What's new for designers, January 2015

Default avatar.
January 12, 2015
What's new for designers, January 2015.
In this month's edition of what's new for designers and developers, we've included new apps for design teams, frameworks and boilerplates, new design resources, JavaScript resources, resources for startups, new podcasts, color resources, and much more. And as always, we've also included some awesome new fonts! Almost everything on the list this month is free, with a few high-value paid apps and tools also included. They're sure to be useful to designers and developers, from beginners to experts. If we've missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @cameron_chapman to be considered!

Cactus

Cactus is a fast, free static website generator for Mac. Just pick a page template (portfolio, blog, or single page) to get started, and then focus on editing with live preview anywhere. cactus

Material Design Colors

Material Design Colors is a web app that lets you more easily visualize material design colors. Just click on a color to see additional shades, along with both hex and rgb(a) color codes. material design colors

Flakes

Flakes is an open source design and frontend framework for creating internal business applications. It's a combination of CSS libraries, JavaScript libraries, and design files with a no-nonsense approach to UI design. flakes

Peplaunch

Peplaunch is a startup launch service, that includes a 2-month program to get your startup off the ground with paying customers. They create a launch page, promote your startup to more than fifty relevant communities, and help you acquire customers. You're charged a flat fee of $500. peplaunch

Evil Icons

Evil Icons is a set of open source SVG icons, plus loading spinners, that are clean and simple. They come with code to support Rails, Sinatra, Node.js, Gulp, and Grunt. evil icons

Write the Docs

Write the Docs is a collection of resources and information for writing better documentation for your projects. write the docs

ApplePie

ApplePie is a modular CSS toolkit for building better web interfaces. It uses a semantic CSS approach, with better naming and organizing conventions built in. applepie

UI Tiles

UI Tiles is a system for building site maps and visual flowcharts for web projects, with 72 screens included. It has an elegant and light design, and it's easy to use and customize to your needs. ui tiles

Muzli Jobs

If you're a creative pro looking for work, check out Muzli Jobs. You can search for jobs by keyword and location, or post a job for free. muzli jobs

3D Curtain Template

This 3D Curtain Template is a list of split blocks that simulate movement along the z-axis, reuniting when the user scrolls. 3d curtain template

Brand Style Guide Examples

These Brand Style Guide Examples are hand-picked by Saijo George, who has compiled not only style guide examples, bu also pattern libraries and design manuals. brand style guide examples

Skeleton

Skeleton is a simple, responsive boilerplate that's super lightweight at roughly 400 lines. It's quick to get started, with no installation or compiling necessary. skeleton

Wonderful Client Feedback

Wonderful Client Feedback is a page you can use to try to get better, more usable feedback from your clients. It's available as a web page or a PDF, and is a great way to improve your client relations. wonderful client feedback

Dante Editor

Dante Editor is a Medium editor clone, with all the features of the real Medium editor. It's easy to use and super intuitive. dante editor

Material Palette

Material Palette is a Material Design palette generator that's super easy to use. Just pick two colors and you'll get a downloadable 8-color palette. material palette

UX Check

UX Check is a Chrome Extension for finding usability issues. It adds a pane next to your website that shows Nielsen's 10 heuristics to help you identify issues, with tools to annotate your work when you identify issues. ux check

FourZeroFour

FourZeroFour is a Tumblr blog that collects awesome 404 pages from around the web. Check out their archive or submit your own designs for consideration. fourzerofour

Harvest Forecast

Harvest Forecast is a new app for planning your team's time. You can visualize your plans and view by people or project, and make sure that everyone is on the same page. harvest forecast

Snabbt.js

Snabbt.js is a lightweight, fast animation JavaScript library. It works at 60fps, even on mobile, and comes in at less than 4kb minified and gzipped. snabbt.js

MMXIV

MMXIV is a collection of the best designs from 2014, cureated by zitrusfrisch. Browse by month, and see not only the top three designs, but also the shortlist those designs were chosen from. mmxiv

Dashboards by Keen IO

These Dashboards by Keen IO are responsive admin templates for Bootstrap. There are a variety of layouts available, plus examples, including a starter kit. dashboards

TheaterJS

TheaterJS lets you mimic human typing, complete with support for multiple actors with their own unique characteristics. theaterjs

The Design Details Podcast

The Design Details Podcast is a brand new weekly show host by Bryn Jackson and Brian Lovin that features the designers behind some favorite products. design details

Landing Page

This free, multipurpose Bootstrap Landing Page from Creative Tim is a great choice for your app launch. It's easy to integrate, good looking, and more. bootstrap landing page

365 Awesome Designers

365 Awesome Designers features the work of a new designer every day, for all of 2015. You can follow them on Twitter or Facebook for regular updates. You can also check out the designers they featured back in 2012. 365 awesome designers

Developer Tea

Developer Tea is a web and software development podcast, with each episode clocking in at under 10 minutes. It's hosted by Jonathan Cutrell, Whiteboard's Director of Technology and author of Hacking the Impossible. developer tea

Founder's Cabin

Founder's Cabin is a weekly publication for founders, startups, and entrepreneurs, curated by Josh Pigford, the founder of Baremetrics. Each installment includes tips, insights, and resources for running your business well. founder's cabin

Titon Toolkit

The Titon Toolkit is a set of extensible front-end HTML, CSS, and JavaScript UI components for responsive apps. It's mobile first, with semantic markup, flexible styles, and reusable code. titon toolkit

Designapps.io

Designapps.io is a master class in app design that lets you learn at your own pace and hone the skills you need to design both web and mobile apps. Designapps.io

Typesettings.css

Typesettings.css is a typography boilerplate for minimalist websites and blogs. Type styles are based on traditional graphic design fundamentals. typesettings.css

Cabana

Cabana is a rustic, handmade font with a modern appeal, created by Adrien Coquet. cabana

Besom

Besom is a hand-painted all-caps font that comes with basic punctuation, perfect for display use. besom

Retro Font Family

Retro is a free all-uppercase font family that includes both sans serif and slab serif styles, with Latin and Greek characters. retro

Bruss

Bruss) is a handlettered brush based typeface designed by Aku Fadhi. bruss)

Rancho

Rancho is a free Old West typeface that comes in three styles. rancho

Farewell Pro

Farewell Pro is a funky display font with a futurisic, space-inspired look. farewell pro

Vigneta

Vigneta is a feminine handmade script typeface that includes stylistic and contextual alternates. vigneta

Signale

Signale is a free display typeface with a funky geometric look. signale

Carioca

Carioca is a funky typeface that comes as a multi-colored EPS file. carioca

Turret

Turret is a display typeface that includes 72 characters and has a distressed, gothic style. turret

Cameron Chapman

Cameron Chapman is a freelance writer and designer from New England. You can visit her site or follow her on Twitter.

Read Next

10+ Best Resources & Tools for Web Designers (2024 update)

Is searching for the best web design tools to suit your needs akin to having a recurring bad dream? Does each…

3 Essential Design Trends, April 2024

Ready to jump into some amazing new design ideas for Spring? Our roundup has everything from UX to color trends…

How to Plan Your First Successful Website

Planning a new website can be exciting and — if you’re anything like me — a little daunting. Whether you’re an…

15 Best New Fonts, March 2024

Welcome to March’s edition of our roundup of the best new fonts for designers. This month’s compilation includes…

LimeWire Developer APIs Herald a New Era of AI Integration

Generative AI is a fascinating technology. Far from the design killer some people feared, it is an empowering and…

20 Best New Websites, March 2024

Welcome to our pick of sites for March. This month’s collection tends towards the simple and clean, which goes to show…

Exciting New Tools for Designers, March 2024

The fast-paced world of design never stops turning, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for creatives. As…

Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design…

6 Best AI Productivity Apps in 2024

There’s no escaping it: if you want to be successful, you need to be productive. The more you work, the more you…

3 Essential Design Trends, February 2024

From atypical typefaces to neutral colors to unusual user patterns, there are plenty of new website design trends to…

Surviving the Leap from College to Real-World Design

So, you’ve finished college and are ready to showcase your design skills to the world. This is a pivotal moment that…

20 Mind-Bending Illusions That Will Make You Question Reality

Mind-bending videos. Divisive Images. Eye-straining visuals. This list of optical illusions has it all. Join us as we…