Carrie Cousins

Reviews / 19 Feb 2020

Jumpstart Your Logo Design With Tailor Brands

Branding can be one of the most intimidating parts of getting your small business off the ground. How do you create a brand that’s memorable and that you can use for logos, social media, and websites?

Enter Tailor Brands Logo Maker. The tool offers an automated logo maker and brand identity platform, that’s easy to use, customizable, and made with small business owners in mind.

Here, we’re going to take a look at Tailor Brands and tools that you can use to jumpstart your logo and brand design.

Navigation / 17 Feb 2020

10 Pros and Cons of Minimal Navigation in Web Design

There’s been a shift happening in website design for a while: navigation and menus are shrinking. Minimal navigation styles and elements are growing in popularity, despite arguments against the hamburger menu icon.

Although not all minimal navigation elements use this style, it’s certainly a visual style we’ve seen explode in use over the past few years.

But does it work? Should you consider using minimal navigation for projects? Here, we’re going to take a look at some pros and cons with examples of use. The answer might not be as simple as you think.

Business / 12 Feb 2020

How to Book, Plan + Attend a Design Conference Like a Pro

A design conference is a great way to recharge, refresh, and develop new skills to make you better at your job. But planning for attending a conference can be a little bit intimidating.

So here, we’re going to break it down. You can book, plan, and attend a design conference like a pro – even if you are going for the first time – with these tips.

We’re covering everything from planning and booking, to mapping out a session plan, what to bring, and some tips on what to do after the event as well!

PowerPoint Templates / 6 Feb 2020

Choosing the Best Font for PowerPoint: 10 Tips & Examples

There’s a fine art to creating a great PowerPont presentation that wows. With so many tricks and features in this little bit of software, it’s more likely to see a bad presentation than a good one (and you don’t want to be that person!)

While there are a lot of factors that contribute to the overall design, choosing a suitable font for PowerPoint is near the top of the list. The audience needs to be able to read the words on the screen with ease, to ensure that your presentation is as effective as possible.

So how do you do it? Where do you start when choosing a font for PowerPoint? We have 10 tips for you with a few examples of PowerPoint slides (and templates) that will impress your audience.

Software / 3 Feb 2020

Product Hunt Year in Review for Web Designers: 20 Picks

Product Hunt recently released its giant list of the best featured products of 2019. It’s packed with plenty of neat tools and resources, for businesses, freelancers, designers and developers alike.

To help you find the best tools for working as a designer, we’ve narrowed down the list to the 20 best items for web designers (in no particular order).

We’re covering everything from colours and fonts, to CSS and grids. You’re bound to find a few incredibly helpful tools that you haven’t come across before!

Business / 27 Jan 2020

What Is a Lookbook? (+ 10 Stunning Examples)

Whether you’re a designer wanting to show off work or have a request to create one for a client, a lookbook can be an effective way to showcase a variety of elements in a single design.

A lookbook is a portfolio of sorts and has wide application in a number of fields, including website design, graphic design, and development.

Here’s a guide to what a lookbook is, what to include in one when you start designing it, and some examples that are sure to help you find a little lookbook inspiration.

Reviews / 12 Jan 2020

Geocode and Embed Maps in Minutes With Positionstack

Mapping and geocoding can be a challenge when it comes to website and app development. But if you have the right tool, it’s a lot easier. That’s just what you get with positionstack, an accurate forward and reverse batch geocoding REST API that manages these tasks for you.

Forward geocoding is searching for a plain-text address or place name, and reverse geocoding uses latitude and longitude values.

Here’s a look at positionstack and how it can be useful for your projects.

Business / 6 Jan 2020

14 Tips for Speeding Up Your Website in 2021

It’s not a trick question: is your website fast enough? Page load times can impact everything from how long users stay on your site (or if they see the content), to search rank and overall conversions.

Speed matters on two fronts – for desktop and mobile devices – with mobile speed mattering more than ever. Not only does your website have to load fast; it needs to load fast everywhere.

So how do you do it? Start by running a Google PageSpeed test to see where your site ranks (you’ll get a few suggestions for speeding up your site there as well). Then, start making these tweaks to make your website lightning fast this year.

Reviews / 5 Jan 2020

Aviationstack Provides Real-Time Flight Data

Never miss a flight again! Or at least help your website visitors ensure that they don’t. Aviationstck is a real-time flight status and global aviation data API that makes integrating airport information into your website or app a breeze.

This helpful API scrapes all the right data so that your website outsmarts the competition, and saves you a huge amount of work with queuing different datasets and locations.

Here’s a look at aviationstack and how you can make use of it in projects.

CSS / 3 Jan 2020

5 New CSS Techniques to Master in 2021

Web designers are fascinated with ways to try new CSS techniques and push the boundaries of what CSS can do. Well-planned CSS can control almost any aspect of a design, and contribute to better overall user experiences—with cleaner and more consistent code.

But what techniques are trending? What should you learn next? We have a few ideas for the latest developments to watch this year. Dive in, see what’s hot, and try some of these new CSS tips and techniques to give your next project an exciting edge.

Trends / 1 Jan 2020

How to Use the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year in Design Projects

It might be one of the best public relations moves in the design world. Pantone releases an annual color of the year that sets the tone for color trends for a 12-month cycle.

This year’s selection – Classic Blue – is a color that’s highly usable, stable, and instills confidence. A color close to this is likely part of a brand palette that you are familiar with.

Here’s a look at Classic Blue and how the color – and similar colors – as inspiration for using the color (or not) in design projects this year.

Reviews / 26 Dec 2019

Geocoding and Geoparsing With Geocodeapi

Do you need geocoding or geoparsing data for your website or digital application? An API is the solution.

Geocodeapi allows users to perform these tasks in a scalable manner using worldwide data. Here’s a look at the tool and how you can make the most of it for your projects.