Envato Notes

---

• Author Spotlight: jonathan01
• Get a Free Year of Tuts+ Premium by Trying New Relic
• Beyond Bland: 10+ Creative Packaging Designs That Will Leave You Inspired

Author Spotlight: jonathan01 Posted: 09 Dec 2013 05:29 PM PST Today we had a chance to interview one of our amazing ThemeForest authors. jonathan01 has been with us since early 2008, and ever since his first days with Envato he’s been a constant contributor to the forums and our Marketplaces. Without further ado, read on for some amazing insights into the life of an Elite author. How did you start your journey as an author on ThemeForest? I remember it quite well. I used to frequent the FreelanceSwitch blog daily, in fact all day. It's an awesome resource for freelancers, and it became my 'home' on the net for a while. Communication for freelancers has improved a lot, what with social networks and dedicated blogs. But back then it was just Smashing Magazine and FreelanceSwitch for me. At the time, FreelanceSwitch helped me fine tune my freelancing career greatly through applicable advice and useful tips. Then, on the 2nd of September in 2008, Envato announced a new Marketplace. I signed up in December, just to keep an eye on how things developed. Even back then sign-ups increased quickly, so much so 'Jonathan' had been taken, and I had to go with 'Jonathan01'. I didn't upload my first item until February 2009, and since then I've never looked back. Who’s actually behind your Marketplace account? Tell us a bit more about your team and how you work. All items are designed, coded and supported by myself and my wife, but it hasn't always been that way. I’ve been designing and creating websites, email templates, banner ads, animations for movie theaters and even flash websites since 2000—doing all of it myself from start to finish, and I'm self taught. A few years ago, my wife Barb, who had never coded in her life, was having issues with work hours, pressure, and the corporate environment where she worked. I sat her down and asked her if I could teach her HTML and CSS. We worked together in our spare time for several months, until I backed away and said, “OK, you now know everything I do. Time for you to go and learn more on your own, and quit your day job to help me build more products.” It was a huge decision at the time—a scary decision—but one we really just had to try. Thankfully, it's worked out great for us. She's now an excellent developer, and the partnership just works for us. We work closely on each project to ensure as smooth as a process as we can get. If you’re not a solo player, then I feel the most important thing you can do when it comes to design and development is communication. And when you're in the same room, it makes things so much easier and you waste far less time. We've improved the process over the years, so we don't have many bumps in the road when it comes to item development. I believe this allows us to have a relaxed but productive environment. Could you tell us a bit more about the process behind creating some of your amazing items? I take inspiration from absolutely everywhere. Looking at everything in life with a critical eye is a common problem for a designer. I may be watching TV and see a commercial that uses a nice font, or some awesome color combination, maybe a magazine or old book also—inspiration is everywhere. I keep a folder called 'inspiration', and as I browse the Internet and find cool things, I'll take a snapshot and drop it right into the folder. It may just be a color, an input field style or a cool drop down menu—anything and everything is in my inspiration folder. It's a solid way of keeping things in one place, and I use this as a 'mood board' as such when I come to a new project. I first decide what I want to build, who my market is, what they would be looking for in features, and then spend a few days looking at websites and materials based around that market. I make a list of requirements that should be included in the item based on research, and also feedback if it's a market I already covered with a previous item. The next stage is to start to design in Photoshop, normally coming up with several quick mock-ups to sit on for a few days. I will return to them and decide which looks best, which could be fleshed out as a new item that fits all the requirements. Sometimes you should design, walk away, and come back with fresh eyes to help make a decision. From here, it's a process of refining, getting feedback from friends, family, associates, and of course my developer, and tweaking colors, design elements etc. This process usually takes the longest. Note: I'm a little obsessive with details, especially font choices. I've been known to actually change fonts the same day as uploading a new item for review, because I wasn't quite happy. I have a basic rule: If I wouldn't want to buy it, then no one else would. During the design stage, I’ll meet with my wife to ensure I’m not doing anything I shouldn't or couldn't accomplish. This is an integral part of the process, and helps the coding stage tremendously, as there are no surprises for the developer, or a whole list of questions for the designer. Once she starts development, it's really a matter of me offering answers to questions as I sit back and drink lots of coffee. At the beta stage, we’ll run through things, and where necessary adjust the flow of things for user experience. Once this is complete and we’re happy, I take over and fine tune all styling to ensure correct sizes, spacing, white space, colors and fonts. As any designer will tell you when designing in Photoshop and converting to the web (and all the different browsers), sometimes changes need to be made, as it doesn't always transfer to HTML/CSS the same. We think this is one of our most important steps. We then test, test, test, and test again. I'm sure the community is curious. Could you describe your workspace for us? Oh, we live in a huge house with a massive extension that looks like a loft startup in San Francisco. Not really! We live in rural Ohio. It's a beautiful spot, but the office is actually our dining room converted to meet our needs. We just moved back to Ohio this year after living in Florida for two years on a business proposition. It didn't work out, and we’re back now, but the house was in dire need of renovations. The six months we’ve been back has resulted in a new kitchen and bathrooms, and other unexciting things. We needed to set up a good working space. We previously had our office in the basement, which only has one small window, and it was horrific. Not seeing the sun come up and down, and having no natural light, was an energy-sucking position to be in, and one I don’t recommend. The dining room we converted is at the front of the house, so we can enjoy a view through a large window, see the kids come home on the school bus, and enjoy sunlight when we need to. We have two desks, back to back, and each have an iMac 27". I also have a second Apple Thunderbolt display, and we have lots of external hard drives for backups. We have all the other necessary peripherals, such as a Windows laptop for testing, iPods, iPhones (4, 5 and 5s), and I also sport a brand new iPad Air, which I love. The space isn't huge, but we have everything we need, conveniently placed and decorated in a fresh modern gray wall, with pops of color on furniture, and a picture. (Note to self: We need more pictures!) We spend all day listening to Pandora radio, or my wife will listen to audio books to help drown out my voice. Which items are you most proud of? Why is that? Hmmm… that's a hard question to ask anyone who creates anything, I think. It's always the one you are currently working on, or the last one you pushed out of the door. For me, I have a soft spot for clean, white-spaced, well-formatted and strong readable font-based designs. I admire the work of Dieter Rams, famous for his industrial design work at Braun, and the whole Swiss design movement. I made a theme quite a while ago, now called Bruan (I know it's spelt wrong, on purpose) and it was a huge hit with buyers and blogs about typography and Swiss design. Unfortunately, we recently decommissioned the WordPress version of Bruan, as I didn't feel it offered the same level of professionalism that we do now, and wanted to make something new. Rather than focus on Braun design principles I decided to go with Swiss design this time. Swiss WordPress proved to be an awesome project to work on, and has been well-accepted. I recently added WooCommerce support to the item—my first one—and again buyers really seem to enjoy using it and customizing it to their own requirements. We authors don't see enough of the end products, which is a shame, as some that I've seen through support tickets have been stunning. What some people achieve and use the themes for can be truly inspirational, and have actually helped when developing new themes. Any thoughts about your evolution on the Marketplaces that you'd like to share with the rest of the community? Well, I know that since starting at ThemeForest and being part of the Envato community, my design skills, and coding, have improved beyond recognition. This is a priceless experience to have been given. I think every designer at any stage will say they are happy with the level of their art, but then as time passes and we look back and think, "Did I really not align that element up with the other?" Or, “Man, I used drop shadow a lot back then.” It's a wonderful business, to be able to design whatever you wish and find an audience who will pay for it. It's no different to crafting a music tune or creating a stella poster. It's all rewarding, when dollars come back and help pay the bills. The Marketplaces have also enabled me to work with some simply amazing companies who have found me on ThemeForest and Dribbble, where I display a lot of my work during design stages. I've worked for people like Smashing Magazine, MailChimp, HubSpot and several other well-known international companies on some really awesome projects. Without ThemeForest and Envato, I really don't think I would have had these opportunities. The Marketplaces themselves are almost unrecognizable from the early days. The sites and industry have grown up so very much, and have become a real mainstream place for agencies and solo developers to find amazing items to help lower their development costs, improve profit, and speed up getting a finished project completion. There's a lot of people who complain—I'm also known for complaining a little. But in the end, Envato have done an incredible job of creating, nurturing and establishing themselves as a market leader, always listening, and attempting to act upon good strong community input. The recent attempts to increase quality and introduce strong guidelines is commendable, and one that is welcomed by the WordPress community and buyers. For us personally, this was equally relevant as it's helped widen our eyes to better standards, and an understanding of why they need to be in place. It means more work at times, but in the end the most important thing is my product and it's service. I'm a strong believer in not developing a product purely to gain sales, but to be the best it can be. If you do that, then sales will happen. You just reached a major milestone on ThemeForest. How does that feel? Yes, it's very exciting! We just passed $500,000 in total sales, which I'm really proud of. It’s taken a long time, but I haven’t been 100% dedicated over my six years with ThemeForest. With jobs, partnerships, freelance gigs and starting companies, it's been a busy six years all around! What is amazing, is that anyone with the right skill set can do this. Envato offer so many Marketplaces for so many different types of media, that whether you're a musician, fine artist, print designer, 3D specialist, video producer, photographer, or coder, there's an opportunity waiting for you. All you have to do is keep creating, uploading, and supporting your products. A big thank you to Jonathan and Barb for taking the time and offering such a great interview. Their story and evolution is nothing short of amazing, and a true inspiration for other authors! If you would like to read more about our awesome community, you can check out this list of recent community interviews. I'm very excited to share my conversations with our community members, as I have a huge amount of respect and admire each and every one of them!

Get a Free Year of Tuts+ Premium by Trying New Relic Posted: 09 Dec 2013 01:12 PM PST Tuts+ is partnering with New Relic to give you a great deal on a Tuts+ Premium membership. The idea’s simple. Deploy New Relic any time before the 31st December, and get a free yearly membership to Tuts+ Premium (worth $180). What is New Relic? New Relic is the only dashboard you need to keep an eye on application health and availability. It provides a simple way to monitor and boost performance for your entire web app environment, giving you complete visibility anytime you want it. Tuts+ have published several tutorials explaining how to set up New Relic, as well as use-case examples of where and when it serves as an important tool in your development arsenal. You can find out more from their quick 30 minute introduction, which outlines a few of the key features, and explains how simple it is to get started. Get a Free 1-Year Tuts+ Premium Membership We’re currently running a fantastic promotion with New Relic. It’s simple. Create a free account and deploy New Relic, then you’ll immediately receive a coupon code for a free, one year Tuts+ Premium membership. There’s no purchase or credit card necessary, and it’s valid for both new and existing Tuts+ Premium members. Interested? Find out more about the offer, and deploy New Relic today!

Beyond Bland: 10+ Creative Packaging Designs That Will Leave You Inspired Posted: 08 Dec 2013 11:33 PM PST They say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Try selling that idea to someone from the packaging industry. With so many similar products out there, the need to get the consumer’s attention is a key factor in sales, and creative packaging designs can certainly help you with this. Did you know that the first recorded use of paper packaging dates back to 1035 in Cairo (according to Wikipedia). Packaging has come a long way since then, and is now considered to be a multi-billion dollar industry. Most of the packaging designs we see are boring square boxes with brand logos. But there are a few products out there with creative packaging designs that are bound to attract consumer’s attention. For a packaging design to be considered good, it not only has to look fantastic, but the consumer should get the message the manufacturer wants to convey just by looking at the packaging. This is no easy feat, but there are a few creative packaging designs that get this right. This post is about them. Bzzz Armenian Honey This wooden work of art takes the concept of a beehive, and transforms it into a very creative packaging for honey. The design was created by the creative minds at backbonecreative.com for Bzzz Armenian Honey Bees Knees This limited edition packaging comes from atpace, who created it for Klein Constantia Farm, who used them as gifts for consumers. The white box represents an artificial beehive. Did you notice that bee trying to get into the box? When you open it, out comes the jar of honey with a number of small diecut bees! JuiceBox This four-pack juice box comes to us via slwshin of deviantart.com. It’s quite obvious what they are trying to sell. I can really see the appeal for this packaging design, but wonder if it will work well from a production point of view. Anti-Theft Lunch Bags Got a snack thief at work? Use these splotched zipper bags to ward him off. But you could risk someone throwing your lunch away, thinking the food has gone bad. Either way, this is a creative idea. You can get these from thinkofthe. Landmine Awareness Ketchup This landmine awareness campaign, conceived by Publicis Mojo, makes use of a ketchup sachet to drive home the message. What do you think of this? Fast Food Packaging This design drastically reduces the packaging resources needed by the fast food joint, and also makes it easier to carry the food. It comes from Seulbi Kim, a student of industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design. Here let me show you how it works: Thelma’s Treats How about some oven-fresh cookies from great grandma Thelma? This interesting packaging design comes via Thelma’s Treats. You can get them delivered to you if you happen to be around Des Moines, Iowa. Eat&Go Sandwiches This is a plastic tube which can be easily folded down (like bending section of a drinking straw), so you can decrease its length as you munch down your sandwich. The design project was made possible by Olga Gambaryan, Diana Gibadulina, Alexander Kischenko and Andronik Poloz. NYC Spaghetti A uni project by Alex Creamer that shows us how a simple thing like spaghetti can have an interesting packaging. Fruit Juice Packaging Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese industrial designer, took a stab at creating some fruit juice packaging designs, and this is what he came up with. Images via toxel. Paint Brush Packaging This award-winning paint brush packaging design comes from Simon Laliberté. It comes with two brushes that double as facial hair. Waterproof Watch This is how people who are confident in their product advertise. Festina Profundo promises that this watch stays waterproof, and what better way to show that they mean business by packaging these bad boys in a bag filled with distilled water! Packaging design by Ralf Schröder. Fisherman Boots These fisherman boots are so tough that piranhas and electric eels are nothing you have to worry about. Or at least that is whats it says on this packaging, designed by the folks at good.kz. Smoking Kills This creative package for cigarettes aims to remind of the danger you put yourself in each time you reach for one. Designed by Reynolds and Reyner. Nike Stadium Shoe Box A mini stadium in your shoe box, via pinterest. Görtz 17 Shoelace Box Does that shopping bag handle look like a shoelace to you? That’s because it is one. Image via fancy. Panasonic RP-HJE 130 Earbud The two hook-shaped buds and the in-line remote form eighth notes. A simple but compelling packaging design from Panasonic, via fubiz. You might also enjoy looking through the collection of Packaging Templates on GraphicRiver. Or browse through our huge library of product packaging mockups, which can be used to showcase your design work to clients. You can find the wine case and can package in the food packaging mockup section. There you have it: a round up of a 15+ creative packaging designs. What do you think? I’m sure you’ve seen other inspiring packaging designs—feel free to share them in the comments below, or drop me a message via Twitter or Google+. Header image credit: sergeyskleznev

You are subscribed to email updates from Envato Notes To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610