Lucas Cobb

1. Have a Plan
2. Remove stocky images and ambiguous terminology
3. Include social share and follow buttons
4. Implement calls-to-action
5. Use the right imagery that works for your audience
6. Create a navigation that guides users through your site
7. Stay mobile friendly
8. Focus on SEO
9. Never stop testing
10. Find and fix 404s

Fluid web typography gives us so many opportunities to better design the reading experiences on the web but, at the same time, introduces problems of font sizes scaling uncontrollably and potential accessibility issues. Is fluid web typography ready to be used?

Let’s dig into all the key areas that designers train on a daily basis that makes them ready to perform at top-tier performance athletes. Continue reading “Designers Are Like Athletes”

Here are 7 sure fire steps to follow when designing for accessibility. This refers to the practice of building digital content and applications that can be used by a wide range of people, including individuals who have visual, motor, auditory, speech, or cognitive disabilities. Continue reading “Accessibility Is Not That Hard”

According to designer from across the globe, these were the most used tools by designers in 2017. Continue reading “The most popular tools of the year – 2017”

3 short lines of CSS (excluding vendor prefixes) using transform: translateY  will vertically center whatever we want, even if we don’t know the elements height. Continue reading “Vertically center elements with 3 lines of code”

1. Handwritten type – encompasses both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface.
   Brush Up font  |  Ondise font  |  Goodfy font  |  Barber Shop font
2. Google Fonts – interactive directory of free hosted application programming interfaces for web fonts.
   Open Sans font  |  Roboto font  |  Oswald font
3. Flat Design type – places a clear emphasis on simplicity, minimalism, and intelligibility.
   Metros font  |  Marianina font  |  Burne Alt font
4. Mix & Match type – creates an artistic, handcrafted but still polished and purposeful look on a site.
   Native font  |  Hoverage font  |  Pacific Northwest Letters font
5. Large Type – because of increased screen resolutions, the standard 12 point font is no longer as readable as it was before.
   Cape Rock font  |  CPL Kirkwood font  |  Zona Black font

1. Both REM and EM are relative units.
2. EM children inherit size by scaling in relation to the parent font size.
3. REM is only relative to the html(root) font-size.
4. REM is best used to define the padding and margins.
5. REM stands for “root em”.
6. REM units help for responsive design.
7. REM units are great for rapid prototyping.
8. All sizes should be in REM units.
9. REM units do not work in IE8.

Here is a list of quick notes on why designers fail at the task presented to them. Refrain from doing these things and you will be a success.

1. No Ambition – Success takes a long time.
2. No Plan – You’ve got to have a plan to not fail.
3. No Point of View – Find your voice and sing loudly.
4. Afraid of Criticism – Designers are private people.
5. People Pleasers – Design for yourself.
6. No Exposure – Exposure is critical for success.
7. Pay Me Syndrome – “Show me the money” mentality.
8. Runway Addiction – Putting on a fashion show.
9. Wrong Starting Point – Chasing after the big prize.
10. Saturated Market – We are global because of the internet.

I’m excited to present Photoshop and Illustrator keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for Adobe CS6 from ZeroLag. They designed it specifically with graphic designers in mind. They also provided code below the graphics so you can share it on your blog to help improve the productivity of fellow graphic designers. There are printer-friendly versions that fit perfectly on letter-size paper for quick referencing.

Printer Friendly Versions (CS6 & Below):
Photoshop Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet >> Download here
Illustrator Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet >> Download here

Printer Friendly Versions (CC):
Photoshop Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet >> Download here
Illustrator Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet >> Download here

I hope you enjoy these tips on self promotion in the design field.

1. Do something different – Dream up some caper that isn’t on this list and put it into action with characteristic flair.
2. Talk to (real) people – Don’t just talk to designers, talk to everyone and anyone.
3. Stay in touch – Exchanging favors is what makes the world go round.
4. Target your audience – It’s no good getting a database of random design firms and sending them all an email.
5. Initiate your own projects – Don’t just complain about being unable to do the type of work you want to be doing – do something about it.
6. Collaborate – Creative people spark when they’re brought together.
7. Don’t be a stalker – Meeting people in the flesh is undeniably worthwhile, but sometimes you just have to accept that people are busy.
8. Put your name on the work – Think about it: what’s one of the first things people look for once they’ve clocked a masterpiece? The signature.
9. Go postal (snail mail) – If you can’t get there yourself, why not send a little something to keep your work fresh in people’s minds
10. Learn to submit – Publishers sometimes invite open submissions for their titles, so submitting work to these books and magazines is a great way of getting your work into people’s hands.
11. Win hearts and minds – Always be prepared to stand up for what you believe in, but make sure you’re the kind of person people enjoy hanging out with.
12. Be in the competition – Granted, you might put in a lot of effort and get nothing in return, but that’s the nature of competitions.
13. Think like a brand – If your promotional efforts are going to pay off, they have to be leading to a consistent point – that is, your brand.
14. Blog for self motivation – If you have a lively blog with interesting content, it can be a real winner in more ways than one.
15. Be enthusiastic – Being genuinely excited about a project will not only get you remembered by the client and fellow creatives, but also helps inspire everyone else involved to give it their all.

This great deck shows a broad history of Graphic Design from its coinage to the practices of responsive design going on today. Graphic design is the art or profession of combining text, pictures, and ideas in advertisements, publication, or website. At its widest definition, it therefore includes the whole history of art, although painting and other aspects of the subject are more usually treated as art history.

Continue reading “The History of Graphic Design”

In this free Photoshop tutorial we’ll be covering the techniques used to extract and apply textures from one animal to another – combining two animals with photoshop.

Using just a few key tools and the Overlay blend mode, you’ll see how simple it can be to combine your own favorite animals. You won’t be limited to only creating zebra-elephant hybrids, as the methods used in this tutorial will work across a multitude of animal types and even objects.

Continue reading “Combine Two Animals With Photoshop”

The Facebook Like Button Plugin adds the Facebook like button before and after your blog post.

Download it at the WordPress Repository

In this text effect tutorial Enrique Flouret shows us how to create a Craft photoshop font style reminiscent of a Wired Magazine headline introduced on the September 2008 issue. Although the effect is a bit different, all credit should be given to Mario Hugo.

Here´s the finished Papercraft Text Effect. Try it with different fonts and with different colors. Post your results on the comments section at the end of this article.

Read the rest of the tutorial on Photoshop Road Map

Here are ten reasons why you should not date a designer.

1. They analyze everything…
2. They know who did everything design…
3. Nothing can be normal…
4. They are never “actually” there…
5.  They constantly talk about other designers…
6.  They can’t stop tinkering…
7. They can’t stop buying “cool” stuff…
8. They are impossible to buy gifts for…
9.  Everything has to look great. Always…
10. They have to dress the part…