If you’re publishing a lot of content, then high-quality images are vital to keeping readers engaged and coming back for more. But contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to resort to cheesy stock photos (like the one with the matchstick metaphor that jumpstarted my quest for a better process). In this article, Lauren Jung will walk you through how to do just that, as well as provide you with a starter kit of tools to kickstart your foray into the exciting world of quick-and-dirty image creation. Having a streamlined process for creating eye-catching images is imperative and imperative to online publishing because, if done right, it will speed up your efforts by far.
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As designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for August 2015. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper! We are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.
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As designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for July 2015. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper! We are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.
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Even though Photoshop is still a long way off from being able to create the high-end and cinematic animations of such programs as After Effects, it still has enough power to create complex animation. In this article, Stephen Petrany will share advanced techniques to help you create complex animations. He’ll look at the Timeline panel and the different properties that can be animated, and explore the roles that adjustment layers, filters and smart objects can have in animation. Because the topics and techniques in this article are advanced, a moderate level of Photoshop knowledge is expected.
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Designing a good logo is the utmost in creative problem-solving. The process makes you really think succinctly about how relationships work. The practice of logo design develops your skills of intuition to recognize obscure but effective solutions and teaches you to discover connections that aren’t apparent on the surface. Adding a universal quality to a logo provides the broadest communicative reach, what almost all identities are intended to accomplish. This three-part series explores fundamental creative strategies for designing effective logos. The first part shows how to use symbols, metaphors and the power of intuition.
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As designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one—desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for June 2015. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper! We are very thankful to all designers who have contributed with this creativity mission and are still diligently contributing each month.
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Are you designing at “Retina” resolution in Photoshop? In this article, Murdoch Carpenter will walk you through the problems he faced in creating Retina mockups to be displayed on a tablet device. He will then explain a way to work that is easier and gives you better performance. This is about Murdoch’s experience with Photoshop, but it could be applied to Illustrator and other software. Throughout this article, he will use the @2x and @3x notation. These represent the Retina buckets for iOS. A great example is the app’s icons.
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Tools are an extension of our hands, and as such, they should be versatile, quick and intuitive. A lot has changed between the print era of offset presses and the digital era of cross-platform screens. Developers have attempted to adapt our tools, but Sketch is perhaps the most successful app in this regard. In this article, Patrick Keenan will not only show you a new tool, but also start you on your way to a new design system. Remember, no matter how good it looks, the greater focus is not on the pixels, but on the user. If your sight is true, all else will follow.
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As designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one—desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for May 2015. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper! This creativity mission has been going on for seven years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.
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Although it’s definitely still a work in progress, Sketch continues to be Ashley Bennent’s go-to web design program. Its tools and interface prioritize design for the web. Things like the premade artboard templates, symbols and simple exporting functionality have drastically sped up my workflow and made the design process a little easier. Sketch has also improved my entire workflow, from moodboards to the early stages of development, making it an optimal tool for responsive design. Plenty of other programs out there have similar features, and until the most recent update (Sketch 3.2), users were battling a lot of bugs in the app. So, why Sketch? Bugs or no bugs, it has become the best tool for UI design, including responsive web design.
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