To help streamline the design process and get you started on your next project faster, we’ve put together a collection of the best free mobile UI kits. These UI kits are compatible with popular design tools like Photoshop, Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch App, or Illustrator.

All of the UI kits in our collection have been designed with either iOS or Android in mind and come with an extensive collection of customizable screens and mobile UI elements. With hundreds of various UI components to choose from, you can easily create a polished and visually appealing mobile app that stands out from the crowd.

In addition, our selection of free mobile UI kits features high-resolution displays and minimal design aesthetics, which align with current design trends. By using these UI kits, you can create a mobile app that not only looks great but also offers an intuitive and user-friendly experience for your users.

The post 50+ Best Free Mobile UI Kits for iOS & Android appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

While many methods exist for creating a sitemap, we’re not focusing on that today. Instead, we’re exploring sitemaps that have been thoughtfully designed with beautiful aesthetics in mind. These sitemaps are not only functional, but they are visually appealing and showcase the importance of design in all aspects of web development.

So whether you’re looking for inspiration or just appreciate a beautifully crafted design, these examples of carefully designed sitemaps are sure to impress.

The post 25 Beautifully Designed Sitemaps & User Flow Maps for Inspiration appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Rather than starting from scratch, you can use a UI kit as a foundation for a design and customize it to fit your specific project requirements. This can be especially useful when working on tight deadlines or creating a UI design for clients with specific design requirements.

The free UI kits we have for you here have been created by talented designers and can help ensure that your website, application, or admin dashboard is both aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. A well-designed UI kit can help establish a consistent visual identity, which is essential for creating a cohesive and polished website.

This is a curated collection of our favorite free web UI kits. These kits come in various styles and popular formats like Photoshop PSD, Figma, Sketch App, and Adobe XD. We hope you find these resources helpful and use them to create beautiful and functional designs.

The post Top 50 Free Web UI Kits & Templates appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

When it comes to designing icons, sketching remains an indispensable tool in the designer’s arsenal. To inspire you, we have curated a collection of the most impressive examples of icon sketching from designers across the web.

Don’t hesitate to peruse this collection and let your creativity run wild as you sketch your ideas. Enjoy the process, and happy sketching!

You might also like these collections of inspirational UI design sketches or logo sketches.

Mobile App Icon Sketch Andrey Maxim

MWood Logo Sketch Antonio Calvino

Substrate Sketches Benjamin Oberemok

Mobingi Sketching Phase Ramotion

Sketching Rates Net logo Tony Bar

Brick City Pets Sketch Stevan Rodic

Icon Sketching Trevor Nielsen

Map on Hover Sketch Eddie Lobanovskiy

iPhone App Icon Sketches Ramotion

Cornerstone Sketches v1 Mike Rhode

Vintage Camera Sketches Creative Mints

Postbox Pencil Sketches Mike Rohde

App Store Icon Sketch Artua

GoodNotes Icon in Process Eddie Lobanovskiy

Mac App Icon Sketches Ramotion

Video Editor Icon Sketch Eddie Lobanovskiy

iOS App Icons Sketches Jackie Tran

Cogsy Icon Sketches Loggia

Icon Ideas Sketches Jackie Tran

Mobile App Icon Sketches Creative Mints

The post 20 Inspiring Examples of Sketching in Icon Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Whether you use a whiteboard, pencil and paper, web-based tools, or UI design applications, effective wireframing and planning play a crucial role in the success of your product.

In addition to the many readily available wireframing tools, there are free wireframing templates available for UI applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and Sketch.

We’ve curated a collection of free wireframing templates to make your job easier. These templates are customizable to fit your specific project requirements, allowing you to streamline the wireframing process and focus on defining the layout and functionality of your mobile app or web design project.

The post 50 Free Wireframe Templates for Mobile, Web & UX Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Since its release in December 2016, Adobe XD has been regularly updated with a range of useful features that make it a versatile and user-friendly design tool. With Adobe XD, UI designers can create interactive prototypes, wireframes, and user interfaces for both mobile and the web.

To help designers get familiar with the application, we’ve compiled a collection of the best free UI kits for Adobe XD. These kits offer a range of design elements, including icons, buttons, menus, and other user interface components. By using these kits, you can save time and streamline your design process, while also familiarizing yourself with the capabilities of Adobe XD.

Along with the UI kits, we’ve also published a collection of helpful tutorials. These tutorials cover various topics, from getting started with Adobe XD to more advanced techniques like creating animations and transitions. You can find the tutorials here.

The post 20 Free Adobe XD UI Kits for Web & Mobile App Designers appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

This tends to happen in the prototyping phase. We spend lots of time and creative energy on an idea that looks awesome. Our clients might love it just as much as we do. But only when we actually start to build it do we begin to fully understand the consequences.

A design mockup serves as a compass for our website projects. If we fail to think ahead with regards to what certain elements require, it could mean being stuck in a bad situation. The end result is a site that has to make some serious compromises in order to work on different devices and browsers. That can negatively impact accessibility, performance and adherence to best practices.

Thankfully, some planning will help you avoid a messy build process. Let’s take a look at a few key items to consider before sharing your ideas with a client.

How Elements Adapt to Different Screens

There’s a reason why there’s so much talk of a “mobile first” approach to web design. In essence, this allows us to start with the bare essentials of a website. From there, we can add and enhance as the viewport gets larger.

Still, each of us have our own preferences for building prototypes. For those still using a desktop-based approach, it’s important to think about how all of those fancy design elements will work on a phone.

If you plan on implementing CSS Grid or Flexbox, they’ll help a great deal in terms of making the best use of available screen real estate. But other elements may require more effort to get working.

Large sliders, for example, can become very difficult to use on small screens. Intricate images might not be as impactful and text may overrun boundaries. Performance may also lag.

In this case, you might have to decide if the slider is worth showing on mobile at all. Or perhaps it could be refactored to better adapt to work in all situations.

Accessibility Impacts

Design starts with picking the appropriate fonts and colors. They’re both deeply connected to branding and accessibility.

Fonts should be crisp and sized for legibility. While fancy script and decorative type can look beautiful, it needs to be large enough to read and restricted to usage in headings. If those requirements can’t be reasonably met, it may be best to drop them from your project altogether.

In addition, color contrast should also be a major concern. Background and foreground colors must achieve an acceptable contrast ratio in order to be considered accessible. Plus, it’s just good practice.

If you’re unsure about your palette, use an online tool to determine its suitability. Sometimes, even a slight adjustment is all that’s needed to pass WCAG AA standards.

Beyond those two items, it’s also good to have a plan for how you’ll display elements such as icons. Are they intuitive? Will they be accompanied by text?

Backwards Compatibility

Not every website has to be fully-compatible with, say, Internet Explorer 9. And legacy browsers shouldn’t necessarily deter us from using the latest CSS or JavaScript. But some thought should be put into backwards compatibility.

Of particular concern are design elements that will render a website completely unusable in older software. Even if a particular browser makes up a small percentage of your site’s visitors, that’s still leaving some potential conversions on the table.

It’s worth considering what effect design decisions will have on these users. The available fallbacks for a given technology might be enough to keep things looking decent and usable. Even better is that they can be fairly simple to implement.

It used to be that designers were expected to ensure elements looked and functioned exactly the same across all browsers. That may be too much of an ask these days. As long as a user can navigate and consume content on some of the more ancient software, that just might be enough.

Scenarios That Haven’t Happened Yet

Even the smallest websites will have a need to evolve over time. As new types of content are added, they’ll need to be accounted for in the design. If you’re not prepared, implementing these items could conflict with what’s already there.

Think of adding a series of videos, for example. While the process of adding that content may be easy enough – how will it fit into the look you’ve already established? Will you utilize a default browser UI or craft something to match your branding?

While you can’t always predict the future, you can plan for all sorts of possibilities. This is part of what a design system allows you to accomplish. By setting some default guidelines right from the start, you’ll have an easier time dealing with future additions.

The reality is that what we design today will likely change in the future. Therefore, it pays to be ready for that eventuality.

Building It Right the First Time

Crafting that first mockup is about so much more than just making things look good. It even goes beyond impressing your clients. Indeed, it’s an exercise that forces us to look at our project as a whole.

The aesthetics must be pleasing to the eye. But the design must also be accessible and able to adapt to various screens. Plus, it may have to accommodate different types of content as things evolve.

If that sounds overwhelming – take a deep breath. This is where your experience and expertise can come to the rescue. The right tools can also pitch in.

Think about what has worked (and what hasn’t) in your past projects. Look for ways to implement features that are resilient. Do that and you’ll be on your way to a successful project!

The post Why Thinking Ahead Is Crucial in Web Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The best part? All of these books are completely free to download! We’ve curated this collection of our favorite free eBooks for your convenience.

Whether you’re interested in CSS, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, Git, UX, or any other web-related topic, you’ll find something that piques your interest. These eBooks come in various formats, including HTML, PDF, and even ePub, so you can choose the one that suits you best.

CSS & HTML Essential Free eBooks

Resilient Web Design By Jeremy Keith (HTML)

Resilient Web Design isn’t a conventional guide. It emphasizes durable techniques and approaches to web design that have proven to last.

The book provides insights into enduring principles to create websites that stay functional, robust, and adaptable as technologies and user needs evolve.

Adaptive Web Design By Aaron Gustafson (HTML)

Adaptive Web Design delves into the origins of progressive enhancement, its philosophy, and mechanisms, and reveals the countless practical ways that you can apply progressive enhancement principles using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Magic of CSS By Adam Schwartz (HTML)

In Adaptive Web Design, the author explores the roots, ideology, and mechanisms of progressive enhancement. The book showcases an array of practical ways to implement progressive enhancement principles using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Discover how to create web designs that adapt to diverse user contexts and improve accessibility without sacrificing functionality or aesthetics.

A Guide to HTML5 & CSS3 By Ashley Menhennett

A Guide to HTML5 and CSS3 is a comprehensive ebook that provides a solid foundation for web development. Whether you’re interested in creating websites, mobile apps, or games with HTML5, this ebook is an excellent starting point. Please keep in mind that you’ll need to register to access the download link.

HTML Canvas Deep Dive By Josh Marinacci (HTML)

The book is structured into two parts: The first part includes interactive reading sections that explain how the Canvas API works, and the second part comprises hands-on lessons that guide you through creating your own Canvas apps. This book will give you practical knowledge and skills to unleash your creativity with Canvas.

HTML5 Canvas By Jeff Fulton

HTML5 Canvas teaches you how to create web games while learning how to draw, render text, manipulate images, and animate with Canvas.

The book includes 53 online interactive examples and exercises, making it a complete guide to creating dynamic and interactive web content.

Pocket Guide to Writing SVG By Joni Trythall (HTML)

This guide offers a comprehensive introduction to building SVG online, providing all the details you need to get started. With this book, you’ll quickly learn how to leverage the power of SVG in your web design and development projects.

Learn JavaScript

Speaking JavaScript By Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (HTML, PDF & ePub)

This is a valuable ebook for both beginners and seasoned programmers. For beginners, it offers just enough JS to help them be productive immediately. For advanced programmers, the book provides an in-depth reference guide that covers every feature of JS comprehensively.

JS MythBusters By Kiko Beats (HTML)

MythBusters JS is a guide to optimizing JavaScript code while maintaining readability. Covering performance patterns and best practices, this book is a practical resource for anyone looking to improve the maintainability and performance of their JavaScript code.

Learning JavaScript Design Patterns By Addy Osmani

Learning JavaScript Design Patterns demonstrates how to write elegant, maintainable, well-structured JavaScript code using classical and modern design patterns. Keep your code efficient and up-to-date with the latest best practices by applying the skills and knowledge gained from this book.

jQuery Fundamentals By Rebecca Murphey

Looking to master jQuery? Look no further than jQuery Fundamentals. This book has been written to help you tackle many of the common challenges you may encounter while using jQuery.

Each chapter covers a specific concept and provides examples of code related to that concept. With this book, you’ll gain hands-on experience and feel confident using jQuery to solve real-world problems.

Programming JavaScript Applications By Eric Elliott

This book provides an opportunity to learn how to develop complete web-scale or enterprise applications that are both easy to extend and maintain.

Developing Backbone.js Applications By Addy Osmani

Developing Backbone.js Applications teaches you how to create structured JavaScript applications using Backbone’s model-view-controller (MVC) architecture. With expert guidance, you’ll learn how to build scalable and maintainable frontends for your single-page applications.

Learn PHP

PHP: The Right Way By Josh Lockhart

PHP The Right Way is a quick reference for best practices, coding standards, and authoritative tutorials to help new PHP users avoid bad practices and code. This book provides guidance for writing clean, maintainable, and industry-standard PHP code.

Learn WordPress

Locking Down WordPress By Rachel Baker, Brad Williams & John Ford

Locking Down WordPress by WordPress experts Rachel Baker, Brad Williams, and John Ford provides comprehensive guidance on securing your WordPress site. This book covers everything you need to know to protect your site from security threats and malicious attacks.

The WordPress Plugin Business Book

If you’re looking to gain new plugin users and convert them into paying customers, this free ebook is for you.

The book provides a step-by-step guide to help you learn the necessary skills to attract new users and convert them into loyal subscribers. With this ebook, you’ll gain practical insights and actionable tips to boost your plugin’s growth and success.

WordPress Meet Responsive Design By Chris Coyier, Ian Stewart & Sara Cannon

Discover the secrets of designing WordPress responsively with WordPress Meet Responsive Design by Chris Coyier, Ian Stewart, and Sara Cannon.

This book offers real-world strategies and practical tips for designing WordPress sites that are optimized for all devices. With this book, you’ll gain the knowledge and skills to create responsive WordPress designs that are beautiful, user-friendly, and effective.

Things to Do with Every New WordPress Install (PDF)

This ebook offers tips and strategies to begin providing WordPress maintenance services to clients.

Learn how to package and deliver services that meet client’s needs, whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting. Take your WordPress services to the next level with this resource.

WordPress Security – A Pocket Guide (PDF)

This introduction to WordPress security provides you with straightforward tips and best practices to help you protect your site from potential threats. With this ebook, you’ll learn the essentials of WordPress security and gain the knowledge you need to keep your site safe.

Learn Git

Pro Git 2nd Edition By Scott Chacon and Ben Straub (HTML, PDF, ePub & Mobi)

The Pro Git eBook, now in its second edition, is the ultimate guide to Git. This book covers Git basics as well as advanced topics, including branching and running distributed Git. With this book, you’ll gain a deep understanding of Git and learn how to use it effectively to manage your projects.

Git From The Bottom Up by John Wiegley

This comprehensive guide covers Git basics to advanced topics and is available as a convenient PDF file that you can download and use at your leisure.

UX – User Experience Free eBooks

Making an Enterprise UX Friendly By Justinmind

This free ebook, Making an Enterprise UX Friendly, provides you with the necessary tools and templates to build a strong UX team, create a business-facing UX strategy, and make a compelling business case for UX. With this book, you’ll gain valuable insights and actionable tips to enhance your enterprise’s UX and drive business success.

UX Design for Start-Ups By Marcin Treder

UX Design for Start-Ups offers valuable insights and practical tips for creating stunning UX designs that can help businesses succeed.

The Little Book Of Modern Frontend Tooling (HTML)

The Little Book Of Modern Frontend Tooling is a free, open-source book that introduces you to the world of tooling for modern web applications. This ebook guides you through the development lifecycle and helps you streamline your process to create high-quality web applications.

Web & Mobile App Design eBook

Modern Web Design Process By John Moore Williams (PDF)

The Modern Web Design Process provides valuable insights into the web design process and how it can translate into successful websites.

You’ll gain practical tips and expert advice on how to create effective web designs that meet your client’s needs and exceed their expectations.

Web Development & Beyond By Kyle Prinsloo

Web Development & Beyond is a free ebook that provides you with the skills and knowledge to become a successful web developer and freelancer. The ebook offers practical tips on honing your skills, finding clients, and managing projects for a successful career in web development.

Mobile Game Design By Chroma Coders (PDF)

Mobile Game Design (or, How to Start Your Own Mobile Game Company) is a free, in-depth ebook that covers the main mechanics for mobile game development and introduces “hidden game mechanics” for standing out in the marketplace. Essential for succeeding in the mobile game industry.

Email Marketing Field Guide By MailChimp (ePub, PDF & Mobi)

The Email Marketing Field Guide by MailChimp covers HTML email basics and provides tips and best practices for developing a successful email marketing plan. Improve your email marketing skills and achieve business success with this essential resource.

Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook (PDF & iBook)

Last year the popular ebook Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook was updated and released with over 40 new pages, as well as some updates to existing content.

Book of Speed By Stoyan Stefanov

The Book of Speed by Stoyan Stefanov is a free, online, open-source book that provides valuable insights and practical tips for optimizing your website’s speed and performance. Enhance your user experience with this essential ebook for creating fast and efficient websites.

50 Logo Design Tips By Ian Paget

This free ebook by Ian Paget provides tips and insights from experienced and influential logo designers. Gain inspiration and knowledge to create stunning logos that effectively represent your clients’ brands. Essential for any designer looking to improve their logo design skills.

Designing for the Web By Mark Boulton

Learn graphic design theory and techniques that you can apply to your designs, taking them from good to great. An essential ebook for beginners and experienced designers alike.

Pay Me… Or Else! By Lior Frenkel (HTML)

Are you tired of struggling to get paid by clients? This short ebook is the ultimate resource for anyone facing payment issues. It covers valuable tactics and tips for recovering your hard-earned money and avoiding similar situations in the future.

Whether you’re a freelancer or a small business owner, this ebook is an essential resource for anyone looking to improve their cash flow and avoid payment disputes.

Older, Yet Still Relevant Free ebooks

Introduction to Good Usability by Peter Pixel

This guide aims to improve usability by highlighting common interface elements and errors users often encounter. While not exhaustive, it’s an excellent starting point.

Faster, and More Secure Webfonts By Bram Pitoyo

Font embedding can enhance the aesthetics and functionality of the web, but security and load times are valid concerns. This ebook demystifies font embedding, streamlines the process, and enhances performance and security.

Taking Your Talent to the Web By Jeffrey Zeldman

This book was originally written in 2001 for print designers whose clients wanted websites. While some references may feel dated, the advice on adapting to the web remains pertinent.

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web

This book aims to dispel the myths surrounding web typography. It adopts Bringhurst’s principles and details how to achieve them using HTML and CSS. The book is structured to guide readers through each principle, ensuring clarity and ease of implementation.

Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design

Empower people with disabilities online. This book removes accessibility barriers and offers strategies to enhance inclusivity and usability.

Getting Real: The Book By 37signals

Getting Real is a streamlined approach to website development that prioritizes actual problem-solving over theoretical considerations. By focusing on real issues, it delivers faster, more effective results than traditional methods.

Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the U.S. General Services Administration, has produced this ebook to assist web creators in making informed decisions based on the latest and most reliable data available.

Search User Interfaces

This book delves into the human aspect of information-seeking and highlights how the user interface can best facilitate this process. It explores user interface design and search interface design methodologies to provide insights on building effective interfaces.

Web Style Guide – 3rd Edition

This book details established design principles and offers comprehensive coverage of web design, encompassing planning, production, and maintenance. It illustrates how these principles are applicable in projects focused on information design, interface design, and streamlined search and navigation.

Type Classification eBook By Jacob Cass

This book has been written to help you learn the ten broad classifications of type. These are the basic foundations of what you need to learn to learn typography, and it is essential for any designer to know how to classify type.

How To Be Creative By Hugh MacLeod

Hugh MacLeod, an accomplished advertising executive and renowned blogger, shares his 26 proven techniques for unleashing your creativity. The book is complemented by the author’s original illustrations, adding a touch of whimsy and insight to each point.

The post 50 Free eBooks for Web Designers & Developers appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

To give you some variety I’ve curated my pick of the best newer open source UI frameworks out there.

These all have their own unique styles and varying levels of support for dynamic components. But if you pair these frameworks with some JavaScript plugins you can build pretty much anything.

You might also like our collection of lightweight & responsive CSS Frameworks.

The post The 10 Most Popular Open Source Front-End Web UI Kits appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

But beyond their practical value, UI style guides can also be a source of inspiration for designers. They showcase the thought process behind a design, providing insights into the choices and rationale behind them.

In this collection, we’ve curated some of the most visually stunning and inspiring UI styleguides. These guides are a testament to how the power of design can communicate ideas and values.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration when designing your own UI style guide or simply want to get lost in some beautiful designs, this collection has something for everyone.

The post 10 Inspiring Examples of UI Style Guide Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.