Articles - Page 143

Browse hundreds of articles, tips, and inspiring design collections. Find helpful design advice, or the perfect resource for your next project.

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 / 24 Sep 2015

Use Abstract Geometry to Create Stunning Designs

If you’ve ever found yourself in a design rut, wondering how to come up with some fresh ideas, then you’ve no doubt experienced how refreshing it can be to experiment with a new design style that’s completely outside of what you typically produce.

Today we’re going to do exactly that. I’ve been fascinated with a particular style lately and just itching to give it a test drive. We’ll start by analyzing this style’s characteristics through the work of others and then proceed to building something on our own using what we learn. Read on to see the step by step process.

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.)

Business / 17 Sep 2015

Are You a Right-Brained or Left-Brained Designer?

Colors, pictures, creativity; designers are quite obviously a group of people that tend to gravitate towards using the right sides of their brains… right? Or is this simply a stereotype that doesn’t necessarily ring true?

Is design exclusively artistic talent put to productive use or is it possible that the industry is equally full of analytical problem solvers? Let’s take a look at how designers think, whether you’re a right brainer or a left brainer, and how I’ve struggled through being a left brainer in an industry of right brainers.

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.

Reviews / 20 Aug 2015

How to Perform Real-Time User Testing With FullStory

Ever visited a website that was confusing, broken, or just plain hard to use? That site probably isn’t using FullStory.

There’s no doubt that user testing is incredibly important to create a website that’s easy to use, and performs well. But watching users in a testing environment can never compare to watching actual customer interactions, and looking at the stumbling blocks they face. Today we’re taking a look at how FullStory can help with just this, and give you a powerful insight into how your customers use your website.