Design Shack

Inspiration / 26 May 2020

Design Psychology: 8 Strategies to Use in Your Projects

Psychology, the study of the human mind, is a very complex subject that even the scientists struggle with. In fact, scientists and researchers are still trying to figure out why we have dreams when we sleep.

However, thanks to many studies, years of research, and the dedication of brilliant minds like Sigmund Freud, we now have a general understanding of how the human mind works.

As it turns out, our minds are pre-programmed to respond and react to certain things in certain ways. There are also specific patterns of how our mind reacts and the way we think. In psychology, these patterns are called “schemas”. Researchers have also found strategies that could influence these patterns to control our reactions.

Everyone from magicians to big brand corporations and the mass media have been using and taking advantage of these strategies for generations. To influence our behavior and sell products.

In this guide, we look at how you can apply the same psychological strategies they use for the good of others. And make better and more effective designs.

Inspiration / 25 May 2020

20+ Best Photoshop Filters + Plugins 2020 (+ How to Use Them)

If you’re looking for unique Photoshop filters to turn your photos into artwork, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we feature a collection of the best Photoshop filters and plugins you can use to add various effects to photos.

There are many benefits to using Photoshop filters. They are quite useful in crafting creative graphic designs such as posters, flyers, logos, and much more. While Photoshop itself comes with a set of default filters they don’t offer much value. Thankfully there are many filters you can download from third-party sources.

Using the Photoshop filters on our list, you can extend the functionality of Photoshop and create unique effects more easily.

Inspiration / 25 May 2020

8 Tips for Designing Instagram Stories That Don’t Suck

Instagram stories are one of the hottest social media formats. The vertical format allows creators to share videos, photos, and mixed media content in a streaming medium, and introduces an entirely novel layout to design for.

The tricky part is creating stories that are enjoyable, shareable, and help people engage with your account, brand, or even get clicks to your website.

Here, we’re going to look at eight ways to create Instagram stories that help you meet goals, and stand out from the crowd.

Bonus: You can apply these design tips to Facebook stories as well.

Inspiration / 22 May 2020

40+ Best Photoshop Logo Templates (PSD)

We’ve collected the absolute best Photoshop logo templates to help you choose a pre-made logo design as a starting point for your new brand. All these logo templates come in a PSD format, for you to tweak and customize in Photoshop.

It’s all too easy to burn through a budget, crafting a logo that fits your business and mission. Some design agencies and freelancers charge thousands of dollars to craft basic logos that never really live up to your expectations. Logo templates give you another option for a quick-start to your logo design.

Whether you’re a freelance designer looking for inspiration, a blogger starting a new blog, or a brick and mortar business, this collection has a logo template for all types of brands. The best part is you can easily customize these templates using Photoshop to change text, colours, and resize however you like.

As you embark on your logo design, don’t forget to check out our in-depth guide on how to design a logo, as well as our quick tips (in this post) covering a quick intro to logo templates, and tips for designing with logo templates.

Inspiration / 21 May 2020

How to Add Fonts to Photoshop (Mac and Windows)

There’s no need to be intimidated when it comes to adding fonts to Adobe Photoshop for use in projects. Whether you’re on a Mac or Windows, adding a font to Photoshop can be a straight-forward process.

Any designer will regularly need to be working with new fonts and typography, and knowing how to quickly get them working in your design app is a key part of your workflow.

Today, we’ll walk you through how to add fonts to Photoshop (using a few different methods) so that you can speed up your workflow like a pro.

Inspiration / 20 May 2020

How to Loop a PowerPoint

A self-running or looping PowerPoint presentation can be great for using in booths at conferences, displaying information on screens before a live event/presentation, or even to use in the waiting room of a business to showcase information.

The great thing is that if you can create a PowerPoint presentation, saving it for a looped playback is a breeze.

You can loop a PowerPoint in two different ways depending on playback method – as a PowerPoint or as a video file.

Here’s how you do it.

Inspiration / 19 May 2020

20+ Best Instagram Mockup Templates (Story & Post)

Instagram is a platform full of visual designs. The better your photos look, the more attention you get. And when you’re a designer promoting Instagram posts and story designs, you’ll need an equally beautiful mockup to showcase them.

Whether you’re a digital marketing agency showing off designs on a portfolio or a freelancer presenting Instagram designs to a client, you’ll need gorgeous-looking mockups to showcase your designs like a true professional.

To help you find the right mockup for your Instagram design, we rounded up some of the best Instagram post and story mockup templates. There are all kinds of mockups in this collection, featuring perspective views and customizable designs.

Inspiration / 19 May 2020

20+ Best Free Photoshop Plugins 2020

Photoshop Plugins are one of the hidden features of the photo editor that many designers fail to notice. We created this list of the best free Photoshop plugins to show you how plugins can help improve your workflow.

When it comes to graphic design, the way you organize your Photoshop app interface and plan the workflow plays a key role in efficiency and productivity. That’s why every designer should experiment with Photoshop plugins as they can permanently improve your workflow.

With a single plugin, you can create gradients instantly. Or sharpen an image with just a few clicks. Or even find high-quality stock photos without ever having to switch to Chrome.

Explore our collection of free Photoshop plugins and you’ll find a whole new world of useful tools.

Inspiration / 18 May 2020

50+ Best Free PowerPoint Templates 2020

Not everyone can afford to buy premium PowerPoint templates to create their slideshows. But, that doesn’t mean you have to settle for a default template. There are dozens of incredible free PowerPoint templates to try out!

A great thing about the design community is that there are designers out there who willingly share their amazing work for free of charge, including gorgeous free PowerPoint templates.

To help you save some money, we scoured the web and handpicked a collection of the best free PowerPoint templates with modern and professional designs that you can use to make various types of presentations. Good luck with your presentation!

Inspiration / 18 May 2020

5 Reasons to Avoid the Desktop Hamburger Menu Icon

A hamburger icon as the only source of navigation on a desktop website sucks. It’s frustrating, confusing, and violates unwritten rules of navigation and user flow best practices. Why would you do it? Other than to maintain or establish a certain aesthetic, it’s hard to find an answer that makes any sense.

The often-debated hamburger icon can be a great complement to website navigation or even for small screens, but it shouldn’t be the only option for desktops. You are doing yourself – and the website design – a huge disservice if this is your only menu option.

Take note of the different desktop menu styles throughout this post. Some of the best uses of the hamburger icon come with other menu items.

Inspiration / 15 May 2020

30+ Modern Responsive Email Templates 2020

If you want your next email campaign to stand the best chance of success, using a responsive design that looks good on any screen or device is really important. Responsive email design is notoriously difficult, so starting with a template can be a good bet.

It’s worth taking advantage of pre-made responsive templates that have already been tested on a variety of screen sizes and email clients, then customizing them to your own requirements.

These templates are crafted by highly skilled designers, and many of them include template builders with unique customization options to make tweaking them super-simple!

As a bonus, our tips for designing a responsive email will help give you some great design pointers!

Inspiration / 14 May 2020

Get Free SSL Protection With ZeroSSL

Until now, there haven’t been many options when it comes to free security certificates for your website. ZeroSSL offers completely free SSL certificates that are easy to use thanks to an intuitive user interface and API.

Here, we’re going to take a look at this viable alternative to Let’s Encrypt and how you can make ZeroSSL your website security solution.

This is a tool you can use and trust. And you won’t be alone. Companies such as Slack, Uber, and Shopify use ZeroSSL.

Inspiration / 14 May 2020

Figma Templates

Figma is a vector-based tool that lives in the cloud, allowing users to work anywhere from a browser. It’s a zippy tool that is made for design, prototyping, collaboration, and organizational design systems.

In this feature, we’ll be teaching you all about Figma, how to get started using it, and where to find the best Figma templates and plugins to get started fast. Whether you’re wanting to use Figma for wireframing, mobile user interface designs, app designs, website designs, or anything else, we’ve got you covered!

Inspiration / 14 May 2020

What Is a Font License? (And Do I Need One?)

Almost every design project you encounter will include type of some kind. And it’s very likely that that type will start as a font on a computer, unless you create it yourself. With using specific computer fonts, come some very specific rules regarding their use, which can vary by project.

So what is a font license? Do you need one? And where can you find the tools and resources you need to make sure you are using fonts properly?

Lucky for you, we have a primer. (And the images in this post include fonts that you can license to use in your projects.)