Inspiring advice, tips, and suggestions for improving your graphic design skills, logo design, working with templates, and more.
Ultra Violet. It sounds like the name of a pop band. Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2018 is inspired by music and art and individuality.
The color is reminiscent of Prince’s famous purple and it is part of a growing trend in design to use bolder, brighter colors in more projects. Here’s a look at Pantone’s color of the year and how you can use it in your projects.
There’s a bit of disruption happening in the world of logos. The single static logo isn’t enough to carry your brand anymore. You actually need a library of logos to meet all the needs of your brand.
This idea has been evolving for a while; just think of the variations for a website, social media and even that tiny favicon in web browsers.
It can be a lot to think about. So let’s try to organize those logo thoughts.
You’re a web designer living large in the 21st century. Your job is defined by screens and software. What in the world could you possibly learn about design from a bunch of old dusty print ads? The answer of course, is “a ton.”
Today we’re examining one of the most famous print ad campaigns of all time. The Volkswagen “Think Small” campaign. How did a funny looking car that was named after a bug, known for being slow and manufactured in factories built by Nazis ever become iconic to a generation of post-war Americans? Great design and fantastic marketing.
If nothing else, 2017 has been a year of color in website design. Color trends have dominated the conversation about design, with brighter, bolder hues as a large part of the landscape.
There’s a new color trend that combines a lot of those bright options into bigger color palettes that you might now expect – rainbow color patterns. That’s right, more designers are taking a change with a lot of color and incorporating vivid rainbow, gradient colors into design projects. And it’s pretty cool!
Here’s a look at the trend and some ideas for how to use vivid color that aren’t garish.
A monochrome color scheme isn’t always the first idea that comes to mind when starting a new design project. But single-color design projects can have a lot of impact and give the opportunity to branch out and try some new techniques.
Monochromatic projects, which consist of a color palette with just one color, can be striking because they aren’t as commonly seen as projects with more color variances. This alone can make your project stand out.
You hear these phrases tossed around by everyone today – from amateur photographers, to the iPhone salesman, to some of the world’s most acknowledged visual creators and designers. But what do image size specs really mean? And what should you use?
Simply, it all depends on your project. Knowing what medium you are creating for and how your images will be used is key to sizing and picking the right number of pixels or DPI. Before you begin your next project, though, make sure you are familiar with all the image-quality jargon.
A logo might be the single most important visual connection a brand makes with users. It identifies the company or organization and sets a basic tone for interactions with users.
From color to shape to words, every element in a logo design says something. (That’s why such a small element is so important to your brand.)
Logo design takes a lot of planning and thought and it is important to create a mark that represents your business and is something that users can identify and remember. It’s doubtful that you’ll develop the next Nike swoosh, but with the right approach you can create a memorable logo design.
There’s a lot of science and psychology that goes into design. Even if you don’t consciously think about it, choices that you make when selecting imagery and user interface elements can establish a connection with users (or not) and even lead to higher engagement rates.
Using actual human faces in the design is one way to do this. Seeing a face can make people more likely to engage with a design because it makes the app/website/poster feel more human. It creates a more distinct emotional connection.
Here, we’re going to look at designs that use faces in different ways and how you can up user interaction with some of the same design techniques.
Finding the perfect color combination for a website can be a challenging task, especially when you’re trying to make a particular design fit in with a client’s requirements. We’ve picked out a few great color scheme generating tools for you to easily create the perfect palette!
If you’re stuck trying to find the perfect color scheme for a website design, don’t feel bad. It’s OK if you’re not an expert on color palettes. You just need to find the right set of tools to do that job for you.
But, before you go crazy with the color tools, let’s figure out some of the things you need to consider when choosing the right color combination for a design.
The virtual world has to be authentic to captivate users. Childish imagery or clip-art just won’t cut it. But there are still so many websites out there that use over-the-top stock photos, or images that don’t resonate with readers. It’s a problem.
To connect, you have to feel realistic and use authentic imagery and photos, so that users feel something when they interact with the website. It has to feel real. Join us as explore this trend, and share how you can use it to best effect!
Neon colors are tough to use without clashing with the rest of your design. They work great for signs and lights in real-world applications, but can present major issues in web design, unless carefully implemented.
Today, we’re going to look at ways to effectively use neon colors in your design work, with a list of do’s and don’ts to help you make the most of bold, bright color choices. You’ll be a neon ninja in no time, weaving it through your design work!
There’s a softer design trend taking over website projects – waves and soft lines. Where backgrounds have been dominated by single “flat” color, we’re seeing a shift toward curved lines and waves.
The elements are lighter, softer and evoke a different overall feel for the design. What’s especially nice is that waves and softer lines can be used a lot of different ways so that each design feels totally different. (It’s one of those trends that can almost sneak up on you because it appears in so many forms.)
Here’s a look at the waves and “soft” lines trend in website design.