Web Design, Programming, and Business
Infographics have been around for quite some time but they’ve been gaining a lot of popularity lately because of the boost they give for search engine traffic. A good infographic will condense down steps or ideas into one graphic that allows people to more easily process the information presented. As an infographic, that information can be more easily shared across social media platforms...
If designing a compelling user interface isn’t in your wheelhouse but actually building that UI is, this article is for you! I’ve listed some resources here that would be useful to graphic designers and web designers too. What image editor should I use? You’re not a designer so you don’t need Photoshop, Illustrator, or Sketch. These are all fine applications but are a bit overkill if all you...
Google recently updated their Material Design specification with the added bonus of the new Material Design Iconic Font. These are free to use under the Creative Common Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). This means you can do just about anything you’d like with these icons (Google would enjoy having attribution it isn’t necessary). The icons are available to you in a number of...
Who doesn’t love bacon? Ok, lots of people but I certainly love it. I’ve been using the bacon filler text for years thanks to Bacon Ipsum. The old standby for wireframes and design mockups is to use “Lorem Ipsum” but I find that Bacon Ipsum is much tastier. You can copy their filler text into your designs but they now have a few additional options that you may not know...
You never know when inspiration will hit and having some easily accessible idea and sketching tools always at the ready is nothing short of awesome. A quick list of iPhone and iPad design tools you can install to ensure you’re always ready when inspiration strikes! Adobe Ideas Adobe Kuler FontBook SketchBook Mobile Evernote Skitch Design Duet Credit to Templatelite for the post...
Stock images: We all know the standard big dogs when it comes to purchasing stock photos for our websites and other creative content. But what about when we’re simply mocking up a document, image asset, or working on a staging site? We always want our work to look its best and we are often in a position where the client has yet to provide image assets, or to even provide a direction...
Do you remember when Microsoft first released their style guides for their mobile and Windows 8 platforms? Personally, I recall reading much internet outrage about the “flat blandness” of the design, and innumerable disparaging remarks regarding the color choices. My how have we come a long way in such a short time. Apple products have tended to rake in the accolades for design aesthetics and can...
Web Design, Programming, and Business
Professionally building websites since 2002, I've worked at Microsoft, multiple agencies, and a few web design businesses of my own, including White Whale Web, a Boise-based web development agency. Previously, I was an owner of Thrive Web Designs from 2015 to 2022. I've taught classes, run design groups and even ran a benefit auction for 4 years in my free time. I love sharing and giving back to the web/creative community.