CategoryDesign

September 5, 2013 — This tutorial shows the basic steps Veerle Pieters followed to create a water lily; but in creating this flower, she did way more than what is presented here. You see, every creation is never straightforward or perfect right away. It takes some trial and error, because she also needed to find the method that can be most easily explained. To get to her result, you’ll be doing a lot of clever actions while having a lot of room for experimentation as well. Read more…

September 3, 2013 — Lately we’ve seen a rapid shift in software and app interface design, from 3-D and skeuomorphic to flat and minimal. Let’s take a moment to consider how we got here and what influence it’s having on interface design as a whole. Minimal design’s widespread resurgence is refreshing to witness. It is by no means the right solution for everything, but when applied thoughtfully and appropriately, it makes for a highly usable and enjoyable digital experience. Read more…

August 28, 2013 — Jesse Friedman has spent nearly a decade trying to create scalable, predictably insightful, inspirational environments. he has led creative teams in these environments, and is currently doing it as the Director of Web Interface and Development at Astonish. What follows is what Jesse has found to help his team harness inspiration effectively. Read more…

August 22, 2013 — We have gotten serious about asking how to better serve users, which reflects a significant change in the designer’s skill set. Designers will use the same tools they have always used, but they are now responsible for more than just the interface. Whether or not a designer calls him or herself a product designer is beside the point; to remain relevant, they need to master these new user-centered values and processes. Read more…

August 16, 2013 — Adobe’s InDesign page-layout application has been made faster and more feature-rich with each iteration. But even the best applications lack some features. Luckily, Adobe realized this and opened the doors to allow designers to expand this set of tools through plugins. In this article, we’ve put together a small collection to show a bit of what InDesign can do. Read more…

August 6, 2013 — Your typography helps to create an experience for users before they’ve even read a word or clicked a button. The treatment of type creates an atmosphere and elicits a response much the same way as tone of voice does. It establishes a mode of communication and, in turn, the personality of the website. The choice of typeface will determine how people respond to your website. The following websites have very distinct personalities, largely established by the typography. Read more…

July 29, 2013 — “Cool” is a rather ambiguous term, and means different things to different people. But when working with data, the term “cool” is often directly juxtaposed with common charts and written off as “boring.” The emphasis on the instant visual appeal of an infographic over the clarity of the presentation of data is a troubling trend that plagues the modern incarnation of the infographic. Read more…

July 18, 2013 — A digital strategy is not as intimidating as it sounds. It is just a document outlining how your client should handle the different aspects of digital from the website and mobile to email. It doesn’t need to cover everything in huge depth, but instead should establish some general approaches to these different areas. This post will provide you with a crash course on where to start and what kinds of things to include. I hope it proves useful. Read more…

July 16, 2013 — The flat interface style is the manifestation of a desire for greater authenticity in design. The Modern design movement curbed the ornamental excess of the 19th century, making design fit the age of mass production. Today, we’re seeing the same desire for authenticity manifest itself in the “flat” trend, which rejects skeuomorphism and excessive visuals for simpler, cleaner, content-focused design. Read more…

July 15, 2013 — In her career as a freelance illustrator, map-making has become a favorite specialty of Laura Coyle. With each map assignment, she virtually travels across the globe, visiting places she’ve never been. Her maps (created in Adobe Illustrator), are designed to appear next to magazine stories about trips to faraway places, or about the best restaurants in a nearby neighborhood. Read more…