While there’s a lot going in the world with the COVID-19 pandemic, the design world is also reacting. You’ll notice that some of the newest tools and resources for designers are for working through or with the virus’ impact or are inspired by this change to our lifestyles. Here’s what new for designers this month. Snapfont Snapfont is a browser extension that lets you test any font on any website in a snap. You can preview differences...

This month's website designs are showing elements of what is happening in the world around us. While this is often true, some of the things we are seeing right now are an immediate reaction to current events. Trending this month are designs for website notifications and pop-ups, retro typography, and blue and green color schemes. Here’s what’s trending in design this month. Website Notifications The COVID-19 world health pandemic has...

Spring is in the air. As the season changes, many designers are looking for a little refresh of their own. Hopefully some of these new tools and resources will do the trick. Here’s what new for designers this month. Visme Visme allows you to quickly create and share content with tools to build presentations, infographics, documents, videos, and graphics — with little to no design skills. But it’s for designers too with features that...

Two of these three trends comes with some usability concerns but are a lot of fun to look at and play with. Would you take the risk of trying one of these design techniques? The third trend (up first in this list) is a new take on bold color palettes that shifts from some of the colors that have been overwhelmingly popular for a while. Here’s what’s trending in design this month. Warm Colors, Especially Reds Warm colors – especially red tones...

Are you starting 2020 off on the right foot? How about keeping up with those resolutions to learn or try something new? Either way, you’re in luck. This roundup is packed with new tools to help you through projects or learn new tricks to enhance your skillset. Here’s what’s new for designers this month. Calcolor Calcolor is a color tool that provides deeper information and meaning for every color in your palette so you can make better color...

Designers are embracing big, bold concepts with oversized elements, bright color, and even a little rule-breaking. (The best part? Most of these trends seem to overlap somewhat.) Here’s what’s trending in design this month. Homepage Headline Heroes Homepage hero areas are shifting again from website entryways with plenty of text, CTAs, and options for users, to simple displays with big headlines (and maybe not much else). Use of oversized...

We typically start the month with a roundup of new tools and resources for designers, but with the start of a new year (and new decade), we thought a roundup of things to help you get more organized would be appropriate. Some of these tools have been around for a while with features you might not be using. Other tools are on the new side and offer great functionality. How many of these tools are part of your kit? Which ones will you resolve to use this...

As you are shopping this month for others, why not find a few goodies for yourself? Our roundup of new tools and resources is packed with usable items. And most are free, so there’s no shame in trying out something for yourself. Here’s what’s new for designers this month. CSS Background Generator CSS Background Generator gives you the tools – and code – to create an interesting animated background for digital projects. Demo 1 uses...

This month’s collection of design trends is a gift to behold. Each of the trends are highly usable options that are versatile, giving you plenty of room to play and make them your own. That’s the best kind of trend, right? Here’s what’s trending in design this month. Whimsical Illustrations It seems like whimsical illustrations are practically everywhere. Fun drawings that can be anything from line-style illustrations to full-color...

You’re sure to find some tools and resources that will help you save time as we enter what is often one of the most hectic seasons of the year. Here’s what’s new for designers this month. Screen Size Map Screen Size Map is a tool to showcase popular screen sizes and will even auto-detect yours. Map sizes by device type, usage, size, and popularity. This can really come in handy when thinking about viewports or breakpoints in design projects....

There’s always a balance between visual design and functional design. Many of the “rules” of design as we know them exist to make visuals more functional. That’s not exactly true of all of the techniques that are trending right now. But sometimes rules are made to be broken, right? You can take these trends in and decide whether they work for you or not. (There’s no right or wrong answer.) Here’s what’s trending in design this month....

It’s already time to start thinking about all the seasonal design elements that you will use for the rest of the year. That might be icons or illustrations or fonts. We have a few new elements this month that might fit the bill, as well as learning tools and inspiration. Here’s what new for designers this month. UIPrint UIPrint is a set of sketching templates for devices that you can print out to create with a pen (because some of us love to draw...

There’s a bonus trend in the roundup this month. (Four trends rather than three…but you’ll have to find it!) Our more obvious collection of trends are visual elements – skinny vertical design blocks, a shift to tiny logos and branding rather than the oversized center logos that have been popular for a while, and dark and moody design schemes. The extra trend is more interactive; you’ll have to click through the examples to find it....

While there aren’t as many new tools out there to play with right now, the ones available are a lot of fun. From tools to help speed up workflows and manage productivity, to creative gamification and funky typefaces, these new tools for designers will make you want to stick to your desk. Here’s what new for designers this month. Quark Quark might not be exactly what you are thinking if you have roots in print design. This Quark, in beta, is designed...