The UK’s first Microsoft Store opens in July. Here’s what to expect

Microsoft today announced that its long-awaited UK retail launch will take place on July 11, less than six weeks from now, when it opens its first London store. As you’d expect from any ambitious UK retail launch worth its salt, Microsoft has chosen to open the initial store on London’s hectic Oxford Circus – a busy retail mecca for shoppers and tourists alike. Interestingly, this puts it within spitting distance of Cupertino’s first UK Apple Store, which opened in 2004 and is based on Regent Street. Although Microsoft has had a continuous presence in the US retail space 2009, its…

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from UK – The Next Web https://thenextweb.com/uk/2019/05/30/the-uks-first-microsoft-store-opens-in-july-heres-what-to-expect/

What If Instagram Got Rid of Likes? Plus Even More Social Media What Ifs

What if you had a magic wand and could make any change you wanted on social media?

Quite a question, right?

Well, we dove into the many different what if scenarios — both real and imagined — that may shape social media in the months and years to come. We pulled up all the latest news and changes so that you’ll know what to expect next on social. And we also polled the Science of Social Media listeners to see what they’d change on social media if they had a magic wand.

Listen to the podcast audio above or keep reading as we cover the big ideas that could shape the way that you do social media marketing for your brand or business.

We hope you enjoy!

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Setting the stage …

Whenever we hop on customer research calls with our community, we often end the call by asking this one open-ended question. It goes like this.

“Forget about what’s possible. If you could wave a magic wand and solve anything with our product, what would you do?”

Wow, what power!

This question comes from Cindy Alvarez and her book Lean Customer Development. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Cindy because her question has led to some really amazing insights for the Buffer product!

And it’s so interesting to consider that question in light of the social media space.

It seems as if the makers behind our favorite social platforms are already thinking outside the box to solve problems for their audiences. It’s as if they already have a magic wand!

You can see evidence of this in the headlines.

A few weeks back at Facebook’s F8 conference, there were multiple announcements about changes coming to Instagram and Facebook. We learned that Instagram might be getting rid of likes and that Facebook might be rethinking the News Feed.

We can also see major innovations like Instagram Checkout on the horizon.

All these changes really got our minds turning. How will marketers be affected by these moves?

And if all this is possible, what else could be coming?

What else should we wish for?

Let’s dive into the details of a number of these wishlist items, starting with Instagram Likes.

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1. What if Instagram got rid of likes?

Instagram is testing a way to hide the number of likes on each post.

The news became official during Facebook’s F8 conference a couple of weeks back. The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, confirmed that the test is happening now and that the goal is to make Instagram feel less competitive.

The way it works is that the total number of likes on an image or video is hidden when you’re looking at the post. And instead of the like count, there’s a short blurb that says .. “Liked by [Name] and others.”

Images via TechCrunch

Anyone can then tap that text to see the full list of people who have liked the post.

The good news for marketers, is that Instagram will still total up your likes for you. This like count won’t be visible to anyone but you, and you can access this like count by tapping the word “others” from the post, then you’ll see the list of everyone who liked the post, plus Instagram will total this number for you.

Likes will still be available as usual in your full Instagram analytics both natively and in social analytics products like Buffer Analyze.

For the public, this is a huge change and could have significant benefits for mental well-being, too. “Like” counts can be a source of constant competition and can sometimes affect ones self-esteem and self-worth.

For marketers, the change could have a couple of effects:

1. According to an article in the Huffington Post, many people who have been testing the new Instagram change claim that they are posting more to Instagram than before. This would be good news for brands on Instagram who are there to engage with their audience.
2. There have been thoughts that this change might impact influencer marketing because influencers will lose out on a key element of social proof. It remains to be seen exactly how this will shake out.

Overall, we anticipate that a change to Likes on Instagram will have a small effect on marketers, if any. With Likes being less visible, you may see behaviors change on Instagram, resulting in lower Like counts over time. But these stats will still be available and accessible, just like before.

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What if you could shop directly on Instagram?

At the moment, there are 20 brands that have access to Instagram Checkout. This group includes fashion and beauty brands like Nike, Adidas, Dior, and ColourPop.

With Instagram Checkout, the full shopping experience happens on Instagram: you can tap from a post or Story to a product page and complete the ordering experience directly in the app.

Images courtesy of the Instagram blog

Adidas gave a rosy review of their experience with Instagram Checkout, counting it as a key reason why online sales for the shoe retailer have grown 40% year over year.

And this isn’t the first time Instagram has explored e-commerce. As I’m sure you’ve seen on the platform, you can find shoppable posts in your feed, in Stories, and in videos. Back in March, Instagram reported that 130 million users are taking advantage of shoppable posts.

So what might this mean for marketers?

Instagram Checkout represents a potentially seismic shift in social media. We already have features like Pinterests Product Pins, so the combining of e-commerce and social media kind of seems inevitable. A push from Instagram Checkout might be just what is needed to get over the hump.

And this could have big effects on the role of a social media manager. Already we’re seeing that this role is shifting from a content producer to a multitalented brand builder.

Our best advice for the moment: Get into the data of your social media performance. If you’re using shoppable posts or social advertising, understand the best ways that you’re capturing engagement on social media. This will help you be ready for if — or when — e-commerce fully arrives to social.

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What if the News Feed went away entirely?

It seems ridiculous to think of.

The News Feed is synonymous with social media these days. Every network has a feed, and every network has an algorithm that surfaces custom content to its users.

Well, it’s no longer impossible to fathom a Facebook without a News Feed.

There have been signs of Facebook moving in that direction, especially after F8 when they revealed new designs that showed an emphasis on Groups and Events.

So what would a News Feed-less Facebook be like for marketers?

It would certainly throw advertising for a loop. The News Feed is the primary real estate for Facebook advertising. You can’t advertise on Groups at all. So we’d probably see some pretty major evolutions in terms of ad spend on Facebook.

And the shift toward privacy makes me wonder how brands and businesses fit into that vision at all. Of course, Facebook will find a way to make things work — it’s the brands and businesses who help Facebook pay the bills. But what will a shift to privacy and away from a News Feed mean in practice? More one-to-one conversations with customers? An emphasis on real-time messaging with WhatsApp or Messenger?

Of course, these changes will take time … we’re talking years, not months. Mark Zuckerberg said so himself from the stage at F8. So while there are lots of unknowns about what the future of the News Feed will mean, it’s still a long ways off from becoming reality.

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What if you could wave a magic wand on social media?

The following are a handful of wishes for social media, submitted to us by listeners to The Science of social Media.

The first:

What if you could edit your tweets after you’ve published them?

This comes up quite often, especially when you see a small typo after just hitting send. I think we’ve all been there! Maybe there could be a one minute timer on editing a tweet so you can catch typos but not drastically change a tweet after it’s become popular?

What if social media had an “Effort Meter”?

What if you could see how much time and energy someone put into making an image or a video? Wow, wouldn’t that be insightful!

I know we’ve often wondered how these amazing brands and influencers do it. It’d be really interesting to see inside an Instagram studio or to go behind-the-scenes with a brand’s social media team.

And to tie this into our first “what if” scenario about Instagram likes, I think it could be quite powerful also to simply know that the amazing social media post you saw wasn’t done in an afternoon! It’s rare that people can roll out of bed and whip something up that looks this good.

What if we rethought the way that social media feeds worked?

There’d be a ton of different ways to do it. One suggestion from the community was to simply put things back the way they were … a list of all the posts from the people you follow, with the most recent ones at the top.

 

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How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

• Heather-Mae on Twitter
• Dave on Twitter

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

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About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

from Resources https://buffer.com/resources/instagram-got-rid-of-likes

40 Of the Best Free Retro Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

The variety of fonts available online at the moment includes Retro Fonts. From vintage to modern, from fancy to minimalist, we try to include all styles in our blog posts here at Web Design Ledger. But for today’s article, we have the pleasure of mentioning some of the coolest retro fonts you can find online, both free and paid. Why did we choose the retro font as the star of our article today? Because they have the ability to take us back in time, in an era we have never lived, but now we are able to, through design.

Of course, some of the fonts we are about to mention below have been designed in the past two decades. Inspired by the depth that this trend can give to a graphics project, font artists haven’t stopped giving retro fonts the attention they deserve. Retro fonts are characterized by colorful details, bold letters, unique shapes, and other cool details we are about to discover throughout this article.

What does retro mean?

The word “RETRO” comes from Latin and it means backward. We need to look back in history into the font’s evolution to find these amazing creations. We will start off with the best retro fonts of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ending with the ’80s.

So fasten your seatbelts, we are about to dive into this amazing trend that keeps being fashionable even 50, 60, 70 years later.

 

retro fonts ’50s

The retro fonts of 1950 have a cinematic look. When I take a look at any of the fonts below, images of old movies come to my mind. Many of the movies created in this period used this style of fonts for their posters. The fonts of the ’50s tend to be more dramatic due to their bold characteristics. Today, we can use the ’50s fonts in packaging that requires a vintage look, restaurant branding, business cards for different companies, and in any project you think it would do the magic.

1. Palm Canyon Drive

2. Stiff Staff Font

3. Windpeak Script Font

4. The Lunch Box Font Set

5. Lucy Script

6. Hamburger Heaven

7. TV Dinner Font Set

8. American Captain Font 

9. Hardman Font

10. Cinqcent Font

 

retro fonts ’60s

The ’60s fonts will get your attention from the first sight. They might not be love at first sight, but it will be interest at first sight for sure. These retro fonts are often used on billboards even today. The retro fonts of the ’60s feature colorful details, another characteristic that makes it steal the show. These can be used in retro games, movie posters set in the ’60s, obviously, catchy packaging, book covers, and many others.

11. Haike

12. Swung Note

13. Sundowners

14. Ziclets

15. Bright Script

15. LHF Retro Ricky Doohickies

16. Roadside | Vintage Slab Serif

17. DRIVER • Retro action typeface

18. Hitchcut Display font

19. Superb 

20. Sunbeat Family

retro fonts ’70s

The fonts of the ’70s are fresh, yet nostalgic, many created for throwback posters or with the sole purpose of helping achieve the look and feel of the era. Many of the ’70s fonts feature retro hand-lettering from the ’70s, added with a touch of pop style, giving them a unique and elegant look. The fonts listed below are best suited for apparel graphics, logos, posters, and fun times, as well as  invitations, flyers, greeting cards, product packaging, book cover, printed quotes, cover album, movie, etc

21. Summer 0f 76 – Multi-Line Font

22. Boardley Script – Layered Font

23. Hornet – Retro Style Font

24. “No Worries”

25. Saturday Night Font Family

26. Donatello II new retro script

27. Retro Fonts – Bon Voyage!

29. Ride Slow – Motorcycle Font Bundle

30. Back to the 70s

retro fonts ’80s

The retro fonts of the ’80s begin to evolve into more detailed fonts. We can now observe shadows, neon shades, and tracing elements. The letters are bold, with a strong personality and new features. They are super dynamic, many featuring 3D effects. These amazing fonts are great for any summer projects, due to their bright and joyful looks.

31. Vintage Party – Bold Retro Script

32. Bondie Extrude Font Family

33. Berg layered font (7 Font)

34. NWB UltraViolent – Designer’s Cut

35. Boardson Type

36. Bayshore + New! Neon Glow Styles

37. Thunderstorm + Extras

38. 1980

39. Hermes

40. Default Typeface + 80s Style

We hope you enjoyed these fonts and that you will start adding them to your projects. They will give them a unique look that every designer looks for. We would appreciate if you let us know in the comment section below which is your favorite retro font, be it part of this list or not. Also, make sure you check out our articles about the best modern fonts and the best classic fonts. Until later,

WLD

Read More at 40 Of the Best Free Retro Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/40-of-the-best-free-retro-fonts-picked-by-professional-designers/

40 Of the Best Classic Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

The professional designers that have chosen these next classic fonts have different opinions on what makes a font stay up to date, even decades after it was created. While some might not look classic to you, they all feature elements that are a trend today and will always be a trend. The font is the frame of any text, you see it and read it, but the font can distract you from the main idea if not chosen with care. This is where classic fonts come into play. Their purpose is to keep the reader’s focus where it should be: on the meaning of the text.

Classic Fonts, due to their simple aspect, are used more than any other categories of fonts. They are versatile and easy to incorporate into any project that is oriented towards offering information. This should not stop you from using them in other types of projects. They have the power to offer a logo, a business card, a packaging, a. o., an unforgettable look. Simple doesn’t mean mediocre, therefore, a simple font can and will always stand out in the crowd.

Our designers at Web Design Ledger have carefully gathered 40 of the Best Classic Fonts so that you can use this resource your own benefit. We have to mention that some of the fonts below are free classic fonts, and some are paid. Let’s get started.

CLASSIC SERIF FONTS

Each classic serif font features sleek lines, delicate serifs, and elegant details. Therefore, they are perfect if used as headers as they create a great visual effect. Such fonts are imposing, yet elegant, authoritative but not strident. Moreover, they have a gentle personality, not as strong as the script classic fonts, for instance. Here are some great ways you can use classic serif fonts: on magazine covers, newspaper headlines, disc packaging, urban companies logo, billboard texts, and others.

 

1. Manhattan | A High Class Serif

2. Butler

3. Lara – Sophisticated Serif Typeface

4. Forum

5. Giveny – Classy Serif Font

6. Brela 

7. Antique – Luxury Serif Typeface

8. AC Big Serif

9. Joliet 

10. Zorus Serif

CLASSIC SANS SERIF FONTS

The classic sans serif fonts look a little bit more technical than the romantic serif fonts, but still very versatile and unique. However, Sans Serif fonts do have a more modern aspect that will always be a trend.  A sans serif font will never steal the attention from the text, but will remain neutral. Therefore, the reader will be given the opportunity to form a personal opinion. Here are some great ways you can use classic sans serif fonts: in books, instruction brochures, minimalist designs, packaging, official letters and documents, movie titles.

11. Rome | A Stunning Sans Serif

12. Helvetica

13. Denver | A Romantic Sans Serif

14. Avenir

15. Quick – An Elegant Sans Serif

16. Gill Sans

17. Chilead Font — Classic Sans Serif

18. AVANT GARDE

19. Sinclaire | A Classic Sans Serif

20. Univers

CLASSIC VINTAGE FONTS

Classic Vintage Fonts are a trend now more than ever. They give any project a natural touch, an old-school vibe, while still keeping the text stylish. Classic Vintage Fonts are associated with photography and many photographers seem to use them for their logos. Moreover, these fonts have a warm, homey voice, giving any graphics project a charming aspect. Here are some of the best ways you can use them: amazing in packing of any kind, logos and business cards for businesses that deal with people directly, fiction book covers, wedding invitations, and others.

21. Brooks – Classic font + Bonus

22. NATURE SPIRIT – FREE VINTAGE SANS SERIF FONT

23. Quincy CF: vintage serif font family

24. Bauru

25. Grit & Caliber – Vintage Bundle

26. Parker

27. Old Scotch Typeface – 7 Styles

28. ANSLEY DISPLAY

29. HURSTON TYPE

30. CAST IRON FONT

CLASSIC CURSIVE FONTS

Because most Classic Cursive Fonts are handwritten, they have the most humane looks. The cursive font will always be your ally when you want to transmit emotions, feelings, attitudes, states of being through text. Classic Cursive Fonts have the ability to empower words, therefore they feature a strong personality. While the range of projects you can use script font is rather narrow, there are plenty of options to choose from. You can use classic cursive fonts in the packaging of personal, even intimate products, intimate invitations, love letters, history-related projects, posters, stamps, tags for elegant clothing, and others.

31. The Stay Classy Font Duo

32. Bombshell Pro

33. Chairine a classic signature

34. Hipster Script Pro

35. Bodega Script

36. Jacques & Gilles

37. Sweet Little Things Script Font TRIO

38. Dom Loves Mary

39. The Huntsman Script & Sans Typeface

40. Thirsty Rough

All four categories of classic fonts that we mentioned above should feature in every designer’s tool kit. Consider then a one-time investment because they will stay classic forever.

We hope that you enjoyed the list above and that you found what you were looking for. We know that there are hundreds and thousands of cool classic fonts that we could’ve added to this list. But for now, we leave you with these hoping that you will visit our blog again soon.

 

Read More at 40 Of the Best Classic Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/40-of-the-best-classic-fonts-picked-by-professional-designers/

15 of the best tools & resources for web designers in 2019

Digital design technology waits on no one. It’s forever changing, and web designers are forever having to seek ways to keep up with it. If there are any “evergreen” tools and resources that keep pace with the latest trends they are few. Except for upgrades and updates, of course.

The latest tools, apps, and resources can cope with the latest design trends. They are not difficult to come by. There is, in fact, an embarrassment of riches. So many that finding the right ones can actually be a challenge in itself.

Not all of them are top-of-the-line of course, and the best of the bunch is what you want and deserve. To help you out, we’ve put in place this nice little collection of top tools, apps, and resources. They’ll individually or collectively make your job easier. They help you keep up with the times and maintain a competitive edge.

 

1. Elementor

Elementor is a prime example of a WordPress website building tool that can do so many things and do them so much better than its competitors. Aside from its website design capabilities, businesses look to Elementor because of the way it can speed up design workflow processes and at the same time produce a maximum ROI.

If you can visualize it, you can build it if you have this premium web-building tool at your fingertips. Limitations and constraints that are common to many WordPress themes simply don’t exist with Elementor. Thanks to a powerful drag and drop editor, a ton of useful widgets, and hundreds of templates, you can produce an attractive, professional-looking page in minutes and a complete website within hours.

Since Elementor can be used with virtually any theme and any plugin it gives you almost unlimited flexibility. The user interface is a pleasure to work with, and several features like the Pop Up builder and Hover and Scroll animations allow you to do things that you once would have assigned to a developer.

 

2. AND CO from Fiverr

AND CO from Fiverr is an invoicing software that saves you time so you can focus on growing your business. Its automated system helps you stay on top of your cash flow by reminding you when it’s time to send invoices, notifying you when they are viewed by a client, and letting you know when they are past due. With AND CO you can accept online payments by credit card, check, ACH, or PayPal and have the payments automatically deposited in your bank account.

AND CO also features a time tracking system which integrates smoothly with your invoicing, so that invoices can automatically be created based on the hours you’ve tracked at the end of a project, at specified project milestones, or periodically for customers or clients that are on a subscription basis. Relevant files or documents can be attached to invoices if you wish. With additional features like expense tracking, proposals, contracts, and task management, AND CO is the one app you need to run your freelance business.

 

3. Houzez

Given its many advanced features, most users are led to believe that everything needed to conduct business is already included in this real estate application. The Houzez design team apparently thought otherwise as, based on user feedback, they have recently added a host of new options and features designed to give realtors and real estate agencies extended capabilities and greater flexibility.

The old favorites like the listings options, advanced search capabilities, and the property management system are still there. More listings options and formats have been added together with listings sorting by data, price, and property location, property status, and luxury home and special property showings scheduling.

Houzez is extremely easy to use and can be customized to fit an agencies business model and brand.

 

4. Amelia

Businesses that rely heavily on customers booking appointments will like the time and money they can be saved with this powerful and award-winning plugin. Amelia automates the entire booking process. It takes appointments 24/7, matches them with employee availability, takes care of cancellations and changes, sends out reminders, and even accepts online payments.

More than 2,000 signed up for Amelia within 6 months after the launch date and gave it an average of 4.85+ user rating.

 

5. Uncode

 

Uncode has all the functionality you need to build a breathtaking portfolio to showcase your work. You don’t need to create a design from scratch, although you can create your own template if you wish.

The best way to see what Uncode can do for you is to visit the website and view the showcase of user-created websites. You’ll see why this creative multiuse theme is a top all time ThemeForest best-seller with more than 50,000 sales.

 

6. TheGem – Creative Multi-Purpose High-Performance WordPress Theme

TheGem’s customers and Envato will tell you, and ThemeForest will agree, that this amazing multipurpose theme is capable of producing the most creative and beautiful designs you’ll find anywhere. Loading times are exceptionally fast, page speed scores are equally impressive, and customers particularly like TheGem’s 100% flexibility and 100% simplicity.

As far as customer satisfaction and support are concerned, TheGem scores 100% for these as well. The best product performance coupled with the best customer experience is hard to beat.

 

7. Mobirise

Because Mobirise is an offline tool you’re not tied down to a specific platform or host during your website building activities. You’ll have total control over your website’s design, and because Mobirise is drag and drop it’s easy to use. Mobirise is 100% free to use for both commercial and personal uses.

There are plenty of website blocks, templates, and themes to work with and thanks to Google Amp and Bootstrap 4 your sites will be crazy-fast.

 

8. wpDataTables

The wpDataTables plugin offers an all-in-one solution for summarizing data by means of interactive, responsive, and easily editable tables and charts. It doesn’t matter if the amount of data is small or huge, or if the data itself is quite complex. wpDataTables is, in fact, the only table and chart-producing tool of its kind that can easily manage MS SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL database information.

Tables and charts are fully customizable, and key data can be color-coded or highlighted.

 

9. Round Icons Bundle – 38,000 icons and illustrations

A bundle of 38,000 premium, royalty-free icons and illustrations is a nice resource to have handy. Roundicons’ bundle is the world’s largest and you can download it for a one-time fee.

The fee includes additional icons and illustrations that are added to the bundle monthly. A commercial use license comes with the bundle. Use coupon code “GETBIG” to receive a 20% discount.

 

10. Logic Hop – Personalized Marketing for WordPress

One of the toughest challenges facing web designers is to personalize their message to a particular audience or audiences. Logic Hop overcomes this challenge by enabling you to provide targeted content to your audiences using display ad and pay per click results, social media posts, and actions visitors take on your site.

Personalized websites perform 200% better on average. Logic Hop can make that happen for you.

 

11. 8b Website Builder

The 8b website builder is new, fast, fresh, and futuristic. 8b is also super simple to work with, and you can create beautiful, high-performance websites on your work or home desktop, or on your mobile device when on the go. 8b is free at the moment, a good reason to try it out.

16 slick starter templates and a large selection of website sections are there to help you get any project off to a quick start.

 

12. WhatFontIs.com

At one time or another you may have come across a font you’d really like to use but had no way of identifying it and had to look for something else. WhatFontIs.com’s automatic AI system will search its database of 550,000 commercial and free fonts and identify that elusive font in seconds.

All that’s required of you is to submit an image (a string of letters is suggested).

 

13. Savah App

This advanced prototyping tool was created to support web and mobile app design. In addition to enabling people to build high-quality, high-fidelity prototypes, Savah features a built-in design workflow and approval system making it a great tool to have for promoting and supporting team and cross-team collaboration.

Savah prototypes can be automatically synced with Dropbox, Google and Sketch App. Check the monthly plan prices. Note that a 30% discount is given on annual plan purchases.

 

14. HelpJet

Reducing the number of support tickets saves time and money and makes customers happier – if you go about it right. With HelpJet, you can build a knowledge base that enables customers to quickly find answers to common questions rather than having to stand in line for an answer.

A customer that can get a good answer right away is always going to be a happier customer. You can easily customize HelpJet to fit your brand.

 

15. Goodie

Launching your new website “the Goodie way” simply involves working directly with the developer. All you need to do is provide the details of the design you want and the Goodie folks will produce a high-performance website consisting of squeaky-clean code at a special $999 price.

This can be a perfect deal for owners of small businesses in need of a carefully coded website.

 

Conclusion

While it’s highly unlikely you’ll need all 15 tools and resources there just might be one, if not two or three you could put to good use immediately. It could be a website building tool that makes it easier for you to keep up with the latest design trends, and with your competition.

Maybe it’s a chart-building plugin that enables you to present data in ways you never could before, or a bundle of a gazillion icons and illustrations.

In any event, Happy Shopping!

Read More at 15 of the best tools & resources for web designers in 2019

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/15-best-tools-resources-web-designers-2019/

10 Important Skills and Traits Your Social Media Manager Will Need

A decade ago, the role of a social media manager might not have even existed. Today, however, almost every company is involved in social media one way or another.

A quick look at Google Trends shows the rise in interest in the term “social media manager” over the years, and it seems that people have never been as interested in the term as they are today.

But what does it take to be a great social media manager? What are the skills to master and traits to have? How can you work on those areas?

In this post, we’ll try our best to answer all those questions. We’ll share 10 skills and traits that are crucial to being a great social media manager and relevant resources to help you improve in those areas.

Skills vs Traits

Throughout this post, we’ll discuss the various skills and traits we feel are most important for social media managers. But before we dive in, I quickly wanted to share some of my learnings about the difference between skills and traits.

Here’s a great explanation of skills vs traits from Red Letter Resumes:

Skills are tangible factors that you actually bring to the table. Things such as HTML, PowerPoint, Tax Preparation, Medication Compounding, Social Media Management, Lesson Planning, Accounts Receivable, Contract negotiations, etc. They are things that require you to develop a certain level of understanding, productivity or efficiency to claim expertise.

A trait is therefore defined as, “a quality that makes one person or thing different from another”. These are the things that make you who you are, that are part of your personality: the things that make you different from other people. The difference is that these are subjective. One person’s definition of being hard-working is not the same as another’s. Traits come without a quantifiable or standard measure. They are often, but not always, amplifiers of how you do or complete something that is a skill.

(Image from The Huffington Post)

When it comes to finding your ideal social media manager, I feel you may be looking for the right mix of tangible skills (things like copywriting and analytics) and traits (such as curiosity).

In addition, we feel that the role of a social media manager these days owes heavily to the concept of a T-shaped marketer. We use the T-shaped marketer framework at Buffer to describe the depth of skills each of us has as well as the breadth of experiences and knowledge that we all hold.

Here’s a n example of how this might look for someone with a depth of skill in content:

7 skills top social media managers share

1. Copywriting

Copywriting is a fundamental skill for social media marketing (and probably all areas of marketing). Writing good copy is required in many areas of a social media manager’s role, from filling up your social media profile description to crafting tweets and Facebook posts.

To drive engagement and clicks, you have to fit a captivating story into your social media post and without great copywriting skills that can be difficult.

To enhance your copywriting skills, I’d highly recommend studying a few copywriting formulas to help you craft inspiring copy. Finding a copywriting formula (or two) that works for you can be a great productivity boost and also improve the quality of the social media content you publish.

One of our favorite copywriting techniques here at Buffer is the ‘Before – After – Bridge’  – you may recognize it from a few of our blog posts and social posts. Here’s how it works:

Before – After – Bridge

Before – Here’s your world …

After – Imagine what it’d be like, having Problem A solved …

Bridge – Here’s how to get there.

Example:

For more great tips on copywriting, be sure to check out Kevan’s great post: If Don Draper Tweeted: The 27 Copywriting Formulas That Will Drive Clicks and Engagement on Social Media

Resources

• Copyblogger (Blog)
• 75 Resources for Writing Incredible Copy that Converts (Blog post by KISSmetrics)

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2. Design (Graphics and Videos)

Research has found that social media posts with images receive more engagement and 43 percent of consumers want to see more videos content in the future.

Social media evolved a great deal over recent years, and we have moved away from mostly plain text based updates towards visual content such as images and videos. Designing and creating visual content is becoming an essential skill for social media managers.

Resources

• Canva’s Design School (Courses and articles)
• Why Every Marketer in 2016 Needs to Be a (Part-Time) Designer: 53 Design Terms and Tips to Level-Up (Blog post by Buffer)
• How to Create Social Media Videos on a Budget (Blog post by Social Media Examiner)
• A Video Marketing Guide On Creating Epic Content for Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and More (Blog post by Buffer)

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3. Public Speaking (confidence in front of an audience)

With features and apps like Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and Periscope, live videos are becoming more and more important on social platforms. And marketers have noted this change, with 42 percent of marketers saying they want to create more live videos.

Why are marketers excited about live video? I believe the answer is two-fold: reach and engagement. Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in the News Feed when those videos are live than after they are no longer live. From an engagement perspective, live content also provides opportunity for high-engagement and 1:1 interactions with audiences.

To tap into the live video trend, social media managers have to be confident enough to go live on social media to connect with their audience. Having public speaking skills will help you to present your ideas, interview guests, answer impromptu questions, and chat with your followers in real-time.

If you want to see our awesome Social Media Manager, Brian Peters, in action, you can find his live videos here. And below is a short clip of Brian discussing viral content:

Resources

• Toastmasters (Resources and community)
• 11 Places to Learn Public Speaking Skills for Free (Blog post by Inc.)
• 15 essential tips for mastering Facebook Live (Blog post by Mashable)

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4. Customer Service / Community Engagement

Social media is the top channel people go to for customer care, but only 21 percent of businesses use social media for customer support. This means there’s a huge opportunity here to provide remarkable customer service experiences.

As the face of your company on social media and the person who is likely to be responding to at least some of the messages your brand receives on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, it’s important for social media managers to have conversational skills and empathy to help you customers on social media.

Community engagement is quite similar in many ways. A great social media community manager is able to ask the right questions to facilitate engagement and answer questions about the product, company, or industry.

Resources

• Support Ops (Podcast)
• The power of vulnerability (Video by Brené Brown)
• Customer Support Academy (Blog by Respond)
• Social Media Examiner (Blog)

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5. Behavioral Psychology

With data and analytics, you know what type of social media posts do well. Behavioral psychology tells you the why — for example, why are people attracted to certain posts? Why do people share certain posts?

Knowing the what allows you to spot trends and try to repeat past successes; knowing the why enables you to understand the underlying causes for those trends in order to try and create future successes.

For example, your data might tell you that your tweets with images are doing better than tweets with only text. Based on just that information, you might create more tweets with images. However, it could be that your followers prefer visual content. Without knowing the psychology behind trends, you might miss out on opportunities to create other types of visual content such as videos and GIFs.

You certainly don’t need a degree or high level of expertise in psychology to be a social media manager, but a keenness to learn and understand psychology at some level is an important skill.

Resources

• Nir and Far (Blog by Nir Eyal)
• 50 Must-Read Psychology Books (Blog post by Gregory Ciotti)
• An Introduction to Marketing Psychology: How to Use Human Behavior to Make More Informed Decisions (eBook by HubSpot)
• 15 Psychological Studies That Will Boost Your Social Media Marketing (Blog post by Buffer)

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6. Analytics

The term, ‘Analytics’, is used quite broadly here, referring to both social media metrics (e.g. likes, comments, shares, etc.) and business metrics (e.g. traffic, leads, conversions, revenue, etc.). A great social media manager is able to understand both types of metrics and tie them together to give an overall view of the company’s social media performance against business goals.

A social media manager should be the guiding light in your business when it comes to measuring your performance across various social channels. As such, learning the ins and outs of social media metrics and judging which ones are meaningful for your business is essential for a social media manager.

For example, if your goal is to drive traffic from social media channels to your website and drive sales, being able to attribute traffic and conversions back to channels and even certain posts will help your team to understand what content is helping you to achieve your goals.

Knowing how to read and interpret data is now an important skill for social media managers.

Resources

• Free Social Media Analytics Course (Course by quintly)
• Google Analytics Academy (Resource by Google)
• Startup Marketing Metrics for Pirates (Video by Dave McClure)
• HubSpot (Blog)

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7. Budgeting

As a social media manager, you might be allocated a budget to work with. Apart from paid advertising, you might have to pay for things like a social media management tool, designs, images, or courses to improve yourself. Having some basic financial and budgeting knowledge can make you better on the job.

While you might not need to be an Excel expert, understanding Excel and knowing what you can do with it can be very valuable.

(Image from HubSpot)

Resources

• How to Spend a Social Media Budget (Blog post by Buffer)
• Social Media Marketing Budget Template (Template by Demand Metrics)
• How to Manage Your Entire Marketing Budget [Free Budget Planner Templates] (Blog post and templates by HubSpot)
• Microsoft Excel – From Beginner to Expert in 6 Hours (Udemy course)

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3 personality traits great social media managers exhibit

8. Curiosity

A curious social media manager would immerse herself in the social media world, staying up-to-date with the latest development and experimenting with new social media marketing strategies.

Brian Peters is an epitome of this quality. When we discovered that videos, especially live videos, are becoming popular on social media, Brian immediately started making more videos on Facebook and Twitter. When Snap Inc. launched Spectacle, Brian got it as soon as he could to try it out and figure out how marketers can use it in their social media strategy.

HubSpot VP of Marketing Meghan Keaney Anderson said this really well when she described her ideal social media hire:

“We really look for people who have their finger on the pulse of how social is changing. It is one of the most rapidly changing industries right now, and I want someone who is paying attention to it, who is enthralled by it and fascinated by it. … Things shift so fast. If you think about the social media channels that were dominant two years ago and the social media channels that are dominant today, it’s just a totally different world.”

Resources

• How to Be a More Curious Person: 7 Tips for Becoming a Lifelong Learner (Blog post by HubSpot)
• 8 Habits of Curious People (Blog post by Fast Company)

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9. Adaptability

Adaptability complements curiosity. When you discover something new or spot a trend, being able to quickly adapt to it can keep you ahead of the curve.

For example, the most engaging type of social media content has shifted from texts to images to videos. In a Fast Company article, Mark Zuckerberg was reported to have said,

“Most of the content 10 years ago was text, and then photos, and now it’s quickly becoming videos,” Zuckerberg said, justifying Facebook’s aggressive push into the area. “I just think that we’re going to be in a world a few years from now where the vast majority of the content that people consume online will be video.”

A great social media manager is able to keep up with such changes and pick up the necessary skills (e.g. graphic design, video making, etc.). (Imagine when virtual reality becomes the most popular type of content!)

Resources

• 4 Steps To Becoming More Adaptable To Change (Blog post by Fast Company)
• How can you learn faster? (Quora thread)
• Four-Hour Workweek (Blog by Tim Ferriss)
• Make It Stick (Book by Peter C. Brown)

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10. Business Savviness

Being able to generate likes and shares is great; knowing how social media fits in with the entire business strategy is even better! A business-savvy social media manager sees the bigger picture and understands the role of social media in the company.

They understand which metrics are most relevant and crucial to the business and how social media can help to push them higher. For example, a B2B social media manager might focus on generating leads for her sales team while a B2C social media manager might focus on increasing customer purchases directly. This way, her impact goes beyond just social media but to the entire company.

Resources

• 11 Helpful Resources for Improving Your Business Skills (Blog post by HubSpot)
• How to Get Hired as a Social Media Manager (and Then Rock the Job Once You Have It) [SSM03] (Podcast by Buffer)

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Skills and traits others think are important

To give you an unbiased view on this topic, I’d love to share the skills and traits that other companies and individuals think are important:

What the Best Social Media Community Managers Actually Do in Their Jobs by HubSpot

• Content creation
• Marketing analytics
• News junkie
• Customer service
• Community management
• Funnel marketing
• Project management

Lindsay Kolowich of HubSpot also mentioned the necessary skills for each of these areas in this article.

10 Essential Skills a Social Media Manager Needs To Have on Their Resume by Jeff Bullas

• Strategy planning
• Tactics and execution
• Community management
• Understand how content works on a social web
• Optimizing content and technology
• Creative mindset
• Writing skills
• Be on top of the latest digital marketing trends
• Analytical skills
• Leadership and communication skills

How to Build A Social Media Strategy Dream Team by HubSpot and Sprout Social

• Patience
• Technical aptitude
• Proactive
• Daring
• Passion
• Level of Experience
• Customer-first mentality

Over to you

While you might not need to be proficient in every single area mentioned above, being good at a few of them would make you a great social media manager and a valuable asset to your company.

What other skills do you think is important for a social media manager to have? Would you be up for sharing some resources for improving those skills, too?

Thank you!

from Resources https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-manager-job-description

40 Best Modern Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

Finding a modern font is not always an easy job. Simply googling “modern fonts” doesn’t mean you will be given a font that meets your expectations. Why? Because fonts, like fashion, go through a rotating process. That means that many times vintage fonts are seen as modern fonts, and recently created fonts will eventually lose their flair. There are some fonts, though, that seem to never die. Professional designers use them on a daily basis and that says a lot. Some of the modern fonts listed below are edgy, sleek, minimalist, and some are classy and versatile. They all have a strong personality, so pay close attention when choosing any of the following fonts for your projects.

We divided the fonts into two big categories: Serif Fonts and Sans Serif Fonts. Within these two categories, you will find two subcategories which are: clean fonts and script fonts. All fonts have been chosen by WDL’s professional designers. We hope that you will enjoy the list below just as much as we do.

40 Best Free Modern Fonts Picked by Professional Designers

Modern Serif Fonts

Clean Modern Fonts

 

1. Farewell Pro Space Editione

Although it’s not a totally clean font, we loved the originality every letter brings to the table. Perfect for any science-oriented company.

2. Stoked

Stoked is for enthusiast designers only. Such a versatile font can be used in many projects.

3. Decurion

Decurion has a sporty vibe. I think that I’ve seen the word “VIBE” written on a T-shirt using this font. Do you know what I mean?

4. Brassie

Brassie is an urban font, very versatile and with a great effect.

5. Vogue Font

One of the most notorious serif font out there, Vogue will always be a modern, fashionable font.

6. Classy Luxury

The font’s name says it all. Perfect on luxury jewelry packaging, but not only.

7. Ultimus

Ultimus is a complex and closely studied font that guarantees a great impact if used in the right project.

8. Calgary

Calgary is indeed an essential serif. The clean, thin font by Jen Wagner can be easily included in various projects.

9.Coldiac

Luxury can be expressed through simplicity the best. Coldiac may seem like a simple font, but the serif details give it a grandeur aspect.

10. Typewriter

Any typewriter font, be it thin or bold, is an essential part of any designer’s toolkit. Give your work an old-school touch with this amazing font.

Script Modern Fonts

11. Kaylar

Kaylar is a new font that is a little bit too precise to be a script font and a little bit too fancy to not be a script font. But we gotta admit, it can be a pretty sweet addition to any packaging.

12. Money Penny

This amazing font stands out in the crowd for two reasons: amazing calligraphy and such modern colors.

 

13. Rustic Gold

Many times, quality fonts feature amazing textures. Rustic Gold expresses a rich personality for this very reason.

 

14. Elise Dafisa

Elise Dafisa’s typography was always my goal when trying cursive handwriting. I have to admit, I still have a long way to come.

15. Hellen

Hellen sounds and looks like a goddess. It looks pretentious but used in the right project it will always be a head-turner.

16. The Herchey

Do you have an important and stylish announcement to make? Use The Herchey as your bold font.

17. Roseroot Cottage

Roseroot Cottage is the perfect darling cursive script that mimics imperfect hand-lettering.

 

18. Halosense

This new modern calligraphy with a more natural feel was handmade created with a small touch of digital design to make the letters flow like a river.

19. farmhouse

Farmhouse is a style itself that you can enrich using this amazing font.

Sans Serif Modern Fonts

Clean Modern Fonts

20. Cornerstone

Cornerstone features 90-degree corners that give the font a futuristic aspect.

21. Space Age

Another font in the futuristic area, full of personality and originality.

22. Parlour

Parlour is the vintage font that will always be a trend.

23. Komoda

Komoda can kill or bring to life a message. This pretentious font might be quite hard to read for some, so pay close attention to the projects you want to choose it for.

24. Pier

Pier is clean and bold, for clean and bold messages.

 

25. Nordic

The parallel lines of Nordic places the font in the top most modern fonts out there.

26. Coco Gothic

Can Gothic be simple? This font is more extremely complex for the very simpleness of it.

27. Modeka

Modeka can give any company an unforgettable look.

28. Coves

Coves Sans is a flexible modern font that stands out due to its minimalist looks.

29. Polya

Polya doesn’t need any description. It’s pretty self-explanatory that the font makes itself remarkable due to its original looks.

30. One Day

A free font for when uppercases only is demanded.

31. Munich

Munich has a strong urban look, yet it’s still very versatile.

32. Ailerons

For a second I was tempted to think “hmm, nice details”, but then I realized that the lack of details makes this font unique.

33. Azonix

Azonix is another minimalist font that stands out through its cleanliness.

Script Sans Serif Modern Fonts

 

34. Georgia

Georgia Script is a modern and feminine font, with every single letter being carefully crafted to make your text look gorgeous.

35. Portrait

---

‘Portrait’ is a handwritten signature script with a natural & stylish flow.

36. Mindline

Mindline Script is a unique blend of a modern calligraphy font with contemporary, classy, and sophisticated accents.

37. anter

Anter surprizes us in every way possible with its letters that vary in size even within a word.

38. Handwritten love notes

A classicall handwritten font all in caps that can give any project a very personal and intimate touch.

39. Sonneta

Sonneta Script is a modern, free-flowing hand-drawn font that gives the text a signature look.

 

40. Landslide

With this cute handwritten modern font, we close up our list of Best Modern Fonts Picked by Professional Designers. We’d love to hear which font draws your attention best and if we managed to help you choose a font for your project. We wish you tons of productive creativity,

 

WLD

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from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/40-best-modern-fonts-picked-by-professional-designers/

How do you evaluate the quality of a project in graphics?

How do you understand when a graphics project is effective? When it’s nice or ugly? Should it be “cute”? Should it be “fashionable”? In short: how do you assess the quality of a project? In this article I really want to talk about this topic, and try to explain how you to really evaluate the quality of a project. In an objective way. Let’s jump right into it!

How do you evaluate the quality of a project in graphic design?

When evaluating the quality of a design project, the subjective aspects and personal tastes certainly play an important role. But it is important to ensure that the evaluation of a project does not depend solely on those two things. In fact, in graphic design, a project is created to communicate a message and get specific results. And those are objective aspects: they do not depend on your personal tastes.

The aesthetic aspect is an important factor, but by itself, it will not tell you if the design is effective or not. To know if your project is a winner, you need to consider the elements of good visual communication and judge the project with respect to them. Well, keeping these things in mind, here are some questions you should ask yourself when evaluating the quality of design.

How to assess the quality of a project: the 4 questions to be asked

1. Does your project achieve its goals?

Let’s start with the basics: what are the goals of the project you are working on? Understanding the objectives of a project is a fundamental step in any graphic design project. This should always be your first step. A good way to understand them is to do a good design brief. We can talk specifics on a design brief another time. For now, let’s keep this train rolling. But what does understanding goals mean?

If it is a logo, for example, that logo aims to represent and communicate a corporate identity. If it’s the landing page of a website, instead, maybe the goal is to convince users to click on the “Buy” button or sign up for a newsletter. And so on. Each graphic project has a specific objective. And if it doesn’t have one, it means it’s not graphic design, but art or decoration. Always check if the target has been achieved! The first step to verify the achievement of the objectives is to make sure that all the relevant information is present to communicate the message you want to communicate.

2. Is the message easy to understand?

Every designer project must help to communicate a certain message correctly. Does your project do it easily? How about immediately? Here are some practical tips for building an effective graphic layout, in which the message is transmitted immediately:

Use a focal point on the page. Such as a large text or a title. Something that catches the viewer’s attention. The important thing is that attention goes to an important and useful element to convey the message. Then choose the focal point carefully!

3. Is it aesthetically pleasing?

Design is made to solve problems through visual solutions. But if those solutions are pleasing to look at, as well as functional, you double the strength of what you communicate, right? Is your project pleasant? Looking good? This is probably the most subjective part of evaluating graphic design. What is appealing to one person might be horrible for another. Different minds, different opinions.

However, generally, already applying the principles of graphic design, one can obtain excellent results in terms of aesthetics. Doing something beautifully does not necessarily mean doing something extremely different from what it already is. Because the result of something deliberately “different” could be too extravagant in the end.

Paul Rand, one of the most important twentieth-century logo designers, said: “Don’t try to be different, try to be good.” Wiser words have perhaps never been spoken. So try to do something that works, even if maybe it’s not something radically different from everything you’ve seen before (which is practically impossible, actually).

Are the aesthetic style and the graphic elements used suitable for the target audience? Most of the time you’re not just planning for yourself, but you’re trying to create a design that appeals to a particular audience. A rainbow color palette is not suitable for a finance website because most customers are looking for a consultant who is reassuring, loyal and trustworthy. Therefore, a more moderate and sober tone may be more appropriate. On the contrary, research shows that children prefer bright colors, so it makes more sense to turn to bright and over the top colors when it comes to children.

4. Is your project original?

Not different in the sense that we have never seen anything like it before, but different in the sense of creativity. The meaning of “originality” depends on the type of design you are dealing with. If it is a logo, it is better to make sure it is as unique as possible, because it is necessary to be able to register the trademark and the trademark application will be rejected if you use a copy of a design. An example of difficulties that can arise from logos that are too similar: the ongoing cause between 3M and Formula 1. It is difficult to create a logo with a simple and distinctive design that does not resemble any other existing design because so many ideas have already been taken and registered as trademarks. If a designer creates a logo that looks similar to an existing design, it’s not necessarily because he copied it, but because there are some logo concepts that are really common and that can be achieved regardless of seeing those designs.

This is why it is necessary to research other designs in your market and avoid designs that are too generic. However, in reality, beyond the logo, the true differentiation of a company over another is in the management of the brand and the complete coordinated image. When instead we talk about simpler elements, like the business card, differentiating oneself is something not very sensible and useless.

Good design is useless if it communicates something wrong

Good design can do great things for a business, but it will not work miracles. It doesn’t matter how good your job as a designer is if the company communicates to the wrong audience. A good design will not be effective if the product is poor or the communication is inadequate, and in the same way, a bad sales performance is not always a consequence of the quality of the design.

There are many ways to measure the performance of a project in the real world, such as A / B tests for web pages, product focus groups, results in social media interactions or sales. However, not everyone can test a project before putting it on the market. In most cases, the customer will trust your judgment. So it is essential that you develop a critical sense of analysis of your work and your projects. Let’s not reinvent the wheel here, maybe just try another way to use it.

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from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/how-do-you-evaluate-the-quality-of-a-project-in-graphics/

How to use grids in graphic design

Do you want to know the best way to set up any graphic design? How about one of the most useful concepts of all graphic design? In short, do you want to understand how to use graphic grids?

In this article, I want to discuss the topic of graphic grids in detail, through rules, useful examples and design resources that you can download and save on your computer. I will tell you how much of the grids are necessary for the construction of any graphic design, the aesthetic-usability effect and how to build a grid in a harmonious way.

Come on, let’s start that there is so much to talk about!

What are the graphic grids?

A grid, or cage, is essentially a subdivision of the workspace through vertical and horizontal lines aimed at organizing the spaces and defining the elements that will make up a project. Let’s think more specifically, and try to understand why the division and organization of a workspace in graphic design are so fundamental.

The composition of the grids is the basis of graphic design

Whether you work with the press or with the web, on the design of a logo or on the construction of a font, on packaging design or layout, understanding how to compose grids is something you need to consider essential among your skills as a designer. A grid is like an invisible glue that holds the project together and gives it coherence. For many designers, though, grids are an almost unknown thing, especially among the many self-teachers who, of course, were not taught about the theoretical aspect of design and therefore about grid theories.

The fact that a good organization of the project is so often overlooked is one of the reasons why around the streets and on the web we often see projects with bad balances or alignments. This article was born just to try to fill this “hole” in the training of many creatives. Without a starting grid, a project is born already messy.

Always start with a grid

Whatever your project, once thought and sketched (because making sketches is very important), you have to start realizing the final project starting from a grid.

Why? Well, try considering each of your projects as if it were a building. A building without its supporting structure collapses or at least is very unstable when that structure is poorly designed. In addition to being fundamental to creating a supporting structure for your layout, the cages are also extremely important for creating harmony between shapes and relationships. For example, the balance between the white spaces and the text or imagery in the middle of a web page. In fact, a good composition can lead to much more usable projects, as stated in the Aesthetic-Usability Effect theory.

The aesthetic-usability effect

There is a theory about design called the Aesthetic-Usability Effect. Essentially this theory states that when something is designed to be beautiful, consequently and naturally, then it will be something that will also be easily usable. It is a very important concept in all design: from graphics to interface design. A well-designed grid makes your design not only more beautiful but also more usable!

So how do you design something beautiful and easily useable? Ok, you have to start from a grid, but what kind of grid? Based on which principles and which theories? We’ll discuss this a little further below.

How to build a functional grid

I told you how a harmonious composition plays a crucial role in determining the success of a project. To construct a harmonious design project it is therefore necessary to construct a graphic grid that is also harmonic. Yes, but how do you construct a harmonious graphic grid?

One of the most effective ways to do this is to use mathematics (nothing complicated) and specific mathematical relationships to construct the structure of the grid itself. Here’s how it’s done:

Follow the paper format

The first method is to exploit the dimensional relationships of the support on which you are working. For example, if you are working on an international sheet of paper, such as the A4, it will have a ratio between the two sides of 1: 1.414 and you can then use this mathematical relationship to create the divisions given within the sheet itself.

Creating divisions in a stable relationship with each other inside the sheet will create an important visual harmony.

How to create a grid on A4 paper

Once you have built a grid, you absolutely must not limit your creativity. A grid serves to channel creativity towards your goal. Alas, grid construction is not a science with a set of rules to learn by heart. Many of the most effective grids in graphic design were born from experiments with mathematical relationships, with texts, photographs, and elements of the page or website. Sometimes even from random experiments!

You, as a graphic designer, do not have to invent new grids or new methods to build graphic elements, you can simply rely on mathematical conventions, such as those I mentioned in this article. You can even take visual inspiration from highly published magazines and from other websites. The important thing is this: the grids are a great help if they become the most difficult and expensive part of your job, maybe you are doing something wrong. Grids should decrease and not increase the time spent on your project.

Resources

Before concluding, I think it may be useful to have some useful resources for building grids. Let’s start with books, or rather with a book in particular because knowledge is power, isn’t it?   

One of the most useful resources in graphic design is the book (in English and German) of one of the masters of Swiss design in the mid-1900s, Josef Muller-Brockmann entitled “Grid Systems in Graphic Design”. This really is a MUST for every graphic designer professional. A historical and precious piece for your library. The price is directly proportional to the quality, really.

Even if you get the smallest chance to read it, it’s very worth it. You could even try getting it at a library. Here are some easy online tools that will also help in your grid creating adventures:

Gridulator – create simple grids that can be quickly saved in .png

Grid Designer – very useful for web designers to design columns and export with .css files

Searching on Google for keywords such as “grid building tool” or “grid builder” can find an infinite number of free tools that do more or less the same simple things.

Conclusion

That’s it for today. I hope I have convinced you of the importance of building a good and balanced grid in all your graphics and design projects. I also hope that this has helped you find a few new resources for designing and creating the perfect grid.

This is just an introductory article on the grids in graphic design. In short, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many design theories and strategies out there that will help you perfect your grid related design technique, so always be on the lookout!

 

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from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/how-to-use-grids-in-graphic-design/

What is a Font? The Complete Guide for Typography Designers

What is a font? And how are fonts used? How can you create quality typographic projects, using the best characters? This article aims to be the answer to these and many other questions that many young designers ask themselves every day.

Today, with this guide, I want to try to create a complete introductory resource for all the main topics of the font world. In short, it is a super guide for designers to use fonts!

OK, let’s go!

What is a font? And what is a typeface? And a glyph?

Before figuring out how to use fonts, it’s good to know what a font is, the difference between a typeface, a glyph, and so on. Because yes, typeface and fonts don’t mean exactly the same thing. The characters are, in graphics, typography, and publishing, like bricks in architecture, atoms in physics or numbers in mathematics. In short, they are the basis of graphics matter.

A set of characters studied coherently and according to the same formal principles, forms a typeface, whose file is called a font. But let’s clarify these aspects better.

Fonts, typefaces, and glyphs

These characters are letters, punctuation marks or symbols. So, for example, the letter “A” is a character. This character can be composed of several glyphs, such as A, ä, ă or â, which will, therefore, be glyphs of the same character and of the same typeface. The set of all the characters and glyphs of the Latin alphabet designed according to the same visual coherence and meaning, takes the name, again, of a typeface.

And it is here that misunderstandings arise in many different languages. English is clearer: the character (understood as a letter) is a character, the glyph is a glyph and the coherent set of all this, the typeface, is a typeface.

The font, however, is the file

Font is another thing: font is the medium that allows you to apply a font. That is: while Garamond is a character (typeface), the garamond_semibold.otf file is a font (better: one of the fonts that make up the Garamond font family). To explain it we can make the comparison with music: if a typeface (character) is a song, the font is the .mp3 file that allows us to listen to it. It is, therefore, wrong to say “Listen to this chorus via this mp3!”, While it is much more correct to say “Listen to this song!”

We often use the word “font” instead of character, it is a common mistake of the digital age: to confuse the software (medium) with its purpose (end). It’s a bit like saying “but this is Photoshop” looking at a montage.

And it is a mistake that I myself made for years and in which I still make from time to time. So learn from my mistakes!   

Why do you say “font”?

Many think that font is a term of English origin but in reality, its origin is French. It is, in fact, the English transposition of the term “source”, of medieval French. This word, which pronounced itself “font” (in French the end is truncated and not pronounced) originally meant “fused”. The Latin root of the word is the same as the Italian verb “folder”. The word font was then imported into England where it spread to all English-speaking countries and from there to the whole world over the last century.

What are the font variants and types of typefaces?

Let’s look at the terms that serve to identify the various files that make up a family of fonts and the types of main typefaces:

The variants of a font (weights, italics, etc.)

As mentioned, a font is a file and each file corresponds to a typeface in which all the glyphs that have been designed so that it works together, as a single body, and inserted. Generally, font files are grouped into font families, where there are variations of the original typeface.

Types of typographic characters

The typefaces are not all the same, indeed, they are very different! In graphic schools or universities, fonts are often said to be divided into two categories, the serif and the sans serif. These are two French terms that mean “with thanks” and “without thanks”. In reality there are several others, even within these two macro-categories.

Serif and Sans Serif

The substantial difference between these two categories of fonts is the use of the “graces”, or those small extensions at the ends of the rods, which derive from manual calligraphic writing.

How does a font work?

As I said before, a character, or a single letter in all its variants, is composed of various different glyphs. Glyphs, in turn, are composed of many different structural elements, which take different names:

How to use fonts

In a complete guide on typography in graphics, one cannot talk about how to use these fonts. How many times have you started searching for the font best suited to your project by scrolling the font drop-down for hours, searching through the hundreds of characters you downloaded or purchased?

To put it simply, the font should always compliment the context. Of course, there are many ways it can do that, so it’s not exactly a science. What it is, however, is a skill that can be adapted and fine-tuned with some practice.

How to use fonts: combine multiple fonts with each other

Choosing a font is a complicated process and requires careful analysis of your project. But knowing how to match fonts can be even more difficult. In reality, there are so many things to talk about in this wonderful and fascinating world. Because the type is really one of the most mysterious and profound aspects of graphic design.

There are lots of courses you can take in order to get this right. My advice would be to at least research and study as much as you can. Again, this is one of those things that can only be perfected through practice.

The conclusion

I hope you’ve learned something new today. Although this article aimed to cover a lot, there is still a lot to know.

 

Fonts have been around for quite a while, and won’t be going away ever. They are an essential part of graphic design, and design as a whole. My advice would be to get as comfortable with them as possible and to practice using a wide variety of them, combine them, and maybe even experimenting with your own.

Read More at What is a Font? The Complete Guide for Typography Designers

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/what-is-a-font-the-complete-guide-for-typography-designers/