Carrie is a freelance writer with years of experience in web and graphic design. Sports fanatic. Information junkie. Designer. True-believer in karma.
A grid is the foundation of almost any website design. These invisible lines help create rhythmic space and visual flow, so each project carries a sense of organization and harmony.
But you don’t have to stick to the grid 100 percent of the time. You can even break the grid from time to time without making a total mess. Here’s how you do it, while still keeping a website that’s a pleasure to use!
Designing icons can be a lot of fun. But once you have a good set, what do you do with them?
Icons are not just miniature links for Facebook or Instagram — they can be fully interactive cues that help lead users through a design and provide extra visual spark. Icons can be small or large, black and white or colored, flat or intricate. No matter what style appeals to you, effective use of icons can enhance usability and the aesthetic value of almost any design project.
So you want to be a freelancer. It’s no surprise that more and more people are making this career choice. The work from home, work for yourself option is appealing for many reasons. But not everyone is cut out for the job. Are you?
Most freelancers – regardless of industry – exhibit a few characteristics that help them create the right business culture for themselves, stay motivated and keep clients happy (and new working coming in). We’re going to look at these traits and how they can influence your decision to tackle a freelance career in a creative field.
Drumroll, please. It’s the design geek Grammy’s. Pantone recently named its color of the year – 15-0343, more commonly known as Greenery.
The natural hue is bright, clean and fresh. Pantone says the zesty yellow-green shade “evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.”
How can you use this design trend in upcoming projects? This year Pantone made it easy with a “new neutral” that’s relatively easy to use. Here are a few ways to do it.
It seems like such a simple concept, but this trend is just starting to take off. Designers are allowing typography to cross planes between elements.
The trend is exemplified by type starting in one part of the canvas and then it extends into the space of something else, such as overlapping part of a photo or encroaching on another colored box or image. The layering technique is interesting and can help add a bit of creativity to a design in a number of ways. Here’s a closer look at ways to use typography in shared spaces.
Every trend eventually makes a comeback. Sometimes that even applies to trends that are more difficult to understand.
Memphis design – exemplified by an 80s aesthetic with bright colors and lots of shapes and lines – is one of those concepts that has come back around again. Not many people have ever said they love the 80s design style. Love it or hate it, the bright design pattern can be a lot of fun and direct attention to the design. Here’s everything you need to know about Memphis design.
There’s often a disconnect between the way a designer looks at a website or brochure or package and the way users see it. As a designer, you can appreciate trends and attention to typography and details in a way that the common user might not.
Users only know whether they understand something when they interact with it. The details of how that interaction happens or why it is pleasing are often lost. It’s a pretty harsh reality.
But there’s a nugget of wisdom in understanding that disconnect. If you think about what users are thinking, you will be a better designer. (Even if you don’t particularly like their thoughts on design.)
Design thinking is the biggest buzzword in the design world since flat design. Everyone is talking about it… even non-designers. So what is design thinking? Is it important? Should you care?
Here’s the good news: design thinking is something that’s probably part of what you “just do” even if you didn’t have a name for it. Design thinking is another way to think about problem-solving. Let’s take a closer look, and delve into what it means, and why it can be useful!
Forget what you think about user attention spans. Long-form content can be a valuable part of your design strategy (and doesn’t have to be a boring block of ongoing text). Users love a good story and long-form content is a great way to create an immersive and engaging experience.
To keep users interested – and scrolling – you have to design interactions that are visually pleasing and create a consistent experience from the first glimpse to the final act. Here are a few ways to design long-form content that meets those goals with a few examples that are anything but boring.
Logo design is tough. There’s so much pressure to come up with a perfectly iconic symbol. It has to be original, fresh and interesting. And it’s probably going to be around for a while.
Before you break out in a cold sweat trying to develop the next Nike Swoosh, stop and breathe. While some of the most successful logos of all time did come with a little luck, most follow a few key concepts that you can apply to your thought process.
Take a minute, think it through and you can design a better logo using these five key concepts (with examples from the Design Shack gallery).
What comes first? The chicken or the egg? The website or the content? Developing a cohesive content strategy during the web design process can present quite the conundrum.
Designers want content to start work on the design, while many copywriters want a preview of the visuals to develop content. So how do you come to a resolution? With a solid content strategy that involves the whole team.
Ready to take a design risk? Try mixing photos and illustrations in the same design project. A hand drawn element can add whimsy and interest to a design that includes photography. Conversely, a photo can make a more lighthearted illustrated design seem more real or important.
This technique can be a little difficult to imagine until you see a few examples of how it can work beautifully. Today’s we’re looking at this trend and providing tips and examples to help you develop creative ways to come up with a design of your own.