Top 50 Design Blog Articles and Sites From 2017

It’s nearly the the close of 2017. Lots has happened and I’ve been reading about UX, Design Thinking, Design Systems, Agile, Block Chain, Crypto currencies, Machine Learning, AI, Startups and plenty more. 2018 seems to be shaping up to be an exciting year for digital! (and maybe we’ll stop asking ourselves, why didn’t we all buy Bitcoins 5 years ago?)

Trends running into 2018

  • Better personalisation (Machine learning, AI) – With tech coming to the forefront we need to made experiences individual
  • Better Security all over – We need to prevent those Cryptocurrencies form being stolen!
  • Wider adoption of design processes in product management (Design Systems, Design Thinking leading to better product design
  • The new breed of disruptors taking on AI, Machine learnings and Cryptocurrencies
  • Chat Bots & Speech – More and more popping up as people test the benefits

Top 50 Design Blog Articles and Sites

The Ultimate Guide to Minimum Viable Product

You’ll know exactly what MVP is, how to do it and what tools to use.

Topics: mvp, lean startup, product management
Read time: 7 mins

The Most Important Rule in UX Design that Everyone Breaks

The psychological phenomenon discussed in this article is known as Miller’s Law.

Topics: ux,design
Read time: 5 mins

How to promote a blog post: the ultimate guide

you’ve written an awesome blog post that provides lots of value…now what? How do you get it in front of the right eyes, and as many pairs of eyes as possible? Promoting your blog posts the right way is just as important as writing amazing content.

Topics: blogging, content marketing
Read time: 10 mins

The non-techie’s guide to machine learning

So, machine learning. Is that like… AI? Dive in to the fundamentals of Machine Learning

Topics: machine learning, tech
Read time: 5 mins

Design Systems Handbook – DesignBetter.Co

A design system unites product teams around a common visual language. It reduces design debt, accelerates the design process, and builds bridges between teams – Check out this 7 step guide

Topics: invision, design, design systems
Read time: 7 mins

Running in Circles

Why Agile Isn’t working and what we can do differently

Topics: waterfall, agile
Read time: 6 mins

Certbot

Automatically enable HTTPS on your website with EFF’s Certbot, deploying Let’s Encrypt certificates

Topics:web development, https, ssl
Read time: 2 mins

Artwork Personalization at Netflix

Given the enormous diversity in taste and preferences, wouldn’t it be better if we could find the best artwork for each of our members to highlight the aspects of a title that are specifically relevant to them?

Topics: netflix, recommendations, personalisation
Read time: 11 mins

Design Principles

This site is an open source resource created to help us understand and write Design Principles.

Topics: design, principles, design systems
Read time: 5 mins

How artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the news business

Reuters is scooping its rivals using intelligent machines that mine Twitter for news stories.

Topics: artificial intelligence, news, trust
Read time: 6 mins

A brief guide to psychology principles in UX design

Discussing various psychology principles and their relevance in UX design

Topics: artificial intelligence, news, trust
Read time: 2 mins

Machine Learning for Marketers

A comprehensive guide to Machine Learning

Topics: marketing, startups, artificial intelligence
Read time: 7 mins

What is Blockchain Technology?

Few people understand what it is, but Wall Street banks, IT organizations, and consultants are buzzing about blockchain technology.

Topics: blockchain, bitcoin, beginners
Read time: 7 mins

Wireframes, flows, personas and beautifully crafted UX deliverables for your inspiration

Here are a few examples of UX deliverables that are well polished, legible and simple to understand

Topics: ux, deliverables, wireframes
Read time: 11 mins

The Font-end Checklist

The Front-End Checklist Application is perfect for modern websites and meticulous developers!

Topics: front-End, checklist, website design
Read time: 11 mins

Six Steps to Superior Product Prototyping: Lessons from an Apple and Oculus Engineer

Tips and advice to make your product prototyping strategy better

Topics: prototyping, product management, product
Read time: 15 mins

An Introduction to Scrollama.js

Scrollytelling can be complicated to implement and difficult to make performant. The goal of this library is to provide a simple interface for creating scroll-driven interactives and improve user experience by reducing scroll jank.

Topics: javascript, scrollytelling, waypoints
Read time: 3 mins

First Round Search

The best tactical advice in tech

Topics: startups, advice, news
Read time: 3 mins

20 Product Prioritization Techniques: A Map and Guided Tour

Although it’s not what we are hired to do, it’s something that we have to do to achieve our real goal: creating successful products that bring value to our customers and to the business.

Topics: product management, prioritization
Read time: 4 mins

How to Stop UX Research being a Blocker

Fitting research into agile teams

Topics: ux, research, agile
Read time: 7 mins

Fontjoy – Get smart font pairings in one click

Generate font combinations with deep learning

Topics: fonts, typography, design
Read time: 2 mins

The 8pt Grid: Consistent Spacing in UI Design with Sketch

Spacing is everything in UI design.Forget colour, forget typography. Nail the spacing and you’re half way there. Why?

Topics: grid, sketch, 8pt grid
Read time: 4 mins

Another Lens – News Deeply x Airbnb.Design

A research tool for conscientious creatives

Topics: design, design thinking, research
Read time: 6 mins

Haiku – design meets production

Craft imaginative UI components that snap into any app.
Code optional.

Topics: animations, sketch, ui
Read time: 3 mins

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide

If you own, manage, monetize, or promote online content via Google Search, this guide is meant for you.

Topics: seo, google, basics
Read time: 10 mins

A/B tests that do more than validate – Inside Intercom

A/B tests provide more than statistical validation of one execution over another. They can and should impact how your team prioritizes projects.

Topics: a/b testing, best practices
Read time: 2 mins

Material Design and the Mystery Meat Navigation Problem

In March 2016, Google updated Material Design to add bottom navigation bars to its UI library. This new bar is positioned at the bottom of an app, and contains 3 to 5 icons that allow users to navigate between top-level views in an app.

Topics:navigation, web design, android
Read time: 9 mins

UXmas – Wishing you a great experience through the festive season!

An advent calendar for UX folk

Topics:ux, articles
Read time: 5 mins

How to Build a Successful Team

Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills.

Topics:management, team
Read time: 11 mins

1000 different people, the same words

What hiring language from 25,000 recent job descriptions tells us about corporate cultural norms

Topics:hiring language, job descriptions, corporate culture
Read time: 2 mins

The Role of the Founder/CEO: You Have One Job

Most people have a certain image in their minds when they think of a founder/CEO.

Topics:startups, expertise, leadership
Read time: 5 mins

8 simple rules for a robust, scalable CSS architecture

This is the manifest of things I’ve learned about managing CSS in large, complex web projects during my many years of professional web development.

Topics:css, architecture, scalable”
Read time: 15 mins

Intro to Framer

Design and code animations with Framer

Topics:prototyping, design, animation
Read time: 7 mins

Action vs indecision – Inside Intercom

One of the most expensive parts of running a startup isn’t the new feature you shipped that nobody used or the marketing experiment you ran that failed. It’s indecision.

Topics:principles, management
Read time: 1 mins

12 Things Product Managers Should Do in Their First 30 Days

Here are some tips for how to approach that first month. Emphasize these three areas: People, Product, and Personal:

Topics:product management, product
Read time: 4 mins

A Primer on Android navigation

Before digging into common navigation patterns, it’s worth stepping back and finding a starting point for thinking about navigation in your app.

Topics:navigation, android navigation, android
Read time: 11 mins

The Guide to Mobile App Design: Best Practices for 2018 and Beyond

So what exactly can be considered as “good experience”? Let’s explore the six fundamentals of mobile app design.

Topics:mobile, app, design
Read time: 6 mins

How to Create Influencer Roundups: Tips and Tools for Bloggers

n this article, you’ll discover a four-step plan to create effective influencer roundups.

Topics:outreach, content, blogging, influence
Read time: 7 mins

The Role Of Storyboarding In UX Design

In order to create better products, designers must understand what’s going on in the user’s world and understand how their products can make the user’s life better. And that’s where storyboards come in.

Topics:ux, research, storyboard
Read time: 11 mins

Best Tools for Web Designers to Use in 2018

The design world moves fast and there’s always new tools coming out. To stay ahead of the game requires an ear to the ground at all times.

Topics:tools, ux, ui
Read time: 7 mins

Looking to Horizon: Why We Built A Design System

Feather’s mission was to provide consistent and thoughtful experiences at scale. As the number of Feather’s components, patterns, and internal customers grew, this once-Hackathon passion project evolved into a well-supported team.

Topics:design system, twitter
Read time: 3 mins

Jobs-to-Be-Done in Your UX Toolbox

People want a quarter-inch hole, not a quarter inch drill

Topics:jtbd
Read time: 12 mins

Motion design for the web, iOS & Android with Haiku

JTBD provides a different way to think about solutions that compete for the same job:

Topics: android, animation
Read time: 3 mins

Lottie without After Effects

We designed Haiku from the ground up for animating UI components. Like Sketch, it is a simple tool with a specific purpose, and like AE, it is compatible with Lottie.

Topics: animation
Read time: 3 mins

I don’t care if you love red: how to work with your UX team, not against them

As a designer, I’m passionate about creating the right user experience. A great product should take you on a journey. It should feel seamless, clear, and fun.

Topics: ux, research, product
Read time: 7 mins

Team Alignment Map

An agile template to boost alignment in cross-functional teams: concrete discussions that bring concrete results.

Topics: collaboration, tool
Read time: 1 mins

8 Customer Discovery Questions to Validate Product Market Fit for Your Startup

During a typical diligence process, we will interview customers and might ask them questions like these…

Topics:product market fit, validation
Read time: 1 mins

Where Do We Put The UX Tasks?

I’ve seen teams try these three options to remedy the situation

Topics: ux, agile development
Read time: 3 mins

Where should designers sit? Making cross-functional design teams work

Traditionally design teams have been centralized, such that all designers worked on the same team and would take on projects together.

Topics: design, cross-functional, teams
Read time: 5 mins

Why Design Systems Fail

I’d like to go over a few considerations to ensure design system success and what could hinder that success.

Topics: design system
Read time: 10 mins

Wrike for Designers and Creatives

Collaborating on an online project management software for marketing is a huge part of being a designer or a creative, and more often than not you are juggling more than one task or project at a time.

This makes managing a creative project online for creatives particularly difficult and what’s more, the line managers or bosses that approve the creative work usually have nothing to do with the design suites that creatives are working in.

Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and other marketing project management tools have been used as the primary design platforms for professionals for many years, but the lack of integration with other platforms has made it difficult to complete tasks.

Comments in Adobe, instant messaging, emails and doodling are the most frequent ways that marketing teams have been working with creatives in order to give their feedback and try and get their ideas across, however this is not just ineffective but incredibly time consuming too.

In order to streamline these administrative necessities in the creative process Wrike integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud. This allows whole teams to work and collaborate within the Adobe Apps and Wrike in the respective silos without having to communicate through dozens of different task workflows management software.

This integration allows creative teams to:

Ideate and Plan

Creative processes all start with an idea or a request from a client that is turned into a brief and then translated into a creative idea. The Wrike integration makes it easier to assign, schedule and balance the ideas, suggestions and workflows of creative teams.

Create and Perfect

Your whole team can read, reply, add comments and suggestions and upload files right within your tools, without having to leave your workspace.

Review and Approve

Proofing and feedback on both mobile and desktop means that you can work anywhere you want. The actions are all clear and it makes it easy to follow the approval trails and feedback.

Launch and Report

The custom workflows in Wrike means that project tasks are scheduled, assigned and delivered according to the deadlines and timelines.

Having a team scheduling software where you can have full visibility on all projects is the biggest advantage that the Adobe Creative Cloud’s integration with Wrike has for creative teams and the other departments that work alongside them to get their projects out to clients.

Assists in Quality Communication

No matter what line of work you are in, high-quality communication is the key to a successful project. Collaboration is only possible through open lines of communication and this is especially true for creative and design teams.

People in these roles continually get new ideas as they go along with their projects, and they need to discuss these with the rest of the team and their managers. These discussions around their ideas could change or improve the final project, and as such it’s essential that they are made possible.

The great thing about Wrike’s new integration is that it makes it possible to give feedback, request meetings and discuss ideas all within one workspace. The platform can import appointments from Google Calendar, attach files from Drive, and allows direct feedback and input into mock-ups and wireframes without the designers having to export their work or leave their workspace.

Allows Theme Setting and Clear Creative Goals

Wrike’s dashboard allows for the creation of customised workflows per project that can be shared with all the people involved across the company. Briefs can be attached through Drive, reference images will be on hand, tasks are tracked and goals are clearly set.

This all means that everyone working on the creative asset of ideation will be able to clearly see the timeline, theme and goals of the creative project and will be more likely to deliver it on time with the quality that was required.

Flexible Timelines

Not every creative project can be rushed into a timeline, good things do take time. That being said, having an open timeline isn’t an option as nothing would ever get done. Wrike allows you to give flexible due dates and buffer time into your projects that may not be able to flow exactly to a deadline.

You can meet with all the people that are involved with the project, and rather set key milestones that show how what stages of the project need to be done by certain times, this will help the creative keep on track with the project timeline.

These are just some of the important aspects that Wrike’s integration with Adobe Creative Cloud that will have a great impact on the way that designers and creatives are able to manage their projects, and share their ideas with people around the company.

Top Tips for Developing a Creative Flyer

Flyers are a fantastic way to promote your business, especially considering how easily they can be distributed among members of the public. Since you’re likely to be spending your hard-earned cash on this very effective marketing tool, it is essential to take the right steps when designing your flyer, ensuring you display your skill set effectively to get the attention of readers through stylish design. Below are some top tips to design an effective flyer, and ultimately help boost the chance of your business campaign being a success.

Focus on Visual Aspects

It is usually human nature to see images before we read the text in front of us, and this is a very important consideration when designing a flyer. It is important to use eye catching colors and intriguing designs to engage viewers as best possible, and regardless of your creative ability there is always the option of using ready-made templates such as a free online flyer maker, which allows you to customize your details effectively.

 

Promote the Benefits of Using Your Service Over Competitors

Though it is tempting to simply reel off the features of the products or services you offer, it is important to mention the benefits of your company over others, suggesting evidence as to why individuals should choose you over other businesses. It is important to answer the ‘what’s in it for me’ question that will be posted by the individual reading the flyer when they look past the initially attractive imagery on display.

 

Keep It Brief

One of the most important features of flyers is the use of short and snappy text that gets straight to the point, otherwise users can easily become bored and dismiss your flyer. To achieve this, short sentences should be used incorporating lists and bullet points which keep the attention of the individual. This has become increasingly important in a world where people’s attention spans are diminishing, and if people are keen to find out more they can do so by contacting you at your address, phone number or website.

 

Organize Your Information

Text boxes and infographics can be used effectively to organize your information into easily digestible portions, ensuring a concise read that gets your point across.

Use A Catchy Headline

Though visual imagery is arguably the most important factor in terms of captivating audience attention, another critical and often first observed aspect of your flyer is the heading. This should be something which is interesting and perfectly sums up your business, giving consumers a good idea of exactly what you do in just one or two lines of text.

Proofread Your Writing

A critical mistake made by users is their inability to check and double check what has been written, where misspelled words or incorrect contact information suggests unprofessionalism and results in individuals failing to trust the service you’re adveritisng.

 

Utilizing these tips above will give you the best chance of success when using flyers as a method of advertisement.

 

9 Social Media Marketing Tips to Deliver Better Results

Social media has quickly morphed into one of the most important marketing channels. Within a few short years, it has moved from being a mere fad into the most powerful marketing tool on the planet. Facebook, for example, is just over a decade old but no business can afford not to have a Facebook marketing strategy.

But, social media marketing has now moved beyond being simply about likes and followers.To succeed, there is a lot to learn.

The following are nine social media tips guaranteed to deliver better results.

1. Focus on Specific Social Media Networks

A few years ago, conventional wisdom dictated that you should be on as many social media networks as possible. Now, we know better. The wisdom this time around is quite to the contrary. Experience has shown that various demographics are active in different social media sites. With the exception of Facebook, that seems to transcend all demographics, other social networks have shown affinity to particular demographics. For example, teenagers hang out on Snapchat and millenials under 30 love Instagram. So, the strategy should be to identify the favorite social networks of your target audience and only focus on those. This is critical for success because social media marketing has become expensive. Focusing only on the social sites frequented by your audience ensures you use marketing resources in the most effective way.

2. Tailor Your Content for Each Platform

If you are posting to more than one platform, do not make the mistake of posting the same content on all platforms. Posts that are good for Facebook don’t always deliver results on Twitter. Users on social networks like Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are into visual content. You must tailor your content appropriately.

3. Don’t Sell Stuff

This is the biggest mistake you can make. The fact is that you want to turn your audience into a lead eventually but you can’t turn a social profile into an online store. Instead, you should post content that increases engagement to the point that your audience feels compelled to check out your product offering. Before you start pushing products, remember that people go to social media to find interesting content, catch up with friends and socialize.

4. Get Visual

Everyone loves eye candy. When print media was dominant, magazines went out of their way to design striking cover images to whet the appetite’s of their readers. Visual content is the way to go. If you want success, have a strong visual content strategy. In particular, live video is doing very well on social media and this is a trend that will continue into the future.

5. Run Contests and Promotions

Contests and promotions are a great way to increase engagement on social media. Contests and promotions have a high likelihood of being shared. Be creative, see what other companies have done and create contests that go viral.

6. Lead with Educational Content

According to a HubSpot study, 100 of the top non-celebrity Twitter accounts have built large audiences by posting educational content. Educational content is much more effective at building audiences than social media conversations. Providing readers with content that they find useful is a great way to build trust.

7. Give Away Free Stuff

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Reel in audiences by giving away something of value. It doesn’t have to be your main product. It could be stuff like free videos, ebooks, webinars, non-premium content or anything else of value that you could reasonably give away.

8. Respond Promptly and Helpfully to Audience Communication

We live in an era when anyone can screenshot a conversation and share it on social media. This is a customer service nightmare for companies. Even a small company must invest thousands of dollars on training it’s frontline staff to avoid gaffes that can end up as PR disasters. You must respond in a timely, respectful and helpful manner to all social media comments, inquiries, complaints and suggestions.

9. Invest in Social Listening Tools

To drive the narrative and avoid other people writing the narrative for you, you must practice social listening. You must keep a close watch over your brand’s mentions, competitor mentions and other keywords that are relevant to your industry. There are a number of nifty tools that you can use for social listening. Data gathered from social listening will provide you with valuable insights that will inform your social media strategy.

Conclusion

We started off by stating that social media has quickly evolved to become one of the most important marketing channels. In conclusion, we also need to add that social media marketing is also changing rapidly. What is true today is old stuff tomorrow. So, while these nine tips are relevant today, to continuously deliver better results, you must keep a close watch on developments in the social media industry.

Become a Blogger to Inspire Others

Blogging is everywhere around us and has become a niche market over the last couple of years which enables people to connect together on forums and in writing. Blogging somehow similar to journalism and combines various areas of our lives such as marketing, business and even fashion, food as well as travel in order to keep people posted in terms of what are the latest trends in a wide array of sectors.

In order to be successful as a blogger, there are a lot of steps which should be taken into account but one has to bear in mind that it has to start out as a hobby or passion in order to make sure one will enjoy posting regularly and entertaining a whole lot of readers throughout the period in which it activates. For more information on how to create a blog, click here for details.

Starting A Blog is Extremely Easy

Blogging is one of the easiest and accessible forms of writing as it requires next to no experience or college degree. Its setup is pretty much minimal and it does not require an initial investment or knowledge of how business is conducted. Anyone can start a blog by using common platform and employing a cheap host company.

If all the details are in check, a blog can be created in under twenty minutes with extreme ease. Blog profits on the other hand are really difficult to obtain but the right amount of time and knowledge invested into a blog, profits are as well sure to come.

 

Become an Amazing Writer

Blogging will surely shape the way in which one writes into something amazing and you will become a better writer by posting articles on a daily basis. Writing, like any other skill significantly improves with practice and is extremely desirable for those who want to start a writing career because one will continuously hone their skills by publishing articles and publishing new posts.

Be Inspiring for Others

Blogs are free of charge and are accessible to pretty much anyone who has a stable internet connection. Publishing productive thoughts and making good reviews as well as telling interesting stories will go a long way in terms of attracting readership and inspiring posts will make sure that your blog will be highly sought after each time you hit that post button.

One could recommend countless products or come up with amazing services and reviews. Sharing these ideas to the general public will make it easy for them to catch a glimpse of the services promoted and will go a long way in terms of achieving popularity as it will transform the blogger into an inspirational person.

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