Distressed Design Part 3
3rd edition — by Patrick McNeil — Jun. 12, 2007
The Design Element
The usage of the worn and battered style is certainly not the focus in the design world right now. This is not to say that it can't be a great solution. In fact it can be rather nice to use a design pattern that isn't the current trend, it really helps a site to stand alone instead of blend in. In the case of this style it has pretty clear connotations and can be used to reinforce a sites purpose. Most of these sites have chosen this style to connect with their topic. It creates the mood and atmosphere of the site and really serves a purpose.
Connotations of texture: Worn, used, free, expressive,
physical, tangible, artistic, creative, raw, hip, aged, historic, rough,
grass roots, urban, and rebellious.
Sample Usage
Massive Texture Collections
Mayang Textures (1000's
of free high res textures)
Texture
Warehouse
Amazing
Textures (registration and contribution required)
Mega-Tex
Texture King
Morgue File
Small Texture Collections
afflict.net
Higgins,
The House Painter (free)
Trex-Tures (More
of what you should learn to do yourself, but very nice indeed)
Links
That Wicked Worn
Look (tutorial series)
Mister Retro (Photoshop filters)
CSS based worn type tutorial
Worn
rubber stamp tutorial (Photoshop)
