Design Blog Archive

Insights on Symbol Design

A new post on the blog of The Noun Project. Jon Hicks goes through aspects of taking an icon from sketch to the digital final, considering size, context, balance, grids and detail, a delightful must-read :)

We are proud to have designer Jon Hicks do a guest blog post and give us a quick design tutorial about symbols and icons. For those of you who don’t know, Jon is a designer from the UK and is well known for designing the Firefox and Mailchimp logos. You can view more information about his studio and his work here.

read now: Insights on Symbol Design

Redesign Week: We Are Happy Cog.

Today saw the launch of the new site design of HappyCog - a fresh look, new layout and lovely responsiveness :)
It is a design produced in only one week, "Redesign Week".

An Important Time for Design

Having seen Cameron Koczon speak at the New Adventures conference last week – I was chuffed to see this article published on A List Apart. If you fancy getting an insight into what Cameron’s talk was about – this article sums up his core points very nicely :)

read now: An Important Time for Design

The New Web Typography

OpenType has arrived on the web. Once-inaccessible design features such as small caps, swashes and fractions are now accessible through CSS, allowing for heightened control and extra typographic muscle.

Small caps, ligatures, kerning and more will be revealed as your mouse hovers across this beautiful page.

Part of the Use The Whole Font demo by The Font Bureau, Monotype Imaging and FontFont.

via @cameronmoll

design discussion in 140 characters

An interesting exchange of opinions just now on Twitter ~ about the golden section, grids by @markboulton, @jasonsantamaria and @soulellis. Just wanted to capture a quick snapshot of this - food for thought ;)

@markboulton :

Tutorials: 7 column compound grid, 2 column golden section grid (with nested non-uniform columnar). #chapter5 #designinggrids

@jasonsantamaria :

@markboulton Please, no more golden section! :)

The Organic Type

Created by graphic designers for graphic designers, SketchType™ and Letterpressed Type make it easy to incorporate the texture of handcrafted lettering into any project without ever picking up a pencil.
[...]
Each letter form or graphic element will need to be hand set and composed.

→ view theorganictype.com
found via this tweet from @vpieters

State of the web, Jeffrey Zeldman

headline screenshot
For the end of this year, here is a perfect closing article and debate by Jeffrey Zeldman, make sure to read the comments and discussion as well – plenty of food for thought.

☞ read STATE OF THE WEB: OF APPS, DEVICES, AND BREAKPOINTS

The Icon Handbook

icon handbook

If you are anything like me – you will be happy to hear today’s the day: the long anticipated and eagerly awaited book on icon design by the wonderful Jon Hicks is finally here :)

What bugs me about “content out”

screenshot - cennydd

While there’s been a lot of discussion on the “content out” approach, Cennydd Bowles argues that this concept cannot be taken literally.

It’s a mistake to let content drive design, just as it was to let design drive content. We mustn’t let the pendulum swing too far. If we are to go beyond mere information and style to create meaning, the two must be partners, feeding from and influencing each other.

read now: What bugs me about “content out”

Die a designer: 10 steps to a long career

Designers need to be planning for career longevity, says Christopher Cashdollar, creative director for Happy Cog. His 10 tips will get you thinking beyond the pixel and on a path towards long-term professional relevance.