Welcome to the next edition of my Design Strategy blog series. Today, I’m sharing a client story with the hope that y’all will focus on thinking about WHY you should do things differently so that your program can rapidly mature and scale quickly. I will once again skip the “how-to” article formula and dry laundry… Continue reading Name/Role/Value – Whose Role Is It Anyway?
Understanding User Intent: The Secret to Ranking High On Search Engines
“User intent” is a way of defining a user’s goals when they search for something on the internet. It’s a crucial part of SEO nowadays, so let’s find out more! Back before search engines became as sophisticated as they are today, you could game the system by stuffing keywords into your content and watch your… Continue reading Understanding User Intent: The Secret to Ranking High On Search Engines
How to Change Text in Illustrator with Retype
If you are interested in learning how to edit text, Illustrator has a cool feature called Retype. It works on photos and raster graphics where text is outlined or the font is unknown, and it converts it to live, editable text. Follow this tutorial and learn how to achieve this in just a few easy… Continue reading How to Change Text in Illustrator with Retype
Designing for accessibility beyond compliance
Companies approach accessibility as a checklist of standards — but a client with disabilities showed me how to think beyond compliance. Source: Photo by Marcus Aurelius During my time volunteering at Neil Squire Society, and helping Hunter, a client with disabilities, be more comfortable using a computer, I learned a lot about how to better design from three… Continue reading Designing for accessibility beyond compliance
Humane AI pin and the future of ambient interactions
The generation facing the ground. We tilt our heads up to 60° in search of the next TikTok trend. We lose sight of each other because we no longer look at each other. Studies have found that the smartphone creates a shift in appreciation. The paradox here is that the smartphone is used as a… Continue reading Humane AI pin and the future of ambient interactions
Housing, It’s a Human Right (Part 3)
A 3-Part Series on the digital accessibility of the housing process experienced by people with disabilities. In this 3-part series, we will look at the challenges and rewards of the entire experience surrounding the process of acquiring housing for people who live with a disability. We will look at: Buying an existing home Leasing an… Continue reading Housing, It’s a Human Right (Part 3)
The role of hope in a Designer’s life
Hope, optimism and design thinking. Continue reading on UX Collective »
AI is the new UI
The future has arrived early. If you are reading this article, you have made a choice. A choice to evolve. AI isn’t coming for your job, but someone using AI is. Source: Author + AI Now, before you flame me on the design of the graphic, let me explain: I made this in literally one… Continue reading AI is the new UI
How to Merge (Join) Clips Together in DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve stands out in the video editing world for its comprehensive features, including the seamless merging and joining of clips. This capability is crucial for creating a smooth narrative flow in your projects, whether they are cinematic productions, vlogs, or professional advertisements. This tutorial simplifies the process, guiding you through the effective techniques to… Continue reading How to Merge (Join) Clips Together in DaVinci Resolve
How to Remove a Background from a Picture
This is a comparison of the original image I used and the image without a background, downloaded in low resolution. 4. Customize Your New Image Without a Background If you choose the High Resolution route, you can continue editing your image within your browser. You can easily change the background color, and if you click… Continue reading How to Remove a Background from a Picture
How to Design an Editorial Spread in InDesign
What is an editorial spread, and how do you make an editorial spread design of your own? In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to design an editorial magazine spread. We’ll also take a look at some two-page spread examples for inspiration (and for download!). Magazine mockup template from Envato Elements What You’ll Learn What… Continue reading How to Design an Editorial Spread in InDesign
30 Amazing Chrome Extensions for Designers and Developers
Compilations By Robert Reeve 2 days ago Searching for a tool to make cross-platform design a breeze? Desperate for an extension that helps you figure out the HTML code of that fantastic color palette? Looking for a trick that will supercharge your productivity this year? We’ve got you covered. Chrome extensions are the bread and… Continue reading 30 Amazing Chrome Extensions for Designers and Developers
Fonts That Look Like a Stamp
There are plenty of stamp fonts on Envato Elements. Even better, all of them are included for one low price—and this includes thousands of other fonts, stock photos, design templates, and more. Find your next favorite font that looks like a stamp in this fun and inspiring list from Envato Elements. 1. Duarose Rough Stamp… Continue reading Fonts That Look Like a Stamp
The extended designer, and the design machine
The Extended Designer spends less time making products, and more time making progress. The Extended Designer spends less time making products, and more time making progress. 2023 has been Generative AI’s breakout year, but that has been greeted by some fairly mixed responses, particularly from Designers. As the terrain we all live on reconfigures around… Continue reading The extended designer, and the design machine
Media overload is causing design “generification”
Michael F. Buckley · Follow Published in UX Collective · 4 min read · 20 hours ago — 2 Share A bland couch in a stark living room | MidJourney The notion that contemporary design is becoming generic, homogeneous, and just plain boring is not a revelation. Numerous designers, including myself, have extensively discussed this… Continue reading Media overload is causing design “generification”
How to Make a Gradient in Photoshop
Today let’s take a quick look at how to make a gradient in Photoshop using the new and improved Gradient tool. The Photoshop gradient tool got a huge update in 2024, making it completely non-destructive and live. You can easily learn how to add a gradient in Photoshop to an existing image! Let’s take a… Continue reading How to Make a Gradient in Photoshop
How the Content Authenticity Initiative is Changing the Game
Imagine this: you’re casually browsing the internet when suddenly, BAM! You stumble upon a doctored image, designed to deceive or spread misinformation. With the AI boom, manipulating photos has become incredibly easy, enabling people to achieve photo-realistic results in seconds. That’s where Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative comes in. It addresses the challenges of content attribution… Continue reading How the Content Authenticity Initiative is Changing the Game
Dynamic Tooltip Reveal Animations | Codrops
The other day I stumbled across this awesome Dribbble shot by Michael Crawford for one of his invented projects Adult Protection Agency, a playful reminder that the art of growing up is becoming an endangered skill in our ever-devolving world 🙂 A wonderful integration of the Minesweeper game concept gave me this small idea of… Continue reading Dynamic Tooltip Reveal Animations | Codrops
How to Export as PDF in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will be learning how to export as a PDF in Photoshop. This will allow you to share your work with others, print it at high quality, and preserve its formatting and layout. How to Export as a PDF in Photoshop Step 1 Let’s learn how to export as a PDF in… Continue reading How to Export as PDF in Photoshop
How to Select Multiple Layers in Photoshop
Everyone eventually asks themselves, “How do you select multiple layers in Photoshop?” Because, let’s face it, if you need to edit or move several layers at once, selecting them individually can be time-consuming and tedious. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to select multiple layers in Photoshop, speeding up your workflow instantly. How… Continue reading How to Select Multiple Layers in Photoshop
Vanishing designers, guide to risky projects, UI transitions, AI in UX
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers. “Look around us. Every business is an app and every app feels the same, because every designer has the same resume, follows the same process, graduates from the same program, uses the same tool, scrolls the same Dribbble feed, reads the same Medium articles, expects the same career outcome,… Continue reading Vanishing designers, guide to risky projects, UI transitions, AI in UX
Using ChatGPT to generate sequential color schemes
Here, I explore how to use ChatGPT, a text-based generative AI model, as a color suggestion system for building sequential color schemes. I do this by prompting the trained AI model for color schemes and then evaluate the recommendations. Successful results are based on the specific text phrasing used to request ChatGPT to perform these… Continue reading Using ChatGPT to generate sequential color schemes
Three very good standardized UX surveys for industrial use
Pros and cons of the questionnaires SUS, PSSUQ, and ISO 9241–110 plus three more openly available, science-grounded, business-driven UX surveys (all including question sources) User Research Methods User research is one of the most important, if not the most important element of user experience (UX) and design. In this area exist many methods and materials, grounded in… Continue reading Three very good standardized UX surveys for industrial use
Steam: the evolution of UI and UX in Gaming
Today, Steam stands as the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming. The core function of Steam is to offer users a convenient means of purchasing both games and software through its online store. Upon purchasing a game, a software license is permanently associated with the user’s Steam account. This license grants them the ability… Continue reading Steam: the evolution of UI and UX in Gaming