Carrie Cousins

Photoshop Actions / 2 May 2023

25+ Cool Photoshop Effects Tutorials & Templates

Experimenting with cool effects and finding new techniques to use Photoshop is something that never gets old. And if you’re excited about learning new Photoshop tricks, then this guide is for you.

For designers, the learning never ends. You can always learn new Photoshop effects and try different trends to make your designs look extra special.

We found some cool Photoshop effects tutorials to help you learn a few new tricks. All of these tutorials are free and beginner-friendly. Even if you’re completely new to Photoshop, you can follow these tutorials step-by-step.

Reviews / 2 May 2023

UXPin Merge: Build a Better Design Process

If you find yourself doing the same things over, getting stuck between the design and developer handoff or want to create better collaboration and consistency, you aren’t alone. These are some of the most common challenges with digital design.

UXPin can help mitigate these issues and solve your problems with its technology, UXPin Merge, is made to facilitate design-to-dev collaboration. It actually allows designers to sync coded components and helps designers and developers use it as a single source of truth.

Here, we’ll look at some of the ways UXPin Merge might help you create better workflows, create more consistent products, and improve collaboration.

Software / 1 May 2023

What Are Lower Thirds? Tips, Ideas & Video Examples

While you may not know it by name, you probably can identify the use of lower thirds and lower third templates in video production. This is a graphic that’s at the bottom of the screen to help provide information about the video you are seeing.

The most common use of lower thirds is in news production, where the subject’s name and title are placed on the screen while they are interviewed.

But this isn’t the only application of lower thirds for your videos. Here, we’ll look at some tips, ideas, and video examples for design inspiration.

Font Collections / 27 Apr 2023

How to Design With Handwritten Typefaces: 10 Tips

Plenty of designs – both in print and online — are featuring handwritten typefaces in a big way. From custom options to fonts that you can sync online or buy for print projects, this flair for letting is quite popular. The most trendy use is as a dominant headline element in a hero header-style homepage design.

This style can be tricky to use, though, and is not a fit-all solution. Today, we’ll look at eight ways to make the most of the handwritten typeface trend in your design projects.

Font Collections / 24 Apr 2023

5 Tips for Designing With Graffiti Fonts

Graffiti fonts can add a cool or edgy vibe to design projects, but can be a bit tricky to use if you aren’t careful. The reason for caution mostly lies in readability, due to letterforms that might be somewhat irregular or touch and merge in different ways.

For the right projects, though, graffiti fonts can be a fun way to add something special and really get to the heart of the emotional connection you want to make with the design.

We’ve put together five tips to help you use graffiti fonts well with five extra graffiti fonts you can download and use from Envato Elements.

PowerPoint Templates / 21 Apr 2023

What Is a Pitch Deck? (And How to Make One)

It’s a tool that every startup business or entrepreneur needs – a great pitch deck. A pitch deck is a presentation that you’ll use to help explain or showcase your product or service and potentially drives sales or investment. It needs to be polished and professional to do the job well.

Today, we’ll take a look at what a pitch deck is, how to make one, and how to establish a design that will wow people who come in contact with your new business.

We’ll also feature a few stunning pitch deck templates along the way, to help you get started fast.

Trends / 20 Apr 2023

The Geometric Design Trend: Patterns, Fonts, and More

One of the design styles that’s been gaining popularity is the use of geometric elements including patterns, geometric fonts, and other elements to create a design scheme. Often these patterns and elements are rather simplistic, but they can have complex elements as well.

Geometric shapes and elements can be used for almost any part of a design, from a hero element to the full aesthetic.

Here, we’ll take a look at this design trend, characteristics, and tips to help you use it well.

Microsoft Word Templates / 17 Apr 2023

How to Create an Invoice in Word (In 3 Simple Steps!)

From small businesses to one-off needs for freelancers, Microsoft Word can be a reliable – and easy – option for creating quick invoices. Most people have it, and you can get a surprisingly well designed invoice made with relatively little effort!

You can use a template that comes with the software by default, create your own, or download a predesigned option from a marketplace such as Envato Elements. (The latter option is the easiest by far.)

Here, we’ll walk you through how to create an invoice in Word using an example template. You can download it here and follow along.

Font Collections / 3 Apr 2023

Choosing a Poster Font: 10 Tips & Ideas

Poster design can be some of the most fun you have as a designer. There’s nothing quite like seeing information for an event or concert hanging in a public location as you move by.

The key to these design projects is font selection. You need typefaces, colors, sizes, and scales that make content easy to read from a distance and up close also.

Here, we’re going to look at some tips and ideas for choosing a poster font so that your projects turn out amazing! (Plus, this post includes some design template examples with great typography that you can download from Envato Elements.)

Reviews / 30 Mar 2023

WebWave: Drag-and-Drop Website Creation

Sometimes creating a website is not part of your design repertoire. Whether you are intimidated by coding or aren’t familiar with the tools, many graphic designers tend to shy away from website builds.

WebWave makes it easier to create and publish a website using tools that function and work more like the graphic design software you already know and love.

Here, we’ll look at this new tool and how it can work for you.

Keynote Templates / 29 Mar 2023

What Is Apple Keynote? (And 5 Tips for Getting Started)

Mac and iPad/iPhone users have probably seen the little blue presentation icon on the devices. But have you ever really used it? This icon is for Apple Keynote, a presentation tool that comes standard on all iOS devices.

Keynote is native to Mac, so you won’t find it on PC devices. It’s a tool that people tend to love once they make the switch from another type of presentation software. It’s focused on design, a polished presentation, and creating a really solid experience as you design your slides.

Today, we’re going to look at Apple Keynote—what it is and, and how to get started with this robust presentation tool.

Trends / 23 Mar 2023

Design Trend: Blockchain’s Impact on Design and Branding

Sometimes a design trend can start from an unlikely source. Blockchain, a technology designed for secure information transfer, has impacted the online community.

From Bitcoin to NFTs to everyday design projects, you can see some of the impact in projects that have nothing to do with blockchain itself. Here’s a look at how blockchain is impacting design and what it means for you.

While not a design or branding technique, this digital business tool is already changing the landscape of design. Let’s dive in and find out how.