Design blogs / writing

[Fruitality]

Yo!

Do you follow any blogs or publications about design thoughts / trends / techniques and stuff, be it graphic, web, UI, UX?

I've been trying to find more to read to learn new things (specifically about UX), or challenge what I already think and do.

It's so hard to find good writing or roundups that don't just exist to sell some SaaS product which is mentioned throughout every article (This comes up a lot when trying to find UX blogs.), or is filled with pseudo-inspirational design bullshit.

Anyway, here's a couple that I've come across that I check in on or go back to browse older articles:

- The Index, by Set Studio, bi-monthlyish roundup of design writing, news, etc
- Codrops Colectives, weekly roundup of cool links and news, sometimes writing. Web Design / Dev focus.
- A List Apart, a good Web Design focused blog which unfortunately doesn't post new articles very often
- Eye on Design by AIGA, good but fairly generalised design trend / retrospective articles (also doesn't update often)

And actually while I remember, here's a quick book "recommendation" (I haven't read it, it's a bit too expensive at the moment. But I keep thinking about it since I flicked through it in a shop a few months back):

- What is Post-Branding? by Oliver Vodeb and Jason Grant, basically a manifesto of why designers should stop referring to visual design as 'branding' and the impacts that 'brands' are having on the world, and then how to move away from brand-focused design. Hmmm yeah I should go buy this soon.

[malyzar]

I don't stay super up-to-date on anything, lol. And none of these are UI/UX related (sorry). But here are a few sites and things I find myself coming back to on a regular basis. (I may have mentioned some of these on this forum before.)

Under Consideration's Brand New
Highlights recent rebrands. They moved the articles and comments behind a paywall a few years ago. But it's still a good resource, if you just wanna see what big logos have just been redesigned and what they look like. (Up top because it's the only one that is current.)

FontsInUse.com
FontsinUse is high on my list of favorites and is one of the main places I go for inspiration. More focused on visuals up front, but lots of knowledge to be gained throughout.

Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute
Most everyone here probably knows about CARI. But it's a favorite and is extremely useful, especially when aiming for a certain aesthetic.

Texturelabs
A YouTube channel that I've learned a lot from. Lots of really cool, sometimes mind-bending Photoshop tutorials.

CAPS LOCK by Ruben Pater.
A book about graphic design's relationship to capitalism. It's incredible. Devastating. (Would also recommend Mike Monteiro's Ruined by Design, but Caps Lock feels much more comprehensive.)

The Creative Independent
This site is less focused on design and more focused on creativity as a broad concept. But tons of really great interviews. The whole site is also very cozy and nice to visit.

I also like AIGA's Eye on Design and A List Apart. Will check out the others you mentioned!

[malyzar]

Oh, another one that is sometimes semi-relevant (occasionally touches on web design and techniques): Low-Tech Magazine. Some extremely cool stuff going on over here: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/

[Skellingtor]

CAPS LOCK by Ruben Pater.
A book about graphic design's relationship to capitalism. It's incredible. Devastating. (Would also recommend Mike Monteiro's Ruined by Design, but Caps Lock feels much more comprehensive.)

wish i could find the ebook version mentioned on the website, even if it's just a PDF. this looks very interesting.

i'm going to start a UX/UI design course early next year so i'm very fortunate to stumble on this thread!

[malyzar]

wish i could find the ebook version mentioned on the website, even if it's just a PDF. this looks very interesting.

Try this link! https://valiz.nl/en/publications/caps-l ... platecards

[Fruitality]

Oh, another one that is sometimes semi-relevant (occasionally touches on web design and techniques): Low-Tech Magazine. Some extremely cool stuff going on over here: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/

Man, I read a whole bunch of this website since you posted it. This is so cool. Love this guys philosophy.

Thanks for all the other links too! Slowly building up my RSS Reader feed with a bunch of cool stuff.

[breakfastcowl]

Don't want to start a new thread so dropping this here. WOW!

https://obscuritory.com/essay/incredibl ... k-wah-yeo/

[breakfastcowl]

Hnnngggg

A local college has shelves of older magazines they're just giving away, a big chunk of which are design/print industry related. Many lbs. of this, I do not need it, and yet I want it. Browsing briefly, references and commentaries hailing from 2002-2014

[Kai]

With the tagline "Style is Substance" I think maraganger youtube channel about obscure video given the light in a video essay fits here as well: https://www.youtube.com/@maraganger/videos

[Fruitality]

Woah that channel looks amazing. Will definitely watch some of those!

[breakfastcowl]

cover.jpg (50.79 KiB) Viewed 2641 times

So that magazine stash that college library was trying to get rid of? I tooootally went back and hauled off hundreds of issues and this is just one of the first items that might be of interest here. JOIN ME in traveling to the year 2000 by way of I.D. Magazine's "Interactive Media Design Review".

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

It's fascinating reading through what was included and why. What a non-videogame magazine thought about videogames, for instance. What a design centered organization valued at the turn of the millennium. Towards the back of the magazine it switches to an uncoated paper stock w/ two-color print which looks and feels great. I scanned two extra items of interest there; a blurb on the PS2 launch in Japan and also a snapshot of the changing conversation about phones vs. PDA's.

(What I didn't scan here was a Peter Molyneux two-page interview/hype piece for his next new game Black & White which hadn't even arrived yet. lol was smack right at the front of the year's Gold awards feature, the man's mythos practically being created in real-time.)

[malyzar]

So that magazine stash that college library was trying to get rid of? I tooootally went back and hauled off hundreds of issues and this is just one of the first items that might be of interest here. JOIN ME in traveling to the year 2000 by way of I.D. Magazine's "Interactive Media Design Review".

Ah, this is all amazing. Thanks for sharing!

[breakfastcowl]

Spotted on Cohost, a new game dev journal debuting shortly: https://afterjourneysend.substack.com/p ... g-volume-1

[malyzar]

Recently stumbled across these two amazing articles by Erik Carter:

Do You Want Typography or Do You Want The Truth?

The Future of Type