Kentucky-based graphic designer Brandon Shepherd has released a handy online tool called Color Leap that showcases a collection of color palettes used in paintings and artworks throughout different eras in history - from ancient Egypt to the 1960s. The tool consists of 180 palettes spread over 12 different time periods. You can select any time period, browse through … [Read more...]
This Brilliant New Tool Is Like Google Search For Colors
Swedish digital studio Future Memories has launched a brilliant new tool called Picular that lets you search for colors by keyword and displays a range of colors based on the top 20 Google Image search results for that keyword. For example, if you search for ‘ocean’, Picular analyzes the top 20 Google Images for ‘ocean’ and displays the most prominent color in each image and … [Read more...]
19 Graphic Design Mistakes That Novice Designers Make
After a few years in the graphic design business, you realize how important it is to get the basics right. Like using proper font and color combinations, implementing visual hierarchy, using grids, alignment, white space, and so on. The team at Visme, an online tool for creating infographics and presentations, has come up with an excellent visual list of 19 graphic design … [Read more...]
5 Web Design Mistakes That Will Cost You Dearly in 2018
Whether you are a web designer or a client, you need to stay abreast of changes in the online world and the latest trends in user behaviour. What was the norm a few years ago might be a mistake today. Having a neat, functional website is a good way to build a reputation among customers, investors, or readers. Studies show that a users' impression of a company's website … [Read more...]
Top Web Design Trends In 2018
Previously, we featured the top trends in 2018 for graphic design, logo design, typography, and images. In today’s post, we focus on the latest web design trends with the help of this handy infographic by Template Monster. 2018 is all about an immersive user experience. AI and machine learning continue to be big this year. Progressive web apps are a must-have tool. Other … [Read more...]
8 Beautiful Flat Color Palettes For Your Next Design Project
UI/UX designer Ebtihaj Khan has created a series of minimalist flat color palettes for graphic, web, and UI projects. Each palette consists of five colors with their hex codes mentioned alongside. Khan has included both linear and contrasting color schemes. The beautiful presentation of these palettes, with the blurred vignette effect in the background, was inspired by … [Read more...]
How To Pair Fonts That Complement Each Other (With Examples)
Good font pairing is one of the key differentiators between amateur and professional design. Rookie designers often use more fonts than required and there is lack of typographical contrast in their design. It's tricky because there are no fixed rules as to what kind of fonts work well together, but there are certain guidelines that can help you pick fonts that complement each … [Read more...]
Designer Fixes Ugly Interfaces, Shares Valuable UI Tips In The Process
Previously, we featured designer Steve Schoger's Little UI Details project in which he shares short, useful design tips for UI/UX designers. Steve has now come up with another excellent project titled 'Refactoring UI' in which he uses Sketch to fix websites and interfaces submitted by developers, and teaches you valuable UI design concepts in the process. The series is just … [Read more...]
How Companies Use Deceptive UI Design To Trick You Online
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...]
Graphic Designer’s Interesting Experiment Shows How The Placement Of An Element Affects Its Meaning
Brazilian designer Nei Valente has come up with an intriguing design experiment titled 'Thoughts on Position' that studies the relationship between the placement of an element and its meaning. The objective was to find out if the same element can communicate different messages when placed in different positions. In this experiment, Valente surveyed 288 participants with a … [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...]
Top 15 Graphic Design Trends For 2018
Visual trends are an important aspect of marketing for entrepreneurs and businesses. Using the latest design, imagery, and typography styles makes your brand appear contemporary to your customers, the marketplace, and to your competition. For designers and creative professionals, understanding and being able to recognize visual trends is even more important because you have … [Read more...]
Learn In One Minute How To Kern Properly Between Different Types Of Letters
The difference between good type and great type is the kerning. In this short video by The Futur, typography and lettering instructor Nils Lindstrom shows you how to kern effectively between different kinds of letters - curved, straight, and diagonal. Nils explains how different letterforms create different kinds of optical spacing between characters, and how proper kerning … [Read more...]
5 Trendy Google Font Combinations For Your Next Design Project
In our previous posts, we've shared some great Google Font combinations and free font collections that you can use in your designs. If you're looking for some more trendy and modern pairings of Google Fonts, have a look at this compilation from digital product company Great Simple Studio. They've also created a series of mockups to offer previews of what the fonts look like in … [Read more...]
Top Web Design Trends For 2018
Currently, there are 8.4 billion connected devices in the world and this number will grow to a whopping 50 billion by 2020. In this ever-changing digital landscape, effective web design is as important as the quality of your content. 94% of all online users stop trusting websites with a degraded web design. It is also crucial to embrace and implement the latest technological … [Read more...]
Top Graphic Design Trends For 2018
With each passing year, we see new trends emerging in the world of design and old ones fading out. 2018 is all about visual contrast with the use of bright colors, gradients, and bold typography. Duotone effects and double exposure images will remain prominent across design mediums. Expect to see more implementation of isometric design, custom illustrations, split-page design, … [Read more...]
12 Visual Hierarchy Principles Every Designer Should Know
Visual hierarchy is the arrangement and presentation of design elements in order of their importance. It influences the order in which the human eye perceives the information that is being displayed. A simple example would be a business card - the name of the organisation is usually the most prominent element, followed by the name of the card holder, job title, and contact … [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...]
24 Excellent User Interface Animations
Ramotion is a San Francisco-based digital design agency specializing in brand identity, mobile apps, and web design for startups and Fortune 500 companies. They work with clients like Adobe, Opera, BMW, Mazda, Xero, and Oppo, to name a few. They're known in the design community for producing quality UI/UX work and have won accolades from the industry for the same. … [Read more...]
Free Minimal Line Icons For UI, Web And Mobile Design
Here's a handy set of 124 vector line icons by Madrid-based designer Situ Herrera. They're minimal, flat and basic, in keeping with current design trends. You can use them for a variety of UI, web, and mobile design projects. The zip file includes AI, EPS, and PSD files, so you can tweak them, change colors, and more. … [Read more...]
Fun, Quirky Animated Loops That Graphic Designers Will Like
Gal Shir is a product designer and art director at Lemonade Insurance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel. He also runs Color Hunt, a social platform that lets you create and browse a collection of beautiful color palettes. When he finds time off these two roles, Gal creates fun, quirky animated loops that designers love to watch. Which explains the 14,000+ followers he has on … [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...]
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...]
30 Brilliant Slider Animations For UI Inspiration
Sliders are the most commonly-used UI element, after buttons. From lock screens and image galleries to volume controls and app selections, we use sliders to navigate our way through different interfaces everyday. An effectively implemented slider enhances the user experience and makes the interface more engaging, dynamic, and memorable. … [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...]
31 Brilliant User Interface Animations
Animated interface elements don't just attract attention, they enhance user experience and help guide user flow. They reveal the functionality and process of a user interface much better than static text. Like any other element of good design, UI animations should have a purpose without being too noticeable. They should be functional above everything else. … [Read more...]
A Useful Guide To Different Font Formats That Every Designer Should Know
There are many choices of font formats but not a single one works across all browsers. You will have to use multiple font formats to deliver a consistent experience. These include TrueType Font (TTF), OpenType (OTF), Embedded OpenType (EOT), Web Open Font Format (WOFF) and Scalable Vector Graphics font (SVG). … [Read more...]
This Animated Video Brilliantly Explains Layout And Composition In Graphic Design
Layout and composition are the foundation of design. They give your work structure and make it easier to navigate. Without a well-composed layout, your elements would basically fall apart. GCFLearnFree has come up with an excellent animated tutorial on the five basic layout and composition principles that can help transform your work and sharpen your eye for design. Check it … [Read more...]
