While functional aspect of a design is key to product success, aesthetics and visual details are equally important — particularly how they can improve those functional elements. Shadows and blur effects provide visual cues that allow users to better and more easily understand what is occurring. When carefully applied, such elements can (and should) improve a functional aspect of design. In today’s article, Nick Babich will explain how visual elements, such as shadows and blur effects, can improve the functional elements of a design.
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JavaScript module bundling has been around for a while. RequireJS had its first commits in 2009, then Browserify made its debut, and since then several other bundlers have spawned across the Internet. Among that group, webpack has jumped out as one of the best. If you’re not familiar with it, in this article, Joseph Zimmerman will help you get started with this powerful tool.
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The mobile developer population has boomed, and the number of mobile apps in the market has hit new heights. Most studies show that in-app advertising is set to be a key driver of mobile growth over the coming years. In this article, Stacy Golmack will shed some light on the questions like: Is the average revenue truly growing? What are the most popular monetization models in the market today? Which ones will be driving growth tomorrow? Which models have outlived their time? She’ll try to present comprehensive answers, backed by statistical reports and expert opinion.
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What’s going on in the industry? What new techniques have emerged recently? What insights, tools, tips and tricks is the web design community talking about? Anselm Hannemann is collecting everything that popped up over the last week in his web development reading list so that you don’t miss out on anything. The result is a carefully curated list of articles and resources that are worth taking a closer look at.
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To celebrate mankind’s urge to explore, the creative folks at Vexels created a set of 30 adventurous icons that take you on a journey from the ground of the sea right up to outer space. The set offers all the building blocks you’ll need to create your own little universe and become an explorer yourself. Strange deep-sea fellows, hot air balloons, meteors, and much more. Nature and technology beautifully united!
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Is copywork really for you? Unless you’re known the world over for your inimitable style, then yes, you would probably benefit from it. Copywork is a technique that writers and painters have been using for centuries. It is the process of recreating an existing work as closely as possible in order to improve one’s skill. In your case, this means recreating a user interface (UI) design pixel for pixel.
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Sound UX principles apply to all user groups, regardless of their social status or preferences. Today, users anticipate a superior experience and have a strong understanding of the value delivered. They are focused on results and a one-button approach, expecting their orders to be addressed at the highest level of service and with maximum transparency. However, more so in the luxury field, human interaction within the digital experience is not an option, but rather an undeniably powerful tool that improves communication and increases loyalty. In this article, Yegor Tsynkevich & Vadim Slavin will present a case study and share observations on the peculiarities of the UX design of a luxury lifestyle service platform and its mobile apps.
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Wondering how to get started with the Web Speech API? If you’re unfamiliar, this API gives you (the developer) the ability to voice-enable your website in two directions: listening to your users via the SpeechRecognition interface and talking back to them via the SpeechSynthesis interface. In this article, Aaron Gustafson guides you through this experimental API and covers everything you need to know to help you get a better understanding of how it works.
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In this post, Cosima Mielke has hand-picked 30 fonts that are bound to give your project the finishing touch, and maybe even inspire you to something entirely new. The fonts can all be downloaded for free. However, please note that some of them are free for personal use only and are clearly marked as such in the description. When working on a project yourself, freebies like these can come to the rescue when you have to get along on a tight budget, but, more often that that, they simply are the missing piece that’ll make your design complete.
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Even though gestural controls have been around since the early 1980s and have enjoyed a level of ubiquity since the early 2000s, designers are still in the beta-testing phase of making gestural controls intuitive for everyday use. In this article, Kyle Sanders will explore the benefits and drawbacks of gestural controls for mobile UIs, as well as offer advice on effective implementation that avoids the gap in user familiarity.
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