“Good web design is about the character of the content, not the character of the designer.”
– Jeffrey Zeldman, Web Designer
⚡Pop Quiz: In what year was the first website launched and who created it?
In today’s issue:
- Photoshop Effects to Elevate Your Creative Web Design Projects
- Web Design Then and Now: Lessons from the 90s
- The Art of Wine Label Design
Let’s dive in, shall we?
WEB DESIGN
Photoshop Effects to Elevate Your Creative Web Design Projects
Inject some creativity to your websites now with these simple but impactful Photoshop effects:
👉Gradient overlay: Apply smooth gradients to any element in your web design. This adds depth and interest to backgrounds, buttons, and other elements! See it in action here.
👉Layer styles: Add effects like beveling, glows, and strokes to create eye-catching graphics. Example: Neon light effects.
👉Blending modes: Multiply, subtract, darken and more to mix different layers and create unique effects. Check it out!
👉Filters: Add blur, noise, distortion, and texture with Photoshop filters. Here’s an example of how noise adds character to web design.
Go deeper:
- 12 Photoshop Effects to Use in Your Creative Web Design Projects – Qode Magazine
- 71 Brilliant Photoshop Tutorials to Boost Your Skills – Creative Bloq
- 53 Cool Photoshop Illustrator Effects and Tutorials – Jotform
- How to Design Social Media Graphics with Photoshop – Creative Market
DESIGN ARCHIVE
Web Design Then and Now: Lessons from the 90s
The early days of the internet are filled with cautionary tales for web designers. Here’s what some of the biggest web design fails of the 90s have taught us:
🧹Clean the Clutter: With flashing graphics, busy backgrounds, and overflowing text and images, 90s websites had too much going on. We’re leaving all that clutter in the past!
🔤Use Legible Fonts: 90s websites featured hard-to-read fonts or text that was too small. Today, designers are focusing on fonts and sizes that are easy on the eyes.
👥Focus on the User Experience: Old websites seem to prioritize gimmicks and flashiness over function. Today, we know that user experience and accessibility are the key to success.
Go deeper:
- Early Web Design Helped a Generation Express Themselves – Eye on Design
- A Look Back at 30+ Years of Web Design – Hubspot
- 26 Years of Web Design: Lessons Learned – Pixel77
- Modern-Day Web Design Lessons from the Internet of the 90s – Hudson Fusion
The Art of Wine Label Design
🍷What goes into designing your favorite wine labels? Let’s uncork the secrets to captivating wine label design!
- What Goes Into Designing a Wine Label? – Eater
- How to Design a Wine Label: The Ultimate Guide – 99 Designs
- So You Want to Be a Wine Label Designer – WSET Global
- 30 Creative and Unusual Wine Label Designs – The Coolist
⚡The Answer: Tim Berners-Lee created the first website in 1991.
The first website was launched on August 6, 1991, by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The website was hosted on a NeXT computer at CERN in Switzerland. The website was a basic page with text and hyperlinks, explaining the purpose and capabilities of the World Wide Web project.