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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.

Typography / 26 Oct 2015

Web Design Debate: Do I Really Need to Use Sans Serif Fonts?

There’s long been a theory that serif typefaces are for printed projects and sans serifs are for website design. But with more high definition screens and great type options available, that rule just isn’t so much a rule anymore.

Whether you prefer serifs or sans serifs (or a combination of the two), the main objectives when choosing typefaces for digital design projects should be readability and legibility. Simple, you need to pick fonts that are sharp and easy to read on the screen. Part of this is related to usage, such as size and placement of text, and then to the style of typeface you choose.

Graphics / 22 Oct 2015

Detox Your Design: 8 UI Elements to Eliminate

Is your design starting to look old? Old and out-of-date user interface elements can make a site feel much more dated than it actually is.

Here, we look at eight UI elements that you should eliminate from your design plan. But that’s not all; each “don’t” comes with a suggestion for modernizing your website. We’ll get that design looking up-to-date in no time!

Inspiration / 19 Oct 2015

12 Tips for Creating Captivating Photography in Design Work

Great photography can be the visual that makes a good design project a great one. And it is up to you to ensure that your images are practical, usable and captivating.

As a designer, it is your job to provide art direction before, during and after the photo taking and editing process so that you get a collection of images that work for your brand and your projects. Today, we’ll look at 12 ways to help you make the most of those images for any project type. (You might want to bookmark this guide so you can refer to it next time you are ready to think about getting new images.)

Business / 16 Oct 2015

How to Hold a Meeting That Gets Everyone Excited About Design

The dreaded project kickoff meeting. It’s on your calendar. You can’t avoid it. But you can make it a more memorable event that helps generate creativity among the members of your team.

The start of every project should be marked with excitement and anticipation. It’s the time when you and your team get to learn about a new client or idea and really get to go back to the basics of brainstorming and idea generation. It can, and should, be one of the most important parts of a design project and it needs to be anything but boring.

Inspiration / 14 Oct 2015

Design Trend: How to Use Stripes to Your Advantage

Stripes are a fun addition that can add visual interest and depth to design projects in a variety of ways. But stripes are more than just the blue and white nautical patterns that you might be envisioning.

Stripes can take on a number of forms. Vertical or horizontal and from classic patterns to grid-based lined to backgrounds and image components, stripes are a great design option. Here are some ways to use them that you might not have thought about.

Graphics / 12 Oct 2015

The Practical Beginner’s Guide to SVG

Although the format is not particularly new, SVG images are increasingly popular in the design of websites. All major web browsers support the format and SVG is changing the way we think about and render images for the web.

Why at they so popular? And what exactly is different about an SVG file? Today, we have the answers and everything else you need to know to get started with this file type. (As a little bonus, all of the images in this post are available in SVG from Creative Market.)

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.)

Inspiration / 14 Sep 2015

Website Navigation Trends: 10 Tips & Examples

By now the term “hamburger menu” is something we are all familiar with. Love it or hate it, this little element has been one of the bigger trends in website navigation design this year.

But it is not the only big change that’s been happening when it comes to how we design navigation patterns and elements. From super small navigation – such as the hamburger – to oversized navigation options, providing users with a clear and easy path to information should be a top concern for designers.

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.