The Design Block
If you're looking for the latest in advertising and marketing, design related technology and lifestyle tips, and art or design highlights then you're in the right place. Find all this and more with the Design Block blog.
eCommerce and your small business
Since the pandemic hit, many businesses have had to re-evaluate how they marketed their brand.
How to design an eCommerce About Us page
Did you know that the About Us page is one of the most important pages of your eCommerce website?
Kids can show their art to billions with ‘Doodle for Google’
Each year, young US-based artists in grades K-12 are invited to submit their Google Doodle ideas.
Google drops 1,000+ high-res satellite photos for use as wallpapers
Google is adding 1,000+ new images to Earth View, which users can download at up to 4K resolution.
6 ways to prepare your eCommerce site for the holidays
If your eCommerce site doesn’t run smoothly over the holidays, it's sure to spell trouble for your sales & reputation
Adobe shares its design system and UI/UX assets
Adobe shares the components that make up its design system, comprising of over 100 tools.
Yahoo reminds us they still exist by redesigning their logo
The redesign signals a strategic change for the company as it prepares to introduce other products and services.
7 web design trends that could shape 2019
2019 web design trends are expected to see aesthetics and technology come together like never before.
Email phrases that seem polite, but have different meanings
We receive plenty of work #emails the begin with phrases that sound polite, but they often have a passive-aggressive tone.
Pantone’s new colour finder helps you find the right hues
Pantone has been a colour leader for a while now, but as designers, there are great many advantages of using Pantone as a colour guide. Designers routinely undergo multiple handovers each time they work on a project, and earlier this year, the company promised to simplify work processes for…
Most frequently used typefaces of hundreds of brands
It’s true that people don’t look like their Instagram shots, or they’re not as happy as their Facebook profiles try to convince us. It’s also true that designers don’t use all those trendy font combinations you might think.
Millennial parents are naming their kids based on available domains
Forget the baby books, there’s a new way to get baby name inspiration. According to a new study, Millennial parents are naming their kids based on available domain names.
Google marketing overhaul could put marketers out of business
This year is set to be an important one for advertisers currently using Google’s digital marketing services. On June 27 Google turned the digital marketing world on its head when it announced a complete rebrand of its advertising products.
Blue, the most popular colour on the internet
The web is a very blue place, and not metaphorically, either. The Internet’s most heavily trafficked websites are literally coloured with nearly twice as many shades of blues as that of yellows and reds, and three times as much greens. But is the colour blue enriching…
11 design elements to build a perfect landing page
As a technique that helps boost conversion rate, the use of landing pages is at an all-time high. A landing page can help you achieve your marketing goals be it increasing email subscribers list or generating better leads for specific products.
The Met releases 500+ free art books for download
Over 5000 years of art history has just been made available online for free by New York’s biggest museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As well as releasing more than 400,000 artworks for personal and commercial use, the Met has made over 500 free art books available for your…
Website generates random briefs for you to practice logo design
What’s so difficult about creating a good logo? They’re usually simple, sometimes complex, but mostly something you should be able to do lickety-split. So, no problem, right? When you only see the result of a designer’s efforts, logo design can look like it was a…
Instagram trial lets users see who takes screenshots of their stories
Instagram recently began testing a new feature that Snapchat helped make famous: notifying users when other people take screenshots of photos and videos in Instagram Stories.
Learn about the 7 eCommerce design trends for 2018
Last year, global eCommerce reached US$2.3 trillion and is expected to double by 2021. In the United States alone, eCommerce represents almost 10 percent of retail sales. Even as the general public is increasingly coming to prefer online shopping, many websites still face unique challenges to their success.
Google algorithm erases watermarks from stock images
As designers, when mocking up concepts for our projects, we tend to use plenty of stock images. Instead of buying images the client might not like, we use watermarked images to try before we buy. However, showing watermarks on our concepts look ugly and we…
How to start marketing with little to no budget
Unfortunately, starting out really isn’t as easy as becoming an overnight sensation. As much as we think and hope that our product or service will be an instant hit, that doesn’t happen. When it comes to getting your name out there, startup marketing is a…
Doodles become neat line drawings instantly with Google’s AutoDraw
If you’re like me, you probably remember doodling away on the computer using Microsoft Paint, or even Corel Draw. So it’s ironic with all of the amazing things we can do on our smartphones and tablets these days, that creating a decent drawing is still difficult. However, Google’s…
Burger King’s new ad tries to force Google Home to advertise the Whopper
Burger King recently unveiled a genius, yet a little infuriating video ad that’s designed to intentionally set off Google Home; the voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant.
The top 5 free infographic makers available online
When you have over a billion websites to choose from, along with the distractions of day-to-day life, getting consumers attention, and keeping it, is hard. With a staggering amount of information generated daily, people don’t have time to read an endless page of online content. In fact, most users will leave…
Where do you fall in the 7 circles of developer Hell?
Unfortunately, like most jobs, the work of a developer isn’t all sunshine and lollipops. It’s filled with unique frustrations that only other developers would be able to relate to.
Top 10 websites to get free images
Images and photography has always been an integral part of design. Unfortunately, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing unrealistic stock images of people smiling at the camera while performing a task. Not only that, but it can get rather expensive if you’re constantly purchasing images from…
Website design and UX trends for 2017
Trends are known to change in all creative fields, with website design being no different. More than ever before, everything in web design, from imagery to navigation, to content, must serve a purpose.
What web designers can learn from the fashion industry
Buying clothes online is a risky venture, since much of shopping is knowing how the apparel feels and fits your body. One of the best ways to persuade people to buy clothes online is by being very meticulous. That’s why fashion industry websites are on top of…
Unique page load GIFs help to distract users
Stop using the same old boring spinners for your page load interfaces. Seriously.
How to increase conversions on eCommerce sites
These factors help customers decide whether or not they’ll make a purchase from your website.
A blind artist creates a series of hypnotizing GIFs
This legally blind artist has raised the bar in the art of animated images with his ongoing series.
Hipster Sound creates ambient noise to stay productive
Sometimes all it takes to be productive is the right kind of background noise.
An offensive website blocker to stop your procrastinating
Need a shocking, expletive reminder to stop your idle web browsing during work? This Chrome extension will help.
How to write an About Me page that will get you hired
Here are a few tips to writing an About Me page to help you get hired.
Funny CSS puns that web designers can relate to
Inspired by a thread on Reddit comes a list of funny CSS puns.
2015’s fading graphic and web design trends to note
In 2015, new design trends were introduced that were quickly incorporated by many websites and graphic designers. See what's on the in and out:
The rise of silent storytelling from Facebook’s autoplay videos
When you’re on the computer, either at work or later at night, visiting websites that blast loud autoplay videos when you forget your volume setting can prove to be quite annoying.
Typography tips for better web design and sales
We’re a visual society. And with our fast-paced lives and the amount of information we’re constantly barraged with, it takes a striking visual to get our attention. But you also need smart copy presented with good typography to back it up.
Creating better blog graphics, even if you’re not a designer
Humans rely on visual cues for nearly everything. In fact, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and our brains can process images 60,000 times faster than text. That means for a bloggers and content marketers, blog graphics are an important part of…
How to make your portfolio website stand out from the crowd
If you want to be discovered for your creative abilities, the quickest and easiest way is online. A portfolio website—with assistance from social media—is the best way to show the world what you can do. In fact, it can even help attract the attention of…
10 key elements to create a high quality website
With Google’s ever-changing algorithm, constant waves of new technology and shifting design trends, it can be difficult to figure out what your website needs and what it doesn’t. And because your website is the online face of your business and brand, it needs to reflect…
Get over 200 Windows icons for free
When Microsoft released Windows 10, it also released the icon font Segoe UI Symbol. This icon font is recommended for use by developers when designing apps on Windows 10 devices. But one design company argues that Segoe UI Symbol adds visual noise because the icons…
Is your website design following this year’s colour trends?
Trends come and go in all aspects of the design industry, as do the colour trends that go along with them. So far, this year has been all about vibrant colours. Hues like red, orange, pink and bright green, blue and purple have become a focal point and…
How to become a UI designer or UX designer
If you’re looking to start a career as a designer, you”ll quickly be overwhelmed by the number of titles thrown around. There are user experience (UX) designers, user interface (UI) designers, motion designers, product designers, graphic designers and so on.
Responsive design explained with animated GIFs
Do you know the difference between responsive design and adaptive design? There’s some argument over whether responsive or adaptive designs are better. Regardless, responsive design is the solution most chosen for multi-screen problems. That means designers need to become familiar with the concepts and basic principles for responsive…
Web service turns your rival’s logo into a penis
Does you have a brand rivalry going on with another company? Instead of spending another sleepless night wondering what to do about them, consider turning their logo into a penis. No, this isn’t joke. For a small fee of between US$25 to $35, website Penised will turn…
26 crazy facts about Google you probably never knew
Google is changing the world. I bet you have a hard time remembering what it was like before you could Google something? Chances are now that you use it everyday for work and play. But do you know the crazy facts around Google’s history or its various secrets?
WTF are you doing with your life: This website doles out life advice
Feeling lost and unsure of what to do in life? Then check out this website that doles out useful life advice to get you back on track.
Infographic: When to use JPEG, GIF and PNG when saving images
Whether you’re saving images for print or web, it can be tough to know exactly which filetype is the best to use. That’s especially true if you’re trying to save space with file size.
Discover the top 5 web trends expected in 2015
More and more, a company’s website is ever becoming its public face. Web trends show that consumers are doing more research online than ever before when looking to buy. So, if a business has a poorly designed website, that doesn’t work on a mobile device—or worse—they don’t have a…