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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
It’s long been thought that Arial is to Helvetica what the ugly step sister is to Cinderella. Helvetica was designed in Germany in the 1950s to compete with Akzidenz Grotesk; Arial was designed in America in the early 1980s, believed by many to be a move by Microsoft to supply a Helvetica-like font as part [...]
In just a couple of years, Pinterest has established itself as the third largest social networking website, behind Facebook and Twitter (and ahead of the likes of Google+). For a website that is still in relative infancy, such a record is definitely commendable. The question that now arises is, can we harness Pinterest’s popularity to [...]
Since the very earliest illuminated manuscripts, dating back to the 5th century AD, we’ve associated flora with enlarged type. Perhaps it’s something to do with the way plants repeat the same shapes, echoed by type. Or perhaps it’s simply that we can bend an organic shape to our design without compromising its integrity. Whatever the [...]
If you have a smartphone, a tablet or a regular computer, chances are you have used an app at some point. We can’t get enough of them. They make life easier and quicker. Apps help you remember things, help you find and see things and just all around help you be an awesome(r) person. There’s [...]
It may be a project at work you just can’t get a handle on, or an important decision you can’t seem to make; but regardless of the situation, everyone can relate to the feeling of being stuck. Luckily, there’s Unstuck — a free iPad app designed to help users break free from a sticky situation. Released [...]
The purpose of any website is to get people from your target audience interested in what you’re offering. Whether it be a product or service, 9 times out of 10, someone is going to want to communicate with you further. Because of this, in almost any industry, you’re going to want to create a contact [...]
Today we’re excited to share an awesome vector pack from Freepik.com The set includes a whopping 500 vectors icons, provided as both individual PNG files as well as a master Illustrator file for quick resizing. Freepik.com is a leading search engine that indexes vectors, PSDs and photos free for personal and commercial use. Their service [...]
With increasing diversity in monitor sizes, it’s not practical to design single blocks of text that take up the entire width of the screen. The traditional solution is to split text into columns manually, which is very time intensive; or to split text dynamically with JavaScript, which doesn’t function universally. Besides, this is a presentation [...]
It’s the first quarter of 2013 and everyone wants to be the person to tell you what’s next. I’m not sure what we all gain from it other than a solid “I-told-you-so”, but you’ve probably read many articles telling you what’s happening for 2013. I’ve personally written a couple and I’m sure your favorite blog [...]
In this tutorial, we’ll be getting started with Adobe’s new animation tool, Adobe Edge Animate. Edge Animate harnesses the power of HTML5 animation, and allows the user to create dynamic, exciting web-based animations in a quick, easy and fun way, using a user-friendly timeline-based interface as opposed to blocks of daunting code. In our first [...]
Remember the good old days? You know which days I’m talking about; the days not so long ago when we used to design websites to fixed widths. Looking back now they seem like such a simpler time; a happier time; a time when I could recite every font that was available to use online without [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
Sports branding used to be about differentiating two opposing teams on a field; it used to be about an umpire or referee quickly identifying the team to award points to, or to penalize; it used to be a world in which the identity of a team could be summed up in the color of their [...]
Patterns can make a website design more interesting and appealing. Often mildly skeuomorphic in nature, they bring an element of real-world texture to a site. The variation in tone that they create mimics the multi-tonal nature of real surfaces. What’s more, patterns that tessellate are particularly suited to responsive design, as they can be repeated [...]
Creating canvas apps is the new thing, we can even create games with it, it’s supported in all major browsers both desktop and mobile, and that makes it a more viable solution than using Flash. In this tutorial we are going to use the canvas element to create a simple color picker that doesn’t require [...]
There are two main reasons people utilize the web: to share things and to be informed. Sure, we could pick up a newspaper or switch on the television, but I’d argue that it’s much easier to whip out your phone or laptop to find info. The wonderful thing about the web is that you’re never [...]
When Google Plus was launched a year and a half ago, it set in motion a multitude of changes to the search landscape. From this point forward, getting traffic from the famed search engine is no longer about the number of backlinks you have. A personal element was added to the search. The problem most [...]
Within the past couple of weeks, I handed in my notice, after spending over fifteen years working in-house as a designer of websites and magazines for a publishing company. This wasn’t a quick or easy decision; but the time feels right to strike out and apply everything I’ve learnt both through the job — and [...]
VectorStock.com have a huge collection of vector files, with thousands of new files being added each week. Vectors cover subjects ranging from vintage labels, to floral patterns, to cityscapes. You’ll also find some clever hand-drawn typefaces hidden amongst the gems. Head over and browse through what you could win, but don’t forget to fill out the entry [...]
Given the rise in mobile web usage year on year, there is now an increased focus on making websites more responsive, adaptive and user-friendly for visitors on small screens. One key area that is often overlooked and that could easily lead to a heap of frustration is the contact form. Whether a user is logging [...]
In the web-era, major news sources aren’t restricted to local readership. Whilst a city paper may feature some local news, its sports, national and international news coverage is just as likely to be read by someone on a different continent. In 2012, The New York Times (44.8m monthly readers) fell behind London’s Daily Mail (45.3m [...]
For most brands, recognition is everything. Occasionally you’ll encounter a company that seeks to create a air of exclusivity by shunning popular appeal, but for the large part companies need you to spot them immediately. Brand recognition isn’t about making a good first impression, it’s about up-selling; creating a way, once trust and even pleasure [...]
A logo is an essential part of your company brand. It works together with elements such as your website, collateral, brand promise, and marketing efforts to set the tone for your company as a whole in the public arena. And while this sounds simple enough, many logos tend to overshoot or fall short. Let’s see [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
There’s a concept in web design that is more important than responsive design, more important than mobile-first, more important than separating style and content; the most important concept in web design is backwards compatibility. Most backwards compatibility is achieved by web designers with careful application of graceful degradation — the process by which advanced features [...]
First it was the Capulets versus the Montagues; then it was Coke versus Pepsi; and the latest epic battle? Serif versus sans-serif, of course. Lucky for us, the crew at UrbanFonts has produced a nifty infographic to help clarify the age-old rivalry between serif and sans. Brief, yet information-packed, it covers everything from DPI to [...]
When I write about the black and white, crossword puzzle-like QR code, I feel like I’m talking about the stone age of human development. The few years of existence for the QR code in marketing efforts, seem like they were first experienced by our grandparents when you look at how the code itself has evolved [...]
The web has grown rapidly in the last two decades and its omnipresence makes it easy to forget that just 20 years ago it was an unheard of concept for most people. While as designers and developers we feel fully engaged with the web, law makers are, perhaps inevitably, still running to catch up. The [...]
Companies spend thousands on logos and branding aimed at putting a positive gloss over their products. But what if the downsides couldn’t be hidden in the small print or conveniently omitted, and had to be up front in the branding? Viktor Hertz, a designer from Uppsala in Sweden, has decided to follow this idea through. [...]
The popularity of shopping for items online is greatly increasing. If you ask me why I like to shop online, it’s because I have pretty solid control over my purchase. I get to have time to open up another tab and read up on reviews from other folks. I don’t have to be forced by [...]
Bundled with HTML5 came a large number of API goodness and one of the best was the Fullscreen API that provides a native way for the browser to do what was only possible in flash for a long time: display the webpage in fullscreen mode for the user. This comes in handy if you are [...]
WordPress has evolved hugely over the years from simple fork of blogging software to a powerful platform. According to a WordPress Survey, 66% of respondents use WordPress as a CMS, not just blogging software. The growth of WordPress adoption for various type of site has created a new market with its own landscape. Companies and [...]
Human beings are masters at strategically building walls to hide our innermost selves. But what would happen if those metaphorical barriers were suddenly see-through, effectually forcing us to bare our souls for the world to see? In her series called The Invisible Wall, Peruvian artist Ana De Orbogoso masterfully shows us what it would look [...]
Lately some websites, like This is the Brigade and All You, have started featuring a dynamic and animated menu that resizes on scroll down. Minimizing the main navigation to allow more space for the content. In this tutorial, I’ll explain how you can create this menu yourself with HTML5, CSS3 and just a bit of [...]
It’s been some time since Facebook made any changes to its News Feed, and like Timeline feature launched in 2011 the News Feed redesign represents a major change to one of the site’s core services. In the press event announcing the change, Mark Zuckerberg said of the service, “The news feed is one of the [...]
The March edition of what’s new for web designers and developers includes new web apps, jQuery plugins and JavaScript resources, productivity and project management tools, CMS’s, CSS and HTML frameworks, web development tools, coding resources, and some really great new fonts. Many of the resources below are free or very low cost, and are sure [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
Drupal 8 is due out later this year, and already speculation has begun to mount over what’s going to be included in the new release. One of the key features everybody is looking forward to is the level of mobile and device compatibility that the highly experienced team of developers are expected to provide. The [...]
Advertising is about eyeballs — that is, the number you can get to focus and take notice of your service or product. With that in mind, ad execs often turn to the humorous, irreverent, or even outlandish to break through the clutter and demand attention. Sure, sometimes jokes fall flat; but do it well, and [...]
If world leaders were more like-minded, perhaps the elusive goal of world peace might be more attainable. But while international harmony remains a utopian dream for now, French photographer Philippe Petremant is doing his part to inch us closer. In his series ‘The Magnificent Seven’, the Lyon-based artist helps political figures past and present share [...]
I recently received a call from a young designer who I met when she was in art school. I reviewed her portfolio and several years later at a local graphic design group meeting, she reintroduced herself and thanked me for being kind and helpful in that review. She became an avid reader of my articles [...]
When I was in middle school, I took a sign language class. At the time, it struck me as interesting that some words and letters looked exactly like the thing being described, while others seemingly had no relation. That’s why I’m intrigued by what New York designer Tien-Min Liao has undertaken as a typographic challenge. [...]
Stripping a website to its barest form, ignoring for a moment, content which is only text and images, all a browsing experience is, is navigation. It’s clicking links that take you to other pages with more links. The main navigation of your site is such a crucial part of this as it represents the persistent [...]
We launched our new StartupGiraffe website a few months ago, and we’ve been meaning to write a post about how we did a piece of the frontend for anyone interested. Our goal was to create a fun and responsive site that showed off our brand. Once our friends at Barrel NY agreed to do the graphic [...]
Whether you design WordPress themes or just use them, you’ve got to stay on top of what’s happening in the world of WP theme creation. Every few months we round up some of the best new themes, both free and premium, from some of the best theme designers out there. There are great features in [...]
Let’s be clear: people hate filling out forms. Since most websites are lead generators, however, encouraging users to fill out forms is often not just important but critical. So how can web designers create better, more effective forms that will encourage their users to buy a product or leave their details? Training a puppy can [...]
One major issue with JavaScript-based applications is that they break the Back button. If you update content on the page with JavaScript rather than loading a new page from the server, no entry made is in the browser history; so when the user clicks Back, expecting to go back to the previous state, they end [...]
Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]
Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]
As a writer, I’m particularly drawn to typographic art. Perhaps it’s because the combination of word and art speaks to both the left brain and the right brain — and therein lies the magic. Designer Ji Lee’s book entitled Word as Image brilliantly illustrates the power of “picturing words”. Currently Facebook’s Creative Strategist and formerly [...]
With so many new websites and start-ups springing up every day, a high-quality, professional web site is no longer optional — if it ever was. If you want your company to be taken seriously, let alone stand out, you need to have a design that is both memorable and professional. However, getting to that point [...]
With so many new websites and start-ups springing up every day, a high-quality, professional web site is no longer optional — if it ever was. If you want your company to be taken seriously, let alone stand out, you need to have a design that is both memorable and professional. However, getting to that point [...]