Born in Pakistan, Anila Qayyum Agha gets a big part of her inspiration from the traditional art of her country.
She is now based in Indianapolis, USA, where she teaches art and creates powerful installations. Her light-based installations look stunning, thanks to Islamic-style cuttings that are projected with the light against the walls, which gives a new perspective on the patterns.
Born in Pakistan, Anila Qayyum Agha gets a big part of her inspiration from the traditional art of her country.
She is now based in Indianapolis, USA, where she teaches art and creates powerful installations. Her light-based installations look stunning, thanks to Islamic-style cuttings that are projected with the light against the walls, which gives a new perspective on the patterns.
Born in Pakistan, Anila Qayyum Agha gets a big part of her inspiration from the traditional art of her country.
She is now based in Indianapolis, USA, where she teaches art and creates powerful installations. Her light-based installations look stunning, thanks to Islamic-style cuttings that are projected with the light against the walls, which gives a new perspective on the patterns.
Every week, we’ll give you an overview of the best deals for designers, make sure you don’t miss any by subscribing to our deals feed. You can also follow the recently launched website Type Deals if you are looking for free fonts or font deals.
Get a Ready-Made Photography Website
Are you looking for some new ideas to help you improve your photography online-presence? A professionally-looking portfolio is one of the best ways to attract more people to your works. From now on, you do not need to do a tap of work. Thanks to a great photography offer, you online-project will be ready in six days just for $199. You will be provided with:
template installation and color scheme change;
all the necessary plugins;
domain name;
one-year professional hosting;
portfolio page with 15 projects;
services page (in order to highlight your prices).
Remember that you need to share all the details of your future online-portfolio, including pictures, videos, texts, and other elements. Make your business stand out from the crowd here and now.
This Mega Graphics Bundle is made up of 12 amazing collections that include everything from textures to backgrounds to funny animals. With more than 2,350 graphic elements, you’ll be set for whatever project you’re working on whether it be packaging, T-shirts or prints. And with the extended license, feel free to make as many as you’d like for personal or commercial use.
Grold is a post-geometric typeface consisting of 40 different fonts across 10 weights with both normal and slim options. This unique and modern sans typeface, is well suited for a variety of typographic applications such as headlines and small texts, and even supports multiple languages.
Golden Theme Social Media Pack for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
Golden is an elegant and stylish media pack that’s perfect for promoting your business, blog, sales or events on the four main social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Fully customizable, each network has a separate set of 28 templates full of beautiful images and designs, as well as a golden texture. From fashion bloggers to beauticians, this collection is great for both personal and commercial use.
Bank is a modern, all caps display font. Specifically developed for contemporary design styles and applications, it is supplied in two styles: lined and sectioned. These styles have been carefully designed to layer on top of each other, creating an alternate third style. This can be further expanded by duplicating the sectioned style and moving/offsetting it, creating a look reminiscent of offset printing or 3d anaglyphs. This feature allows you to set different colors, opacity and blending mode settings, providing a huge range of possible outcomes.
Every week, we’ll give you an overview of the best deals for designers, make sure you don’t miss any by subscribing to our deals feed. You can also follow the recently launched website Type Deals if you are looking for free fonts or font deals.
Get a Ready-Made Photography Website
Are you looking for some new ideas to help you improve your photography online-presence? A professionally-looking portfolio is one of the best ways to attract more people to your works. From now on, you do not need to do a tap of work. Thanks to a great photography offer, you online-project will be ready in six days just for $199. You will be provided with:
template installation and color scheme change;
all the necessary plugins;
domain name;
one-year professional hosting;
portfolio page with 15 projects;
services page (in order to highlight your prices).
Remember that you need to share all the details of your future online-portfolio, including pictures, videos, texts, and other elements. Make your business stand out from the crowd here and now.
This Mega Graphics Bundle is made up of 12 amazing collections that include everything from textures to backgrounds to funny animals. With more than 2,350 graphic elements, you’ll be set for whatever project you’re working on whether it be packaging, T-shirts or prints. And with the extended license, feel free to make as many as you’d like for personal or commercial use.
Grold is a post-geometric typeface consisting of 40 different fonts across 10 weights with both normal and slim options. This unique and modern sans typeface, is well suited for a variety of typographic applications such as headlines and small texts, and even supports multiple languages.
Golden Theme Social Media Pack for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
Golden is an elegant and stylish media pack that’s perfect for promoting your business, blog, sales or events on the four main social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Fully customizable, each network has a separate set of 28 templates full of beautiful images and designs, as well as a golden texture. From fashion bloggers to beauticians, this collection is great for both personal and commercial use.
Bank is a modern, all caps display font. Specifically developed for contemporary design styles and applications, it is supplied in two styles: lined and sectioned. These styles have been carefully designed to layer on top of each other, creating an alternate third style. This can be further expanded by duplicating the sectioned style and moving/offsetting it, creating a look reminiscent of offset printing or 3d anaglyphs. This feature allows you to set different colors, opacity and blending mode settings, providing a huge range of possible outcomes.
Every week, we’ll give you an overview of the best deals for designers, make sure you don’t miss any by subscribing to our deals feed. You can also follow the recently launched website Type Deals if you are looking for free fonts or font deals.
Get a Ready-Made Photography Website
Are you looking for some new ideas to help you improve your photography online-presence? A professionally-looking portfolio is one of the best ways to attract more people to your works. From now on, you do not need to do a tap of work. Thanks to a great photography offer, you online-project will be ready in six days just for $199. You will be provided with:
template installation and color scheme change;
all the necessary plugins;
domain name;
one-year professional hosting;
portfolio page with 15 projects;
services page (in order to highlight your prices).
Remember that you need to share all the details of your future online-portfolio, including pictures, videos, texts, and other elements. Make your business stand out from the crowd here and now.
This Mega Graphics Bundle is made up of 12 amazing collections that include everything from textures to backgrounds to funny animals. With more than 2,350 graphic elements, you’ll be set for whatever project you’re working on whether it be packaging, T-shirts or prints. And with the extended license, feel free to make as many as you’d like for personal or commercial use.
Grold is a post-geometric typeface consisting of 40 different fonts across 10 weights with both normal and slim options. This unique and modern sans typeface, is well suited for a variety of typographic applications such as headlines and small texts, and even supports multiple languages.
Golden Theme Social Media Pack for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
Golden is an elegant and stylish media pack that’s perfect for promoting your business, blog, sales or events on the four main social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Fully customizable, each network has a separate set of 28 templates full of beautiful images and designs, as well as a golden texture. From fashion bloggers to beauticians, this collection is great for both personal and commercial use.
Bank is a modern, all caps display font. Specifically developed for contemporary design styles and applications, it is supplied in two styles: lined and sectioned. These styles have been carefully designed to layer on top of each other, creating an alternate third style. This can be further expanded by duplicating the sectioned style and moving/offsetting it, creating a look reminiscent of offset printing or 3d anaglyphs. This feature allows you to set different colors, opacity and blending mode settings, providing a huge range of possible outcomes.
No one, unless they frequent the dark web,
wants their website to go undiscovered. You or your business has created a
website in order for people to come visit it and keep visiting it.
It would be great if your website was
instantly at the top of every search engine’s list, standing on top of internet
mountain while casting an eye down on those who withered away at the bottom.
Alas, it is never as simple as snapping your
fingers but there are plenty of ways you can ensure your website is a frequent
stop for visitors and potential customers.
Fast-Loading
With all new technological advancements comes
a whole new load of annoyances. Your mobile phone freezing up, websites
crashing, poor WIFI connections and one of the worst of all, slow loading
times.
You eventually may need to call in a technical expert to fix the problem, but there are a few things you could do yourself. Remove big images and files off of the front pages, take out any javascript dead ends and use the PageSpeed Insight tool from Google.
Optimizing your page is a surefire way to make
sure people are coming and staying around.
Consistent Content
Make sure you’re adding content on a
consistent basis for viewers and potential customers. The content doesn’t
always have to be a blog post, but it can be new images, articles, multimedia
and social media updates.
The biggest reason for regularly publishing
content is making sure your website looks up-to-date. No one is going to visit
an old website in search for information. Even though it’s all digital,
websites can look abandoned.
Picture Perfect
If you have images on your website, use modern
and engaging images. If you’re obtaining your images from a third-party, make
sure they are reputable and of high quality.
Make sure you’re adding the right alt-text and
meta descriptions to boost visibility. Not just that, but high quality images
make your website easier to read and more pleasurable for the reader.
For Our Mobile Friends
Did you know that the majority of website visits come from those on
mobile devices? It’s been a steady increase over the past few years and
essentially a guarantee to continue.
Making sure your website is mobile friendly is
a way to increase your website’s visibility and make sure you have continuous
visitors. Using a platform like WordPress is an easy way to make your website
mobile and desktop friendly. You’ll want to run plenty of tests on the mobile
site to make sure everything is loading the same and users are receiving the
same content.
Not Too Many Keywords
Keywords are key (pun completely intended) for
boosting traffic to your website. What you don’t want to do is try too hard to put your keywords into your
content and website.
Pushing them too hard is like trying too hard
to be funny. Of course you want to use keywords, but don’t go too crazy. Use
other relevant words, which you can find using Google’s Latent Semantic
Indexing (LSI) to see similar words that can be plugged in. You’ll have variety
while also boosting visibility.
Social Media
So obvious it shouldn’t be mentioned, but a
very important method that should be put into practice immediately. Using
social media is a great and free way to improve your website’s visibility.
By adding regular updates to your social media
pages, you’ll start to drive traffic to your website where people can check out
your services or browse your projects. It’s also a great way to interact with
customers and respond to inquiries easily.
An Audit
While an audit can send a shiver down the
spine of even the bravest men, performing an SEO audit on your website can be
beneficial for your site. It will review your site’s performance and highlight
any areas of needed improvement.
It will help you do a lot of things like
examining any broken links, see how search friendly it is and optimize your
menu structures. You can either find a tool, do the audit yourself or hire an
outside SEO expert to come to the audit for you.
Keeping it Simple
One easy ways to increase your site’s
visibility is by keeping your website’s domain name and meta
description easy to read and understand.
Your domain name and description are the first
pieces of “advertising” any users will see and by stating your objectives
clearly is an easy way to have people come to your website. Remember, first
impressions matter, even in the digital world!
Do Some Research
Whatever your business is, there are probably
plenty of others like it. Unless you have something incredibly unique like
“Animal Jackson Pollock Painting Classes”, there are bound to be others like
you.
Check out what your competitors or similar
businesses are saying in their descriptions and keywords. Find the patterns and
similarities to try and focus on what they’ve done. There’s no crime in borrowing
a bit of strategy here to help your website out.
An idea to help you focus, try to think of
where or to whom you’re trying to promote your product. If you’re going local,
see what these websites are mentioning to be at the top of the local results.
The Long Game
Even if you take all the tips you find on the
internet and implement them perfectly, it’s still going to be awhile before you
start seeing your website at the top. SEO is a long game and you won’t be
seeing big changes over night.
Also be aware that Google and other search
engines make changes to their algorithms from time to time. So what was
relative and vital six months ago may be out of date today. When you’re looking
for tips, make sure it’s a page that was updated recently.
So don’t be frustrated, stay up to date and
keep your eyes on the long-term goal. SEO is a perfect example where practice
makes perfect and with constant practice you will start to reap the benefits of
your rewards.
Web design changes rapidly year on year. After all, many design elements are only added after the route and wireframe of a site has been built, so adjusting things like typography and images is technically a relatively easy process. That doesn’t diminish its importance however, as the visual aesthetic of any website is what will always get noticed first. Having a strong, unified brand look has never been more important; with so many fish in the sea, standing out is necessary if you want to be noticed.
The serif is back in town
One major shift in the last year has been away from sans-serif fonts. The ubiquitous Helvetica-inspired typography which seemed in use on every major site has suffered from oversaturation, and now many more classic serif fonts are popping up. Indeed, many websites are making their choice of font front and center of their design philosophy, and quirky takes on traditional serif favorites are growing in popularity.
Colour blocks and monochrome
Another trend growing in popularity is the increase in monochrome images, offset by colored blocks. It gives the impression of a serious and nuanced approach to imagery and provides an easy way to maintain a consistent visual brand without too much effort. It allows any blocks of color to stand out more as well, giving the option to highlight particular sections which would otherwise be lost in a riot of color.
Flexible design
The ever-increasing use of mobile devices and tablets has been driving a radical change in web design philosophy for several years now, and that shows no signs of abating. While it first manifested as a necessity to have all elements of a site able to switch readily between portrait and landscape, touchscreen and monitor, more recent changes have incorporated elements that will work easily on any sort of device. This has meant a trend towards simple, bold elements in a design, which are both eye-catching when viewed on a large screen, and easy to navigate when held in the hand. Designers are now looking towards more asymmetric designs, breaking from the traditional grid-based approach to have more organically laid-out elements. It’s a careful balancing act, but when designers get it right it’s both spectacular and intuitive.
New media
An increase in the use of other forms of media, from micro-animations to video, has also become the norm. This is down in part to the increased bandwidth allowances that many mobile devices now have; and with the forthcoming introduction of 5G networking, and the vast upgrade in data that will allow, having media-rich design elements will become more and more common. Embedded video, interactive forms, chatbots, and even sound will all become commonplace as users are able to send and receive more data, more quickly. More powerful devices and browsers will also mean more interactivity with sites, from animated navigation to built-in applications.
Maximum minimalism. Finding a way to combine all these elements without overcrowding the screen is a challenge for any designer, and some designers are now reacting to that by hugely reducing the elements they wish to display. Minimalism will always have a certain chic, and that’s definitely a current trend, with many sites displaying copious white space and minimal content; a brave decision in many ways, necessitating trust that the content you display will keep your users interested. Certainly, the year ahead provides exciting and difficult challenges for designers and web development agencies alike to integrate new technologies and an ever more competitive fight for a share of the audience.
Web design changes rapidly year on year. After all, many design elements are only added after the route and wireframe of a site has been built, so adjusting things like typography and images is technically a relatively easy process. That doesn’t diminish its importance however, as the visual aesthetic of any website is what will always get noticed first. Having a strong, unified brand look has never been more important; with so many fish in the sea, standing out is necessary if you want to be noticed.
The serif is back in town
One major shift in the last year has been away from sans-serif fonts. The ubiquitous Helvetica-inspired typography which seemed in use on every major site has suffered from oversaturation, and now many more classic serif fonts are popping up. Indeed, many websites are making their choice of font front and center of their design philosophy, and quirky takes on traditional serif favorites are growing in popularity.
Colour blocks and monochrome
Another trend growing in popularity is the increase in monochrome images, offset by colored blocks. It gives the impression of a serious and nuanced approach to imagery and provides an easy way to maintain a consistent visual brand without too much effort. It allows any blocks of color to stand out more as well, giving the option to highlight particular sections which would otherwise be lost in a riot of color.
Flexible design
The ever-increasing use of mobile devices and tablets has been driving a radical change in web design philosophy for several years now, and that shows no signs of abating. While it first manifested as a necessity to have all elements of a site able to switch readily between portrait and landscape, touchscreen and monitor, more recent changes have incorporated elements that will work easily on any sort of device. This has meant a trend towards simple, bold elements in a design, which are both eye-catching when viewed on a large screen, and easy to navigate when held in the hand. Designers are now looking towards more asymmetric designs, breaking from the traditional grid-based approach to have more organically laid-out elements. It’s a careful balancing act, but when designers get it right it’s both spectacular and intuitive.
New media
An increase in the use of other forms of media, from micro-animations to video, has also become the norm. This is down in part to the increased bandwidth allowances that many mobile devices now have; and with the forthcoming introduction of 5G networking, and the vast upgrade in data that will allow, having media-rich design elements will become more and more common. Embedded video, interactive forms, chatbots, and even sound will all become commonplace as users are able to send and receive more data, more quickly. More powerful devices and browsers will also mean more interactivity with sites, from animated navigation to built-in applications.
Maximum minimalism. Finding a way to combine all these elements without overcrowding the screen is a challenge for any designer, and some designers are now reacting to that by hugely reducing the elements they wish to display. Minimalism will always have a certain chic, and that’s definitely a current trend, with many sites displaying copious white space and minimal content; a brave decision in many ways, necessitating trust that the content you display will keep your users interested. Certainly, the year ahead provides exciting and difficult challenges for designers and web development agencies alike to integrate new technologies and an ever more competitive fight for a share of the audience.
For quick logo and graphics creation, there is little chance that you will find a better logo design tool than Placeit. Obviously, if you are a branding expert who designed logos all his life, you may be reluctant to work fast and not control every aspect of the logo creation.
However, you should keep an open mind and accept that a long process is not needed for a logo that is just created for a web design mockup or for a small company that doesn’t have a large branding budget. I have redirected several prospects to Placeit already and they have been delighted with the corporate identities they could create for themselves.
Logo creation made simpler
Placeit’s logo maker has the shortest learning curve there could be. It is so simple that you don’t even need to learn anything before you use it.
On the web app’s landing page, you will be presented with a minimalist interface that just includes a text field for you to insert your brand’s name to get started.
Once you did this, you will get the chance to pick your brand’s industry in order to get logo templates proposals. You can do the first customization by changing the industry for more accurate templates, change colors, or choose a symbol already.
Once you select one of these logos to customize it further, you will have the chance to modify every part of the logo using the logo creator. Every color, font, or size can be changed.
Also, if you don’t have a brand name but already want to find a template for the look-and-feel of your future logo, you can check a selection of templates.
Finally an easy-to-use video intro making tool
Another useful tool for creative people, freelancers, and entrepreneurs is the ability offered by Placeit to create powerful video intros for your videos.
If you use the Internet more than once a month, you already noticed that the video format has exploded as a way to communicate for brands. While publishing online has become fairly easy, designing decent videos is much harder.
Placeit’s video maker is impressive for its user-friendliness. It’s also powerful, and features, among other things, the possibility to create Instagram Stories videos, slideshow videos, video intros, or product demos.
The slideshow maker is worth a mention, as it can be used to promote any product or service and make it more appealing. Let’s say that you are a freelance designer and that you want to interactively display your services or lastest work on your homepage. In this case, creating a slideshow with attractive effects will be the perfect solution.
However, my favorite feature is probably the intro maker, which allows you to create powerful intros for your videos in a matter of minutes. When you think of how hard it was to do this with traditional video editing software, it’s almost a life-saving feature.
Banners should not take long to create
With the banner creator, you can build an attractive image in a ridiculous time. By banners, it doesn’t mean just the old school online advertisements, but all kinds of banners that you will use on your website or on social media.
With Placeit, you can create banners for Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest very quickly. The images created will look very professional, no matter if you are designing for Youtube thumbnails or flash sales promotional creatives.
