When in doubt, create your own patterns! Learn how to make a tie-dye effect in under a minute!
Photoshop in 60 Seconds: Tie-Dye Pattern
Decorate your work with custom patterns! They’re an essential resource for designers and are super easy to make!
In this quick video, I’ll show you how to use Photoshop’s different filter tools to create a custom tie-dye pattern. Experiment with colors and more, and show us your results!
How to Create a Tie-Dye Pattern in Photoshop
Create a New Document at 850 x 850 pixels, and then add a New Layer.
Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to create a vertical selection and Fill it with color using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).
Repeat this process until the entire document is filled with any alternating colors that you like.
Here are the colors I’ve used:
#791a93
#18106e
#2c73d2
#71cae1
#31a457
#f1ea88
#f07c4f
#f03d0f
Now blend the colors together. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and add a Radius of 25 pixels.
Next, go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and choose Rectangular to Polar.
For the tie-dye effect, go to Filter > Liquify and select the Twirl Clockwise Tool (C).
Increase the size of your brush before clicking and holding the center to twirl the colors. Use the Forward Warp Tool (W) to drag lines out from the center and distort the pattern. (You can also blur any harsh lines with the Blur Tool (O).)
Experiment with different directions for a better look.
Add more texture by setting a Watercolor Stock to Overlay and lowering the Opacity to 82%. Then, Merge all the layers together. To create the final pattern, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), and go to Edit > Define Pattern.
Here is the tie-dye result below.
Apply it to different scenes like this Pillow Mockup for more fun variations.
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Whether you’re a photographer, a painter, or a web designer, one thing remains a constant: You need a portfolio. After all, portfolios are the time-tested, best way to give potential clients a look into your work history and methodology.
I’ll give you an example. A photographer needs a portfolio to display his best work with categories for featuring different types of photos like black and white or nature-themed. Likewise, a web designer needs a creative portfolio that can be used to show off her latest client projects and even provide space to write about the development process.
Portfolios can take on many shapes and many styles. But the important commonality here is that they are, in fact, important. If you want to ensure your work resonates with its target audience, and pick up a few new clients or customers, you can use WordPress portfolio themes to build a stunning representation for your work on the web.
Useful WordPress Portfolio Theme Features
While the best portfolio themes can vary widely in presentation style, they often include a similar feature set. Getting familiar with what is offered aids in the decision-making process. It let’s you know what to expect in a solid portfolio theme purchase and allows you to quickly compare creative options. A few popular features include:
Dedicated portfolio page layouts. These give you the ability to customize the look of your portfolio without having to dig into code.
Masonry, grid, and list options. Because varied presentation options are the spice of life and can help maintain visitor interest.
Portfolio item descriptions. This lets you describe each project and give visitors insight into how you work.
Slideshows. Adding an interactive element can pique visitor interest.
Parallax sliders and backgrounds. More smooth moving parts create visual interest and support for your work.
Video backgrounds. Inclusion of video backgrounds can help engage visitors if you’re taking a storytelling approach to displaying your portfolio pieces.
Galleries. Act as a nice supplement to portfolios and let you display more than one image or video per portfolio piece.
These are just a sampling of what many creative WordPress portfolio themes include. Your mileage may vary. But now you have a better appreciation of what to expect as you begin browsing through the many WordPress portfolio themes currently available on ThemeForest and Envato Elements.
The WordPress themes included here are some of the very best options for creating a portfolio out there right now. And best of all, these are the top sellers, the themes that many people have already tried and loved.
Envato Elements
Envato Elements allows you to download unlimited WordPress themes for beautiful creative websites, all for a single monthly fee ($19 per month, with an annual subscription). If you create a lot of sites, this option is perfect for you.
Let’s look at a couple before we roundup our ThemeForest examples.
Firstly, check out the beautiful Adios template below. It’s really striking, fully responsive and retina ready, and it comes with these features, among many others:
Solid typography
Visual Composer page builder
26 custom shortcodes
Advanced portfolio layouts, including masonry and classic options
Osmos is a wonderfully minimalist portfolio theme, getting out of the way and letting your work do the talking. Whitespace and typography play a big part in what’s behind Osmos, and as it hooks directly into your Adobe Typekit account you can enjoy full control over its typographic features. It also comes packaged with several plugins which you’d otherwise have to pay for:
Freelo has a neat, gentle aesthetic–perfect for anyone who needs an organised and friendly portfolio to show off their work (be that design, illustration, photography, videography, whatever). It comes with all manner of layout options, depending on the portfolio you’re looking for, and a lovely full-screen search input when the little magnifying glass is clicked–joy!
Sprint is another pleasantly minimalistic theme (something common amongst portfolios, because heavy styling is frankly out of place). Its header and masonry grid are a solid choice, though there are other portfolio layouts to try.
And the footer has just the right balance of style and function:
Now, if a subscription is not for you, and you’re looking for individual creative WordPress themes, read on for the full selection of the best examples from Envato Market.
Best Portfolio WordPress Themes, to Display Your Creative Work Online
With a good understanding of what makes up the very best portfolio WordPress themes available for creatives of all types, we can move on to the theme showcase. Here you’ll find 15 of the very best (and the best-selling) portfolio themes money can buy:
I love a good niche theme, and this one is perfect if your niche is illustration. Tailored to the needs of illustrators, artists, photographers, animators and so on, this theme showcases portfolio collections and individual pieces equally well.
The screenshot below shows the masonry layout, but there are fourteen other homepage arrangements to choose from, as well as a wide range of page templates to make the most of your work.
With clean lines and demo’d with cool, calming photography, Argenta is a new theme (February 2017) for creatives in search of that stylish solution. It comes wrapped up with Visual Composer, Revolution Slider, and ACF (advanced custom fields) Pro, a range of portfolio settings, and a host of navigation layout options.
If you need to display your creative work online with a robust canvas of options, Ronneby is a great choice! It’s dubbed a high-performance WordPress theme and for good reason. It can be used to create just about any kind of site you want, and is certainly up for the task of making a stunning portfolio.
It comes with a versatile set of display options, with over 40 layouts, plenty of portfolio options, numerous demo layouts, and several plugins like Slider Revolution, Visual Composer, and Ultimate Addons for Visual Composer.
This responsive and retina-ready theme includes one-click installation, 8 pre-made headers, Mega Menu options, modern typography, portfolio hover variants, 23 portfolio page types, 48 styled widgets, over 1,700 font icons, and it’s WooCommerce-ready. Support and updates are included as well.
The Kalium theme was designed with creative people in mind, offering a host of features for creative professionals that help them get their work in front of prospective clients. It comes with many pre-made demos that can be installed with a single click, saving you a considerable amount of time.
It’s packed with numerous plugins that make designing custom layouts a breeze including Visual Composer, Revolution Slider, and LayerSlider. Plus it comes with shortcodes, can be translated, and supports unique portfolio options including hover styles, Dribbble Portfolio integration, and over 30 portfolio types. Other features include over 700 Google Fonts, unlimited skins, over 800 icons, multiple footer styles, and the whole thing is responsive and retina-ready.
This theme packs the features you need to create a stunning portfolio to showcase your creative work!
TheFox is a multipurpose WordPress theme that offers plenty of options for creating a stylish portfolio that suits the needs of creatives from all walks. This theme is responsive and super flexible, allowing for numerous customizations to build the perfect site to suit your needs.
It comes with loads of demos, plenty of documentation, support, and a video tutorial for quick setup. Also included are 30 homepage designs, over 250 design details, a robust theme options panel, Visual Composer, Premium Slider, and a shortcode generator. You also get a one-click demo importer, Mega Menu, WooCommerce compatibility, CSS3 animations, unlimited colors, header options, and so much more. A flexible and robust WordPress folio theme to display your best creative work.
Unicon was made with designers in mind, offering plenty of customization options without bogging down users. It comes with a Drag & Drop Page Builder, a responsive and retina-ready design, 50 Page Builder elements, and one page layouts. It also features multiple headers, sticky headers, Revolution Slider, Mega Menus, one-click setup, over 650 Ultrasharp icons, and over 50 premade layouts. It packs high-quality code, numerous features, free updates, as well as the display options you need to make a rockstar online portfolio!
Another best-selling WordPress portfolio theme worth checking out is Uncode. This theme is multi-use, so it can be configured to suit just about any purpose. However, it comes packed with loads of portfolio features sure to please creatives of all types: designers, illustrators, photographers, and more. It also includes several high-quality plugins like Visual Composer, Layer Slider, Revolution Slider, and iLightbox.
It’s WooCommerce compatible and WPML ready. It comes with 20 homepage layouts, a full admin options panel, grid layouts, over 6 menu styles, and dedicated portfolio and blog templates for total control over your design.
While the primary focus of the Atelier theme is e-commerce, it’s also perfect for portfolios and comes with the features to back up that claim. It comes with 12 demos that can be installed with one click, a minimal design, speed and SEO optimization, and a responsive design.
It also packs in 10 different header types, animated headers, 5 cart animations, multiple product display types, and drag-and-drop page builder. It features Visual Composer compatibility, numerous page types including portfolio and blog. You can make quick use of its shortcodes, RTL support, Mega Menus, and more.
Scalia is another best-selling WordPress theme that offers multi-concept solutions for businesses, shops, and creatives. This theme’s numerous portfolio layouts and gallery options make it a great choice for displaying your creative work. It features five different designs to suit varying tastes and includes 100 unique page templates.
There are 8 blog styles, multiple shop pages, quick finders, and more. It also comes with Visual Composer, Mega Menus, and a responsive design. It’s robust and ready to be extended with WPML, sliders, and WooCommerce compatibility.
Borderland is a creative WP theme that can be used for a variety of purposes, but we’re focusing on its portfolio features today.
It comes with 12 beautiful demos that can be imported with a single click, WooCommerce shop compatibility, Ajax page transitions, Fullscreen Elated Slider, a clients carousel, and a testimonials shortcode.
It features numerous layout options, such as portfolio single templates, portfolio list layouts, hover animation effects, multiple blog layouts, sliders, and custom post formats. You can also put parallax backgrounds, video backgrounds, and a number of additional features to work. Grab this WP theme today to create a stylish portfolio and to standout on the web!
If photography is your outlet of choice, you’ll love the PhotoMe theme. It comes jam-packed with over 50 gallery and portfolio layouts, one of which is certain to fit your next project.
It also comes with 8 demos, all of which can be imported with a single click and supports a multitude of options and portfolio templates for customizing your site to best display your work.
This theme supports the Live Customizer, features a responsive layout, comes with a Content Builder, blog templates, and a one page layout. It also packs in Revolution Slider, WooCommerce support, and includes support and documentation. PhotoMe is a feature-rich theme you can use to set up your photography portfolio online!
This is a WP theme that’s ideal for photographers and is aptly named Photography theme. This responsive theme comes with 24 demos that can be installed with just one click, dark and light style options, as well as over 70 gallery and portfolio templates—to display your best work.
It also features, infinite scroll, a photo proofing section with password protection, Live Customizer support, a Content Builder, 8 menu layouts. It comes with support, documentation, and professional files to get your photography portfolio started right.
Kinetika is a fullscreen photography theme that includes numerous gallery and portfolio features that allowa for the creative display of your latest and best works. If you’re a photographer or need to display your work at full-screen, then this is a great WordPress portfolio theme to start with.
It includes a promotion box, a portfolio and blog carousel, fullscreen slideshows and videos, and a proofing gallery. You’ll also get slideshow text, multiple headers, video page backgrounds, and a fullscreen menu. And it packs in Revolution Slider, WooCommerce compatibility, WPML compatibility, as well as optimization for speed and SEO.
Foundry is another multipurpose theme that can be used to create a knockout portfolio to impress your clients. The design here is flat, responsive and totally professional, all while being super easy to customize thanks to the inclusion of Visual Composer, and numerous page builder elements.
It also comes with great display options, such as: fullwidth and boxed layouts, ready-to-use demo pages, over 20 homepage designs, coming soon pages, Mega Menus, and multiple menu styles. It has easy to customize components like one-click color changes. It includes features like, page notifications, Google Fonts, WooCommerce compatibility, and well as documentation and video tutorials.
You can have your portfolio online quickly, but also all the WordPress theme features you need to work with as you grow your reputation and expand your folio of professional work.
The last theme to make our cut of the best-selling portfolio WordPress themes is Vigor. This theme is easy to customize and ideal for creating a compelling portfolio that truly captures attention. If you want your portfolio to stand out online, this is the theme to grab!
It comes with a powerful admin interface, multiple header layouts, Edge Slider, parallax, animations, a masonry gallery, fullscreen menus, Mega Menu, and video backgrounds. As well as great visual display options, like LayerSlider, Visual Composer, portfolio lists, single items, and sliders, a client carousel, and pretty much everything you’d ever need to display your work in-style online.
How to Make a Portfolio Using Creative WordPress Themes
1. Carefully Install Your Theme
After picking the right theme for your situation, make sure you install it correctly. This means following the theme’s included documentation as well as following general theme installation best practices.
It’s a good idea to create a child theme for the portfolio WordPress theme you select as well, since this will ensure that the customizations you make won’t be deleted when a theme update is released.
2. Use The Theme’s Customization Settings
Speaking of customization, it’s a fantastic idea to get familiar with how you can customize your chosen theme. Most good themes come with thorough documentation, so be sure to read that to find out all of the little things you can modify or adapt to suit your needs.
Whether it makes use of the theme options panel, Live Customizer, or includes a custom settings screen, familiarize yourself with what’s included and make use of it to the greatest extent possible.
3. Optimize Your Portfolio Items
While you’re perusing your theme’s documentation, you’ll likely come across some specifications about how to approach your portfolio items. That is, you should pay attention to the sizing specifications, formats accepted, and your layout options. Then, you can go through all of the items you’d like to feature in your portfolio and optimize them accordingly.
A great portfolio layout won’t help you if your items don’t fit the format correctly. Everything will look „off.” To avoid this, take the appropriate time to resize and format your images. A pristine end result will be worth it.
4. Keep Your Portfolio Up-to-Date
Once your site is up and running with your new WordPress portfolio theme, be certain to keep your portfolio up to date. Set aside some time each month to review your work and see if something new should be included in the lineup. Doing this keeps your site fresh and ensures you’re always putting your best face forward.
Pick the Right Portfolio WordPress Theme Now!
Trying to cobble together a portfolio site can feel maddening when starting from scratch. But with a fantastic selection of creative portfolio WordPress themes to choose from, you can’t go wrong. With a little research, you’re certain to find the perfect theme to suit your personality and to act as your representation on the web. We have a whole lot of choices on ThemeForest, brought to you by the largest global community of creatives.
The use of smartphones has made the need for apps to be on the increase. In fact if your business doesn’t have an app it’s possible that you’re losing customers. Technology has made life easier and patronizing a company that’s lagging behind in app development is one of the hardest things to do right now. I’d rather go with a company whose services can be accessible through their app. Everyone wants the easy way out, and if you’re not thinking app, you’re obviously not ready to win customers over. Having a good app is a plus to your company, which means you need to employ the services of a good web developer. There are lots of competitions out there when it comes to choosing a good web developer for your business. But here are nine key questions to ask the mobile app developers that’ll help you choose the company for the job.
Where can I find the apps you’ve developed?
One thing I love about app development companies is that their jobs are not far-fetched. By just a click you can access the apps your potential developers have created or collaborated in their creations. A good app company won’t even let you ask this question, a serious company would have shown you samples of their jobs and where their apps can be found.
May I have the list of your current and past clients?
This question is necessary to validate the answer to the first one. You don’t just believe that a company created something by mere asking, you need another company they’ve worked for to confirm their claims. Your verification shouldn’t only be about app creation but about everything you’d like to know about their services. In an email interview, Jamie Buck the co-founder of Payday loans UK, said “When in search of the right app developer, it’s not enough to see the apps they’ve developed, there’s a great need to reach out to their clients to find out their customer experience”.
What’s your pay?
This should be the next point to be discussed after you’ve confirmed the developer is up to the task. Find out if he/she can work within your budget.
What kind of smartphone do you use?
This question is necessary because the answer will let you know how knowledgeable a mobile web developer is about a particular mobile platform. If the developer is claiming to be a guru in developing apps on iPhone, then person should be using an iPhone. It is also applicable to blackberry and android.
How can my app make money?
If your goal for developing the app is to make money, then this question is necessary. The knowledge of this will help the developer add money making features in the app. You can either make it pay-per-download or free. Whatever your decision is between the two, make sure they are well clarified by the developer.
How do we communicate during the process?
How well you communicate during the development process determines how great the app will turn out. It’s expedient to enquire means of communication to ensure thorough follow up. Does the person prefer calling or video conferencing? Whatever his/her means of communication maybe, it should be convenient for you.
What kind of unique features can you create?
No matter how well designed your app is, if its features aren’t useful and very innovative it won’t catch customers’ attention. Find out the versatility of your developer and how well he/she can add features.
Who will own the app?
It’s okay to assume that you’re the owner of the app since you’re the one paying for it. But better it is to have a well written contract agreement with the developer. You guys should either sign “Work made for hire” or “Copyright assignment” contract that states you won everything related to the app.
Will my mobile app be submitted to app stores?
You ought to know if your app will be submitted to app store. This is the last step after you must have approved the beta-tested version of your app. The app submission process usually takes long.
Mobile app is one of the most popular words in recent times. This is due to the fact that companies and customers are embracing the idea of having services and products at their fingertips. And just like how these apps succeed, that’s how the way some fail as well. There are mistakes to avoid if you want your app to become a success and not the opposite.
We’ll be looking at five mistakes to avoid when building your mobile app.
Building multiple platforms app at a go
The competition in app building is so stiff that you would rarely see an app that doesn’t have competitions. There are over a million apps on both Apple App and Google Play Store, so it is necessary to take time in building one platform than trying to focus on many platforms.
You tend to get excited over how good your app turned out and become tempted to launch it on multiple platforms, don’t fall for it. It’s advisable that you kick off on a single platform first and see how it goes. Doing this aids in making your minimum value product (MVP) available in the app store on time.
It’s a new app and you’ll agree that there are likely to be changes, launching on multiple platforms will make introduction of changes costly. You can’t effect a change in Apple App store and not do same in Google Play Store. Starting off on iOS isn’t a bad idea. Remember you test the depth of a river with both feet.
Having too many features
It’s always advisable to launch an app only with its core features. It’s the first time people are getting to use the app, give them a great user experience; which can be achieved by the ability to do more with less features in your app.
In the quest of building your app with its core features, do not for any reason build an app hastily. The reason why taking your time is good, is because in apps there are rarely second chances. Once your app has been written off by customers it will take only a miracle to come back bigger.
Skimming on user experience
Mobile app users are one of the most impatient people to come across. In the sense that 26% of apps are only opened once and never to be used again; if customers are finding it difficult in navigating through your app, it’s definitely bound to fail. Jim Rizzoli the co-founder of Zerobounce an online email verifier, in an emailed interview said that “Anything you create that has to do with people in the recent times must appeal to people to them at the very launch; even though you will still have to improve on it later. Your goal is capture their interest at first.”
They need to have a self-describing and not only intuitive experience when using your app. It’s expedient to get right your user experience before launching that app. There’s no room for second impression in the mobile app business. It’s either you get it right and keep improving, than to hurriedly build what won’t last.
Not incorporating analytics
Not including analytics is like running a business without records. It’s dangerous right? Yeah. That’s the same way not incorporating analytics in your mobile app is dangerous. Analytics are used in measuring the progress of your app. With them you get to know your retention rate, engagement, average time spent within the app, daily active users, etc. The knowledge gotten through these analytics are to assist you in making necessary changes in the app.
Marketing after submitting App
You shouldn’t wait for the app to be launched in App store before marketing. It’s okay to start marketing as the app within two to four weeks before it goes live. You can send a pitch of your app to authors on tech sites to write about your app. Apps do not sell themselves, that’s why it is very much necessary to define your audience before launching.
German supermarket Penny has launched a Christmas campaign, “Christmas. Time to Reconcile”. At the heart of the campaign is a commercial featuring a woman who must overcome psychological obstacles to reconnect with her estranged daughter. The film features her on a metaphorical journey through snow, ice and a menacing forest to reconnect with her daughter at Christmas. The Penny Christmas Reconciliation campaign, online at www.penny.de/versoehnung, includes giant posters, digital work and newspaper ads calling for reconciliation. Participants can enter a contest to win a personal reconciliation gift.
In addition to the film, there is a raffle on the campaign website penny.de/versoehnung in which users can apply for a personal reconciliation gift: the PENNY reconciliation wine. Winners will receive a bottle of Dornfelder Merlot with a combination lock and matching numerical code. This wine bottle is pre-franked and can be sent by the winner to a person with whom they want to reconcile. The other person receives the reconciliation wine by mail with the indication that the initiator wants to reconcile the action. The bottle can only be opened with the code, which only the sender knows. Both people can reconcile themselves with a common glass of wine.
The Penny Christmas Reconciliation campaign reflects Penny’s wish to act as a local supplier whilst providing support to the community. Stefan Magel, COO of the supermarket chain, says: “We don’t just want to provide the neighbourhood with fresh food, we also want to do our bit for the local community at Christmas in 2017. With our campaign, we want to encourage people to come together again. Because Christmas is the time, to reconcile.”
Christoph Everke, Managing Director Creation at Serviceplan Campaign, adds: “With this year’s Christmas campaign, Penny is showing how important it is to not just communicate but also to fully cover a topic, in detail. Penny is aiming for real closeness and is creating it in a very emotional and lasting way.”
Penny Christmas Reconciliation Credits
The Penny Christmas Reconciliation campaign was developed at Serviceplan by global chief creative officer Alexander Schill, creative managing partner Matthias Harbeck, executive creative director Christoph Everke, senior copywriter Henrik Pfeiffer, senior art director Marie Sophie Legat, executive producer Aisha Blackwell, account director Fabian Kleinman, account manager Frederike Enk.
Filming was shot by director Chiara Grabmayr via Stink with executive producer Moritz Merkel, producer Isabel Last, post production supervisor Steffen Röthinger, director of photography Danny Hiele.
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