It's time to tackle the taboo. Period. ➜

We're guessing you read the image headline twice! We did. Isn't it strange that we rarely see words like vagina or period when it comes to the marketing of products specifically designed to help people manage their menstrual flow? More often clinical or clandestine language is used which subliminally suggests something is wrong or illicit. How can something which happens naturally be so hard to talk about plainly? This brilliant article tags Boots, Here We Flow and Daye as progressive brands tackling this bizarre taboo and improving the conversation.

New dyslexia friendly font – and it's not funny ➜

This font is Inconstant Regular. It's accessible (read legible), designer-friendly (read not sh!t) and consistently inconsistent (read dyslexia-friendly). It was created in response to a campaign from Dyslexia Scotland entitled Nothing Funny About Comic Sans. The campaign asked designers to question their inherent hatred of the Comic Sans font and accept that their typographical nemesis has one undeniable strength; it helps 780 million people around the world with dyslexia read better. Thus, Inconstant was born, leveraging the visual elements which make Comic Sans more readable to dyslexia sufferers, without offending anyones design sensibilities.

Is your website design carbon conscious? ➜

At face value it sounds unusual that one website design might be better than another in terms of carbon deficit. One might reasonably assume websites to be much-of-a-muchness in terms of the CO2 consumption required to create and browse them, but as web designer Victor Hwang explains: “We don’t often think about digital things as being made of materials, but they absolutely are." He points out elements like images, video, animations and complex code are processor hungry and require more battery energy from the browsing device. The story of his website for the research platform Mater proves that climate conscious web design doesn't have to be creatively compromised.

Trending hot. Design directions for 2023 ➜

It's getting towards that time. A new year is looming into view and writers and content creators the world over set to work with more excitement than a kid compiling a Santa list. So, prepare thyself people for a plethora of new year predictions. First out the traps, it's the solidly reliable future-scanners over at Creative Boom. As usual they've done a stellar job of letting us all know what graphic design trends will be coming down the 2023 track.

Christmas gifting guide for designers ➜

Talking of Christmas lists (ahem). Just on the off-chance anyone wants to buy the creative(s) in their life something design-led this year, Design Week has complied this handy cherry pick list for your perusal. It's OK you don't have to get us everything on the list, we haven't been that good, but we'd certainly have the beans for the Pantone espresso cups.


Served straight-up fortnightly.

With a slice of insight and garnished with lots of links we think you'll like.