The Daily Routines of Creative People

Have you ever wondered how the most creative people fill their days? Well, now you don’t have you! Podio, a project management software, created an interactive grid covering the daily rituals of the world’s most famous artists, musicians, and authors. From morning until night, this visual depicts the research from Mason Currey’s ‘Daily Rituals’ book, published in 2013. If you’re curious whether Voltaire had dinner with his family, and how late Pablo Picasso slept in, dive into this graph and enjoy a peak into their lives.

Let’s see their schedules! 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from https://podio.com/site/creative-routines. 

Witty Typography Puns Series

I’m sure you can tell from my writing that I love a good pun. I also love a bad pun. Either way, I definitely have a soft spot for design puns. Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered the adorable series of typography jokes, designed by Caisa Nilaseca for DesignTAXI. These little cards are perfect to share with coworkers, family members, and fellow designites. If you need a big smile or a tiny giggle, check them out today! Yes, I’m font of design puns! 

Image Source: Caisa Nilaseca for DESIGNTAXI.com. 

Brand New Corporate Identity Work

Recently, while browsing the web for logo inspiration, I stumbled upon Brand New, an online archive displaying and offering opinions on corporate and brand identity work. Written and edited by Armin Vit, co-founder of the graphic design firm UnderConsideration, Brand New covers redesigns of various products and organizations across the world. You can explore by industry, tag, project type, and editorial category. Personally, I find these projects fascinating; seeing how brands change the identity of their business through the years. If you’re in the process of a brand update or refresh, you will definitely find inspiration here! Go ahead, make my day!

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from Underconsideration.com/brandnew/.

Fonts in Use Archive

Are you the type that’s into type? Are you a serif sheriff? Well then, I have just the website for you! Fonts in Use – an independent archive of typography, searchable by topic, format, or typeface. Browsing their website, you can see fonts used in finance and sports, printed in newspapers, and splashed across the web. I love seeing all the unique uses of my favorite fonts in different industries all around the world. Set aside some time to explore this archive today, I promise you’ll have a Helvetica good time! Take me to the Futura! 

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from Fontsinuse.com.

What Kind of Designer Are You? Online Quiz

Designers across disciplines are different – from colorful to creative, modern to minimalist, there’s a different type everywhere you look. Have you ever wondered what kind you are? Well, now you don’t have to wonder. You can know for certain! Enter the quick and quirky ‘What Kind of Designer Are You’ online quiz. There are just a few questions, but you will have endless fun with this tool. Take it yourself, share it with your friend, and compare your answers to your team members. I hope you’re the kind of designer who will take this quiz! Yes, I want to take it now! 

 

Image Credit: Personal screenshot from https://www.whatkindofdesigner.com 

Color Palette Generator

Are you working on a project and find yourself stuck on choosing a color scheme? Have no fear! The Color Palette Generator is here! Hosted by the Learn UI Website, this handy tool will give you an entire inspiring palette to work with, in addition to a single hue or divergent color. Users can choose from a white or dark background, giving you the ultimate experience in choosing a custom color array with the backdrop you love most. I loved playing around with this tool, try it out for yourself! Everyone will be green, or should I say #54B948, with envy!

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from https://learnui.design/tools/data-color-picker.html. 

Laws of UX Website

As designers, there are many best practices we consider every day. Using various methods and maxims, we are able to create in the most efficient way possible for our users. Perhaps the most important of these are the laws of UX. Although informal, the laws of UX typically include popular principles such as the Law of Proximity, Occam’s Razor, Hick’s Law, etc. Just recently I discovered a beautiful website that allows readers to interact with visualizations and descriptions of 19 of these principles, in addition to downloading posters, and exploring more research on each subject. Looking to dive deep into UX laws? Surf the website now: https://lawsofux.com/.

 

Image Source: Screenshot from https://lawsofux.com/. 

Tinkersynth Generative Art Machine

While we all love having art in our homes, art that we make ourselves is all the more special. There is something uniquely wonderful about creating something we can display and share with others. Now, this can be done with water-color, acrylics, and the like. But it can also be done digitally – with software! Tinkersynth, a self-proclaimed “experimental art store” hosts a website application allowing users to “tinker” with values such as noise, shape, and height, to create fascinating slope designs. I love playing around with this tool and seeing all the variations I can come up with by turning knobs up and down. Best of all? You can download or purchase your designs as prints! Time for you to be tinker! Try it out today at https://tinkersynth.com/slopes.

 

Image Source: Screenshot of https://tinkersynth.com/slopes.

Humaaans Illustration Library

Mix-&-match illustrations of people with a design library. Create your own remix.
Change the hairdos, tops, and pants.

Design the humaaan body. Rotate and position the elements in your humaaans however you like. They’re like legos made out of flesh… and vectors. Bring in background elements for ambiance.

Discover more here.

Flare Real Time Animation

Bring Your Apps and Games to Life with Real-time Animation.

The primary goal of Flare is to allow designers to work directly with assets that run in their final product, eliminating the need to redo that work in code.

Public facing design files are great for inspiration.

Learn more here.

 

 

Pantone Color Finder

Feeling blue? Green with envy? Whatever color you’re in, Pantone Color Finder has a hue for you. Pantone, the global color experts, offer hundreds of shades and formats whether you’re a Fashion Designer, Interior Designer, or Product Designer. From gentle Marsala browns to sweet Rose Quartz pinks, these colors will enliven creativity, innovation, and inspiration. Choose from a variety of undertones and a beautiful rainbow of shades will be displayed. Select a color, and the RBG, HEX/HTML, CMYK, and Pantone values will show; it is a bewitching world of color to explore and enjoy. I promise you this awesome tool isn’t just a pigment of your imagination – discover it here.

BLOKK Font

Have you ever had clients or coworkers confused when they start reading the “Lorem ipsum” text in your mockups? Sometimes people misunderstand the use of this language in early designs. Well, there may be a solution to that! Recently, I discovered BLOKK Font. This font, which uses blocks of varying lengths to simulate words, adds visual appeal and communicates text placement exceptionally well. It does all this without distracting people with Latin gibberish! Say “Vale!” to Lorem ipsum and  try out BLOKK Font today! 

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from blokkfont.com 

Sharpen Design Generator

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a creative rut? Have no fear! Sharpen is an online design challenge generator offering millions of prompts for you to explore and enjoy. This tool, created by the team at Vault Labs, is a quirky way to get your creative juices flowing and freshen up your problem-solving skills. With branding, marketing, and product categories, there’s bound to be something for everyone. Feeling like a dull designer? Sharpen up today!

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from sharpen.design

Muzli Browser Extension

If you’re like me, you enjoy starting the day with a fresh dose of design inspiration. Say hello to Muzli! Created by the designers at InVision, Muzli is a website featuring daily stories about the latest and greatest in design and technology; sourced from all the web’s best content hubs. From colorful illustrations to inspiring photography, there’s something for the creative in all of us. To ensure you don’t miss anything, download the browser extension today!

 

Image Source: Muz.li

Google’s Smart Compose Feature

Wow, Google’s Smart Compose Feature (while creepy) is super useful to complete emails faster. To use the suggest text (showed here greyed out) just click the tab button, and it fills in. Truely amazing.

Here is some description from “The Verge” regarding the feature:

Google unveiled Gmail’s new Smart Compose feature at its annual developer conference this week, and it’s now available to try out as an “experimental feature” on desktop. Smart Compose builds off the idea of Smart Reply, predicting what you’ll write next as you type in the body of an email.

To turn on Smart Compose, make sure you’re using the new Gmail, then click on the Settings tab in the top right corner. Within this panel, click the box next to “enable experimental access,” and then save your changes at the bottom. Once turned on, you should see a prompt the next time you begin a new email that tells you about Smart Compose and prompts you to press the tab key whenever you see a prediction you’d like to accept.

Check it out.

Gallery Product Tags in Houzz

If you’ve ever remodeled part of your home, you’re probably familiar with Houzz’s inspirational library of interior design photos. Most of the work is posted by professional architects and interior designers, but for DIYers or other designers, Houzz’s product tag feature is very helpful. Simply tap or mouse over one of the floating product tags, and you’ll be linked directly to product information. This direct connection between inspirational browsing, and purchasing is a good example of offering value while boosting sales.

Check it out.

Flow Charts from Cogle

Coggle is an online tool used to create Mind Maps. Their gallery offers inspiration and strategies to capture large collections of information. Creators of these Mind Maps have given permission to have them made public.

Check it out.

ShutterStock’s Similar Images Feature

One of the more helpful features on stock photo sites is the “Similar Images” feature, which suggests related images based on pre-defined parameters. ShutterStock does a particularly good job with this feature, matching not only content but also style. I frequently find myself browsing for a particular type of subject matter, but rely on “Similar Images” to refine the viewpoint, model stance, lighting etc. This is super helpful when working on design projects that touch multiple deliverables where you may want various angles of the same model.

Check it out.

Realtime Board Mind Maps

RealTime Board is a great way to collaborate with team members remotely with a shared work environment. Create workflows, idea maps, navigation structures or mind maps easily and quickly. You don’t have to be a designer to have your mind map look amazing. And, with one central location, team members will always have the latest version.

Check it out.