Graphics - Page 15

Graphics / 4 Jan 2016

Designing With Constraints: Thinking Inside the Box

It’s one of those fundamental parts of design we don’t talk about much: Designing within the rules. We talk a lot about creativity and innovation, but sometimes leave out one of the ideas that pushes most projects along, and that’s actually creating something with a lot of rules attached. It’s thinking “inside the box.”

Design constraints are those little keys to consistency that help brands establish visual identity and guide voice. These restrictions can come in a number of forms, and like them or not, it’s something you are going to have to deal with.

And here’s the good news: Constraints can actually help you become a better designer.

Graphics / 10 Dec 2015

How to Use the Pantone Color of the Year in Design Projects

So Pantone threw us a curveball this year and announced a pair of colors as the “Color of the Year” for 2016. To create the actual hue, Pantone is blending Rose Quartz and Serenity.

This pairing of soft colors will likely be one of the color trends of the coming year. As with previous Pantone selections, the colors often become a staple in design, fashion and other projects. Pastels can be a little uncomfortable to work with for some designers. But today we’re going to take a look at ways you can make the most of these colors in your design projects.

Graphics / 18 Nov 2015

The Evolution of Flat Design: Muted Colors

Today, we’re taking flat design to the next level. Not every project works with some of the bold, bright color choices that are commonly connected to flat design.

So don’t get stuck using them. Kick up your flat design scheme a notch with a more muted color palette. The subtle change can help give your site a trendy overhaul and help it stand out in the flat design crowd. Here we’re going to pick apart a few websites that are using this style exceptionally well to help you create a site using flat design and a muted color palette.

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 Old and out-of-date user interface elements can make a site feel much more dated than it actually is.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!

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.)

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.

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.

How to Design a Logo / 31 Jul 2015

80 Clever Negative Space Logo Designs

Negative space is an inspiring field in the design world, where designers use the alternative color in a graphic to make a dual imagery and representation of a product. When it comes to negative space logo designs, agencies can incorporate multiple meanings in to their logo designs.

It’s a great way to capture a customers attention, and make them think twice. We’ve conducted a thorough search for some of the most interesting negative space logos, and collected 80 inspiring designs to give you an idea of what’s possible. Enjoy!

Graphics / 22 Jul 2015

Choosing and Creating Backgrounds for Design Projects

From patterns, to videos, to images, there are a lot of things to choose from when it comes to selecting the perfect backdrop to any design project. While the texture or image you choose is not necessarily intended to be a main part of the overall message, it can have quite an impact.

Backgrounds can be subtle, bold, static, dynamic or non-existent. And backgrounds in today’s projects are often more than just a beige canvas, and are an integral – and integrated – part of the overall design scheme. The trend in background design may even lead some to ask where the background ends and the foreground begins. Today we’re sharing a few tips and tricks for how to choose an effective background.

Business / 15 Jul 2015

How to Create a Twitter Header Photo: Examples and Best Practices

With more than 302 million monthly users and 500 million tweets per day, chances are you are using Twitter to promote yourself, brand or business. (And if you aren’t using the 140-character platform, what are you waiting for?)

Twitter customization is a big part of your social media strategy. As a designer, creating a great header photo is an important part of the puzzle. Here we’ll take a look at ways to create a header photo and overall profile that stand out among the millions of other Twitter personalities out there and showcase a few pages for design inspiration.

Graphics / 13 Jul 2015

How to Use Stock Photos That Don’t Suck

It happens to all of us at some point: you have been tasked with a design project that just does not have any art. That’s when the idea of using stock images creeps into your mind. But you have to use them in a way that, frankly, doesn’t suck.

The good news is that you can use stock images in projects without looking cheesy or fake. There are a lot of good places to find great stock images that you can use in a number of ways. Your mission is to make sure they integrate with your final design and don’t suck.

Graphics / 16 Jun 2015

Can You Fix a Bad Design? Here’s Where to Start

It’s an hour before deadline and your boss just handed you a design project to finish up. And it’s bad. Very bad. It has problems ranging from poor images to crazy color, typography choices to general sloppiness. What should you do? Can it be fixed?

There are a few things you can do to help salvage a bad design with the understanding that it won’t be perfect. But making it passable as a design project for your company might well still be an option. Here’s how!