Something about that “outline” function is so enticing to amateur designers. Sometimes type is on a busy background, the colors don’t contrast enough, or they just think it looks cool to outline type. But this can be a big mistake! Poorly-considered outlines are a dead giveaway of design n00bism. The main problem is, many software […]

Small caps can be a useful tool for that extra bit of typographic expression, but if you don’t use them right, your plan will backfire. You’ll make your typography look sloppy, and unprofessional. “Fake” small caps can be seen everywhere these days. Many desktop publishing programs have “small caps” buttons that simply scale the capital […]

It’s 3 in the morning, and you’re putting the final touches on your layout. It looks clean, with everything in its place – lined up on the grid. You squint from afar. “The edges of these type blocks look uneven,” you say to yourself. You hop into Sublime, and type text-align: justify.

I wrote Design for Hackers to teach hackers about design. But that wasn’t the hokey pokey of it. That wasn’t what it was “all about.”

One of the most often overlooked factors of design – by beginning and even professional designers – is that of the delicate use of white space. By really considering the way that white space works, you can communicate more elegantly, and create design that has a more “clean” look. By really considering the way white […]

Everyone loves to hate Comic Sans. The child-like handwriting font is so infamous, there is a movement to try to ban it. Mention its name to the common layman (aside from a preschool teacher), and you will likely get a chuckle, mention it to a trained designer, and you’ll get a look of disgust. In […]

Monet’s paintings evoke a sense of energy and life, they leap off the canvas with color and contrast, but Monet somehow managed to avoid using the color black for nearly his entire painting career. By avoiding black in your own designs, you can replicate some of this dynamism.

Amongst designers – especially print designers – Garamond is considered one of the best fonts in existence. It’s timeless, and very readable. But, because of the limitations of current display technologies, it’s not a good font to use in web copy – even with the advent of font embedding methodologies such as TypeKit and Google Font […]