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Using the Chrome Inspector to View CSS Animations

by Eric Baldoni
Recently google added a nice new feature to the Chrome Inspector. If you’re not familiar with the inspector it is an indispensable tool for web development included with the Chrome browser (all browsers have one form or another of it). With the Chrome Inspector we now have the ability to inspect CSS animations. This can...
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Why Design Mentorship Matters

by Rachel Anderson
Recently I’ve been reading a book about the life of Leonardo Da Vinci. And while I am impressed with his fascinating character and personality, what has resonated with me the most are the incredible opportunities and mentorship he received. This got me thinking about how powerful mentorship truly is. But, why? Because mentorship feeds the...
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CSS Filters for Quick Effects without Image Manipulation

by Eric Baldoni
CSS filters offer a variety of simple effects you can add to an image, saving you the work of having to manipulate the actual graphic files. We can easily apply filters to an image using the following available properties. Here is what the syntax for some pre defined functions looks like. filter: blur(10px); filter: brightness(0.6);...
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Diving into WordPress Taxonomy

by Eric Baldoni
WordPress offers a few ways for you to organize your content using built in taxonomies. One common question we get is “Should we use tags or categories to make our posts easy to find”. To answer this it’s probably best to get a brief understanding of the history of WordPress taxonomies. Initially WordPress only offered...
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A Summary of the Design Leadership Summit

by Rachel Anderson
Last month I had an incredible opportunity to attend the Design Leadership Summit in Toronto. After a quick flight out of Newark, I landed in Canada and spent the next few days exploring the beautiful city and enjoying an excellent conference. The Design Leadership Summit was hosted by the Toronto chapter of the DesignX Community....
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Gamification in Design

by Rachel Anderson
Today, the gaming industry in the United States and across the world is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are conferences, competitions, and communities everywhere you look. From Mario Kart to Fortnite, the global interest in games is obvious and intriguing. Given the stunning success of this hobby, how can other industries model the same? How...
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What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

by Rachel Anderson
I love learning. Whether it’s online classes, podcasts, or documentaries – I simply cannot resist an opportunity to increase my knowledge and open my mind. This year I have dedicated significant time and energy to learning from an eclectic array of sources; it has undoubtedly benefited me. I can attest to the inspiration, information, and...
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Introduction to Web Animation: Part One – CSS

by Eric Baldoni
CSS animation is a good way to quickly animate your web pages and add some nice visual interest. Here in part one of our animation series we will show you a very simple animation using only CSS that will give you a few of the basic concepts to hopefully get you inspired to learn more....
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Don’t Reinvent the Can Opener

by Rachel Anderson
The other day I had a funny experience – I was at a friend’s house and couldn’t figure out how to use their can opener. Yup, you read that right – can opener. It was a beautiful, minimalist design with sleek, modern curves and smooth edges. However, I couldn’t figure out how the Helvetica it...
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Visual Regression Testing: Automate UI QA

by Khaiersta English

If you are a designer for the web, you may, or may not work directly with engineers who implement your designs. If you do, you know that things can change. CSS classes can be disrupted and shift alignment. Font sizes, colors, and positioning can change as new elements are added. In the past, the only...
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A UX Lesson From Coffee

by Rachel Anderson
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like.” Steve Jobs once quipped, “People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how...
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Browser and Device Testing Made Easy

by Eric Baldoni
As the number of devices and browsers your visitors use to access your content it becomes more difficult to quickly test for visual issues in your UI framework. For a long time it was just Windows and Mac and a few browsers. Testing could be accomplished using two computers or an OS emulator. Then along...

One of the more stellar recent features has been localized testing which allows you to run tests through your local development environment in their browser. The only thing I still find a bit hinky is trying to use the console to troubleshoot css issues on Windows. There is some lag and it can be difficult...

To learn more about their services visit the website – Browserstack
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What Does Simple Really Mean?

by Rachel Anderson
Simple is a popular word in the design world. But, what does it actually mean? What do clients mean when they request simple interfaces? What do users mean when they say they like how simple an app is? With a word used as commonly as this one, it’s important to have some standard definition and...
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The Complement of Repeat Business

by Khaiersta English
If you’re working as a designer, chances are you’re working for clients. Your clients may be in-house departments or different companies. Either way, the dynamics are largely the same. If you do a good job listening, creating, and delivering solutions for clients, they will pay you back with repeat business, testimonials, and referrals. If your...
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Working Well With Others

by Rachel Anderson
As designers, we are in a unique position to collaborate with cross-functional teams throughout our companies. While it is a great honor and joy to serve others in different disciplines, it can also be difficult. Other teams have their own unique goals, objectives, workflows, timelines, and constraints. Despite the certainty of these challenges, it is...
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HTML5 video with a working solution for iOS and React

by Eric Baldoni
Recently we ran into an issue here at Flower Press Creative Studio where we were trying to load a background video in our React app. Using the HTML5 video tag everything worked fine, however the video would not autoplay on iOS devices. This turned out to be a two tiered issue. First off we need to...
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Young UX: Designing for Children

by Rachel Anderson
Today, more than ever before, young children have access to technology. With this newer trend, designers and developers have an opportunity to create products that are educational and exciting, while also ensuring safety and privacy. How can we design best for this unique user base? Let’s explore a few ways to do this!   Make...
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Email testing in 2019? You have options.

by Eric Baldoni
When we do our email campaigns at FPCS we code from design using the MJML platform (see my previous article on the topic). It has really made the job so much easier. Once you have a good build the next step is to make sure it will be viewed as your designer intended right? While...
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The State of UX in 2019 Report Summary

by Rachel Anderson
At the beginning of a new year, it’s important to take time and consider the previous 365 days – for learning, reflection, and growth. Since 2016, the UX Collective has published a summary report on the State of UX – what designers, thinkers, and engineers were designing, doing, and developing. This year’s report was a...
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5 Things You Need to Know Before Planning Your Next Website System Design

by Khaiersta English
Designers are problem solvers. We make order from chaos. There is a certain reward to be had from battling disordered systems and bringing information together in logical ways. Sometimes, it feels like putting together a puzzle. A large part of what goes into successful problem solving is understanding the framework from which to judge success....