CategoryDesign

July 29, 2013 — “Cool” is a rather ambiguous term, and means different things to different people. But when working with data, the term “cool” is often directly juxtaposed with common charts and written off as “boring.” The emphasis on the instant visual appeal of an infographic over the clarity of the presentation of data is a troubling trend that plagues the modern incarnation of the infographic. Read more…

July 18, 2013 — A digital strategy is not as intimidating as it sounds. It is just a document outlining how your client should handle the different aspects of digital from the website and mobile to email. It doesn’t need to cover everything in huge depth, but instead should establish some general approaches to these different areas. This post will provide you with a crash course on where to start and what kinds of things to include. I hope it proves useful. Read more…

July 16, 2013 — The flat interface style is the manifestation of a desire for greater authenticity in design. The Modern design movement curbed the ornamental excess of the 19th century, making design fit the age of mass production. Today, we’re seeing the same desire for authenticity manifest itself in the “flat” trend, which rejects skeuomorphism and excessive visuals for simpler, cleaner, content-focused design. Read more…

July 15, 2013 — In her career as a freelance illustrator, map-making has become a favorite specialty of Laura Coyle. With each map assignment, she virtually travels across the globe, visiting places she’ve never been. Her maps (created in Adobe Illustrator), are designed to appear next to magazine stories about trips to faraway places, or about the best restaurants in a nearby neighborhood. Read more…

July 11, 2013 — When people visit your website, you want it to stand out from the crowd, to be memorable. It is a reflection of the person or organization behind it. You want people to come back and use your website or get in touch with you. It has to be innovative yet functional. Ask yourself, what would make life easier for your user? Read more…

July 3, 2013 — In this article, Martin Gittins will explore the idea of consciously restricting yourself to a set of core tools that you know, love and trust, so that you don’t get overwhelmed by the staggering array of resources and options available to designers. You should know what your most precious tools are, and keep a portable set close at hand. Read more…

June 10, 2013 — In this article, Addy Osmani will discuss how to improve the paint performance of your websites and Web apps. Luckily, a lot of great tools out there can help with that. Be sure to measure paint performance on both desktop and mobile, and if all goes well, your users will end up with snappier, more silky-smooth experiences, regardless of the device they’re using. Read more…

May 29, 2013 — In this article, Anselm Hannemann suggests how we can manage to test on multiple devices to resolve errors, without pouring a truck-load of money into actually buying all of these different devicessince these tasks haven’t become any simpler since the wide variety of smartphones, tablets and other devices that sport various operating systems and versions. Read more…

May 17, 2013 — Web typography is as rich, versatile and accessible as ever before. Yet new opportunities introduce new complexity; and with new implementation challenges, we are all spurred to reconsider our practices. Now, we’ve reviewed the original study and explored how Web typography has changed over these years. Read more…

May 10, 2013 — Part of WordPress’ success is that the community consists not only of developers, but of designers, user experience experts, support volunteers, writers, users, accessibility experts and enthusiasts. This diverse input strengthens the project. In this article, Siobhan McKeown will talk about the different contributor groups and how you can take part. But first, why should you get involved with WordPress? Read more…