Articles - Page 185

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

Graphics / 29 Dec 2013

6 Famous Logos That Leverage Inconsistent Design

One of the most powerful tools that you can use to improve any design is repetition. Repeating colors, shapes and other visual elements throughout a design increases consistency and familiarity so that the design feels more attractive.

But what about the flip side of this idea? Is it possible to wield inconsistency in such a way that it improves the quality of a design? It turns out that lots of well known logos use this very tactic. Read on to see what they are.

Inspiration / 19 Dec 2013

Radiant Orchid Named Pantone Color of the Year: Now What?

Unless you have been hiding from the design community for the last few weeks, you know that Pantone released its annual color of the year: Radiant Orchid.

The reviews are mixed. But there really are a lot of ways to incorporate this color into design projects if you want to be on-trend, and enjoy the challenge of crafting a design around a specific color!

CSS / 16 Dec 2013

How to Design Animated Sliding Page Elements With CSS

There’s a recurring trend of using animated page elements in web design at the moment — as you scroll down the page, items will naturally animate into view. These animations only happen one time, and they only begin once the element is within the browser viewport.

I’ve explored this concept a bit using jQuery, along with CSS3 transitions. In a nutshell, this script checks for special classes on the page and uses jQuery to append a new class for transition effects. Those elements which have already animated are then removed from the event handler. And once there are no more elements to animate, the event handler is completely removed until you refresh the page. Take a look at my demo example to see exactly what we’re creating, and follow along!

Design Dilemma / 13 Dec 2013

Design Dilemma: What Is Too Rough When It Comes to Getting Paid?

No one truly knows the exact reason people don’t want to pay for design work. Is there just some inner hatred for creatives? Were most clients the kids in school who told on us to the teacher because we were drawing in our notebooks, instead of taking notes on Algebra, which as we now know, is useful every waking moment of our lives?

Atara P. writes: “My dilemma is more of a question about a method that I used recently to get an unresponsive client to pay up, and if it’s a tactic that’s ok to use?” Sounds delicious and evil! Let’s all take a look, so join us as we delve into another Design Dilemma, helping to answer your questions, queries and concerns about the murky world of design…

Inspiration / 11 Dec 2013

Gift Guide for Designers – the 2013 Edition

What do you get for the designer who has it all this holiday season? The options are almost limitless with so many cool items out there for work and play.

From items under $10 to some rather pricey toys, Design Shack has the perfect gift ideas for every creative on your list this year. There are also plenty of digital options that are great if you have waited until the last minute to start shopping. (The hardest part will be not buying everything for yourself.) Happy holidays… and happy shopping!

Graphics / 6 Dec 2013

Breaking Design Principles on Purpose

Rules. They keep our designs clean, consistent, aligned, and focused. The core principles upon which good design is built are absolutely essential to the education of any designer.

The great thing about design rules though is that they can and should be broken, granted that you know what you’re doing. Read on to see some examples of effectively breaking design principles in order to improve a project.

CSS / 5 Dec 2013

Building a Hover Detail Panel With CSS3 & jQuery

Many online shops and e-commerce websites use a small details panel to offer more information about a product. I remember this from the early days of browsing Template Monster, and it has grown into a common trend for modern web designers.

In this tutorial I’d like to explain how we can duplicate this effect using some very basic code. I’ve provided two different versions, one built on jQuery and another built using CSS3. There are benefits to each one and you can download a copy of my tutorial code to see which you would prefer.

Business / 3 Dec 2013

Was My Design Plagiarized (Or Is That Just Flattery)?

Is nothing original anymore? It’s a concept we designers talk about all the time. All original ideas “have been used already”. But is that true? (I, for one, am not sure I actually believe it.) And if it is true are we all plagiarizing other designs on a daily basis?

All of these are ideas that are thrown around loosely, but have quite serious implications. So how do you know if your design idea was plagiarized? Or is a similar concept just the most sincere form of flattery? Let’s dig a little deeper today…

CSS / 28 Nov 2013

Building a Custom CSS3 Pagination User Interface

Website pagination is a crucial aspect to any layout with repeating content. Blogs are often a consideration, but also portfolio listings or related news/feed links or any other types of archive. Organizing a blog post into many pages helps to cut down on reading time – especially with particularly in-depth articles.

In this tutorial I want to demonstrate a collection of CSS techniques for designing pagination. Once you combine these designs with content systems like WordPress you can see how the interfaces really work in action. To get an idea of the final product take a look at my live sample demo below.

Competitions / 26 Nov 2013

Grab a Free Dot Grid Book and Save 10% at Creoly

It doesn’t matter how fancy the iPad, or how realistic the e-ink, there’s something about a good quality pen and a thick, fresh pad of paper that’s impossible to replicate. Whether it’s for sketching, taking notes, or planning your to-do list, often paper is best.

We’re pleased to tell you about a fantastic partnership we have with Creoly for Design Shack readers, giving you the chance to win one of five exclusive notebooks, and save 10% on any order you place (with free international shipping!). Read on to find out more.

Business / 25 Nov 2013

10 Tips to Gain More Confidence as a Designer

Sometimes when a project fails, it can be hard to get back on your feet again. We all take the occasional confidence knock from time-to-time. But to see continued success in this tricky industry, it’s important to be able to regroup and recover gracefully.

Here, we’ll look at ten things you can do to gain confidence as a designer. These tips can work for experienced designers after a troubled project, or new designers looking to break into the market. It’s advice worth taking to heart.

Graphics / 22 Nov 2013

Learn by Example: 6 Lessons for Designing Restaurant & Food Websites

Today’s topic is a delicious one: restaurant and food websites. Small businesses pay the bills for freelance designers and local restaurants can serve as a major source of revenue. If you’re embarking on your first restaurant site design though, there are a few things that you should know.

In this article, we’ll learn by example as we take a look at lots of mouthwatering food and restaurant websites. By examining what these designers got right, you’ll help ensure your own success in this area.