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COLOR SHADES (FIGMA PLUGIN)

Generate multiple shades from the same base color.

BEST DATA VISUALIZATION PROJECTS OF 2023

Best data visualization projects from 2023 include Alvin Chang's unique American Time Use Survey exploration, Lauren Leatherby's examination of demographic shifts, and Leonardo Nicoletti and Dina Bass's project connecting AI and bias.

HOW GAME DESIGN WORKS WITH OUR BRAINS TO CREATE BEAUTY AND MEANING

A new book by veteran game designer Frank Lantz explores the ways and reasons games impact us so profoundly and the depths of creative expression in them. Playing games teaches us about the world, helps us connect cause and effect to imagination, and enables us to learn in a whole new way.

UX WRITING IS AN OVERLOOKED SKILL UX PROFESSIONALS NEED TO KNOW

When designers ignore UX writing and microcopy, others pick up the slack, which may only sometimes lead to the best results. The role of designers is especially suited to crafting engaging content and ensuring all copy is readable, scannable, and accessible.

CANVA THINKS THESE WILL BE THE HOT DESIGN TRENDS OF 2024

Canva is betting on pixelation, surrealism, and bold rebrands in 2024.

TOP 10 UX STUDY GUIDES OF 2023

Nielsen Norman Group has released its study guide for 2023, which features the best content of the year. The post organizes articles and videos into topics and guides learners to study them in the best sequence.

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APPLE’S IMMERSIVE NEXT-GEN CARPLAY WILL START WITH PORSCHE AND ASTON MARTIN

Apple's next generation of wireless CarPlay has appeared in mock-ups of dashboard-spanning UIs designed for Porsche and Aston Martin. Rather than simply taking over the infotainment center and a few small parts of the in-dash system, the new dashboard seeks to overhaul all car displays, with the theme varying for each automaker.

GOOGLE’S NEW MULTIMODAL AI VIDEO GENERATOR VIDEOPOET LOOKS INCREDIBLE

The Google Research team’s new LLM video generator approach may allow for longer, higher quality clips and eliminate some of the constraints and issues with current diffusion-based video generating AIs where the movement of subjects in the video tends to break down or turn glitchy after just a few frames.

CSS WRAPPED: 2023!

CSS had a fantastic year in 2023. Every modern browser now supports container queries, subgrids, the :has() selector, and a wide range of new color spaces and functions. Additionally, new primitives like CSS nesting and scoped styles have given creators more control. Chrome also supports CSS-only scroll-based animations as well as smooth transitions between web views.

2023 WAS A BAD YEAR FOR UX, BUT THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

2020 to 2022 was an unsustainable bubble. Tech giants have grown so bloated with excess staff that a correction was unavoidable. That’s why UX job openings are down 70% and UX salaries are down 11% - a market correction.

HOT TAKE: DESIGN INTERVIEWS HAVE BECOME ANTI-DESIGN

Design job interviews ask designers to do what jobs tell them never to do — design for design's sake. It’s time to challenge the notion that a more elaborate hiring process automatically equates to a company’s prestige based on its perceived ‘hiring bar.’

JOYSPAN, EMOTIONAL AI BUMPERS, PERSONA DESIGNERS, & MORE

Considering how technology and society progress today, new concepts may soon emerge that may have a profound impact on society.

ON-DEMAND CSS ANIMATIONS LIBRARY

Animista is a CSS animation library where you can play with a collection of ready-made CSS animations and download only those you will use.

AI RESEARCH ASSISTANT THAT CONDUCTS USER INTERVIEWS

Juno can conduct hundreds of interviews simultaneously, extracting and delivering rich insights for you in the background 24/7.

SPLINE METAL NOW HELPS YOU BRING 3D TO IOS, IPADOS, MACOS, AND VISIONOS

Designers can now bring all of the interactivity and materials from 3D designs beyond the web to Apple devices thanks to a new native renderer in Spline Metal. The tool can embed native 3D with Swift code or generate an Xcode project for publishing on the App Store.

THE MAGIC OF ZEPLIN: SEVEN PRINCIPLES THAT DRIVE WHAT WE DO

Throughout its eight-year history, Zeplin has kept a collection of ideas and principles guiding its product evolution. As part of its beliefs, the company avoids mixing ready-to-build designs with in-progress ones, keeps track of collaboration, establishes clear standards, prioritizes user journeys, invests in documentation, and emphasizes visibility of specs, assets, and any user interface building blocks.

2023'S INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL AWARDS

The Information is Beautiful Awards recognize excellence and beauty in data visualization, infographics, interactives, and information art. The entries for this year are divided into categories such as Arts, Entertainment, Culture, Places, People, Games and Sport, and others.

HOW OLD-SCHOOL TECHNOLOGIES STILL SHAPE WEB DEVELOPMENT

Web design may be a high-tech industry. However, if you look closely, you’ll find decades-old technologies not limited to outdated websites: Apache HTTP servers, jQuery, JPEG images, the command line, and even HTML.

2023 AI WRAP-UP FOR DESIGNERS

It is undeniable that 2023 was a year of radical changes in AI. This post organizes the most important releases for creatives, considering generative AI game-changers and new interaction paradigms.

ANOTHER COLLECTION OF UNHINGED PRODUCT DESIGN CONCEPTS BY SOREN IVERSON

Soren Iverson has been creating unhinged interfaces daily for nearly a year. The first book he published sold out, so now it's time for a second.

TONY’S CHOCOLONELY

Tony’s Chocolonely’s logo is the chocolate bar itself: no separate logo, wordmark, or alternative versions - making the brand stand out.

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SKETCH IN 2023: WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

Sketch made significant strides in 2023, with updates like enhanced Smart Layout, Figma file imports, and user-friendly feedback tools. It improved workspace organization and introduced new design templates, culminating in its return to the Mac App Store.

INSIDE THE DESIGN OF ALPHAFLY 3, NIKE’S RECORD-SMASHING MARATHON SHOE

Alphafly 3 shoes are Nike's latest running shoes for marathon runners. With their unconventional design, material mix, and knitting, they were crafted with a simple goal in mind: to help runners run faster marathons.

VOLKSWAGEN BOWS TO TOUCHSCREEN CRITICISM, WILL BRING BACK PHYSICAL BUTTONS

After eschewing physical controls in recent releases, Volkswagen will bring physical controls back to future models. Thomas Schäfer, the company's CEO, said the touchscreen design of the Volkswagen ID.3 and Volkswagen Golf damaged the brand, with drivers unsatisfied with having to swipe on menus to turn on lights and complete other simple tasks.

UX/UI DESIGN TRENDS GOING INTO 2024

Every year, we have a lineup of new design trends that look good and stick around and influence other designers to “steal” the trend. The most prominent trends from 2023 that will continue in 2024 are Bento boxes, spatial design with AR/VR, more animations, the end of flat design, the flood of AI design tools, and a more significant focus on accessibility.

MAKING NOISY SVGS

There has been an emergence of texture instead of clean, flat shapes, usually as part of a design’s lighting or shading, and usually a “noisy” or grainy texture. The cool thing about this style of illustrations is that they can be done entirely with SVG.

THE UNSEEN POTENTIAL OF AUGMENTED REALITY

Over the past decade, augmented reality (AR) has evolved from an immature technology to one extending into practical realms like navigation, shopping, and education. Interactive AR could also be used for object identification and explanation, translation, guidance, navigation, reviewing and comparison, and workspace expansion.

VISUAL ELECTRIC

Visual Electric is an image generator built for the creative process. Designers can start with an inspirational image from the library and then try different moods, test different colors, and hone their prompts.

UX REPO

A library of resources for crafting user experiences, categorized by the double diamond process stages.

DESIGN CONTRIBUTION TRACKER

Design teams can automatically track their contributions in Figma with FigWig.

ICON DESIGN TRENDS FOR 2024

From minimalism to grainy aesthetics, this article covers what will be trendy in icon design in 2024. Examine the best practices that power the most successful icon sets, regardless of the current trends.

SETTING A UX BUDGET? ANSWER THESE 6 QUESTIONS FIRST

Budget for UX should consider a company's UX maturity, its product's current status, future needs, and user requirements. Having solid arguments for next year's UX investments begins with six key questions that can help you cover those topics.

WHAT IS PROCESS DOCUMENTATION – AND HOW CAN IT HELP YOUR TEAM?

Creating clear and aligned processes within teams requires process documentation. As a result, people understand roles and responsibilities and can make better team decisions. Specific process documentation components are common to all industries, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), guidelines, flowcharts, templates, and checklists.

DYNAMIC PICTOGRAMS FOR DESIGN SYSTEMS

Typically, pictograms are vector graphics illustrations with various colors, backgrounds, accents, and skin colors. Each option requires a different SVG file, potentially resulting in too many assets unless a more dynamic and scalable method is used.

A CRITIQUE OF CRITIQUES OF BLANDIFICATION

Many designers have pointed to the recent Johnson & Johnson rebrand as proof of the design's increasing simplification, blandification, and sanserifisation. These analyses of the logo need to be revised as economic, technological, and social contexts deeply influence branding.

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ADOBE PAYS $1 BILLION TO TERMINATE $20 BILLION FIGMA ACQUISITION

Adobe must pay Figma a $1 billion penalty as part of the purchase termination. So far, the breakup has been met with a slightly positive response from shareholders, as Adobe’s stock is up slightly today.

RENOWNED APPLE INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER PETER RUSSELL-CLARKE JOINS VAST AS ADVISOR

Over his nearly 20-year tenure at Apple, Russell-Clarke was instrumental in designing iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, as well as the Apple Park headquarters and consumer stores. He has been named in over 1,000 Apple patents, including the iMac, iPod Nano, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

AN UPDATED THEMING EXPERIENCE WITH MATERIAL THEME BUILDER 2.0

A new Material Theme Builder 2.0 version for Figma offers better support for variables, eliminates the need to switch between dynamic and color tabs, and improves theme control. Also, color fidelity has been improved, resulting in schemes that match key color inputs more closely.

WHY WE HOST AN INTERNAL DESIGN SYSTEMS CONFERENCE

APPLE’S VISION PRO KEYBOARD SOUNDS LIKE STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE

visionOS’ keyboard function still needs some fine-tuning. The 'air typing' feature should be more fluid. The lack of tactile feedback might be an issue.

BUILDING COMPONENTS FOR CONSUMPTION, NOT COMPLEXITY - PART 2

This article focuses on the FRAILS framework's key points and practical tips for managing an easy-to-use design system. Through a hands-on approach, it shows how to build components that are adaptable, indexable, logical, and specific.

HEROICONS MICRO

Tailwind's new micro style features almost three hundred 16×16 icons designed for tighter, higher-density UIs.

UX IDEAS

A collection of over 1,000 UX ideas for your case studies and personal projects.

DESIGN SYSTEMS PROCESS CHEATSHEET

Speed up and improve your next project with this practical FigJam template outlining the steps in setting up a new design system.

GOOD DESIGN IS SUBJECTIVE, CONTEXTUAL, AND INTENTIONAL

Urban planners have been designing for human experiences for nearly 200 years. UI/UX designers can learn from this. They should conduct user testing across a wide cohort of experiences and backgrounds, testing stakeholder assumptions with real users and anticipating dead ends and the questions of confused users.

ANAK'S VISUAL IDENTITY FOR COFFEE BRAND BETTR IS PURPOSELY FLAWED, AND ALL THE BETTER FOR IT

Bettr’s new identity heralds a transformative shift in conscious branding, resulting in a fresh approach to sustainability. It aims to forge a genuine, honest connection with a tired, disillusioned audience, making complex problems relatable and entertaining.

ON THIS DAY IN 1994, NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR 1.0 STARTED THE WEB WE KNOW TODAY

Netscape Navigator 1.0 launched on December 15th, 1994, and it quickly became the most popular browser in the world. It enjoyed a few years in the spotlight, though it was discontinued in 2009.