Design News, January 2018
Each month, Michel Karam and Spiria’s UX/UI design team share their finds.
2018 Design Trends
Each year begins and ends with a host of lists popping up online, predicting trends and patterns in visual design for the year to come. Joining the crowd, Webdesigner Depot has published its list of “6 Design Predictions for 2018.”
⇨ Webdesigner Depot, “6 design predictions for 2018 (that might actually happen).”
Best of Design From Google
Google is very proud of these 10 design projects that they developed in 2017. Some of these have flown under the radar and aren’t widely known, while others have achieved success in the interactive design field.
⇨ Google Design, “Google Design’s Best of 2017.”
GazMétro is Now Énergir
GazMétro has recently undergone a change, with a new name, branding and positioning to highlight a new mission and vision; the company is now known as Énergir. Opinion is divided on the change. (Thanks Martine).
⇨ Brand New, “To Energe or Not to Energe, That is the Verb.”
IBM Plex: New Corporate Typeface
IBM Plex is the company’s new collection of fonts; it is now available for free as an open source under a “SIL Open Font License.”
⇨ Bold Monday, “IBM Plex.”
Humanscale Design Tool—What’s Old is New Again
Humanscale is a brilliant tool, which was widely embraced by object designers and industrial designers, including those working at Apple, in days gone by. It’s made up of a series of brochures and disks which provide data sets for different human measurements and are used to develop objects and tools that are as ergonomic as possible. Humanscale has been re-released, and is now available in its traditional, hard-copy, paper format.
⇨ Wired, “Humanscale, the classic design tool, gets a second life.”
Generative AI and Art
Stories abound that attest to the prodigious development of artificial intelligence in many different areas of application. AI is now also influencing design—by generating concepts and patterns, doing touch-ups, and adjusting and combining visual elements. And it often surpasses the creativity, imagination and reasoning abilities of an actual human working in the design field.
⇨ Digital Arts, “How generative AI is changing art and design.”
