How to Create a Visually Appealing Instagram

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (Maya Angelou) Today when we think about what product we want to use, we have a lot of options to choose from. But there’s one thing that plays a crucial role in this decisions making process: emotions. Humans are emotion-driven species. We evaluate products not only based on utility but also on the feelings they evoke....

SEO is a complex matter and one that web designers and developers might feel is best left to copywriters and search professionals to handle. That makes sense since many common SEO hacks revolve around the manipulation of content and the tagging of it for search. Here’s the thing though: there are certain choices you make as a web designer that ultimately affect the search-friendliness of your website. Which means you should be involved in...

It’s December, which means it’s officially carol season. Oh well. Whether you’re a curmudgeon about these things like myself, or are even now feeling the heat rise in your elf ears and Santa hat, we can all agree that portfolio sites are cool, right? Let’s see what those wacky designers have come up with now. There are quite a few modern, as in pre-post-modern designs here. You know, classic, business-friendly minimalist sites. I must...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

WordPess 5.0 (codenamed “Bebo”) is officially out and prowling among the servers. This, then, is when we find out how well Gutenberg works out. And make no mistake, whatever they’ve done under the hood, this release is about Gutenberg, both technically and in the public perception. It’s almost the only thing they talk about in their own blog post about this release.  Gutenberg Automattic has set out to redefine the content editing...

Pantone’s annual quest to dominate the “and finally…” portion of the pre-festive news has kicked off, with the announcement of its Color of the Year for 2019. The official selection for the coming year is Living Coral, or specifically 16-1546 (that’s #FF6F61 to you and me). Pantone’s announcement always sets the color agenda for the following 12 months. After all, in 2018 we’ve seen nothing but Ultra Violet color schemes;...

Jumpshot took a look at how online searches were most commonly conducted in 2016. What’s not surprising is that Google owned the majority of online search queries (with U.S. users, at least). What is surprising, however, is that searches through Google Images were the second most popular type of search. As such, I’d like to focus this discussion around Google Image search and how to use image SEO to boost your website’s presence there....

Content management is design. I usually try to start an article with some sort of joke or metaphor for flavor, but I’m not going to do that this time. Content management is design, and that’s an important enough concept that it warrants a simple, clear statement, and needs no warm-up time. I’ll say it again for the people at the back: content management is design, and everyone who does it is a designer. In fact, it is the biggest factor in any...

Welcome to our roundup of the best websites launched (or relaunched with interesting new updates) in the last month. Traditionally November is a time of last-minute launches before the holiday season gets into full swing, and the last four weeks are no exception. There’re dozens of great ecommerce stores just launched—we’ve included a few of our favorites—and more than a few studios have updated portfolios so they can hit the ground...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

It’s far too easy to look back and imagine that everything was better then than it is now. God knows I miss being a skinny teenager, but I don’t want the acne back. The hormones can just shove right off, too. Even so, there are things I miss about being younger, and frankly a bit naïve. Lately, there has been conversation about the nature of the Internet, and many people seem to feel much as I do about my teenage years: that is to say, they miss the...

DOMmy.js is a super-lightweight, standalone Javascript library, designed to work easily with the DOM and produce powerful CSS3 animations via JS. Full disclosure: I developed DOMmy.js. And in this tutorial I want to demonstrate how it can be used to keep your webpages nice and light. DOMmy.js has a very shallow learning curve; it’s even shallower if you have ever used an old-generation style framework such as jQuery or Prototype. DOMmy.js...

There’s never a shortage of good deals to be found on a Cyber Monday, and this year is no different. Still, you usually have to do your share of searching to uncover some really great deals. This little gem easily qualifies as the #1 Cyber Monday deal for designers and developers. It’s offered by Elegant Themes, the creators of the world’s most highly regarded premium WordPress theme – Divi. Elegant Theme’s offer? 25% off on their Developer...

It can be hard to think about, and take on new design projects at this time of year. Maybe a little design inspiration is just the thing to pep you up and get you thinking about wrapping up those projects. There’s a continued shift toward designs with more complex visual effects and these trends are no different with stacked text elements, glitchy video effects and artistic imagery. Here’s what’s trending for the end of 2018: 1. Stacked...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

Every day, thousands—if not millions—of people are all asking themselves the same, simple question: what do I post now? If you’ve been reading for a while, you know what I’m getting at. Regular content: It’s good for your website’s soul. Also its relevance. But what if I told you that you didn’t have to write anything for yourself at all? What if I told you that there are thousands—if not millions—of hard-working people getting...

The autumn air is fresh and clear, the light is soft and uplifting and the autumnal forests are at their most beautiful. Combined with some smooth Swiss tarmac under my wheels, cycling conditions are perfect and I’m often out enjoying the hills in the middle of the day. But I’m not skiving, this is an important part of my work routine. Cycling doesn’t require a lot of engagement of the brain, so it’s a great time for thinking. The rhythmic...

Researchers have known for some time that human behavior happens in patterns. Rather than seek out new ways to interact with technology, humans default to the familiar. Evidence to support people’s love of patterns is abundant. The architect Christopher Alexander recognized, and wrote extensively about, design patterns as early as the 1960s. More recently, Charles Duhigg examined how the majority of our day to day lives are the product...

Welcome back, readers! My favorite thing about you all is that you’re all much too classy to put up Christmas decorations this darned early. Yes. You are. I insist. I could also insist that you have a look at these portfolios, but you already clicked, and we all know what you’re here for: a mix of minimalist, corporate, and super artsy designs! Note: I’m judging these sites by how good they look to me. If they’re creative and original, or...

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week. Note...

Many, if not most designers will at some point encounter this scenario: they’ve just completed a digital wire-frame for a new project, with a new client. They’ve thought long and hard about the placement of everything, and they’re ready for feedback. They figure it’ll be a short conversation, just enough time for the client to say, “Yeah, that looks fine. Can’t wait to see it with the details filled in!” The client will take a...

Halting climate change; distributing wealth around the globe; achieving social, racial, sexual, and gender equality; ending violence; there are so many challenges in today’s world. The web can be an incredible vehicle for change, and Adobe are lending a helping hand with an incredible, free UI kit for Adobe XD. The UI kit has been created by Florida-based designer, Meagan Fisher. Her goal was to help non-profits publish better websites;...