Design – That Caribbean Guy

The world of a designer is vast, ever-changing, and forever growing as technology and creativity evolve. Most designers struggle daily to find the balance between inspiration, their creative ideas, and what clients want. The latter is one of the key factors of a designer’s life, as that is what affords us the opportunity to do what we love while still paying the bills.

Success in the design field can be broken down into three simple yet effective steps: Be Inspired, Learn, and Showcase & Profit! This is, of course, is much easier said than done, but time and dedication will definitely pay off in this case. With that, here are nine sites to help you be inspired, refine your techniques, and continue to thrive in the ever-changing world of design!

Be Inspired

Creattica

http://creattica.com/

Creattica is a design and inspiration gallery that showcases submitted work from designers around the globe. This site includes inspirational designs and free templates in various fields including HTML/CSS Designs, Icon Design, Photography, and Advertising. The submissions are easy to browse and search, allowing visitors tons of time to take in the amazing works and even download free templates and icons. This is also a great and free way to show off your creations and direct clients to your site.

Artician

http://www.artician.com

Artician is an art and design community and network for creative professionals to easily manage and showcase their work. The site allows individuals to create a free online portfolio that can be shared throughout the web via social networks and various other tools. Artician allows you to follow and connect with your favorite designers, photographers, and other creative artists via their huge community. There are lots of discussion boards, tutorials, and more to keep site visitors coming back for inspiration and information, while allowing artists to showcase their work and eventually gain clients.

Behance

http://www.behance.net

Behance is one of the leading platforms for creative professionals to showcase and manage their online presence. The Behance Network allows creative artists to manage and share their portfolios via a variety of social sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The site is used by industry leaders to display their creations in a clean and professional manner, and large companies regularly look for talent via the joblist. This makes it one of the best ways to get your work seen by corporations such as Nike, Microsoft, MTV, and Amazon.

Learn

PSDTuts

http://psd.tutsplus.com/

Psdtuts+ is a Photoshop blog showcasing some of the most well-detailed tutorials on the web. This is, by far, one of the best sites for learning and honing your Photoshop skills and being inspired by other artists’ work. The Tuts sites’ community is vast and ever-growing so there is always someone out there to help. The tutorials are always well written, detailed, and cover various tips and techniques. Designers can submitt their own tutorials to the site to gain recognition and get paid at the same time.

Smashing Magazine

http://www.smashingmagazine.com

Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers using an almost unimaginable amount of articles, tutorials, best practices, and techniques from a variety of development and design areas. The site also houses a directory, access to published books, and an updated job board with listings for full-time and freelance positions in design, development, and other areas.

Abduzeedo

http://abduzeedo.com/tutorials

Abduzeedo features design inspiration and tutorials, and was created by Brazilian designer, Fabio Sasso. The collection includes detailed Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, and other design software tutorials. Abduzeedo also has tons of inspirational posts to browse through and interviews with amazing designers from across the globe.

Showcase & Profit

Themeforest

http://themeforest.net/

Themeforest is the largest marketplace for website templates, WordPress, eCommerce themes, and more. Creative artists and professionals can easily upload and showcase their work on the site, allowing visitors to purchase and download with a simple click of the mouse. This well-known, highly visited site makes it one of the best ways to profit from your designs and creative work. You can also check out their other marketplaces to sell different file types such as audio, video, photography, 3D, and more.

Authentic Jobs

http://www.authenticjobs.com/

Authentic Jobs is one of the leading employment sites for creative professionals to connect with small and large scale companies on the web. Individuals can find tons of full-time, part-time, and freelance opportunities for a variety of positions ranging from internships to senior level creative and development roles.

99Designs

http://99designs.com/designers

99designs is a leading marketplace for showcasing creative work and building a client base. The process is simple: clients post a project description, launch a contest, and designers create and submit their work based on this description. Clients then choose the best submissions, allow the designers to tweak their work, select a winner, and pay for the project! Designers can quickly gain clients by constantly providing great work and gathering excellent feedback.

This week’s Web Roundup is focused on Caribbean artists and sites that showcase their work on the web! The islands all have amazing talent to offer and the internet is one of the best ways to show off these individuals and groups.

The featured image above, for example, is by a immensely talented Trinidadian photographer, Laura Ferreira.

The first Caribbean edition of the Web Roundup features some of the best places on the web to find just a taste of the art, culture and greatness that the islands have to offer!

Laura Ferreira

http://www.lauraferreira.com/

Laura Ferreira is a talented freelance photographer/digital artist from Trinidad & Tobago. She specializes in fashion, commercial and portrait photography with an intense and powerful twist. The on-location shoots are wild, natural and superbly framed while her studio shots are mystical and creative.

Her portfolio includes photography and art for some of the biggest mas camps and corporate firms in Trinidad & Tobago. Several magazines and publications have featured Laura’s work including MACO and Advanced Photoshop.

Check out her portfolio at http://lauraferreira.com/port.htm.

Gary Felton

http://www.garyfelton.com/
www.yacht-photography.net/

Beauty is definitely behind the viewfinder of Gary Felton’s camera lens. His images are stunningly gorgeous, and his love for the sea and art is amazingly reflected in his photographs.

The commercial side of Gary reflects the precision needed to capture his subjects in the professional and clear manner that clients desire. The nature lover in him comes out in the amazing collection of ocean-related imagery featuring sand, surf and sailing wonders.

Gary’s portfolio is one that needs to be seen to understand the inspiring and powerful nature of his work!

Machel Montano

http://mworldonline.com/

Some people call him the “King of Soca,” some call him “HD” but to most he’s simply, Mr. Fete! Machel Montano is, without a doubt, one of the most creative, energetic, crowd-pleasing soca artists ever to hit the stage. His music and creativity has been entertaining fans from the time Machel was just a young boy performing tracks like “Too Young to Soca.”

Machel is one of the most, if not the most, inspiring and prolific soca artists out there with fans and supporters throughout the globe. His performances are always elaborate, creative and most importantly…pure energy! He’s had tons of hits throughout the years including “Delirious”, “Higher Than High” and more recently, “Mr. Fete” and the patriotic tribute “Pump Your Flag (PYF)”. Machel has reinvented himself throughout the years as both a solo act and with his former band, Xtatik, and members of his HD family.

MWorld is Machel’s home on the web and the best place to check out Mr. Fete!

Bold Move Studio

http://boldmovestudio.com/

Bold Move Studio is a Caribbean based design studio specializing in brand identity, publications and web design. Their portfolio boasts an impressive lineup of creative branding and professional designs.

The Bold Move team focuses on the client’s ideas, backgrounds and needs to ultimately produce some inspiring results. Their passion for design is shown in their strong work and beautiful creations.

The variety of designs and simplicity of the final products show how a small design team can produce incredible results. See their work for yourself!

Numusiczone

http://www.numusiczone.com/

Numusiczone (NMZ) is the new default online music source for Caribbean music of various genres including soca, reggae, dancehall and bouyon! It has quickly become the go to site for legally downloading Caribbean music on the web.

The site was founded and is run by Dominican natives, Craig Bellot and Felix Augustine Jr., and features artists from throughout the Caribbean and worldwide.

Numusiczone has a large, ever-growing library of music and other content available for download directly from the site. Currently, the site has musical content ranging from today’s hottest soca to the greatest calypso of years gone with more added all the time.

Visit the site at http://www.numusiczone.com/ and go crazy!

CaiVideos

http://caivideos.com/

CaiVideos represents one of the island of Dominica’s best sources for local music, photos and the latest news! Their slogan, “Our energy, our lifestyle, our culture,” displays the strong, patriotic nature of the Dominican people and provides visitors with lots of sights and sounds to keep them entertained.

The site helps promote the island’s musical, visual, and creative artists by always providing a venue for visitors to explore. The site was started by a Dominican native with a passion for culture and life and CaiVideos is a wonderful expression of that love!

Visit CaiVideos for the latest artists’ videos and news from Dominica!

Spread the love

This is just a small slice of the amazing talent found throughout the Caribbean region. If there are any other artists around the web representing the islands that you love, then hit me up below in the comments!

Category: Design

9 Sites To Becoming a Great Designer and Profiting From It