Use Print-on-Demand to build your business identity
Print-on-demand, the ability to create custom items as needed—rather than in large quantities in anticipation of future needs—has become one of the defining phenomena of this digital age.
You mean this one?
Well, I do mention “Aesthetics,” and look! There’s “Brand Tone”… that’s sort of designy. But how do all those rather un-designy components add up to the glorious space in the middle?
Data Visualization brings ideas to life for a tech jobs startup
At the moment, we’re strengthening our sales presentations over at H1Talent, a job matching site for H1-B visa holders and the companies that seek them. We’ve got great numbers, but we needed more imagery to communicate the business concept, as well as some data visualization to bring those great numbers to life.
Click here to get this shirt for a bossy mom (or mum), or to throw your own weight around.
This started out as a personal project, for myself and a couple of mom friends. We have varying opinions […]
Unique LA: Penina’s Best of Show
For Mother’s Day, my son agreed to come with me the Unique LA show. It helped a little that we brought and met up with a few teen friends. For the first time, he spent most of the afternoon wandering off with his friends, or on his own. Even so, after […]
What is the Most Essential Design Tool?
Design is all about the tools—the technology. And design has got absolutely nothing to do with the tools.
Just like ink pens and sign brushes, the mastery-required-or-we-won’t-hire-you tools you’re working with today will be replaced.
What is much more important is developing your design character
How important is function to you? What is […]
Designing to Sell: Internal Banner Ad and Product Landing Page
These are the prettier parts of a larger initiative to market gift subscriptions, primarily to a modeling website’s current members. Design devices pull directly from the site’s existing styles, and expand on them with a fun, sophisticated feel.
The banner above appears on a member’s account management page […]
Anders Toxboe has put together a beautifully organized thinking place for web designers and user interface designers. Go there to reference screenshots, design patterns and practical articles. Better yet, join the community and upload your personal favorite user interface screenshots.
Very similar to this site […]
I’ve been asking myself this question lately, and thought I’d hash it out in a way that might be meaningful to others. The more you ask those sorts of questions, the more answers you tend to find, but I’ll just give you three, because it’s a nice, round number.
I’ve got nothing against low-priced design. You generally do “get what you pay for”, but there are exceptions, and really, it may be all you need.
Morgan Lynch, founder of Logoworks, tells a story of the disappointment and expense that led him to start the company. Designers should read it, and
I think this would make a nice postcard, or something. 🙂
Splashing Lemon photo by Christopher Pattberg, purchased on iStockphoto.
Inspiring Great Design: Be the Fuel
To inspire great design, don’t teach design processes. A fixed set of design steps is more likely to stifle the unexpected bursts of breakthrough insight that newer designers can contribute to a project.
Instead, consider offering design challenges that help them discover and develop their own processes.
Here are some challenge ideas (always starting with […]
Like Etsy for wanna-be product designers, Shapeways is providing 3D dreamers with a fascinating way to produce and sell their concepts online. If you can render it (in the 3D application of your choice, exported to Collada or X3D format), you can probably see it come to life here.
At the moment, […]
Hoefler & Frere-Jones have delivered an exquisite typeface that not only works for super-refined display, but also plain-spoken body copy.
This comment in the overview for the new Archer typeface made me smile:
“A slab could be personable, straightforward, and credible, though it would take special effort to also […]
Graphic Design and the Art of Communication
Been thinking about this a lot lately, sparked by a big, fat design project, as well as questions about the foggy role of “creatives” in a technical environment. Then Amber Naslund polled her readers about their line of work. I had just started following her on Twitter, and mentioned something about how Design […]
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