Popular Design News of the Week: August 19, 2019 – August 25, 2019

It seems like magic: you talk to the phone, and it talks back. And if you’re lucky, it says something useful. You type into the chat box, and if the bot is good, you find out what you need to know. [Cue: shocked-looking stock photo models.] The current marketing term for it is “conversational design”, and it’s gaining more and more traction beyond big companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon. Conversational design is actually old, in...

Thankfully, you no longer have to rely on a resume to try to communicate how talented you are to others. Your skills as a freelancer should be shared with others through visual media. It makes a lot more sense than writing up a one page summary that says, “I graduated from so-and-so university in 2010 and worked as a designer for XYZ Agency for three years.” Yes, your history is important, but not as much as what you’re able to do with the knowledge...

This month we leap back to the culture of America circa 1969, dive into the oceans with whales, discover multiple approaches to pitching a design agency, get invited to festivals, and shop online the right way. Enjoy! Kilotype Kilotype’s awesome new site shows off its variable fonts with a clever mouse-track — move your cursor around the screen vertically and horizontally to see the full range of each family’s weight and italic. Once...

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...

2019 is half over, but don’t let that stop you from trying something new… specifically, a new CMS. “But Ezequiel, good buddy, I don’t have time to check out a whole new content management system. I have websites to make!”, you say, in those exact words. That’s fair, but you should be keeping an eye on the up-and comers anyway. These are the people who have the sheer brass walnuts (which are a real thing, unisex, and available to anyone...

Truth be told, there’s a lot of value that comes from doing design sprints. However, it’s not as simple as adopting Google Vision’s original system and instantly being able to create better digital products or getting greater consumer buy-in.  Let’s take a look at what design sprints are, why they can be valuable, but why you also might need to steer clear of them.  What Is a Design Sprint? In basic terms, the design process looks like...

Some of the new tools in this month’s roundup are designed for productivity and getting ahead, from a tool that converts text to speech to a font that’s made for the winter holidays. That’s the whole point of new tools – to make our design lives that much easier. Here’s what’s new for designers this month. Paaatterns Paaatterns is a collection of vector patterns for backgrounds, fills, and anywhere you want an interesting design...

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...

Unfortunately, over half (54%) of the businesses surveyed for the 2018 State of SMB Cybersecurity report believe they’re too small to be a target for hackers. But the data paints a different picture:  67% of small- and medium-sized businesses were attacked in 2018; 82% of those attacked had antivirus software installed on their systems; 72% had intrusion detection systems in place. In reality, businesses aren’t failing to secure...

Every day in my work helping grow digital agencies and Fortune 500 brands, I hear countless companies struggle with how to discuss, interact with, and grow their client’s brand, leaving dollars on the table and creating problems along the way. The agency owner offers their perspective, shares why branding is important, but usually lacks the conversational skills to navigate the need. And as a result, it’s not just the client that suffers....

It’s August, which means the rain is finally slowing down, and I have a chance to get my roof fixed. While I wait here under a literal tarp-fort that I hung up in my office, I thought I might as well compile some of the best recent portfolios for you all to look at. We have a mix of sites this month, both colorful and, shall we say, color-minimalist. We’ve got more than a few specimens of one-column layouts, and some superb CSS Grid-based affairs....

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...

A design system helps everyone in your business to maintain brand consistency. It’s a collection of guidelines that explains how your branding assets should be used in everyday communication and marketing efforts. A design system usually consists of general brand guidelines, color usage, brand tone and voice, typography, patterns, and any other visual element that helps convey your brand principles. Use them as an inspiration and...

For most designers – freelance or in-house – generating new business can be a dreaded part of the job. But it necessary to maintain and sustain growth and find new clients. When it comes to finding design work, is there a best way to find jobs? Do you pitch for new business or rely on other methods to find work? Reasons to Pitch for New Business There are so many places that freelance designers can pitch for new business, including job boards,...

Each of the design trends we are spotting this month have to deal with over-the-top techniques. It’s interesting because these big effects don’t always pop on the radar of what’s trending, but these concepts almost begged to be featured with a large number of projects showcasing these design elements. This type of trend is interested because designers either love them or hate them. Take a look and see if these are concepts you’ll use....

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...

You’re going to have build your site in such a way that the eye is naturally drawn from one step to the next. My sister used to accomplish controlling my focus by sternly, but calmly, telling me to “Get back to your schoolwork” anywhere from fifteen to forty times in a single day. But your users aren’t going to put on some music and “buckle down” to finish browsing your website, they need to be drawn in. The Call to Action—that “Buy”...

Recently, I was part of a 3-person team of consultants who in 12 weeks built the foundations of a new design system. That design system is now used in multiple products and is contributed to by other developers and designers. In this post you’ll find some of the techniques we used to make the project a success within its short timespan. (While we did deliver code on the project, this article is written from my perspective as a designer.) 1. Invest...

Let’s start with a common example: You’ve just finished a website design for someone. It looks and functions exactly like the wireframe. Everyone on the design team has praised the project. The client hates it, but they can’t explain why. The culprit might be color. Different colors can evoke such strong emotions that people have sharp reactions to them. It’s part personal preference, part psychological, and even part social norms....

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...

What’s even better is that you don’t have to spend years mastering programming either. Thanks to numerous coding apps available for both Android and iOS devices, you can easily level up your coding skills even when you’re on the go. In this post, we’ve rounded up the best coding apps that will help you learn to code like a pro. SoloLearn SoloLearn is an app available for both iOS and Android devices and it also has a web app so you can use it...

For those too young to remember, the Browser Wars entailed a tech rush by, among others, Netscape and Microsoft, resulting in useless features being implemented because they were fast to bolt-on, and useful features being rushed because they were hard. After the Browser Wars, the internet entered an era of stability as the last vestiges of the old web were mercilessly hunted down and destroyed by Google. Chrome and Chromium-based browsers...