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Carrie Cousins

Carrie Cousins

Carrie is a freelance writer with years of experience in web and graphic design. Sports fanatic. Information junkie. Designer. True-believer in karma.

Business / 7 Oct 2015

Reinventing Your Brand: 5 Ways to Get Started

Lately you have decided that your brand – and look – has gotten rather stale. It happens. But you are already on the right path by knowing you need a brand refresh. Brands, small and large, are rebranding all the time. (You can peek at some of those changes on the Brand New blog.)

While this can be a daunting task, it can be easier than you think with a little planning and forethought. Today, we’ll look at five ways you can start down the path to a fresher, more visual brand identity. (And with these tips you can do it on almost any budget!)

CSS / 1 Oct 2015

7 Tips to Speed Up Your Website Today

Everyone loves a cool little loading animation, right? But if that divot lasts more than a second or two, it only brings attention to the fact that the website is loading slowly. And that’s a website killer.

Users expect websites to load quickly and efficiently. It’s your job to ensure that the design is not only visually pleasing but also 100 percent functional. If your site is dragging somewhat, you can stop worrying right now because we have seven tips to help you speed up your website with small tweaks to the design. (Make sure to visit each of the websites showcased in the post; they look great and load lightning fast.)

Inspiration / 28 Sep 2015

5 Design Shortcuts to Learn Right Now

If you are anything like me, you are always looking for a shortcut or two to make your design life easier. Sometimes the tricks to getting through a project are the little things. While there are some obvious workflow solutions, such as using shortcut keys within software, today’s design tricks require a little more long term thought and planning. (But they are well worth it!)

From sketching to working with software to learning a new concept, here are five design shortcuts that you should learn right now. (You’ll thank us later.)

Freelancing / 22 Sep 2015

10 Mistakes to Avoid as a Freelancer

When you’re working as a freelancer, whether it’s been two months or two years, you should step back and evaluate how it is going every so often. From rookie moves to common traps, you want to make sure you are aren’t making any mistakes that can set you or your freelance business back.

Here, we’re going to look at 10 mistakes you’ll want to avoid as a freelancer. (And you can use this list to look at things you might be doing that you need to rethink.)

Graphics / 7 Sep 2015

Design Banner Ads That Don’t Suck: 15 Design Tips

There’s been a lot of recent chatter about banner ads. Are they fading? Are users actually clicking them? Are they dead? Are there better options available?

While it is true that banner ad clicks are in decline, that’s not the end of the popular online advertising format. While you can’t measure it, just seeing an ad helps create a user preference for that item, product or service. (Remember, ads have appeared on TV and in printed materials for decades without clicks to prove their success rates.) Today, we’ll look at 15 ways you can create banner ads that simply don’t suck. Take a look at the examples as well. They are 2015 winner of The Webby Awards for ad and website design. You can click through the images to learn more about each one.

Business / 27 Aug 2015

10 Ways Designers Solve Problems

Designers, by nature, are problem-solvers. Every project is a problem or challenge that involves helping other people understand something. Designers have to see through all the fog and clutter to create a solution.

This creative type of problem solving comes naturally in part, but some of the actions are learned. Have you ever stopped to think about how you work to solve problems? Here we will examine 10 ways that designers do just that with a collection of abstract images to inspire some of that problem-solving thinking.

Business / 24 Aug 2015

vCard Websites: 15 Tips to Make Yours Stand Out

While you may not be exchanging actual paper business cards as much these days, chances are your digital business card, or vCard, can see a lot of traffic. A vCard-style website typically contains very little content other than a few professional details.

vCard websites are not the same as a portfolio. They tend to be more streamlined with a focus on point of contact, not showcase of professional accomplishment. This style of website can be useful to help users or potential customers find you online and help you promote your professional presence online. When it comes to designing a vCard website, think beyond the paper business card format, or email attachment style cards that have been around for years and make yours stand out.

Inspiration / 19 Aug 2015

Monochromatic Color: How to Use It Effectively

While the thought of completing a design project with only one color might be intimidating, it can actually result in a pretty awesome aesthetic. Monochromatic color options are also a hot concept and can work for a lot of project types.

Monochromatic color is rooted in color theory and takes more than just picking a color and designing everything with it. You’ll want to consider the meaning and associations of the color you choose and how to make that hue work with other components in the page. Here, we’ll explore ways to help you better understand and effectively use monochromatic color in any of your design projects.

CV & Resume Templates / 17 Aug 2015

Designing Your Resume: Create the Perfect First Impression

Resume design is as much about content design as aesthetics. It’s great to have a resume that stands out and makes a potential employer say “wow,” but that wow factor has to keep flowing as they read through the contents of your work history.

It’s a delicate balance between design and content. Treat developing your resume as you would any other design project. Start with the content first. Develop all the things that need to be on your resume and then let that drive the look of the words on the page. (And we all know resume design can be a challenge because there is so much text.)

Graphics / 10 Aug 2015

Blurred Images in Web Design: How to Make Them Work

It’s an undeniable fact: using blurred images is a trending web design technique in 2015. It seems like everywhere you look there’s some element of blur.

But this is not a solution to some of your photo problems. It’s a distinct technique that takes practice to perfect and attention to detail to get it right. So before you jump on the trend, think about the options for using blurred images to decide if it is right for you and how you can make the best use of this technique in your projects.

Typography / 5 Aug 2015

Kinetic Typography: An Introductory Guide

Kinetic typography seems to be everywhere these days. From television commercials to website landing pages, movable type is a popular visual tool. This popularity could come from a number of reasons but one obvious factor is that it catches your attention. People tend to be drawn to words and want to read them.

Kinetic typography puts this together with some simple animations to create words that move on the screen, grabbing your attention and engaging the senses. So let’s take a look at kinetic typography and how you can integrate it into some of your design projects. (Note: The examples in this article include animation; click the images for links to the original sources to see them in action.)

Business / 3 Aug 2015

Where Should You Work as a Designer? 10 Things to Consider

Knowing that a design career is what you want is just the first step in the path to finding your dream job. Add in a little training and expertise and you still have some big decisions to make, because there are so many different types of places to find design work.

How do you know what type of place will be the right fit? The answer may be different for you at different stages in your life. Young designers almost always need the support of a more structured environment so they can develop, work with a team and grow. But more experienced designers may find that a smaller shop is a better option with more flexibility and control over their projects. Here, we’ll help you determine where your dream job might be — with a startup, as a freelancer, at an in-house shop or with a big firm?