Gifts for design fans
Know someone who loves design? Pick their favourite topic for gift ideas, with a fact to share when they open it.
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3D Modeling
The very first 3D models were created using mathematical equations, not digital sculpting or scanning.
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Accessibility
Screen readers can be set to "speak" punctuation, allowing visually impaired users to understand sentence structure and tone better.
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App Design
The "hamburger menu" (three horizontal lines representing a menu) wasn't initially popular, and its widespread adoption is largely attributed to its use in the early days of mobile web design as a space-saving solution.
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Dark Patterns
Dark patterns often exploit cognitive biases, like the "anchoring bias," to manipulate users into making choices they wouldn't otherwise make.
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Decorating
The color blue is consistently shown to be the most popular paint color for bedrooms worldwide.
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Design Systems
A well-implemented design system can reduce development time by as much as 30-50%.
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Digital Design
The first digital computer, ENIAC, used over 17,000 vacuum tubes and weighed 30 tons.
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Fashion Design
The first documented use of the sewing machine in fashion design was in the mid-1800s, significantly impacting garment production speed and affordability.
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Game Art
Many early game artists used limited color palettes, not due to technical limitations alone, but also because of the cost and limitations of printing techniques for game manuals and packaging.
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Game Design
The term "game designer" wasn't widely used until the late 1970s and early 1980s, even though games had existed for centuries.
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Garden Design
The ancient Egyptians incorporated symbolic plants into their garden designs, using specific flowers and trees to represent gods and the afterlife.
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Infographics
The word "infographic" wasn't widely used until the early 2000s, despite the concept existing for centuries.
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Interior Decorating
The color of a room can significantly impact mood and perceived temperature; cool colors like blue make a room feel larger and cooler, while warm colors like red make it feel smaller and warmer.
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Motion Graphics
Motion graphics were heavily influenced by the techniques developed for title sequences in early television and film.
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Open World
The term "open-world" itself isn't precisely defined, and games often blur the lines between open-world and other design philosophies like "semi-open world" or even heavily-scripted linear games with large explorable areas.
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Project Plans/Blueprints
Some project blueprints include hidden Easter eggs or inside jokes among the design team, often undetectable unless you know what to look for.
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Sound Design (Digital)
A single sound effect in a movie can sometimes be made from combining dozens, even hundreds, of individually recorded and processed sounds.
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Toy and Game Accessibility
Many toy and game companies are now incorporating alternative text descriptions for blind and visually impaired children in their online product catalogs and packaging.
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Toy Design
Many toy designs are initially sculpted using clay or wax before being finalized in digital formats.
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UI/UX
The term "UI/UX" is often used interchangeably, but UI (User Interface) focuses on the *look and feel* of a product, while UX (User Experience) encompasses the *entire user journey* and overall satisfaction.
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User Experience
The term "User Experience" (UX) was popularized in the late 1990s, but the underlying principles of designing for human interaction have existed for far longer, evident in everything from well-designed tools to intuitive signage.
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User Experience (UX) Design
The term "UX" wasn't widely used until the late 1990s, despite the underlying principles being practiced for much longer.
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User Interface (UI) Design
The term "user interface" (UI) was first coined in the 1970s, predating the widespread use of personal computers.
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Visual Communication
The color red is often used to convey urgency or importance in visual communication because it has the longest wavelength and is therefore more easily noticed by the human eye.
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