Hello everybody!

It’s been a while since I wrote a short post to check in with you guys and also, I am quite happy to say that this is my 3rd month of blogging :) Thanks a ton for supporting me all along and for being a endless source of motivation.

Firstly, I wanted to apologize for my laziness in posting good articles. I am graduating as an Electronics Engineer in a couple of months and its a hard time managing Stuides and hobby. But, I want to assure you that, even though my career is entirely digressive, My first love is always towards designing and blogging and it will be that way forever. I will try my best to update this blog regularly feeding great content and amazing tutorials, because these days, I am working with Photoshop like never before and you can expect a great deal of cool stuff :)

But getting to the point, After careful observation and research, I have noticed that, varying the content of articles does affect my readership a lot, So I am asking the masters themselves, YOU! … Do you have any suggestions on what I should write on? What do you think, where I must go, about what I should write – more tutorials, more inspiration, more technical articles?

You can take your time on that one :) Meanwhile,  I have chalked out a few steps and created a roadmap for the future of this blog, at least for the next couple of months. Here is what I have in mind:

1) Lots of Tutorials, yeah!

I started this blog with an intention of providing quality tutorials in Photoshop and I shall continue to do so in the future as well. I am working in great deal with Photoshop these days, trying to understand the basics and learning to effectively use them. I will share all those experiences with you whenever needed. I shall guarantee you guys, at least one cool Tutorial a week, so that we can keep practising and learning new stuff in Photoshop.

I am also working on Cinema 4D and Illustrator these days, so you can expect some cool tutorials on that too.

With sites such as PSDTuts and Tutorial9, it has become quite tough to stay afloat but I will take this as a challenge and will try my best to keep pumping in great tutorials.

2) Thinking outside the Box!

With more and more design blogs taking birth these days, it has become increasingly difficult to judge whats good and whats insignificant. The only thing that separates the two is ‘original and resourceful‘ content. So, I have decided to write thought provoking articles which will help you in your journey to become a good blogger and designer. Although, these ideas are from my perspective, they will surely help you, just like they have helped me grow. We have various great articles lined up for you from various disciplines of the design industry.

• Articles about basic priniciples of Design and how to employ them to create wonderful artworks.
• Photoshop Tips and Tricks and Understanding each feature in-depth (one feature per week).
• Showcasing the best talent in the creative industry, which is a great source of inspiration.
• Inspirational interviews with some of the best artists and designers in the world.
• We will learn about newer technologies, foray into ceative areas of design and development.
• Lots of inspiration, tutorials, roundups in the Photography category.

3) Freebies (lots of ‘em)

Something which I am really proud to say is that, this blog has around 1500 followers on Twitter and around 800 happy subscribers. You guys are the reason why I am continually trying my best to provide awesome content. Thanks for all your support and help and it is priceless. So, I have decided to give something back to the community (like I do, most of the times) for making this blog what it is today. Therefore, I will be creating a lot of freebies such as Icons, Wallpapers, Giveaways so that I can show my sign of gratitude and thankfulness.

The best thing that has ever happened to me is that I have made a lot of freinds who support me and guide me the right way. They all have helped me so much into what I have become today. We all learn and grow better with the help of the community and we are nothing without them. Of course, I cannot list them all here, as it will take pages together, but I’m sure wherever you are, you will understand ;)

4) Guest Articles! I hear they are awesome!

We all know how sites such as 1stwebdesigner, PSDTuts, Smashing Magazine has grown tremendously through the years. One of the main reasons for its success is that they have awesome guest authors writing articles for them. Inviting guest authors is a way of redesigning the appaerance of the articles. The readers are injected with a different style of writing and this kind of change will keep them motivated to read newer articles on the blogs. This also shows a sign of professionalism. Most importantly, it gives a lot of exposure to the guest authors to showcase their skills. Although, some of them pay the guest authors, I think of it more as contributing to the community. I certainly don’t take money for the guest articles I write :)

Well, having said that, I hope to get more guest authors contribute amazing stuff for this blog. I have a few friends who are ready to write guest articles and I certainly can’t wait to see them contributing :)

5) Suggestions via Social Media

If there is one thing that I have learnt from my 4 months of blogging, it is ‘Never under-estimate the power of Social Media‘. Twitter and Facebook, albeit being a website to share things and to make like minded friends, can also be used to build a whole new dimension of discussion. I have recieved so many suggestions and opinions about my articles. Some of them even send me ideas, useful links to resources and even ask me a lot questions about design and stuff :) Thank you so much for that.

So, I would love to interact more and learn from you guys via twitter. This will help me improve the blog faster and better. We can also build a constructive design community by utilizing this power reasonably.

6) Send your suggestions and Ideas

Well, this is a one-of-a-kind initiative from now on. You can send me your Ideas and suggestions about what type of articles you want to see on this blog and I will credit you properly by adding your name and links to your social space. This will help other people know you better and… I think, thats pretty much about it :) So, let me know what you kind of articles you want, and we will do the research for you :D

7) Quantity or Quality or both :)

It has been tough times for me lately as I had university exams going on. So, writing one article a day was an impossible job although I tried my best to publish one article each day. I shall try updating the blog once in two days, trying not to compromise on the quality of the posts.

I value both quantity and quality as they make an integral part of learning these days. Although, quality is more often valued, rather than quantity, I will surely keep the balance right and make sure not to drive away visitors with boring articles and badly written List posts :)

8 ) Redesign? Sure, Why not!

Well, as a part of the age old tradition, a design blog is identified with its unique theme and a signtature style which cannot be matched by anyone. Although, it sounds idealistic and true, I believe, content is more important than the theme. What’s Inside, matters the most, rather than the Outside, right?

To be honest, I am not exactly a “graphic designer” People get confused more often with ” graphic designers” and “digital artists” I am inclined more towards the latter. Graphic designers contibute more for a better UI for the web and also code sometimes, right? You can correct me if I’m wrong here. Wheras Digital Artists are more of Photoshop junkies, whom you see lurking around in Deviant Art and Behance :D

Having said that, I certainly want to redesign my website, but it will take a few months amidst my busy schedule. Redesigning takes a lof time and effort and I don’t want to sepnd too much on it, invariably compromising on the quality articles. So, we will do it slowly!

Whoa!! there are so many smileys in here..

Finally, a BIG THANKS to my sponsors:

Out of great modesty, I thank all of my sponspors who had faith in me and provided the motivation I needed. Its with their financial support that my blog is up and running today. Any blog, be it small or big, is incomplete without them, so this part of the article is dedicated to these wonderful chaps. Thanks a lot, again and I wish to continue this relationship even further. (These are in no particular order)

Don’t forget to check them out..

1) Bavotsan Themes

Great looking wordpress themes

2) Graphic Design Blender

The best place for business tips, client advice, and creative inspiration for designers.

3) Premium Cards

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4) FAQPAL

FAQ PAL is a website to find and submit tutorials for webmasters, developers, coders and surfers.

5) Easy Photo Biz

Photographers wanted. We have 100′s of real freelance photography jobs and home-based photography business opportunities.

6) Deposit Photos

Royalty Free Stock Photos & Illustrations

7) Energized IT

Great Web Hosting

8) Rapid XHTML

At RapidxHTML we convert PSD to HTML and PSD to XHTML / CSS. Visit RapidxHTML to get custom hand-coded HTML / XHTML.

9) Theme Baker

We bake delicious themes just for you

10) Decent Banners

Website banner ads, professional banners, banner design portfolio, decent banners

Well, Thanks to all of you again. All I can say is, Stay tuned and expect the best :D and be sure to tune in everyday for endless source of inspiration in the world of design :)

Gracie!

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