Design
The Principles of Good Design
Dieter Rams is an industrial designer who wrote the book on what good design is – and it’s pretty much law in the design world. Even the Apple designers were influenced...
WordCamp DFW 2016 Presentation
I had the opportunity to present for WordCamp DFW, at the University of Texas, Arlington, in September and the video of the presentation is now up on WordCamp TV. Even though...
Style Guides and Branding Mockups
When a client begins a website with Sumy Designs we start by asking our client a lot of discovery questions. We work with our clients to find out just about...
No fail font combinations
These days there is no shortage of font choices to use on your website or marketing materials. This is great because the choices are limitless and this is bad for...
Discovering our clients
When we start a website we work with our clients to find out as much as we can to get the most information available so we can create a website...
Come see me at WordCamp DFW
WordCamp DFW is this Saturday, September 24th, so if you haven't already you should get your tickets and get ready to learn. Sumy Designs is primarily a two-person design and...
Make a color palette with your phone photos
A few months ago I discovered a wonderful phone app called Color Viewfinder. If you have a favorite photo or favorite place and want to create a palette based on...
Fashionable Web Design
A lot of cool things have been happening in the design world so far in 2016, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to talk about the ones that...
Working with color for both print and web designs
When a client wants more than a website it is important to know the basics of print design and web design and to know how they work together. If you know...
Finding color inspiration for your website
Color palette choices are crucial to the effectiveness of your website's success. Subtle shifts in shades and tints within a palette can drastically alter the personality of your design and...
Making great 404 pages
What is a 404 page? The web site hosting server will typically generate a "404 Not Found" web page when a user attempts to follow a broken or dead link;...
Timesaving Photoshop plugins
Photoshop is my main creative tool for web design. I've been using Photoshop for nearly 20 years and I love it when I find reliable plugins that save me time....
Raster and Vector explained
When we create logos our clients receive a lot of files, including raster and vector graphics. Raster graphics are images made of hundreds, thousands or millions of tiny square dots of...
Color inspiration: yellow and gray
Yellow is a color many people affiliate with joy, elation, happiness, and creativity. It is no wonder companies like Cheerios, McDonalds, Nikon, Shell, Ikea and Amazon, just to name a few, use...
Typewriter fonts
The thought of composing on an old-fashioned typewriter makes my brain hurt and brings back horrific memories of running out of correction tape and white-out the night before my final...
Design lingo
Lorem Ipsum Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit ... Huh? You will probably see this copy in your initial web design drafts in places where you don't have...
Before and After Website Transformations
Sometimes you are just not sure if your website is in need of an update or even a complete redesign. We hear hundreds of excuses from small businesses across the...
Tips for making copy stand out on backgrounds
Drastic contrasts Using a highly contrasting color will make your text stand out. Use the empty space If your image has an empty space floating around, add the copy and...
Interior colors for your website
Sometimes we spend so much time decorating our living spaces, in the colors we love and that make us feel relaxed and comfortable, that we overlook that these same colors can...
