#design news

At this time every year, Pantone announces its choice for Color of the Year for the coming 12 months. The last year has been uncertain, to say the least, and although a tentative optimism seems to be piercing the general gloom, it’s difficult to see how that can be expressed in color. On this occasion, for the first time, Pantone has elected to create a brand new color for its Color of the Year. Normally colors are chosen from Pantone’s extensive...

This month’s collection of the best new websites launched or updated in the last four weeks features color, and more color, and then — just for good measure — a bit more color. Yellow is a hue of choice, but you’ll also find burnt orange, rich purples, and greens and blues in equal measure. What is missing is the tech-blue of years past, replaced with something altogether more Mediterranean. Enjoy! Cevitxef This site for Cevitxef ceviche...

Proxima Vara, a variable font version of the enormously popular Proxima Nova type family, has just been released. Designers love Proxima Nova for the simplicity of its letterforms, its wonderful rhythm, and its generous x-height that all combine to produce a highly legible, modern typeface — that also happens to be cheaper to deploy than many similar designs. The variable version allows designers to tweak the weight from 100–900, the...

D&AD Shift is a free design school program for creatives over the age of 18, who do not already have a degree-level qualification. It’s been running since 2016 and is a 12-week program led by successful industry professionals. Until now, D&AD Shift has been running courses in New York and London, but it has announced that thanks to a partnership with Google, it will be rolling out the program to cities worldwide; the expansion also...

It’s hard to believe we are more than a month into 2021 already. But that means more trends to dive into this year, right? So far, the biggest trend of 2021 in website design is an overall lack of people in imagery. It’s not that surprising with a worldwide pandemic happening, but it can mean that designers are branching out in other ways to enhance visual interest in their designs. Here’s what’s trending in design this month. 1. Non-Traditional...

This month we’re going big and bold. Oversized type, strong colors, in-your-face layouts, and little touches of playfulness exude confidence and make a statement. There are some quieter moments too, with thoughtful illustration and more gentle use of color. Animation still features strongly in the details, with circles proving popular in rollover effects. Enjoy. Fledge Fledge is a film production company based in Belgium. Their site...

If you’re self-isolating thanks to Covid-19, or simply a fulltime remote worker, keeping in touch with the industry can be tricky; There aren’t any water-coolers to gather around, and your cat is less knowledgeable about CSS than she likes to pretend. One of the best solutions is web design podcasts. They’re a great way to grow your skills and ideas, while enjoying a fun, informal chat. Web design podcasts are entertaining, insightful,...

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...

Every December the color categorizing company Pantone nominates one of its colors as a hue for the next 12 months. The act is intended to create positivity around messages such as the environment, gender equality, and current affairs. But the color for 2019 has raised hackles in some quarters. 2019’s official color is named Living Coral, and it’s a nice idealized shade of red coral under blue water. The controversy, according to Jack and...

After an extended wait, Zurb have finally released the much anticipated version 6.5 of its popular Foundation framework. (This is in place of the originally intended 6.4.4 release.) So, what has changed? Well, this is not a major release so we’re not getting CSS Grid yet, but the changelog is pretty long. The folks behind this release have grouped the changes into 3 categories: improved stability, improved accessibility, and improved...

If any single tech company embodies the spirit of web-savvy, then it is Mailchimp. Since its beginnings as a side-project in the early-2000s the marketing service has walked the line between creative experiences, and simple usability. Mailchimp is one of those companies that saunters onto the court, lobs a shot over its shoulder, and gets nothing but net. Now, with their latest rebrand courtesy of brand agency Collins (as ever, alongside...

Reddit, the self-proclaimed ‘front page of the internet’ is getting its first redesign since the heady days of IE7, and George W. Bush’s presidency. First announced over a year ago, the challenge for Reddit’s in-house team of 22, has been how to update the platform to appeal to new users whose expectations are much evolved from the early web, without alienating old Reddit users comfortable with the status quo. Reddit has often been...

We’re all familiar with the old Zendesk logo, right? The memorable image of the Buddha who’s wearing a headset (melding old-fashioned mindfulness with modern-day tech) was an instantly recognizable logo of a big brand in today’s tech industry. Now, the new Zendesk logo is a combination mark of a logotype or wordmark design together with an iconic or symbolic logo while the old one with the Buddha was your classic iconic or symbolic logo....

Adobe Typekit has just released a long-overdue update to its font browsing interface. Currently still in beta, the new UI makes finding, and using fonts substantially easier. This is the biggest update to Typekit’s UI in 5 years and comparing the old with the new offers a fascinating insight into the way design priorities have shifted in the last few years. The new design is more responsive, the dated fixed-width column having been replaced...