Carrie Cousins

Trends / 4 Mar 2020

Design Trend: Liquid Animation in Web Design

Delightful design accents can be one of those things that creates an unexpected user experience that keeps visitors on your website.

A trending technique that does exactly this is the use of liquid animation in web design. What’s great about his trend is that you can use it in so many different ways to create an interface that works with your content.

Here, we’re going to look at various examples of this trend and how you can make it work for you. (Make sure to click through the examples to get a good feel for how each of these animations works.)

Adobe XD Templates / 24 Feb 2020

15+ Adobe XD Tutorials (Beginner to Advanced)

Adobe XD is a Photoshop-to-prototype tool that’s part of the Creative Cloud Suite (and our Adobe XD 101 intro is a good place to start!). It’s a robust tool with a lot of functionality, but you might need some help learning how to use it. Today we’ve collected some of the best Adobe XD tutorials to help you get started.

Adobe XD can be a little intimidating at first glance. What are the best learning resources? We’ve picked best Adobe XD tutorials for everyone from beginners to advanced users (and we’ve sorted them, so you can jump in at the right place for your experience level).

Trends / 19 Feb 2020

Design Trend: Mixing Realism and Illustrations

There’s a trend afoot in website design that mixes real images with illustrations and art elements in interesting ways. And it’s quirky, unique, and beautiful!

It’s a mashup of visual elements that don’t seem like they go together at first, but when done well can create a stunning aesthetic that is highly engaging and delightful.

Here, we’re going to look at examples of this design trend and different ways of mixing realism and illustrations for maximum impact. Some of these sit within fairly corporate designs, and others are completely playful and entertaining. It’s a wide range of applications of a thoroughly unique and interesting trend.

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.

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.

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 2025

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.

Reviews / 5 Dec 2019

Vectornator Pro Review: Create Illustrations, Logos, and More

Looking for an alternative when it comes to vector design software? Vectornator is a solid, new option for Mac users with a robust collection of tools that also work on iPads, iPhones, and desktop computers.

Today, we’ll take a look at this tool with the new Vectornator Pro release, which has even more features than the already-functional Vectornator X version.

Find out what this app has to offer, explore a few key features, and learn about how to take it for a spin yourself!

Trends / 27 Nov 2019

Vintage Graphic Design: Inspiration, Ideas + Modern Takes

Vintage graphic design is a nifty way to create an old-school feel for projects. Today we’re exploring the vintage graphic design trend, and how to use it in your design projects.

Vintage elements can include typography, illustrations, photo styles, and even entire aesthetic palettes. Further, there are different eras to choose from when you want to go for a vintage feel.

Vintage themes from different time periods can provide completely different visual properties and techniques to play with.

Let’s explore some of them!

Figma Templates / 20 Nov 2019

What Is Figma? a 101 Intro

Figma is a cloud-based design and prototyping tool for digital projects. It’s made so that users can collaborate on projects and work pretty much anywhere.

While this tool looks a lot like other prototyping options, the key differentiator is the ability to work with teams on projects. To date, Figma is probably the best-suited option available.

Here’s a look at Figma, and how this tool might be beneficial for your projects and workflows.

Font Collections / 18 Nov 2019

What Is an Icon Font? (And How to Use One)

Icon fonts are a popular solution to a common CSS problem; how to incorporate web icons into your website design in an efficient, fast-loading way.

With plenty of services available to make choosing and using an icon font easy, you don’t have to create your own from scratch. Icon fonts are all over the internet.

But what exactly is an icon font? And how do you use them? Here’s a guide to everything you need to know about icon fonts.