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2 Aug
Will the Real Browser Stats Please Stand Up?
Browsers, Web Designers, Web Developers
48
Recently, Mashable published an article entitled “IE6 Finally Nearing Extinction”, announcing that IE6 usage in the United States and Europe has finally dropped below 5%.
That news probably warmed the cockles of the hearts of web designers everywhere. Thus, it seems designers and developers now have even more incentive to stop supporting IE6, following the pattern set by Google, notably with regards to YouTube.
The stats in the Mashable article are based on StatCounter Global Stats. In this article, I’ll provide some food for thought by way of some alternative statistics that in many ways contradict the sources for the article published by Mashable.
These stats should drive home the point that every website is different, and that in some cases it may still be necessary to provide a fairly decent experience in IE6, while progressively enhancing design and functionality for newer browsers. Read more
5 Jul
30 Useful Frameworks for Designers
Resources, Web Design, Web Designers
31
Some designers view frameworks as constricting and limiting in their creative efforts. They look at a framework as something they have to bend their work to fit.
And for a lot of designers, that’s just not something they want to do. But with the dozens of frameworks available out there, why not look at it the other way around: why not find the framework that fits within your design projects?
To that end, we’ve compiled 30 of the best design frameworks out there. These frameworks are purely for design (you won’t find JavaScript or Ajax frameworks here, which, for the most part, fall more under development frameworks).
There’s almost certainly a framework listed here that can be adapted to your particular project, rather than the other way around. Read more
1 Jun
Redesign vs. Realign
Design, Web Design, Web Designers
21

It’s been nearly five years now since the redesign vs. realign debate began.
Many designers are still approaching website changes as redesigns, with little thought to whether they should be redesigning or realigning the site for their clients.
In fact, many designers are still a bit confused about which one is appropriate for which projects, or even what the difference really is.
Understanding the difference between redesigning and realigning can result in happier clients who are better reaching their website goals.
There are times when redesigns are appropriate, and there are other times when realignments are appropriate. It all depends on how the client’s current site is working for them, and what their goals are.
Read on to find out more about the differences between redesigning and realigning, and how to determine which one fits your current and future projects. Read more
19 May
7 Personality Types of Designers Today
Creativity, Graphic Design, Web Designers
100

Design is a universal language. It transcends all cultural and national boundaries. It is diverse and ever-changing. Despite the fact that designs can be universally appreciated, the artists behind them are all unique and talented individuals.
What kind of designer are you? What is your philosophy? How do you contribute to the design community? Designers from different walks of life might have similar answers to these questions, and yet we are all different.
Some designers take it upon themselves to educate those who have not yet developed an appreciation for Web design and art. Some designers aim to improve the overall quality of design on the Internet.
And of course, some designers strive primarily to make a good living from their talents so that they can live a comfortable life. Read more
12 May
Winners of “TypeFaces” Playing Cards
Contests, Freebies, Web Designers
16

For the past week, we’ve been running a great contest to win sets of awesome playing cards from Typefaces.
These super cool cards feature world renowned designers such as Veerle Pieters, Jeffrey Zeldman and Jason Santa Maria, among many others.
The official Typefaces site also carries wallpapers for each of the designers which you can download for free.
All winners were chosen at random and the results appear after the jump. Typefaces will contact all winners via email with details as to how to receive their prizes.
Read on to see if you won… Read more
7 May
Win 10 Sets of “TypeFaces” Playing Cards
Contests, Freebies, Web Designers
416

What are TypeFaces? They’re “top-trumps” style card packs featuring 20 well known designers.
For each designer, a typeface was selected to match their overall vibe. Each card has also been individually designed to reflect their vibe, supported typographically with the selected typeface.
The official site also carries wallpapers for each of the TypeFaces characters which you can download for free right away.
And today, we have 10 great sets of these cards ready to be shipped to you. The contest is open to WDD readers worldwide. Only one entry per person.
Read on for more details and information on how to participate and win one of these awesome sets of cards. Read more
5 May
How to Overcome 20 Reasons Not to Become a Freelancer
Business, Freelancing, Web Designers
31

We recently published an article covering 20 reasons not to become a freelancer.
The idea was that there are already a ton of articles out there talking about how great it is to be a freelancer, and all the benefits, but there are very few posts that talk about the flip side of all that.
Freelancing is not for everyone. It’s an important decision that not only affects your career, but can also affect your personal life and financial well-being. Of course, a lot of readers thought we were being way too negative about it all.
So here’s a follow-up to that article, covering ways you can overcome the potential pitfalls of freelancing if you’re still sure it’s a career move that’s right for you.
The good news is that virtually all of these things are manageable if you’re willing to put in the time and effort it takes to deal with them.
Read more
29 Apr
Setting Up the Optimal Work Environment
How to, Productivity, Web Designers
42

How much time do you waste on the average day looking for things buried somewhere on your desk? Or getting up to get something on the other side of your office? Or otherwise retrieving the things you need to do your job?
If you added up all those wasted seconds and minutes, you might be surprised at the percentage of your day that it takes up.
Taking the time to set up an optimal workspace can save you hours or even days over the course of a year.
It’s worth taking a day or two to set up your desk and work area to better suit the way you work to save time later on. And the process isn’t difficult.
It just takes a lot of planning and delving into how you work best, and then setting up both your physical and virtual workspaces to better cater to your work methods. Read more
8 Apr
You’re Failing as a Web Developer — and Here’s Why
Design, Web Designers, Webmasters
105

There is endless content available in the world of web design blogging telling us how to do things right, and how to succeed at our chosen profession.
That’s obviously a good thing, and it will certainly continue that way. But once in a while we need reminders on the things we do (or fail to do) that are negative.
That is, things that can have a detrimental impact on our progress as designers and developers — despite that these things may be temporarily helping us pay the bills and keep us afloat financially.
We all need to analyze our situation and assess whether or not we’re forming healthy design and coding habits, and whether those habits could be providing short-term gains that are not conducive to long-term success.
So, take this information with a grain of salt (because I know some of it is highly debatable) and consider whether or not you personally are doing anything that could prevent you from having a job in five years. Read more
8 Mar
Why Designers Shouldn’t Settle
Business, How to, Web Designers
62

Ugly designs abound on the web, and behind each and every one of them is a “designer”.
In many of these cases the designers behind the sites are simply incompetent.
They’re often amateur designers or those who have little or no design training or people who design their own sites based on a book from their local library that’s ten years out of date.
But there are other times when the designer was perfectly capable of creating a better site.
So why would a perfectly competent designer create a site that isn’t very good? The answer is simple: they settled. It happens all the time. Read more
2 Mar
Win 5000 Business Cards from UPrinting
Contests, Freebies, Web Designers
498

We all know that as web designers, we should market ourselves both online and offline.
For online purposes, a great portfolio website or blog is a perfect way to spread the word, but for offline purposes, nothing beats the traditional business card.
We’ve partnered with UPrinting to bring an amazing contest to WDD. One week from today, we will be awarding 10 prizes of 500 free business cards each!!!
You can choose from a variety of business card styles, such as the traditional US Standard, square, slim and specialty shapes. Let your creativity flow and design the cards any way that you want. We will ship them to you worldwide absolutely free of charge.
Read on for more details on how to enter this contest… Read more
3 Feb
How to Grow as a Web Designer
How to, Web Design, Web Designers
109

The field of web design is constantly changing and growing.
Getting in a rut is often the result of not staying up to date with the latest trends and technologies in the industry. Even if we do stay up to date, many of us at one time or another feel anxious about whether we’re advancing.
If you’re at a firm, you may be working towards a raise or promotion, or perhaps you’re thinking of jumping ship to a bigger and better company.
For the freelancers out there, we of course determine our own destiny; but far too often our careers feel stagnant, too.
This article goes over some ways to reignite your growth as a web designer. Read more
22 Oct
Systematizing the Graphic Design Process
Business, Design, Web Designers
44

Unlike other forms of art, graphic design is not just about taking paper and pen and letting the work flow.
Graphic designers have to help viewers get the message and help sell a service or product.
Creating a design for a client with little or no strategy just doesn’t work. Unlike traditional art, graphic design has to convey a very narrow message.
Developing a system for the graphic design process can help the designer achieve the best results.
Systematizing any sort of project, whether graphic design, web design, programming or otherwise, gets the work done faster, keeps the project organized and yields better results.
Here is a simple six-step graphic design process, which you may want to take wholesale or build on. Read more
24 Sep
How to Create an Organic Web Design
(and Showcase)
How to, Inspiration, Web Designers
69

Organic design is commonly applied to products such as chairs, electronic equipment, books and home décor.
Following the same principles, organic web design has recently emerged as a trend.
Professional designers and companies have taken a more natural approach to creating their websites, logos and packaging, leaving behind the overtly technological sheen of the early 2000s.
Yes, fellow designers, it is safe to say that the new age of organic design for websites and corporate logos has taken effect.
Whether overt or subtle, whether scanned elements or graphics that mimic nature, organic web design has taken on many forms. But what constitutes organic design? What makes it successful? Let’s find out… Read more
28 Jul
Interview with SpecWatch:
The Naked Truth About Design Contests
Contests, Interviews, Web Designers
140

“Spec work” stands for speculative work. It’s a term used to refer to any job for which the client expects to see examples with no guarantee of payment.
The Internet has accelerated its growth in the form of “design contest” websites, and these businesses have advertising machines that draw in thousands of unsuspecting designers who think it’s normal to give away their intellectual property for nothing.
With the increasing prominence of “spec work” businesses, we’re witnessing more and more about the downsides of the practice, and there’s one initiative in particular that’s documenting what goes on — SpecWatch.
David Airey, a well respected graphic designer, has approached WDD with this important issue and we felt it was necessary to bring light to this important subject.
Here’s the exclusive interview David conducted with SpecWatch for WDD readers. Designers take note… Read more
27 Jul
Massive Compilation of Designer Tools
Add Ons, Plugins, Web Designers
81

Web designers have a wealth of tools available to them, for doing everything from organizing their thoughts about a particular design to debugging the final design.
But with so many tools out there, how do you ever determine which ones are really useful and which ones are just going to waste your time?
We’ve compiled a massive list of some of the best and most useful tools out there for web designers.
Purposely left off the list are common tools most designers are likely already using (like Dreamweaver or Panic’s Coda, Photoshop or GIMP, and similar common software programs that pretty much every designer already has in their toolkit).
These are tools that will save you time, make you a more effective designer, simplify or speed up your design process, or otherwise make your life easier.
Read more
15 Jul
5 Pet Peeves Developers Have With Designers (and How to Avoid Them)
Web Designers, Web Developers
117

Cats and dogs. Cain and Abel. Designers and developers. These are just a few of the great historical face-offs.
Designers and developers often seem to come from different planets and have completely different brains.
Developers want a website to work right, designers want it to look right.
A few weeks ago, we explored the main pet peeves that web designers have with web developers, and suggested some solutions for them.
Today, we will discuss the other side of the coin: the five most common gripes that developers have with designers. Read more
13 Jul
40 Great Adobe AIR Applications for Designers and Developers
Applications, Web Designers, Web Developers
35

Adobe AIR is one of the most under-appreciated application platforms, but the number of applications available for AIR make it incredibly useful.
There are apps for everything from business to shopping to image management to video editing.
And plenty of applications are useful to designers and developers, including HTML text editors, Flickr search apps, color palette management tools and even ones to help with the business side of the industry.
Below are 40 awesome AIR apps that we have selected to help you streamline your design and development workflow. Read more
6 Jul
Great Designers Steal?
Design, Web Design, Web Designers
92

You often hear designers say, “Good designers copy. Great designers steal.”
Well, anyone who says this is one of three types of designers:
One who copies, one who steals or one who admits that not copying and stealing is hard but still tries not to anyway.
For some reason, a lot of web designers believe that there’s nothing truly unique left to create and that there is no such thing as originality.
I disagree, or at least I don’t want to accept that notion. You shouldn’t either. Read more
23 Jun
5 Pet Peeves Designers Have With Developers (and How to Avoid Them)
Web Designers, Web Developers
133

Cats and dogs. Cain and Abel. Designers and developers. These are just a few of the great historical face-offs.
Designers and developers often seem to come from different planets and have completely different brains.
Developers want a website to work right, designers want it to look right.
While these goals have a lot of overlap (and, of course, I’m stereotyping here a bit), the differences often come down to the designer and developer’s expectations of success.
Managing expectations is a matter of communication: making points clearly to the other side, finding common ground, and agreeing on goals.
Okay, so maybe it’s not that easy, but it is important for both sides to at least try to understand each other.
In an effort to promote goodwill between designers and developers, I will share some pet peeves I have encountered and explore the issues that lead to them and their solutions. Read more
22 Jun
25+ Useful Infographics for Web Designers
Data Visualization, Infographics, Web Designers
184

Infographics can be a great way to quickly reference information.
Instead of pouring over figures and long reports to decipher data, an infographic can immediately make apparent exactly what a dataset actually means.
Below are more than 25 infographics that can be useful to web designers.
Some are incredibly practical, some provide information that might be of interest to designers and some just present data that might be interesting to those who design websites all day.
If you know of any good ones that we may have missed, please add them in the comments section below. Read more
3 Jun
25 Awesome Facebook Apps for Designers
Applications, Facebook, Web Designers
35

Facebook might not have all the glittery text and obnoxious backgrounds that MySpace has, but it still has its fair share of useless apps.
This is especially true if you have ever tried to search for creative Facebook apps or those that may be of interest to creative people.
If you have ever searched for such a thing, you have no doubt realized that there is an abundance of useless apps. This is the reason that I went through just about every app on Facebook to find the very few that were best suited for creative individuals, or had some sort of visual flair about them.
So here are 25 awesome Facebook applications that most designers will enjoy in their Facebook pages. Read more
21 May
30 Artistic and Creative Résumés
Design, Resumes, Web Designers
345

In these tough economic times, many designers find themselves applying for jobs and freelance gigs on a regular basis.
So, how can we stand out from the rest and grab the attention of a design agency when they’re usually bombarded with hundreds of applications?
The best way to do this is in the design of your resume. Assuming that you have the skills that they’re looking for, a striking and visually appealing resume will go a long way at getting you the creative job that you want.
In the worst case scenario, it will at least buy you a few seconds by catching the eye of a recruiter and may become the difference between getting hired or not.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 30 creative resumes that can inspire you to think outside the box when designing your own resume. Read more
11 May
Advantages and Disadvantages of Working with Multiple Screens
Productivity, Technology, Web Designers
67

Two characteristics that represent most web designers are a need for productivity and a love for technology.
This desire for increased efficiency and productivity leads many designers to look to technology for methods that will improve their work flow.
One common approach for designers (and others who want to improve productivity) is to use multiple monitors. Using two or more monitors can bring a number of significant advantages to designers.
In this article we’ll present some basic pros and cons of using multiple monitors, general instructions for setting them up, as well as a showcase of workstations that feature multiple monitors. Read more
7 May
Worldwide Conferences for Web Designers
Conferences, Web Designers
45

We’ve arranged a massive list of events of interest to graphic design professionals.
Listings are arranged by country and date. All prices listed are for the packages that give you complete access to the event, without discounts or early-bird rates. Cheapefitr packages are generally available with more limited access to the events.
Please note that some conferences or events may already be sold out at the time this article goes live. Also, please take into account that this article is presented for informational purposes only and is not meant as an endorsement of any of the events.
We purposely did not include events that had “sold out” on their website, like UX London. We also didn’t include events that have already taken place.
If you know of an event that you believe should be added, please leave a comment or email us and we will update the page regularly based on your feedback. We will only include events that are of interest to web design professionals. Read more