Working walls are known by countless names. Underlying them all is a single idea: that physically pinning our sources of inspiration and work in progress can help us to rearrange concepts and unlock breakthrough insights. According to Vyas and his colleagues at the University of Twente, designers integrate these surfaces “artfully” and organize information in such a way that it empowers them to visualize and extend their work in progress.
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As designers, we usually turn to desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over five years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month. This article features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for January 2014.
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Adobe is feature-freezing Fireworks, and it is not offering a replacement tool for Fireworks users. What does this mean for you if you use Fireworks to design user interfaces and screens? In this article Michel Bozgounov will take a close look at Adobe Fireworks, explaining why it is a unique and powerful design tool, how we can continue to use it effectively, and what our alternatives are for the future.
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Adobe is feature-freezing Fireworks. And it is not offering a replacement tool for Fireworks users. What does this mean for you if you use Fireworks to design user interfaces and screens? In this article, Michel Bozgounov will take a close look at Adobe Fireworks, explaining why it is a unique and powerful design tool, how we can continue to use it effectively, and what our alternatives are for the future.
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Online shopping is about convenience and comfort, and those of us who have ventured into the realm of online shopping know how time-consuming it can be. The online stores that stand out from the rest are those that go the extra mile for their users. In this article, Shavaughn Haack will look at some small and big e-commerce websites that create pleasant online shopping experiences. You’ll consider the experience from the very start to the very end, right through to the checkout process.
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We usually export images for the Web from our favorite graphics software. Our eyes fixate on an image’s preview, adjusting the quality settings until we’ve found that sweet spot, where the file size and quality are both the best they can be. After having gone to all that care and effort, we would be forgiven for thinking that our image is in the best shape possible, but that’s not always the case. In fact, much more data is usually left in such files, data that keeps our users waiting just a bit longer than necessary. Thankfully, a number of popular tools can help us optimize images even further!
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When a group wants to generate ideas, you assemble, spell out the basic ground rules for brainstorming and then have people yell out ideas one at a time. It’s a method chosen for ideation, but it is fraught with problems. Brainwriting is an easy alternative or a complement to face-to-face brainstorming, and it often yields more ideas in less time than traditional group brainstorming. In this article Chauncey Wilson will talk about this method!
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Jan Martin attracts many followers with his visual design skills. He grew up in the small city of Brandenburg. After graduating from the Berlin Design Academy with a degree in Communication Design, he cofounded 6Wunderkinder. Since then, he has been the company’s lead designer, responsible for the visual design of the popular Wunderlist and the company’s website, blog, social-network sites and branding.
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The psychological dimension that springs from a dialogue between two strategic conceptions that depend on the personality of each chess player has long been a mystery. How do Grandmasters think? The most successful strategies are rooted in our very own nature. And common to most Grandmasters is that they almost never take the easy way out. That creativity, that compulsion to look beyond what comes instinctively is what fuels successful strategies and explains why so few Grandmasters are out there.
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