Editors Pick | The Blog Pros

May 26, 2020

An Intro to Adobe Edge Web Fonts: Updated for 2020

With the release of Creative Cloud 2015, Adobe has continued its tradition of generating a buzz in the tech sector.

In addition to major updates on their programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, Adobe has also released a new platform named Adobe Edge Web Fonts.

Edge Fonts is a stunning font foundry that web designers can use 100% free for all design work.

If you’re familiar with Adobe and the creative cloud platform then you know about TypeKit.

This is Adobe’s premium font service which costs money.

But with the release of Edge Fonts Adobe now provides an alternative to TypeKit, offering web designers over 500 different font-families to choose from.

I’ll give you an overview of Edge Web Fonts and why designers should be excited about this amazing collection of typefaces.

Worth the Wait

In the recent past Google has dominated the web font game. Simply put, no other service provided an extensive collection of web fonts for free.

There is no denying that Adobe TypeKit is extremely popular among web designers. But the price of TypeKit often caused people to stray from using it.

Because Edge Web Fonts is free to use commercially, Adobe now provides an alternative to the once unrivaled Google Webfonts.

Edge Web Fonts aims to provide a free service that is easy to use.

Just like Google Fonts, a person does not need any sort of account to utilize Edge Fonts library (Scroll down for an update on this).

In addition to being easy to use, Edge Fonts is powered by the TypeKit font service.

Users can expect high-end performance and stability for their web fonts.

Edge Web Fonts User Interface

In the image above you can see the interface Edge Web Fonts provides for choosing fonts.

For those of you who’ve used Typekit in the past, you’ll notice the Edge Fonts website is strikingly similar to that of TypeKit.

As a TypeKit user myself I think this is pretty important to note.

The user interface was one of the main reasons why I continued to use TypeKit, and now Adobe is providing this to web designers for free.

In the example above I’ve narrowed the choices down to only serif fonts in order to show you a basic example of how Adobe’s interface works.

Although this may not seem very powerful, it allows you to sift through font faces that are alike in some way.

Edge Fonts also allows you to search fonts depending on whether they will be used as a heading or paragraph text.

This interface is much easier to choose the most appropriate font for whatever environment you’re designing.

Google Fonts is indeed a tremendous font foundry for web designers, however, sifting through the extensive number of fonts can become a problem.

It seems Edge Web Fonts has a leg up in this regard.

Adobe Edge Web Fonts – 2020 Update

In 2018, Typekit was finally and officially renamed as Adobe Fonts.

And that was great for all of us. With this new name came many new, much-needed updates.

For example, there are no more web-only fonts, no more desktop sync limits, and no more pageview limits.

And now instead of only having 500 fonts like there were when it Adobe fonts was first released, there are now thousands of fonts for you to choose from.

Adobe Fonts is free to use IF you have a subscription to any one of their products.

It is no longer a standalone product like it was when it was Typekit.

That is a bummer, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

And chances are, you probably have a subscription to Adobe.

So you should be good to go.

The great thing about Adobe Fonts is that you don’t have to worry about finding the rights to any font you fall in love with, as Adobe takes care of all of that for you!

All fonts are free to use for personal and commercial use.

This means that once you find that perfect font for your project, that’s literally it.

No more contacting the owner and buying the rights to it.

That’s right, you just get to keep the perfect font.

Isn’t that amazing?

Top 10 Adobe Fonts Designers Use

Before we end our time together today, I want to show you my top 10 favorite fonts from Adobe Fonts.

If you’re not convinced that you need to be using Adobe Fonts yet, well, after this, I’m almost certain you will be.

Conclusion

In order to truly grasp the power of Edge Web Fonts you’ll have to check it out for yourself.

Not only does it provide an extensive number of fonts, it also makes the process of finding them quick & easy. Also you should remember that Edge Web Fonts provides premier performance for your font styles by utilizing TypeKit!

You’ll surely not be disappointed when you see what has been given to web designers with the incredible Edge Web Fonts service.

May 22, 2020

ZeroSSL: The Answer to Trusted Certificate Authority and SSL

One of the biggest concerns for anyone on the internet, whether you’re selling a product or buying one, is security.

And honestly, nobody can blame them.

The internet is a scary place with lots of potential security threats.

But, don’t freak out too much.

There are lots of security measures in place to make sure that your internet browsing session is an enjoyable one.

Today, we’re going to be highlighting one of the best security measures any brand can make with their website: SSL protection.

Now, thanks to our friends at ZeroSSL, SSL protection just became a lot easier.

Let’s go over exactly what ZeroSSL is and what it can do to help you.

What is ZeroSSL?

To put it simply, ZeroSSL is a new, completely free to use, and trusted certificate authority and SSL platform.

Their aim is to make it easy and extremely affordable to create SSL certificates for anyone.

ZeroSSL is the first real alternative to Let’s Encrypt, offering completely free SSL certificates through an easy-to-use UI and API.

They’re launching this in partnership with an existing CA, and are a completely trusted Sub-Authority on their own.

Unlike Let’s Encrypt, ZeroSSL not only offers an API/ACME, but also an easy-to-use API that allows users to create both 90-day and 1-year validity certificates through an unprecedentedly easy and simple process.

They are also currently testing their own ACME Server in BETA which will be released in May, and allows all existing ACME & Let’s Encrypt Clients to automate certificate issuing through ZeroSSL.

Basically, it’s a plug-in alternative to Let’s Encrypt’s ACME.

ZeroSSL offers both single domain, multi-domain and wildcard certificates for free through ACME, and allows users to create 1-year certificates with an affordable subscription plan.

In addition to ACME, they also offer a REST API to issue certificates automatically.

Unlike Let’s Encrypt, they also allow users to validate domain ownership via email (not just DNS), making it much easier to quickly issue certificates via the UI.

ZeroSSL features

Honestly, there are so many features that ZeroSSL has to offer.

If we tried to mention them all in this article, you’d be here a while.

We mentioned a few just above, but it really only scratches the surface.

Here are some of the highlights that you’ll probably want to know about:

Wildcard SSL

Need to protect a fixed or variable number of subdomains using your SSL certificate?

Wildcards can be issued for any type of ZeroSSL certificate, regardless of validity.

One-step validation

To validate SSL certificates using Zero SSL, it only takes a few minutes.

It’s straightforward and supports automatic CSR-generation and domain verification via email, HTTP or DNS (CNAME) file upload.

Super quick installation

Installing SSL certificates literally couldn’t be any easier with Zero SSL.

Using the readily available instructions online, all you have to do is download your certificate file and follow a few easy steps before you’re ready to roll.

Management console

ZeroSSL’s user interface is as intuitive and easy to use as they come.

Everything that you could possibly need to manage your SSL certificates is all gathered in one place.

SSL certificate monitoring

ZeroSSL takes certificate security very seriously. By enabling certificate monitoring, you’ll get security measures beyond a simple expiration warning message.

ACME automation

Automatically renew your 90 day certificates with ACME automation.

ZeroSSL comes with a dedicated ACME certbot.

It’s also supported by all major ACME integrations.

SSL REST API

ZeroSSL features a straightforward SSL REST API that supports certificate creation, validation, renewal, management, and automated status webhooks.

Trusted by major brands

ZeroSSL is not only the greatest SSL certificate authority and SSL platforms on earth, but it’s also trusted by numerous, massive brands around the world.

With 1,000,000+ certificates issued monthly, 500,000+ happy customers, and 99.9$ internet coverage, it’s no wonder major brands like Lenovo, Slack, and Uber trust ZeroSSL every day.

Pricing

As we mentioned at the start, ZeroSSL offers a free package that contains 3 90-day certificates, and there’s no need to enter a credit card whatsoever.

In addition to that free plan, they also have a lot of other pricing options to offer, too.

No matter the size of your brand or your specific needs, ZeroSSL has something for you.

Starting at just $10 per month, there’s really no competition.

Keep in mind that if you don’t see a package that fits your needs, they also offer custom enterprise packages just for you.

After everything we’ve mentioned here today, and the unrivaled support that ZeroSSL offers, the only conclusion that we can come up with is that we all should sign up as soon as possible.

Creating an encrypted channel between you and your clients in order to insure security is vital in this day and age.

SSL certificates provide that security and ZeroSSL provides a quick and easy way to obtain those certificates.

May 20, 2020

20 Logos With Hidden Messages – 2020 Update

Designing logos can be a very difficult task.

When designing a logo, you want it to stand out from the crowd, yet still be really simple.

Sometimes the designer is really clever and makes the logo very simple, yet includes a hidden message within the logo that has a deeper meaning.

In today’s article, we’re going to cover 20 logos with hidden messages.

Some logos you will have seen before, and some may be completely new to you, but hopefully, you will enjoy them all.

Amazon

The Amazon logo is an extremely simple logo and while the arrow may just look like a smile it actually points from a to z.

This represents that Amazon sells everything from a to z, and the smile on the customers face when they bought a product.

Goodwill

Goodwill. The one thrift store we all know and love.

When you look at the logo, you see it’s a person smiling, probably happy that they just donated their clothes or just copped an awesome find for a great deal!

Now look at the letter ‘g’ from ‘goodwill’.

You’ll see that same smiling person in the first letter of the logo!

LG

At first glance, you might think LG’s logo may just be the winking face of a happy client.

But look closer.

You’ll see that in the winky face logo, there’s actually an L in the center, and the face is a G!

Super clever on their part.

Pinterest is one of my favorite social media apps out there.

It’s always full of great ideas and new trends that I can get inspired from, and then I can pin those images to one of my boards.

Hence, “Pin-terest”.

Duh.

Anyway, to the untrained eye, you might just see the letter “P” in the logo.

But if you really pay close attention, you’ll see that the letter “P” is actually a pin.

Michael Deal, the co-designer of this logo said, “For most of the project, I had avoided making visual reference to the image of a pin because it seemed too literal. But the “P” started to lend itself too well to the shape of a map pin.”

Toyota

Next up, we have Toyota.

This one is definitely one of the coolest of them all, and if it hasn’t received some kind of award already, well, it definitely deserves one.

If you didn’t already know, the Toyota logo has the entire word “Toyota” written in it!

Here’s a diagram to explain it better.

Isn’t that the coolest thing you’ve ever seen?

BMW

BMW just recently updated its logo and it looks amazing.

I wrote an entire piece about the new BMW logo because that’s how much I loved it.

But anyway, let’s talk about the hidden message here!

This logo actually represents a propeller in motion, with the blue part representing the sky, and the white part representing the propeller.

BMW’s logo is a tribute to the company’s history in aviation.

Baskin Robbins

The Baskin Robbins logo may look like it includes a simple BR above the name. bBt if you take another look, you will that it includes a pink number 31. This is a reference to their original and iconic 31 flavors.

Chick-fil-a

The Chick-fil-a logo incorporates a chicken into the C. Although this isn’t very hidden, it is still very clever.

Eighty20

The eighty20 logo is a bit of a geeky one to figure out, the two lines of squares represent a binary sequence with the blue squares being 1’s and the grey squares being 0’s.

Which makes 1010000 which represents eighty and 0010100 which represents 20.

F1

The F1 logo is a fairly simple one to figure out. The negative space in the middle creates the 1.

Facebook Places

If you didn’t already know Facebook Places, it is Facebook’s new geolocational product, which is in direct competition with the current leader in that area, Foursquare.

Now if you take another look at Facebook Places logo you will notice there is a 4 in a square.

Now is this a coincidence or is it a dig at Foursquare?

Fedex

The FedEx logo looks like a plain, text-based logo.

But if you take a second look, between the E and the X, you will see an arrow, that represents the speed and accuracy of the company’s deliveries.

Milwaukee Brewers

The old Milwaukee Brewers logo may look like a simple catchers mitt holding a ball, but if you take a second glance, you will see the team’s initials M and B.

Museum of London

The Museum of London logo may look like a modern logo design, but it actually represents the geographic area of London as it as grew over time.

NBC

The NBC logo has a hidden peacock above the above text which is looking to the right.

This represents the companies motto to look forward and not back, and also that they are proud of the programs they broadcast.

Northwest Airlines

The old Northwest Airlines logo may look like a simple logo, but if you take a closer look, the symbol on the left actually represents both N and W and because it is enclosed within the circle it also represents a compass pointing northwest.

Piano Forest

The Piano Forest logo may look like a simple text logo with trees above it, but if you take another look you will see that the trees actually represent keys on a piano.

Toblerone

The Toblerone logo contains the image of a bear hidden in the Matterhorn mountain, which is where Toblerone originally came from.

Tostitos

The Tostitos logo includes two people sharing a chip and a bowl of salsa, this conveys an idea of people connecting with each other over a bowl of chips.

Treacy Shoes

The Treacy Shoes logo is very cute logo with a shoe hidden between the t and s.

In Conclusion

Making a clever logo doesn’t always just come easily to you.

It can take weeks, months, and even years to come up with something mindblowing.

Other times, the idea comes to the forefront of your brain and you can see it clear as day.

Gather inspiration from these amazing logos with hidden messages and start making your own!

You could design the next big logo.

Did I miss any other big logos that have hidden messages within them?

Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

May 7, 2020

20 Amazing Examples of Neumorphism – New Design Trends 2020

Ah, Neumorphism. We love to see it.

Neumorphism is my favorite design trend thus far in 2020 and it’ll take a lot to surpass it.

We’ve been seeing it a lot lately, and we stan.

What is Neumorphism?

Neumorphism is a new modern graphic design technique that is a combination of skeuomorphism, flat design, and realism.

[source]

Neumorphism is actually a play on words that means New Skeuomorphism.

If you’re not familiar with the term skeuomorphism, well, think of the old version of Apple, before they had all their sleek, minimalist, and modern updates.

[source]

Skeuomorphism is the design concept of making items represented resemble their real-world counterparts. Skeuomorphism is commonly used in many design fields, including user interface (UI) and Web design, architecture, ceramics, and interior design. Skeuomorphism contrasts with flat design, a simpler graphic style. [source]

Neumorphism, on the other hand, takes all of the best qualities of skeuomorphism and combines it with flat design.

Which gives us my favorite design trend of all time.

It’s like when you see neumorphism on an app, you actually think you’re going to touch it and experience it in real life.

It’s the craziest feeling, and that’s probably why I love it so much.

30 Examples of Neumorphism Done Right

I want to show you guys my top favorite examples of neumorphism that I found on Dribbble, so let’s have at it.

[source]

I know I love neumorphism, but I want to know what you think about it!

Let me know in the comments if you think this new trend is a vibe, or if you’re onto a whole different trend.

Until next time,

Stay creative, everybody!

May 4, 2020

5 Best Platforms to Get Exposure For Your Work

You have all the potential in the world to be the most sought-after graphic designer in history.

Re-read that sentence again and believe it.

There are a lot of factors that go into being the best designer you can be, but one thing stands true; You could be the best designer in your field, but no one knows about you.

One reason you might not be wildly succeeding right now is that you’re not promoting yourself and your work.

Or you’re not taking advantage of all the places you could be publishing your work.

5 Platforms That Will Help You Grow

Today I want to go over my 5 go-to platforms where I publish my work when I create osmething I’m proud of.

And you should do the same!

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

1. Dribbble

Okay, I know that you were expecting to see this as number one, but that’s for good reason!

If you’re not posting your work to Dribbble, every time you create something bomb, then you’re doing it wrong.

If by the smallest chance in the world, you don’t know what Dribbble is, then let me break it down for you.

According to Wikipedia, Dribbble is a self-promotion and social networking platform for digital designers and creatives.

It serves as a design portfolio platform, jobs and recruiting site and is one of the largest platforms for designers to share their work online.

The company is fully remote with no headquarters.

A place where designers gain inspiration, feedback, community, and jobs and is your best resource to discover and connect with designers worldwide.

Let me just show you what 2018 held for Dribbble.

You can easily sign up and upload your work. It’s free to join and to post JPG images, but for more advanced project, you might have to upgrade to pro.

Lots of people have been connected with contractors and found jobs through this platform, so I highly recommend!

2. Behance

Are you surprised to see Behance right after Dribbble?

I suppose that none of us are.

If you have Dribbble, you need to have Behance as well.

I just feel like the two really are the perfect combo.

Behance is owned by Adobe and is a social media platform that was created for designers to showcase their work and get feedback from other designers

You might also be found by your next client, who knows!

Behance is very similar to Dribbble, in the fact that you just search for a keyword and find loads of inspirational designs and you can find likeminded designers.

Behance is also free of cost, and we all love that.

3. Hunie

If you’re always second-guessing your work, then you need to get on Hunie.

Hunie is a platform where you can submit your work strictly to get constructive criticism back from professionals.

It’s great to have an awesome community of other designers who are ready and willing to help you improve.

All you have to do is request an invite and then submit your work for advice and opinions.

You will get the opportunity to connect with others and grow, and also be able to give your opinion and help to other designers.

4. Pinterest

If you’re sleeping on Pinterest, then you’ve got another thing coming.

Pinterest is such a powerful tool for gaining a following and exposure.

It’s completely free, and although it’s not made specifically for designers, that doesn’t mean you can’t engage with awesome other designers on the platform.

Use the right keywords and find out what’s trending and post your work!

5. Instagram

I’m almost certain you have an Instagram.

You should be using Instagram to your advantage!

I wouldn’t necessarily say you should post your work on your personal profile, but I have definitely created a secondary profile.

Make a profile that’s dedicated to sharing your work.

The power of hashtags in incredible.

Whenever you upload your work, make sure you use about 5 meaningful hashtags to describe your work so you can be on the search page!

You can also promote your work very inexpensively and get thousands of impressions and likes from people who genuinely will love your work.

Wrapping up

Your work deserves to be seen, because it’s awesome.

All you need to do is put yourself out there!

Use these platforms daily to gain inspiration from others, and to grow your own following and community.

Let me know what other platforms you guys use to promote your work.

Until next time,

Stay creative!

April 30, 2020

OLX Gets A Brand New Logo and Platform Design

If you’ve lived outside of the US, then you’ve probably heard of or even used OLX at least once in your lifetime.

OLX is a pretty big deal.

OLX is a platform where you can buy and sell anything; services and goods alike.

You want to get rid of that old scarf hanging in the back of your closet? Awesome. Snap a pic and post it to OLX and wait for someone to buy it off of you.

Looking for a job or want to hire someone? Post about it.

OLX was established back in 2006 in Amsterdam but has since spread worldwide.

This buy-and-sell platform is now in 45 different countries and I personally browse through it every. single. day.

Their logo has always been a little different though, and their new one is no exception.

Today we’re talking about OLX’s new logo and app design.

Before…

After…

This is the first time that OLX has ever changed their logo, and if I’m completely honest, when I first saw it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

The first logo was very colorful, and although the colors weren’t necessarily bad, they did make you wonder “why”.

This new logo has a very interesting font. The “L” could easily be mistaken for a bar and be read as “O|X”.

OLX did take a step into the right direction, though.

It is much more modern and it is unique.

Even though there is no symmetry whatsoever in the logo, I can’t say that I hate it.

I actually really like it.

It has a very strong presence, and although the “L” is very thick and the “x” seems too small, I like it.

The fact that each letter is unique is a great representation of how everyone has different needs and that this app has been accommodated to fit the needs of every buyer.

Overall, even though this new transformation may be a little bit all over the place and the ads don’t really explain what OLX actually stands for, it definitely was a step in the right direction.

The app was in need of some modernisation and that’s what they gave it.

With a few tweaks here and there, it could be the perfect fit for them.

What do you make of their new logo and platform?

Let us know in the comments.

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

April 30, 2020

10 Websites and Apps All Designers Should Be Using

As a designer, we’re overloaded with choices every day, but there are some apps that are absolutely worth your time and investment.

Finding the best ones and most useful ones can be a difficult task, so we’re going to make things easy for you and give you our top 10 apps and websites we couldn’t live without.

So sit back, relax, eat your popcorn, and let’s get into this list.

If You’re a Designer, You Better Be Using These Apps and Sites

Whether it’s for inspiration or it’s a useful tool that will make your life easier, we’re covering it today.

Let’s do it!

1. Dribbble

This one is probably obvious, because if you’re a designer, then you know Dribbble.

Type literally anything you’re looking for in the search bar and see what other creative people, like yourself, created and uploaded.

You can upload your own content to share and get exposure, or you can get inspiration for your next project.

You can also follow other designers and have an awesome feed page where you’ll find inspiration you didn’t even know you were looking for.

But we all know that if you’re looking for any type of graphic design inspiration you’re either going to come here or go to Behance. Which leads me to my next must-use design site.

2. Behance

Another great platform where you can get incredible amounts of inspiration from is Behance.

You can also follow other designers and upload your own work there as well.

We recommend that you use both Dribble and Behance to make the most of your inspiration hunt.

And the other obvious ones, don’t sleep on Instagram or Pinterest either!

3. Adobe XD

Adobe XD (and Adobe in general) might be the best thing that happened to designers, especially those that work with other designers.

You can literally work on the same project, in real time, and both make edits at the same time.

Adobe XD has everything you need for team projects. You can edit together, give feedback, work in real time, and everyone stays on the same page at all times.

4. Adobe Edge Inspect

As a designer, you have to make sure your work looks good across all devices.

That’s where Adobe Edge Inspect comes in.

All you need to do is pair your smartphone or tablet to your computer and you can see exactly what your designs will look like across devices.

With Adobe Edge inspect, you will be able to see real-time results from changes to HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

5. Adobe Color

If you want to save time on finding quality color schemes that look bomb, then you’re going to want to get your hands on Adobe Color.

Create and save a color scheme that works for you.

Drag the pins around the color wheel and let Adobe work its magic for you.

6. Adobe Creative Cloud

If you can’t decide what apps you absolutely need and want to invest a lot of money into, well, you’re not alone.

One thing you could do is sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud.

Adobe Creative Cloud is a platform made for creators and artists.

You’ll get access to 20+ apps that will help you be the best artist you can be.

“Creative Cloud is a collection of 20+ desktop and mobile apps and services for photography, design, video, web, UX and more. Now you can take your ideas to new places with Photoshop on the iPad, draw and paint with Fresco, and design for 3D and AR. Join our global creative community — and make something better together.”

Start a free trial today, find out what you like, and invest in your future!

7. Milanote

Milanote will help you stay creative and stay organized.

Yes, I totally believe that there is organization in chaos, but I also like to try to keep a tidy workspace, which equals a tidy mind.

With Milanote you can organize your ideas and projects into visual boards.

You can put all your ideas into one place, make a vision board, and invite your team to see it.

8. Color Hunt

You guys already know that we are huge fans of Gal Shir here at Web Design Ledger.

If you don’t know about him and his work, we have an article where we featured him as Designer of the Week!

Anyway, he made this awesome free and open platform, called Color Hunt, where you can get color inspiration by going through thousands of trendy and hand-picked color palettes.

If you just scroll through, you’ll see tons of different, gorgeous color palettes, and I’m sure you’re bound to find the perfect one for you and your next project.

9. iFontMaker

If you’re really looking for an original font, you might as well create your own.

If you have an iPad, then you need to get iFontMaker ASAP.

In just five minutes, you can create your own custom font.

You can be as crazy or as elegant as you want.

I think this is actually one of the coolest apps I’ve seen in a hot minute.

10. Font Shop

And finally, I present to you, the Font Shop.

If you feel like you can’t find the right font anywhere, try the Font Shop.

They have over 130,000 fonts! Which is quite frankly, insane.

If you’re looking for something classic, they’ve got it. Something funky? They got it.

Give it a go and see what you find!

Just a Few of My Favorite Things…

Of course there are tons of apps that are absolutely essential for your work, and everyone’s list will be slightly different.

These were just a few of the apps I go back and forth with throughout the work day and thought I’d share to make your life a little bit easier.

Next week I’ll make another list if you guys are interested in seeing that, then stay tuned and keep checking back in on the blog.

What are you must-have design tools that you use on a daily basis that I didn’t cover?

Let me know in the comments.

Until next time,

Stay safe and stay creative, folks!

April 29, 2020

We Redesigned Web Design Ledger – Here’s It Is!

The news is true, we completely redesigned the best blog in the world, Web Design Ledger!

Okay, maybe we’re a little bit biased, but there’s no denying that the new web design layout is amazing.

We are so excited to show you guys the finished product.

Let me just hit you with the most satisfying before and after ever.

Before…

After!

Amazing, right?!

With this new era and new decade that we’ve come into this year, we wanted to bring our design blog along with it and let it go through a major change.

We really wanted it to symbolise a new design era.

It was about time our blog got a facelift, and we’re obsessed with it.

Everything is minimal and has soft edges, and what I’m really thrilled about is that gradient bar at the top of the home page.

Our blog is easier to browse through now than ever and it just has an all-around crisp and fresh vibe to it.

We’ve been working on this design for a long time now, and we couldn’t be happier for you guys to see it.

The old design was great too, but it was time for the old design to retire and for the new design to have its moment and really flourish.

We hope that the rest of this year will be full of exciting things and new changes.

We’re excited to be alongside you through this year and see what it all has to offer.

I know we’re all going through a strange time right now, but together, we’ll pull through this and come out newer and better than ever.

Just like our new design

What do you guys think of the new design?

Let us know in the comments!

Until next time,

Stay safe and stay creative, folks!

April 22, 2020

7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make That Will Ruin Their Career

When you’re a freelancer and you start to work directly with your clients, there’s something crucial you need to know.

Your design is not the one and only, most important aspect of the transaction.

While presenting your client with an amazing design is the final goal, there are a lot of other things at stake that could make or break your business deal.

There are 7 things that could potentially ruin any partnership with a client, and they have nothing to do with your design style.

7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make And How To Avoid Making Them

I don’t want you to have to make the same mistakes I’ve made when I was a beginner freelancer.

Today, I want to learn from my mistakes and avoid these 7 deadly sins of freelance graphic designers.

1. Poor Communication Skills

Poor communication is the biggest bummer of all the freelance design mistakes that you could make.

Everything you do and the way you’re going to make your client feel is all going to come back to how well you communicate with your client.

Now, communication is a two-way street.

If you and your client don’t communicate exactly what they’re looking for and what you’re capable of doing, then you’re going to find yourself working all-nighters to revise mistakes that could’ve easily been avoided had you communicated.

Some clients are angels, and some are the opposite.

Some clients will verbalize exactly what they’re looking for, and others will give you the vaguest idea of what they want and let you try to figure it out, which sometimes is a blessing, and others, a curse.

One way you can avoid poor communication is by creating a list of basic questions you want to ask each of your clients, regarding their expectations of what your design will be.

Decide what platform you’ll be communicating through and make sure you set hours you will be readily available to discuss changes and set your notification to loud so you never miss a beat.

If you ever feel like a client is being rude, take a deep breath, decide whether you’ll continue working with them or not, then write them a calm message. Remember: things on the internet last forever! Don’t let one snooty client ruin your reputation.

2. Limited Number of Revisions

Nothing is worse than thinking you finally finished a design that you’re happy with and proud of, you just presented it to your client, and they don’t love it.

They want you to revise it.

The number of times you agree to revise your project is something you will need to have discussed beforehand.

Not everyone will be on the same wavelength, so it’s important you decide how many times you will change the final version of your design, and what you will charge if they ask for supplementary changes.

And what do you know it, this all leads back to good communication.

Don’t let people walk all over you, but also don’t be so prideful you won’t make any changes. It’s a beautiful and delicate balance.

3. Not Fulfilling Client’s Needs

Speaking of being prideful, sometimes, you have to suck it up and make a design that you’re not completely proud of.

Lots of clients have complained that some designers they worked with only had themselves in mind when creating their design.

Needs and requests were not met, therefore leading to awful conflict and probably bad word of mouth followed shortly after that.

Try to sus out the vibe of what your client is looking for and see if the style aligns with yours. If it does, awesome!

If it doesn’t, decide whether or not you’re going to do the work anyway and get that coin, or whether to respectfully decline the offer to work with them.

4. Missing The Deadline

When you’re your own boss, it’s easy to get behind and have no “work anxiety” or drive to finish your work on time.

But a good reputation is crucial and constantly missing deadlines is a terrible way to do things.

Set up a deadline that you really think you can make.

Don’t think your Superman or Superwoman, and can handle 10 projects that are all due by next week.

Take on what you know you can handle, and discuss that with your client.

Everyone understands a pushback here and there, but don’t make that a habit.

People might eventually perceive you as lazy, and that’s not what we’re going for here.

5. Mispriced Work

Listen, you gotta know your worth.

In saying this, you should know how much to charge.

Don’t undersell yourself, because you’re the bomb!

But don’t overcharge either, because people don’t like it when someone takes advantage of them.

Give them a quote, and negotiate from there.

6. Not Making Clients Feel Like a Priority

No one likes to feel unimportant.

And maybe you’re not making your clients feel unimportant intentionally.

Sometimes, we all take on more than we can handle.

But if your clients don’t feel like a priority, they might cut your work contract short, or choose not to work with you again in the future.

This mistake goes hand-in-hand with missing deadlines. You can’t take on so much that you will make people feel unimportant.

Everyone wants to feel heard and important, and some companies or clients are cut-throat and won’t work with you again if you don’t make them feel like they’re important to you.

Do your best to make your clients know they’re important to you and you’re doing your best.

Communication, communication, communication.

7. Wasting Time

The final thing I want to talk about is wasting time.

When you work from home, it’s easy to get distracted.

Blame it on your pets or a messy kitchen, and then suddenly you’re 5 hours behind schedule and things are getting out of hand.

I have a whole list of things you can do to stay productive while working from home that will help you stay on top of your A-game.

Make sure you make a good schedule for yourself, one that works for you.

Don’t waste too much time on things that don’t matter. The dishes can wait. Or maybe, they can’t. You should definitely have a clean workspace. But right after that, get back to work!

Wrapping up

Everything is a learning curve, and while you start working from home, take advantage of all the freedom that comes with that, but make a good name for yourself and do your best.

What other giant mistakes do you think designers make that we should cover?

Let us know in the comments.

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

April 21, 2020

10 Tools That Will Help Your Remote Design Team Stay On The Same Page

If you weren’t working on a remote team before, well, chances are that you probably are now!

I know that I love working from home, but when you first start working remotely, it can start as a bit of a challenge.

Of course, it has its pros and cons, but it’s just a learning curve.

Through this global pandemic, you can still be as productive and connected to your team as ever, despite working remotely.

There are a few tools that will make your team’s remote life easier, so I’m going to share 10 tools with you that can help you and your team stay productive.

10 Tools That Will Help Your Remote Design Team Stay On The Same Page

We will be going over different categories of tools that will help your remote design team, like project management and roadmapping tools, organization tools, and tools to help you stay personally productive.

Project Management, Communication, and Roadmapping Tools

The first category we’ll be diving into is all about staying on the same page and plan as your team, so let’s get into the best tools for that.

1. Airfocus

If you haven’t heard of Airfocus by now, well then, you’ve been missing out big time.

Airfocus is a roadmapping and prioritization tool that will help your team see what is most important to get done today and what needs to get done in the future.

Airfocus will help you make the best decisions today, so that you can get the right stuff done in the future. You don’t have to outdated spreadsheets and unclear roadmaps anymore.

Create priorities, have a bird’s eye view of all your tasks, make to-do lists, and more!

With a beautiful design and easy-to-understand-and-use platform, you can start using Airfocus today so that you can get the right stuff done!

2. Asana

Another tool that will help you and your team all stay on the same page is Asana.

Asana will help you visualize your team’s plan so you can all stay on top of the game.

With Asana’s work management platform, your team can stay focused on their goals, projects, and tasks—no matter when or where they work

You can build project plans, coordinate tasks, and hit all your deadlines all in one app!

3. Basecamp

Basecamp is another great tool for keeping everyone in the loop on what’s going on.

One thing that is different about this tool is that it has an in-app chat, so you can talk directly to your teammates without ever leaving the app.

Set your goals, priorities, and talk to everyone all in one place.

4. Slack

This one is probably a no-brainer, but Slack is a must when it comes to communication.

Probably the best part of Slack is that you can organize loads of channels so there’s a place for everything to be discussed.

No more endless scrolling looking for that “one time” we talked about this or that.

You can have a channel for memes, a channel for sharing ideas, and channel for half the team, and a channel for sharing pictures of your pets.

Anything is possible with Slack.

5. Zoom

My final communication tool that I 100% recommend is Zoom.

Remember the struggle of trying to organize a group call on skype? You could never use video for group calls and it was a premium feature.

Not anymore!

You can use Zoom whenever, wherever, with as many people as you want, and it’s free.

Use Zoom to organize video calls with your entire team!

Organization tools

6. InVision

Design better. Faster. Together.

That’s InVision’s motto. This tool was designed specifically with designers in mind.

My favorite bit of this tool is the Design System Manager. The Design System Manager helps teams centralize their design assets, all in one place, as visuals and in code.

Directly comment on a design and give feedback immediately to your coworkers!

7. Abstract

If you use tools like Sketch and Adobe XD, then you’re going to love this product.

With Abstract, you can integrate the tools you already use, import your design files from your computer that need some teamwork, and collaborate with your team directly on the platform.

Productivity Tools

8. Noisli

Noisli is a must-have app. Sometimes listening to the same old songs gets boring, and you can’t always focus and be able to listen to a podcast while creating something amazing for work.

They have every sound you’re looking for. You want the sound of the rainforest? Cool. You want the sound of a busy coffee shop? Why not. You can also adjust the volume of each individual sound so you can tailor it to the way you can focus best.

Noisli will let you choose any background noise you want and it’ll help you stay productive and on top of things.

9. Figure it out

If you happen to work on a remote team that is currently all over the globe, then you know how hard it is to organize a time to video call that works for everyone.

You gotta know that Betty lives California, but Jack lives in Germany, and you gotta figure out the time difference and it’s a whole thing that will do a number on your sanity.

Figure it out is a chrome extension that will help you know all of your team member’s locations and what time it is for them so that you can easily schedule a meeting or find time to collaborate.

10. Take a Break

Finally, I present to you, Take a Break.

Here’s a direct quote from their site regarding exactly what this app does.

Staring at your computer for too long is not good, and Take A Break, Please is a simple menubar app that forces* you to take your break. You can configure time between breaks and the duration of the break.

When the scheduled break starts, the app will dim your screen and prompt you to take a short break. Take that time to stand up, do some stretching, take a walk, or get yourself a cup of coffee.

That’s an app I can get behind. I’m all for working productively in increments and rewarding myself with 10 minutes of downtime.

I hope you found these tools helpful

If you enjoyed this list, let me know in the comments what your favorite tools was and what you’ll be integrating into your workflow!

If I missed any of your favorite tools, let me know what they are so I can cover them in the future.

Until next time,

Stay creative!

April 16, 2020

5 Incredible Free Tools For Designers That You Need To Try

There’s nothing better than finding a new design tool that will make your life a million times easier.

After all, we all want to get our work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and if there’s a tool for that, then I want it.

And I did find some tools that I absolutely love that come in handy, and that’s why I want to share my life of new favorite design tools.

5 Design Tools You Have to Try

Once you try these tools, there’s no going back.

Let me tell you all about them.

1. Opensource Builders

I want to start this list off strongly, so let’s hit it off with Opensource Builders.

Have you ever found an app that you absolutely love but your budget doesn’t allow you to purchase?

Or maybe you’re just a cheapo(aka, maximizer) like me, and try to get the most bang for your buck.

Opensource Builder will help you find open-source alternatives for your favorite apps!

Just type in the name of the app you’re looking for, and you’ll find a ton of alternatives for it.

Compare the cons and pros, prices, and more to find the ideal app for your project.

2. Unscreen

Next up, we have Unscreen.

Have you ever tried to remove the background of a video? It’s not that easy.

Unscreen will automatically remove the background of any video 100% automatically, and for free.

We love a double-whammy.

This means you can record any video, upload the clip into Unscreen, use their tool to scrub the background of your video, and then you can add any background element of your own!

All of this, for free.

Soon enough, they’ll have a pro version as well. I’m excited to see what else they will come up with when they already have such an amazing free design tool.

3. Neumorphism.io

Neumorphism seems like it’s everywhere nowadays, and I know an app that can help you integrate that into your CSS code.

Neumorphism.io is a generator that will create the CSS for this soft UI style that we’ve been seeing everywhere. This makes your job a lot easier and you can experiment quickly to see what you like for your website.

4. Glitch Art Generator

We have another generator on our list!

Glitch Art Generator will help you achieve the perfect glitch background for your project.

You can easily adjust all the colors, the amount of glitching, the space from the center, gradient, etc! You can adjust basically anything.

Once you like what you see, you can just download the file and integrate it right into your project.

5. Vangogh

Finally, and arguably the most aesthetically pleasing app of all, is Vangogh.

If you are ever looking for the perfect color palette, look no further.

All you have to do is type in a keyword, it could be an object or an actual color, and it’ll generate a few variations of the perfect color palette for you.

I can literally just sit here and type in a bunch of random words and get lost for hours in these beautiful colors.

I highly recommend you use this app in your next project!

Wrapping things up

I hope you found this list of my favorite design tools at the moment useful!

Let me know which apps were your favorite and what other design tools that you use daily that I missed.

Stay safe, everyone.

And as always,

Stay creative!

April 10, 2020

Teamstack: Everything You Need, All in One Place

You know what sucks? Having to navigate through dozens of tools, all on separate dashboards, just to get one job done.

Nowadays, there’s a tool for everything, and while that’s amazing, it’s very overwhelming sometimes. Oftentimes, some tools are forgotten about completely.

How on earth do we tackle this situation? I mean, as time goes on, your digital tool belt will most likely expand.

This whole headache of remembering which tools you and your team use, logins, and so on will only get worse.

Unless, of course, you use Teamstack.

What is Teamstack? Other than being the answer to all your problems, Teamstack is a cloud identity and access management platform that provides your workforce with secure, convenient access.

It works with 500+ applications, greatly simplifying the entire process.

By automating the ability for employees, contractors, and customers to access the apps you use every day, working together becomes a seamless experience.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are loads of features that will get you admittedly more excited than you should be about work. Don’t worry, we’re going to cover those down below.

Single Sign On (SSO) and Form Based Authentication (FBA)

Having to make an account for everyone is… exhausting. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Teamstack knows that, too.

That’s why you and your entire team of hard-working individuals can use single sign-on via SAML.

Form-based authentication provides Teamstack with their own way to authenticate logins via web form. FBA is currently available through web browsers, but it’ll soon support mobile apps via IOS and Android.

Multi-factor authentication

Weak or compromised passwords are the most common reason security is compromised. Teamstack wants to prevent that from happening, so they promote a multi-factor authentication method as their standard.

Multiple factor types

Apply different authentication factors that range across different security levels for your entire organization in order to protect against unauthorized access, all while providing user flexibility..

Policy-based MFA enforcement

Set user/application policies in order to implement additional authentication factors for sensitive applications or individual users and give access only to those who need it.

Prevent unauthorized access

Define failed MFA challenges and protect your company from unauthorized access.

Context based denials

Restrict access to certain applications based on contextual data. From high-risk locations, to certain IP-addresses, you can input many different factors that can restrict access to any user.

Secure Cloud Directory

When dealing with a large number of employees, security and privacy can get out of hand easily.

With Teamstack’s Cloud Directory, it is easy to manage anything from users and groups to permission levels and authentication methods.

The web interface also allows you to secure store users and passwords.

Real-Time Synchronization

Don’t worry about missing out on anything!

TeamStack makes sure that your data is synchronized in real time, keeping you on top of all your applications.

Moreover, this amazing feature makes the onboarding process a piece of cake and it protects you against any users looking to bamboozle you.

Customizable User and Group Profiles

Call Teamstack your right hand man, because this feature makes your life a whole lot easier.

All user and group profiles are highly customizable, allowing you to set specific policies and settings.

This will ensure you have total control over your company and each team in particular.

User Lifecycle Management

When working with a large number of tools and colleagues, it’s important to keep up with lifecycle management.

With Teamstack, you can easily gain an overview and manage all the different stages (Active, Suspended, Invited and Archived) of the user lifecycle.

One-click provisioning

One-click provisioning allows you to add and remove people from certain tool integrations.

Why is this helpful? Take a look below:

Increased security

Instead of going through a huge process of adding and deleting accounts, it’s as simple as 1 single click. This ensures that anyone that might want to do harm can be taken care of quickly.

Streamlined onboarding and offboarding

We all know how much of a headache can be. Going through and adding a user to every single tool you use is exhausting, to say the least.

At least it was until now.

Teamstack’s one-click provisioning makes the onboarding and offboarding process literally as easy as a click.

Group-based provisions

Have an entire group of people that need/no longer need to use a tool? No worries. Add and remove entire groups of people with automated group-based application provisioning.

Reduce IT complexity

Thanks to one-click provisioning, the complexity of application management is greatly reduced. Now, all of your provisioning is done from a single source.

Integrations

As mentioned before, Teamstack supports over 500 applications which greatly simplifies anyone’s work. Essentially, the list of integrations is massive, and it grows constantly.

Any tool you can think of is most likely on that list.

Pricing

Now for the question that’s on everyone’s mind: How much is it?

Well, you might be thinking that a tool as useful as this would cost a boat-load. But the truth is, it’s actually surprisingly cheap.

As you can see, the plans are quite affordable.

They have a free plan to give it a try, and for first time users, the basic plan is free for the first six months.

Even for the professional plan, only 4€ per person per month is an incredible deal.

To top it all off, they also offer custom plans that can scale to anyone. TeamStack truly is a life-saver.

Conclusion

For anyone in any industry, online tools have quickly become unavoidable. As time goes on, the list of tools you use will most likely grow.

That means that anyone you add to your team will bring a list of tools with them, too. It can get complicated to say the least.

From all this info, it’s clear to see that Teamstack is an essential tool on anyone’s toolbelt.

Not only are you getting an incredibly powerful tool, but it costs pennies compared to other tools out there. So check it out and let them know that we sent you.

March 31, 2020

Check Out These Famous Logos Practicing Social Distancing – McDonald’s, Mercedes, and More

We all know about the new coronavirus that has been affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

And while scientists, researchers, and doctors are all working tirelessly to find a cure for this terrible disease, one thing is for sure: staying home is saving lives.

The greatest tool that we have right now to help prevent or slow the spread of this disease is by social distancing.

I believe I speak for everyone when I say that social distancing has been hard. From loneliness to a bit of relaxation, binge designing, and probably doing a good, deep-cleaning of your house, we’re all doing the best we can from behind our front doors.

But people are not the only ones practicing social distancing.

Brands Are Changing Their Logos To Practice Social Distancing

[source]

We’re seeing loads of different companies change their logos to demonstrate them practicing social distancing and the importance of it in general.

Not everyone is a fan of this new trend, though. Many people are looking at it as insensitive and saying that it diminishes the seriousness of this pandemic.

And while brands are getting backlash for this, I have something to say to those people throwing shade.

I genuinely love this trend.

Seeing the creativity brands are putting into designing new logos brings a little smile to my face and I’m sure to lots of other people as well.

So let me show you the different brands that changed their logos to encourage social distancing during COVID-19.

1. McDonald’s

Last week, we saw that McDonald’s Brazil did something crazy to their logo. They separated the two iconic yellow arches, in order to keep their social distance from each other.

When they posted their new social distancing logo to Facebook, they wrote that although people can’t come to McDonald’s and eat and be together right now, they are still delivering food and have their drive-thru open to all those who are having a strong burger and fries craving.

2. Coca-Cola

[source]

Coca-cola ads have never been anything short of loving, fun, and dreamy. They’ve always been focus on sharing a coke with friends, going outside, and adventuring.

But things are different now with this new virus going around, and they’re adapting and spreading a great message.

“Staying apart is the best way to stay united.”

Have a Coke at home, and soon enough, we’ll all be able to go outside and enjoy each other’s company again.

3. Mercedes

Mercedes was the newest company to join the bandwagon and create a social distancing logo.

And they demonstrate that perfectly by keeping the Mercedes star just out of reach of the iconic rim.

4. Audi

These four rings have been separated for the first time and finally get to breathe.

Audi left a bit of room between each ring and told all of their followers to stay home for the time being.

Audi has posted a video on social media encouraging people to stay home and stay safe during this time.

Be like the four rings!

5. Volkswagen

Volkswagen has separated its letter elements within the logo to demonstrate social distancing.

They took to social media and posted the clever logo for all their followers to see.

Volkswagen also released an emotional video that they created, along with the new social distancing logo, that encourages people to stay home.

“We stood strong through more than one crisis. We did this together. We need to keep our distance. Thank you for keeping yours.”

6. Nike

Although Nike didn’t tweak their logo, they did start a huge social media campaign encouraging followers to stay home and play for the world.

We’ve all wanted to do something big, life-changing, and even world-changing at some point.

Well, now is your chance.

Just by staying inside and keeping your social distance, you are keeping others safe, and even alive.

Doing something bigger than yourself and stay home for the time being.

Things will be better eventually, and we’ll have the time to do all the things we’ve planned.

Until then, stay home, create something new, start that new design project you never had the time for, and just be still.

Until next time, folks.

Stay creative!

March 26, 2020

Awesome Tools and Services that You Should Check Out

There certainly isn’t a lack of tools and services you could put to use to improve your website design, beef up your business, increase your productivity, or save time and money.

There are so many in fact, that finding something that will satisfy your most urgent and essential needs can sometimes be a seemingly insurmountable problem. Many of the tools or services you use today may have served you well, but in today’s hyper-competitive world there’s no guarantee they’ll continue to do so.

If you are to remain competitive, you have to keep up with the latest design trends. That may require switching over to new or more powerful tools and value-added services that will make it possible for you to do so.

We have assembled this list of top tools and services for 2020 to help you stay on top of your game and increase your productivity.

Happy hunting!

UXPin

UXPin is a state-of-the-art prototyping and collaborative tool for UX and UI design teams. It has two versions available, a browser-based version and a desktop app. UXPin also provides features powerful and efficient real-time collaboration functionalities that allow teams to work in real time and in context from anywhere.

It allows you to preview designs, leave and get contextual feedback through comments, and provide prototyping and test and analysis results for team leader or stakeholder information and approvals.

Working in UXPin is similar to sharing data in Google Docs, except UXPin is obviously a great deal more powerful because of its multiplicity of prototyping and collaborative features that include:

Fully interactive text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, and other form elements
Design components that can be used and reused to avoid repetitive prototype-building tasks.
iOS, Material Design, and Bootstrap design element libraries
Vector drawing tools that allow users to create anything from imaginative icons to stunning illustrations.
Web page and web page content importing that assist in getting prototyping off to a flying start.

Click on the banner to find out more.

BeTheme

BeTheme is one of the safest choices you could ever make; not only because it’s the biggest WordPress theme of them all, and there are times when size really does matter, but because the 40+ core features it places at your disposal.

BeTheme is fast and super-flexible. It’s an ideal choice for both beginners and advanced website designers. You can create an award-winning website on your first try if you’re a novice or use it to completely satisfy the demands of multiple clients if you’ve been around the block a few times.

The highlight is Be’s 500+ pre-built websites. They are professionally crafted, responsive, and customizable with built-in UX features, and they address 30 industry sectors and every major website type.
The Muffin Builder 3 page builder is another highlight, and together with Be’s powerful Admin Panel gives you all the flexibility you need.

Click on the banner to check out the remaining core features.

Mobirise Website Builder

Its users will be the first to tell you that there’s an awful lot to love about Mobirise. Not only is Mobirise an offline tool, it’s arguably the #1 offline builder on the market today. Since everything is offline:

You can download Mobirise and start building an awesome website right away.
No coding is required. Everything you need comes with the package.
Thanks to Bootstrap 4 and Google AMP your site will be 100% mobile friendly and lightning-fast to boot. Mobirise is Google-friendly as well.
Design aids include 2,500+ website blocks, 75+ HTMS themes, and 200+ home page templates.
Other goodies include Google Maps, data and pricing tables, counters and countdowns and more, an everything is customizable.

Mobirise is free for both commercial and personal uses with no strings attached.

Uncode – Creative Multiuse WordPress Theme

Uncode is a creative top-seller multiuse theme for freelancers, agencies, bloggers, and just about anyone having an itch to get creative.

Design in real-time with a frontend editor on steroids
70 inspirational pixel-perfect concepts to get your project underway
WooCommerce and WPML compatibility

The highlight is Uncode’s must-see showcase of user-built website that tells you at a glance what this creative theme could do for you.

Click on the banner and browse the showcase to learn more.

LayerSlider

LayerSlider makes it possible for millions of website owners to create unique sliders and special effects for their sites. It’s a full-fledged animation builder rather than a just slider tool with features like:

Drag and drop visual builder without any need for coding experience.
A Popup feature to display important messages such as store offers, newsletter subscriptions or adverts.
Animated page blocks, which you can even build a complete website with.

Plus, LayerSlider is SEO friendly, and its dedicated support team stands ready to help you if and when needed.

Dr. Link Check

Dr. Link Check tracks down broken and malicious website links.

This useful tool crawls through your site’s entire code and thoroughly examines each link for URL formatting, blacklisted links, server response time, and more.
You can check the results to identify necessary changes to your website.
You can also schedule automatic checks on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis, and be notified about problems via email.

8b Website Builder

8b is a new website builder with a futuristic, super-simple interface. 8b is also free and yours to download and host anywhere you like.

You can build a website on your desktop, on a mobile device, or both
Google AMP guarantees your site will be crazy-fast and 100% mobile friendly
250+ website sections, and 16 starter templates give you a quick start capability

There’s more; but be sure to take advantage of the free download offer. It might not last.

Stockfresh

Three things to look for in a stock photo service are inventory size, product quality, and friendly service. Stockfresh excels in all three areas.

Stockfresh offers millions of photos and vectors
The offerings are top quality, plus the pricing is competitive.
You can expect friendly service and the inventory is skillfully categorized to make your search as easy as possible.

In the not-to-distant future templates, fonts, themes, and other goodies will be added to the inventory.

XStore | Multi-Purpose WooCommerce WordPress Theme

This “King-Size” WooCommerce theme has more than you’ll ever need to create an online store, or quite a number of them for that matter.

For starters, there are 90+ good-to-go stores you can customize to get exactly what you want.
XStores’s single product page builder should more than come in handy.
There’s a page importer for the WPBakery page builder.
The package also includes live themes, 200+ PSDs and $300+ worth of premium plugins
Powerful header builder

Slider Revolution

Version 6.0 of Slider Revolution is more than a slider builder. It’s a new way to create rich, dynamic website content.

With its visual editor, you can create Sliders, headers, content modules, and even complete websites.
There are 200+ beautiful and ready-to-go templates to work with.
A library of 20+ powerful addons is included
A library of 200+ design elements is also included

Slider Revolution has 7 million+ users around the globe.

Movedo Theme

Movedo rocks! Movedo, with its clean and modern design is a joy to work with, and the websites you can create with this top-rated WordPress theme can be a joy to behold. Created by a top-rated author who wasn’t shy about straying outside the box, this theme offers among other features:

Out-of-this world parallax effects
Special animations
Mouse, scrolling, and column movement
A knowledge base featuring a quick search option

Click on the banner and see for yourself.

WHATFONTIS

WhatFontis.com is the #1 font identification service designers can look to for a quick response to their font identification needs.

Download a sample (letters or a line of text) of the font in question
Expect an answer in less than a minute
Obtain a close match if the font cannot be located
Be presented with alternatives if the cost of the font is an issue

Simple, powerful, and worth checking out.

Goodiewebsite

Goodiewebsite is a WordPress frontend development platform that connects you directly with a web developer who is also an employee of a software house that was established in 2005.

Goodiewebsite is ideal for:

Small business owners looking to amplify their online presence
Designers looking for a reliable web development partner
Startups looking to test their business ideas and concepts

Goodiewebsite specializes in smaller WordPress websites and simple WooCommerce websites.

Heroic KB – Knowledge Base Plugin

The ability to offer a speedy and informative response to a question is something every customer service operation should strive for. A FAQ page is one approach, but not always a very good one. Put the Heroic Knowledge Base plugin to work and you can:

Give your customers knowledgeable answers to their questions
Provide rapid responses 24/7
Help customers find related or supporting information

In addition, you will profit from Heroic KB’s feedback and analyses.

Rank Math

Rank Math is the Swiss Army Knife of WordPress SEO tools and the only SEO plugin you need for WordPress. This plugin’s clean and simple UI makes it easy to work with in spite of the many features that can be used to make a site search engine friendly, including:

Elementor, Automated Image, and Local SEO tools and analysis
WooCommerce SEO
Sitemap and Redirections checking
404 Monitoring

You can check the plugin for yourself and see what it is all about.

*****

There’s a whole host of tools and services available that not only help to keep costs down, but also save you time and help your business operate smoothly. The more useful these tools are, the more time you have to focus on your key priorities

The basis for choosing the above top 15 tools and services is that individually or collectively they can help you work faster, more efficiently, and even more intelligently.

March 25, 2020

6 Logo Design Principles That We Swear By

Making a logo is typically one of your first tasks as a new, up-and-coming designer.

I know I had my fair share of making logos for far too cheap, and mostly for my close friends and their small businesses, but it’s something I’ll never forget.

Although there are a few things that I wish I had known when I was at the beginning of my career, so I’m here to shed some light on a few basic design principles that I swear by.

6 Basic Logo Design Principles For Beginners

There are a few things, in my opinion, that every novice designer should know about logo design. Of course, you’ll end up doing whatever feels right for you, but just hear me out.

Alright guys, let’s do this.

1. Keep it simple

By now you’ve already heard of the K.I.S.S. principle. Keep it stupid simple.

This is going to be key in making any logo.

I’ve learned that the hard way.

[source]

When someone looks at your logo, it should be easy for any viewer to understand, interpret, and digest.

[source]

No one should have to stare at your logo, cock their head to the side like a confused, adorable puppy, and wonder just what the heck you have created there.

[source]

Take Apple, for example. One of the biggest dogs in the game.

[source]

Back in the 60’s… Well, only they knew what they created for a logo.

But as the years went by, they kept simplifying and simplifying it.

And that was the key!

By simplifying their logo, it was easy to understand, it was easy on the eyes, and of course, it was memorable as heck.

Which brings me to my next point.

2. Make It Memorable

I know you immediately recognized my first simple logo example, which was obviously the Nike swoosh.

But why did you recognize it so quickly?

Because it was simple and memorable.

What’s the point in having an amazing design, if it’s not memorable?

You’ll lose brand recognizability. If your logo design is no good, well, you’ll have people talking about the business you’re designing for like this, “You know… that one place! With the thing… You know what I’m talking about!”

Nobody wants that. You need something simple, and memorable.

Let me show you some memorable logos that I know you’ll recognize.

[source]

3. Use A Cohesive Color Scheme

A good color choice is going to make or break your design.

If you’re going to be using multiple colors, then I suggest that you choose a great color palette or use some sort of cohesive color scheme.

[source]

Using a bunch of colors that don’t match won’t be a good choice.

You can always do a quick google search and see what colors are predicted to be most popular this year, or you can use color psychology and pick a color scheme that will match your service best.

4. Make It Scalable And Versatile

Keep in mind that the company, business, or client that you’re designing for will be using their logo on a multitude of services.

From big signs to coffee mugs, you need to make sure your logo won’t lose its quality and that it’s recognizable no matter where it’s displayed.

One way to make sure that your design looks good across all platforms is by creating mockups. We know lots of free mock-up sites that you might be interested in using.

[source]

5. Always Keep Your Audience in Mind

You always, always, always have to remember who you’re designing for, and adapt.

If you’re designing for kids, you don’t want to go with neutral colors and a minimalist, flat design. You’re going to want to use bright colors that catch their eye and look fun.

On the other hand, if you’re designing for a winery, you’re going to want something sleek, minimal, and elegant.

So whoever the audience is, you have to take your unique style and just adapt it to your situation.

6. Go With Your Gut

And finally, go with your gut and make the designs you love.

Not everyone will understand your designs, and you won’t always understand everyone’s request.

But you’re going to live and learn from those experiences and in the end, it’ll make you a better and more experienced designer.

Try to make a new logo design every day. It doesn’t need to be spectacular, but just something that will keep your creative wheels turning.

If you ever need some inspiration, we have lots of tips on how you can find design inspiration in everyday things.

Until next time,

Stay creative and stay safe, folks!

March 25, 2020

10 Tip For How To Work From Home and Stay Focused – The Social Distancing Edition

The novel coronavirus has made a huge impact on the world as we know it.

People have been asked to stay home as much as possible and practice social distancing.

For many of us, this means that we’re taking our jobs home, and we get to work remotely.

If you’ve never worked remotely before, it might seem like a dream come true and a walk in the park.

“You get to work from home? That’s so easy.” “Lucky!” “I’d like to wake up late, stay in my pajamas all day and do whatever I want too.”

As a person who works from home, these are a few of the things I hear quite often.

And while working from home is something I cherish and it truly is a dream come true, it certainly does come with its own set of difficulties. Staying focused and getting things done can be difficult sometimes.

When you work from home, you are accountable for yourself. No one is there looking over your shoulder and pushing you to get your work done.

It all comes down to how you’re going to take on your day.

10 Tips For Working From Home and How To Stay Focused While Social Distancing

So today, I’m going to be sharing 10 things I learned while working from home, what habits helped me stay productive and on top of my tasks, and what I do to stay focused. Let’s get into it!

1. Have a Designated Space for Working

This is my biggest tip that I could ever give you when it comes to working from home.

Don’t just roll over in your bed in the morning, grab your laptop, and start working.

You need to have a designated workspace where your brain recognizes that “this is a place that we get stuff done”.

Your bed is a place your brain recognizes as a sleepy place. So if you get all cozy and work there, you won’t be as productive and will likely get tired.

What you can do is go to a corner in your home where there is lots of natural light, set up a little table, and make it aesthetically pleasing so that it’s a place your where brain says “I want to go there because it’s nice and clean, looks good, and I get work done there.”.

I have learned from experience that I get the most work done when I’m sitting at my desk. I only work at my desk and do nothing else there, so it’s easy for me to get work done there, as opposed to sitting on the couch where I could easily be distracted by the tv. Or my cute dogs

2. Have A Good Morning Routine – Get Dressed

My second most important tip for staying focused while working from home is to have a great morning routine and treat workdays, like workdays.

I admit, some days I do like to relax and chill in my sweats, throw on my glasses, get a cup of coffee, work and call it a day.

But those days are not my most productive.

I recommend that every day before you start work that you wake up reasonably earlier than when you should start working, that you shower and get dressed, have some time to relax and wake up, then start working.

The way you look can directly correlate to how you feel.

When you work from home and no one sees you, you have to show up for you.

When you dress for success, you’re going to have a better day. Guaranteed.

3. Make a To-Do List

Once you’re in your designated working space, you’re dressed and have your coffee in your hand, it’s time to get to work.

But what are you going to do today?

It’s so important to make a to-do list every day before you start work. When you work from home, lots of the days get jumbled together and you can’t seem to remember things as well as you would in an office in town.

I recommend that you make a “weekly goals” list, and then a to-do list every day.

This will keep you on track and motivated to keep going when you see all the little tasks you get to tick off every few hours.

4. Have a Schedule Guideline

This is optional, but something I enjoy writing along with a to-do list is an hourly timeline.

When you work from home, it’s easy to get distracted, so I find that if I say, “Okay, from 8-10, I want to focus on emails and communicating with my clients and from 10-12 I want to work on my new visuals,” then I’m way more motivated to get things done than if I just set vague goals.

When I set some hourly goals, I am much more satisfied with my workflow, and reward myself with a pretty long break to play with the dogs and go for a short walk.

5. Try Out The Pomodoro Technique

Another highly useful productivity tip is to follow and practice the Pomodoro technique.

This technique states that you should work in increments, as it is one of the most productive ways to work.

So here’s how you do it.

Set a 20 minutes timer. In those 20 minutes, you smash out as much work as you can, with no distractions.

Have the timer will set a sense of urgency and you’ll get things done quickly. It’s like a game that awakens our inner, competitive child to beat the clock.

Once the timer goes off, you take a short, 5-minute break as a reward for your focused work. In this time you can stretch, get a cup of tea, or check your social media and reply to texts.

You repeat this 20-minutes-of-work-and-5-minutes-of-break cycle 4 times before you take a long, proper break of 15 to 20 minutes.

Try this method out and let me know how it worked for you! It works wonders for me and my easily distracted self.

6. Use a Time Tracking Tool

The Pomodoro technique is awesome because even though you’re taking a lot of breaks, you’re working way more efficiently and the breaks don’t add up to much time at the end of the day.

If you catch yourself taking more breaks than working, then maybe you should consider using a time tracking tool.

Clockify is a free time tracker that will keep you accountable throughout the day so you get your tasks done.

It’s also nice to see how much you’ve done throughout the day so that you can adjust your workflow for the next day until you get the hang of staying focused working from home.

7. Use a Team Collaboration Tool

If you used to work from an office with all your colleagues and planning was done easily, but now you’re all working remotely and can’t stay on top of tasks, you’re not alone.

That’s where a team collaboration tool comes in handy.

Airfocus is a team collaboration tool that’s going to help you and your team prioritize what needs to get done and when. Everyone will have access to the schedule so no one is left out of the loop.

Not only did they develop an amazing tool, but they’re also supporting small businesses that are taking hits from COVID-19 and giving them 6 months of the starter plan for free.

Airfocus is definitely my team’s favorite tool that we ever used, and I highly recommend that you and your team try it out.

Get your hands on it while you can!

8. Set Boundaries For Yourself

You need to set up some boundaries for yourself if you’re truly serious about staying focused while working from home.

You need to decide how much downtime you’re going to give yourself, how long you’re going to spend on social media, how long your lunch break will be, etc.

Without setting boundaries for yourself, you can get lost in your free time, only to realize that “omg it’s 5 o’clock already??” and then pull an all-nighter, which nobody wants.

Setting boundaries will create freedom for you.

9. Talk to People You Care About

Working from home, especially if you don’t live with someone or have a roommate can get really lonely.

Especially now that you can’t even go on a walk in town and socialize a little.

Even though we are social distancing, that doesn’t mean that we are socially distant.

Facetime someone that you care about, that makes you happy.

Even just a call on the phone and seeing or hearing the person you care about is going to make your day that much better and make you feel less lonely.

Set up a lunch date with someone and have lunch over a video chat.

Trust me, it’s a must.

10. Get Some Fresh Air and Sunshine

Finally, get a breath of fresh air every time you need it.

Follow the rules and regulations that your country has given, and if you can, go for a brisk walk. This will boost your creativity by a million and you’ll be more inspired to work when you come back inside.

If you can’t go for a walk, open a window and let your face meet the sun for a few minutes.

Fresh air brings new ideas and the sun is scientifically proven to boost your mood.

Stay Safe

Alright you guys, this is where I’m going to wrap things up.

The more we stay inside, the more we slow down this terrible virus, and the sooner we can all go back to the beautiful world as we know it.

Stay safe during this time and enjoy working from home while you can.

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

March 23, 2020

27 Social Distancing Designs That Are Just Too Good Not To Share

COVID-19 is no joke and we’re all practicing some social distancing right now.

If you’re not, and you have the choice to stay home, then you really should do it.

While social distancing can be boring or lonely, just remember that by staying home, you are saving lives, and literally changing the fate of our world.

The little things we choose to do right now are important.

And luckily for us designers, a lot of us can do our work from home.

[source]

That is a privilege I will always be grateful for and my gratitude, thoughts, and prayers are with everyone who has to go to work every day to make the world go round.

One of the many wonderful things I have noticed during this time, is that a lot designers have taken no break during this pandemic to create some beautiful designs regarding social distancing and self-quarantining.

Have a look for yourself to take your mind off of the crazy things going around us, and enjoy these 27 social distancing designs that some creative people of our beautiful world have created.

27 Social Distancing Designs To Scroll Through While We All Stay Home

[source]

We’re In This Together

You guys… we’re in this together.

We can make a difference by staying home and doing our work from home.

Do the thing that you haven’t had time to do. Learn a new skill, cook a meal, play with your dog, talk to your loved ones.

We have all the time in the world right now to stay at home and focus on ourselves and the things that matter to us.

Take this time and create something beautiful with it.

Stay safe, everyone.

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

March 19, 2020

Top 10 Logo Fonts in 2020 That All Designers Want To Get Their Hands On

Picking the right logo font can be an excruciatingly hard and tedious task.

The font you choose and the colors that go with it will make or break your design.

As font trends are always changing, we’ve got you covered and are here to share our most recent top picks with you.

The Best 10 Logo Fonts You’ll Want To Use in 2020

There are loads of lists of fonts out there, but we’ve picked the best of the best.

From our professional designers to you, here’s our personally curated list of the best logo fonts of 2020.

1. Ambit

Starting off the list with a bang, I present to you, Ambit.

Ambit is a classic font that I’ve loved for a long time now and have used it in a fair amount of logos that I designed.

This classic and timeless sans serif was designed by CoType Foundry, with their inspiration coming from early grotesque, but has now been adapted for modern design use in the 21st century.

From Thin to Black, Ambit features 7 different weights, so that there is something for everyone.

Ambit is the perfect font for a modern and sleek logo.

2. Bodoni

Didot

Bodoni is next up on the list.

Bodoni is the perfect font to use for any type of elegant fashion logo.

Giambattista Bodoni created this font in a time when loads of designers were experimenting with a dramatic contrast between thick and thin lines.

This font looks like it came straight out of a Vogue or Calvin Klein magazine.

Give it a whirl on your next design. You’ve got nothing to lose because it’s free!

3. Didot

Didot is another gorgeous, yet dramatic serif font that would go great not only with fashion logos, but anything modern, sleek, luxurious, and elegant.

There are many different versions of Didot, but perhaps the most well-known version is the one that Giorgio Armani used in their logo.

With the right tracking and kerning, this logo could be the perfect font for your next elegant logo project.

4. Helvetica Now

After being named one of the most widely appreciated fonts of 2019, we see no slowing in its widespread use and continual growth.

Helvetica Now is available in 3 optical sizes, Micro, Text, and Display.

Helvetica Now is essentially everything you’ve ever loved about Helvetica, with all sorts of little tweaks and improvements, all wrapped up into one new font.

And that font, may just be your new favorite.

It might be mine.

5. Untitled Sans

Meet Untitled Sans.

Untitled Sans is the product of the Super Normal project, created by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa.

Untitled sans comes in 10 different styles, so you can find the one that works best for you.

6. TT Norms Pro

Another great typeface we want to highlight today is TT Norms Pro.

TT Norms Pro was the #1 best selling geometric sans on Myfont in 2017 and continues to trend in 2020.

The font comes in an astounding 22 different styles. 11 uprights and 11 italics.

7. Big Caslon

This font is actually pretty historical. Back in the 1600s, there was a group of serif typefaces created by by William Caslon I.

Big Caslon is a revival of the said font group that dates all the way back to the 1600s, and is now making a marvelous appearance in the digital age of the 21st century.

8. Abril Fatface

You may recognize Abril Fatface from the Abril family of fonts.

Abril Fatface has 18 different styles and variations of the serif for you to use.

9. Aileron

Aileron was inspired by aircrafts of the ’40s and is a Neo-Grotesque sans serif typeface.

This sleek sans serif comes in 16 different weights and the best part about it all?

It’s free-99.

10. Brandon Grotesque

Brandon Grotesque is a staple font for me.

One of my go-to’s.

Brandon Grotesque gets its origin inspiration from old gothic fonts from the 1920s/1930s and is aesthetically pleasing as heck.

We predict that we’ll be seeing this font all over in 2020, so you might want to hop on this train soon!

Stay Safe, Everyone

We hope you enjoyed this list and that it took your mind off of the current events going on around us.

If you’re working from home now due to COVID-19 and are looking for tips on how to stay focused and productive, we’ve got you covered.

Stay safe and stay home if you can, everyone.

And as always,

Stay creative, folks!

Worth the Wait

Edge Web Fonts User Interface

Adobe Edge Web Fonts – 2020 Update

Top 10 Adobe Fonts Designers Use

Conclusion

What is ZeroSSL?

ZeroSSL features

Wildcard SSL

One-step validation

Super quick installation

Management console

SSL certificate monitoring

ACME automation

SSL REST API

Trusted by major brands

Pricing

Amazon

Goodwill

LG

Pinterest

Toyota

BMW

Baskin Robbins

Chick-fil-a

Eighty20

F1

Facebook Places

Fedex

Milwaukee Brewers

Museum of London

NBC

Northwest Airlines

Piano Forest

Toblerone

Tostitos

Treacy Shoes

In Conclusion

What is Neumorphism?

30 Examples of Neumorphism Done Right

5 Platforms That Will Help You Grow

1. Dribbble

2. Behance

3. Hunie

4. Pinterest

5. Instagram

Wrapping up

Before…

After…

If You’re a Designer, You Better Be Using These Apps and Sites

1. Dribbble

2. Behance

3. Adobe XD

4. Adobe Edge Inspect

5. Adobe Color

6. Adobe Creative Cloud

7. Milanote

8. Color Hunt

9. iFontMaker

10. Font Shop

Just a Few of My Favorite Things…

Before…

After!

Your design is not the one and only, most important aspect of the transaction.

7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make And How To Avoid Making Them

1. Poor Communication Skills

2. Limited Number of Revisions

3. Not Fulfilling Client’s Needs

4. Missing The Deadline

5. Mispriced Work

6. Not Making Clients Feel Like a Priority

7. Wasting Time

Wrapping up

10 Tools That Will Help Your Remote Design Team Stay On The Same Page

Project Management, Communication, and Roadmapping Tools

1. Airfocus

2. Asana

3. Basecamp

4. Slack

5. Zoom

Organization tools