Carrie Cousins

Trends / 7 Nov 2022

25+ Portfolio Design Trends in 2023

When was the last time you updated your design portfolio? (If you’re like me, it’s probably been a while.) Maintaining a fresh portfolio is a good way to show off your skills to potential clients and can be helpful when looking back on work for annual contest entries.

If you’ve fallen behind with your portfolio design, or just need a new portfolio in general, this is a great opportunity to create something using trendy techniques and visuals.

A modern portfolio using design trends can make a great impression. A portfolio is also a representation of your skills — so design wisely! Here’s a look at some of our favorite portfolio design trends.

Background Textures / 2 Nov 2022

25+ Background Design Trends & Styles for 2023

One of the most important early design decisions you will make is what kind of background will carry a project. Should it be a single color, colorless, use trendy elements such as geometric shapes, gradients, or wood grain patterns? Or would a solid background design can help make a project shine?

Staying on trend with background design styles is important as well. A trendy background choice shows that a website design is modern and the content is new. A modern visual framework can even signal a user that you are thinking about their needs and making the most of the tools that will make their experience better.

So how do you do it? Here’s a look at background design trends and styles, with a few great options to try.

Trends / 31 Oct 2022

Icon Design in 2023: The Key Trends

Icons might be one of the most important – and underrated – examples of design in your portfolio. Here’s a look at icon design with some inspiring examples.

Icon elements are shown almost everywhere, but sometimes get produced as an afterthought. That shouldn’t be the case. Great icon design can be distinctive and add finesse and flair to a project.

Let’s take a look at what’s new, and what’s hot in icon design!

Reviews / 31 Oct 2022

Lunacy: Breeze Through Graphic Design Projects

Admit it, you are always looking for quicker, more efficient ways to complete projects – even graphic design tasks. Lunacy is a piece of free design software from Icons8 that can help you do just that.

It’s packed with AI-powered tools to speed up your work, giving you a new edge in your design work, plus a range of built-in graphics to help you “build design like a Lego”.

Today, we’ll take a look at this tool, highlight its key features, and explain how you can make it work for you.

Business / 27 Oct 2022

Everything a Web Designer Will Need to Know in 2023

The job title “web designer” keeps expanding. Depending on your role and how many people are on your team, the term “web designer” can mean a number of things, and the scope that it covers seems to keep growing with every year that passes.

It can be beneficial for you to be familiar with multiple roles to help be the best, most functional, web designer you can be in 2023.

Here’s everything you need to know. From having a grasp on your job description, to the visual elements of web design, to the functional elements of how a web project needs to work and perform.

Poster Design / 24 Oct 2022

25+ Stylish Poster Color Schemes 2023

When it comes to designing a poster, a stylish color scheme can go a long way to bringing attention to the design. From bright colors and unusual combinations, to subtle and understated, this is a space where almost anything goes.

Here, we’re diving into some super cool color schemes that you can use in poster design, sharing the hex codes for each poster color scheme to get you started.

Plus, each example is actually available as a template as well, if you want to jump start your design and use any of these specific examples!

Business / 21 Oct 2022

30 Tips to Learn Web Design in 30 Days

Is learning the basics of web design still on your “someday” list? Why haven’t you got started yet? We’ve put together 30 tips and resources to help you start learning web design this month (and maybe even find yourself a new career path!)

Graphic designers, print designers, and creatives looking to learn something new or break into website need to quit procrastinating. Every day that you don’t take that first step leaves you one day further behind everyone else!

Follow these steps to begin learning how to create your first website, industry best practices, and much more—all in 30 days!

Business / 20 Oct 2022

8 Regular Maintenance Considerations for Your Website

It might not be the most fun topic when it comes to your website, but it may be one of the most important: regular maintenance.

If you launch a website and then never go back and work on it, it will eventually stop working. The user experience will deteriorate over time and you won’t be able to maximize the impact of your site. As the first impression that many customers have with you, an up-to-date and well-functioning website is a must for any business.

Here are eight crucial regular maintenance considerations to help you keep your website in top condition.

Reviews / 14 Oct 2022

Design Feedback Is Easier With Claap

What if you could get time back in your day with better and more efficient meetings and design feedback sessions? Claap is designed with this solution in mind.

Claap is an asynchronous video collaboration platform that can help design teams make better, faster decisions without endless meetings or messaging threads that you get lost in.

The tool can help you spend less time in meetings and is ideal for hybrid design teams.

Here, we’ll take a look at Claap and how it may work for you.

Trends / 10 Oct 2022

Design Trend: QR Codes Everywhere (Tips to Use Them Well)

It looks like QR codes may be back – and here to stay. QR, which stands for quick response, is a bar code that most phone or tablet cameras read that provides a link to something online.

A tool that seemed like it had all but vanished re-emerged as a form of contactless information for things like menus or even to collect payments (such as PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo QR codes).

Using QR codes is more than a design trend; it can be a highly functional component of many design projects.

Here are some ideas for using them well (with a few examples from Envato Elements).

Premiere Pro Templates / 7 Oct 2022

After Effects vs. Premiere: What’s the Difference?

Video has likely become an important part of your website design or marketing strategy. From video hero images to short YouTube videos that help explain a product or service, video is a growing aspect of design.

Have you been asked to edit, create or adjust video for a client yet? Chances are it will happen.

Here, we’re going to look at two popular video tools from Adobe to help you get a crash course what tool is best to use for video projects – Adobe After Effects or Premiere?

Should you choose one, the other, or both? And are they the right fit for your next project?

Business / 6 Oct 2022

10 Tips for Design That Puts Customers First

As an online shopper or buyer, you likely notice bad customer experiences before the good ones. A design that puts customers first feels seamless and intuitive and is pretty frictionless from the point of shopping to completing a transaction.

This kind of mindset is important in every project. A solid customer experience will keep users coming back for your product or service. You created a pleasant shopping destination that helped them find what they were looking for and buy it in a manner that felt safe, secure, and easy to manage.

The design can contribute to that quite a bit. Here are some tips to help you create a design that puts customers first.