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Are you an entrepreneur or just simply looking to create an outstanding logo for your business? Look no further – this guide has got you covered. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a high-quality, custom logo designed exactly the way you want it. And the best part? You don’t need any fancy design software or skills. All you need is a Canva account, and you’re all set. 

Canva is a simple, user-friendly design tool with everything you need to make a logo on your own. Thousands of templates, fonts, icons, and images are at your fingertips. Just pick and choose the elements you like, swap colors and text, and you’ll have a unique logo tailored to your brand. So what are you waiting for? Let’s dive in and get started with designing your new logo in a flash using Canva.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf34rvZLYE8

What is Canva? How can it Help with a logo?

So what exactly is Canva, and how can it help you create a stunning logo for your brand? Canva is a free online design tool that makes it easy for anyone to create professional graphics, even with little to no design experience.

With Canva, you have access to thousands of professionally designed logo templates, icons, images, and fonts that you can customize in just a few clicks. You don’t need to be an expert in design software like Photoshop or Illustrator to make something that looks great. Canva’s drag-and-drop editor is extremely intuitive to use.

To get started, head to Canva.com and sign up for a free account. Next, select the “Logos” design type, and you’ll see hundreds of templates to choose from. Browse the options to find one that matches your brand style or industry. 

You can change the colors, swap out icons, add your business name, and experiment with different fonts. Canva gives you recommendations to help your logo look cohesive, but you have full control over the creative process. Keep playing with the elements until you land on a design you like.

Once your logo is complete, download it to use on your website, business cards, social media profiles, and anywhere else you want to promote your brand. With Canva, creating a high-quality logo for your business doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. 

Select a Logo Style that Aligns with Your Brand

When designing your brand logo in Canva, selecting a logo style that aligns with your brand is key. The options are endless, but focus on the below-mentioned main styles:

• Typographic: For a stylish, minimalist feel, choose a typographic logo. This focuses on your business name in a creative font. Play around with different fonts, sizes, and effects like drop shadows or texture overlays to make it unique. This style suits fashion, tech, and creative brands.
• Abstract: An abstract logo uses shapes, lines, and non-literal elements to represent your brand in an artistic way. This style is bold, eye-catching, and fuels curiosity. It works well for innovative startups.
• Illustrative: Use custom illustrations, hand-drawn elements, or quirky cartoons to give your brand a friendly, and personable vibe. An illustrative logo style is perfect for food and beverage, lifestyle, or pet brands. Even adding a simple illustration to a typographic logo can make it more memorable. 
• Symbolic: Incorporate universal symbols, meaningful metaphors, or cultural references to represent your brand cleverly and visually. A symbolic logo needs to be designed thoughtfully to connect the image and your brand values. When done right, it can be impactful and timeless. Think about symbols related to your niche, location, or name.

With the right style nailed down, you’ll be well on your way to crafting a logo that resonates with your target customers and builds brand recognition. Take your time exploring different styles and have fun with the process!

Choose a Template to Get Started

Sift Through the Template Options

Canva provides hundreds of free logo templates to choose from. Take your time browsing the options to find one that resonates with your brand. Some categories to consider include:

• Minimalist: Clean, simple designs with negative space. Great for sophisticated brands.
• Vintage: Retro-inspired logos with a handcrafted feel. Perfect for brands with a nostalgic style.
• Monogram: Stylish logos featuring your business’ initials. An elegant choice for luxury brands.
• Abstract: Creative, conceptual logos with an artistic vibe. Ideal for forward-thinking brands.

Once a template catches your eye, click to customize it. You’ll be able to change the colors, fonts, and sizes, and add graphics to make it your own. Don’t feel limited to the templates though, you can easily start from scratch if nothing stands out.

Mix and Match Elements

The beauty of Canva is that you can borrow elements from different templates to create a unique logo. You might take a monogram layout you like, but pair it with a minimalist font and color palette, or, start with an abstract shape but fill it in with a vintage pattern. Feel free to experiment by pairing unexpected elements together!

Canva’s drag-and-drop design makes mixing and matching easy. Simply click to select the elements you want to use, then drag them onto your logo. Rearrange and resize as needed to achieve the look you want. Change the colors and fonts by clicking the text or shapes. Play around with different options until you land on a combination you like.

Your brand logo represents your business, so take the time to explore all the options. With some patience and creativity, you can craft a high-quality, custom logo using Canva’s simple yet versatile tools. Before you know it, you’ll have a logo ready to put on your website, business cards, and more!

Add Your Company Name and Customize the Fonts

Once you have a logo template selected, it’s time to customize it and make it your own. The centerpiece of any logo is the company name, so let’s start there.

Add Your Company Name

Type your company name into the logo template. Play around with different fonts, sizes, and styles to see what you like best. For a professional look, stick to simple, clean fonts without too many decorative elements. Consider “Sans Serif” fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Futura or “Serif” fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia.

• Make your company name the focal point by using a font that is slightly larger in size than any additional text.
• For a simple but stylish look, use the same font for your company name and any tagline or additional text.
• Use all uppercase, all lowercase, or proper case letters depending on which style best suits your brand. A proper case with an initial capital is the most traditional.

Once you have your company name in place, take time to review it and ensure it looks balanced within your logo template. Make any final changes to the size, font, or layout before moving on. The name is the foundation of your logo, so it’s important to get it just right!

Customize Additional Elements

If your logo includes any additional text like a tagline or location, choose a complementary font and size and add it to your template. Place any extra text below or beside your company name, taking care to balance the overall look.

• Use a similar or contrasting font for additional text to create harmony or visual interest, but don’t use more than 2 fonts for a professional logo.
• Make extra text slightly smaller in size than your company name so it remains secondary.
• Add a symbol like a leaf, flower, star, etc. if desired. Keep symbols simple and place them evenly with all text.

With your company name and any additional elements in place, review your logo as a whole. Make any final refinements to the layout, sizing, or fonts before moving on to the next steps. By following these tips, you’ll have a high-quality, customized logo for your brand in no time.

Experiment With Colors and Effects

Once you have the basics of your logo down, it’s time to experiment with different colors and add visual effects to make it pop. Colors and effects can significantly impact the look and feel of your logo, so take your time exploring the options.

Choose a Color Palette

Consider the mood and message you want to convey. Red tones signify passion or urgency, blues imply trustworthiness, and greens represent growth or nature. You can select complementary colors or a monochromatic palette. 

Add Shadows or Dimension

Subtle drop shadows, outlines, or gradient effects can give your logo an illusion of dimension, making it appear less flat. They also help your logo stand out more on different backgrounds. Start with small, softly diffused shadows or outlines before moving on to more vivid effects.

Play Around With Opacity

Adjusting the opacity or transparency of elements in your logo is an easy way to make them visually more interesting. For example, a semi-transparent circle behind your logo name or a faded shadow. Opacity allows you to create layers and depth without compromising the simplicity of your design.

Consider Specialty Effects

Once you have the basics down, explore Canva’s filters and effects to create an eye-catching logo. Options like duotone, glitch, neon, or metallic can infuse your logo with a stylish and modern flair. But use special effects sparingly, as your logo should still be recognizable without them.

Take time experimenting with different color schemes, shadows, opacities, and effects. Get feedback from others and see how your logo looks on both light and dark backgrounds. Make adjustments as needed until you have a visually striking logo you’re proud to use to represent your brand. With Canva, creating a stunning logo is fast, fun, and easy!

Export Your Logo and Use it Everywhere

Once you’ve created your perfect logo in Canva, it’s time to export it. The following points can be taken into account while creating and exporting your logo.

Download Your Logo

In Canva, click the “Download” button at the top of the page. You’ll have the option to download your logo as a PNG, JPG, or PDF file. PNG is best for logos, since it’s a lossless format that preserves transparency. Select PNG and then choose if you want to download just the logo itself or the logo with a transparent background.

Add Your Logo to Your Website

Upload your new logo to your website and add it to your header or footer, so visitors instantly recognize your brand. You may need to adjust the size to best fit your particular theme and layout. 

Update Your Social Media Profiles

Having a consistent brand image across all platforms is key. Update your profile photos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and anywhere else with your new logo. This helps people connect your profiles together and builds brand recognition.

Print Your Logo

Want to see your logo in the real world? Use Canva to design business cards, letterhead, banners, t-shirts, and more featuring your logo. They offer affordable printing services to bring your designs to life. You can also download your logo and take it to your local print shop to have it added to any promotional items.

Your logo is the face of your brand, so now that you have a high-quality one created, use it wisely! Placing it on your website, social media profiles, business cards, apparel, product packaging, and anywhere else helps spread brand awareness and gives your business a professional and consistent image. 

There you go! It’s that easy to create a stunning logo in a matter of minutes. If you’re not much of a reader and wish to go through the process in a visual format, check out the LearnWoo YouTube video on the same topic below.  

Conclusion

And there you have it, your very own professional logo designed in Canva, ready to represent your brand. You’ve chosen a design style that suits your business, picked colors that match your vision, and crafted a logo you can put on your website and social media profiles. 

With a little time and patience, you’ve created a logo on your own without needing to hire an expensive designer. Most of the process is free, apart from some of the premium elements offered by Canva.

We hope this post has helped you create a high-quality logo for your brand with ease!

Photo by Theme Photos on Unsplash

The post How To Create A High-Quality Logo For Your Brand Using Canva? Fast and Easy! [Includes Video] appeared first on noupe.

Gone are those days when you only needed to put blocks of text on your website and expect a boost in engagement rates. People are becoming more graphics-centric and believe it should be an integral part of every marketing stage.

That’s where illustrations come in. They are powerful visual elements that you can employ on every aspect of your website – homepage or blog posts. 

According to Springer, customers guided by texts and illustrations perform 323% better than those without. This is especially true if the illustration is placed on your sales page and places where you need to nudge your customers down the conversion funnel.

Note that an illustration can simply be a work of art with characters depicting your brand process. It can also be a combination of data visualizations created with geometric shapes and is useful for articles.

In this article, we will discuss ten important steps that will help you create a cutting-edge illustration.

10 Steps To Create Custom Illustrations For Your Website

Creating a custom illustration for any page on your website is a no-brainer, but you need a basic knowledge of how designs work. So it’s advisable you go through a few tutorials on Youtube to help you get a good feel of how things work. 

Regardless, we have simplified ten basic steps that will help you create awesome illustrations as a beginner or pro below.

1. Finding The Right Tools

There are several tools for creating illustrations, but the best picks on our list are Adobe Illustrator (AI) and Procreate. AI is a vector-based design software that you can use to design logos, fliers, prints, infographics, and illustrations. And designers sometimes use it to convert raster-based images to vector-based art and vice versa.

Procreate boasts similar functions to AI, such as logo designs and illustrations. You can use Procreate to design artwork, including 2D and 3D characters, which are helpful for storytelling on your home and sales page. Additionally, you can get resources like anime and manga brushes for Procreate from platforms like Brush Galaxy, which makes the tool even easier to use.

2. Brainstorm A Concept

Once you have a preferred tool, it’s time to brainstorm a concept. You should have a clear picture of how you want your illustration to look, what it should contain, the colors, fonts, and the message to pass. On a better note, you should first identify what page of your website you’re designing the illustration for.

If you’re creating one for your homepage, then you’re most likely going to be working with stats like previous sales data, completed projects, and many others. In some cases, it could be character or descriptive art, which is often useful for impressing new visitors to your website.

A blog post usually does not need overly complex visuals. So your illustration might just wrap around a single paragraph, statistics, or fact. The same goes for case studies and newsletters.

When you’ve figured out what type of illustration you need, visit sites like Pinterest for variations of your concept. Filter the results to get relevant ideas and visuals. You can also explore Canva’s library and Freepik for more.

3. Sketch Out Your Idea

Don’t forget to sketch the ideas you’ve just brainstormed. Concepts are very volatile, and it’s quite easy to forget one or two at every click. If you have an iPad, you can download Procreate and use your pen to quickly create a rough prototype. Alternatively, you can do the sketches on a sheet of paper – anyone works.

Note that you’re not replicating the same concepts you’ve seen from other designers. You are only taking inspiration from their illustrations to create yours. So take note of the possible variations that can give your own design a unique look when sketching.

4. Set Up Your Workspace

The workspace is where all of your designs take place. To enhance your productivity and creativity, you should put all the necessary elements here. For example, you can line up your color palettes on the left for easy access when you’re creating your illustrations. This saves you the stress of going to the color drawer over and over again.

Other things to include in your workspace include your preferred shapes, quick boxes, images, and the texts you will use. Another way to tweak your workspace is by adjusting the existing preferences.

5. Start Designing

Now that you have your sketches, you can scan and upload them to Adobe Illustrator. Start by tracing out the sketch lines and get a basic shape in place. You only need to create a gray draft before adding colors and other elements.

Adobe Illustrator has a font-matching feature that comes with Adobe Sensei. Use it to dig out the best fonts and strokes to use for your texts.

6. Work With Geometric Shapes

Geometric shapes include rectangles, squares, circles, and stars. Often, most non-sketch illustrations start with these shapes and are further combined to create more complex designs. For example, you can use Adobe Illustrator’s “distort and transform” tool to bloat and pucker your shapes for a more artistic look.

When creating illustrator charts for in-article use, you can work with rectangles for the bar and circles for pies. 

7. Prioritize Brand Consistency

Brand consistency means presenting your brand across all channels the same way. The importance of brand consistency is instant recognition. And that means anywhere your customers or previous website visitors see your designs, they know it’s you.

A quick way to implement consistency is by creating a reusable template for your illustrations. You should also maintain the colors you use, your inscriptions, the logo, and the design pattern. 

8. Go 2D And 3D If Necessary

While most illustrations are already pretty good without adding extra aesthetics, they don’t have to look paper-like or rigid. For more realistic and expressive designs, you can use tools like Procreate and Adobe Illustrator. 

Also, note that not all of your illustrations need to be 2D and 3D. For example, illustrative pie charts and statistics for email content should be as simple as possible. Blog illustrations can take it an inch further and go 2D. 

9. Review And Edit

Once your illustrations are ready, sleep on them and review them for extra details. You should also test them across different devices and screens. Importantly, your file size matters a lot since they will be going live on your website. 

So ensure you optimize each byte without affecting the illustration’s quality while also prioritizing your page-load speed.

10. Use Pre-built Templates

Instead of creating everything from scratch, you can alternatively use pre-built templates. Some sites like Freepiks offer both premium and free templates which you can edit. All you need to do is insert your data where necessary.

If you are a bit versed in graphic designing, you can do some tweaking to the colors, shapes, and other elements used. 

Conclusion

Illustrations are so important and almost indispensable if you want to create a quality experience for people on your website. Adding them to your blog posts is even more crucial and can help enhance engagement.

To create a custom illustration, you need to brainstorm and sketch a concept. Afterward, open up your design software and set up the workspace. Scan the sketch and start designing. Finally, add the finishing touches.

Featured Image by upklyak on Freepik

The post How To Create Custom Illustrations For Your Website? appeared first on noupe.

For many marketers, an influencer marketing strategy is a no-brainer. The others are still deciding on the worth of influencer marketing. 

Both are perfectly right in their own way: After all, the importance of influencer marketing “depends” on the type of industry you’re in and the kind of work you do. 

However, if you’ve never dipped your toe in the world of influencer marketing but are eager to learn more, we’ve got some jaw-dropping statistics that’ll help you shape your strategy in 2023.  

Please note: We’ve only noted the statistics acquired from studies conducted between 2021–2023 to ensure relevancy.

Let’s dive in.  

Key statistics to shape up your influencer strategy 

1. When asked to share a budget, 23% of marketers planned to spend 40% of their marketing budget on influencer marketing, whereas the average majority (25%), planned to dedicate 10–20% of their budget. (Source)

Some marketers leverage AI to cut down costs. There are tools that help to find potential candidates in a short period of time, plus writing tools can help develop guidelines and brand books to make the partnership seamless. 

Tools like Klear, Chat GPT, and specialized writing tools for marketing and sales content, for instance, are some valuable resources marketing teams can leverage to save time and money. However, it is crucial to check for features and specifications in advance to choose the right toolset. For those looking in for tools in the content space, online reviews like this one on Jasper.ai vs. Copy.ai are helpful. 

2. 43% of brands spend less than $10k/year (US Dollars) on influencer marketing. However, there are a few who spend more than $500k. (Source)

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3. Instagram is the most popular channel for influencer marketing, with 87% of marketers and 90% of creators planning to increase their presence there. (Source)

4. According to a 2022 survey (whose respondents were mainly brands and PR and marketing agencies), 54% of the organizations said they worked with up to 10 influencers, and 3% said they worked with 1000+ influencers. (Source)

5. In 2023, brands plan to decrease their spending on the following platforms: Snapchat (73%), Twitter (58%), Pinterest (43%), etc. (Source)

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6. Zara, Shein, and Instagram are the most talked-about brands on Instagram. (Source) 

This indicates the audiences there place importance on fashion, which means if you’re in the fashion business and you sell products like leather jackets and linen suits, partnerships with creators on Instagram may be an exceptionally good strategy for you. You can get a lot of valuable data for earned media and social media mentions and utilize this data for your HubSpot lead scoring, which will help you get more conversions in the end. 

7. In 2022, brands placed importance on the following metrics when partnering with influencers: engagement rates (32%), social media traffic (19%), and brand mentions (11%). (Source) 

However, in 2023, the following metrics have the highest level of importance: views, reach, and impressions (49.6%), engagement (25.5%), and conversions/sales (24.9%). (Source)

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8. 61% of brands prefer to work with the same influencers, whereas the remaining 39% prefer working with new influencers. (Source)

9. An average majority (77%) of influencers are female, and 23% of them are male. (Source) You’ll find a breakdown of this statistic by each platform below. 

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10. In 2021 and 2022

• Mega-influencers charged at least $1,200 (US dollars) per Instagram post, whereas macro-influencers charged anywhere between $185-$2500. (Source)

• On TikTok, mega-influencers charged an average minimum of $1,034, and macro-influencers charged anywhere between $151-$793. (Source)

• On YouTube, the former (mega-influencers) charged an average minimum of $2,500, and the latter (macro-influencers) charged between $1105-$16,234, thus making YouTube the platform that requires the highest amount of investment for influencer partnerships. (Source)

If your budget doesn’t allow you to partner with mega or macro influencers, you can try getting your foot in the door with organic posts instead of paid ones. 

For example, if you’re in the pet industry and want to work with a cat influencer, you can offer them free products, such as toys, food, accessories, furniture, and even cat insurance. That might get you noticed (and if your luck has it, you might get a free post out of it too). 

This barter strategy worked so well for Awful Cloth, it got them noticed by influencers Jason Derulo, Bryce Hall, and Charli D’Amelio. 

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If you get a free post or promotion, make sure to highlight it in you social media and website to use it as social proof. Create eye-catching captions to boost sales by leveraging AI writing tools, photo editors and upscale API to ensure high-quality.

11. A 2021 survey said that 53% of respondents believe influencers are the most skilled at promoting beauty products, and 45% of them said they are the most skilled at promoting clothing/accessories. (Source) 

12. More than 61% of the brands plan to use artificial intelligence or machine learning to identify which influencers to work with. (Source). 

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13. 39% of brands prefer to work with nano-influencers, whereas 30% of them prefer to work with micro-influencers. (Source) 

14. An influencer collaboration takes approximately 16 days to complete its full lifecycle. (Source)

15. Price per post for any influencer partnership is usually determined by the following formula, “Average engagement x Engagement Rate Price.” 

The average engagement rate cost on YouTube is $0.04, on TikTok is $0.21, on Instagram is $0.56, on Facebook is $2.63, on Pinterest is $5.51, and on Twitter is $37.82. (Source)

Side note: Prices are in US dollars. 

16. Lifestyle, fitness, entertainment, etc., are some of the most profitable niches for influencers. (Source) 

When you take an average of how much 500,000 influencers charge across various niches on a variety of platforms, these are the figures you’ll get:

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17. In 2022, these were the accounted engagement rates of influencers: Nano-influencers (2.53%), micro-influencers (1.06%), mid-tier influencers (0.91%), macro-influencers (0.86%), and mega-influencers (0.92%). (Source)

18. Between 2022 and 2023, 70% of influencers have increased their rates, 2% have decreased them, and around 28% are keeping them just the same. (Source) 

19. Men prefer to follow influencers who operate in the gaming, fitness, and food niches. While women prefer to follow influencers who operate in the skincare, fashion, and food niches. (Source)

20. A study that focused on Gen Z and millennials said that these audiences prefer to follow someone who’s authentic, funny, or knowledgeable, as opposed to someone with a large following. (Source)

Learn more about influencer marketing 

Since we’ve only seen the rise of influencer marketing in the past few years, there’s still a lot to learn about the industry’s future and how effective it could be in the long run. 

To keep up with all the trends in influencer marketing, you can regularly follow places like Influencer Marketing Hub, Adweek, and Noupe (as we regularly post advice on improving your brand presence and marketing strategies).

So are you ready to take the leap and invest in influencer marketing? Join the thousands of brands already tapping into this lucrative marketing strategy. You won’t regret it and neither will your bottom line. 

Happy influencing! 

Featured Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

The post 20 Key Influencer Marketing Statistics to Help You Shape Your Strategy in 2023 appeared first on noupe.

Accessibility must be a default feature of product designs. As the world evolves to be more inclusive of all people, regardless of race, gender, and disabilities, so too does the digital world. Many web developers and product designers are now giving importance to how accessible their products are to all kinds of users, including people with disabilities.

So how can you make sure that people with unique needs can easily access your website? Hiring product designers is a foolproof way to ensure universal accessibility. Limeup is a qualified web developer who can help your business website have a better ranking. Product designers at Limeup can tailor-fit a product design that is most suited to your brand, requirements, and preferences.  

What is Accessible Product Design?

To have an accessible product design means allowing all users to navigate through the software comfortably and without any hassle. Anyone must easily access your website, regardless of their disabilities, generation, and condition. It must be user-friendly, especially for people with temporary or permanent impairments like visual, auditory, cognitive, physical, and speech disabilities. 

The accessibility of a website means disadvantaged individuals can scroll and move through your website without any difficulty. For instance, to be accessible to a visually impaired individual requires your website to incorporate good color contrast and readable text. You may also include a text-to-speech function for people who can hardly see and read. 

Another example in the case of a temporary disability is when a parent visits your website while holding a baby in one arm. The user must easily read the content, view graphics, and move through web pages using only the user’s workable arm.

Importance of Accessibility?

Accessibility is not only an issue in the tech or digital world. More importantly, it is a human rights issue that must be addressed in all aspects of life, offline or online. We’ve enumerated reasons why accessibility is important for your product design.

Better User Experience (UX)

Website accessibility is consequential to users’ experience. Because an accessible product design means ease of access, use, and navigation, users are likely to enjoy their time and experience on your website. Accessibility will also benefit not just users with disabilities; Those who don’t will also enjoy a seamless user experience.  

Compliance with Website Accessibility Laws

Countries like the United States have rules and regulations on the inclusivity of websites and applications. According to website accessibility laws, software and digital technology must be inclusive for all people with impairments, regardless of their disabilities. Thus, you could face legal charges if you fail to ensure universal accessibility of your product designs.

Higher Lead Generation and Conversion

Since a highly accessible website provides users with a better experience, more people are likely to visit your website. Improved traffic also means a better probability of lead generation and conversion. Users, including those with disabilities, are potential customers that you can persuade into buying your product or engaging with your brand through improved accessibility and user experience.

Inclusive and Non-discriminate Branding

Brand image and reputation say a lot about a business or company. What do you think people will say about your brand if you treat people with disabilities differently? To avoid being labeled as discriminatory, you must develop an all-accessible product design, prioritizing the needs of disadvantaged users.

How to Ensure Product Design Accessibility?

A basic understanding of product design accessibility is not enough to guarantee accessibility. Even product designers can overlook the accessibility features of their digital content, thus failing to achieve a universally accessible product design. You need a team of highly experienced product designers with technical expertise to ensure ease of access for people with unique needs.

Use Proper Colors and Themes

The themes and color combination of your website are vital accessibility elements. They are key to the readability and clarity of your web content. Thus, you must use appropriate color contrast for the text and background of your website. This way, users, especially visually challenged individuals, will not have a hard time reading and understanding your website.

Think about your Texts

A large part of your website consists of texts and paragraphs which are integral for the accessibility of people with dyslexia and visual impairments. You must conduct research to ensure that your texts are easy to read for people with visual problems. For instance, you must know the correct font style, size, effect, and character spacing to use to aid people in reading and decoding the information on your website. 

Consider Touch Targets for Mobile Users

Essentially, touch targets or touch zones in mobile phones are parts of the screen that are easily reachable by the human thumb. The touch target is normally at the bottom of the screen because single-handed users can easily reach this part using their thumb. You can consider this information when designing your product to ensure that mobile users can easily navigate through your website or app.

Perform User Testing

One best practice of professional web developers and product designers is conducting user testing. If you want to ensure universal accessibility of your application or website, you must perform these tests with a wide variety of users, including those with special needs and impairments. This will allow developers and designers to identify design elements and features that must be edited to suit the needs of different users.

Why Do You Need Accessibility Testing?

Accessibility testing is an imperative step in ensuring that you have an all-inclusive digital product. Sometimes, no matter how meticulous you are in designing a product, you will still fail to see gaps and accessibility issues in your web design. Thus, performing accessibility testing will help determine these shortcomings, so you can revise your website to be a more inclusive product. 

Product design accessibility is key to inclusivity. Web developers and designers now realize the importance of universal access in generating traffic and better lead conversion. Through an accessible product design, you’ll be able to penetrate your market effectively such that more users, with or without disabilities, are able to access your website.

Featured image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

The post The Importance of Accessibility in Product Design appeared first on noupe.

Ever since its introduction to the world in 1996, CSS has been the staple of web page decoration and visual presentation. It has lasted until today, controlling aspects such as layout, typography, and colors of a web page or site. As a web designer, knowing key CSS tricks can help you enhance your work, producing web pages with a better look and feel, and making them more responsive and user-friendly.

If you’re a web designer, it’s up to you to create pages that leave a lasting impression. In this article, we’ll cover 5 CSS tricks designers as you should know. These techniques will help you create beautiful and responsive websites that will be sure to stand out from the crowd.

Essential CSS Tricks for Designers 

1. Grid Layout

Grid layout is a powerful tool that allows designers to easily create complex layouts. You can define rows and columns and then place elements within them. They are especially useful when dealing with many similar items that should be arranged spatially logically, such as a photo gallery.

To use the grid layout, you first define a container element as a grid with the display: grid property. You can then specify the size and placement of each row and column using the grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns* properties, respectively. Finally, you can place elements within the grid using the grid-column and grid-row properties.

Here’s a simple example of how to use a grid layout:

.container {   display: grid;   grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);   grid-gap: 20px; } .item {   grid-column: 1 / 3;   grid-row: 2; }

In this example, we’re using a grid to create a container with three columns and a 20px gap between them. We’re also placing an item within the second row and spanning it across two columns.

2. Flexbox

Flexbox is another powerful layout tool that allows designers to create responsive layouts with ease. With Flexbox, you can define a flexible container and then place items within that container.

To use Flexbox, you first define a container element as a flex container with the display: flex property. You can then specify how items should be distributed along the main and cross axes using properties like justify-content and align-items. You can also set the size of each item using the flex-basis property.

Here’s an example of how to use Flexbox:

.container {   display: flex;   justify-content: space-between;   align-items: center; } .item {   flex-basis: 30%; }

In this example, we’re using a flexbox to create a container with items that are spaced evenly and centered vertically.

3. Transitions and Animations

Both transitions and animations are great tools for adding interactivity and visual interest to your website. With transitions, you can specify how properties should change over time, while animations allow you to create animated content with the help of keyframes.

To use transitions, you first define an element’s starting and ending states using properties. You can then use the transition property to specify which properties should transition and how long the transition should take. When the element’s state changes (for example, when the user hovers over it), the transition will occur.

Here’s an example of how to use transitions to create a hover effect on a button:

.button {   background-color: #333;   color: #fff;   padding: 10px 20px;   border-radius: 5px;   transition: background-color 0.5s ease; } .button:hover {   background-color: #fff;   color: #333; }

In this example, the background-color property of the button is set to transition over 0.5 seconds with an ease of timing function. When the user hovers over the button, the background-color changes to white, creating a simple but effective hover effect.

4. Custom Fonts

Custom fonts allow designers to create unique and memorable typography for their websites. Using custom fonts, designers can set their websites apart from the competition and create a more consistent and immersive experience.

To use custom fonts, you’ll first need to find a font you like and download it. You can then upload the font files to your website and use CSS to apply the font to your text. You can either use the @font-face rule to define the font, or you can use a service like Google Fonts to host the font files and provide a simple way to add the font to your website.

Here’s an example of how to use custom fonts with the @font-face rule:

@font-face {   font-family: ‘My Custom Font’;   src: url(‘my-custom-font.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),       url(‘my-custom-font.woff’) format(‘woff’); } h1 {   font-family: ‘My Custom Font’, sans-serif; }

In this example, we’re defining a custom font called “My Custom Font” using the @font-face rule. We’re then applying that font to an h1 element using the font-family property.

5. Variables

Variables, also known as custom properties, allow designers to define reusable values that can be used throughout their CSS. This can make it easier to create consistent and modular styles and can also make it easier to update styles in the future.

To use variables in CSS, you first define them using the — prefix. You can then use that variable throughout your CSS by referencing it with the var() function. You can also update the value of the variable dynamically using JavaScript.

Here’s an example of how to use variables in CSS:

:root {   –primary-color: #007bff; } button {   background-color: var(–primary-color);   color: #fff;   padding: 10px 20px;   border-radius: 5px; } button:hover {   background-color: #fff;   color: var(–primary-color); }

In this example, we’re defining a primary-color variable and setting it to a blue tone. We’re then using that variable to set the background color of a button. When the user hovers over the button, the background-color changes to white, and the color changes to the primary color, which we set using the variable.

Empower Your CSS Skills

By using these 5 essential CSS tricks, you can create beautiful and responsive websites that stand out from the competition. They are all powerful tools that can help you take your designs to the next level.

Remember, these are just a few of the many CSS tricks that are available to web designers. A good designer should keep experimenting and learning new techniques to stay at the top of their game. Happy Web Designing!

Featured image by Christina Morillo on Pexels

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