20 essential CSS tricks every designer should know

This one’s for the absolute beginners. Once you’ve learned how the box model works, and how to float those boxes, it’s time to get serious about your CSS. To that end, we’ve compiled a massive list of tips, tricks, techniques, and the occasional dirty hack to help you build the design you want. CSS can… Continue reading 20 essential CSS tricks every designer should know

4 modern background tricks to try out

It seems that, as a constituent of a design, backgrounds live in the shadows; however, that’s not entirely true. In times when CSS only began to make its first steps towards the world conquest, the background had already taken on the role of the main decorative element of the website. Nowadays the situation has not… Continue reading 4 modern background tricks to try out

Cinemagraphs in web design

If you read any of the countless web design trend reports that came out earlier this year, you likely read about the promise of large, hero-sized cinemagraphs placed prominently on homepages everywhere. So where are they? While a few fashion-forward companies are using them on their websites, the cinemagraph has been largely relegated to showcase… Continue reading Cinemagraphs in web design

Popular design news of the week: October 17, 2016 – October 23, 2016

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however,… Continue reading Popular design news of the week: October 17, 2016 – October 23, 2016

Poll: should coders learn to design?

Okay developers, it’s your turn. People have ranted on and on for years about whether or not designers should learn to code. Heck, I’ve ranted about it. I still contend that… no. No no… This is about you devs, now. Should people who primarily code the back end of web products learn to design the… Continue reading Poll: should coders learn to design?

eBay experiments with a visual search engine

eBay, the giant auction site, has just launched a new site specifically for people looking for furniture and other complementary products and items for the home. eBay Collective, to be sure, is a site that’s aimed more at the high-end crowd, as it features items like antiques, fine art, contemporary design, and other unique items.… Continue reading eBay experiments with a visual search engine

Web 2.0 meets MTV in Pandora’s new branding

For once, I’m not starting off my article with a joke. When I say “Web 2.0”, I genuinely mean that style of design that we all (temporarily) embraced. Many a corner in Pandora’s new logo is curved, and they have brought back the bright and shiny gradient. Okay, so it’s a bit muted compared to… Continue reading Web 2.0 meets MTV in Pandora’s new branding

Popular design news of the week: October 10, 2016 – October 16, 2016

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however,… Continue reading Popular design news of the week: October 10, 2016 – October 16, 2016

Comics of the week #361

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… Continue reading Comics of the week #361

Create a Sci-Fi Chamber Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

Learn how to create a sci-fi photo manipulation of a mysterious chamber with amazing light flares and great entrance with Photoshop. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to contruct your own chamber with textures , place a model in front of the entrance and then complete it by adding realistic shadows and lighting effect Throughout… Continue reading Create a Sci-Fi Chamber Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

The Principles Of Information Architecture

Advertisement At the heart of online design sits information architecture. In fact, a large proportion of our function as online designers is devoted to supporting users when it comes to locating the content that they need, and driving them towards the content that website owners would like them to interact with. As such, we incorporate… Continue reading The Principles Of Information Architecture

Website navigation and user experience

Advertisement Website navigation usability is the most crucial element in design. It makes the difference between a website where users find what they are looking for and one which causes so much frustration that users want to abandon it. The whole point of designing a website is to allow access the content, so the success… Continue reading Website navigation and user experience

How to get your design concept approved by your client

Advertisement It is said that the main goal of the web design studio is to perceive their client. When you learn all about your client’s personality, values, and most importantly, business goals, you come up with a concept – a visual outline of the future website. Sometimes, however, it turns out that your vision does… Continue reading How to get your design concept approved by your client

Eye Candy User Interface Design Inspiration

Advertisement When designing a web-based app or mobile app, you must not only think about the content of the app but also about the functionality. In many cases, you must focus even more on the functionality of an app and use a great UI design in order to create an app that is not only… Continue reading Eye Candy User Interface Design Inspiration

Create a “Game of Thones” Inspired Photo Composite

Lately Game of Thrones season 6 has been aired! One of the most famous characters in it is Daenerys Stormborn. So let’s do an fanart for her! I loved her baby dragons. So I dediced to do an artwork of her with one of her baby dragons. You will learn how to use fire and… Continue reading Create a “Game of Thones” Inspired Photo Composite

Mobile UI Design Inspiration: Charts And Graphs

Design can be considered a craftsmanship because you do it until you are good at it and then you keep doing it to be better. The problem is that many developers are really eager to solve functionality problems rather than spending time to solve the interface issues. A mobile designer must embrace minimalism because he… Continue reading Mobile UI Design Inspiration: Charts And Graphs

How to Composite a Ruins Landscape

Learn how to create this beautiful ruins landscape with magical shafts of light. This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to add ruined buildings to the peaks of a snowy mountain landscape, add mystical light shafts, and a marching army. Final Results Tutorial Resources Some resources may not be available anymore – this is one… Continue reading How to Composite a Ruins Landscape

Create a Dark and Mysterious Landscape Matte Painting with Photoshop

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a dark and mysterious landscape using a range of photo manipulation techniques. You’ll learn how to combine different stock photos into a cohesive scene, create a misty atmosphere, adjust color, work with lighting and more. What you’ll be creating We’ll start this tutorial by creating a… Continue reading Create a Dark and Mysterious Landscape Matte Painting with Photoshop

Combine Photo Elements to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation

This Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to use a variety of color, lighting, and cut and paste techniques to create a surreal photo manipulation. Combine your creativity with these Photoshop techniques to create your own photo manipulation artworks. Final Results Step 1 – Place the background The first step it’s to place the sky,… Continue reading Combine Photo Elements to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation

How to Create a Cute Sleeping Moon Illustration

From a simple sketch to full blown colored artwork you will learn how create an Illustration of a Sleeping Moon. A drawing tablet isn’t necessary for this tutorial but it can make things go little smoother. Before I touch Photoshop I draw a series of sketches for my Moon design and select the best one… Continue reading How to Create a Cute Sleeping Moon Illustration

Taking Control of the tvOS Focus Engine

Introduction On iOS, users normally interact with your apps via the device’s touch screen. On tvOS, however, user interaction is handled by moving the current focus between views on the screen. Luckily, the tvOS implementations of the UIKit APIs handle the changing of focus between views automatically. While this built-in system works very well, for specific… Continue reading Taking Control of the tvOS Focus Engine

How to Create a Gradient Icon Inspired by Instagram in Adobe Illustrator

What You’ll Be Creating Rebrand your logo in style with this quick tutorial on creating a gradient icon in Adobe Illustrator CC. We’ll build our icon design from scratch with quick and simple shapes and pair gradients and effects from the Appearance panel to complete our on-trend design.  Alternatively, you may wish to use a… Continue reading How to Create a Gradient Icon Inspired by Instagram in Adobe Illustrator

How to Send a Pull Request using the Github Desktop Client

In one of my previous posts, I outlined the process of contributing to open source software with a detailed account of each step. One of those steps was sending a pull request to the owner of the repository you forked from. I showed you how to send a pull request using Github‘s web interface. In… Continue reading How to Send a Pull Request using the Github Desktop Client