Exciting New Tools for Designers, July 2020

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. Lunchbox...

Web design clients come from a wide variety of backgrounds. One day, you’ll be designing a portfolio website for a voiceover artist, the next you’ll be creating a comprehensive ecommerce site for a leading retailer. In an ideal world, you’ll get to a point where you eventually specialize in a niche. However, you’ll need to master both avenues first. The more time you spend in this industry, the more you’ll learn that every client...

Attention is the new gold; brands are in a constant competition for our attention. A big portion of our time we spend online, where we are bombarded with insane amounts of information and advertisements. It’s hard not to become overwhelmed in this world of consumerism. We have had to become good at quickly evaluating which information is important, especially on the internet. Good marketing specialists know that they have mere seconds...

If we don’t question this kind of design homogenization, do we put ourselves at risk of perpetuating the same mistakes in the years to come? Or is it even a mistake to begin with? Today, I’m going to look at four things that are likely causing this, and what you can do to break the mold. 1. Education We used to have a design school in every city in the world, each with its own design style or, at the very least, the encouragement of its designers to...

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. Apple,...

Web developers have been the bedrock of any company’s business strategy for some time, and the industry is continuing to thrive and grow at a rapid pace. This is why it’s surprising that it is so lacklustre when it comes to diversity. A recent study revealed 80% of those in the design industry are male, and more specifically 79% within the field of web design. According to WISE, just 23% of the people working in STEM roles (Science, Technology,...

You’ve been working away at your latest design project, and the client has given the go-ahead on your lovingly created digital concepts. Now it’s time to bring those designs to life, and you have a developer queued up to do just that. So your part’s done, right? Not quite. You’re going to want to make sure your developer has the best head start they can in order to create the site as you imagined. Below are a few tips to make that handover process...

The biggest trend we’re talking about this month started at WWDC as Apple provided a glimpse of what’s coming next for their operating systems. This time around there’s a distinct design element. Did you catch it? Here’s what’s trending in design this month. 1. Text Highlights and Underlines There’s always been an unwritten rule in website design that text uses more plain styles. Bold is acceptable, italics are OK from time to...

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. Elevator.js...

A successful rebrand goes far beyond flashy graphics and high-res photos. It tells a story. It positions a product to fulfill the wants and needs of the consumer. Following the rebrand journey of Lettuce Grow, take a look at how visual elements can enforce the mission of your brand, engage your consumer and cultivate incredible results. Lettuce Grow introduced a sleek, revolutionary, hydroponic growing system that makes growing food...

There’s no shortage of ways in which you can generate traffic towards a website, and the list seems to be growing on a daily basis. For every new traffic generation method, there are thousands of fresh sources of traffic for businesses to tap into.  Plenty of people find themselves so caught up in focusing on new ways of generating traffic that they never get a chance to investigate their actual traffic sources. This can make for a significant...

No matter how skilled you are as a designer, you need tools. A surgeon can’t operate without a scalpel; the same goes for designers. To get the job done effectively, you need to right tools in your arsenal. Tools certainly don’t make the craftsman, but they do make your job easier (and mostly fun). There are so many tools available today, it can be daunting to start seeking out the right tools for you. In this semi-regular series, designers...

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. Online...

Users come to your website with certain expectations already in their mind; they’ve seen thousands of other websites before and it’s only natural that they’ve adopted certain habits. Instead of trying to change these patterns, it’s much better to incorporate them into your design. To learn more, let’s have a closer look at a psychological concept known as mental models.  What Are Mental Models? Before we move on to examples,...

Let’s be honest: the WordPress classic editor wasn’t the easiest solution for building great-looking websites. While Gutenberg has helped, page builder plugins like Elementor are responsible for making a it much easier for any WordPress user to build a powerful and professional website on their own. As a result, users want to know that the theme they’re going to use is compatible with at least one of the leading page builder solutions. ...

Whether Adobe’s focus on collaboration and remote-working was prescient long-term thinking, or if this direction of development is a reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic is unclear; what is clear is that the timing of this release is ideal for the new work environment we find ourselves in. Adobe CC June Update Highlights Adobe’s move from an 18-month release cycle, to multiple releases per year thins out the excitement surrounding these...

The best new tools for designers are ones that make your life easier and your workflows faster. You’ll find some of those in this list this month for sure. From tools to help you capture and manage color palettes to AI-powered design analytics to simple animations, there’s something for almost every designer or developer. Here’s what new for designers this month. The Hero Generator The Hero Generator is a fun tool that will help you create...

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. Is this...

When it comes to creating and launching a website, it’s important to deliver realistic time expectations to the client, and establish the different stages you can bill them for. After all, creating a site is about so much more than putting some code together. From the initial brief to the launch of the site there are numerous stages in between. It can be natural to quote a lump price and charge it all at the end, or 50% upfront and 50% on completion....

If a free trial model is executed well, it can become your new secret weapon for lowering your CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and increasing conversion rates. However, that level of success doesn’t come without its fair share of challenges. What if you lose money? How do you avoid freeloaders? Which free trial model should you choose?  If you’re looking to dive deeper into the free trial models that have swept across the SaaS industry,...

Every month we publish a roundup of the 20 most unmissable websites newly launched, or updated in the previous four weeks. In June’s edition you’ll find everything from corporate sites for global power-houses, to personal sites for innovative designers. This month we’re seeing a lot of flamboyance, a lot of passion, and the color of the moment is (hooray!) yellow. Enjoy! Black Lives Matter In recent weeks there have been protests in...

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. 20 Landing...