Automattician James Koster has announced the launch of a new WordPress Design System library for Figma, the popular tool the design team uses to create mockups and prototypes for WordPress. “The intention of this resource is to streamline the design process for folks working in the WordPress ecosystem,” he explained. The design library offers a…
WordPress.org’s News section is sporting a new design with a bold color scheme and updated typography. The design was created by Automattic-sponsored contributor, Beatriz Fialho, who unveiled earlier versions of the update in June 2021. Fialho selected Inter, an open source font, for paragraphs and functional text, and EB Garamond for headings. As design trends change on the…
The admin can be intimidating to navigate if you’re just getting started with WordPress. After installing a few plugins, top-level menu items begin to pile on. This adds even more complexity to grapple with in a narrow space with long lists of items hidden behind flyout menus that make managing WordPress on mobile a frustrating…
Figma, an online collaborative interface design tool, has donated an organizational membership to the WordPress project. The browser-based application helps designers and developers collaborate more efficiently and is used by organizations like Microsoft, Slack, and Uber. It provides design tools, prototyping, previews, and real-time feedback, all in the same place, and is often described as…
Product designer Dave Martin has published a free video course called JavaScript for Designers. The course is made up of 46 bite-sized videos that walk students through the basics via a hands-on tutorial for building an interactive HTML prototype. Martin said he created the course specifically for designers who have been putting off learning how…
Automattic is hosting a free, remote conference called Design and Exclusion on April 21. The event will bring together design and technology experts who will discuss solutions for the ways that digital products and services exclude people. Lead organizer Ashleigh Axios, Design Exponent at Automattic, said inspiration for the event came from the exclusion that…
John Maeda, Automattic’s Global Head of Computational Design and Inclusion, presented his third annual “Design in Tech” report at SXSW over the weekend. The previous reports have received more than two million views and this one is equally loaded with thought-provoking information about the future of the design industry. “Design isn’t just about beauty; it’s…
When Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of the WordPress open source project, announced that design would lead the way for WordPress development in 2017, utilizing user research and mockups, the first thing that came to my mind was WordPress 2.7. That release was the culmination of effective leadership and effort from Jen Mylo and Liz Danzico. In…
In early 2015, the WordPress.org Meta team redesigned the WordPress plugin directory and added a number of new features. In an effort to iterate on the page’s layout, the Meta Team has published prototypes of a new design for the plugin directory’s home and search results pages. The prototypes are inspired by Get WordPress, a…
WordPress 3.8 marked a major milestone for the admin with the inclusion of “MP6,” a brand new responsive design and color scheme. By now many users have become accustomed to the color scheme, but 4.2 will introduce subtle changes to create a more harmonious color palette. Over the past several months, Hugo Baeta has been…
Looking back on the theme landscape of 2014, a clear design trend emerged that highlights WordPress’ roots as a blogging platform. Minimalist, content-centric themes took center stage in the official WordPress Themes Directory, outpacing their more visually-bloated commercial counterparts. This past year saw a major renaissance in themes for the personal blogger, particularly designs that…
Open source projects rely on contributions from both paid and non-paid volunteers. As a project gets larger, there are more ways to contribute. Displaying a user’s contributions is a great way to show off a person’s impact to the project. Like WordPress, Drupal.org provides a profile page for registered users. During the December 17th Drupal…
When we last interviewed Anders Norén, he was the new kid on the block with a handful of successful WordPress themes. Norén, a communications student from Umeå, Sweden, had just started tossing around the idea of pursuing WordPress theme development as a serious hobby. In the span of about one year, he has released eight…
The business of building WordPress websites is exploding, and most agencies and freelancers have more work than they can handle. Clients are attracted to WordPress because of how easy it is to manage content. In the old days, if you had a website built, you would still need to hire a developer to make updates…
Swedish designer Anders Norén is relatively new to the world of WordPress theme development but his breathtakingly simple themes are a refreshing addition to the ecosystem. Last August, Norén released Lingonberry, a responsive, retina-ready theme with beautiful typography. Delighted by the success of Lingonberry, which has received more than 8,000 downloads from WordPress.org, Norén decided…