I received an email from an old client today. She wanted to thank me again for the t-shirt design I did for her non-profit organization. What they were after was a t shirt, to protest the spread of Hate all over the world, and they wanted to do this in a friendly way. The design took me all of 2 minutes to come up with, simple and to the point.

That’s the thing, designers today underestimate what they are capable of. They don’t realize that a small idea can give birth to an explosion of creativity, which in some cases leads to things far beyond the scope of any normal designer. It’s as they say, a picture really does speak louder than words. Why should people write letters to congress in protest of certain things, why is design not given the respect it rightfully deserves.

As designers, we have the ability to create, to destroy, to deceive or tell the truth in ways no one dared to do so before, all with a simple graphic, be it a funny one, a simple one, serious, detailed, abstract or 3d, we can spark emotion. We can anger people, we can please them, make some cry and others laugh, we have so much influence over the general public, as designers today, we blind ourselves from the truth. We can make a difference.
No need for long speeches, money or power to get on TV and say what we have to say, we just use our creative skills, and create, beautiful designs, that speak for themselves, louder than any words ever can.

We need to realize this, and do something about it. I’m tired of hearing people say they care, designers saying they would love to make a difference, and really not giving a damn. If you truly care about something, however talentless or talented you are, prove it now.

Be Passionate - Michael Kane

Free Templates these days are not at all hard to come by, but they suck really bad. Those that are worth buying are over priced and usually flash based with annoying splash pages and bad navigation, found mainly over at . Now the Web Templates there will cost you anywhere around $50 for a simple html template with absolutely no life or personality, to $200 for an equaly distasteful unoriginal design, keep in mind this very same template your paying for could have been downloaded hundreds of times before. Now, you could pay for the Unique template and become the soul owner of it (if no one has purchased it before) for usually $1500+ but you’re still not getting a unique custom designed template to fit your needs, but if you’re alright with that then go for it

I don’t like ready made templates, I don’t have anything against them, they do the job when you’re in need of something to slap content in and move on, but to run your business off a template that litters the internet, and is as unique as a yellow cab in NYC is not a smart move.

My point is, get a custom template, they cost a lot less than those templates over at TM and at the end of the day, you’re getting something your mind creates, for your business, something that does no exist anywhere else. Not to mention that if every template sold over at is available for free. Yes, absolute free, shocking isn’t it? Here are a few templates I picked out to share with you, feel free to download them.

I have about 40 comments for the previouse two blogs to moderate and I really can’t be botherd as most consist of several links to the said posters website, so I will start fresh. Sorry to those who were contructive in their comments. From here on in, any comment with more than 1 link will be disregarded, and I shall try to accept the comments on a daily bases.

If you want a free TM template just comment and add it’s number, if I have time I’ll get you it.

Remember, creative, unique websites are the answer, but, it never hurts to use a ready made one every now and again, just don’t pay a silly price for it - Michael Kane