Search Results For: design

Freelancing / 9 Sep 2014

Freelancing 101: How to Collaborate When You Work Alone

One of the biggest misconceptions of working as a freelancer is that it means working alone. It’s actually very much quite the opposite. How would you ever expect to do business if you don’t work with anyone?

The reality is the more people you work with, the more successful you are likely to be as a freelancer. And just like when working for a firm or agency, freelance designers should make a point to collaborate with others regularly. Here are 10 ways you can put your head together with other designers (or clients) to better get the job done.

Graphics / 30 Jun 2014

The Science Behind Color and Emotion

Color resonates with people in different ways. We all have a favorite color or color that we use more during specific periods of life. But the color you use in a design project can say a lot about the work itself. That’s a scientific fact.

The science behind our emotional connections to color is a complicated one. But it is becoming more clear through anecdotal knowledge and scientific experimentation. Here are five hypotheses and a fifth-grade level experiment you can try to help us better design with color and understand its emotional impact.

Inspiration / 19 May 2014

5 Tips for Creating a Fun Summer Color Palette

The official start of summer is just around the corner. Longer days, warmer temperatures and splashing in the lake or pool are just a few of the things that come with the change in season. When it comes to design, a change in seasons can create the urge to update your color palette as well.

With warmer days, warmer colors, brighter hues and even the use of more color are popular. And while you may not want to change the color scheme of an existing project — although you can – this season can be a great inspiration for designing a project with a summer-inspired color palette. Here are five tips for creating a great color palette with a few swatches to try based on each concept. Happy summer!

Typography / 21 Apr 2014

The Complete Guide to Special Characters

Not everything is as easy as ABC or 123. Sometimes your copy might require a character outside of the basic alphabet. That’s where special characters and glyphs come in. (Look around, they are more common than you might think at first.)

Depending on your workflow, inserting a glyph can be as simple as a keystroke or a multi-step process. Much of it depends on the software you are using, typography palette and how the final product will be published. Here, we are going to take a look at special characters, examples of use and tips for success.

Graphics / 15 Apr 2014

Paper 101: Quick Start Guide for Print Projects

While most principles and tenets of design are pretty universal, printing is not. For anyone jumping to a different medium (online to print) or even one medium to another, it is vital to know just what you need and will get when working on a print job.

Elements such as paper stock, paper size, coating and fold can significantly impact how a design is put together for a printed project. Here’s a guide to help you get started and better understand the ins and outs of printed projects.

Business / 10 Mar 2014

The Simple Guide to Creative Commons Resources

Creative Commons is a tool that allows designers, writers, videographers and web developers to use content free of charge. From text to photos to video to sound, there are a variety of different types of available content that can be used when attributed appropriately.

But where can you find this content? Who can use it? And what really is acceptable to use? Today, we have a guide to creative commons works, proper use and attribution and tolls for helping you find great (and usable) content. (As an added bonus, all of the visuals used in this article were available under a Creative Commons license.)

Typography / 3 Mar 2014

Creating Visual Hierarchy With Typography

Visual hierarchy is an important element in any design project. It tells people where to look and what things on the screen or printed page are most important. Hierarchy gives readers a sense of how to actually read material from start to finish with visual cues and flow.

While you can create visual hierarchy using a number of different tools, today we are going to look at ways to create structure with just typography. (And take a look at the images used throughout this post; they are all examples of great type hierarchy in action.)

Typography / 10 Feb 2014

Why I Love Ampersands & You Should Too

Without a doubt, the most beautiful character in the English language is the ampersand. The single character comes in so many fashions – from the simple & to the casual E- to t-style representations.

But where did this character come from? What does it mean? And most importantly how can you take advantage of using it in your design projects? Here we will take a look at my favorite character from its history to uses and a gallery of great ampersands to inspire you.

Inspiration / 13 Jan 2014

Why You Should Be Sketching (Even if You Can’t Draw)

The first part of any project, print or digital, should start on paper. Sketching can be an integral part of any design process — even if you can’t draw.

But who needs to sketch? Just artists and illustrators are required to put pen to paper, right? Wrong! Today we’ll take a look at why sketching can be an integral part of everyone’s design and brainstorming process.

UX Design / 30 Dec 2013

Why Does User Experience Matter?

User experience – notably poor user experience – has been a hot topic in recent months with the much-publicized launch of HealthCare.gov and its subsequent issues. User experience is a part of the design process that you don’t hear about unless something goes wrong. But it is something that should be an integral part of the design process, from early concepts to the final product.

So with this renewed – and very public – discussion about user experience, why does it matter to designers?

CSS / 15 Nov 2013

Build a Super Easy CSS Slider With Thumbnails

Today’s project is another exploration of the types of practical applications that you can achieve with a little ingenuity and some fairly basic CSS. You’ll be blown away by how much you can achieve with just a few lines of code.

The final result with be a great way to display a strip of small image thumbnails that the user can hover to see larger images. Let’s dive in and see how it works.

CSS / 8 Nov 2013

Build a Freaking Awesome Pure CSS Accordion

Who has two thumbs and loves to push the bounds of CSS? This guy. Let’s jump into a project that does just that. It’s pretty experimental and won’t pass the semantic police, but it’ll teach you a heck of a lot about advanced CSS tactics and will be tons of fun.

What we’re going to build is a pure CSS horizontal accordion slider. You’ll be able to insert as many slides as you want, each with unique content and each accessible via a click event, all without a lick of JavaScript. Impossible you say? Never!