Dezign Sense #5
This issue features Montefiore typeface, tips on Visual Design, tools to generate business names, convert files, share files and some visual tease.
Welcome to the 5th issue of Dezign Sense! 🎉
This issue is quite different. Before I reveal it, here's something that has been on my mind for quite some time — "If taste is the focus of Dezign Sense newsletter, why is the newsletter not tastefully presented?".
Content is one part, presenting it is another. Platforms like Ghost (currently in use) have become a great tool for those who like a friction-free experience of writing and publishing to a large audience. But like many other publishing tools, it offers very little on the presentation side. It makes me laugh and cringe, since we're in 2023 ("Year of AI") and we still have Level 1 problems to solve.
For now, I have settled on a stack that takes good care of publishing, distribution and presentation. All three! Perhaps it will be simpler later. But for now, starting this week, the issues will be available to read on LinkedIn (🙈), Ghost (👍🏼) as well as on my Personal Site built on Framer (🤩).
It is needless to say, those who prefer to access and be engaged with the content in a better, beautiful way, can read it on the site. For all other reasons, there's Ghost and LinkedIn. So let's go! 😀
Here are some things this week that can inspire you. 👀
Type of the Week
Every week, I share my love for typefaces, one at a time.
Today let us explore Montefiore by Colophon Foundry.
The typeface is suitable for contexts where boldness, attention is needed for titles. What is more interesting about it is how the typeface is used to craft a custom identify and a variant typeface for the cause of Dementia. That's the third picture.
Read more about Race Against Dementia ››
Tips of the Week
Small techniques compound and enhance your overall workflow in Design. Here are some tips that can help you with Visual Design and Shadows.
I've added 9 more items to my list of "things I learned about visual design".
— Anthony Hobday (@hobdaydesign) February 3, 2023
Up to 63 now.https://t.co/px8usD8GHp pic.twitter.com/KdGmFcyjor
A 🧵 on how to implement beautiful shadow borders:
— Derek Briggs (@PixelJanitor) February 8, 2023
Yesterday, @jamesm called out our @trycampsite UI bits and how we utilize box shadows as borders to get better border contrast on elements with shadows. Lets talk about how we actually implement this and work around the gotchas:
Tools of the Week
Some systems, apps, products, plugins add significant value than others. Here are some you can explore this week.
Namelix by Brandmark
I've come across this excellent little tool during one of my recent design workshops. If you are in a startup or helping one or among those who're independent builders, this could come in handy.
TinyWow by Box20
If you're one of those who struggled to get a decent, fast, simple file conversion and modification tool, then you're not alone. Discovered by my colleague, Madhuri, TinyWow stands true to its name. It has a plethora of tools. Go check!
Snapdrop by Robin Linus
There comes a time where you'd want to quickly transfer something from one device to another without hassle of Airdrops or a Wetransfer. At that time, you should just relax and open up Snapdrop, built by Robin. Whether you're on a Mac or Windows or iPad or a Pixel phone, this is a gem of a tool that takes care of file transfer, provided you're on the same network. 😉
Teases of the Week
Here are some visual delights to tease you, from the world of graphics and interfaces that can inspire you in your projects.
Hope you've enjoyed it. If you have a suggestion or a thought, you can reply to this email or reach me on twitter — @arjunphlox.
See you all next week with another set of tasteful gems. 🫶🏼
