Banner design examples

Hundreds of creative, innovative, well designed banners and ads.

We curate topical collections around design to inspire you in the design process.
This constantly-updated list featuring what find on the always-fresh Muzli inventory.

Last update: 10/30/2024

15 banner ad design tips to get more clicks

If you’re hoping to boost your online traffic with banner ads, you may be asking yourself: how can I create… The post 15 banner ad design tips to get more clicks appeared first on 99designs.

20+ Best Ad Banner Mockup Templates for 2023

These photo-realistic banner mockup PSD templates for Photoshop are all easy to use and will help turn your artistic vision into reality. The post The 20+ Best Banner Mockup Templates for Photoshop appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

37 banner ad ideas to inspire you

We don’t have to tell you that the interwebs is a cluttered space—and if you want to make an impact… The post 37 banner ad ideas to inspire you appeared first on 99designs.

GSAP Banner Ad - 2 in 1 - (300x600)

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s Sustainable Banners

Shifting toward a more sustainable world requires radical change: structural reconfiguration of supply chains, pivoting from harsh chemicals and single-use plastics and beyond. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s newest banner ad campaign for their upcoming exhibition, Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life, proves that these changes can also be remarkably subtle. All 250 of the banners act as air-purifiers capable of catching and cleaning volatile components. The …

Black Friday Ad Banner

Stylized Demon Sword Game weapon by Abhik Mitra

Demon sword I did for my class VOID ART SCHOOL totally done in Zbrush low poly done in topogun and maya texture in substance painter. I have no banner no ad nothing, still, let me know if you are interested because the dream that you seeking is only for you. contact/Whatsapp- +917001789933

Christmas Ad Banner

Ad banner for mobile app

Mobile application for surveys. P.S. Shot is not advertising :)

Remote Control / Jawwy TV

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Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for Alexandra Palace by Lovers

“Archery” Opened in 1873, Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally to friends) is a culture, sports, and entertainment venue in London, UK, hosting exhibitions, conferences, festivals, corporate events, and more. An Act of Parliament in 1936 established that Alexandra Park and Palace would have to be made available for the free use and recreation of the public forever regardless of who the trustee in charge was. Located in a 196-acre estate, Ally Pally offers eight different rooms and halls within the palace that can accommodate more than 10,000 people. The palace has been host to major events from its inauguration in the late 1800s to serving as a refugee camp in WWI to hosting the world's first regular high-definition public television broadcast that took place from the BBC studios that were then housed at the Palace. Needless to say, a lot of history has played out here. Recently, coinciding with the planned renovation of its East Court and Victorian theatre, Alexandra Palace is introducing a new identity designed by London-based Lovers. (The identity is not live online yet but has been implemented on site.) Ally Pally (as it's fondly known to Londoners) has been a multi-recreational Mecca since 1875. But without a coherent brand identity to champion its historic and contemporary significance, the palace's efforts were feeling fragmented. Lovers stepped in to help the brand reclaim its cherished place in the hearts of audiences.No London cultural centre contains as much eclecticism as Ally Pally; music stages, sporting arenas, skate park, theatre, boating lake and 196 acres of parkland. Our 'pleasure dome simplicity' logo seeks to put a lid on it all, along with a colour palette that celebrates breadth.Lovers project page Logo. The old logo looked elegant but that was about it, unless we want to unpack the swash in the "A" which was a little stiff and not very useful. The new logo is a direct reference to the iconic arches of Ally Pally's Great Hall. The length of "ALEXANDRA" lends itself quite well to the arch treatment -- especially with book-ending "A"s at the start and end -- and works nicely over "PALACE". Unlike other arch or type-on-a-curve wordmarks that typically look cool but without a particular reason, this one looks cool and AND is warranted. Typeset in Ganby, the arch logo serves as the more serious hinge of the identity. Business cards. Letterhead. "AP" monogram references. Complementing the wordmark is an "AP" monogram that can be found physically in certain details of the Palace and provides a charming antique ornament that speaks to the history of the venue. Used large or small, it's a quirky and peculiar device that provides a striking contrast to the main logo. Monogram totes. Notebook. Custom font. To complement the wordmark AND the monogram is a custom font that's sort of a cross between the serif in the old logo and carnival typography, yielding a very, VERY unique typeface with a lot of personality. It's hard to hate it because it's having so much fun just existing. It's a very unexpected identity element but I like how it's evocative of the architectural excess of the venue and serves as a way to convey the joy and diversity of the many events that take place here. "I AP Ally Pally" applications. Ally Pally's new brand voice channels a colourful cast of characters from its past and present, borrowing vocal techniques from BBC pioneers, Victorian daredevils and other dreamers. We jotted the recipes in a pocket book for easy reference by the palace's brand team.Lovers project page Brand voice book. Ad. Banner ad. Pencils. Coaster. Exhibit area. Banner. It's a little hard to judge the actual application as, so far, there isn't an evident system that comes through in the images shown. Yes, there is the display typeface and Granby but it's kind of hard to connect the "Whatever Next?" banner with the coaster with the image directly above. But maybe that's the point... providing these ingredients that can be mixed and matched as necessary depending on the subject matter. Signage. The examples of the signage and wayfinding look great, mixing Granby with some ornate icons. The grate-like applications are excellent, adding to the already rich textures of the building. Overall, without knowing what the old identity used to look like (but I imagine wasn't much to look at), this is a great update that manages to feel buttoned up, which is something you want as an event manager, as well as loads of fun, which is what you want as a patron.

Christmas Ad Banner

Here Lives Amanda Amanda Cole

Here Lives Amanda Amanda Cole Melbourne based Freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator banner branding print book

BDDSP | 🌿 Banner ad

Social Media Design | Banner Design | Instagram Post | Ad

What Stop Sign?

Unconscious Recognition in Visual Web DesignImage from https://unsplash.com/photos/WPrTKRw8KRQLet’s be honest, you’ve probably driven through a stop sign at least once in your life. Maybe you’re a little bit reckless and see stop signs as more of a suggestion. Or maybe you were in a hurry that one time and literally did not have any time to stop. Or maybe it just wasn’t your fault!I like to think that the last reason is usually my excuse. Recently, I was driving home from work on a different route than normal, and suddenly a car going the opposite direction tapped his horn at me. Weird. Wait, why was he stopped in the middle of the road? Wait, why is there the back of a hexagonal-shaped sign in my rear-view mirror? Oh, I just ran a stop sign. Nice.But it wasn’t my fault, right? The stop sign was placed about 10 feet to the right of the road, and partially covered by a tree. I literally did not see it (or at least, I don’t remember seeing it). But how could I miss something as obvious as a bright red sign with “STOP” written on it?More often than we realize, what we think is most obvious is actually seen the least. Think about the last website you visited. How much did you really notice? What were the banner ads? What was the title of the article you read? Who wrote the article? Were there any pictures? Understanding what users automatically and unconsciously see in visual experiences is key to an effective and engaging design.PlacementLike it or not, users already have ingrained habits that dictate how they will view your website. If you open a book, you automatically look to the top left portion of the text and begin reading towards the right. Websites are actually viewed in the same way, as users initially follow an F-shaped pattern across the page.Image from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/If the most important information is not in that F-shaped area, users are not likely to find it. If something the user is looking for isn’t in that area, they will quickly move on to another website to find their answer. Yes, the rest of the page is important, but to quickly engage your users, you must place the most relevant information where they can immediately find it.An interesting thing to note is that the F-shaped heat map above does not include the right-side banner ad imploring viewers to “enjoy every hearty bite.” In fact, I would bet that you had no idea what the banner ad said and just looked up to see I wasn’t making it up. Don’t tell the advertising companies that their ads aren’t effective (you probably need the revenue), but also don’t make the mistake of putting something important on that rightmost pane. Your users probably won’t see it, just like a stop sign that’s too far over.Pleasant SurpriseAs discussed above, you want to make sure that what your user is looking for is placed in a location that they will quickly find it. But what about what they aren’t looking for? To really engage your users, there is value in providing them with a pleasant surprise. In his TED Talk, Al Seckel talks about optical illusions and how they violate our expectations, leaving us intrigued and wanting more.Google PhotosFor example, occasionally I will open up my Google Photos app to view an image I recently took or share it with a friend. My purpose is clear, and I know how to get it done. But, at the top of the page, there is often a little blue circle showing that I took some pictures one year ago today. Suddenly, I’m looking at the great times I had on a vacation this time last year, surprised and delighted that I could relive the experience. The reminder of my past photos wasn’t obtrusive, and I could have ignored it if I were really in a hurry, but it was a small pleasant surprise that enhanced my experience.What can you add to your website that will surprise and delight your users? What if you were driving and saw a green sign that said “GO” on the side of the road? How can you make the experience more pleasing for your users?Visual DistinctionWhen was the last time you actually read a stop sign? I hope that you actually stop at each sign, but when was the last time you consciously read the word “STOP”? If you didn’t actually read it, how did you know it was there and how to respond? While the actual word printed on the sign is nice, the sign really grabs your attention because of its unique shape and color. If you see a red hexagon, you know exactly what the message is and what to do.In an effort to promote healthy eating (or discourage unhealthy eating), the Chilean government mandated that small stickers be placed on foods that are high in sugar, fat, sodium, or calories as a warning to consumers. Not coincidentally, these stickers are hexagonal-shaped, playing on the unconscious association of a hexagon with stopping.From Ministerio de Salud de Chile, https://www.minsal.cl/ley-de-alimentos-nuevo-etiquetado-de-alimentos/On your website, it can be helpful to use shape, color, size, or orientation to really make the important things stand out. Notice on an Amazon product page the relative lack of color. A white background with black, blue, and red text is rather unimpressive visual design. But, the glaring orange of “Add to Cart” and brighter orange of “Buy Now” incessantly call you to action. This page clearly has one purpose, and that is to get you to exchange your money for an Echo Plus.amazon.comWhat do you want your users to accomplish on your website? Try using different colors, shapes, or styles to call your users to action. Make it very clear what they should do on your website, and what they should focus on.Take Unconscious ActionIf a cop had seen me drive blindly past a stop sign that afternoon, he probably wouldn’t be sympathetic hearing me say that I really didn’t see it. But if a user doesn’t see something on your website, you can’t blame them. Users have a purpose in mind, and they want to get it done. Users won’t stick around for long if your website doesn’t quickly meet their needs by placing the important information in the right location, pleasantly surprising them with additional benefits, or calling them obviously to appropriate actions.So, the next time you’re stopped at a stop sign, think about how you got there and what made you stop. The unconscious acts you take every day aren’t all that different from the actions your users make on your website.What Stop Sign? was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

DESIGN DIGEST 95

News of the week about design, products and toolsHIGHLIGHTElon Musk unveils Neuralink’s plans for brain-reading ‘threads’ and a robot to insert them.ARTICLESA Product Designer’s Guide on Relaxation.Typography in Design Systems.WATCHiMac 2019 and iPhone XI concepts.Incredible archive of Apple’s promotional photos and ads.TOOLS & RESOURCESA library of a customizable avatar component for Sketch.308 Free Resources for Marketing.A little ffmpeg wrapper app for some video shortcuts.GET INSPIRED4fresh app / onboarding conceptDashboard video tutorialDIABLO Y BANANAThe DeadlinePrevious Design Digest #94.Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Dribbble and rivercity.ioDESIGN DIGEST 95 was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for Museu Nacional da República by Porto Rocha

“Round Hole in a Square Peg” Established in 2006 (originally as Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães in honor of the activist who was president of the Federation of Students of the University of Brasília and was arrested four times, disappearing after the last), Museu Nacional da República is a public art museum in Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil, administered by the government and devoted to promoting Brazilian culture and artists. The building is part of the Complexo Cultural da República ("Cultural Complex of the Republic" in Portuguese) along with the National Library building, both of which were designed by Oscar Niemeyer, considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Looking to increase visitation, collaborations, and profitability, the museum introduced a new identity late last year designed by Brooklyn, NY-based Porto Rocha who were commissioned by Brasília and São Paulo, Brazil-based Manufatura. The circle and square join together to create a modern symbol for Museu Nacional. As a central feature of the identity, it represents the aerial view of Niemeyer's dome while establishing the idea of "inside and outside", contrasting the relationship between these two spaces. More than what it encloses, the surrounding area of the museum acts as a bustling social hub where citizens congregate, musicians perform, activists protest, others practice yoga and so on. Like a portal, the circle also functions as a graphic device that contains different imagery, be it photography, architecture, art or video, connecting and juxtaposing these two spaces in a constant state of dialogue and tension. A contemporary take on a traditionally modern typographic style, the use of Founders Grotesk recalls the visual language employed during Brasília's early urban development while its circular letterforms allude to the museum's infinitely curved walls.Porto Rocha project page The museum. The museum from above. Logo. I probably don't have to tell you that that the old logo was... not good. A ground-level view drawing of the museum was a good idea but the execution was downright baffling and as if I didn't dislike Gill Sans enough already, seeing it stretched at least 200% wider than it is, is doubly offensive. The new logo shifts the view of the building to be seen from above and translates it into an abstract, Modernist- and Minimalist-satisfying black square with a white circle. Typically, this could come across as gratuitous Modernism/Minimalism from a museum identity but, in this case, it's perfectly appropriate as it not only aptly represents the physical space and context of the museum but reflects the building's Modernist origin. It also looks kind of bad-ass in its confidence. The wordmark emphasizes "Museu" as, reportedly, that's how locals refer to the museum, rather than by its long name, and the uppercase setting yields a very nice block of type that aligns, again, so satisfyingly, with the icon above. The "NACIONAL DA REPÚBLICA" underneath may be a tad tiny, perhaps allowing it to occupy 75% of the width instead of 50% would have been a nice gesture. The logo also includes a horizontal version (seen below) where all the type is the same size and broken into lines, which is fine but loses the really nice balance of the stacked logo. Business card. Stationery. Though the museum operates upon inclusive values that seek to provide free access to contemporary art and culture, the museum (and fine art itself) can feel intimidating and elitist. With this in mind, our utilitarian visual language paired with a warm tone of voice work together to strengthen the relationship between the museum and the people. This sentiment is reinforced through the wordplay of "SEU MUSEU", an anagram created by Manufatura meaning "YOUR MUSEUM", which highlights each individual's role within Museu Nacional's dynamic ecosystem, fostered by its contributors, crew and visitors.It is the balance between the identity's modernist rigor and the otherwise inviting tone of voice that creates a uniquely modern-Brazilian sensibility referencing both the country's significant contributions to modernist architecture and the warm energy of its people. Much like the symbiotic relationship between the museum's interior and exterior, each component of this identity comes together to form a similar notion of universality that surrounds the museum: a place for everyone.Porto Rocha project page Layout configurations. Sample layouts. Brochure. Museum guide. Poster. Instagram post and email newsletter. Instagram Stories. Instagram profile. Shelter ads. The applications are all quite nice but definitely operate within the Brutalist-lite style that is a year or two too late. Perhaps it's unfair to raise the comparison as I do think the design approach makes perfect sense in this identity and I enjoy it but there is a strong sense of Been There Done That. One great detail that I would love to see more of is in the first shelter ad above where the icon is placed over a photograph for a hollow effect, which is also exaggerated in the ambitious banner shown below -- if that ever became real, it would win application of the year. Banner. Employee ID. Tote bag. Plastic bag. Wall graphics. Entrance. This is so good. Overall, this is perfectly executed and even though for us Brand New folk the style may seem repetitive this is highly appropriate for the museum, presenting it in an elevated aesthetic that should, in turn, help elevate the status of the museum.

Improving the buying experience of Lenskart — UI/UX Case Study

Improving the buying experience of Lenskart — UI/UX Case StudyIn this article, I will go through the existing Lenskart user flow and try to improve the user buying experience by redesigning it.Context🧵So the other day I was scrolling through the phone in the afternoon. Try to buy my next pair of eyeglasses. So like any other person, I downloaded the Lenskart app, and HOLY SH*T 😲. My first impression of the app was so awful. User flow, layout, and placement of elements are all over the place. It was total chaos. My inner designer couldn’t see it anymore. So, I thought why not redesign it. So I decided to give it an overhaul.A little Disclaimer This case study is part of my personal project on the journey of learning UX.Let’s get started..But before that who’s up for a teaser!https://medium.com/media/77ff386b62193d86285927aa25875a87/hrefAbout Lenskart 😎Lenskart is India’s biggest and leading startup in the eyewear industry. It was founded by Piyush Goyal (If you are a fan of Shark Tank India you already know him.) It has a market share of more than 30% and is valued at over $5 billion as of now.User Research 🔎But before redesigning I have to confirm is it just Mee Problem or a We problem. To validate that I did some user research. Before jumping directly to interview users, first I googled some reviews to gain more perspective and understand the pain points.I also did a quick Twitter poll to confirm before going full in.Twitter PoleOnce I get sure I dive deep to take first-hand experience from the Lenskart users themselves. For that, I interviewed 5 people on a 1:1 call. Before that, I prepared interview questions. It took me some time to prepare what question I need to ask, keeping in mind that they should not be leading one, should be natural, should not deviate from the objective & most importantly should not feel like an interview. Here are the questions I asked.https://www.notion.so/Lenskart-Interview-question-058d3d3249dc4284b84456be36ad57f0Key insight from the user research 🧐After taking the interview I got enough input to get started with my redesigning process. Here are the key insights:-4 out of 5 people admit that the checkout process is complicated, and the benefits of gold membership are not clearly defined.1 out of 5 people ordered the wrong frame size which is critical and needs to be understood why.3 out of 5 people find it annoying that you've to submit eye power after completing the purchase.4 out of 5 people find it hard to navigate through the app. Mainly because banner ads and clickable elements look the same. Also so much unnecessary info throughout the app.Diving deep into the Problem Statement📌After some research, I found out that most people are having the same sort of problems. This includes:-Confusing User flow, Users can only fill up the eye power prescription once they complete the purchase process. The window of 10 days has been given.There’s chat assistance on every page of the application which directs the user to WhatsApp or calls dialler. Dropping off from one application to another is not a good user experience.On the home page, there’s no difference between the ad and a clickable element.Try-on home feature is not evident. Most people fail to notice it.The header of the home page is filled with useless options like delivery time, computer glass, prescription, and chat with experts. They’ve to no relation whatsoever.Confusing checkout process. The benefits of gold membership are not stated clearly enough, which adds more to the confusion.User Flow🚣‍♂️New and existing user flowHome Screen🏠Old DesignUser lands on the home screen and gets overwhelmed and confused by the number of options presented to him.First, there is no bottom navigation in the app.There’s an endless horizontal scroll on the header, consisting of redundant options like delivery time, chat with expert, and computer glasses. Things are not grouped logically.So many subcategories under the men's section, also why kids glasses under the section and different subcategories for colored and non-colored contact lenses. Things are all over the place.Important features such as Home try-on & Find your frame size, which is the moat of lenskart are disguised as a banner ad. Many users overlook it while scrolling.Redesigned ScreenBring bottom nav for easy navigation through the app.Header is cleared and replaces the horizontal scroll with more predictable icons.Category options reduce to half. Similar subcategories are nested into each other.Gave more prominence to home try on and 3D ditto feature.Visible difference between banner ads and clickable elements.User flow of product listing page🔰Old DesignUser selects the type of eyeglass and proceeds to the product listing page. He is presented with a number of options that increase the cognitive load in the first few clicks.Have to choose between power or non-power eyeglass along with the price range.Have to select the shape of the eyeglass without knowing how would it look on his face.Also overlay of the 2nd screen which is a clickable element looks the same as the banner ad of the 4th screen, which is not clickable. Such practice inhibits the user whether he should click on it or not.flow of product listing pageRedesigned ScreenUser can proceed direct to product listing page and remove all the unnecessary steps. Price range, power, and shape of the eyeglasses all can be filtered and accessed on the listing page.User flow of selecting the frame👓Old DesignIn the secondary research and also primary research I found that many users ordered the wrong frame size. Upon auditing the app I found out that’s happening because of a number of reasons. There are three flows users go through:-Flow 1 (Results in ordering RIGHT frame size)User lands on product listing page and sees preselected wrong frame size, clicks on the frame size button.It leads to a page where the app analyzes the shape of the user's face and tells him his frame size. User continues to show his frame size.User selected the right frame size and proceeds to the product detail page.Flow 2 (Results in ordering RIGHT frame size)User lands on product listing page and fails to notice frame size button which is not evident enough and proceeds to product detail page with preselected wrong frame size.User saw frame size of the selected eyeglass and unsure about the size, user then clicks on the check frame size button.User gets to know his frame size, selects the right size, and continues to check out.Flow 3 (Results in ordering Wrong frame size)User fails to notice frame size button which is not evident enough on the product listing page and proceeds to product detail page with the preselected wrong frame size.User saw the frame size of the eyeglass, and assumes that this is his size which is not true.User also ignores the check frame size button, which looks a lot like a banner ad, and continues to checkout resulting in ordering the wrong frame size.Also, the app doesn’t ask for a review to select or change the size before adding it to the cart. Which results in ordering the wrong frame size.Redesigned ScreenUser lands on product listing page and clicks on the product card which leads him to the product detail page.On product detail page user selects his size. If user is unsure about his frame size, he clicks on the not sure button which leads him to the page which analyzes face width and tells him the frame size.User selects his frame size and proceeds to lens selection.I add an interaction button while selecting glass. It allows you to move your head sideways.Lens selection flow📸Old DesignIn the existing flow, user can only submit his lens power post order placement. A window of 10 days has been given in which lenskart executive asks for lens power.Lens selection flow of lenskartRedesigned DesignIn the redesigned flow user can submit his lens power before order placement. User is presented with 3 options.If user knows his lens power he can submit it right away by entering it manually or by uploading the prescription.If user does not know his lens power, he can add an eye test.User can also skip this part for the time being and submit it later post order placement like the previous flow.Option 1User submits the power manually which later reflected in the shopping cart.Option 2User adds an eye test which later reflected in the shopping cart.Shopping Cart🛒Old DesignIn the research phase, many users complained that gold membership is added to the cart without consent. User feel betrayed which takes away their autonomy. Also, price details are too complex to understand.Redesigned ScreenIn the redesigned shopping cart few changes have been made:-User can add or remove gold membership without compromising his autonomy.Price detail of frame and lens is given separately, which was not the case earlier.Clear visible cue that offer is applied.Price detail breakdown of shopping cart is easy to understandFinal Prototype😎Animated gif of full user flowFigma file clickable prototypehttps://medium.com/media/7aeeb7b6f064d28973b42b352a304a66/hrefFoot Notes 🤯Low fidelity sketchesLearnings & Takeaways🧐Putting yourself in the shoes of user is very useful while thinking of all the use cases.Designing cards and understanding information architecture and the importance of minute details.Since this is my first redesign case study, I understand the importance of heuristic evaluation.There’s no alternative of iteration. Keep improving and building on top of other designs.Understanding the ‘Why’ behind every decision was a major takeaway.Naming layers appropriately, it can get overwhelming as your number of screens keeps increasing.And That’s a wrap… 🤟Thank you for sticking to the last.If you want to connect you can email me at shubhambsr2021@gmail.com or drop a Hello! on Instagram or Linkedin.Improving the buying experience of Lenskart — UI/UX Case Study was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Illustration in Design as a Marketing Tool

How do illustrations make a brand unique, recognizable, and loved by users?Illustration: OutcrowdMany people are plagued by outdated stereotypes, believing that illustration lies squarely in the realm of art and has nothing to do with business. (Try telling that to Warner Brothers or Walt Disney Studios!) This archaic view holds your company back and makes it less profitable because today’s digital illustration is all about business.So let’s dispel these harmful misconceptions. Illustration is a marketing tool, no matter how nice and beautiful it looks. Its goal is to advance business, provide information, and attract people.Let’s take a look at the areas where illustration is especially effective. Maybe some of it will be useful for your own business.Fruits & Vegetables Delivery — Mobile App Design1. Brandingefficient visual marketingMany businesses spend huge money to stand out among the competition, make themselves noticed, and create a customer base. Forging an emotional connection and trust between your brand and the audience is a very difficult marketing task.The use of illustration in brand campaigns is a surprisingly simple and cost-effective solution.How so? Illustration is a wonderful medium of communication. Being visually concise, illustrations provide immediate recognition, make complex things easier to understand, build trust, and are effortlessly memorable. It is a psychological feature of human visual perception, happily exploited by all the smart marketers.Vertical — Branding for Music SchoolAny brand that uses illustration gains uniqueness and character. Images can tell the company’s history in a fun and informative way, addressing the audience at a visceral, emotional level.Illustrations are human. The deeper we go down the digital rabbit hole, the more important these clusters of humanity become. Handmade drawings signal your willingness to treat your users with care and affection, to address them as fellow human beings.https://medium.com/media/20d28ee9ee8473047337f1e94070825a/hrefillustrated logoThis is the best choice for startups, companies with large competition, or any businesses that want to make themselves noticed and be immediately recognized. To the average consumer, even the nicest-sounding name is nothing but a bunch of letters that they will quickly forget or fail to understand in the first place (this especially applies to acronym logos).An illustrated logo solves all these problems: it focuses attention, it makes the offer immediately apparent, it is visually memorable. Combined logos that incorporate both image and text are the most popular.Depending on the type of business and brand goals, the logo can be either a neat, abstract image or an elaborate, detailed picture.mascotA mascot is your business’s virtual ambassador. It embodies the values of your brand and audience, “talks” to people, and creates positive emotions. Mascots are so memorable you can’t forget them if you tried.brand managementIllustration can help you present your corporate culture, express your brand values, and motivate your team in a friendly way. Employees always like “inside illustrations,” as they bridge the gap between the management and the workforce and help convey the necessary message.Outcrowd Corporate DesignBranding illustrations are made on the basis of their visual identity (corporate style, logo, color palette, fonts, etc.) according to the brand requirements and current marketing tasks. To be effective, the illustrations must be geared toward specific goals, being functional rather than decorative.2. Advertising campaignsbannersAn illustrated banner is a perennial trend due to the features of human visual perception. A banner with a creative illustration is often more effective than one with a photo. The reason? Even the most minimalist of photos have lots of distracting details. You can be focused on the drops of sweat on an athlete’s forehead or admire his muscles and not even notice that it’s actually an ad for running shoes.This kind of thing doesn’t happen with illustrations. Today’s illustrations mostly convey meaning rather than imagery. Any potential distractions are eliminated. It’s a message that goes straight to the heart.printed productsIllustrated business cards, booklets, leaflets, catalogs, posters, and calendars can present your brand in an effective and original way, make an impression that will have a memorable effect. Good pictures can make promo materials so attractive that people will find them hard to throw away — or at least, not immediately. So they will keep your promos around for some time, which is all to your benefit.souvenirsIllustrations can also be used to make branded souvenirs, such as printed t-shirts or caps, mugs, pens, notebooks, etc.Outcrowd Corporate Design3. Online presencepresenting the companyIt’s increasingly more difficult to be noticed among the competition online. Unique illustrations are a great way to make your company’s online presence memorable, whether it’s a website, landing page, or social media profile. Illustrations liven up the design, spark interest in the content, establish an emotional connection with users. Custom illustrations increase a website’s conversion rates at least 7×. They are geared toward a specific audience (i.e. customer-oriented), they are emotionally engaging, and they make the interface friendlier.NFT Marketplace with IllustrationsAn illustrated character, visual metaphors, your corporate style, and the latest trends in digital illustration will all help your website design to make a vivid and lasting first impression on the users.presenting products or servicesA presentation implies drawing attention to an object or a piece of information. Illustration does this instantly, immediately winning the audience’s favor.If your product or service is difficult to describe in words, it should be illustrated. This saves your website from being overcluttered with extra content and makes the information more comprehensible.Illustration is a great seller of products and services. And it works for free!social media & mailing listsWe are bombarded with so much advertising that most offers simply go ignored. An illustrated message, however, always stands out from the bulk of formulaic ads, drawing the eye and making us interested in spite of ourselves.Creative illustrations are an easy way to draw attention to your posts and boost your brand recognition.If you regularly mail out letters or ads to your clients, illustrations will become a part of your signature style and make your mailouts friendlier and more interesting to the users.Illustration is also a useful tool for drawing attention to text. Even a small drawing is often more effective than a photo, which is nothing special these days. A drawing is a distinctive visual anchor. It encourages to read the text or at least the first paragraph. For instance, which section is your eye immediately drawn to — the left or the right one?4. Packaging designIllustration helps sell physical goods as well as digital products. Illustration is a versatile solution for packaging all kinds of products. It looks equally good on a box of pastries or a box of high-tech gadgetry. It is universally liked by both male and female audiences, regardless of age.Packaging and Branding — Wendy’s Granny ChocolateIn conclusionAs we have seen, there are many areas of business where illustration can work miracles and make your brand:stand out among the competition;fun and recognizable;easily comprehensible;emotionally engaging;trustworthy;memorable.Of course, this applies to professional illustration, not just any drawings. Before using illustration in any way, do some marketing research to determine whether it makes sense for your business and which areas will benefit from it the most.Once you’ve done it, take the time to examine the portfolios of different agencies and pick the style that best fits your business and brand character. The visual concept must always be created by marketing experts, and only then realized by artists and designers. This is the best way to turn illustration into an invaluable marketing tool that will work effectively to your company’s advantage.Illustration: OutcrowdHow to Use Illustration in Design as a Marketing Tool was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Reviewed: New Identity for Venmo by Koto

“Mo’ Money” Established in 2009, Venmo is a mobile payment service that allows people to quickly send each other money through their app. Unlike PayPal (although owned by PayPal since 2013) where there are multiple clicks and screens required to send money to a friend, the Venmo app makes this process relatively easier and quicker (at least once you have located your friends -- the few times I have used it, finding people, the right people, was confusing and uncertain). Transactions are free as long as the money is coming from a linked bank account, with money being made by PayPal from credit card transactions and from select merchants who accept Venmo as payment. In 2018, when Venmo's popularity began to rise, it processed $12 billion in volume in the first quarter alone. Apart from the ease of use, what makes Venmo interesting is that its home screen is a feed of other users transactions so you can see either complete strangers' or your friends' payment activity -- no specific amounts just who they paid and for what -- which, call me old fashioned, but the first time I realized that my transaction subjects were public it felt very invasive. You can opt out of making your transactions public, yet this is what makes Venmo, Venmo... officially a "social payments app". Starting with their social media, Venmo is rolling out a new identity designed by Koto. The new electric blue retains the heritage of the original Venmo blue. It's been tweaked to work harder and more consistently across all applications, on screen and off. A broader palette of complementary colours now sits alongside it. With its flexibility to be either bold or controlled, Athletics is the perfect typeface for Venmo, more than matching the energy of the rest of the brand. Scto Grotesk is a more functional secondary partner that still holds its own.Koto project page Logo, before and after. No, your eyes do not deceive you, there is nothing different about the logo, which remains exactly the same. The only difference is the tone of blue, which seems frivolous but, at least as a sample audience of one person, the first time I ever used Venmo, the shade of blue gave me pause in whether I would trust the service or not -- it felt like a cheap color for an app from the mid 2000s. It didn't seem right. The new blue is obviously on trend but it now fits within the vibrant Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp shades. In terms of the logo, it's a nice wordmark with a distinctive curly-esque "v". Examples of OLD identity. I have never seen any ads from Venmo so the above image is news to me and it does look direly boring. Created in collaboration with Sebastian Curi, the new set of illustrations bring to life all the many experiences behind Venmo payments, from road trips to ramen.Koto project page Your browser does not support the video tag. Illustrations, from sketches to finished drawings. Since day one, Venmo's users have made it what it is. That's why we've evolved the brand to celebrate the story behind a payment. Dinner tabs. A dollar to say hi. Last-minute concert tickets. The $6.8M spend on 🍕 last year alone. It's an identity that reflects the real-life experiences users share - from the everyday to the totally random.Koto project page Your browser does not support the video tag. Your browser does not support the video tag. Sample illustrations. Color palette. App icon with illustrations. The new identity revolves around illustrations by Vancouver, Canada-based Sebastian Curi and, no doubt, they are pretty awesome, fun, vibrant, and exciting. You can see many more samples on his Behance project page. I do wonder, however, how sustainable this is beyond a couple of years? It looks like there is a wide library of illustrations but for how long and for how many messages can they be used? Maybe the answer is that it doesn't matter and this is indeed part of a 2- or 3-year plan as Venmo escalates into its next stage and will then be able to shed this for whatever makes sense in the future. Right now, though, the message is: This is fun, jump in, ask questions later. Already a key part of the product experience, we've rendered the Venmo payment feed as a graphic framework. This allows us to represent the app experience - and all the daily payments - in fresh and interesting ways.Koto project page Your browser does not support the video tag. Translating the feed into a visual language for ads and other applications. Sample ads. The main application, if I am understanding this correctly from the samples above, is that ads will highlight either one transaction or multiple transactions, paired with relevant illustrations and then you are supposed to understand what Venmo does. Even though I already understand what Venmo does, the three examples above confuse me. It's hard to tell if they are sample UI screens, actual ads, or just random stuff put inside a 1920 × 1080 canvas. I mean, they are fun to look at and I like the typography but I have no idea what exactly is going on. Your browser does not support the video tag. Sample of the feed on the left, sample of not sure what on the right. Your browser does not support the video tag. Socks on the left, Venmo card animation on the right. Banner ad campaign. Your browser does not support the video tag. Your browser does not support the video tag. Social media posts. Even the banner ads and social media posts which are a little more restrained in amount of elements are sort of ambiguous about the messaging, placing maybe too much emphasis on the weird ways people describe their payments or even making it too much about the names seen in the ads. I dunno, maybe I'm getting old -- today's my 42nd birthday actually, so that's probably not it, LOL -- or maybe I am expecting more straightforward messaging to appease the relative awkwardness of the app and its social component. In any case, this all makes Venmo look fun, accessible, and relevant for a younger generation with less hang-ups than me.

Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for Debenhams by Mother Design

“Just do (a B)it” Dating back to 1778 but established as it's known today in 1905, Debenhams is one of the largest department store chains in the UK with 182 retail locations (ranging anywhere from 15,000 square feet to over 200,000 square feet for its flagship stores) offering a range of clothing, household items, and furniture, as well as services like cafes, personal shopping assistance, hairdressing and beauty treatments, nail bars and wedding gift services. Last year Debenhams announced it would undergo some significant changes (PDF) and that included ending its eight-year relationship with agency of record, J. Walter Thompson. Coinciding with the launch of a new store this September, Debenhams introduced a new campaign and identity designed by the London, UK, office of Mother Design. Debenhams came to us for a brand repositioning to echo the changes that are taking place internally and with the aim of bringing joy and excitement back into the shopping experience. We decided that instead of a loud call to action telling shoppers how to behave, what they needed was a friendly invitation to remind people how fun shopping can be.We created a new identity, brand purpose and visual language where every touchpoint is designed to champion the unapologetic joy of shopping once more.Mother Design project page Logo. Logo on a photo. The old logo was quite nice and it looked very convincing as a high-but-not-super-high-end beacon for a department store. (Disclaimer: I have never been into a Debenhams so that's what I gathered from my tour on Google Images.) The subtle serifs, uppercase setting, and loose spacing made it look sophisticated and somewhat timeless. The new logo is so heavy-handed not just in the literal sense that it's heavy in its weight but everything about it is, like, too much: too high a contrast between the thicks and the thins, too tight a spacing, and too dramatic the few serifs that are there. The open "D" is also very confusing and unrelated to anything else anywhere in the identity. There are some nice moments in the wordmark -- like the "ebe" relationship or how the slope of the "nh" is aligned -- but overall, it feels too dramatic and the opposite of joyful, which seems to be the overarching goal in the identity and corporate strategy. The campaign, as I'll get to below, achieves this better than the logo. Custom font based on Swiss Typeface's SangBleu. The custom type family, where the character shapes are less exaggerated than the logo, is pretty nice and manages to capture some of the elegance of the old logo while also adding personality. The new logo typeset in perhaps a middle weight of this font would have done the trick. Bags. Signage. Not much in terms of applications. Bags look nice but nothing exciting. Signage looks nice too. I know that that's not much of an opinion but that's the extent of my emotions generated by it. Campaign ads. The campaign around the slightly awkward banner of "Do a bit of Debenhams" does manage to infuse this project with some relative joy. The images and concepts can verge on the cheesy but the executions are charming and eye-catching. They also show that the logo is not quite successful as it breaks apart at small sizes and simply looks weird against the much nicer typography above it. Print ad. Sample social media. Postcards. Overall, the logo definitely signals a change that I don't know how many people will react to positively but at the same time brick-and-mortar retailers are in such a twilight zone era at the moment that I'm not sure anything they do is good or bad for them but, I guess, worth trying. To the identity's credit, one thing it does well is separate it from the recent John Lewis redesign and helps chart it into a different territory than its competitor.

Colour Issues that could destroy your campaign

Nobody seems to talk about!In this article, I’m going to tell you about my own ideas for dealing with the problems I’ve come across while working with global target audiences and their unique interpretations of colours.HistoryWe as human beings have the primitive ability to interpret colour meanings by the emotions we get when we see it. In nature, most poisonous fruits are either red or yellow like Berries and European Spindle. Poisonous animals are usually marked with red and yellow colours like Death Stalker Scorpion, Brazilian Wandering Spider etc.So colour interpretation is very important for our survival as humans, right?Cultural DifferencesDuring the history, every culture created its own interpretation of colours based on beliefs, religions, the local nature, weather and the general colours of the landscape like yellow deserts or snow white mountains. The seasons made us interpret colours by their “warmth” so blue usually symbolizes cold while red and orange symbolize warmth.The red colour in the western civilization is interpreted completely different from the interpretation, it is given in the far east like China. In China red is a colour of joy and good fortune so it’s used until today for weddings and holiday celebrations. Red is strictly forbidden at funerals as it is the colour of happiness.Different cultures don’t even name the colours in the same way. In English, there are 11 words for colours while the Russian language has 12 (Light Blue = Galuboy).In the Chinese culture black is the colour of heaven. This is why the black colour is interpreted to be a holy colour. Unlike the westerns that wear black for funerals, and white for weddings, the Chinese, on the other hand, wear black and red for weddings and white for funerals since white is interpreted in China as the colour of mourning.Double MeaningDifferent cultures interpret the same colour very differently, but this is just one of the problems.We tend to interpret colours very differently from one another, even if two people from the same country or even the same city, could respond completely different to the same exact colour.While some see green as the colour of growth, nature and prosperity, maybe even positivity, others may see it as the colour of greed. As a matter of fact, Every colour has a mass variety of feelings and interpretations created by itself. The right use of the colour can get the right emotion triggered. A red dot has a different effect than a whole red background.VariationsWhen we approach design, we must take in the count so many variations to make it work. The culture it’s presented to, the different interpretations that specific colour produces and the right amount of it, the time and the placement it is going to appear in.If our target audience is a Chinese man for example, and he’s going to see our ad on Facebook at 21:00 pm, we might want to use certain colours to talk in his language and make him feel as much home and comfort as we can.Placement is one of the most important factors for choosing the right colors and if it’s really on Facebook, according to the previous example, there is a theory that says that colors work best on Facebook are red-orange and yellow so if we are targeting China, we must investigate and be sure that the colors are used properly according to what our target audience feels about it.For example, an ad that is completely red might reflect danger or high-energy or passion for a western, The same exact add is going to create feelings of joy and fortune in the far east.SaturationThe way I try to treat these interpretation problems is by playing with brightness and saturation until I manage to create a decent balance.Much like in composition, there must be a balance in our colour saturation. If we use highly saturated, vivid red for a background, in most cases the content will drown in this background color no matter what emotion we were trying to get, but if we use a little less saturated red and add a little bit of black for dark red, velvet or add white to make it pinkish, it will stand out less and the won’t steal as much of focus, but still will be able to provide some of the emotions, simple red would provide.Usually, we even have to make our target audience feel a combination of a few emotions at once, but if we use red and green together in the same exact amount, they will probably fight each other for attention and the result will not be as pleasing, but if we take one of them get it darker or a little brighter and use less space with them, for example, instead of getting half page red and half green, we would use a third of dark green and 2/3 of bright red, they will suddenly stop disturbing each other and start complementing the whole composition.Actually one will make the other stand out while we will still have the emotions of both colours if we would like. If we have decided to use vivid saturated text, we must use either very dark or a very bright background colour.When choosing a colour, we must take in count the feelings it provides for the specific target audience we are designing for. Otherwise, we could provide a completely different interpretation and a mistaken emotion, that not only will not be successful but could also make our target audience angry and associate a feeling we never meant to be associated with.Thank you for reading so far, I really hope you enjoyed it and if you did, you should definitely visit my blog:www.pentocreative.comDo you have your own ways for dealing with colour issues?Please comment below 💬 or find me on Facebook and Twitter.Yours Truly,Mark Zusmanovichwww.pentocreative.comColour Issues that could destroy your campaign was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Reviewed: New Logo System for USL by Athletics

“In Leagues of their Own” Established in 2010, the United Soccer League (USL) began as a Division III league with 15 teams. In the time since, the USL has strengthened its ties with the MLS, establishing affiliate connections between their teams and last year the U.S. Soccer Federation granted the USL Division II status. Beginning in 2019, as the league continues to grow, it will be introducing a new structure, akin to European leagues, where USL becomes the corporate brand of multiple leagues: USL Championship replaces what we all knew as USL proper and becomes the pinnacle of the USL; the Premier Development League becomes USL League Two, a development soccer league; and USL Division III will become USL League One, targeting cities with a population of 150,000 to one million, mostly in cities currently without a professional team. As part of the restructuring, USL has introduced a new identity system designed by Brooklyn, NY-based Athletics. Athletics was tasked with extending the USL brand across all of the organization's events and leagues: The USL Championship, USL League 1, and USL League 2. We designed a modular color and logo system to create a flexible look and feel between each league, using a shared visual language to connect the initiatives together and with the USL brand.Athletics project page Introduction of new logo system. USL League Two and USL League One logos, before and after. Logo family. Logo explanations. (Open the image in a new tab/window for a bigger view.) The USL's new corporate logo symbolizes the growth of professional soccer in North America, incorporating 13 stripes to represent the U.S. flag. The blue letters pay homage to the league's past while the new, modern logo and the white sphere represents a soccer ball in motion - propelling our sport forward into the future.USL press release Corporate logo. The pinnacle of competition - the USL Championship features a new gold design and represents the ultimate goal for players, coaches, fans and communities, all of whom aspire for excellence both on and off the field.The foundation of professional soccer - USL League One makes its mark with a vibrant, colorful identity, as it gears up for its debut in the 2019 season with league leadership and ownership that will forge a unique identity - driven by determination, unity and inspiration.The #Path2Pro - the PDL will become USL League Two - […] maintaining its heritage with a bold, red logo, League Two will continue to forge the game's future, delivering the first taste of premier competition in an authentic national soccer environment with a hyper-local focus.USL press release Championship logo. USL League One logo. USL League Two logo. Color and configuration variations. I know there were a lot of images to scroll through before getting to any text but this wasn't a straightforward logo redesign that showed a simple before/after and I think that the main logo has to be addressed in context of all the new logos, so... In principle, the "USL" logo that was introduced in 2015 and that we've come to know well remains as is, which is good, because it's a good logo. It now serves as the anchor for the new league structure and its logos. First up is the "corporate" logo that, in a way, replaces the 2015 logo. The biggest change here is the addition of a new icon, a speeding ball leaving a trail of 13 stripes (as in the U.S. flag), which I think is pretty fantastic -- not for its patriotic-ness per se but for it's appropriateness and smart use of it. The icon has an old-school feel that goes back to the good age of minimalism and not just minimalism for minimalism's sake. The icon ties in nicely with the notches in the USL wordmark and it establishes a square element to build on with the rest of the logos. For the main league, now USL Championship, the square houses a star in a gold background. It's pretty straightforward and it does convey a sense of being the most important in the system. I get some U.S. Army logo vibes but when this lives in the context of soccer, there is not much confusion. The League One and League Two logos simply have a number in there. Again, very straightforward but also as nicely executed as it gets. All logos are now (or can be) accompanied by a geometric sans serif, Hurme Geometric Sans No.2, that, as unsurprising as it is, works very well in this system and as a complement to the logo elements. The same type family, in its various weights, is used as the brand typography throughout. Logos with brand pattern. Type treatments. Screen graphics. Instagram. Ad. Banner. Not much in terms of applications as this identity won't kick in fully until the start of next season but there is some clear potential seen here through bold but simple typographic treatments and some color coding of black and white images. Overall, the system may come across as simple and an obvious approach but the result is remarkably smart, restrained, and crisply executed.

Humans VS AI: Who’s Better at Designing? Part 2

We’re back with Part 2 of Alexey Kulakov’s longread about design and automation, where he argues about the possibility of AI taking over designers’ work. If you missed it, in the first part of the article we talked about how AI-based tools improve such design processes as client briefing, research, prototype development and testing: link.6. Developing a styleSome may think that this is about artistic skills. But I’ll say it again: artistic skills are core for illustrators, not designers. Interface designers share competencies with engineers.You don’t have to be an artist to develop a style. Today designers have full access to the internet, so they can find good examples of style and reproduce them. Style development also consists of several stages:Analyzing references — researching examples of product designs. Searching for expressive techniques — choosing fonts, colors, determining rhythmics.Conceptualization and selection of visual metaphors. For example, Miro, a collaboration platform, has a very clear visual metaphor, a marker board.Creating a pattern palette is a collection of design elements (font styles, buttons, cards, etc.) that the designer assembles in a separate file and uses to compile the interface from.Composition building is about managing human perception. Any interface must be easy to perceive, so it must have a clear visual hierarchy.Adding key images. Part of the information on a website is perceived through imaginative thinking. A designer determines what images to show and adds them to the interface.How do designers cope with this task?Certainly, designers know how to develop style well. Some people think that it’s their main activity — but I guess by now you already know it’s not quite true.What about robots?Diffuse and GAN networks, like DALL-E or Glide, analyze pictures, so they have millions of technique collections. A year ago I thought that neural networks were not creative.Today I think they are, and they are becoming more creative with each update. In a couple of years it will be at least strange not to use a neural network as a brainstorming partner.There are a huge number of services with pattern collections to make your composition more expressive. For example, this Figma plugin shares web design inspiration. But still the integration of all this huge and ever-increasing palette of possibilities is left to the individual. CLIP Interrogator 2.1 gives a prompt to the uploaded image; Fontjoy creates font pairs.7. Engineering layoutLayout is what buttons, tabs, icons look like. It’s the exterior of the product, not the general approach to the interface, or an idea of how people will use it. Layout is what designers study at courses and add to their portfolios.Creating layouts involves:working with the grid;typography;ensuring consistency of the elementscreating a design system — a collection of all the patterns used in the design;creating illustrations or interacting with an illustrator;accentuation — the placement of accents.How do designers cope with this task?Designers do it well, but again, layouts are not the most important thing in a designer’s work.What about robots?You could use dozens of tools to work on layouts. The most obvious example is Figma, as it provides auto layouts, components, styles and lots of plugins. Now you don’t have to calibrate colors, fonts, and spacing. Also you could use Webflow and QuarklyOn the one hand, the variety of tools equals more creative freedom for the designer. On the other hand, automated tools take away routine tasks –so possibly, in five years, designers will be paid less for routine work than they are today.8. Conducting design supervisionDesign oversight is controlling whether the final interface functions the way the designer intended. It includes:communication with users to understand whether they like the interface or not;background testing, as good designers are always pixel-hunting, i.e. looking to see if the interface is OK;interaction with developers — when designers realize that the design is inconvenient for users, or does not work as intended, they ask programmers to help them solve the problem.How do designers cope with this task?Design supervision is an important activity; designers are usually pretty good at it, and they love doing it.What about robots?If you want to understand how design works, you need analytics — so robots’ abilities are pretty limited here. However, they can significantly simplify the process: PixelPerfectTestMachine and Markup Validation Service test the layout.9. Analyzing performancePerformance analytics is:Looking into web analytics to see if the interface is working;Analyzing qualitative data that you receive from talking to people and observing experiences ‘as is’.resolving contradictions. For example, at Rideró we have doubts about placing an ad banner that promotes our proofreading services in the text editor. On the one hand, it potentially increases sales, but on the other hand, it pisses off a part of users. Here’s the contradiction: we have two goals, and we need to decide which one is more important.How do designers cope with this task?This is one of the core activities for a professional. One of the main things that designers have to learn in the first three years is how to answer these questions: ‘why am I doing the work I’m doing? How do I see that my work has benefited the company and its clients? What is the point of my work?’What about robots?There’s plenty of services to visualize data. To analyze the interface performance you will have to go through several steps:Implement an analytics system (Google Analytics 4 for web, GA4 or Amplitude for apps);Determine what metrics tell you about the user’s interaction with the interface;learn how to collect and track them.If you want to collect and analyze qualitative data you could use the Sense Machine neural network. It measures the mood and real emotional response of a person using facial expressions and eye movements. The final conclusions are still up to humans.10. Ensuring interface developmentProduct development is an analytical skill that involves analyzing metrics and prioritizing. It’s not something a designer should be responsible for, as it’s usually done by a product manager. Still, design has a huge impact on the product vision. Understanding product management is a valuable skill for a designer.Product development involves:Keeping the core product features, i.e. understanding and preserving the product’s idea,coming up with improvements within the product idea,Pivot decision making, i.e. the ability to see that the team has hit a dead end and start redesigning;Redesign — a crucial activity if you see that everything has gone outdated. Redesign presupposes you go through all the steps from the start.How do designers cope with this task?As I mentioned, usually product development is the responsibility of product managers and directors. However, if the designer can provide valuable contribution to product development, then their position in the team becomes moreWhat about robots?Data can help make decisions about redesign and highlight current issues. It can also suggest best practices. However, neural networks won’t make the decision for you or say exactly how it should be done.To summarize what I’ve said: as best practices emerge, their individual elements will be automated. Design will integrate those fragments in the areas where experience is changing and best practice is not yet available.I’ve given some examples of different automation services (thanks to the JetStyle designers and art directors for helping me compile them) — but there are many more. One of the tool collections I’ve found useful is on Github. Explore and find something that can help you in your work.Part 3 on the way! Alexey will share his vision on what the future of UX design holds. Stay tuned!Humans VS AI: Who’s Better at Designing? Part 2 was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Aether Eyewear

Hannes Unt, Cofounder of Aether Our goal was to create a wearable design object as a portal to a holistic aural experience, allowing users to tune into the soundscape that reflects their mood while staying connected to the present moment. Aether blends refined and minimalist eyewear design with innovative open-ear audio technology into beautiful products that enable you to curate your own personal ambience. Aether emerged from a vision shared by three specialists in product design, brand development, and creative direction; setting out to channel their expertise into pushing the boundaries of audio technology and high-end eyewear design. We spoke to Aether cofounder Hannes Unt about collaborative working, combining audio technology with wearables, the inspiration behind the brand‘s launch collection, and how their eyewear will prove to be long-lasting. What led you into design? And how did Aether come to be? I think it has to do a lot with luck and right timing, how it all started. I had my first computer and began to play around with web design some time before high school. I was just another kid fascinated with this new medium called the internet (at the end of 90s), and that you can create something on your computer and upload it there and then. I’ve been a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember and at that particular period it was BMW for me, above everything. I was around 14 years old when I basically copy-pasted the official BMW website and created an unofficial Estonian version of it, as back then the authorised local importer didn’t even have a website. And being a young opportunist, I noticed that a lot of websites had “advertise here” banners—the visual ad banner format was just taking off. So of course I had to put this up on my site too and created a page with absolute nonsense made-up data about the visitor profile and so on. And soon enough, a local Nike importer contacted me and wanted to show their ad banner on my site. I got some free sneakers and stuff in return and was super happy. After this, things moved forward quite quickly. I designed a webstore for a sportswear retailer and did a few other projects, and in the summer just before high school there were suddenly job offers from 3-4 pretty good design agencies. I was already leaning to join one of these, but then got an invite for a brief chat with another ad agency. I decided to go with them and I probably wouldn’t be here today doing what I do if I would have chosen otherwise. So during the three years while at high school, every day after classes were over I went to the agency to work on different web design projects, while being hugely inspired by my more experienced colleagues. These were some of the absolute best people in the industry and being around them gave me the real foundation and beliefs of what is important in design. It also had a huge impact on the direction of how my own sense of aesthetics developed. After this period, I was too eager to continue working with real clients, so I managed to stay in university for only three months, took a student loan, and founded my own design agency. Aether came to be from a friendship that developed over the years between me and our other two cofounders. I met Raymond and Andy back in 2014, when they had just started their previous project, Memorieslab, and were searching for a design agency that could help build up their brand universe. Our collaboration extended over the years and later we also worked together on various design projects in China. In early 2019, we started to play around with the idea that we should create a new brand together. After months of brainstorming and mapping out different options, we decided that wearables, and particularly audio eyewear, is the most interesting sphere for us, as this new category is just about to take off and it’s where we believed we could have the biggest impact. You have entered an interesting and ever-growing space in wearable audio technology. What design values are you looking to amplify with your launch collection? One of our core principles is that audio eyewear will only really work if it actually looks and feels like a pair of well-made glasses. The existence of technology should be hidden in wearables and these products have to complement and add to your looks. Only a limited number of tech enthusiasts are willing to wear products that look and feel like gadgets. From day one we had in mind a customer who appreciates design and has a good sense of style, so first and foremost, we set out to create beautiful eyewear that we would be proud to sell even without any technology. In practice, this means absolute attention to detail. We worked through a huge number of prototypes with our manufacturing partner, fine-tuning even the smallest design lines, to finally arrive at the outcome we’re happy with. What was your inspiration for combining audio technology with eyewear? What are some of your key audio features? And how does the audio experience differ from that of a pair of wireless headphones? Our goal was to create a wearable design object as a portal to a holistic aural experience, allowing users to tune into the soundscape that reflects their mood while staying connected to the present moment. I believe it is a very natural development for eyewear—many people wear optical glasses and pretty much everyone wears sunglasses at some point. The use of blue light blocking glasses is also getting increasingly more popular. Eyewear is the only thing that is already there, sitting on your face—an unused real estate, waiting for the next step to happen. The experience of listening to music through audio eyewear is something completely new and different. The open-ear listening experience feels like another layer of reality has been added to your life, while you can still hear everything else around you too. This is also reflected in our brand name Aether—it’s like an addition of a new almost mystical dimension. You can experience and interact with the world around you while you have your own personal ambience at the same time. We’ve learned that there are actually a lot of people who don’t like using headphones or in-ears, especially for prolonged periods. Having nothing in your ears or over your ears while still being able to listen to music or podcasts feels really liberating. Given the obvious physical constraints of embedding technology in the frames, there will undoubtedly be an impact on certain elements, such as battery life. How do you foresee improving this in future models? The limited space does present a lot of challenges. But from another perspective it is also a good problem to have, because it pushes us to keep innovating. For example, we will design our own custom-shaped batteries in the future, to maximise what we can do within these physical constraints. The advancement of technology and new possibilities derived from this progress are on our side. Just a few years ago it wouldn’t have been realistic to achieve what we have done today—to hide all of this tech inside temples that have similar dimensions to the ones you have on normal glasses. Shifting focus to the form of the Aether frames, you have partnered with renowned Italian manufacturer, Mazzucchelli 1849. What was the process of coming to such clean yet distinctive designs for this collection? We chose Mazzucchelli acetate for our frames because we had a very clear goal from the beginning—to use only high quality materials that you would normally expect from a premium eyewear brand. For our launch collection, we wanted to achieve a modern and distinctive yet well-balanced unisex offering. It was a long design process, from the early conceptual sketches in collaboration with an eyewear designer to prototyping and revision rounds with our manufacturing partner. There are three models in this collection that showcase our own interpretation of timeless and classic looks—these are R1, D1, and S1. By the way our model naming references the lens shapes (R = Round, D = D-Frame, S = Square). And then we have two very unique models, S2 and R2, which with their diamond-cut-like edges and combination of brushed matte and polished surfaces stand out also among traditional (non-tech) eyewear brands. In addition to shaping and fine-tuning the aesthetics of the product, the design process also had to solve many functional aspects like the difference of nose shapes between Europeans and Asians, how to ensure the glasses would fit comfortably on a variety of head sizes and so on. We’re very happy that through this extensive process we managed to create a collection that in practice suits so many different people. The geometric design of the R2 model is remarkable. It is both striking and timeless in appearance. How do you see the longevity of your frames, especially given the technological aspect of them? This relates back to our first core principle of designing beautiful eyewear that could work even without any technology. It is quite normal to expect that someone who has bought our first generation glasses would want to access the benefits that continuous technological advancements will bring to the next generations of our frames. Yet, unlike so many other electronic products that unfortunately sooner or later become a throwaway, years from now, even if you have a newer model that you prefer to use more by then, our current product will still remain as a pair of beautiful high quality glasses or sunglasses. For this very reason, I think our eyewear has much greater longevity also when compared to products like bluetooth headphones. Another elegant detail is the charging case. Can you talk a bit about the design and how it works? We wanted to create as beautiful a charging case as we could, as I believe it is a crucial part of the overall user-experience and not something of secondary importance. Every detail counts and every element of the experience is important. The thinking that it had to be an object you can admire on its own directed the design process, so this is why the shape is very pure, minimal, and clean, allowing the intrinsic beauty of the material to stand out. The cold touch of the brushed aluminium has a really nice tactile quality to it and is accentuated with fine details like polished edges. It’s a smart case too. The glasses charge wirelessly and they start charging immediately when placed inside the case. The case also has a battery inside, so after you have charged it via cable, you can just take it with you and charge the glasses many times on the go, as you need. The lenses are made by Carl Zeiss Vision. How did that partnership come about? As Carl Zeiss Vision makes the best lenses, it was really the only natural option for us—we wanted to use nothing but high quality materials and I used to look for Zeiss lenses myself too when buying normal sunglasses before. Collaboration is clearly at the core of Aether. What is the current shape of your team? How does it operate? Aether is an international brand at heart. Our core R&D team is in China, but we have team members spread out over many locations—from Bangkok to Tallinn and Copenhagen, with some of our crucial collaborators in Berlin. I’m extremely grateful that building Aether has already given me the opportunity to collaborate with very talented people from 3D to audio design, and such collaborations will only expand in the future as we continue to build our brand universe. I’m in touch with my cofounders daily, they are based in China, I’m currently in Estonia. As we already have extensive experience with long-distance collaboration from our shared projects in the past, we’re all used to this setup and everything works smoothly, even with the timezone differences. What music do you listen to while designing? It really depends on the stage of the project or task what I’m currently working on. If it’s something that requires deep focus for thinking, concept creation, or problem solving, I usually listen to something meditative, that supports this type of concentration effort. It varies from space ambient to minimal piano, but some days it can also be monks chanting mantras for a few hours straight, or nature sounds. When I already have an idea or the direction in mind where I want to arrive and the work is more about execution and experiments, I usually listen to something more energetic, that puts you into a productive flow state, but it shouldn’t also get you too carried away. So deeper, minimal, and melodic techno works very well for me, or sometimes a bit more progressive sounds. At the moment I really enjoy long sets by Alex O’Rion, Eelke Kleijn, and Hernan Cattaneo. What are 3 things you value most in design? Harmony Simplicity Attention to detail What are 3 things you value most in life? Freedom: to choose your own path, being able to do what you really want to do, and creating/living a life that feels true to yourself. Love: your family, your friends, self-love, love for life, nature, and this planet. Passion: all-in or nothing, what ever you do, always give your best or don’t even begin.

First shot on dribble

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Ink, sweat, and notebooks

How I kept on sketching for 760 daysHi, my name is Sasha Bogatov. I work as an illustrator, graphic designer, and freelance art-director. I am curating a month-long course “The baton of creative fire” in the online school “Controforma.” From 2016 to 2018, for two years straight, I have been running a daily project called Daily Sketchups which ignited my creativity and let me run a bunch of doodling experiments spurring my imagination. Get a flavor of the project with this three-min video:https://medium.com/media/64f23bb0f2f241b128667d9a2879ff6e/hrefDear reader, what lies ahead of you is:BackstoryIdea and motivationMeans through which I workedAftertasteSummaryTwelve recommendations on how to run daily projectsConclusion1. BackstoryI am keen on developing visual stories and puns. I never part with notebooks, ever since we first met at my 9th grade. I was scribbling ideas whichever dumbassery those exhibited, I was pouring emotions out and letting it drain on the sheet. The best means of coming up with ideas is to note every thought, image, or a spontaneous idea in the notebook; the memory might betray you, but the paper won’t.Archive of notebooks (2012–2016)Notebooks helped me to gradually become an artist. By the end of 10th grade, I felt miserable about my creativity and abandoned the very intention to study arts or design altogether. Since I was interested in psychology, social and cultural sciences, I pursued the BA sociology. As of now, I hold a MA diploma in sociology.Works (2012–2015). More at behance.net/gallery/34006362/Moleskine-sketchbooks-2012–2015Education gave me a broader view of visual communication because my judgements now rely on semiotics, anthropology, branding, marketing, advertising communication; gender, fashion, spatial and other branches of sociology.While studying, I designed things for an advertising agency and published rough sketches on Instagram. Time passed, and I decided that pencil-and-paper sketches are way too messy, so I went digital, and I went deep.Archive (2015)I quit my job at the agency by the end of 2015. It was just me and the sketches now, and there was the last year of bachelor program ahead of me. Love for graphics took over me, though this feeling was not particularly rewarding. There were none paid projects, there was no portfolio.2. Idea and motivationThere was ketchup in my fridge, and there was the “Daily Sketches” project by Andrey Smaga which I followed. Thinking of both things at the same time, I came up with a name for project.Summer of 2015 brought me face to face with article “How to become an awesome designer in 365 days” Marko Stupić documented his own mastering the vector graphics skills. He achieved great heights, and I — well, I read the article and completely forgot about it ever existing.Yet, when I quit agency, I instantly recalled his heroic deeds and decided to pursue the project which would resemble it. That would have been a challenge, a completely free upgrade, a chance to update my portfolio and bring attention to my skills. I would have ignited my imagination, for at the moment I felt vast amounts of energy which was not put to use. Therefore, my here-and-there doodles were to become the daily practice.I launched “Daily” on January 1st, 2016. In 16 days I stopped. I put things on hold for one and a half week, because I did not realize how serious the year-long project is. Then the conscience kicked in, and so it took off again. The days I skipped I doubled in works.Discipline is crucial for daily projects: you set and achieve goals, day to day. It is hard to start, for you have to push, push, push against the routine. Then you develop a habit, and it seems unnatural to go on without it.42 day. It is important to keep working even if you are traveling. This sketch comes from Komsomolskoye lake in Chișinău.3. Means through which I workedI can compare the whole process of doing a sketch for “Daily” with reflection on oneself and the world. So, there is something tickling my brain, or I am on a walkabout and — lo! — I see an interesting visual rhyming of objects, and that means I got to grasp it the very moment I see it. I scribble the thing down and keep on walking, awaiting new subject matter to appear. If you are not externalizing ideas and notes, you lock yourself with these thoughts which would not let the new ones fit in the brain.367 dayThroughout the day I picked doodles: whether I’d go with the new one or take an idea from the shelf. It is important to have the archive, because there are days when you are feeling blue or battling some regular routine. If I made through the day without a picture, the next day I have to do a couple more.I usually outlined the initial idea in a text. Notebook welcomes everything, from actual images and notes to pieces of thoughts; notes on tools and styles I want to toy with.Google Keep screengrab: don’t grow shy on your ideas.In order to transform the practice into a daily ritual, one’s got to keep the spirit of the experiment. I was never into wordplays or collages, whereas now I am fond of it. “Daily” kept me agitated, because I had to choose tools or objects to work with on the fly.497 day. I tried to switch between varying methods and mediums. Here, for example, is the animated sequence of watercolor sketches.I did not only amass ideas which I kept in the archive; there was a conscious effort to try the visual tricks and tools which were appropriated by the creators I follow. I was inspired by the works of Christoph Niemann, Jean Julien, Javier Jaen, Herluf Bidstrup, Stefano Frone / dot pigeon, Javier Perez, Stephen McMennamy, Serge Bloch, Marat Morik. I merged their visual findings with topics which interested me. By copying and being inspired, one multiplies works through which at a certain moment the unique style would transcend. One would acquire one’s own visual style and will understand the “how” and “why” of picking certain tools, topics, and techniques.This series was inspired by the combo-collages of Stephen McMennamy; ideas were rooted in wordplays, idioms, and quotes. 155 day — while my guitar gently chirps; an ice-cream balloon— 33 day; “write drunk, edit sober” — 164 day; 160 day- lips drip nectar.There is a simple way of battling the boredom, and that it is devising a story arc for the series. Like, pick a tool and lock oneself with it; pick a topic and toy with it, shifting tools and styles; juxtapose forms and volumes which have a certain likeness; copy the technique developed by the favorite author of yours, and so on.Some series were up for a week, some were developed over the period of time. Here is a pick on some:News envisaged as a “New Yorker” cover:Days (from left to right): 708, 259, 225, 197, 195 , 191 , 200 , 366.2. Minimalist signs and illustrations, executed in red and black only:Days: 743, 749, 746, 745, 741, 740.3. Collages with girls and acrylic smears:Days: 419, 420, 423, 421, 418.4. Combination of small objects with animals doodled over:Days: 435, 433, 432, 431, 435, 434.5. One-colored items in the flat:https://medium.com/media/5073c8a2b1c3baec12b729bbf1cb2345/href6. Thoughts on love, “heart” sign, and relationships as such:Days: 747, 658, 555, 602, 759, 618, 447, 251.7. Thoughts on joy and pity enabled by the contemporary technologies:Days:: 249, 481, 635, 590, 247, 452, 633, 67.8. Wordplays and quibbles:Days: 749, 616, 732, 703, 747, 686, 584 , 743Series might provide a foundation for the method development; set the framework for the project or even spawn a new project altogether. For example, I briefly touched upon the subject which later traversed the “Daily” limits, and that is the analysis of situations, emotions, and mental states via means of color. It flashed on “Daily” a couple of times:493 dayAs of now, I launched the “color speech” project, which is still on while “Daily” is off:I glue Polaroid-esque stickers onto colored walls and write down the labels. Left: Color of her heart; Middle: Color of the optimism I lack; Right: Color of the grandma’s apple pie which I would never taste again.4. AftertasteFirst two or three months were hurting: cause, yeah, you keep on doodling daily, things do not fit in a day, you torture yorself saying “them pictures are weak!” Then, it becomes a pleasant routine: you adjust to the pressure, draw things, and come up with things in whichever time of the day or, say, mood.The second year was an easy one to start, because I have already devised the optics through which I perceived things. I was constantly alert and ready to change, doodle over, think over, make things more interesting.The longer your attention and imagination are aroused, the easier it is for you to find interesting things in the environment and your own mind.5. SummaryTwo years made me do 760 pictures and work around many tools, stylistics, and formats. “Daily” made me realize which visual solutions I favor. These are funny and simple sketches, wordplays and puns, minimalist creative photography, complex collages. Wordplays grew on me, and now that is one of the most beloved methods for generating ideas.My Instagram still bears the project name: instagram.com/dailysketchupsThe self-discipline slowly turned into the self-presentation, a public portfolio of sorts, which can be navigated, sent over, passed on to the prospective clients. “Daily” gave me a chance to work with oxxxyshop, Buro 24/7 Russia, “The Golden Gargoyle” (music award launched by Moscow-based music club “16 Tons” ), FGA, “Sansara” band, “Mummy Troll Music Bar,” Bitrix24, Russian punk media “Batenka You Are Transformer,” publishing house “Mamikhlapinatana,” Smoke Kitchen, Statements Jewelry, Zebra Hero, “ScienceCity.” Some works are a part of the showcase on sashabogatov.com or on Instagram.In 2018, together with online school “Controforma,” I devised a month-long course “The baton of creative fire.” We work in Telegram-chat: I give daily assignments which challenge the imagination, and I review results the next day. I mentor the participants, because I know all too well, how hard it is to put one’s imagination to use, and there is always room for help. We’ll start this course afresh early in 2019, stay tuned for the updates on my Instagram or school’s website.6. Twelve recommendations on how to run daily projectsGoal, skills, timing. Determine the skill you want to pump, choose a concept for the project, timing, media space;Get inspired. Back in 2017 I wrote a review of daily projects, have a look (in Russian only, though). In 2018 the following daily projects were afloat: Sonya Korhenboym— does illustrations, Denis Bashev runs typo experiments;Ritual. Make your project a ritual which is extremely required for your well-being. One’s got to have a coffee, to brush teeth, do cool things and, well, run the project;Self-motivation. When you clearly understand, where you are heading with this project and what is the greater goal of it, — no thoughts on it’s uselessness will ever occur;Always find the time. Because it is always there, just reserve at least 30–40 minutes a day;Preparatory studies. Make some, so that the bad mood would not screw up your intentions, and you’d always have ideas to develop;Anytime, anywhere. Whichever conditions, cities, spots, areas you are in, just keep on doing the thing. The archive would be of help;Story arcs, series, wishes coming true. Set your mind on series, that would enliven the project. You want to try collaging, animation, or wordplay? Well, get started, then;Things to draw this week. Think two days ahead, pick narratives to dabble with, zoom in on ideas from the archive; choose tools to work with or series to start;Likes. You always want a friendly pat on a shoulder, though likes are not quite enough. Set a targeted ad on Instagram, go public with your project, promote it on Telegram-channels, Facebook groups, designer blogs, etc.;You never know when idea kicks in. Make oneself a habit — keep a notebook close or an app, so you would instantly put thoughts on paper;Bad sketch. It is OK to get wary about pictures which are done on a daily basis. Well, you cannot be fancy every day!7. ConclusionThere was an interview with Piotr Bankov, creative director of “Design Depot,” the man behind the “i make poster every day” project. So, the journalist asked him to give a piece of advice to designers and ruminate on his success story. And Piotr said:“I have a mentor, Sergey Ivanovich Serov. He is a well-known person, Russian design guru whom I approached twenty years ago with the very same question, because I was feeling very insecure. “Sergey, are there any rules in accordance to which I should plan my creative career?” — I muttered. “Indeed, there are,” — he replied, — “and here are three rules to abide by. First is to work daily. That is a basic thing. Second is to love one’s profession and never betray it. Never with capital N. Because love and adherence are crucial for the profession and for mankind as such. The third is to find the mentor, abide by his rules, respect him, and be thankful. These are the three simple rules”.My contacts:sashabogatov.comaimpss7@gmail.comfacebook, instagram, behanceInk, sweat, and notebooks was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

10 Graphic Design Trends in 2019: 3D edition

See the projects and creatives we think are going to set the trends for 2019 and inspire creatives in typography, advertising, illustration, photography, motion, and graphic design.3D design has recently started to get more attention. We love 3D in all its shapes and forms, so we put together this collection of visuals created in 2018 that are going to shape how graphic design, advertising and photography will evolve in 2019.Do you find inspiration in trends or avoid them? Have you spotted a 3D trend yourself? Tell us in the comments!1. Humans of flat design become 3DIllustrated characters that are often used on many digital products's websites and interface illustrations are being re-created in 3D. As 3D turns more to mainstream, expect to see these pop up more often, along with cute 3D mascots.Work shown: “Music & Movement” by Cabeza Patata Studio , Megogo brand identity , “Share your gifts” campaign by Apple , Pitch.com website illustrations by KajdaxMusic & Movement by Cabeza Patata StudioMegogo Brand Identity“Share your gifts” campaign by ApplePitch.com website illustrations by Kajdaxand cute 3D avatars!Eye Buy Direct Campaign by Man vs Machine and collaboratorsToggl character by Estudio RondaTonko character created by Adrian Mankovecky2. New organic abstract 3D shapesThese organic and fluid shapes overtake simple geometric shapes that were favored in abstract compositions, as 3D designers continue to dream up new compositions and shapes.Work shown: “Summer” by Peter Tarka , “Sculpt 2 by Jean-Michel Verbeeck” , Fendi Hypnoshine eyewear campaign by Ditroit Studio , Mohawk Quarterly Magazine and also as a header to this article is an image by Anna Bay and Rutger Paulusse“Summer” by Peter Tarka“Sculpt 2 by Jean-Michel Verbeeck”Fendi Hypnoshine eyewear campaign by Ditroit StudioMohawk Quarterly Magazine3. Fantastic humanoidsAnything is possible in the 3D world and the creators are playing with human creatures, placing them in fantasy settings. This is a move away from the 3D busts we were used to seeing everywhere.Work shown: “End of Humanity” by Vasjen Katro , “Deliverance.png” Catelloo Gragnaniello and Aeforia — “Stepback” by FVCK Render , “Fashion Snap” by Kota Yamaji ,“End of Humanity” by Vasjen Katro“Deliverance.png” Catelloo Gragnaniello and Aeforia — “Stepback” by FVCK Render“Fashion Snap” by Kota Yamaji and “Virus” by Peter Tarka4. Showing work in augmented realityWith augmented reality becoming more popular, creators are getting more tools to play with 3D in AR.Apple’s native support of the .usdz AR file, Snapchat’s and Facebook’s AR lenses and 3D posts and the availability of simple 3D / AR tools like Vectary, that let you create USDZ files, or Torch — an app for creating experiences directly in AR , Adobe Aero, Apple ARkit 2.0 and Google AR Core make it possible to create and show 3D artwork in AR.This will bring designers new opportunities and challenges in 2019.Show 3D work in AR with Vectary (available now)Adobe Aero preview (not available yet)Another interesting relationship which started to develop is between augmented reality and e-commerce. With Shopify, IKEA, Snapchat, Adidas and L’Oreal leading the way, we will see many brands experiment with adding AR experiences to their retail stores, online shopping and as a part of their overall communication.Dimensional design has become a new frontier for graphic designers and UX/UI designers. Learn how to export your work as augmented reality files.AR experience in retail5. From mono to minimal palettesMonochrome visuals got a lot of positive attention in 2018 and we think this trend evolved into visuals with minimal, serenely harmonious and analogous palettes and more striking and contrasting complementary palettes.Earthy tones enjoy a comeback along with 70’s inspired hues.Work shown: Free time creation by Santi Zoraidez , Effie Campus campaign by Rutger Paulusse , ESPN feature , WIX mobile ADI campaign by Yambo Studio, Jonathan Lindgren and Drew NelsonFree time creation by Santi ZoraidezEffie Campus campaign by Rutger PaulusseESPN featureWIX mobile ADI campaign by Yambo Studio, Jonathan Lindgren and Drew Nelson6. 3D typography popsWhile 3D typography is not a new thing, thanks to the very popular project 36 days of type, it’s starting to appear in quite many campaigns. Letters constructed of blocks and machine parts and bold colors are extra punchy in 3D. Learn how to create your first 3D text visual with Google Fonts.Work shown: Fast Company feature by Mohamed Samir , City of Dreams Hotel campaign by Multiple Collaborators , Random Type projects by Muokkaa StudioFast Company feature by Mohamed SamirCity of Dreams Hotel campaign by Multiple CollaboratorsRandom Type projects by Muokkaa Studio7. Abstract 3D compositions inspire photographyThe style of the early abstract 3D compositions shows up in the world of fashion and editorial photography as well, inspiring photo shoots.Work shown: Micro Pens campaign by multiple collaborators , Corelia Juice Campaign by multiple collaborators , Coffee Address packaging design by multiple collaboratorsMicro Pens campaign by multiple collaboratorsCorelia Juice Campaign by multiple collaboratorsCoffee Address packaging design by multiple collaborators8. Blending 3D, 2D and RL3D elements will continue to make their way forward, getting mixed into 2D and AR as simple 3D and AR tools become readily available.Works shown: Air Max Day 2018 campaign by Man vs Machine , “Untitled.psd” by Mike Voropaev — and “Baugasm” , Self-branding Climate Creative New media Studiohttps://medium.com/media/a91d330a2a935e24bbf28618656376da/href“Untitled.psd” by Mike Voropaev — and “Baugasm”Self-branding Climate Creative New media Studio9. High-end texturesTexture artists, as well as motion artists, will be in high demand as 3D turns mainstream and amazing textures will be necessary to set visuals apart.Work shown: Works by Roman Bratschi , Notorious by NastPlasWorks by Roman BratschiNotorious by NastPlas10. Gentle machinesAnimated mechanical machines were the main visual feature of some major brand campaigns in 2018, making mass manufacture rather cute.Work shown: Youtube Merchandising campaign by multiple collaborators , L’Oreal Essie campaign by multiple collaborators , Lyft slots by Toast Studio, John Poon,Chris Guyot , Yourniture campaign by Berd, Jordi Pages, Aimar Molero ,Youtube Merchandising campaign by multiple collaboratorsL'Oreal Essie campaign by multiple collaboratorsLyft slots by Toast Studio, John Poon,Chris Guyothttps://medium.com/media/1194976c4fe2c0c4175cdb48fd7da652/hrefBonus: 3D Influencers 🤖Over the past year, we had the pleasure of meeting a new breed of influencers. Namely Miquela, Blawko, Bermuda, Shudu, Zhi and Margot, who have amassed large numbers of followers on social media and are working with top-notch brands. Who knows where 2019 will take us.https://medium.com/media/f6af27acae57624c30238f97a46ac8db/hrefMust-haves for the 3D / AR designer's toolkit in 2019Cinema 4D is the high-end 3D tool for professional 3D designers. There’s a classic which never goes out of fashion.Vectary is an online 3D design tool that lets you create and share 3D projects by sending a link and collaborating in the browser together with other designers. It has two creator modes — an easy drag and drop for beginners, or a mesh modeling toolkit for more experienced designers.Torch is an AR mobile app which lets you build interactive 3D prototypes. In that regard, it is a lot like InVision or Framer, but for 3D. Its Design Environment lets you import assets, create complex interactions, and arrange multiple scenes.Adobe Aero (not yet released) With Project Aero, designers will be able to create AR content. They’ll be able to lay out and manipulate designs in physical spaces, making AR creation more fluid and intuitive, and deliver these immersive experiences to audiences on mobile devices faster and easier.10 Graphic Design Trends in 2019: 3D edition was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Select: Platform to choose your broker- UI/UX Case Study

This article will discuss how I worked on my first design project — Select: Stockbroker comparison platform, where you can choose your broker.Designing select was my first big project as a UI/UX designer at my first job. The lines were blurred in the design process with no design team in place, and my CTO was the all-in-one product guy who helped me with his continuous feedback.Timeline 8 weeksPlatform WebCollaboration Project manager | Engineering | CTOAbout the companyFinology is a fintech startup that strives to disrupt traditional investing by making it affordable & accessible to everyone while simultaneously putting the brakes on standard financial advice and respecting everyone’s individuality. They are making financial planning as easy as opening a social media account!What is Select?It is a platform that helps people choose their stockbroker and open their Demat account with no amount of friction and at most transparency. With the help of advanced features and unbiased reviews on Select, people can open an investment account that suits their needs and get rewarded.Select is one of the products of Finology One, that helps people who are investing in the stock market to choose their broker hassle-free and get rewarded for opening their Demat account.It also shortlists top brokers according to the unique taste of a user. It does so through a tap-and-answer questionnaire, unbiased reviews, ratings, and personalized wishlists. It helps users calculate exact brokerage and other transactional costs before executing any transaction, and one can also compare the charges and essential information of top brokers.Disclaimer: I have used “we” in many places that denote the whole team who have worked on this project and, at times, our company.ContextWe at Finology received hundreds of queries regarding which broker to choose, how to choose the right broker, etc.We also heard stories of brokers cheating their clients and robbing them of their hard-earned money!This prompted us to think of coming up with a technology-backed solution that helps you decide what’s right for you. And ‘Select’ was born!Previously 1:1 Financial advisory was the significant chunk of business at finology, but it was not scalable enough to continue it. Hence, we wanted to help the masses even after shutting down the advisory.Also, the fintech industry, when select was launched, was very limited to a few stockbrokers who didn’t show each information upfront, and most of the time, people who wanted to open their Demat account got scammed or chose the wrong stockbroker, which would not be practical for their investing style or capacity.Most of the stockbroker platform was focused on business first and user needs last.People were always in need of help if someone can listen to their needs, wants, and investing styles to suggest to them the best broker platform.People wanted easy and accurate information accessible from all the brokerage platforms in one place.Design ChallengeTo create a frictionless, transparent platform with all the actual databases and tools to be a one-stop solution for users to choose and get information about stockbrokers. (consumer side)It should also help stockbrokers partnered with select to show their information and offers in a legitimate way to get leads. (business side)GoalsI began by understanding and discussing stakeholders’ goals and pain points. My Project Manager conveyed user needs as she led this project and knew the customers who have faced broker and brokerage platforms issues.Measuring ImpactAs my company, Finology’s founder, Pranjal karma is a personal finance coach and influencer on Youtube; hence this platform was launched publicly on his youtube channel and promoted through his social media handles.After one week of launch :Page StructureSo, our founder, CTO, and project manager sat down and planned what the user flow would look like, what features to include, and what pages would be there.Although, after the development, many things were tweaked a bit according to the requirements and other external reasons. But this was the basic user flow of the website.I was a beginner and I spent most of the time understanding and analyzing user needs, designing visuals, and iterating.Home PageThis would be the first thing the user will see whenever they come to the website. It had to work as a landing page and a home page.There were two use cases that it had to cater to:First-time visitor/userUser visited for 2nd or nth timeWe had to consider these two types of users and make this page useful for them. Hence, we kept all the primary CTA and offerings at the top of our landing page. So users coming to select would be able to get value instantly.The aim of this page was :Give the user the Aha moment as user lands here. And help them navigate smoothly to accomplish their goal.After landing on this page, the first thing the user is likely to do is “To know which broker will be best for them.” Hence the CTA “Top 5 brokers.”instantly shows the user the top 5 brokers the user can choose from. This help user to accomplish something just after landing on this page, without thinking much.Rewards & FreebiesIn this section, we wanted to create value for users and cross-promote our other products.Here are some iterations I made before coming to the final version:The final version worked out better as :The card pattern with the banner imagery made it more scannable and intuitive.It increased the visibilityBetter communicating about the offeringsCTA was made consistentBroker detail cardsOne of the significant challenges while designing select was to make these broker detail cards. The aim of it was to:Show brief information about the broker that are the primary decision factors to choose a broker.It should be scannable and readable.It should be adaptable for web view as well as the mobile view.It should show all the significant data points upfront. Even if users don’t want to dig in for more, they should be well-versed with the essential offerings, charges, and types.I checked out broker websites like https://top10stockbroker.com/ and https://brokernotes.co/ to know what evident information they show to the users about the broker.After talking to the customer support and exploring other broker platforms, I got the insight the primary data points were: “Logo” of a broker, “broker name,” “Overall rating” of the broker, “Type of broker,” its “features and offerings,” and main broker charges such as “Account opening charges,” “Account maintenance charges,” “Equity delivery charge,” and “Equity intraday charge.”Here are some iterations I went through while designing the broker detail cards:In the final version, I made changes such as:Overall Ratings are the primary decision point data, so I grouped them with the broker name And made the broker type more visually prominent.I improved the visual hierarchy by eliminating the separators and using negative space instead.Added info tooltip so that users can get the data clearly. it helped in not filling the card with too much information.I added the “Full Details” button that navigates users to the full broker’s details page.I used a grey color instead of red with a cross icon for the features not there in the broker platform. (red signifies danger and not trustworthy).Broker full detailsIt contains in-depth information about a broker. It has to be designed like a product page, with all the data points that users need to decide before purchasing the product.Hence the main data points for the broker details page were “Product Basket,” “Brokerage Plans,” “Trading Platform,” “Pros & Cons,” “Additional Features,” “Other investment options,” “Finology verdict of the broker,” “Charges details” and “Customer review.”These were the main data points users will likely know about before opening a Demat account.Here, I made sure :The data points are adequately grouped and arranged according to their significance.For better readability of heavy information, I used tables and apt negative space in each piece of information. Also, I used cards for different subgroups of data.There are primary CTA on top and sectional tertiary CTAs that anticipates what the user might want to do next after going through the information of that section.In the customer review section, there was “Overall rating,” “Rating summary,” and “Review analytics.” It’s the most crucial section of this page as it gives the social proof about the broker.Compare brokersThis page provides users a close view of all the maximum searched and popular brokerage houses across India.The side-by-side comparison gives appropriate insight into their similarities and dissimilarities on “Broker’s basic details,” “Broker Ratings,” “Charges,” “features,” “Investment options,” “customer support,” etc. This comparison and differences among brokers will help users pick the right broker for trading and investment purpose.There were four use cases for which I had to design :Only the essential detailed comparison data points are shown when users land on this page. All the other information is concealed as it should not overwhelm the user as soon as they come to this page.When the user selected two brokers for comparisonWhen the user selected three brokers for comparisonWhen there is no broker selected to compare against the broker chosen.Here is the first version I created.Later after the iteration, we landed on the final versionBroker calculatorThis calculator helps in computing the brokerage charges and other charges that are imposed apart from the brokerage while undertaking trading transactions. It computes the total cost that one would incur while undertaking the trade transaction.This calculator is a useful tool for traders and investors as it helps them understand the approximate cost they would incur for a certain potential transaction.Input RequiredBuy/Sell price of the stockType of exchange BSE/NSEQuantity of sharesThe final version worked out the best as :The visual hierarchy was improved.Made tabs in the proximity of results.The result was made visually intuitive.Added broker name for which the brokerage is being calculated.Improved the copyFind my brokerFinding a perfect broker that caters to your trading and investing needs might be a complex goal to achieve for some, so we have simplified all the significant decision-making points and condensed them into an easy set of questions presented in an interactive way.https://medium.com/media/cb5b66c6df353a4b0d1274fb0334a14b/hrefFind Your Broker — Watch VideoThis is how I designed the wizard:I visually indicated where the user is in the process while answering the questions.I chunked up the questions into meaningful labels and steps such as “Usage”, “Products”, “Features” and “Steps”.Users can go to the previous step and redo their answer at any point of progressing in the wizard.At the end of the wizard, the user gets matched to the broker that aligns with their choices.The ProcessAs this project was made in a very short timeline and by a very small team of 5 people, there were ad hoc changes in the development phase after the design was completed. I have jotted down our process of designing Select below:Here, are some principles we followed while designing the platform to benchmark and adhere to best practices in designing for fintech digital products.Retrospect learnings…So these were my learnings after working on this project.This was the first UI/UX design project that I was part of. Being an amateur designer, I need to get a heck lot of feedback on my designs and iterate. As the first version was near to 💩 and as I kept iterating 👩‍💻 , it transformed to 👌.I learned how each stage of design is important, and you should not jump to visual design as soon as you are given a brief. I made a massive mistake by directly starting with the visual design as soon as I knew about Select. Later my lead told me that this was a poor approach and guided me.I learned how to mindfully approach big projects and design a digital product from scratch by undertaking one interface at a time.This case study was made with ❤. Procrastination. Anxiety. Inspiration.self-motivationIt would mean a lot to me if you could long-press on the clap icon, drop a few claps & show your support.🛄 I’m currently open to opportunities as a Product Designer in and outside India. Do reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter for any feedback, freelance opportunity, or in case you need help! Just drop a “HEY!”Select: Platform to choose your broker- UI/UX Case Study was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Here’s How the Illustrations Design Trend Caught Fire and Why Every SaaS Is Rebranding

By Luke Bailey, Copywriter at UnbounceImage courtesy of the Stubborn Free Illustrations Generator.I’m sure you’ve noticed this ubiquitous illustration style by now. Depending on who you ask, these illustrations are either fun and whimsical, or strange and faceless. Maybe you see them as friendly-looking doodles … or maybe you see them as just plain weird.Whatever your opinion, one thing is for sure: these little buddies are everywhere right now. For better or worse, they have completely taken over the visual identities of many high-profile SaaS brands.Now, many marketers are wondering-how did this happen? Why are there so many similar-looking illustrations on so many different websites? How did all of these brands decide to use this style at the exact same time? And doesn’t this go against the very idea of positioning your brand as something different?For example, Jimmy Daly, Marketing Director at Animalz, recently called out this design trend on Twitter. And while he says he doesn’t dislike the style, he also isn’t sure how it got to be everywhere at once.body[data-twttr-rendered="true"] {background-color: transparent;}.twitter-tweet {margin: auto !important;}can a designer please explain this trend to me? — @jimmy_dalyfunction notifyResize(height) {height = height ? height : document.documentElement.offsetHeight; var resized = false; if (window.donkey && donkey.resize) {donkey.resize(height); resized = true;}if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var obj = {iframe: window.frameElement, height: height}; parent._resizeIframe(obj); resized = true;}if (window.location && window.location.hash === "#amp=1" && window.parent && window.parent.postMessage) {window.parent.postMessage({sentinel: "amp", type: "embed-size", height: height}, "*");}if (window.webkit && window.webkit.messageHandlers && window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize) {window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize.postMessage(height); resized = true;}return resized;}twttr.events.bind('rendered', function (event) {notifyResize();}); twttr.events.bind('resize', function (event) {notifyResize();});if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var maxWidth = parseInt(window.frameElement.getAttribute("width")); if ( 500 Here at Unbounce, we recently went through a rebrand of our own. And while we considered illustrations, our design team ultimately decided to go in a different direction. Instead of flat, geometric shapes, we chose to use custom photography to help us put our customers in the spotlight. (Although we’re not alone-custom photography seems to be another growing design trend for SaaS brands.)But going through the long, long, very long process of a rebrand got us thinking. As marketers trying to stand out in an increasingly competitive industry-is it bad for us to follow design trends? What inherent value is wrapped up in visual branding? Is it worth a heavy investment in design to look different? And how vastly different can we all truly be?Let’s dust off our old-timey magnifying glass and investigate…Why Marketers Are Obsessed with Visual BrandingIn our heart of hearts, I think every marketer is a “creative” type. We were the kids in school doodling on our notebooks, coming up with ideas for the next great Goosebumps novel, or filming half-baked comedy skits using our one friend’s video camera. (Thanks, Brad!)So really, it makes sense that we care so friggin’ much about the way our brands look. The logos, fonts, photos, illustrations, and other visuals we use are all opportunities for us to show off just how creative and different we can be. We want you to be impressed when you look at our website-or any other part of our brand’s visual identity, for that matter. It’s in our DNA.According to Sabrina Chan, Interactive Designer at Unbounce (and huge contributor to how the Unbounce brand looks today), this is part of the reason why companies seem to rebrand so often.“Coming up with a new visual brand is absolutely exciting, whether you do it by yourself or with the help of an agency. It’s a great creative challenge because-unlike most other marketing projects-you aren’t forced to play within a sandbox, or follow a specific set of rules. When you create a new visual brand … you actually get to shape the sandbox itself.”Marketers also obsess over visual branding because we’re under constant pressure to keep up with the times. (And the web changes fast, yo.) One second we’re all using gradients on our buttons and adding drop shadows to our form boxes, and the next we’re making every page element as flat as a Kansas-style pancake. If you’re still using styles that have fallen out of public favor a few years after the fact, it can raise a few eyebrows.Sabrina says the goal is for your brand to either fit in or stand out-but never fall behind.“Nobody wants their brand to look like it hasn’t been updated in years. You only get one chance to make a first impression … and most marketers and designers will do anything to make a good first impression. Especially if your competitors are all out there looking fresh and up-to-date.”At the same time, this obsession with visual branding can come with a heavy price tag. Whether you hire an agency to rebrand for you or work with a team internally like we did at Unbounce-the process can take many, many months. It’s never as simple as making “just a few quick updates to the company logo.” You almost always need to scope out a big chunk of your marketing team’s time, budget, and brainpower.According to Andy Crestodina over at Orbit Media, a “fancy site from a big web development firm” can easily run you up a bill of more than $100,000.Here at Unbounce, we spent over half a year doing research, running impression tests, creating mockups, and iterating on our new brand before we launched. And while we have gotten (mostly) great feedback on the finished results-it can still be really tricky to connect the design’s impact of a new visual brand to actual ROI.Sure, there are lots of ways to calculate how well your website is converting. But can you attribute that to the branding itself? It’s not so simple to draw a straight line between your looks and your bottom line.But Your Brand Does Matter-Maybe Now More Than EverEven if you can’t easily attribute direct revenue to your visual branding, at least you can take comfort in the fact that almost every marketer agrees it’s still pretty dang important. Potential customers take one look at your brand and form an instant impression-long before they explore your products or check out your pricing.Here’s what Vicky Bullen and James Ramsden of the design agency Coley Porter Bell said about the benefits of visual branding earlier this year.“Over the last few years we’ve seen many brands and their identities evolve into a state of homogenization … [But] many categories are having their traditional ‘design codes’ turned on their head as new or artisanal, challenger brands come along and create a completely new way to interpret a tired category.”They were speaking specifically about food brands, but the same line of thinking can apply to many software companies as well.Because in the world of SaaS, branding is particularly valuable. The space is so saturated with competition (there are over 7,040 marketing technology companies alone), that most companies are eager to stand out from the competition. A unique and authentic brand is a great way to elevate your software over everybody else.On the The Re:Growth Podcast, Dave Gearhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift, even went so far as to say that branding was a key differentiator that helped their team to succeed.“We knew in order to win, we needed to do things the opposite of how everybody else was doing it. We needed a different way to stand out. And for us, that was brand.”Chris Savage, CEO of Wistia, has also been exploring the importance of branding in a new original series called Brandwagon. According to Chris, branding is more important today because traditional marketing tactics are breaking down.“A more fragmented and less measurable customer journey means that if customers aren’t positively disposed to you before they begin their product search, you’ll never make it to the consideration set. Consumers now have access to all the information they could want on your product/service at their fingertips, including how it stacks up against competing offerings … [so] we need to move beyond solution-based value propositions.”But design trends in branding aren’t anything new, either. As part of our research for this piece, we dug into some of the many different styles that have flared up over the years.Timeline Sources:Business Insider, AIGA Design Conference, Codeburst, Web Design Museum, Instani, Line25.Image Sources:Bass Brewery’s original logo. Digital image. Zythophile.com. 28 June 2013, http://zythophile.co.uk.A vintage ad for Coca Cola from around the late 19th or early 20th century. Digital image. Smithsonian.com. 29 March 2017, https://www.smithsonianmag.com.Michelin Man educational advertising, circa 1907. Digital image.LogoDesignLove.com. 21 December 2012, https://www.logodesignlove.com.Betty Crocker, 1955. Digital image. PBS.org. 15 February 2013, http://www.pbs.org.Apple.com screenshot from 1996. Digital image. The Telegraph. 2 September 2009, https://www.telegraph.co.uk.Website design from the early 2000s. Digital image. UX-App.com. 23 July 2018, https://www.ux-app.com.Airtable custom SaaS illustration. Digital image. InternetFolks.com. 22 October 2018, https://internetfolks.com.So Where Did This Illustration Design Trend Come From?Travel in time with me all the way back to January 2017. Barack Obama was serving his last few weeks as President of the United States. Serena Williams was busy winning the Australian Open (while pregnant, no less). And a movie about sentient vehicles called Monster Trucks somehow made $33 million at the box office.It was around this time that Alice Lee, an independent illustrator and designer, started working with Slack to help them create a new illustration voice and library. She partnered with their team to create over 40 separate illustrations that they could use in a variety of different places on their website and platform.An example of an illustration on the Slack website.Many designers point to these 40 original illustrations as the possible beginning of this current visual branding trend. And in a blog post on her website, Alice details where her original inspiration for these designs came from.“I wanted to look outside the tech industry for inspiration … I referenced much of Mary Blair’s legendary body of visual development at Disney for designing warm, whimsical characters. And it was hard not to fall in love with the ‘minimal realist’ compositional balance that Charley Harper strikes.”Another possible origin of this trend is Facebook. In 2017, the social media platform was also going through a rebrand of their own. Their team worked with a design firm named Buck to come up with a new style. And in a recent post on the AIGA Eye on Design blog, illustrator Xoana Herrera described her inspiration for the project.“I started to draw characters that were defined by their actions … Dancing with their open arms, bending their bodies to play the trumpet, for example … I wanted to portray that sense of joy we feel when we’re sharing things together in community, like celebrating a goal in a bar or singing a song with a crowd at a concert.”An example of the illustrations used by Facebook, featured on the Buck website portfolio.We saw this trend continue to evolve over the following year. When Mailchimp pulled off their rebrand in September 2018, it created shockwaves that influenced the entire marketing community. The typeface! That yellow! The illustrations! It was like a breath of fresh air for an industry that was drowning in a sea of stock photos.An example of a more abstract illustration on the Mailchimp website.Here’s what Gene Lee, VP of Design at Mailchimp, said they hoped to inspire with their new brand.“With this redesign, we set out to retain all the weird, lovable elements that endeared our earliest customers to Mailchimp…We champion authenticity, originality, and expressiveness because it’s what helps us-and our customers-stand out. We hope to inspire them to be more bold and creative in their own branding efforts.”This is when the butterfly effect really started to take shape. Since September 2018, hundreds of SaaS websites have rebranded using a similar-albeit, less abstract-illustrative style.Now, there are thousands of these flat illustrations turning up on stock photo websites, entire Twitter accounts dedicated to calling out this trend, and even mix-and-match design libraries that make it easy to create your own unique illustration scenes.Image courtesy of the Stubborn Free Illustrations Generator.Why These Illustration Humans Started #TrendingAt this point, you’re probably wondering why so many companies decided to go with this Nickelodeon-esque style. And actually, there are a number of very practical reasons why these illustrations became popular…They’re representative — With illustrations, the humans you show can come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. This can be an important distinction for socially conscious brands who want to make sure they’re being inclusive for all types of people and communities.They’re flexible — A lot of SaaS companies struggle to show off their software using stock photos. (Let’s say you’re selling accounting software, for example. I hope you like messy desks with calculators.) Illustrations can help you represent complex or abstract ideas in a much more clean and simple way.They’re scalable — You don’t have to have a pricey photoshoot for every new hero image. With illustrations, you can just iterate on a style or framework that you’ve already created. What’s more-you can use them to execute fast, which is a huge win for startups in growth mode who don’t have a ton of money to invest in branding.They’re unique — I know a lot of the illustrations we’re featuring in this blog post look similar, but you can still see some wildly different approaches out there. For example, check out the style of a company like Officevibe and compare it to what Intercom is doing. Nobody is going to confuse those two companies based on their visual brands.They’re full of personality — For SaaS companies in particular, this trend is appealing because of how much personality each image can contain. The illustrative approach harkens back to children’s storybooks, making the software seem more friendly and approachable. (Take a look at the Mailchimp website, for example, and tell me it doesn’t remind you of Curious George.)At the Same Time, There Can Be Trouble with Being TrendyWhen it comes to design trends, there are always potential dangers if you jump in without doing your research first. It’s almost never a good idea to change your entire brand overnight just because “everyone else is doing it.”This is why Alice Lee, one of the originators of this trend, warns other companies to think things through before adopting a similar illustrative style.“I am often approached by companies who simply want me to reproduce work I’ve already created for past clients’ specific brands … But I do believe that to create an illustration identity that’s distinctive, new, and powerful, it’s important to take an intentional, process-driven approach.”There are other potential challenges with this trend as well…These illustrations might not match your brand personality — Well, unless your brand personality is ‘Playful’ with a capital ‘P’. If that ain’t you, then these quirky illustrations might come across as inauthentic or off-brand to your target audience.They might not be as scalable as you think — While they might be less expensive than custom photo shoots, unique illustrations also don’t come cheap. If you want non-generic doodles for your brand, you’re going to have to pay an artist to create them and have a plan in place for when you need more.This style isn’t as unique anymore — If you jumped on this trend a year or two ago, you might have been ahead of the curve. Now, you run the risk of just looking like everybody else.And while illustration can help make your brand appear more friendly, real photos of real people can be powerful in their own way. Alex Kracov, Head of Marketing at Lattice, explained in a Tweet why they moved away from illustrations.body[data-twttr-rendered="true"] {background-color: transparent;}.twitter-tweet {margin: auto !important;}@jimmy_daly Tried to buck this trend w/ the redesign that we launched today at https://t.co/gPtdvXY4wV We used to have the same illustration style, but as a People product, we felt the need to switch to photos of real humans. The CGI backdrop helps maintain the playful, approachable vibe. — @kracovfunction notifyResize(height) {height = height ? height : document.documentElement.offsetHeight; var resized = false; if (window.donkey && donkey.resize) {donkey.resize(height); resized = true;}if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var obj = {iframe: window.frameElement, height: height}; parent._resizeIframe(obj); resized = true;}if (window.location && window.location.hash === "#amp=1" && window.parent && window.parent.postMessage) {window.parent.postMessage({sentinel: "amp", type: "embed-size", height: height}, "*");}if (window.webkit && window.webkit.messageHandlers && window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize) {window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize.postMessage(height); resized = true;}return resized;}twttr.events.bind('rendered', function (event) {notifyResize();}); twttr.events.bind('resize', function (event) {notifyResize();});if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var maxWidth = parseInt(window.frameElement.getAttribute("width")); if ( 500 The bottom line is this: as marketers, it’s our responsibility to do our due diligence and discover what resonates best for our particular brand, industry, and customers. This is something Dan Cederholm, Co-Founder of Dribbble, talks about in a recent blog post.“My advice was to not worry about trends, but rather use the style best applied for the task at hand and stick to it. Go with what feels right for the problem you’re solving.”Image courtesy of the Stubborn Free Illustrations Generator.Design Trends Are a Flat CircleThis illustrative trend caught on fire so fast that many marketers were caught off guard. But this is the type of thing that happens all the time in the fashion industry. Bell-bottom jeans, choker necklaces, lumberjack plaid-they all became massively popular, died down, and then came back around to being “cool” again. It’s the circle of life, folks. (Cue The Lion King soundtrack.)Matthew Strom, Senior Product Design Lead at Bitly, noticed that more and more websites were starting to trend in a similar way, and he linked this idea to the economic principle of minimum differentiation. In short, most marketers and designers are going to put in the minimum effort and risk in order to succeed -and that means we’re going to end up making a lot of the same choices.Here’s how Matthew describes the inevitable “same-ification” of the internet.“The convergence of competition to nearly-identical products is not just a coincidence: it is inevitable. It seems irrational, but the math is sound. This is an emergent phenomenon … even if they try to differentiate themselves, all websites will eventually flock together.”So hey, maybe there’s nothing inherently wrong with following a design trend if we’re all gonna end up looking the same anyway. Marketers use up a lot of collective brainpower trying to create unique visual identities that set them apart-but perhaps we’re all just fighting a losing battle.Because in the end, there’s no real evidence that any design trend-whether it’s illustrations, custom photography, or even 3D images -is good or bad for your brand.You just need to make sure that whatever decision you make, you make it deliberately.Originally published at https://unbounce.com on August 29, 2019.Here’s How the Illustrations Design Trend Caught Fire and Why Every SaaS Is Rebranding was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Abstracts — An Interview with Mauro Porcini

Abstracts — An Interview with Mauro PorciniSVP & Chief Design Officer, PepsiCo, Inc.Illustration Melvin ThambiMauro Porcini joined PepsiCo in 2012 as its first Chief Design Officer. In this newly created position, Mauro infused design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is now leading its approach to innovation by design across product platforms and brands. The impressive array of a line of products and brands include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Aquafina, Life Wtr, Naked and SunChips, amongst many others. His focus extends beyond physical expression into the realm of virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, licensing, retail, architecture, and digital.Mauro has been recognized throughout the design industry, being listed in Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business 1000”, Fortune Magazine “40 under 40” ranking rising stars, Ad Age’s “Creativity 50”, GQ 30 Best Dressed Men and featured in several books on design and innovation in multiple regions of the world including Creative Confidence, Jugaad Innovation, Il Minimo Sostenibile, and Vincere con le idee.In 2018 Mauro has been recognized with the Knighthood (Cavaliere) by the President of the Italian Republic.Welcome, Mauro to Abstracts; the spectacular journey from a product designer to SVP & Chief Design Officer, at PepsiCo. How do you feel when you look back?I’m thrilled and delighted, and it’s been a fascinating journey. I always wanted to do something that could impact the lives of people, change the world in a positive way. And, as a designer, I have had the opportunity to touch the lives of many people, different professional realms, various industries, products, and so on.By working in an organization that reaches millions of people, I am able to indirectly connect with these millions. So, I started with a project, then another and the journey just continued. Essentially, my profession started as a journey trying to figure out how to create a relevant role for the design, for me, for my teams inside this organization while leveraging design thinking and providing immense value to the society, people and the company. And fast forward to where we are today, yes, we moved from one project, one designer to a variety of different projects and activities that impact the lives of various people around the world and in the corporation.It’s been really, really exciting!Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018Every journey is a series of small steps in the right direction. How do you take those steps on a typical day at PepsiCo?Every day has its share of excitement and challenges. The challenges to innovation have two dimensions. One, since we are building a new capability within an established company, the challenge is to integrate design within the company and imbibe it in the day-to-day operations. Design capability is an innovation project by itself and was a new introduction in an established organization like ours. Naturally, there is this dimension of acceptance.The second one is, connected to the nature of the projects that we drive. When you do innovation, by definition, it’s complicated. You are out of the comfort zone and the regular ways of doing things. You need to talk with consumers and validate what you’re doing. To change the game and innovate is to take some risks. So, what is the right balance between the two realities? Figuring out how to balance and develop the idea and the product, the solution at a reasonable cost without impacting the integrity of the concept itself. Believe me, it is more complicated than it sounds. There are the typical challenges associated with the nature of innovation projects and design projects. In these, you find many roadblocks every day, and it is part of the game. The nature of the business and the nature of the organizations that give you once access to so many people and confidence to succeed.So, that’s the challenge aspect. But then there is the exciting part, the experience of progress; To look back where we were before and where we are and where we are headed. And that gives you an immeasurable sense of direction, energy, optimism, and inspires you to do more.Equally important is the ability to step back. If the focus is on day-to-day work, and when you get immersed in the details, the ability to constantly look at the big picture in the projects and evolving the capability may be missing. In summary, the two dimensions and YOU are the key factors. It takes only a second to lose yourself, lose inspiration, lose energy and motivation, and then it is a disaster.Thinking big is always the most important thing to do because it drives you to change the game. It also gives you that energy and that optimism that is necessary to face the challenges each day throws at you.Let’s talk about inspirations. What was the driving factor behind DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018?We realized that it was essential for us to communicate both internally and externally.As designers, we were into so many different products, brands, services, and experiences in the past few years. We have so many completely different and independent brands that many people are not even aware it’s all part of Pepsico. There was never one clear and consistent story about the multiple dimensions of efforts, all delivered by one team to generate so many different kinds of exciting experiences and stories through different product experiences. So, we decided to collect everything in a visual book.We didn’t want to spend too much time telling the story of each project or each brand. And we decided instead to tell specific stories about how we look at work, what we think of the role of design innovation and also provide a glimpse of how society is changing. How ‘design innovation’ can play an important role to create value for both the company and the community itself is a story we are highlighting.It’s always that combination between theory and practice that makes everything very powerful. So, the book talks about the vision of a team and the company with some theoretical pieces, and then mostly through actions, projects, and things that went to market. This is a book designed for our internal audience and for a variety of different people out there who are interested in learning more about our world. The book is about people interested in our story and eventually interested in even joining our journey.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018So at Pepsico, how do you harness the power of design to evoke an emotion and connect with people?To design something to create emotions is not particularly difficult for a talented designer, but to go massive with something that evokes an emotional response is difficult. That’s because every time you want to create an emotion, you are up against the inertia of the status quo; To evoke and evolve an emotion, we need the product to disrupt the inertia of the status quo. Your product and it’s design/other attributes create excitement in a person by initiating a form of change, emotion, or an unexpected new state within. So essentially, you are creating a surprise.In simple terms to beat the inertia and create an emotion, you need to polarize, and this could be risky because it could swing either way for the business. Achieving that perfect balance between all the different elements or that strategy that allows us to push the envelope more and more every time is the key to success here. It’s important to take risks and try out a few things, see the differences, and then push for more changes. And during the course of changes, you could augment the scope of execution from the portfolio to products to brands to the company level. This is always about trying to innovate, trying to create something on the roll. All of these create emotions, and that is how we can harness the power of design.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018I’m coming to my personal favorite question. In your opinion, what role does art play in elevating the value of branding in design?Art is a territory where creative people can experiment without too many boundaries in terms of manufacturability, not requiring having to please too many individuals, nor think about finding a specific price point that is reasonable for people.So essentially, art is a virgin territory to explore with creativity. That’s why art is an element of inspiration for all designers.In art, you can experiment without constraints and use it as inspiration. In product design, unlike art, there are constraints imposed by business and market factors.Also, in the world of art, the ability of the designer to be inspired by the art and understand how to capture the charming side, some learning, some cues that can be leveraged in the creative process is paramount. So art is always a beautiful form of inspiration for the design or any creation in general.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018How do you balance visual design and usability while developing a brand or during product design at PepsiCo?This is a very smart question because it’s the typical challenge for any designer. How do you find that delicate balance between emotion and rationality and also between functionality and engagement? The truth is if you dial too much of functionality at the cost of emotions or vice versa, you may fail. It is not easy, and it all starts with people talking to each other and generating insights that are actionable that can be used in the design process. Start developing a creation, make a prototype, go back to the audience, validate ideas, kill incongruous ideas, iterate, create a new prototype, and repeat until you find the magic balance between emotions and the rationality that defines the success of the product.Like everywhere, there is no success formula or recipe, and it depends on what you’re trying to design. I will give an example coming from my previous company, 3M, where we used to design products such as scotch tape dispensers and post-it dispensers. While creating new designs, a group wanted heavy dispenser that you could use with one hand, let’s call it one hand dispenser. Then you have the light dispensers of Scotch and post-its. These are dispensers you put in your drawers or even in your pocket. We developed different concepts for different kinds of audiences. One that was the shape of a shoe and another one was a little man that was climbing a desk.It was quickly ascertained that to have the weight for one hand dispenser in the kind of shape, as in the concepts, was almost impossible. So, we dialed down the functionality but dialed up the emotional part. The focus was on people here who were underserved in this category. So instead of focusing on the functionality, we drove the emotion aspect in this design. Instead of expensive or functionality of a dispenser, the focus was on the emotional connect with the people using the product. This is an example of how for certain consumers, you can dial up emotion and keep functionality a little bit down. As in other cases, balance is the key; here, between functionality and emotional connect.You were a big part of Pepsi’s transition to big, bold identity. Please share a few words about the transition and your experiences during that time.It was a complex project for a reason. Pepsi had different kinds of visual identities in different parts of the world. In many of those geographies, the brand was very successful and strong. So, there was no incentive or reason for these business units in Russia, the Middle East or China to redesign the identity of the brand or to move away from what we call the refreshment cues and to adopt a flat, high saturated, and bold blue identity.The need for a global visual identity was understood, but there was no margin for error, and the changes should not impact the business negatively. Consumers may be confused by the new identity, and they could miss our product due to the lack of refreshment cues. It was a mix of multiple disciplines coming together, design organization coming together with the ideas, communicating the right way with examples of other products from across the world. Then obviously the corporate business leaders embraced the idea and really helping us sponsor the game and push it through. It’s been a very successful project and has proved that the use of design can really add value to the organization.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018What would you say are the necessary skills and qualities that of utmost importance for a design team?First of all, a very holistic approach to design is not just an industry or graphic or interior design. You need the team, especially the leader and the leadership team to have a 360 approach to design and to be business savvy.Since the design is not just about designers, one needs to understand the business implications, be able to articulate the impacts of design or changes in a business language and most importantly has to have high Emotional Quotient (EQ). “Design is about our ability to bring with us our journeys, innovations, R&D, marketing, consumer insights and all the different functions that are connected to the innovation problems.”Elaborating more on this, we need to possess empathy for others within the organization and towards customers, partners to drive those ideas that seem polarizing at first glance. We need people that are very resilient, open to advanced thoughts, design principles, optimistic about outcomes and curious.Curiosity pushes you to read, to talk with people, to travel, to observe the world that surrounds us, with the eyes of a child, with that of a pure soul.Real inspiration is in exposing yourself to new things continuously, consciously and to look at things with a different perspective. All of these are really the key characteristics of a design organization and design individuals in general.Now looking towards the future, What does Innovation in design as a concept mean to you?Historically, the design was mostly focused on graphics, packaging, and products. In a few industries like fashion, consumer electronics, and apparel the traditional design created a competitive advantage and was very important for survival. Today design is much broader and is becoming a significant competitive advantage in many different kinds of industry.The evolution of product experiences has a peaked interest and has become relevant in two areas. In brand building and new innovation. Unquestionably, the design is the future and would play a very important role in marketing, R&D, in driving innovation as well as brand building, as a partner and as the core leader, not just as an enabler.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018What are the new and exciting projects happening at PepsiCo?The platform we’re really investing in is, is what we call the Itinerary iteration platform. Recently launched the equipment, with the possibility to customize your water, the level of sparkling or combination of flavors and the machine communicates with your phone, with an app so that you can customize your drink. When you are right close to the machine, the machine reads your phone with a QR code and you can immediately access your specific customized choices. That’s not all, you can do the same with your customized bottles.QR code on the bottle means the customer doesn’t even need to use the phone. The machine will recognize the bottle and will immediately know the customer preferences and makes the experience as seamless as possible. So that’s the first thing that we launched a few weeks ago in the US that focuses on hydration with a healthy solution and we are trying to be as sustainable as possible.In sustainability, we announced that we are moving all our ‘bubbly portfolio’ to non-plastic bottles. So essentially we removed the plastic bottle completely. We are moving to aluminum cans to explore the customer interest and if they embrace it, then we are going to do more and more of just that. All of this is expected to eliminate more than 8,000 metric tons of virgin plastic and approximately 11,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. This is the latest really ambitious milestones that our organization has on our sustainability journey.Image courtesy — DESIGN + INNOVATION BOOK 2012–2018You breathe and live design and it’s reflecting in your style statement. So can you please share your thoughts about your style pattern.Image courtesy — Mauro PorciniI love fashion! Fashion is a personal obsession and fashion for me is a way to define what I am and my brand, to create my own identity and to differentiate myself. And yes, to make a statement about my creativity, a little bit of my aura, one that I choose, is something that is very natural. And, these really, once again is part of my personal branding. I can tweak it and tune it and I do.There are other moments where I am more sophisticated. Essentially I always play with this idea that I need to wear things that communicate to the business community that I am part of the community and that I’m part of the business. So you will see most of the time with jackets.I want to radiate a certain calm by letting everyone know that I’m one of them but then at times I want to remind them that I am a creative person, so I’m different than them. I want to keep others’ inquisitive soul at rest and I don’t want them to search for another business person in me. Of course, there are other criteria, like being able to talk business and then as a creative person offer perspective and tweaking the message every time on the basis of the conversation.At the end of the day, all of us can become a brand. It’s called personal branding and the visual cues of your style are part of your personal brand.With more than 800 awards under your belt, would you please share your personal success mantra?Image courtesy — Mauro Porcini. In the past 6 years, his design team has won almost 800 Design and Innovation awards. Lately, the company has been recognized by Fortune in their 2018 Driven By Design list, one of only two organizations from the Food & Beverage industry.I would like to summarize this into a few factors such as:The first one is always trying to understand how to make others successful before yourself. It could be your own business, the business one works for, a business partner or your boss. If you enable others’ success then you are going to become indispensable to them. This, in turn, will make you successful in what you do. A big component of success is happiness, but happiness is much broader than that. For me, it is the consumer at the end of the day. Anybody that surrounds you should enable you to do the right thing for consumers. So that’s the mindset you should always have.Second, always think about how to disrupt and innovate. Always challenge everything from the inside out. Understanding the primary cause of a demand or a problem leads you on a path to innovation.And then the third one is what I mentioned earlier, CURIOSITY.Always, always, always remember to learn by curiosity. Never stop learning.I think if you’re able to do these three things, there is a hyper ability to be successful in what you do.Follow Mauro Porciniwww.design.pepsico.com / LinkedIn / Instagram / TwitterGive your 50 claps 👏🏻 if you find this interview informative & engaging.Abstracts — A curated perspectives section with seasoned artists from the fields of Design, Art, Motion Graphics & Advertisement. Hear from the experienced and creative, as they share their ‘art’ process and sources of inspiration.Other AbstractsAbstracts — An Interview with Chris DOAbstracts — An Interview with Drew BridewellAbstracts — An Interview with MikeAbstracts — An Interview with Jonathan CourtneyAbstracts — An Interview with Zhenya RynzhukAbstracts — An Interview with Fernando ParraAbstracts — An Interview with Sergey AndronovAbstracts — An Interview with Bryan TalkishAbstracts — An Interview with Lorenzo BocchiAbstracts — An Interview with Roshan KurichyanilStay tuned for more interviews!Melvin Thambi works as a Creative Director at RapidValue Solutions & Creative Consultant of Emm&Enn Art & Design Studio.Medium / LinkedIn / Behance / Dribbble / Instagram / Twitter / UnsplashAbstracts — An Interview with Mauro Porcini was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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A well-designed banner can be the gateway to capturing your audience's attention and conveying your message promptly. Whether it's on your website's homepage, a landing page, or an online advertisement, a good banner can make a lasting impression. Here are some valuable tips to help you create an impactful and engaging banner:

1. Define Your Objective: Begin by clarifying the purpose of your banner. Are you promoting a product, announcing a sale, or encouraging sign-ups? Understanding your goal will guide your design decisions and ensure that your banner delivers a focused message.

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3. High-Quality Imagery: Use high-resolution images that are relevant to your message. Visuals should complement your text and resonate with your target audience. Avoid pixelated or stretched images, as they can diminish the overall quality of your banner.

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6. Color Harmony: Opt for a color palette that aligns with your brand identity and evokes the desired emotional response. Use contrasting colors to make important elements, like your CTA button, stand out. However, don't overwhelm your banner with too many colors – stick to a harmonious combination.

7. Consistent Branding: Your banner is an extension of your brand. Incorporate your logo, brand colors, and typography to maintain consistency across all your visual assets. This helps in building brand recognition and trust.

8. Strategic Placement: Position your banner where it will receive the most visibility. Above the fold on your website's homepage or at the top of a landing page are common locations. Ensure that the banner's placement doesn't interfere with the overall user experience.

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