Sketching is great, but before I start sketching, I start writing. Writing first has lots of advantages, regardless of the project you’re working on. Here are a few examples.

The Rules of Type Design

Here are my proposed rules for Type Design:

You can use lines or strokes.

You can use icons.

You can use typography.

You can change the color of the background.

You can use images.

Each year we learn something new about design and 2016 was no different.
After last year’s article had such a success we decided to make some predictions for 2017, so let's get started!

Design trends are influenced by media, technology, the fashion industry and, lately usability. A trend emerges slowly, gradually, making its way into all design branches, and then disappears in exactly the same way. Basically a design trend's life is no longer than one or two years. Design in 2017 will continue the trends that materialized in 2016 while adding some new influences, but the feeling is well known and familiar and you may have seen it in the past couple of years. The main influencer remains Google's Material Design, that suffers a few changes.

In conversation with Co.Design, the eminent design researcher Don Norman offers cutting criticism of Silicon Valley’s brightest.

The internet has shape preferences, and they’re more meaningful than you think

On Thursday, Twitter threw us a curveball (sorry) and smoothed out the once-square avatar photos into orbs floating around the timeline. The change is notable, but the circle vs. square debate is far from new. There are arguments in favor of both when applied to internet design; circles indicate a person rather than content, which typically comes in a grid-like shape. So what is the current state of shapes on the social web?

Yesterday’s graphic designers are today’s UX designers. Will tomorrow’s UX designers be avatar programmers, fusionists, and artificial organ designers? Yes, according to the illustrious roster of design leaders we spoke with here.

My favourite Mac app icons are simple enough to be easily read in the Dock, yet they contain interesting details when viewed up close. They have large vibrant areas of colour, yet they contain enough contrast and shading to give them a sense of volume.