Inspiration

Finding your first web development job, be it for programming or design, is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do. Obviously there's no exact science to it, but here's some advice from someone who had to go through it - and learned a lot along the way. About my experience and training For an article like this I think it's fairly important I give some background, so: hello! I'm Leonardo, a front-end developer in Glasgow, Scotland. This is my third software development job since finishing uni. I studied

From their signature colour scheme to their email domain, Octopus Energy's modern branding never fails to come across as effortlessly cool and novel. Here's why... What had to change? Stagnation in Energy Brand Design Founded in 2015, Octopus Energy is younger than 5 of the "Big Six" energy providers in the UK. This is probably why their site is completely devoid of hackneyed early 2000s design trends. But what is

Font pairing is a skill almost every kind of designer will have to use at some stage. But a lot of us weren't specifically trained in typography! So where do you start? Thankfully, Jack Qiao's fantastic AI-powered font pairing tool fontjoy.com is a wealth of free inspo for amateurs and professionals alike. How Do You Us

When naming your product, app or business, we all know to go for something, short, snappy and concise. But where do you go from there? How do you narrow down your options to something that's not just easy to say and iconise but something that gives the right feeling? Today, I'm going to give you some key tips on how to name an app (or anything you want!) with confidence. 1. Vowels and Consonants A word's unique "vibe" comes from much more than just its definition and connotations. It'

One of the regular challenges I come across while designing is making sure that I'm following UI patterns. Dribbble can only take you so far, and that's when I like to look for design inspiration in real apps. Here's some sites that I use daily for just that! Mobbin: Mobile Apps design inspiration Mobbin.design is my go-to inspiration for mobile app inspiration. It features an extensive library of screenshots of iPhone apps, from famous ones like T

Drawing on her background as a classic literature student, and striking self-taught illustration skills, Ophelia Po has released her first venture into comic book creation with the Gothic gem 'Blood Ties'. The comic touches upon themes close to home for many during the 2020 lockdown, including isolation and uncertainty. Today, Po talks being an artist online, and how she overcame her own uncertainty and fear to bring 'Blood Ties' to life.

Google Docs has a lot up against it. Microsoft Office, despite its high price tag, has held the monopoly over the word processing world for as long as I can remember. But with 'working' and 'online' now being more synonymous than ever, free online word processors are growing in popularity and challenging the status quo. Despite being a writer by trade, my taste in word processors is historically pretty standard. 'Word' was my daily driver for years, before being replaced with the less swish (but free) 'WPS Writer', and nothing e

The Material Icons set from Google is possibly the most famous icon set on the web. It's good, but it's everywhere. So alternative icons are sometimes worth exploring. In this article we'll explore my new favorite alternative icon set. Along with maybe the Font Awesome Icon set, the Material Icons set is the first well organised and widely used icon set on the web. Google's Material Icons are very well made and will cover most of

Picking website colours is something every designer struggles with. But there are some great resources out there to help. Here's a curated list of excellent and easy-to-use sites that could prove invaluable to your next project. Happyhues.io Happyhues is one of my go-to websites when looking for a new colour palette. While its options are quite limited compared to the other sites listed here, the way it shows the real-world application for each colour more than makes up for it. Th

Want to add a personal touch to your business? Is your blog or portfolio missing that friendly element? Then an 'About Me' page is something worth exploring. Today, we'll go through how to write an 'About Me' page without being corny. 1. Decide how important your story is to your brand. If you're reading this, you probably work solo (or as part of a small team like Ironeko). In that case, you can afford to attach your own story and personality to your brand. Is there an in

Want to know how to write a professional email that your staff will actually read? Looking to leave a more personable impression in business? Or simply improve your written communication skills? This is the article for you. 1. Mix up your sentence lengths Like speech, text flows better when the recipient isn't being bombarded with long sentence after long sentence. There are many reasons for this. For example, notice how in my intro for this article, the shortest, snappiest sentence comes at the end.

If we know illustrations need illustrators, designs need designers, and code needs programmers, why don't we acknowledge that words (if we want them done well) need writers? Today we'll go through why hiring a writer can be so vital. Job descriptions are important In a city full of coders, tech aficionados and designers, I know a fair few people working in design, programming and general IT. But these jobs are not always what they seem. Indeed, to their surprise, these people often end up being given their company's writing jobs too, even if it's not within their ski

Before studying game design at Dundee's Abertay, Dmitrii Gruzdev sealed his first professional gig with Gaijin Entertainment. Meriting luck, drive, and a confidence in his interests, he tells ironeko about what lead him here; his advice for aspiring designers; and the rift between university and real world experience. Dmitri secured a job at Gaijin Entertainment after showing

After a decade of comfortable design stagnation for the platform, the 2020 Facebook redesign is here. And as one of the lucky people who got to test it this week, and I have to say: I'm impressed. Facebook has been altering bits and pieces of their design for the past couple of years. However, as these were mostly small improvements on existing elements, they only marginally improved user experience. So seeing Facebook being re-designed from the ground-up is not only a refreshing surprise, but also something quite necessary.

Dundee-based musician Elliot Stradling talks the importance of vulnerability, honesty and evolving your artistic voice. Sitting before me is a young man clearly infused with excitement for his craft. And Stradling's fascination with 'how vast the music catalogue is', certainly comes through on his 2019 ROOKIE SEASON EP, which is a fusion of emo and hip-hop. I wanted to know what lead him to create it.

The first article in my web design inspiration series explored portfolios and personal sites that struck a perfect balance between functionality and beauty. This week we'll look at web design tricks used by agencies to pull in clients. Not only must these sites be functional - they also have to work as an enticing marketing tool. PurpleRockScissors

I love my job, but let's be honest, that daily commute gets a little boring and Spotify can only take me so far. I started looking for weird music just to fill my time, staring out the bus window to the increasingly dark winter mornings That is until one day when I opened Spotify and the first suggestion on my homepage wasn't an album or a daily playlist, but a podcast called StartUp. The genius behind "StartUp" Gimlet Media's Startup Podcast If you think of

Edel Harris wears her multitude of achievements easily. With a smile, she sits before a room of members from Dundee's Societay, all waiting to hear just how she did it. After growing up in an environment where university was 'just not on the agenda', and (despite her many projects to create social change) not considering herself an entrepreneur at all, in 2017 Harris was named Scottish EY Entrepreneur of the Year<