for Just Creative Design’s Award Winning Logo – Jacob Cass

Identity Design Process for Butterfield Photography – Jacob Cass

Brainstorm #9 Logo Process – Fabio Sasso

Creating a Rockstar Brand, Logo & Styleguide in Illustrator – Collis Ta’eed

Vital Tips for Effective Logo Design – Smashing Magazine

Successful Logo and Identity Design Starts with a Solid Name – ImJustCreative

A Viable Career as a Freelance Logo Designer – ImJustCreative

Why Logo Design Does Not Cost $5.00 – Just Creative Design

The Logo Design Process of Top Logo Designers – Just Creative Design

How to Design a Logo – Just Creative Design

10 Principles of the Logo Design Masters – Vectortuts

Design a Logo – The Ultimate Guide – You the Designer

5 Useful Logo Design Tips – David Airey

Logos for Print Versus Online – Identify Your Audience and Design Accordingly – Vectortuts

Business card design can be tricky if you’re not familiar with the process. As you’ll see in these tutorials, there are a number of different programs that you can use to create business cards, but setting up the layout properly and getting it ready to print can be the most challenging part.

This selection of tutorials will show you some techniques for designing business cards, as well as give you all the information you need to get set up the right way to make the design a success.

Design a Print Ready Business Card for Designers

This tutorial from Chris Spooner will show you how to create a two-sided business card using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Making a Grungy Business Card

Learn how to create a business card with a grungy style by using Photoshop.

Making a Print-Ready Business Card Using Only Photoshop

Collis Ta’eed shows us how to make a stylish business card design in Photoshop.

Print-Ready Business Card Using Photoshop

PSDTUTS also put together a video version of Collis’ original tutorial.

Using a Vanishing Point Filter to Mockup a Business Card

This tutorial does not cover the process of designing a business card> It does, however, show how you can create a realistic mockup of your design to include in a portfolio of to present to a client.

Photoshop Business Card Templates and Tutorial

GreatFX provides some basic Photoshop templates for designing your own business cards, and a tutorial for working with them.

Making Your Business Cards Dynamic in Illustrator

Veerle shows how you can easily get business cards ready to go to the printer.

Business Card Tutorial

Learn how to create this business card with just Photoshop.

Cardboard and Torn Paper Business Card

PSHero shows how to make a business card in Photoshop with a textured look.

Business Card Design Project Walkthrough

Chris Spooner provides some helpful insight into his process by walking through a case study of one of his own clients.

What Makes a Good Business Card?

While this isn’t a tutorial that will show you how to design a business card, it is a very useful guide that can help to keep your work on-track and get results.

While Adobe Illustrator is the preferred tool by most designers for illustrating and drawing digitally, Photoshop can also be used for some types of illustration. This post includes a selection of tutorials that cover the process of drawing various objects in Photoshop.

Creating a Cartoon Hot Air Balloon Scene

How to Create a Delicious Ice Cream Bar

Create a TV in Photoshop

Create a Vector Style Illustration in Photoshop

Making a Digital Watch Icon

Illustrating a Cool Glass of Beer

Using Gradients to Make Light and Shadow – and a Coffee Cup

Rainbows – Making of

Psychedelic Life Tutorial

Create a Slick Black iMac in Photoshop

How to Create a Desk Environment in Photoshop from Scratch

Create a Sleek Illustration that Fades from Line Art to Color

How to Create a Classic Guitar from Scratch in Photoshop

Vanity License Plate

How to Create a Delicious Green Apple Illustration

Create a Poster Illustration with Floating Floral Elements

Create a Natural Composition with Light Shining Through a Rustic Fence

Amazing Retro Rainbow Curves

Illustrate a Traffic Cone in Photoshop

Create a Vector-Based Zune with Photoshop

Create a MacBook Air Ad

Red Gamble Dice Icon

Create a Shiny 3D Snooker Ball in Photoshop

Draw Your Own Hair

Aging Road Sign

Make a Realistic Football

Draw Your Snowman in Photoshop

Draw in Photoshop Using a Tablet

Custom Hard Drive Icon

Swiss Army Knife Tutorial

Drawing Hair with Photoshop

Draw an MP3 Player

Google Chrome Logo Design

Chalkboard

Making a Photoshop Shield

Drawing a Glossy Monitor

How to Make a Bangin’ Woofer Inbedded in Wood

Drawing a High-Detailed Glass Ball

Drawing Vector-Looking Cat Illustration Using Photoshop

Drawing Kirby

Photoshop has tons of potential for improving photos in one way or another. No matter how much experience you have with Photoshop there is probably more that you can learn in these areas. This is a categorized collection of tutorials that will show you some new tricks for photo touch-ups.

Skin:

Airbrushing – Natural Smooth Skin

Really Cool Digital Make Up in Photoshop in 10 Minutes

Smooth Skin

Ultimate Makeup

How to Smooth Skin

Remove Freckles

Removing Freckles

Soften Skin with Surface Blur (video)

Photo Retouching – Skin Photoshop Tutorial

Beautify a Face

Making Skin Beautiful

Super Fast and Easy Facial Retouching

Reducing 5 O’Clock Shadow and Beard Stubble in Photoshop

Easily Smooth and Soften Skin in a Photo

Quick and Effective Facial Photo Retouching

Retouch Wrinkles

Enhance Skin

Remove Facial Imperfections

Make Up Effect for the Face

Aging People

Fixing Severe Acne

Remove a Tan Line

Photo Enhancement Tutorial

Eyes:

Make Eyelashes Thicker

How to Make Eyes Pop

Shadowy, Sultry Eyes

Apply Eye Make-Up

How to Whiten Teeth and Eyes

Changing the Eye Color of Your Photograph

Teeth:

How to Whiten and Brighten Teeth in Photoshop

Whitening Teeth the Professional Way

Hair:

Change Hair Color in Photoshop

Curly Hair Enhancement

Color Hair Locks

Create Shining Hair

Nose:

Easy Digital Nose Job in Photoshop

Digital Nip Tuck

Body:

Thinner Waistline

Increase Breast Size

Colors:

Advanced Color Correction Tutorial that Will Knock Your Socks Off

Change the Color of Something in a Photo

Coloring and Old, Black and White Photo

Colorize and Old Photo

Enhance Your Image with Selective Color Adjustments

Fix Tone and Color with Levels in Photoshop

Lighting:

Contrast Layers

Intensifying Light Sources

Adaptive Contrast

Foreground Lighting

Simple Focused Lighting Effect in Photoshop

Adaptive Saturation

General Photo Editing:

Non-Destructive Editing

Make Your Amateur Photos More Professional

Retouching a Studio Portrait

Edge Sharpening

Non-Destructive Dodge and Burn in Photoshop

How to Straigten Crooked Photos

Selective Focus and Tilt Shift

Blue Glow Dreamy Portrait

Dream Photo Effect

Adobe InDesign is one of the leading solutions for creating professional layouts for print and digital publishing. If you’re looking to learn more about working with InDesign, there are plenty of good tutorials available online. In this post we’ll feature 40 excellent tutorials.

How to Create a Music Magazine Cover in InDesign

Create and Print a Brochure with Photoshop, InDesign and UPrinting.com Part I and Part II

Design a Print-Ready Ad in Adobe InDesign

Magazine Cover Design

Create a Grid-Based Resume/CV Layout in InDesign

Create Numbered Tickets the Easy Way in InDesign

Creating a Table of Contents Part I and Part II

A Tutorial for Good Typography in InDesign – Setting Up a Baseline Grid

How to Create a Coupon in InDesign

Using Live Preflight

Give Your Tables Some Style!

Getting Started: 01 Starting a New Document

Getting Started: 02 Making a Text Frame

Getting Started: 03 Character-Level Formatting

Getting Started: 04 Paragraph-Level Formatting

Getting Started: 05 Making a Paragraph Style

Getting Started: 06 Placing and Flowing Text

Getting Started: 07 Placing an Image

Getting Started 08: Wrapping Text Around a Graphic

Tab-Topped Text Frames

Preparing InDesign Files for Your Print Service

Formatting Typography and the Use of Styles in Adobe InDesign

InDesign 2 Flash: Part 1, Part II, and Part III

How to Create a Flag Graphic with Type in InDesign

How to Use Multi-Layered Illustrator Artwork in InDesign

Quick Tip – Mastering Running Titles in InDesign

InDesign Quick Tip – Indent to Here

Creating Percentage-Based Styles

Adding Bleed to a Document

Conditional Text and InDesign CS4

Using Object Styles in InDesign

Custom Underlines in InDesign

Using the Next Style Paragraph in InDesign

Creating PDF Forms in InDesign

Type Reflection

Design Business Cards in Adobe InDesign

Creative Uses for Paragraph Rules in InDesign Part I

Creative Uses for Paragraph Rules in InDesign Part II

Bleed and Layering Master Pages

Formatting a List Using Tabs

Photoshop actions can be extremely helpful for experimenting with different effects and for saving time during the photo editing process. Of course, the ideal situation would be to take photographs effectively in the first place. However, as a designer you are likely to find yourself in situations where you won’t be the one taking the photos, and you’ll need to work with something that isn’t exactly what you need. In these cases, the actions featured here may be helpful for your photo editing

For more Photoshop actions ：

         60 Photoshop Actions for Photo Touch-Ups and Enhancements

         30 Photoshop Actions for Touch Ups and Enhancements-Part 2

          Photoshop Actions Part I

HDR Fantasticalizers

Oscar Pilch Photoshop Action

Photoshop Actions 41

Old Style Sepia Effect

Photoshop Actions 71

Photoshop Actions 63

Photoshop Action 24

Photoshop Action 16

Photoshop Action 25

Photoshop Actions 33

Photoshop Action 22

Photoshop Actions 32

Overcooked

Vintage Action

Photoshop Actions 100

Old Black and White

Photoshop Actions 46

Photoshop Action

Landscape and Sky Actions

Gritty Monochrome Black & White Effect

Soft Focus Effect

50 Photoshop Postwork Actions

SA-Cool Action 1.06

Pack Actions 01

Photoshop Action Set 01

Photoshop Actions – 31

SA-Cool Action 1.07

Photoshop Actions – 51

Photoshop Actions – 78

Caitlin’s Actions

SA-Cool Action 2.06

Color Boost

Photoshop Actions – 35

Photoshop Actions – 99

Photoshop Actions – 83

Photoshop Actions – 68

Photoshop Actions – 65

Eye Action

Photoshop Action Set 03

Color Actions

Photo Enhancements Actions

Enhancing Skin Color

Color Actions

Rather Large Set of Actions

Photoshop Action 2

Lovely Action

GutCharlotte Color 02

Skin Glow Enhancement

Aly’s Vintage

Selective Focus

Photoshop Color Actions

For more Photoshop actions ：

         60 Photoshop Actions for Photo Touch-Ups and Enhancements

         20+ Photoshop Actions for Photo Editing

          Photoshop Actions Part I

Photoshop actions can be a tremendous time-saving tool for designers and photographers. You can either create your own actions or take advantage of the many that are freely available from the community of Photoshop users.,is useful for designers, hope you like!

Action 01

Foliage

Action Set 6

Ofcurse Action

Kristen Natural Action

Sarah1 Action

Blue Action

Vintage Action

Four Actions Pack

Image Punch! Action

Gradient Actions

Photoshop Actions 133

Magic Skin

Photoshop Actions 132

Action 21

Action Set 2

Retro Actions

ColourCast

Canon Soft Recovery

Carnival Action

Unspoken Action

Bilt Tings

Wake Me

Sarah Set 4

Thinking of You Action

Coffee

Action Set 7

PrettyAction

Lab Sharpening Action

One-Click Wow! Action

For more Photoshop actions ：

         60 Photoshop Actions for Photo Touch-Ups and Enhancements

         30 Photoshop Actions for Touch Ups and Enhancements-Part 2

         20+ Photoshop Actions for Photo Editing

Icons are the basic requirement of any web related projects and good icons are like a treasure for web designers.

Being a successful creative web artist has a lot to do with the way you work. Sure, you can’t teach good design in some lessons or you can’t create icons for your daily needs, but it never hurts to pick a few free icons which are always available free to grub.

1. Function Icon Set

Function icon set is a great collection designed by Liam McKay. All icons are free for personal non-commercial use.

2. Web Development Icons

Icojoy has beautiful free icon sets including web development icon sets, pixel icon sets, rss icon sets & smiley icons.

This is the 4th part of their web development icon sets. Click here to find their all free icons.

Web development icons is a set with 60 free icons in web 2.0 style (24×24). These icons are free to use in any kind of project unlimited times.

3. Monofactor

Monofactor is a beautiful set contains 25 scalable Illustrator format icons. You are completely free to edit, change and/or directly use the icons in your site and in any kind of your projects.

4. Aquaticus Social Icons

Aquaticus is a beautiful social icons set designed by Jwoloh (60×60, 48×48, 24×24, 16×16):

5. Simplicio

Simplicio is a simple looking but a quality & free icon set.

The set has 78 icons & the download package consists of ICO, PNG & AI files.

Buttons Photoshop tutorials are probably one of the hottest categories in any Photoshop tutorials site and since Web 2.0 is such hot topics now, lets go about doing a simple button suitable for any Web 2.0 application of websites. Tutorial after jump.

Create a blank canvas at about 500px (width) x 400px (height) to start off the button design. Create a new layer call ‘bg01‘. Select the Rounded Rectangular Tool, hold SHIFT and draw a round sided square in the center. Any color is fine at the current stage.

Call up the Blending Options of ‘bg01‘ and adjust the following styles:

Drop Shadow

• Opacity: 40%
• Distance: 0px
• Spread: 0%
• Size: 6px

Gradiant Overlay

• Color stop: 0%, #d00031
• Color stop: 100%, #ff2b5d

Hold CTRL, left click on ‘bg01‘ Layer Thumbnail to select its shape. Go Select -> Modify -> Contract and enter the value ‘2px‘. This will shrink the selected area by 2 pixel.

Create a new layer call ‘bg02‘ and filled the highlighted (after shrink) area with any color. I use #000000 black here. Double click on ‘bg02′ to launch up the Blending Option and tweak the following style.

Gradiant Overlay

• Color stop: 0%, #c6002f
• Color stop: 100%, #c6002f

Create another new layer for text, call it ‘txt‘. Insert your button’s text. I’ll use an alphabet to represent. The font styles I’m using here are as follow:

• Rounded Arial Bold
• 150pt

Same, after deciding your text, double click on ‘txt’ to launch the Blending Options and tweak the following styles.

Drop Shadow

• Opacity: 25%
• Distance: 0px
• Spread: 0px
• Size: 5px

Inner Shadow

• Opacity: 10%
• Distance: 0px
• Choke: 0
• Size: 10px

Bevel Emboss

• Depth: 1px
• Direction: Down
• Size: 0px
• Softten: 0px
• Highlight Mode Opacity: 32%
• Shadow Mode Opacity: 32%

Gradiant Overlay

• Color Stop:0% #d2d2d2
• Color Stop:100% #f0efef

Button is almost done. Let’s give it a little glow over the top part. Hold CTRL, left click ‘bg02‘ Layer Thumbnail to highlight the outer shape; choose Eclipse Marquee Tool. Now hold ALT, with Eclipse Marquee Tool selected, drag is across to minus out bottom half of the highlighted area. Refer to image above.

With the top portion highlighted and Eclipse Marquee Tool still selected, right click and choose Feather; enter 15px for the radius.

Create a new layer, call it ‘glow‘ and fill the highlighted part with white [#ffffff]. This should add glow effect to the top part of your button. Final product should look something like the image below.

Something extra..

A few months ago we launched a network of five niche gallery sites. For a long time this blog has included inspirational posts that showcase the work of various designers, so it seemed like a natural extension to launch the galleries. During the past few months the archives have been growing at each of the galleries, and they are becoming more valuable resources for designers who are looking for inspiration. Each gallery now includes between 185 and 350 items on display.

In this post I’d like to showcase a brief sampling of the inspiration that is available at each of the galleries. There are ten items shown from each gallery. The text links will lead you to the source, and by clicking on the images you will be led to the pages on the galleries.

Folio Focus:

Folio Focus currently includes more than 300 portfolio sites on display from various creative professionals. There are around 20 new sites added each week. To stay up-to-date with Folio Focus you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.

Galan

Eye Candy

Aespec

Hamza Labrinssi

Two24 Studios

Jeremy Charles

1h05

Monk

Naked

Rocco Studio

Cart Frenzy:

CartFrenzy has more than 300 e-commerce websites in the archives. There are about 20 – 25 new sites added each week. To stay up-to-date with CartFrenzy you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.

More of Me Maternity

i/denti/tee

The Sak

designgive

JAQK Wine Cellars

Rapha

Maui Divers Jewelry

ShopRush

Active

Incase

Minimal Exhibit:

Minimal Exhibit currently has more than 230 websites on display. Each week there are 10 – 20 new sites added to the archives. To stay up-to-date with Minimal Exhibit you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.

Tink

James Chambers

Brian Hoff

Sumo

Ribbons of Red

Heartworker

Greg White

Beyond the Pixels

Hurson

Neusblog

Blog Design Heroes:

Blog Design Heroes is currently showcasing over 180 blogs. There are 10 – 15 new blogs added to the gallery each week. To stay up-to-date you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.

The Swish Life

justBcoz

Development Seed Blog

Ecosimply

Big Bad Collab

West Coast Poppin

One Blog

The Photo Argus

Helium Workx

The Greg Brady Project

TypeInspire:

TypeInspire showcases inspirational and exemplary use of typography in design. It includes 350 items and about 25 new items are added each week. To stay up-to-date with TypeInspire you can subscribe by RSS, email, or follow on Twitter.

Jimi Hendrix

These Colors Run

dA Wallpaper

Sometimes I Get Bored

Helvetica Story Poster

Walking the Moon

Yeah

Life is Like Riding a Bicycle

Play

Strawberry Fields Forever

Graphic Design Forums are a great way to really immerse yourself into the graphic design community. You can meet other designers, ask questions, talk about the latest design news, ask for critiques of your work and much more. Being active in a design community is also another great way to promote your own work and get your name out there. If you are an active member and you contribute quality posts most forums will let you add a signature after your posts linking to your portfolio.

Don’t spam forums with links to your site or most forum moderators will ban you right away. If you are going to join a forums, join with the intention of becoming part of a new community. Most forums tend to have their own unique environment, depending on the users, the layout and the forum categories, so be sure to explore each forum to see which fits you best!

Top Graphic Design Forums

1. GDF

GDF is one of the oldest and biggest graphic design forums around with over 20k members. The community is very active, very large and consists of a a variety of general categories.

2. HOWDesign

The HOWDesign forums are great for showcasing your work and getting constructive feedback from other designers. They also have a very active business and freelance section where you can ask questions and find a lot of useful tips.

3.  Estetica

Estetica is very popular, but tends to lean more towards chatting for enjoyment rather then for knowledge. Their off topics section is perfect for chatting with other designers about anything, but design. So if you are looking to chat with people who share common interests, than this is the graphic design forum for you.

4. All Graphic Design

The All Graphic Design forums are very old and have an extremely active general design section where members chat about all kinds of design news and articles. They also have a great pre press section for designers looking for advice on printing and setting up files.

5. Your Design Forums

Graphic Design Forum. YDF is one of the newer graphic design forums in the design community, but is growing quickly and has a very active core user base that is quick to respond to questions and other posts.

There are more type designers than ever and the amount of fonts to choose from nowadays is mind boggling! So I decided it would be a good idea to put together a small sampling of some of the coolest font designs I have seen recently from the great designers of the Behance community. Stay tuned for more font related inspiration posts and let us know which font below is your favorite!

Fresh Font Designs From Fantastic Font Designers