Design

Nobody wants to create bad design, and yet it happens all the time. And while the cause of bad design varies, the final result is the same—bad user experience. Bad user experience frustrates users and often leads to abandoning the product. In this article, I'll focus on one particular aspect of bad design—using UI techniques that lead to bad UX. 1. Pop-Ups If I ask you to name the single most irritating thing on the web, the odds are that you'll reply, "Pop-ups." According to the NN Group pop-ups are the most hated web experience ever. We all know that feeling. You visit a new website, the ...

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Why popular thoughts about user experience are wrong and the reason we should share a concise understanding of the term instead.

The ultimate desktop app to search and use fundamental design resources

As designers and developers, we have an obligation to build experiences that are better than that. This article explains how unethical design happens, and how to do ethical design through a set of best practices.

A unique way to generate fresh and vibrant colors based on lighting and pigment, instead of math. Find a beautiful, free color palette in seconds to kick off your next project.

Does anybody know what are the RGB "equivalents" of the category colors that MS uses in the Windows version of Oulook 2010? Just starting to use a Mac "for real work" (vs tinkering with it as a se...

When done right, concept designs are a glimpse into the future of your product. Know your audience and the purpose of your design.

Mobile phones and tablets are responsible for 56.74% of global internet usage. Having a responsive website is a necessity—not an option.

Not that you would ever do that on purpose or anything.

For my contact page, I wanted a generic calendar icon to let people view my diary. Calendar icons are almost always a skeuomorph of a paper calendar, but I wondered if I could make it slightly more…

Improving your designs with tactics instead of talent.

Find out how your blog design impacts how much time visitors spend on your site.

Phase - digital design reinvented.

A few years back (2014) a link was sent around the design and development community that made everyone stop and question all their…

"It looks great, but can you make it 'pop' more?" We've all been there, the dreaded subjective design feedback, no use to anyone; let's stop a moment and look at what led to this subjective nonsense, what chain of events instigated this horror show of unusable feedback? Actually, how clients receive your work and how you frame the feedback request is often just as much to blame as the person asking you to make your designs 'pop'. Ask yourself how often have you simply sent over an email to a client with a .jpg attached and the seemingly innocent request "let me know what you think". The tru...

Today’s UX designers have failed to act in the best interest of users. To right the ship, the next generation has to make three significant changes, writes Mike Monteiro.

Really bad UX mistakes will frustrate and alienate your users. We break down some really bad UX mistakes that show up even in popular products.

Ethan Marcotte explains why it remains the best way to meet client needs.

SVG Backgrounds hosts a collection of free to use customizable SVG-based repeating backgrounds for websites and blogs

Designers and their clients will never understand each other. And that's a good thing. I mean, let's face it, designers have a way bigger understanding of their craft and (usually) the more freedom brands give them, the better the results of their collaborations are. A recent tweet by Japanese brand Nissin Cup Noodles is a perfect example of the terrible visual disaster that happens when a designer follows through with every single client request.

The semantics inherent in HTML elements tell us what we’re supposed to use them for. Need a heading? You’ll want a heading element. Want a paragraph? Our t

A colorpicker for people who live in their text editor

Disclaimer: If you enjoy dashboards, this article isn’t for you.

by Marli Mesibov

Q&A is a column in which I’ll post long-form answers to thought-provoking questions. This particular question was inspired by a thread in…

Digital Design Reinvented