A 'dark pattern' is a user interface that has been craftily designed to trick users into doing things they might not want to do, in order to benefit the business in question. The term was coined by UK-based UI designer Harry Brignull, who runs DarkPatterns.org - a website dedicated to "naming and shaming websites that use deceptive user interfaces". For example, have you … [Read more...]
20 Important Design Principles Explained With Simple Illustrations
There are no fixed rules or formulas for good design, but there are a few basic principles that will help you create design that is effective, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. Technical jargon can sometimes get confusing or overwhelming, which is why Canva has come up with a fantastic infographic that uses simple illustrations to explain the 20 most important design … [Read more...]
27 Beautiful Color Gradients For Your Next Design Project
Looking for beautiful gradients for your graphic, web, or UI design? UVdesk has created a useful online tool called coolHue – a free collection of over 60 gradients that you can use for design and code. You can browse through the swatches, copy their CSS codes and even download a .PNG version of each one. Here are some of our favourites from the collection. … [Read more...]
33 Beautiful Color Schemes For Your Next Design Project
Looking for color combinations for your graphic, web or UI design? CoSchedule has come up with a handy infographic that shares 33 beautiful palettes organized by primary and secondary colors. They've also compiled two additional infographics on color + word associations and color psychology. Check them all out below. … [Read more...]
Vibrant, Dream-Like Illustrations Made With Gradients And Blend Modes
Russian designer Ilya Shapko has come up with a series of vibrant, neon-style artworks using gradients, blend modes, and transparency in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The project, titled 'Fantasy Light', showcases colorful illustrated shapes intricately placed over each other to form abstract animals and objects against dark backgrounds. Shapko's inspiration for this … [Read more...]
Adobe Scribbler Is A Powerful Tool That Can Colorize Any Black & White Image Within Seconds
Have you ever wanted to colorize old black and white photos of yourself or your loved ones? The conventional process involves meticulous preliminary research followed by hours and hours of work in Photoshop. Hundreds of layers of color are added and blended together with precision. The physics of how light works also needs to be taken into account. … [Read more...]
Short, Useful Design Tips For UI/UX Designers
Steve Schoger is a multidisciplinary designer based in Kitchener, Ontario. When he finds time off from running his design and illustration studio, he curates 'Little UI Details' - a Twitter collection of short, useful design tips for UI/UX designers. Steve's tweets cover different elements of UI design and also include before-after mockup images that make them all the more … [Read more...]
Beautiful Images Of Everyday Objects Organized By Color
Caroline South is a photographer and content-creator based in West Sussex, UK. A graduate of the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Caroline loves to paint, draw, and craft artwork using natural or 'found' items. She spends a lot of time exploring the Southern Coast collecting pottery and sea glass which she often uses in her photography. … [Read more...]
5 Ways To Change The Color Of Anything In Photoshop
Nathaniel Dodson from Tutvid has come up with an excellent Photoshop tutorial that shows you five different ways to change the color of any object in an image. These include using hue-saturation masks, blend modes, adjustment layers, targeting a specific color channel, and using the LAB mode to match an exact color. So the next time a client asks you to change the colors of … [Read more...]
Photographer Captures Beautiful, Minimal Photos Of California That Have A Soothing Effect
Ludwig Favre is a French photographer specializing in landscape photography of American cities. His images have been used for advertising campaigns, magazine editorials, books, galleries, and more. … [Read more...]
Beautiful, Vibrant Illustrations Of City Skylines Made With Photoshop And Affinity Designer
Romain Trystram is a freelance illustrator and art director based in Agadir, Morocco. He is known for his stunning illustrations of urban architecture, skylines and technology using a vibrant color palette. Most of his work follows a UV-like theme in which he uses bright neon colors for buildings and city lights, with darker shades in the background for the night sky and … [Read more...]
21 Free Geometric And Blurred Background Packs For Your Design Projects
Geometric polygon and soft-blurred backgrounds are a popular trend nowadays in graphic, web and UI design. Low-poly patterns look great on print collaterals like business cards, brochures, flyers, packaging, signage, etc. They're also used in digital presentations, kiosks, app start up screens and more. … [Read more...]
This Handy Infographic Helps You Choose The Right Colors For Your Brand
Did you know that the color red encourages appetite, which is why it is frequently used in the fast-food sector? Blue is the color of strength, wisdom and trust, which is why it is used so widely. We have a strong primitive relationship with green as it represents life, which is why it is commonly used for organic food and pharmaceuticals. Yellow represents youth, happiness and … [Read more...]
34 Beautiful Color Palettes For Your Next Design Project
Looking for color schemes for your graphic, web or UI design? Coolors is a fast and easy tool that lets you create, save and share beautiful color palettes. You can browse and filter schemes by color or popularity, save them to your account, or export them as .PNG, .PDF, .SVG, and more. Coolors is also available as an iOS App, Adobe Add-on and a Chrome Extension. Here are some … [Read more...]
Convert Any Image Into A Stylish Duotone With These 7 Free Photoshop Actions
Duotone images are the rage nowadays in graphic and web design. But creating the perfect duotone image in Photoshop can be quite a challenge. You need to adjust the colors, brightness, contrast, opacity, create gradient maps, and more. … [Read more...]
36 Beautiful Color Gradients For Your Next Design Project
Looking for cool gradients for your graphic, web or UI design? Product designer and front end developer Indrashish Ghosh has created a useful online tool called uiGradients – a free collection of over 260 linear gradients that you can use for design and code. You can browse gradients by color, copy their hexadecimal or CSS codes, and even download a .JPG version of each one. … [Read more...]
Designer Creates Clever Typographic Logos Of Common Words We Use Every Day
Morocco-based brand designer Bachir Bachchar has come up with an interesting project titled "66 Smart Words" that showcases typographic logos of common words we use every day. The impressive bit is that the letters of each word have been designed in a way that they form a visual image associated with the meaning of the words themselves (a.k.a. calligrams). For example, the … [Read more...]
What Do The Logos Of Successful Companies Have In Common?
56% of America's fastest growing companies use blue or dark colors (black and gray) as primary colors for their logos. 66% of these companies use both an icon and a wordmark. 94% of the logos are minimal. … [Read more...]
29 Beautiful Color Schemes From Award-Winning Websites
Looking for color schemes for your website or UI? The design team at Visme, an online tool for creating presentations and infographics, has created a list of beautiful color schemes from websites that have been recognized by Awwwards, the world's largest web design awarding body. … [Read more...]
36 Beautiful Color Palettes For Your Next Design Project
Looking for color palettes for your UI? Color Hex is a useful online tool with a collection of almost 40,000 color palettes that you can use in your projects. You can copy hex codes and even download a .PNG version of each palette. Check out some our favourites below. … [Read more...]
This Animated Video Brilliantly Explains How To Choose The Right Colors For Your Designs
Choosing the right color palette is essential to the success of any design project. But how do we know which colors look good together and which ones don't? How do the pros do it? The answer is color theory. Artists and designers have used color theory for centuries, but anyone can learn more about it. … [Read more...]
The Homepages Of America’s Fastest Growing Companies Have These Elements In Common
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” – Will Rogers. The homepage of your website is a user/customer’s first impression of your company. You have 0-8 seconds to engage a user, after which the majority of them leave. A one-second delay in your site speed can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. The key ingredients of an effective homepage are speed, … [Read more...]
45 Creative Single-Letter Logos For Design Inspiration
Last week, we showcased 50 monogram logos that merged two or more alphabets to form one unique symbol. Today, we're focussing on logos that use just one alphabet and typographical creativity to form a distinctive brand identity. These are trickier to execute than monogram logos because you just have one letter to play with. Luckily, the designers who crafted these 45 examples … [Read more...]
50 Creative Monogram Logos For Design Inspiration
A monogram is a motif or symbol made by combining two or more letters. The earliest known examples of monograms date back to 350BC when the names of Greek cities used to be engraved on coins. Over the centuries, monograms have been used in religion, architecture and in royal symbols to denote power and authority. … [Read more...]
You Can Get Sued For Using These 7 Colors In Your Designs
Companies can trademark colors, granting them exclusive use in their industry. For example, Mattel's Barbie Pink (Pantone 219 C) is trademarked in over 100 categories. Tiffany & Co.'s blue color has been trademarked since 1998. Its custom Pantone number, 1837, is the year the company was founded. … [Read more...]
41 Creative Minimal Logos For Design Inspiration
When it comes to logo design, minimalism can be tricky to achieve. If executed improperly, the logo can come across as too simple or boring. In the process of removing unnecessary elements, you have to ensure that your logo remains memorable and distinctive. … [Read more...]
Beautiful, Colorful Animal Logos Based On Circular Geometry
California-based designer Anuja Kanani has come up with a series of colorful animal logos using circle geometry. Being an animal lover, she wanted to undertake this design experiment to highlight their elegant structure and form. For each logo, Anuja initially sketched a basic structure guided by circles. She then defined the animal using just line forms. Programs used were … [Read more...]
Beautiful, Minimal Photographs Of Sunsets For Color Inspiration
'Sky Series' is a gorgeous collection of sunrise and sunset photos by New York-based photographer Eric Cahan. He captures the natural polychromatic colors of the sky during dawn and dusk, and records the exact time and location of each photograph. … [Read more...]
50 Beautiful Color Combinations For Your Next Design Project
Looking for some nifty color combinations for your next project? The design team at Visme, an online tool for creating presentations and infographics, has created a list of 50 beautiful color schemes you can use in your designs. These color presets are available within Visme to use in any charts or graphics that you create with it. Check out the list below. … [Read more...]
How Filmmakers Use Colors To Set The Mood Of A Film
In filmmaking, color is used to set the tone of a scene before any of the actors have even uttered a word. Red is used to denote passion, danger or power. Pink signifies innocence, femininity and beauty. Yellow is associated with joy, naivety and insanity. Blue symbolizes isolation, passivity and calmness. … [Read more...]
30 Beautiful Color Gradients For Your Next Design Project
Looking for cool background gradients for your UI? Software and design company Itmeo has created a useful online tool called WebGradients – a free collection of 180 linear gradients that you can use as content backdrops in any part of your website. You can download a .PNG version of each gradient and copy their CSS3 cross-browser codes. Sketch and Photoshop packs are available … [Read more...]
These Chameleon Pens Change Their Ink Color So You Can Create Gradients, Blends And More
Chameleon Art Products have developed a set of alcohol-based markers that change their ink tone while drawing so you can create seamless color gradients, blends, highlights and shadows using a single pen. The inks are refillable and the nibs are replaceable.The pens cost $21.59 for a pack of 5 and $79.99 for a deluxe set of 22. Check them out below. … [Read more...]
The Most Popular Brand Colours In Each Industry And Their Impact On Consumers
Colour psychology has become an increasingly important part of branding, identity and logo design for businesses as each shade has a specific psychological impact on the consumer they are targeting. … [Read more...]
CMYK Playing Cards For Designers And Artists
Get creative at your next poker session with these colorful CMYK playing cards that designers and artists will love. The deck, created by Hundred Million, includes 54 minimally designed cards of different ink percentages. … [Read more...]
12 Funny Charts That Highlight The Importance Of Color
UK-based designer Stephen Wildish gives a humorous take on the importance of color through these witty charts that are part of his weekly series of illustrations called 'Friday Project'. Wildish's minimalist infographics show how an object becomes something else entirely, only by changing its color. He's even published a book filled with similar charts and funny … [Read more...]
