If you weren’t working on a remote team before, well, chances are that you probably are now!

I know that I love working from home, but when you first start working remotely, it can start as a bit of a challenge.

Of course, it has its pros and cons, but it’s just a learning curve.

Through this global pandemic, you can still be as productive and connected to your team as ever, despite working remotely.

There are a few tools that will make your team’s remote life easier, so I’m going to share 10 tools with you that can help you and your team stay productive.

10 Tools That Will Help Your Remote Design Team Stay On The Same Page

We will be going over different categories of tools that will help your remote design team, like project management and roadmapping tools, organization tools, and tools to help you stay personally productive.

Project Management, Communication, and Roadmapping Tools

The first category we’ll be diving into is all about staying on the same page and plan as your team, so let’s get into the best tools for that.

1. Airfocus

If you haven’t heard of Airfocus by now, well then, you’ve been missing out big time.

Airfocus is a roadmapping and prioritization tool that will help your team see what is most important to get done today and what needs to get done in the future.

Airfocus will help you make the best decisions today, so that you can get the right stuff done in the future. You don’t have to outdated spreadsheets and unclear roadmaps anymore.

Create priorities, have a bird’s eye view of all your tasks, make to-do lists, and more!

With a beautiful design and easy-to-understand-and-use platform, you can start using Airfocus today so that you can get the right stuff done!

2. Asana

Another tool that will help you and your team all stay on the same page is Asana.

Asana will help you visualize your team’s plan so you can all stay on top of the game.

With Asana’s work management platform, your team can stay focused on their goals, projects, and tasks—no matter when or where they work

You can build project plans, coordinate tasks, and hit all your deadlines all in one app!

3. Basecamp

Basecamp is another great tool for keeping everyone in the loop on what’s going on.

One thing that is different about this tool is that it has an in-app chat, so you can talk directly to your teammates without ever leaving the app.

Set your goals, priorities, and talk to everyone all in one place.

4. Slack

This one is probably a no-brainer, but Slack is a must when it comes to communication.

Probably the best part of Slack is that you can organize loads of channels so there’s a place for everything to be discussed.

No more endless scrolling looking for that “one time” we talked about this or that.

You can have a channel for memes, a channel for sharing ideas, and channel for half the team, and a channel for sharing pictures of your pets.

Anything is possible with Slack.

5. Zoom

My final communication tool that I 100% recommend is Zoom.

Remember the struggle of trying to organize a group call on skype? You could never use video for group calls and it was a premium feature.

Not anymore!

You can use Zoom whenever, wherever, with as many people as you want, and it’s free.

Use Zoom to organize video calls with your entire team!

Organization tools

6. InVision

Design better. Faster. Together.

That’s InVision’s motto. This tool was designed specifically with designers in mind.

My favorite bit of this tool is the Design System Manager. The Design System Manager helps teams centralize their design assets, all in one place, as visuals and in code.

Directly comment on a design and give feedback immediately to your coworkers!

7. Abstract

If you use tools like Sketch and Adobe XD, then you’re going to love this product.

With Abstract, you can integrate the tools you already use, import your design files from your computer that need some teamwork, and collaborate with your team directly on the platform.

Productivity Tools

8. Noisli

Noisli is a must-have app. Sometimes listening to the same old songs gets boring, and you can’t always focus and be able to listen to a podcast while creating something amazing for work.

They have every sound you’re looking for. You want the sound of the rainforest? Cool. You want the sound of a busy coffee shop? Why not. You can also adjust the volume of each individual sound so you can tailor it to the way you can focus best.

Noisli will let you choose any background noise you want and it’ll help you stay productive and on top of things.

9. Figure it out 

If you happen to work on a remote team that is currently all over the globe, then you know how hard it is to organize a time to video call that works for everyone.

You gotta know that Betty lives California, but Jack lives in Germany, and you gotta figure out the time difference and it’s a whole thing that will do a number on your sanity.

Figure it out is a chrome extension that will help you know all of your team member’s locations and what time it is for them so that you can easily schedule a meeting or find time to collaborate.

10. Take a Break

Finally, I present to you, Take a Break.

Here’s a direct quote from their site regarding exactly what this app does.

Staring at your computer for too long is not good, and Take A Break, Please is a simple menubar app that forces* you to take your break. You can configure time between breaks and the duration of the break.

When the scheduled break starts, the app will dim your screen and prompt you to take a short break. Take that time to stand up, do some stretching, take a walk, or get yourself a cup of coffee.

That’s an app I can get behind. I’m all for working productively in increments and rewarding myself with 10 minutes of downtime.

I hope you found these tools helpful

If you enjoyed this list, let me know in the comments what your favorite tools was and what you’ll be integrating into your workflow!

If I missed any of your favorite tools, let me know what they are so I can cover them in the future.

Until next time,

Stay creative!

Some web designers may not recognize the importance of using a virtual private network (VPN) while working on client sites. The reality, though, is that anyone who needs to provide even a modicum of privacy and security to their clients should absolutely start incorporating a high-quality VPN solution into their workday. After all, this is one of the easiest ways to minimize the risk of a data breach.

VPNs 101

Most tech-savvy people know what a VPN is and how it operates, which is why they’re already using one. For those who might spend all of their time on the design end of things, and therefore be behind the times with security measures, let’s take a really quick look at a VPN’s role.

In a nutshell, a VPN prevents hackers from accessing your data. Even if someone is able to crack into your VPN long enough to grab data, encryption will prevent them from opening it. Due to this, many businesses and individuals worldwide search the web almost exclusively via the protection of a VPN.   

Web Designers and VPNs

VPNs are commonly used by people who are outside of their secured office network. However, even if you only work from the office or at home, a VPN may still be a wise investment. Consider the privacy needs of your current website development clients. How would they feel or react if you allowed some of their private data to slip into the wrong hands?

By setting up a VPN, you can provide clients with an extra layer of protection. This will also help minimize your risk of getting involved in a costly data breach lawsuit.

Protecting Proprietary Information

Keep in mind that data alone may not be the only proprietary information a hacker is looking for. It’s possible that a company’s competition could attempt to hack your system if they know you’re working on a new website design. After all, established businesses frequently do major site overhauls to accompany the launch of a new product, service or overall direction. A VPN will keep these details between you and the client until the site is ready to go live.

Preventing Major Leaks That Could Majorly Derail Your Career

Do you have any major website design clients who could lose tons of money due to a single security breach? A prime example is the entertainment industry. Perhaps you’ve been tasked with creating a site for a well-known band’s upcoming release. This is almost certainly going to include a track listing, music files, new images and maybe even highly guarded details such as their unannounced upcoming tour dates.

As recent movie studio hacks have proven, leaving anything vulnerable to hackers will allow transmitted data to end up in the wrong hands. Something as simple as uploading images to an unpublished site could create a horrible ripple effect that ruins your reputation. If you do all of your uploading from a VPN, though, you’re much more likely to keep everything private and secure.

Are VPNs Impenetrable?

Nothing is impenetrable on the World Wide Web. However, VPNs are hacked into much less frequently than traditions networks, and these incidents usually accompany an incorrectly configured VPN. Despite this, it would be foolish to believe that every single thing you do from behind a VPN is going to remain 100 percent private forever.

Recently, some in the tech world were shocked to discover that VPNs may actually be storing some private information, including your browser history. This came to light after a VPN provider assisted the FBI in a cyberstalking case. The provider in question, PureVPN, claims they don’t store any browsing data, but they were somehow able to turn over pertinent details to the FBI.

The lesson here is that you must properly configure your VPN, and it’s also wise to steer clear of illegal activity. VPNs may be popular with the file sharing crowd, but this doesn’t mean providers will always hide their illegal actions. On the plus side, the risk of any type of data exposure is always reduced with a quality VPN.

How to Choose a VPN

Unless you’re working with a big budget, a VPN is yet another necessary thing that could reduce your profit margin. Instead of letting this get you down or prevent you from making the switch, consider one of the best free VPNs of 2017. This isn’t going to be a permanent solution because free VPNs usually institute a usage cap. However, going this route will enable you to test drive VPNs to get a better understanding of how they work.

Ultimately, you’ll want to invest in the best caliber VPN you can afford. Aside from this, it’s also critical to look closely at user reviews and any associated news stories. It’s probably a given that many VPN users will be jumping ship from PureVPN in light of their recent data collection revelation. Even this offers you and your web design clients a much higher level of protection than working through a typical network, though.

By choosing a VPN and using it for each client, even when you’re out of the office, you can offer better service and enhanced privacy. This is something you can even advertise to make potential clients feel more confident about hiring you for their website design needs.     

The race to develop Artificial intelligence (AI) is well and truly on. Tech giants, such as Google (leaders by some margin according to Web of Science), Facebook and Microsoft are keen to profit from the AI gold rush.

Hundreds of smaller companies are following in their wake, all looking for a slice of the action.

Just so we’re all on the same page, here’s a quick definition of AI: Artificial intelligence is an intelligent agent that perceives its environment and takes action that maximizes its chances of success at a goal.

Fair enough. But, self-driving cars aside, does this kind of technology represent a threat or an opportunity to the average web designer?

Let’s start by getting an idea of how far AI has come.

What can AI do right now?

Google currently offers their Cloud Machine Learning Services claimed to be “fast, large scale and easy to use”.

Their Mainstream Machine Learning consists of pre-trained models and a service that allows you to generate your own models. Their deep learning system promises a better training performance and increased accuracy compared to other systems.

Google offers cloud APIs (application programming interfaces) in job search, speech recognition, text analysis & translation.

Google also offers APIs in video and image analysis.

Their image analysis, for example, allows you to understand the content of images using machine learning models. It “reads” an image and allocates it to one of thousands of categories. But it goes further. It looks for individual objects (including faces) and finds and reads printed words.

Using technology and tools available from Google, you could be building your very own AI design application right now!

So, who’s making use of AI technology in web design already?

Who’s leading the pack in implementing AI in web design?

There are quite a few early adapters of AI in the web design world. Here are a couple of examples from an online search:

Logojoy is an online, do-it-yourself, logo design service that lets small businesses create their own logo.

Logojoy uses artificial intelligence and advanced learning algorithms. The service is aimed at SMEs either starting a blog or re-branding. At the time of writing, more than 3 million logos had been produced on their platform.

Another design related product that has been using AI for years is Bannersnack. Their banner score algorithm determines how good your banner is and how likely it is to attract sales.

It’s not hard to see the attraction of such a service to a small business just starting up and working to a tight budget, but that was never the target audience of most established web designers in any case. There just isn’t enough money to be made with that kind of client.

What about taking online web design using AI a step further? What about a website that makes itself? Welcome to the grid.

The Grid

The grid claims that you add content and “Molly” (your new AI Web Designer) takes care of the rest. Giving AI a face and personality is a clever move, and something we’ve seen before with the likes of Siri, the voice of the Apple IPhone’s personal assistant.

The Grid goes on to say that in three months she will have “searched through more design decisions than stars in our galaxy”. Powerful marketing indeed.

Some perspective on AI in web design

Google is shifting its focus from Search to AI, and that’s significant.

But, to think of AI as all doom and gloom, lost jobs and lost opportunities is short-sighted and not very helpful

While it’s true, designing for the web conforms to a set of design principles that suits AI, that’s far from being the whole story.

The opportunity to get a logo or a website quickly, and cost effectively, can work well for small and medium businesses. But beware. That suggests selling web design services as a commodity. As a flesh and blood web designer, if you’re doing that, you already have a problem.

Conclusion

So, is AI a threat or opportunity for web designers?

As early as 1975 there were predictions of the paperless office. It never happened. There were predictions of a computer on every desk. That did.

How far will AI impact on professional web design? It’s hard to say.

But remember, a web designer’s role isn’t limited to providing a logo or even a website. Larger clients are looking for expertise, ideas, professional input, feedback and hand-holding.

Maybe, even that “human touch”.

However, as with all emerging technologies, it does no harm to keep a watching brief on developments.

In this tutorial, we’re going to learn how to draw the Chrome logo in Adobe Illustrator.

Download Adobe Illustrator.

Recently, it was announced that with the latest update to the, Chrome 50, the web browser will be shifting to Material Design. However, Google does not seem to be stopping at just the web browser — Chrome OS too is moving towards Material Design, and these principles will soon be implemented in the operating system. 

Considering the fact that Google wants Material Design to become a standard design concept on the internet and Chrome OS itself is heavily focused on the internet, it makes sense to bring Material Design to Chrome OS.

As of now, the plan is that Chromebooks should now have a hybrid layout, and the overall design should add more room between buttons and icons.

However, there will have to be certain changes, because not all devices running Chrome OS come with a touchscreen, and many users tend to prefer using the mouse to navigate in and within the operating system. That said, the basic principles and concepts of Material Design on the OS are expected to be same as those on Android and elsewhere.

To learn more about this development, check out the blog post authored by Google’s Senior Designer Sebastian Gabriel.

Google has recently announced that it will soon allow and offer podcasts in Google Play Music, grouped by the nature of the content of the podcasts. Currently expected to be available only in US and Canada, podcasts will soon be rolled out for Android and Google Play users all around the world. 

To quote the official Android blog:

People love podcasts. In fact, these days, there are so many podcasts to choose from, it can be hard to pick which one to listen to at any given time. That’s where Google Play Music comes in. Google Play Music already gives you the right kind of music for the right moment—whether you want to have fun at work, prepare for a dance party, or just need to focus—and now, that includes podcasts.

Starting today on the web and rolling out on Android in the U.S. and Canada, we’ll connect you with podcasts based on what you’re doing, how you’re feeling and what you’re interested in. Similar to our contextual playlists for music, we want to make it easy to find the right podcast—whether you’re a podcast aficionado or listening for the first time.

This development has been long due and much awaited. iTunes has been offering podcasts for years now, and even Spotify and other services are not lagging behind. As such, Google Play Music is surely late in joining the trend.

What do you think of this move by Google? Share your views in the comments below!

In its bid to offer better search experience to its users, Google has been trying to implement Safe Browsing features in its offerings. We have Safe Browsing features that protect users from social engineering attacks, and carrying on with the trends, Google has now introduced a new one — henceforth, Google will now be blocking deceptive content and ads that lure users into clicking by disguising themselves as something else.

For example, the Download buttons that are actually advertisements, or something similar — soon to be blocked by Google!

Well, not really “blocked”, but you will receive a warning if you head towards such as a site. Something that looks like this:

And to define what comes under the jurisdiction of such warnings, here is what Google had to state:

Embedded content (like ads) on a web page will be considered social engineering when they either:

• Pretend to act, or look and feel, like a trusted entity — like your own device or browser, or the website itself.

• Try to trick you into doing something you’d only do for a trusted entity — like sharing a password or calling tech support.

You can learn more about this feature on this page, as well as see samples of such deceptive content. Also, if your website is affected by these changes, it might be the best time to act early and fix the deceptive content and ads, lest your page rank might suffer badly.