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CSS / 19 Jul 2017

12 Fun CSS Text Shadows You Can Copy and Paste

Typography is everyone’s favorite toy in web design. One particularly fun tool that CSS gives you to play with your type is text-shadow, which seems simple enough at first but can be used to create some remarkable effects with a little ingenuity and creativity.

Today we’re going to run through several text-shadow examples that you can copy and paste for your own work.

Inspiration / 18 Jul 2017

30 Stunning Desktop Wallpapers From Unsplash

Need a little extra design inspiration? Start with your Mac or Windows desktop background. A stunning desktop wallpaper can provide an extra little spark every time you fire up your computer, and browsing through great photos is a sure fire way to get the creative juices flowing.

Unsplash, a free stock photography website, is packed with amazing images that you can use in any way you want… including as a desktop wallpaper! Here’s a list of our favourites that we’ve put together to help you feel a little more inspired. Whether you like a minimal, patterned, or stunning photographic wallpaper, we’ll have something for you!

Inspiration / 17 Jul 2017

Logo Design Trends of 2017

Logo design can be one of the most fun (and frustrating!) design tasks you encounter. But watching the key logo design trends each year can help you ensure your logo design is current and relevant.

Every person and every client has a different style that you’ll want to put front-and-centre in your design. But many popular, on-trend styles have a simple style with clean lines, minimal color and focus on typography rather than art elements.

Let’s take a look at four stellar logo design trends of 2017!

CSS / 13 Jul 2017

10 Great Google Font Combinations You Can Copy

The average man considers which flavor of Doritos will taste good with his Heineken. The sophisticated man considers which cheese will pair well with his choice of wine. The designer of course considers which two fonts will look great on the same page.

Today we’re going to use the Google Font API as a playground for mixing fonts and finding ideal pairings. You’ll be able to skim through and instantly grab out selections that you think are appropriate for your projects. The best part? You need only to copy and paste our code to implement these fonts on your site. It’s completely free and there are no downloads required.

Inspiration / 11 Jul 2017

20+ Beautiful Geometric & Poly Background Textures

Looking for a great polygon background texture for your design? Then you’re going to love this collection of free and premium geometric and poly background textures.

Low poly and geometric backgrounds are now turning out to be one of the most popular trends in design this year. They’re being used for both website and graphic designs to give the designs a retro and a pop-art look. Suffice to say, these textures do add an attractive, modern look to any project.

We’ve hand picked a few great free and premium poly and geometric textures you can use with your next project!

Inspiration / 10 Jul 2017

Top 5 Design Trends of 2017 (So Far!)

If you take a close look, you can almost see the evolution of web design happening. A few design trends have emerged as the must-have elements of 2017 (so far) with interesting typography, color and navigation patterns leading the way.

So now that we are midway through 2017, let’s focus a little on design inspiration, and take a look at of the top trends of the year so far. Should you incorporate all these? Absolutely not! But one of two, chosen carefully, can really help give your design a current, up-to-date feeling.

Business / 6 Jul 2017

6 Portfolio Design Mistakes That Drive Me Nuts

Your public portfolio is one of the most important things you’ll ever design. It presents you to the world and, if you’re a freelancer, tends to play a major role in whether or not people choose to hire you.

I’ve viewed a ton of online portfolios and today I’d like to walk through some of the weaknesses I see time and time again. Read on to see if you’ve made some of these mistakes.

Software / 5 Jul 2017

10 Design Tools You Aren’t Using (But Should Be!)

It seems like a flood of new design tools hits the market almost every day. How many times have you downloaded software with promise only to find you quit using it after a couple of logins?

That’s not the case with the tools in this list. We’ve collected some of the best design tools around – some free, some paid – that you’re going to love to use. And we’d bet good money that you’ve never heard of several of them!

Inspiration / 4 Jul 2017

20+ Best Website PSD Perspective Mockups

A great website perspective mockup design can help to present your web design in a beautiful, unique way. This collection of free and premium mockup PSDs is perfect for doing just that!

Proper presentation is the key to delighting your clients. Whether you’re working on a website design or a logo design, the way you present your designs to your client determines your level of professionalism.

Even when choosing a mockup template to showcase your design, you ideally want to choose a mockup design that looks out of the ordinary. Something that helps you display your website design in a unique and an attractive way that renders your clients speechless.

Perspective website mockups let you showcase your layouts from different angles, making your designs look more like real products instead of just a static mockup.

We’ve collected some of the best free and premium perspective website mockups you can use to present your next website design to your clients.

Typography / 3 Jul 2017

Back to Basics: Beautiful Typography in Web Design

A great website starts with beautiful typography. And while breaking the occasional rule is great, sometimes it’s good to get back to the principles of what makes great typography — and how to create it.

It’s a vital refresh that can help you rethink projects, consider a new approach or just get back to a simpler, more streamlined design.

So today, we’re ignoring trends and ways to break the rules to focus on typography theory and how the “rules” can be a great guideline for creating phenomenal type.

Accessibility / 29 Jun 2017

Neon Colors in Web Design: The Do’s and Don’ts

Neon colors are tough to use without clashing with the rest of your design. They work great for signs and lights in real-world applications, but can present major issues in web design, unless carefully implemented.

Today, we’re going to look at ways to effectively use neon colors in your design work, with a list of do’s and don’ts to help you make the most of bold, bright color choices. You’ll be a neon ninja in no time, weaving it through your design work!

CSS / 28 Jun 2017

5 Ways to Learn Web Design: Which Is Right for You?

The web design education industry has exploded from a small niche to a powerful, continually expanding force. Countless people all over the planet are interested in learning about how to build and design websites, and tons of companies are cropping up promising the ultimate solution.

The good news for you is that increased competition in this field is a great thing for customers. You have more options than ever for learning just about anything you want to know concerning web technologies. The big question though is, with so many options available, which is the right one for you? We’ll go over a number of different strategies being used to teach web development and discuss how you can figure out the most appropriate for your unique learning style. We’ll also include some resources to get you started on each available path.