A Mad Tea Party

Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blurred or fuzzy”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.^[1] Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.

That’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Bokeh effect.

I think it’s quite spectacular and makes for some very interesting photography and design concepts.

A while ago, Abduzeedo had a nice tutorial on how to accomplish the Bokeh effect in Photoshop, and boy what a stunning result!

In case you’re wondering why I picked Bokeh as my topic for this post, it’s mainly because of the Academy Awards. They’ve consistantly used the Bokeh effect in the Academy Award presentations over the years and fairly successfully might I add.

For those designers or artists who don’t watch the Oscars because it may be beneath them, you might want to reconsider. It’s a great source of inspiration especially for those interested in Interior Design or Architecture or heck even Fashion. Think about it this way, worst-case scenario at least you’ll be able to avoid some major faux pas that you might be able to spot!

Anyway, onto the good stuff. I’ve collected some nice images that truly showcase the Bokeh style. Enjoy!

Bokeh

Coffee, Tea or Bokeh? (Haha!)

Beacon (Macro Bokeh?)

Christmas Bokeh

Bird in Bokeh

Bokeh Drop

Bokeh Love

Bokeh in the Sky

And for those interested in how to achieve this result in Photoshop, here’s the tutorial by Abduzeedo.

I found something interesting this evening.

20 Designers introduce themselves in 20 minutes and talk about the secret to their success or generally anything that inspires them or issues they want to address.

Aiga 20:20 presentations.

My personal favourites were the first and last. There were some fairly awesome ones in between as well.

I know it’s a little old, but if you havn’t seen it, it’s definitely worth a watch!

Well, I’m back again after a week of beeing MIA.

Sadly though, this wasn’t a week off filled with fun and games and lots of other things that aren’t appropriate to mention on a ‘family’ blog / site. I had some work to finish which was made rather difficult by my graphics card which decided to stop working, followed by my mouse which decided that it didn’t want to click anymore.

I’ve sort of managed to get my comp up and running again again, a brand new mouse in hand and a temporary graphics card are keeping me alive for now.

I know a Freebies post is pending, but I’m saving that for tomorrow (Sunday) later (I’ve completely lost track of time), where I’ll get to round up all the stuff that’s been out on the internet over the past week or so.

For now however, I have some nice links to some posts that have collected a bunch of nice sites to help you find the inspiration you need to design your own site. This is a must see, simply because of the monumentally large number of websites that you can go through to get some inspiration for your own website.

• DesignM.ag – 40 Textured Websites for design inspiration
  
• DesignM.ag – 30 more portfolio sites for your design inspiration
  
• DesignM.ag – 40+ inspirational non-profit website designs
  
• Arbenting – Creatively colourful websites
  
• SmashingMagazine – 50 beautiful and user friendly navigation Menus
  

And finally,

• Noupe – 70+ impressive trends, How to’s & Best Practices