A huge chunk of our modern lives is spent staring at screens, reading and interacting with the web. Web design has never been more crucial. From a detailed look at the New Yorker's online redesign to GIFs explaining responsive design, here are the 16 most popular web design stories we wrote in 2014.
9 GIFs That Explain Responsive Design Brilliantly
Ever wonder what responsive design is, and how it differs from an adaptive design? These GIFs will educate you.
Oh, Snap! '90s Web Design Is Hot Again
A growing number of developers have sought to bring back the early aesthetic and, more importantly, the spirit of innovation and community that prevailed on the early Internet. Take a look at how they're trying to bring the essence of the '90s back to the web.
The Next Big Thing In Responsive Design
Responsive design, which allows designers and developers to build websites that adapt to every screen size, is one of the most empowering web tools to be adopted in the last decade. But what comes next?
Why Do Designers Think No One Knows How To Scroll?
Or, "Why thinking everything needs to be 'above the fold' is bullshit." Everyone scrolls. Everyone. Here's proof.
What Corporate Logos Would Look Like If You Shrank Them
Take the logos of Coca-Cola, Nike, Bang & Olufsen, and Levi's. Now turn a shrink ray on them. What you get is a new way for designing logos for the web that makes them as responsive and scalable as a well-designed website.
What Google.com Would Look Like With A Material Design Revamp
Lead Google homepage designer Jon Wiley once told us that he wasn't sure if Google.com's design would ever fundamentally change. But what if it did? Here's what Google search would look like if it were redesigned using Google's own Material Design language.
Designing A Better Charity Donation Form
Why let bad design get in the way of charity? Here's how one designer tweaked his webpage's charity form to get more people to donate.
$230 Million Still Can't Buy A Startup Original Design?
You’ve heard it before. Two startups, with vastly different amounts of funding, ostensibly do the same thing. In the left corner, you have HelloSign, with $3.5 million in funding, which allows you to sign documents electronically. In the right corner, you have DocuSign, with $230 million in funding, which also allows you to sign documents electronically. Can you guess which startup ripped off the other startup's website design?
Is Squarespace's New Logo Generator A Design Crime?
When Squarespace released a new tool called Logo that brought the company's dead easy, drag-and-drop approach to logo design, the Internet screamed design crime. Was it much ado about nothing?
9 Design Ideas That Forever Changed The Web
The author of 100 Ideas That Changed The Web gives us his nine biggest design innovations throughout history. Without these, the web would still be just a playground of engineers and computer programmers.
How The New Yorker Finally Figured Out The Internet: 3 Lessons From Its Web Redesign
In July, the New Yorker unveiled a new website design that raised traffic across the board. We sat down with the New Yorker's creative director Wyatt Mitchell and NewYorker.com editor Nicholas Thompson to try to distill lessons that any publication could gather from their success.
The Guardian Rolls Out A Redesign, With Input From Thousands Of Readers
Although the websites of many magazines and newspapers need a makeover, few needed one as badly as the UK Guardian did. Here's how it allowed 26,000 readers to contribute to one of the best redesigns of the year.
What The New York Times Web Reboot Gets Right
Back in January, one of the most important news sites on the web redesigned itself. Rob Tannen of the Intuitive Company took the newNew York Times for a test drive, and as it turned out, there was a lot to like.
Wikipedia To Redesign Across More Than 32 Million Pages
Wikipedia is one of the web's most popular resources, and yet, its design is notoriously sparse. There's a reason for that: it turns out designing a website that can work on any device on Earth is pretty hard. Here's how Wikipedia does it.
The Beautiful Wikipedia Design That Almost Was
While we're at it, wonder what Wikipedia would look like if it was actually redesigned? Here's the Wikipedia that could have been.
The History Of Web Design, Explained In 9 GIFs
Twenty-five years of web design, summarized in 9 unforgettable GIFs. If you've ever wondered why CSS is important, or why Flash died out, read this.