Today I’d like to try something new and have a fun discussion on what makes someone a ‘good’ designer. What’s your opinion?

I think it will be exciting to talk and compare opinions on what it really is the makes you a good designer. Hopefully you can even come away with some new thoughts on how to be better!  

Do you want to spend this year doing the same things you did last year – stuck in the same schedule, the same income bracket, facing the same problems? Of course not!

Everybody needs to take some time now and then to refresh, look at how they’ve been doing things, and then figure out how to climb a bit higher. Here’s a list of 15 ideas to help you break out of the rut and expand your horizons - some thoughts to inspire you and get you started.

As designers, it’s important to stay current with new trends and to sharpen your skills when needed. But how effective can these skills really be if you’re not organized? Being a cool and collected designer that’s organized is key to your success. Without the discipline a designer needs in today’s industry, it will be a bit hard to stay afloat when large and very important projects that require this skill come your way.

This is why we’ve compiled a list containing the Top 10 Free Applications That Help Designers Stay Organized. Takes these applications seriously and use them to systemize and enhance your workflow.

It’s easy to mess up as a designer, and it’s important to recognize and stay away from the mistakes that will make your life harder. Today we’re going to study 10  blunders that are common in and specific to designers so that you can keep an eye out for them in your life and avoid learning the lesson the hard way.

These aren’t design principles like “always make a clear call to action”, they are the business and life choices that can make or break your career. Here’s what you don’t do:

Good designers know that using the right tools not only increases their efficiency but also improves the quality of their work. Good tools can help reduce repetition and allow you to focus on what matters – the design.

Today we’re going to see 50 of the best tools for web designers – these have all received high acclaim in the design community, and for good reason.

If you’re ready to learn more about WordPress plugin development and continue your journey, you can be glad that there’s a lot more great resources out there.

In this final post of the series, we’ll take a look at a few carefully selected high-quality resources for learning more and then explore some of the best plugins from the repository.

In the first three parts of this series you learned theory – how the WordPress plugin API works and how to use it. If you’re like me, however, you’ve been longing for a real life application – thinking, “That looks great, but how do I make the jump to using it in real life?”

Today, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. We’re going to delve in deep and tackle a real-life plugin (called WisdomDistilled) designed to allow easy placement and management of clever quotations. You’ll get to use the stuff you’ve learned – adding a widget and a settings page, saving options, and working with API hooks, plus learn some new techniques related to security, plugin structure, and working with the WordPress database. Are you ready?

In parts 1 and 2 we explored API hooks, custom admin pages, custom widgets, saving plugin options and more. Today, I’m going to show you how to get your hands dirty with WordPress’s write post page, which is where a lot of plugins output their main functionality.

We’ll be exploring how to add custom panels, create shortcodes, and interact with TinyMCE to add buttons and insert data. It’s time to dig in!