Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

It’s no secret that designers have their special “go-to” places for inspiration and I was recently asked me what mine are.

When looking for inspiration with typography and design, these are the websites that I highly recommend bookmarking. It’s good stuff, really it is....

The psychology of colour is a fascinating subject. Different colours and shades can have drastic impacts on what we can do and how we feel. Studies have shown, for example, that weightlifters in blue rooms can handle more weight and that eaters in restaurants with red, orange and yellow colour schemes eat more food faster (which is why almost all fast food joints have those colours inside). Pastel greens and blues are calming, and white looks clean and sterile.

Colours have these impacts on us for a variety of reasons, be they cultural, environmental or based on our past experiences, and many people are taking advantage of the associations we have with colours. Website owners and internet marketers in particular are turning to this fascinating subject to see just how the psychology of colour affects how users respond to call to action buttons. Below is what these owners are learning and how you can apply the lessons to your own site....

The first careful study of the popular new style suggests they don't. Some even find it disorienting.

You may not know the term "parallax scrolling," but you've probably seen it in action. In the past couple years, parallax has become perhaps the most popular site design tool out there, embraced by commercial products and (largely thanks to "Snow Fall" from the New York Times) mainstream media alike. The effect occurs when various page elements move at different speeds, creating a sense of animation and a heightened interactive experience (examples below). It's a step away from pragmatism and functionality toward novelty and visual appeal.

Whether that step takes web design in the right or wrong direction has become a topic of considerable debate. The parallax style has excited web developers and inspired any number of hype lists. It's also triggered a backlash among critics who feel its bells-and-whistles approach detracts from actual content. Pitchfork creative director Michael Renaud recently told the Atlantic Wire he expects people to "tire" of the trend within a year or two....

If you’re a practicing web designer, then you have a few favorite tools for website creation.

What are they, when and why do you use them, and do they stand the test of time? Have a look at what else is out there. Get inspired and potentially discover essential means to build websites for your clients this year.

Check the list below with 15 hand-picked platforms and tools for creatives in our profession. Most of them found their place here because they’re proven to be helpful, and easy to use. In 2015, we’re definitely looking at more streamlined ways to complete client projects....

It doesn’t matter how many years of experience you have of a programming language, framework or CMS, you will always need to, from time to time, refer to the official documentation or, and more than likely, a handy quick reference cheatsheet, as it’s literally impossible to remember and know absolutely everything.

In this post I have collected an avalanche of useful cheatsheets, references, guides, checklists and docs, covering almost all aspects of web design, that will not only help to improve your productivity, but will also help to solve some of those frustrating programming issues that often arise (I’m looking at you PHP!).Just click on the ‘view’ button beside each resource and either save the PDF or bookmark the page....

A huge list of tools, apps, icons, and backgrounds for creating amazing, professional images for social media and marketing....

The media website you keep seeing again -- and again, and again...

Responsive design is still a new concept that is changing as designers and developers figure new ways to marry form and multi-function. Dan Mall, founder of web design firm SuperFriendly, noted that while responsive design is only about four years old, many of the programs being used to build new site are much olderz.“

I think there are really great tools that are coming out, but I think that we as an industry are still wrapping our heads around what it means to design for different context,” Mall said. “I think as the tools become more intuitive and the process becomes more intuitive, it will free us up to start thinking about these things in different ways.”

The designers that Mashable spoke with pointed to a variety of sites as examples of forward-thinking responsive websites, including blog publishing platform Medium, gaming site Polygon and digital magazine The Great Discontent....

Minimalist web designs, when properly done, are always a great source of inspiration. It is very interesting to see how designers approach the task of delivering a project in a simple way. Keeping only important elements in the layout and getting rid of things that are not essential. And remember that you can still use colors in a minimalist website, so don’t worry about having to stick to neutral colors. Check out the examples we have here and give a shot to the minimalist approach in your next project....

If you sit down with any experienced graphic designer, they’ll happily talk to you for hours about the importance of typography. It’s everywhere you look, from huge billboard ads to the front of your favorite t-shirt. Type can reflect many emotions, but most of us rarely notice its profound impact.

Notegraphy is an iOS and Web app that wants everyone, regardless of their experience in Adobe Illustrator, to have fun with typography and create vibrant, sophisticated examples that can then be shared with their friends online. Just as Instagram made photo-editing dead simple and accessible, Notegraphy wants to do the same with type....