The hottest Digital Design Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Art & Illustration Topics

13 Super Useful Chrome Plugins for Front-End Developers

JavaScript Development Substack • 46 HN points • 22 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Web Development Software Tools Productivity User Experience Digital Design
  1. Chrome extensions can make front-end development easier and faster. They help with tasks like inspecting CSS, testing forms, and analyzing website technologies.
  2. Tools like CSS Peeper and Fake Filler let developers quickly see styles and fill forms automatically. This saves time and simplifies the testing process.
  3. Extensions like Wave Evaluation Tool and Ahrefs SEO Toolbar help improve website accessibility and SEO. They offer insights that can help boost a site's performance.

Doing less: a personal essay

Design Lobster • 818 implied HN points • 16 Jan 23
🪑 Design Architecture Product Design Digital Design Constraints Simplicity
  1. Designers should strive to 'do less' to avoid overwhelm and prioritize what truly matters in their work.
  2. Constraints in design are essential, as they lead to simplicity and help designers convey their message effectively.
  3. In a world of technological advancements, the concept of 'less' in design becomes more relevant, urging designers to deliver more with minimal elements.

Color Palettes, Leaf Music, and NeuralSVG

Generative Arts Collective • 65 implied HN points • 16 Feb 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Generative Art Creative Coding Digital Design Visual Arts
  1. Creating generative art involves using programming to make things like color palettes or music inspired by nature. These projects let you explore creativity with technology.
  2. NeuralSVG is an interesting method for generating vector graphics from text prompts. It helps create more structured designs, which can be really useful for artists.
  3. Using tools like Blender and Three.js can make it easier to design stunning generative visuals. Tutorials are available to help you learn these skills step by step.

How to AI

The Intersection • 277 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🕹 Technology AI Generative AI Machine Learning Deep Learning Digital Design
  1. History often repeats itself in the adoption of new technologies, as seen with the initial skepticism towards digital marketing and now with AI.
  2. Brands are either cautiously experimenting with AI for PR purposes or holding back due to concerns like data security, plagiarism, and unforeseen outcomes.
  3. AI's evolution spans from traditional artificial intelligence to the current era dominated by generative AI, offering operational efficiency, creative enhancements, and transformative possibilities.

Democratization of Design

The Intersection • 138 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🪑 Design Digital Design AI Tools Design process Accessibility
  1. Design tools like Canva have democratized design, making it accessible to everyone, but the quality of design produced may not always meet professional standards.
  2. AI-powered design tools aim to streamline design processes, but they require a fundamental understanding of design to be used effectively.
  3. While tools like Canva have made design accessible to non-designers, the quality of work ultimately depends on the skills and capabilities of the individuals using the tools.
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L-Systems, Elm Puzzle Generator, and Skia

Generative Arts Collective • 65 implied HN points • 09 Dec 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Generative Art Creative Coding Digital Design Interactive art
  1. L-Systems can create beautiful patterns like trees or snowflakes using simple rules. They're fun tools for exploring nature-inspired designs.
  2. Elm is a programming language that makes it easy to create SVG images. You can use it to generate puzzles and get creative.
  3. Skia Canvas lets you use the HTML Canvas API outside a web browser. It's great for making graphics on both servers and desktop applications.

Let's stop keeping Pantone relevant. Adobe can disappear along with it.

The 21st Century Proletarian • 19 implied HN points • 04 Nov 22
🪑 Design Digital Design Color Theory Software Tools Intellectual Property
  1. Question the necessity of traditional industry standards like Pantone and Adobe in the digital age. Consider alternatives and challenge the status quo.
  2. Empower individuals to create their own color systems and liberate design from corporate influence. Encourage innovation and free access to color.
  3. Advocate for a design revolution by rejecting outdated, overpriced software, and working towards a more inclusive and progressive design community.

#34 When design makes us afraid

Design Lobster • 19 implied HN points • 21 Sep 20
🪑 Design Product Design Industrial Design Digital Design
  1. Design can intentionally evoke fear or other emotions to engage users or visitors, like the Hongyagu bridge engineered to wobble and create unease.
  2. Design is evolving to provide entertainment value beyond just functionality, with emotional journeys becoming a key aspect in various fields.
  3. Design should prioritize human behavior over technological convenience, as highlighted by Stewart Brand's quote advocating for human-centered design.

Cyber Physical Symptoms

Cybernetic Forests • 0 implied HN points • 04 Nov 21
🕹 Technology AI Digital Design Data Collection
  1. Symptoms in technological systems indicate underlying issues that need attention.
  2. Approaching problems in AI and cyber-physical systems as 'cyber-physical symptoms' can help identify imbalances between digital and social elements.
  3. Considering the concept of 'Hormesis,' where appropriate amounts of digital and analog elements are integrated, can lead to stronger system designs.

How to turn linear phase into truly linear phase

filterwizard • 0 implied HN points • 17 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Signal Processing Filters Digital Design Electronics
  1. FIR filters can have phase jumps that can affect signal quality. To fix this, one method is to use two filters in series, which cancels out unwanted phase jumps.
  2. Another approach involves tweaking the filter's impulse response to eliminate negative values in the Fourier transform. This ensures a smoother phase response without major changes to the filter's function.
  3. It's important to over-design the filter's stopband due to the adjustments made. This way, the overall performance remains reliable and avoids distortion in the filtered signals.