Basit - Live Your Life with Inspiration » Trends

Spice Up Your Gmail with Themes from Google

Basit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:42:00 +0000

We use Gmail everyday, do you get bored with the look of Gmail?
Would you like to have a new fresh look for your Gmail? Gmail fans have
been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a
while, but up til now themes haven’t been an integral part of Gmail.

Google
wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd
themes, there’s a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that
turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change
scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox,
and fun characters to keep you in good company. There’s even an old
school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two
engineers — it’s not exactly practical, but it’s great for testing out
your geek cred.

To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings.
They will be rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of
days, so if you don’t see them yet, you probably need to wait a bit.
Please feel free to tell us which one you like most.

Logo Design Trends Report 2007

Basit — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:04:00 +0000

There are many different kinds of stunning logos. Some are
aesthetic, some conceptual, and some cultural. It is also becoming
disturbingly clear that logo design has become a public sport. As the
public controls their own media more and more-Tivo-ing this, blogging
that, YouTube-ing and Googling everything else-people are no longer
satisfied to simply consume what is placed before them: They have
opinions they want to share. So when a large corporation reveals its
new identity, there are hundreds of internet sites flinging their
opinions back at it. Even when the village board of Remote votes on a
new logo for its two police cars, citizens take to the streets waving
pitchforks and copies of their own designs. Committeecide seems to be
rampant.

The full 2007 logo design trends report
follows. Whether we are noting social, conceptual or aesthetic trends,
remember that none of them exist in a vacuum or in a single moment in
time. They are results of many trends before them and are developing
taproots as we speak.