Design

One of the emerging challenges for web designers is creating web typography that works in the mobile environment as well. But it can be difficult, and there are many things to consider. The keys are to focus on readability, contrast, space and responsiveness.

Ella-raye Dickens for DesignModo:

When people ask me to describe the importance of web design – I often compare it to the front cover of a book. As with a book – you often judge the content inside on the front cover – whether you consciously intend to or not.

An interesting distinction.

Great post by Michael Mulvey.

More coolness in CSS.

There is a blog for everything.

I’ll admit, I hate many of the fonts I see. It’s an important decision that escapes a lot of people.

From the Comic Sans Project.

Maria Popova at Brain Pickings:

The story of New York’s iconic Chrysler Building is the story of one of history’s greatest, most ruthless architectural rivalries — one ultimately resolved when the building’s famous spear was surreptitiously erected to claim victory on October 16, 1929.

Some good examples of how it can work if done right. Unfortunately, not everyone does it right.

I always like Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s.

Reveal.js will even translate your Markdown to HTML.

Looks to be a nice selection here.

Great information on colors.

Looking at the demos, numbers 3 and 5 are my favorites.

The Noun Project has just launched a great redesign and aims to collect every icon, pictogram and symbol from everywhere, even from you.

[Via Coudal]

Okay, that’s just cool.

Slate:

Pagination is one of the worst design and usability sins on the Web, the kind of obvious no-no that should have gone out with blinky text, dancing cat animations, and autoplaying music. It shows constant, quiet contempt for people who should be any news site’s highest priority—folks who want to read articles all the way to the end.Splitting articles and photo galleries into multiple pages is evil. It should stop.

It’s not “evil” but it is incredibly annoying and definitely should be stopped.

Terminal U:

Overpackers take note: this could be the invention that changes your life forever. Or it could also be the most gimmicky travel accessory you’ve ever seen.The “Hop” as it’s been called, is a suitcase that you don’t have to lug through the airport. You don’t even need to pick it up, as it follows you wherever you go – a bit like a lost puppy.

This is one of those things that, when you read about it you think, “Hey – that could be kinda cool!” Then you watch the video and think a bit more about it you realize, “oh yeah…this is a really stupid idea.”

I love the fact that many of the things we used to rely on scripts to do can now be done with HTML5 and CSS3.

Wired:

While The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” still stands up after four decades of radio play, the designers of the pinball machines that made Tommy so good have become an endangered species.Only one company in the world, Illinois’ Stern Pinball, still designs and produces these electro-mechanical marvels, the lone holdout since industry behemoth Williams Electronics shuttered its pinball division in 1999. It may be a dying art, but the creative minds at Stern are nonetheless continuously creating new machines that can keep their industry moving forward and give them one more replay.

I still prefer pinball machines to video games. There’s something “retro-cool” about the mechanical action of the game play that you can’t get from computerized games.

I love the one with the heart under the box. I laughed.

Tina Roth Eisenberg put together a list of minimal themes for Wordpress at Swissmiss. Definitely worth a look if you’re pondering a new design.

I love all that can be done with CSS3. At some point your readers just have to update their browsers.

Great rundown on what you’ll need to build your own style guide.

HTML5 Boilerplate helps you build fast, robust, and adaptable web apps or sites.

I am always amazed at what artists and designers can do. So much respect.

When I was a kid, I had a fascination with origami but like so many things I’m fascinated by, I could never master it. But the instructions to make this “Dollar Bill Shirt” look easy enough that even I can do it. The site also has instructions on how to make a “Dollar Shirt (with cuffs) and Pants” and even a “Dollar Bill Digital Camera”!

The folks over at Webdesigner Depot wrote about this bug in their Disqus commenting system today. Incredible.