The BEST of You The Designer for 2012

Hello creatives! Finally, we’re down to the last day of the year. Most of you might be busy in preparing for your own unique and creative ways of celebrating New Year. While some might be preparing for 2013, it is always good to look back at the great things that happened over the last 364 days. That is why, for the last day of 2012, we bring you a list of YTD’s best throughout the year featuring the top inspirational posts, resources and  freebies.

 We ranked all the posts and selected the top 12 based from your visits and pageviews. It is nice that the stories which made it to the list are a combination of your favorite freebies, inspirational posts and resource articles. So without so much chatter, here’s our countdown of our top 12 posts for 2012!

Random Doodles Free Photoshop Brushes

A cool set of Photoshop brushes we shared with you last July snatched the 12th spot on our list. This collection of random scribbles can be used for many design projects like event postcards, bookmarks, web page headers or in making personal greeting cards.

An inspirational article showcasing the minimalist pictograms of some artists like Viktor Hertz and Teddy Hahn made it to the top 11. The post made us understand how the pictograms have evolved from an old form of writing to one of today’s most unique art disciplines.

The interactive infographic about the average salaries of creatives around the world landed on the 10th spot. Our friends from Staff.com and Infoactive created the amazing resource detailing the average salaries of web developers and designers from 18 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada and other countries in Europe and Asia.

The second freebie on the list is a set of vector graphics featuring 12 clean and unique web badges for your inspiration. The set of Web 2.0 badges created in custom shapes and eye-catchy colors which are perfect for your next web design projects.

One of the most useful guest posts of the year made it to the top 8. A guest blogger shared us some noteworthy concepts, ideas and new direction that has been adopted by the current crop of web designers such as proximity, the Hick’s law, and the rule of thirds.

We have showcased various amazing design projects this year from different creative fields so it’s not a surprise that one of them made it to the 7th spot. The typography project by Leandro Senna takes us to a next level of hand lettering experience by transforming the lyrics of Bob Dylan‘s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” into a showcase of awesome type designs.

On the 6th place is another useful resource for designers who are looking for extra income and working experience. YTD have listed five examples of small business ideas that can give you a wider range of work experience, clientele and improving another skill set that you might already have.

Ray Villafane’s awesome talent in pumpkin carving scared us out in this Halloween article which made it to this year’s top 5 posts. His insane and detailed works have brought the celebration of Halloween into a new level of creative awesomeness!

For the last quarter of 2012, we have shared with you some of the most unique and useful collections of fonts. One of which grabbed the 4th spot in this year’s list which features 40 amazing handwriting fonts that are all for free.

Another set of awesome resources of fonts made it to this year’s list. This early holiday gift from YTD was a collection of Christmas inspired free fonts not just perfect for your Yuletide designs but for various future projects as well.

The friendly infographic last October about graphic design myths grabbed the second place. The cool resource helps us and other people understand what graphic design and being a graphic designer really is.

Finally, our number one post for 2012 was occupied by another very useful resource for creatives especially for logo designers. It is a collection of top ten applications for the iPad that a logo designer must have to create designs and projects anytime and anywhere. These apps play a big role in the vital stage of the design process by helping in basic design tasks, sketching, drafting and digital painting. Such apps include iDesign, Adobe Ideas, Design Ruler and more!

Aside from the top 12 posts of the year based on your views and visits, the YTD editors have also picked 3 more posts that we think have helped a lot of readers in giving inspiration, creative ideas and concepts and just pure awesomeness. We have selected one post under three categories namely: Best Wallpaper Freebie, Best Resource Article and Best Inspirational Article. Check them out below (click the image to view the post):

So there you have it guys! Another awesome and creative year has just ended. We would love to thank all of you, our readers, sponsors, followers, watchers and fans for the continuous support all year round. May you all have an awesome and creative year ahead!