Carrie Cousins

Background Textures / 21 Jan 2022

7 Tips for Using Background Textures in Web Design

This is not your typical roundup of textures to use for website backgrounds. What if you want to create your own? Or find a way to customize a texture to fit your project? That’s what we’ll focus on today.

While there are many ways to use textures in web design, you’ll get a lot more mileage out of those backgrounds if you take a modern approach, and follow a few simple rules.

Here are seven tips to help you use background textures in web design well (all of which are in-line with the latest and greatest 2019 design patterns and trends).

Business / 20 Jan 2022

Web-Based Scavenger Hunts: Tips & Ideas

Shake up your everyday home or professional routine with a scavenger hunt. A web-based scavenger hunt can be a fun game for all ages and skill levels and help create interaction and engagement for teams, individuals, or large (virtually connected) groups.

But how do you get started?

We’ve got some tips and ideas to help you manage an online scavenger hunt, with some tools to make it easy.

It doesn’t need to be nearly as complicated as you think, and it can be a really unique, innovative project to try.

UX Design / 6 Jan 2022

10 Tips for a Better CX (Customer Experience) Journey

The customer experience, or CX, journey can be one of the most important elements of an online store. It dictates how people interact with the site in the path to making a purchase, and even if they make a purchase at all.

The more technical definition of CX is all the cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral responses that a consumer has in the buying process from pre-purchase to the sale to the post-purchase process.

Let’s look at ways that you can improve the customer experience journey in website projects.

Trends / 5 Jan 2022

Design Trend: Happy, Optimistic Designs

The last few years have been rough for almost everyone. No matter where you live or what you do, most everyone in the world has felt the stress and pressure resulting from a worldwide health pandemic.

To combat these feelings of misery and malignancy, designers are using happy, optimistic design elements to help create more engaging websites. It’s just the emotional boost we all need when browsing, shopping, or simply looking for information.

Here’s a look at helpful design elements to use with this trend in mind with some examples for inspiration.

Business / 27 Dec 2021

How to Design Social Proof (Without Social Media)

Recommendations from friends and family can be one of the most reliable sources of information when you are looking to try something, make a purchase, or enroll in a new service. Whether you are doing it subconsciously because of your peer group or you are seeking out information, what people around you do can influence decision-making.

It’s also true online. An element of social proof can help turn a website browser into a lead conversion or buyer.

But you have to design it. Here’s a guide that will help you navigate different ways to design social proof.

Inspiration / 23 Dec 2021

22 Places to Find Design Inspiration When You Are Stuck

In need of a little design pick-me-up? There’s creative inspiration all around. You just have to stop, take a minute, and absorb it!

The best places to find design inspiration might not be just the usual suspects, including design blogs like this one.

Use this list to get those creative juices flowing again. We’re exploring ideas from popular inspiration websites, all the way through to a neighborhood walk or a museum.

Digital, physical, and everything in-between!

Navigation / 20 Dec 2021

8 Tips for Better Hyperlink Text

Better hyperlinks will create more useful user experiences. It starts with the words you use in the button or linked copy. (And “click here” is not the answer!)

If you want to generate more—and better—conversions from links, it’s important to focus on writing better microcopy for every link on your website.

These tips, which apply to hyperlinks throughout the design (not button microcopy) can help you think through the process.

Join us as we explore pitfalls to avoid, tips for punctuation, and the types of visual indicators that work well for links.

Graphics / 17 Dec 2021

10 T-Shirt Design Tips (For Shirts People Will Wear)

Designing a t-shirt that people will actually wear can be a design challenge of epic proportions. Let’s take a look at some tips for creating a t-shirt that won’t just get left in a drawer!

You have to create something that people connect with and want to wear. You have to deal with issues such as color and sizing (which aren’t really a concern for many other design projects). And even the style of apparel or brand can impact someone’s desire to wear your design.

Today, we’re breaking it all down with tips for creating a shirt design that people will want to wear (and maybe even buy in your e-commerce store!)

Graphics / 13 Dec 2021

10 Tips for Designing a YouTube Video Title Slide

The right YouTube thumbnail image can help draw people into your video and encourage views. But designing these title slides can get cumbersome over time.

You want to design a thumbnail that renders well at any size and is something that looks consistent but different, so that users recognize your content but also know that videos are new or different.

Here, we’ll look at 10 tips for designing a great YouTube/video thumbnail or title slide with some downloadable templates to help you get started!

Trends / 9 Dec 2021

10+ Tips for a Trendy and User-Friendly One-Page Website

Sometimes a one-page website is all you need.

From simple landing pages to coming soon design projects, there are plenty of reasons why you need to have a good grasp of how to create a stellar one-page design. While the idea of one page might not seem intimidating, it can be a tough thing to do.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you design a user-friendly one-page website.

The first example features the full one-page design, but you’ll have to click through for the rest!

Layouts / 6 Dec 2021

How Many Wireframes Do You Need? (Guide to Effective Wireframing)

Too often new website design projects start with a little wireframe overload.

Creating dozens of wireframes to show a client at the start of the project doesn’t necessarily create better understanding; it can be downright overwhelming.

Like with many other aspects of design, wireframing is an art where, in many cases, less is more.

Here’s a look at how to wireframe more effectively and a guide to how many wireframes you actually need (plus, some ideas on which ones are the most important, and which you can probably miss!)

Business / 22 Nov 2021

15 Tips for Boosting Your Local, Online Presence

Looking for more foot traffic in your local business? It might start online.

By boosting your local, online presence you can help more people find your shop, restaurant, studio, or office. Think about it, most visitors start with search engines when they are looking for a product or service. That includes local, especially if they are looking for directions to your business or an email address or phone number.

There are a few things you can do to help more people get access to your company when they are browsing online. Most of these are fairly easy steps that can help you connect with more potential customers online before they visit your local business.