SampleBoard software available for Enterprise and Education

We are happy to share that SampleBoard, the digital mood board creator for the creative industries, are available to all Small Business, Enterprise & Education institutions.

For those of you not familiar with the product, we have created a cloud based digital mood board software which helps interior designers, fashion buyers, wedding planners, concept designers, trend forecasters and visual merchandisers create professional digital mood boards in a matter of minutes from any location.

 

We have helped thousands of designers create digital mood boards saving them valuable time and money as well  as this being the sustainable option, it also allows you to spend more time on the conceptual stage of the project as well as saving your work to our folder management system.

 

Check out the this video to get a feel for the editor – although interior design based, it applies to every creative field where mood boards are used to convey an initial visual concept.

 

 

For more information, please contact us through the form below, we would love to hear from you.

 

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Sampleboard.com, Pinterest & Fashion: How to look like Kate the world’s best dressed women

If you are a student fashion designer, fashion designer or personal stylist then using SampleBoard and Pinterest is a great way to gather, develop and present your design ideas. The wonderful Pinterest and the excellent functionality of the brilliant SampleBoard work amazingly well together.

Fashion concept board created on SampleBoard with Pinterest pins

I have created some fashion mood boards featuring Kate the Duchess of Cambridge using pins from Pinterest and the editor functions of the SampleBoard.com site. The boards can be used to help you ‘Get the look’ of Kate the best dressed women in the world. You can also have some fun playing around with SampleBoard and Pinterest. But be warned they are addictive. If you click on the boards you can find the links to the images used.

Fashion Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard with Pinterest pins

In this week’s Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun there was a two page spread featuring Katherine Duchess of Cambridge. She has been named the world’s best dressed women. Kate has quickly become a global style icon. Her rise on the best dressed list has been amazing and much quicker than William’s mother Princess Diana.

Fashion concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard with Pinterest pins

The article interestingly highlights the colors she has chosen for her outfits over the past year. She refuses to use a personal stylist yet she has created an excellent range of well put together outfits creating her own unique style. Many of her outfits have been recycled.

Fashion concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard with Pinterest pins

Kate has chosen light nude tones, white, champagne, blush, beige and grey neutrals for 32 percent of her wardrobe. Her next favorite hue is blue which has made up of about 21%. Kate wears black and white or green about 9% of the time, pink 8% of the time, red 7% of the time, black or purple 4% of the time and brown 3% of the time. Kate is not afraid to buy outfits off the rack on the high street.

Fashion concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard with Pinterest pins

If you check out Kate’s choices; she tends to go for plain bold colors, she has added a few patterned outfits to her wardrobe, selects mainly nude, black and grey shoes and often does not wear a hat. During the day she lets her hair hang naturally. Occasionally Kate wears her hair in a simple sleek swept back style caught behind her ears and pinned. Kate like the style icon Princess Grace wears very little jewelry and her handbags tend to be small and discreet.

Kate does seem to also favor lace. I am laughing as I write thinking; she would win the approval of the vicar’s wife in the Jane Austin novel Emma. This snobby character stated Emma’s wedding to Mr. Knightly was not all it should be due to a lack of lace used in the bride’s gown. Love Jane Austin and remember comments like this. Back to Kate who really in my opinion deserves to be at the top of the best dressed list. I love her understated elegant look.

Author: Rosena MacFadzean for SampleBoard.com – concept creation online

Garden Design, SampleBoard.com & Pinterest

A classy garden masterpiece can be created using classic French furniture and classic style urns and other garden accessories. Use gentle soft whites, creams, beige and grey to add a sense of serenity and peace. The essence of this style of garden is the tranquility achieved from the use of white and cream flowers with gentle green foliage.

Concept  board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

Also a garden can easily be brought up to date by adding some quirky garden furniture. Bold colors and contemporary styles can made an ordinary garden space unexpected, extraordinary and fun. The great thing about using furniture to update a landscape is it can easily be changed and updated again and again. If you often like to change the interior spaces that flow into your garden space this could be a great option for you.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

For a more dramatic effect you can use black, dark grey and a variation of texture. Outdoor fireplaces are very much in vogue and strong color variation, different patterns and textures add to the drama. Gardens with outdoor fireplaces are obviously designed for use at night as well as during the day.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

My brother recently had a Christmas in July party with the outside fireplace as a feature. Unfortunately we were unable to be there. Will be there next year; Christmas in Aussie land is during the summer. Although I have been here for years I miss the white Christmases of Europe. My husband laughs when I say I want to experience another white Christmas he thinks I would not cope with the cold. Maybe not, my niece spent two years in Europe she was so excited to see snow for the first time but she said she actually cried with the cold.

A family winter wonderland scene in England

In this blog I have created some garden mood boards combining some wonderful pins from Pinterest and the brilliant editor features and images of SampleBoard.com. I can’t get over how they work together so well. It is easy to create excellent eco friendly concept boards using these highly compatible sites. If you are an interior or fashion designer, decorator, wedding planner or landscape designer you too can create professional looking concept/mood/sample boards by starting a SampleBoard.com account. You can then upload images from your Pinterest account to add to the boards with just a click of the mouse. Hope you have as much fun as I am combining the excellent Pinterest and the brilliant SampleBoard.com.

 Author: Rosena MacFadzean for SampleBoard.com – concept creation online

Announcement: the new-and-improved editor is live!

Here at SampleBoard we’ve been working around the clock to bring you an updated, more user-friendly and intuitive editor to help you create professional visual concepts in minutes.

New-and-improved SampleBoard editor

The following changes has been done:

• Brand new interface, inspired by Picnik
• Tools separated into Basic Edits, Image Effects & Filter Effects all running vertically
• All tools have descriptions and tooltips

The navigator menu on the right consists of My Library, Gallery & Enhancements

• My Library
  • Create new library folders, browse, open and drag and drop your uploaded, imported and saved images onto your canvas.
• Gallery
  • Browse over 50 000 images by keyword search, creative field or category.
• Enhancements
  • Search thousands of user-created color schemes, backgrounds, frames, vectors & clipart patterns & textures

Import & upload images into your SampleBoard library

The top horizontal menu bar has changed.

• The “upload” button takes you to your web profile where you can:
  • upload images from your computer
  • import from your Flickr account
  • import from your Picasa account
  • import pins from any Pinterest account - just type in the username

• The Share, Export and Print functions sits separately with easy-to-use dropdown functions

Share, export and print your designs

You can now sign in and experience the new-and-improved editor. If you experience any difficulties opening or loading the new editor, I would advise you to clear your cache (remember your computer’s memory has the “old” editor in it’s head)

Since we’ve launched the new editor today, there are bound to be a few teething problems and glitches. If you notice any, please could you let me know here so that we can get them fixed ASAP.

Happy creating!

The SampleBoard Team

How to get the 1960s look now back in fashion

The swinging 60s fashion styles are swinging into the 2012 fashion scene.  The designers Calvin Klein, Jeremy Scott, Geoffrey Mac and Tommy Hilfiger all gave a nod to 60s style in New York fashion week. Klein created 60s style swing coats, Scott gave a nod to 60s pop art and Mac created giant backcombed 60s hair styles.

Twiggy’s 60s fashion style influenced Aussie label Romance Was Born’s new bold owl swift dress. In the Saturday’s Herald Sun Andy Burns quoted Anna Plukett as saying “….. The fabric silhouette and popping bright solid color palette reflects the mod era which we love”

When I went shopping yesterday I had a walk down memory lane when I spotted some Twiggy style shift dress’ in solid bold geometric designs. Giving my age away here, but I can’t help but be proud of the fact I was in England (a school girl) during the swinging 60s. What an exciting time it was. The new season of 2012 embraces a solid color palette in sleek paneled highlights accessorized with bold accessories.

Fashion concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

Celebrity stylist Franco Scifilliti shared some words of wisdom in the same article. He suggested 5 ways on ‘How to get the Twiggy look’. So here they are in my own words.

1. Find a shift dress in an A-line or slightly fitted style. Solid colors or black and white (I have created the fashion concept board above to give you an idea)
2. Short capes instead of coats will add to your swinging 60s style (Oh I remember my last winter in England my best friend’s Mum made me a grey wool cape with a bright red lining I worn this over a matching short slim fitting skirt. I thought I was lovely) Large buttons or toggles are the recommended trim.
3. It is so important to choose the right accessories; opaque pantyhose (tights) in 70 or 100 denier. The best colors are bold for example red with a black outfit, midnight blue with red or white. Find some big pendants, enamel hoops; chunky jewellery is very much in fashion. For your head select a cap in the mod style. Large handbags in bold colors and geometric patterns similar to the dress styles would be right on song.
4. For your feet knee-high boots in black or in a colored suede, patent or suede platform pumps. (Don’t you just love shoes?)
5. Keep the whole look crisp and clean. Straight lines geometric shapes work best

Well that’s it I look forward to seeing how long the 60s styles stay in fashion. The great thing is they are often reinvented so even if they don’t last long they should be back soon.

Some tips on how to set the scene for a Valentine’s Day dream

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

My husband and I have never celebrated Valentine’s Day we prefer to surprise each other with wee romantic treats unexpectedly. This works very well for us. For those of you who do celebrate the day I thought I would share some thoughts from an amusing article I read in the Herald Sun Weekend magazine called ‘A Crash Course In Valentine’s Day’ by Ross Brundrett.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

I must admit I agree with Ross; Valentine’s Day is not about celebrating romance but it’s about celebrating a women’s idea of romance. Brundrett thinks it is good practice for when guys eventually tie the knot. The day after all is all about keeping your partner happy. Ross gives a few tips on how males can really make her day. Here they are in my own words. I have also added some concept boards to give you a few ideas.

• Make sure to select quality Swiss chocolates and long stemmed roses

•  It is important to plan ahead and make sure you book a restaurant for a romantic dinner well in advance

• A piece of jewellery can have more impact than just saying I love you

• If you have the skills and know your way around a kitchen then cooking her favorite meal to show your love could well be a winning move

• Setting the scene with background music is a great idea

• Serving champagne (French is always best) if you can afford it

• Women in love with romance prefer men who are well groomed

• Another way to set the scene is to decorate the space for romance. Just study the boards to give you some inspiration on how this can be done

• Inviting your mates is the biggest no no. This is a special night for two

• This romantic night cannot be spoiled by cutting it short to watch your favorite sport on the telly

• Keep the cost of the evening a secret she will love you for it

There is nothing to say the same rules do not apply to the female species when they want to celebrate by making an effort to keep her romantic male happy. After all some men are romantics at heart and some women don’t have a romantic bone in their body.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

SampleBoard.com has a whole new look, has been improved and rebranded

The sampleboard.com team is buzzing with excitement SampleBoard has a cool new website. All of the best original features have been retained. But it just got a whole lot easier, faster and it is still the greenest way of creating great professional looking design concept boards.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

The original SampleBoard.com site was launched in 2010. The aim of the creation; designed by designers for designers was to digitize the process of making sample boards. The traditional way of creating sample boards took a lot of running around, time and energy. I remember days of driving around for hours in and out of the car in the Queensland heat.  I love SampleBoard because it is eco-friendly and time efficient.

              Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

Interior designers, decorators, landscape designers, fashion designers and wedding planners can create design concept boards using the extensive library of images and/or easily upload their own images. SampleBoard is also a great place to interact with other designers and share ideas.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

In this blog I have included examples of my first adventures on the new sampleboard.com site. The best way to really view the changes is to have ago. Please let us know what you think we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Concept board created by Rosena on SampleBoard.com

Interior Decorating | How to Do Eclectic Design Well

Eclectic moodboard created by Rosena MacFadzean on SampleBoard.com

Interior Decorating – How to Do Eclectic Design Well

By K. Nichols

God save me from the “eclectic” client.

Ok, I’m kidding… sort of.

Being “eclectic” means to have an enjoyment of a variety of styles, colors, and types of objects… which is great! It does NOT mean that you can cram any and everything that crosses your path into a room and declare it “eclectic.” That, my friend, is what we call a hodge-podge… or possibly just a mess.

An eclectic room, done well, will be a reflection of your varied tastes and travels, but still have a harmonious overall feel. The eye should be able to travel around the space comfortably, enjoying the uniqueness of the displays without having them overwhelm the focal point(s).

So how do you achieve “good eclectic?” Start by determining how you want a room to feel: aged, collected over time, elegant, clean, fresh, exciting, bold, warm, relaxing, etc. Next you want to group together all the elements that will contribute to your desired overall feel, and omit the ones that will not. For example, if you are trying for an earthy, well-traveled look, you would NOT incorporate your Andy Warhol reproduction (or your Andy Warhol original, for that matter). Things you COULD include might be your antique clock collection, that bench you found up north, the oriental rug you fell in love with in India, and those pieces of folk art from your dad.

Can it be tricky? Yes, it can, especially because we all have a hard time looking at our beloved possessions objectively. A professional decorator can help you blend (and edit!) your tastes and belongings into a space that feels rich, storied, and authentically you by ensuring items are displayed in their best light, rather than competing with each other. At OnlineHomeDecorating.com, our team of professional interior decorators has created each room design with all of the elements you need for a beautiful, fully finished room, while still leaving enough breathing room to allow you to incorporate the items that tell your personal story… without losing track of the plot!

About the author:

K. Nichols is the creator of Online Home Decorating, the ONLY site on the web where you can purchase fully complete room designs, crafted by professional interior decorators.

Now, having beautiful design in YOUR home is as easy as selecting your perfect look, and instantly downloading all the information you need to recreate it exactly – item by item – at your own pace, and at whatever budget is right for you… without spending thousands to hire a designer! Browse our catalog of rooms, and get your re-do done today.

Find your new room now at http://www.onlinehomedecorating.com OR create your own look and feel with our online moodboard creator at SampleBoard.com!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=K._Nichols

http://EzineArticles.com/?Interior-Decorating—How-to-Do-Eclectic-Design-Well&id=3589206

 

 

Announcing the winners | SampleBoard competitions

It is with great pleasure we announce the winners of two 3 months FREE memberships to SampleBoard‘s Ultimate Creator. Over the past few months SampleBoard has been receiving brilliant entries to the two competitions featuring interior design and wedding planning mood boards. The first one open to all contenders ‘Vintage Inspired Wedding’ and the second one for student designers ‘Design an Inspired Space’.

Winners of 3 months FREE membership to SampleBoard’s Ultimate Creator

The SampleBoard team would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry. The standard of the interior design and wedding planning mood boards was very high and the results very very close. So ‘Drum Roll’ please as I announce the first winner. The ‘Vintage Inspired Wedding’ winner is (long pause……) Chanel Willard for her board ‘Wedding’.

Winning Wedding moodboard created by Chanel on sampleboard.com

The ‘Vintage Inspired Wedding’ winner

The board designs were judged on color, design, theme and the use of the sampleboard digital editor tools. Chanel created her own color palette with the eyedropper and shape tools. The board was very well designed and the vintage theme was subtly expressed.  She also made use of the opacity and drop shadow tool. Well done Chanel we look forward to seeing more of your inspired creations. Enjoy your membership.

Wedding Planning moodboard created by Mane Carrion on sampleboard.com

The boards were judge on color, design and theme.

A very close second was the excellent board ‘Vintage Gold’ created by Mane Carrion. The warm colored beautifully designed board is brilliant. Mane’s use of the editor tools for example the eraser tool is inspired. Many of her boards posted in the creative community are works of art we can all learn from.

The Design Student winner of ‘Design an Inspired Space’

The design student winner is (long pause……) Kathleen Cracknell an interior design student from Canada for her board ‘Seeking Serenity’. Kathleen created an excellent contrasting color scheme the blue reflecting the serenity of the title. Her board design was exceptional. Kathleen was one of the few who used the eyedropper and shape tools. These tools allowed her to create frames for some of her images. Well done Kathleen we hope you take advantage of your free membership and continue to enjoy creating excellent sample boards.

Winning Design sample board created by Kathleen on sampleboard.com

A close second in the ‘Design an Inspired Space’ competition is Joanne Du Bois for her board ‘Bathroom’. This board has been excellently designed and the color selections are wonderful. Joanne has made great use of the text tool and the drop shadow tools on the digital editor. Joanne has been designing sample boards of a very high standard.

Interior Design sample board created by Joanne on sampleboard.com

Congratulations Chanel and Kathleen your interior design and wedding planning moodboards are excellent examples of how sample boards can be used to enhance design presentations. Well done!

Keep on creating!

The SampleBoard team

 

Celebrating yellow | Cape Town selected as World Design Capital 2014

SampleBoard is great for designing images for social media campaigns and presentations too!

Yellow is the colour of hope and positivity, and today it is also the colour of celebration for the City of Cape Town as it was announced as the World Design Capital 2014.

As yellow is one of the three primary colours, so too was Cape Town one of three cities shortlisted for the prestigious title of World Design Capital 2014. The colour yellow has been splashed all over the mother city in the past few months as Cape Town ran a Facebook campaign titled ‘Find Your Yellow’, including the yellow support badge and other yellow inspired paraphenalia.

Yellow inspired moodboard created on SampleBoard.com

SampleBoard.com feels inspired by the City of Cape Town’s bold use of yellow and we thought we’d honour it with an expression of all tones and types of yellow and yellow-inspired images!

You can create you own inspirational image board by signing up here!