A curated list of delightful tools for digital creatives in a variety of mediums.

Now that we have the tools to superpower our layouts, we can start to reimagine how we approach art direction and design on the web. By taking advantage of technologies, some new and some overlooked, we can create a progressively-enhanced design that’s powered by feature queries; one that’s localized for an increasingly global audience. In this talk drawn from her work for Slack and other properties, Mina walks through her process for enhancing design and shows how little changes lead to big design payoffs.

Graphic designers are as rare as hen's teeth at hackathons. It's highly likely that you may end up on a team without one! However, not to worry, this doesn't have to mean your project will look ugly. Over my extensive hackathon career, I've developed many ways to work around the absence of a designer and create decent looking projects that get judged on merit. In this presentation, I'll share with you the tips and tricks that can get you through.

We have a problem: modern web technology is getting ever more complex. As a result, teams are struggling to produce their best work and we are often failing the people we are building for. One reason for that: the infamous and ever-growing gaps between design and development. How can we overcome those divisions and deepen our common understanding of the material we are building with? And why is CSS one key component of all that? In this talk, we will look at possible solutions and practical examples that will enable us to forge links between the disciplines and to design and engineer better with the inherent flexibility of the Web – together.

Open Sans, Open Sans, Open Sans – it’s everywhere! It’s the second most popular web font, it’s the new Arial. However, there is nothing wrong about Open Sans specifically, it’s just overused. Picking a typeface is an opportunity for your website, app or digital product to show personality, be memorable and stand out among its competition. And if you’re using Open Sans you’re missing out on all that good stuff.

The educational project about grids which Obys uses every day with unusual storytelling.

Full-Stack Developer at Wieden+Kennedy

A showcase of people from all backgrounds in design, tech, illustration, lettering & art.

The secret to any good design lies in the way its visual elements are organized and positioned in relation to each other. This is exactly what layout design is all about. Layout gives meaning to your design and makes it ...

An in-depth look at the bones of concept development and different types of connections you can make for your audience.

OptimalWorkshop explains the benefits of using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research to identify design problems and direction, and lists examples of each type of research using a real world design problem.

This book was written in 1969 for a lettering course at the Pratt Institute. This chapter is a treasure trove on spacing - between letters, between lines, and between words. Lots of great examples and ideas here to improve your legibility in Layout 1, and a good head start for some of the ideas we'll discuss next class with creative typography.

Google Fonts is a great place to get free fonts of all kinds. Just keep in mind that you'll need to evaluate each typeface for quality, readability, and how it matches the information you're trying to communicate. Does the typeface have several weights to help you control hierarchy? Are the shapes balanced and easy to read for body copy? Great typefaces are at the root of great design. Good typography will support your design without becoming noticeable, while bad typography and typeface choice will detract from it.

In this tool, you can search for colors or moods, and see how those are applied to design and photography. Try searching for two opposite moods, such as "calm" and "energetic". What patterns do you see in the color palettes for each mood? How does each mood's color differ?

Practical tips on creating color schemes, identifying the dominant color in your designs, and improving color contrast in typography.

This tool can help you pick color schemes based on the harmony rules we talked about today, and help you understand how the rules of color harmony work. Try moving one of the color circles on the color wheel up and down the white line to adjust its saturation - how much of the current color is being added to the mix. Then, drag the color clockwise around the circle. Notice how the other colors adjust in relation to your current color. This is the "shape" that color harmony rule takes on the color wheel. Try this with several color schemes, noting the differencYou may also want to try changing the color mode from RGB to HSV, which is more intuitive to work with.

Huge, searchable network of graphic design examples. Great if you're stuck or want to see what others have done.

Online magazine for rookie designers, students, interns and juniors with intimate interviews, free design student awards and free resources.

Modern examples and study of cultural and political ramifications of visual communication worldwide. Case studies of how Western design principles do and don’t apply in other cultures, and how to avoid major pitfalls in global design. Easy read, lots of great examples. Recommended for students who plan to go into visual communication professionally or who are interested in anti-racist design practice.

Behance Student Show is a portfolio of design student work. See what other students like you are doing and get inspired for this semester!