Simplicity in product design
— Lots of great tips in this article—including generous illustrations—on how to apply simplicity to product design.
The importance of art direction for the web
— Great article outlining techniques to infuse soul and personality into your web design projects.
Better Cookie Consent Experiences
— Smart and timely deep dive on how to deal with cookie consent prompts from a privacy and UX perspective.
Queering Design Education
— A must-read interview on the AIGA Eye on Design blog covering inclusive ways to approach teaching design, taking away the hierarchy in the classroom, and fostering community.
Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design
— A well-crafted sequence visualizing German designer Dieter Rams’ guiding principles for good product design.
Project VisBug
— For web designers: here’s a new Chrome extension that works as a visual inspector and interface editor.
Share Your Gifts
— Lovely animated holiday ad by Apple. Read more and see behind-the-scenes on Adweek.
Sydney Dogs & Cats Home Branding by For the People
— This brand identity for Sydney Dogs & Cats Home is super clever!
AIGA Design Futures
— This incredibly insightful research project by AIGA landed in my inbox a couple of days ago. AIGA says the intent is “to help designers and educators anticipate and prepare for the future, to lead change in their offices and schools, and to make each phase of their careers a learning opportunity rather than a fixed reality.”
Strong ideas, loosely held
— I believe when you have good ideas and hold an open mind, great design can happen.
New Content-Aware Fill features coming to Photoshop
— This sneak peek of Photoshop’s revamped Content-Aware Fill tool looks very impressive. Content-Aware Fill is one of those tools I rarely get to use, but when I do it can be a fantastic time-saver.
Having an ethical mindset in web development
— This is a relevant and concise write-up of ethics in front-end development. I believe it is critical to apply ethics before doing work so that we can think through the consequences of our code and designs.
Curiosity, hard work, and finding a passion: my path to web design
— Since I am newly graduated and feeling extra reminiscent of my time at school, I thought it would be fun to share the story of how I got into my field. Below is a condensed timeline of how I found my fit in web and user experience design.
Ashley C. Ford on being honest about what you have the time to do
— I love this conversation with writer Ashley C. Ford on The Creative Independent. In it, she discusses her approach to time management when working in a creative field, prioritizing projects, and learning when to say no.
The Layouts of Tomorrow
— Extraordinary examples of what is possible in layout and animation in web design. With new tools like CSS Grid and other front-end techniques, it is an exciting time to be designing for the web!
Frank Chimero on design criticism
— This is an exceptional list of tips & techniques for productive design criticism by Frank Chimero. I learned some of these points in practice in design school, but it’s helpful to remind ourselves of smart ways to conduct and respond to critique, primarily when working in a team.
2018 Logo Trends
— Interesting report on emerging trends in logo design for this year: “The key takeaway from this is not to imitate, but to find a way to push these ideas forward and make them your own.”
Christoph Niemann on the realities of being a designer
— “This isn’t something you’re born good at, you get good at it,” says Niemann. “A top tennis player doesn’t just stop training once they win.”
Solis for Mac
— Discovered a new app today called Solis, a Live Design Output that integrates with code editors to deliver real-time, multi-viewport previewing of HTML, CSS, SASS, and LESS as you write it.