Carrie is a freelance writer with years of experience in web and graphic design. Sports fanatic. Information junkie. Designer. True-believer in karma.
The body text on your website is too small. While desktop monitors and phone screens seem to be increasing in size, body font sizes have seemingly shrunk. While their original size is the same, they feel smaller than ever.
Too often, I find myself squinting at the screen to read content. And it shouldn’t be that way. Today we’re looking at the reasons for this increasing problem, and how you can fix it!
There’s a trending topic in website design navigation: sidebar menus. More designers are working with vertical side navigation for projects, with a specific location on the left side for many of these website designs.
And while it looks nice and can help streamline clutter in the overall canvas, does it really work? Will users respond to side navigation? Is it a design trend that you should consider? Today, we’ll try to get to the heart of the questions with some practical and usable answers.
You’ve been working on a client project for a little while now. It could be a website design, brochure, or something else altogether — but you’ve spent some time on it. You like the concept. Is that all you need to go back to the client with? Or do you need to create a couple more options for the design review?
There’s a balance of creating enough for a client to choose from, and avoiding work that you know will certainly just get thrown aside. If you know the client well, chances are you can present just one design option. (Seriously!)
Every business or website needs one – a logo. A logo is how users and customers will identify your website or brand. And a good logo is identifiable, readable and leaves a lasting impression with users.
Your logo is how people see you across different mediums, from online to social media to printed materials. So how do you develop this key piece of branding if you don’t already have one? (Or how do you rethink the one you have but don’t like?) Here are three tips to help you get started!
Illustration projects can be tough. But if you are an illustrator, it is your job (duty even) to keep drawing and promoting illustration projects. But how do you do it?
How can you sell a client on the concept of an illustration when it can be difficult for them to imagine? You can do it. Here are some tips for getting started. (Plus, this post includes illustration projects to help jumpstart your creativity.)
When you think of white space in web design, examples such as Apple or Google are probably the first ones that come to mind. While these companies do a great job of using white space in their designs, there are plenty of other ways to make the most of space.. even if it isn’t always white.!
White space is an important part of your design plan. Here, we’re going to look at the importance of space as a design tool and five examples of websites that are making great use of white space (that isn’t white at all).
It’s going to happen. Every freelancer makes mistakes. Some of them are big and can impact client relationships, while others are more internal and affect your workflow and processes.
There’s one similarity though – how you recover from these mistakes will say more about your freelance career than making them. But how do you recover from the embarrassment of messing something up? Often it requires just a bit of humility.
One of the big topics in design right now is artificial intelligence. Can a computer program actually design a website? Can it help a person speed up or improve the process?
Bookmark is taking the theory to a whole new level with its Artificial Intelligence Design Assistant, or AIDA for short. AIDA learns your needs and desires and uses this knowledge to create the perfect website for you. Today we’re taking a look at how it works!
You’ve probably heard the phrase “content is king.” Cliches aside, it really is. When it comes to website design, quality content is the cog that powers usability, user flow and conversions.
You need real and authentic elements to create a connection with users to engage them. The best designs start with content that is close to the final product, and designers should be reluctant to work with anything less. But what is real content anyway? Here’s a guide to get you started.
More businesses are trying to find ways to go paperless. Eversign is a great tool that can help you cut the clutter from all those paper documents.
Eversign is a free, online app that helps you create legally binding electronic signatures for work or personal projects. The platform allows users to approve, deliver and sign documents online without printing or scanning a single form. Here’s a look at how it works.
Designers have to wear a lot of hats these days. You might create a website one day, a brochure the next, and an ad campaign for print or social media after that.
And while many of these projects all rely on the same theories of design and an eye for what looks good, there are some differences that can impact the success of certain projects. Designing ad campaigns can be tricky if you haven’t done a lot of it. The canvas is often small and doesn’t give you a lot of room for error. You get just one chance to hook a user with design and information. Here’s how to do it.
Long gone is the idea that navigation menus must be fixed at the top of a website design. While many designers opt for the safe, consistency of all caps navigation across the top of the screen with sans serif typography, more designs are breaking out of this pattern.
Experimental navigation patterns can be fun and interesting if they are intuitive enough for users to understand reasonably quickly. Different navigation styles can add interest to websites that are small, don’t have a lot of content or want users to move around in a specific way.
While experimental navigation isn’t for every design, it can be a fun alternative for the right project.