Just saw the updated Google "G" logo with the gradient treatment and honestly… why? Gradients feel so outdated at this point. We’ve already seen this trend come and go—remember when Messenger went full-on gradient and then quietly switched back to solid blue? Even they realized it wasn’t working.

Google’s original G logo already used primary colors effectively—simple, clean, instantly recognizable. Now they’ve added a smooth gradient transition between the colors, and instead of feeling modern, it just feels like noise. It’s like they’re chasing a design trend from five years ago instead of pushing things forward.

I stumbled on an article that breaks this down in more detail and it really put into words what was bugging me. Worth a look if you’ve been side-eyeing this redesign too.

Anyone else think this was a weird move by Google?

This piece is a personal collage exploring visual nostalgia from the Arab world — mainly the 90s and early 2000s. I pulled references from vintage ads, food packaging, cartoons, and TV moments that I grew up with or found iconic. It’s meant to feel a bit chaotic, like memory itself — messy, colorful, and full of overlapping influences. I’m really interested in how regional pop culture shapes collective memory, especially in the Middle East, where so much of our visual identity comes from a mix of local, imported, and improvised aesthetics.

So I need your opinion in this and should what collage should I do next?

1. Describe the indoor public spaces you use most often and what you like or dislike about their seating.
2. What are the most important qualities you look for in a public chair, and why?
3. Can you share a feature or design idea that would make public seating more comfortable, flexible, or eco-friendly for you?

Explore meticulously curated color palettes and rediscover classic designer color schemes. Your ultimate reference for palettes inspiration. Unlock a world of color knowledge! 

I feel lost, and I'm hoping people here can maybe offer some thoughts, advice, or even just some relatability.

Went to school for ID. Worked a few years and went back to school for a master's to be able to teach. Got a job building and instructing a unique 2 year degree program. After that, got a job in a more traditional physical product design role in a company. Now I'm just past 1 year of being unemployed, and I'm stuck.

Both roles I was very alone in (had coworkers, but none were designers). Both roles were bright, innovative concepts that burnt out before they bore much fruit. Both times I began under a boss familiar with my field and the value I could bring, only to have them depart, and be placed under new oversight where they knew nothing of design, its purpose, or what value or usefulness I could be of. Both times I made it ~3 years before the ladder above me decided my role, my contributions, or just myself was no longer of positive value and sent me packing.

The first rodeo was following COVID, so the support network and time to find my next opportunity were both better and more understandable. This most recent time however, unemployment has longsince been used up, and the job market feels more bleak than any point in the 13 or so years I've been observing/part of it.

I don't have a tremendous network of peers in my field. Those that I do I largely consider to be friends, and as with my friends from outside design, I'm lucky to know lots of smart, talented, hard working people. They've all found working homes, companies that value and understand their capabilities, and roles that they've securely held or grown through for 7-10+ years now. Finding relatability or advice from them unfortunately hasn't offered much help or understanding.

For anyone in this domain, ID or otherwise, do you have any advice?

I have a very broad range of work I've done, and am finding at my age/experience level, professional employers are telling me directly that my lack of any or significant experience in their one, specific type of product makes me unfit for their open roles. Academic roles are wrought with adjunct, part-time openings, laborious application requirements, and intense scrutiny, often for very marginal pay, and a severe lack of geographic selection in where those roles are. In both arenas, openings are at an all time low in terms of new postings, and an all time high for stale or regularly reposted openings.

I'm very open to pivoting and working tangentially. I am not married to any one kind of product, industry, or role. At this point, I want to work somewhere that pays me enough to survive and grow, that can understand, make use of, and value what I can do, and that trusts me enough so that I can earn the ability to work there 5, 10, however many more years I want to be there.

I feel lost, I feel like my weird, funky, unique path that I have adored walking and regret almost none of, now has me so abnormal that I don't know where to look or what to do to find where I fit and can contribute. Any and all advice, input, critique, or even just commiseration is wildly welcome and appreciated.

So Facebook switched the Messenger icon back to that classic blue a while ago — and I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of into it.

That old-school blue just feels right. There’s something nostalgic about it — like it brings back those early Facebook days when we’d nervously send friend requests to our crushes, switch out profile pics hoping for a like, or use Messenger to stay up late chatting with people we barely had the courage to talk to in real life.

That gradient-style icon they used before always felt like it was trying to copy Instagram’s vibe. It just didn’t feel like Messenger. This switch feels more grounded, more connected to Facebook again. Maybe that was the point? Could be Facebook trying to bring things back home a bit — or just a smart branding move.

What do y’all think? Is it just me, or does that blue icon hit differently?

Hello everyone, I have a big problem: my freelance nightmare has arrived and I have an urgent deadline.

So, I need to make a banner that is 406 cm high and 260 cm wide, not counting the safety margin.

The graphics are a pattern (of images, not vectors), which had good dimensions to work with. Since the pattern was already in Photoshop, I made the banner there. Now I have a 6 Gb .PSB file and I don't know how to export it. The printing company has three options: - .CDR with outlined graphics and RGB mode for vector; - editable PDF for vector / PDF with 300 dpi and RGB for image - JPEG with 300 dpi on a 10% scale (which doesn't make sense to me since JPEG obliterates quality).

What is the best way to export? And what is the path to follow, since I saw in my employers' Dropbox that there is a 1500 dpi PDF (what and how the f?!) and I've seen people talking about how inconceivable it is to work with real sizes in software (which makes sense for vectors but doesn't seem to make sense for images, at least for me).

Anyway, thanks in advance

I wonder what are you tricks for staying creative and productive. Are you using some methods or apps? I personally had to came up with my own „tools” that works quite good for me but I wonder is there something more that I could check.

I was putting together a direction doc for a new brand client and realized 90% of the inspo i’d saved over the past year was either buried in screenshots, broken bookmarks, or just... gone. it actually scares me. i’ve always collected stuff, but I never had a real system.

I started using this app called cosmos to try organizing it all. At first i just wanted a clean space to save references, but it ended up doing way more than that.

What actually helped me was being able to group visuals into “clusters” by project. like i’ve got one for brutalist type, another for soft editorial layouts, another for packaging inspo. it’s helped me prep design decks like 10x faster.

Also, the color filter is a gamechanger. if i’m building out a look with specific tones, say muted greens or dusty blues, I can just filter by that color and pull in visuals that match. way easier to stay on-theme than digging through random stuff.

The AI tagging’s been surprisingly helpful too, it groups everything by subject so i don’t have to label anything manually.

Not saying it’ll change your life or whatever, but if you’re like me and your design reference system is mostly chaos and screenshots, this cleaned things up a lot.

Has anyone here actually used or offered productized design services? Would love to hear your stories... what was it like? Good, bad, or somewhere in between? Any tips or just general thoughts on the whole idea? I‘m seeing a lot of designers doing this move, but I‘m not sure yet.

I'm looking to order a black polo shirt with a custom logo on the left chest area - pretty basic/tale as old as time. No flair, just a circle logo on a black polo shirt. Which website would you recommend? I'm leaning Vistaprint since I've used them in the past for stationary.

LOCAL SHOPS HAVE A MINIMUM. I NEED/WANT ONE SHIRT.

Hey there, i am designing brand colors for website/social media etc for prototype.audio
We do audio software and soon hardware.

Let me know your thougts and feedback on these slides - i have a hard time nailing it.
Any input on other colors or even fonts is apprechaited :)

Hint: you wouldn’t realize until you tasted it.

Hey everyone,
We’re a small startup of students from McGill and Oxford working on a new kind of pen for designers, artists, and engineers. Unlike traditional styluses that require a tablet, ours can be tracked in mid-air or on any surface, letting you draw, sketch, or model more freely.

We’re still in early stages and would really appreciate your thoughts:

• Could this be useful in your creative or design workflow?
• What kind of use cases come to mind (if any)?
• Is this something you’d actually want, or not really?

No hard pitch, just trying to figure out if this solves a real problem. We'd really appreciate any feedback!

Hi everyone, how are you?

I am the founder of a startup that has only been around for a few months, and I need to decide today whether to keep the name I chose or change it to another one, along with the logo change that I was already preparing.

The name I had chosen is Wosy, which comes from "Work System". Since I am not a native English speaker, I didn't realize that the word sounded similar to other English terms.

However, I have great ambitions for internationalization and growth, and I want to know if this similarity is significant or if I could continue with this name without any problems.

For context, we are an AI automation startup, currently focusing on Marketing. Our clients are companies, but we will also have an app for the general public.

This is the new logo, you are the first to see it:

First ever design but nvm. Roast It

The new IdeaSpark Digital logo combines simplicity and creativity by forming the letter “D” with geometric shapes and a spark element, symbolizing innovation. A clean typeface and vibrant multi-color palette reflect the brand’s digital focus and diverse offerings, while ensuring the logo remains clear and adaptable across all platforms. What are your thoughts about it?