Design Shack

News / 15 Feb 2019

A Year of SiteGround in 2018

Hosting Design Shack with SiteGround has been a great move for us. We’re here to share a quick update on how things are going, alongside some new developments from SiteGround in 2018!

Whether you’re looking for managed WordPress hosting, or something much more custom and complex, SiteGround has you covered.

They’ve released a host of new updates and features (many with WordPress in mind), making it a great choice for hosting a site that runs on this CMS.

Inspiration / 14 Feb 2019

20+ Best Free PowerPoint Templates

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!

Trends / 13 Feb 2019

50 Best Website Color Schemes of 2019

Does it ever seem like certain website color schemes just get all the attention? As with every other aspect of web design, there are color schemes that tend to trend more than others. Bright colors, stark palettes, and even some mismatching schemes are elements of color that are trending.

Here’s a look at some of the best website color schemes of 2019 (in no particular order). For each, we’re also sharing the color codes that make up the key elements of the design, so it’s easy to play around with these color schemes yourself too!

Inspiration / 12 Feb 2019

100+ MacBook Mockup Templates (PSD & Vector)

Whether you’re looking for a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or MacBook mockup, we have you covered today. We’re featuring a mix of photo mockup templates, realistic illustrations, and flat/stylised versions of these MacBook notebooks.

Totaling over a hundred different MacBook mockups, in all shapes and sizes, these are great for dropping in your own work, applications, wallpapers or examples to give them a unique look-and-feel. Some are free, some cost a few dollars, but we really like them all!

Inspiration / 12 Feb 2019

15+ Brochure Cover Design Templates + Ideas

The cover of a brochure is the most important part of the design for grabbing attention. It needs to be crafted in a specific way to suit your target audience, and these brochure cover design templates can get you off to a great start!

To help you find inspiration for your cover design, we handpicked a collection of elegant and professional brochure cover design templates that you can use to find brochure design ideas to easily make the perfect cover for all kinds of brochures. From corporate companies to creative agencies, luxury brands, products, and much more.

If you see a design you like, you can download the template and use it with your own project as well. All of the templates below are from Envato Elements, which allows unlimited downloads for a monthly subscription.

Business / 11 Feb 2019

30 Tips to Learn Web Design in 30 Days

Is learning the basics of web design still on your “someday” list? Why haven’t you got started yet? We’ve put together 30 tips and resources to help you start learning web design this month (and maybe even find yourself a new career path!)

Graphic designers, print designers, and creatives looking to learn something new or break into website need to quit procrastinating. Every day that you don’t take that first step leaves you one day further behind everyone else!

Follow these steps to begin learning how to create your first website, industry best practices, and much more—all in 30 days!

Trends / 11 Feb 2019

8 Top Graphic Design Trends of 2019

What’s hot in graphic design? One of the things people always want to talk to me about is graphic design trends. Here’s a recap of the top graphic design trends of 2018, plus a little preview of what’s likely on the horizon for 2019.

It’s such an interesting topic because there are trends that change slowly over time – just look at the long evolution of flat design to where we are now – and others that seem to flip overnight. Should you always rush to use the latest graphic design trends in your work? Of course not. But it’s helpful to pick up new ideas, find inspiration, and see what types of techniques and styles are shaping your industry.

Inspiration / 8 Feb 2019

40+ Best Photoshop Patterns of 2019 (Free & Pro)

If you’ve been looking for a creative tileable pattern to make your designs look even more beautiful, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’re sharing a collection of the best Photoshop patterns with various design styles and aesthetics (both free and premium).

When designing a background, whether it’s for a book cover, business card, or a website, using a creative pattern goes a long way to add a personal touch to the overall look of the design. Not to mention that patterns also help highlight certain types of content above the background as well.

Crafting such a pattern is not easy. So why not save the trouble by simply downloading some of the amazing premium and free Photoshop patterns that we’ve handpicked just for you.

Inspiration / 7 Feb 2019

25+ Best InDesign Brochure Templates

Creating the perfect brochure design can be a challenging task, even for a professional designer. Especially when you’re using it to showcase an entire business or product with just a few pages. These InDesign brochure templates can help save the day.

With our handpicked collection of the best InDesign brochure templates, you’ll be able to find inspiration to design all kinds of brochures from leaflets, tri-fold designs, corporate company profiles, business documentation, and much more.

We’ve included template designs of all kinds to suit different types of businesses and brands so that you can find a brochure design for all your needs.

Trends / 6 Feb 2019

Portfolio Design Trends in 2019

When was the last time you updated your design portfolio? (If you’re like me, it’s probably been a while.) Maintaining a fresh portfolio is a good way to show off your skills to potential clients and can be helpful when looking back on work for annual contest entries.

If you’ve fallen behind with your portfolio design, or just need a new portfolio in general, this is a great opportunity to create something using trendy techniques and visuals.

A modern portfolio using design trends can make a great impression. A portfolio is also a representation of your skills — so design wisely! Here’s a look at some of our favorite portfolio design trends for 2019.

Inspiration / 5 Feb 2019

30+ Best Instagram Post & Story Templates 2019

We’ve handpicked a collection of Instagram post and Story templates with professional designs. You can easily customize these templates to add your own text and images to create a more successful Instagram content strategy.

Instagram is one of the best platforms for promoting brands and businesses. But, with millions of posts being added every day, you need to think outside the box to attract your followers’ attention.

If you’re tired of using the same old designs to promote your brand and products on Instagram and looking for a better way to get more followers, you should consider using more professional post layouts and designs, especially for creating attractive Instagram Stories.

To help you find the right design to promote your business, we’ve curated some of our favorite Instagram post and Story templates, designed to wow your audience.

Inspiration / 5 Feb 2019

20+ Best After Effects Title Templates

Today we’re bringing you a collection of After Effects title templates featuring stunning visual effects and animations you can use in your own videos.

We handpicked these After Effects templates to feature titles of all kinds, including title scenes for YouTube openers, product promotions, social media videos, business videos, trailers, and much more.

Business / 4 Feb 2019

7 Tips for Sending Better Email Newsletters

Email marketing is one of the top ways to communicate with an audience. You can inform users with stories and information, send discounts and coupons to encourage shopping, and help direct traffic back to your website.

But not every email newsletter is created equally. My inbox is just as full of poorly designed messages as ones that I’ll actually read. With so much inbox clutter, designing an email that will stand out—and is easy to read—increases your chances of success. (Open rates hover in the teens to 20 percent range for many industries, so you have to work hard.)

Starting with a well-designed email newsletter is the start. Here are seven tips for sending better emails, that more users (hopefully) will look forward to opening.

Inspiration / 1 Feb 2019

30+ Best Photoshop Brushes of 2019

Today, we’re bringing you a collection of the best Photoshop brushes for creating amazing designs like a pro without having to break the bank.

We know for a fact that designers love to collect all kinds of brushes. That’s why we made sure to include a mix of Photoshop brushes in this post that will be useful in creating various types of designs, including everything from drawing to painting, coloring, texturing, shading, and much more.

Font Collections

This is our series of beautiful, inspiring collections of fonts and typefaces. These articles feature bold poster fonts, decorative scripts, and everything in-between! Find the perfect font for your next design project with one of these collections.

How to Design a Logo

Everyone wants their logo to stand out, and represent their brand perfectly. But it's no easy task! Our helpful feature will walk you through how to design a logo. From brainstorming logo ideas to practical logo design tips, you'll be in a great position to create the perfect logo for your business.

Photoshop Actions

Photoshop Actions are the perfect timesaver to save you doing the same processing on multiple images. Using other people's actions can help you tap into creative techniques, cutting edge post-processing styles, and beautiful effects. In this series, you'll learn how to use Photoshop Actions and find professional examples to use in your own design work.

PowerPoint Templates

Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) is the go-to choice for creating presentations. This series shares tips and ideas for working with PowerPoint, as well as beautiful PowerPoint templates and themes to make your presentations look stunning.