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...

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....

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....

It’s hard to stay focused this time of year. With vacations coming up (or having recently passed) it’s easy to get distracted from work-related tasks. For that reason, this month’s roundup is full of design tools plus a few design diversions that you can have fun with. 404 Illustrations Have you ever wanted to create a cool 404 page but didn’t have the time or inspiration? 404 Illustrations takes all the work out of it for you with funky...

The online community has been around since 2010 and is one of the top platforms where designers can share work, or shots, and get feedback. The invite-only community is a showcase of portfolio projects and personal artwork for digital graphics and user interface design, illustrations, animations, and pretty much any other design work you can think of. Dribbble Pros If you want to be inspired, Dribbble is the place for you. There’s so much...

This month we’re taking a close look at above-the-scroll presentation. It’s the first thing you see, and the first impression a user has when they type in your URL. So, it’s a logical place to spot trends in website design. Here’s what’s trending in design this month. 1. Text That’s Almost Hard to Read With so much focus on readability and accessibility, this trend might be a little surprising. Designers are experimenting with...

It’s that time of year when everyone’s mind is less on work, than on vacation. So, we’ve tried to round up a few new tools and resources for designers that can make projects seem a little more like play. Enjoy! Fontanello Fontanello is a Chrome browser extension that lets you see the type styles of text just by right-clicking it. This tool takes all the hassle out of looking for font styles by showing the name, size, leading, and color of a typeface...

We’re heading into the Summer season where traditionally everyone gets a little more lax about life. Even the website designs seem lighter with more whitespace and simple designs. That translates into a few trending elements as well. We’re seeing plenty of navigation elements with a new twist, circles and perfectly symmetrical grids seem to be making a comeback. Here’s what’s trending in design this month. 1. White Nav on a Color...

There are plenty of cool new tools and resources available for designers this month, and you’ll be especially happy if you are looking to find photos with ease, increase productivity or even create better documentation. If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @carriecousins to be considered! Creative...

Sometimes designs are of an acquired taste. That’s our theme for this month. Each of the projects and trends featured here are things that you’ll probably either love…or hate. But wait to judge these projects until you navigate through them; most of them seem to grow on you the more you dive into the content. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: Chaos by Design Have you ever looked at a design and wondered “what were they thinking?”...

We’re all about learning tools this month in our round of up new resources and tools for designers. From games to books to tutorials, there’s something new for everyone to learn and enjoy. If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @carriecousins to be considered! CSSBattle Jump to the top of the CSSBattle...

Sometimes design trends take a little while to emerge and sneak up on you, others seem to pop out of the blue all at once. The latter is true of each of our web design trends this month. Animated image frames, gold metallics and obvious grids seem to be everywhere (and we are guessing you might be taking notice). Here’s what’s trending in design this month. Animated Image Frame Distortion The verdict on this trend is still out. Do you love it or...

This month we are all about tools that make life easier. And that’s exactly what you’ll find in this roundup of new things for designers – from color tools to workflow enhancers to code snippets to fonts that will make you smile, everything here can make your design life easier. If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured...