Articles - Page 235

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

Critique / 31 Oct 2010

Web Design Critique #25: Highwire

Welcome to our 25th design critique! Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition as those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to pitch in and provide your own feedback. Vote in the poll at the bottom of this page and/or leave a comment with your thoughts!

Today’s site is Highwire.com, a personalized online store platform.

Graphics / 29 Oct 2010

Design an Edgy Flyer Using Your Own Photography

Today we’re going to take on a design project from start to finish using primarily resources that we create ourselves. We’ll walk through taking the photo, editing it in Adobe Lightroom, and using it as the main element of a flyer design that we’ll take on in Photoshop.

Along the way you’ll learn some great and practical techniques that you can apply immediately to your own work. Let’s get started!

Inspiration / 28 Oct 2010

60+ Awesome UI Dribbbles

It’s been quite a while since we’ve done a “Shots of the Week” post so we thought we’d make up for it by bringing you a massive collection of user interface designs from Dribbble.

Use these shots as inspiration for color, textures, layouts and anything else you spot for your next application or website. Looking through such a great collection of inspiration can serve as a springboard for your own completely original work.

Graphics / 27 Oct 2010

Photoshop Blending Modes: Beginner’s Tips and Tricks

Photoshop’s blending modes are a source of constant confusion for many designers. There aren’t really any sort of built-in examples for you to see and the blending mode names are no where near intuitive suggestions of what the effect actually does to the appearance of your document.

Today we’ll help remove a little of the mystery by discussing how a few key blending modes work in addition to some hints for how to use them effectively.

Critique / 24 Oct 2010

Web Design Critique #24: Adminizio

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Adminizio.

Critique / 23 Oct 2010

Web Design Critique #23: Kuenstler

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback both through comments and by voting in our design poll.

Today’s site is Künstler.co.at.

HTML / 22 Oct 2010

How to Build a Website With Flux 3: A Coder’s WYSIWYG

Flux is a WYSIWYG website editor for Macs. Now, before you curse under your breath about how much you hate WYSIWYGs, you should know that Flux is different and is both powerful and flexible enough to be used by professional web developers.

Today I’ll introduce you to Flux by creating a super simple web page from scratch (no annoyingly rigid templates). Along the way we’ll see what a typical workflow looks like and why it just might be the best visual web editor I’ve ever used.

Typography / 21 Oct 2010

Ultimate Web Font Resource Roundup: 50 Awesome Sites

The idea that web designers ignore typography is officially dead. In recent years countless tools and services have sprung up to meet the need of making the web a more type-friendly place, and they’re succeeding.

Today we bring you a huge list of awesome websites for all things related to web fonts. You’ll find sites offering free fonts, web font services, font building tools, previewing utilities, and a lot more!

CSS / 20 Oct 2010

CSS3 Cookbook: 7 Super Easy CSS Recipes to Copy and Paste

By now you’ve probably seen enough lengthy CSS3 tutorials to last a lifetime. You’re probably starting to become familiar with what CSS3 has to offer and are ready to move past basic theory and see some practical design examples that you can copy and paste right into your code without without wading through tons of commentary.

Well you’re in luck because that’s exactly what we have for you today! Below you’ll find seven fun and attractive CSS tricks that you can grab and insert right into your own projects and customize at will. Keep in mind that since this stuff is still cutting edge, older browsers won’t support most of it. I’ve tried to ensure graceful degradation where possible so that you can provide a working experience to all users and a better experience to those with using webkit.

Graphics / 19 Oct 2010

Applying the Golden Ratio to Your Web Designs

As web designers we have to take a lot into consideration when starting a project. One of the biggest segments working with layouts and systems to order spacing. Commonly designers will work with a grid-spaced CSS library but there are many ways to implement creative layouts.

Today we’ll be going over the Golden Ratio and how you can apply simple lessons into your design work. Most of the techniques discussed are applicable to a wide range of arts and design but we’ll be focusing on the digital aspect. Along with the Golden Ratio consider some other useful tools which can aid in the development of site layouts.

Critique / 17 Oct 2010

Web Design Critique #22: Primolights

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well as well as those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Primo Lights, an online holiday light retailer.

Critique / 16 Oct 2010

Web Design Critique #21: Billy.com

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Billy.com, an online savings club.