#tools to create mockups

[cozidreamsreimagine]

How to Create Designs That Work for Your Print-on-Demand Business

Running a print-on-demand business is both exciting and challenging. Whether you're selling on platforms like Redbubble or managing your own store, creating designs that resonate with your audience is the key to success. But how do you craft designs that not only look great but also sell? In this blog post, I’ll guide you through the process of creating designs that work for your print-on-demand business, with tips and tricks tailored to help you stand out in a competitive market. Let’s dive in!

Why Design Matters in Print-on-Demand

In the world of print-on-demand, your designs are your product. Unlike traditional retail, you’re not selling physical inventory—you’re selling ideas. Your customers are drawn to your creativity, so your designs need to:

- Capture attention: Bold, unique designs stand out in search results.

- Resonate with your audience: People buy designs that align with their personality, values, or interests.

- Fit the product: A design that looks great on a t-shirt might not work on a mug or phone case.

Understanding these principles is the first step to creating designs that work for your business.

Step 1: Know Your Niche

The most successful print-on-demand businesses are niche-focused. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, target a specific audience.

- Research your audience: Who are they? What are their interests, hobbies, or values?

- Find trending niches: Use tools like Google Trends or Redbubble’s trending searches to discover what’s popular.

- Create for your passion: If you’re passionate about your niche, it will show in your designs.

For example, if your niche is cozy, minimalist designs, you could create products that appeal to people who love hygge-inspired aesthetics.

Step 2: Brainstorm Unique Design Ideas

Once you’ve identified your niche, it’s time to brainstorm ideas. Here’s how to get started:

- Use keyword research: Tools like Redbubble’s search bar or Pinterest Trends can help you find popular themes.

- Look for inspiration: Check out competitors, social media, or even nature for fresh ideas.

- Think seasonally: Holidays, seasons, and special events are great opportunities for themed designs.

Pro tip: Keep a notebook or digital folder for design ideas. Inspiration can strike at any time!

Step 3: Master the Tools of the Trade

You don’t need to be a professional graphic designer to create stunning designs. With the right tools, anyone can make high-quality artwork.

- Free design tools: Canva, GIMP, and Inkscape are great for beginners.

- Professional software: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator offer advanced features for experienced designers.

- Mockup generators: Use tools like Placeit to see how your designs will look on products.

If you’re new to design, start simple. Minimalist designs with clean lines and bold typography are often bestsellers.

Step 4: Optimize Your Designs for Products

Not all designs work on every product. To maximize sales, tailor your designs to fit specific items.

- Consider placement: A design that looks great on a t-shirt might need adjustments for a mug or sticker.

- Use high-resolution files: Print-on-demand platforms require high-quality images to ensure sharp prints.

- Test your designs: Upload them to mockup tools to see how they look on different products.

For example, if you’re creating a design for a phone case, make sure the key elements aren’t cut off by the edges or camera hole.

Step 5: Write SEO-Friendly Titles and Tags

Even the best designs won’t sell if no one can find them. That’s where SEO comes in.

- Use relevant keywords: Include terms your audience is searching for, like “minimalist phone case” or “funny coffee mug.”

- Write descriptive titles: Instead of “Cool Design,” try “Retro Sunset Design for T-Shirts and Stickers.”

- Add detailed tags: Use a mix of broad and specific tags to improve your visibility.

For example, if your design is a cozy winter illustration, your tags might include “winter mug,” “cozy vibes,” and “holiday gift ideas.”

Step 6: Promote Your Designs

Creating great designs is only half the battle—you also need to market them.

- Leverage social media: Share your designs on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok.

- Engage with your audience: Respond to comments and messages to build a loyal following.

- Collaborate with influencers: Partner with creators who align with your niche to reach a wider audience.

You can share behind-the-scenes content, like your design process or mockups, to connect with your audience on a personal level.

Step 7: Analyze and Improve

Finally, track your performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

- Check your analytics: Platforms like Redbubble provide insights into your sales and traffic.

- Experiment with new designs: Test different styles, themes, or niches to see what resonates.

- Listen to feedback: Pay attention to customer reviews and comments to improve your designs.

Remember, success in print-on-demand is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep learning and adapting as you go.

Final Thoughts

Creating designs that work for your print-on-demand business takes time, creativity, and strategy. By understanding your niche, mastering design tools, and optimizing your listings for SEO, you can build a successful shop that stands out from the crowd.

You have the power to turn your ideas into products that people love. So, what are you waiting for? Start creating today and watch your business grow!

Looking for unique, cozy designs that inspire and stand out? Visit my Redbubble shop to explore a collection of creative products made just for you!

[olivergisttv]

Creating Interactive Prototypes Without Coding

Introduction Let’s be real—coding isn’t for everyone. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring your ideas to life. Whether you’re a designer, entrepreneur, marketer, or just someone with a bright idea, creating interactive prototypes without writing a single line of code is not only possible, it’s also incredibly easy in 2025. No more waiting around for a developer to “find time.” No more static…

[rosetintedchainsaw]

Our Ladies of Sorrow

2025

Another storage unit belonging to Lysandre Ashens has now been exhumed, due to the recent influx of news pertaining to him, along with the fact he is no longer alive to pay its fee.

Nearly a thousand boxes have been examined, and one of them contained a rather interesting piece of literature that we shall share in a moment.

Inside a rather tall box, was a collection of books, many of them thought to be lost to time or simply myths. And one of them was one Lysandre had clearly wished to have kept secured and hidden from the outside world, with its various chained locks holding the book shut. Attempts to break the chains proved useless, so we had to go out of our way to contact one of Hell's most certified locksmiths.

According to his word, Lysandre had gone so far as to enchant the chains to be entirely unbreakable. And he was quite certain that Lysandre had destroyed whatever key that would've been used. After assessing the locks themselves, he was able to create a mockup key, and finally open the book for us.

The book is without title or author, but it's been assumed that it was not written by Lysandre himself. It is unknown where he got the book from, and it is also unknown why he would take measures to keep it hidden, because as far as we are concerned, absolutely nothing in this book pertains to anything revolving his actions. It seems to have no relation to his now deceased wife and child, either.

Still, seeing his utter determination to keep this book contained and secured, we feel it is best to share its contents to Hell anyway, in the name of precaution.

Chapter 1

If I prove my following knowledge, there is an ever increasing chance I shall find myself dead before tomorrow.

But I must speak it. Not with my tongue, which has been long cursed into a permanent bind, but with my pen. For it is the last tool of communication I shall ever find available to myself.

There is an ancient Roman goddess. Levana. The overseer of childbirth, and the well known rituals and nourishment (or failings) that adjust the infants course in life.

A child can go down many different passageways in life, and a good variety of those roads are laced with a true horribleness that shall often find them bitter and their soul hardened before they even reach adolescence. Grief. From either ones they know or their own unsaved selves.

But Levana can only reach so far. There is more grief in the world, far more than she could ever manage. For us humans. For the occult. For animals, plants, any form of life, our grief stretches far beyond the capacity Levana finds herself comfortable.

And so, she turns her trust often to three ladies, all of which I have seen in the dark of my dreams, for which they all quickly turn into a nightmare.

These three ladies are similar to the three graces, the three furies, the three fates. Three ladies all with inconceivable power and influence on our world and us.

But they are not light and warm and tender. They are the tears that stain one's lap at a funeral. They are the dirt in which a corpse is buried under. They are the sighs of despair and realization that a loved one shall never grace you with their presence ever again. They are the sole essence of grief. They do not work in tandem with death, for they are death.

Death.

Our Ladies of Sorrow.

Mater Suspiriorum, The Mother of Sighs. She is the eldest and wisest of the three sisters. Her eyes are that of ash, the same as the ash that is produced after one's cremation. Her physical form is fleeting, and she carries herself mainly among the sighs of the mourning, from the ends of the cigars of the silent men leaned against the exterior of the church. And the smoke that drifts from candles extinguished after the church has been closed and the pews are empty of the visitors that grace themselves just before the casket. She is all around us. Forever and always.

Mater Tenebrarum, The Mother of Darkness. It is from her that our lowest thoughts flow from. Misery, Longing, the thought that maybe we shall be better off joining our lost ones. She tempts it into us, our most lonely and isolated hours. She appears in the form of a grim skeleton, wine and suggestions of hopelessness pouring endlessly from her mouth. She is the cruelest of the three.

And lastly, Mater Lachrymarum, the most present and most beautiful of the three. She has the hair of the roses that are placed upon headstones. Her eyes the grass that rummages beneath the tombs and gates of cemeteries. She sheathes herself in black lace, and travels silently into our villages, to stand beside the mother who stumbles into her sickly child's room, only to find them pale and motionless. She flows around crows and ravens as they circle and scream above their fallen brethren. She has been the one to catch my attention the most in my dreams. With her, she carries the strongest irresistibly that I pray man shall never know. The darkest and even cruelest of occult beings find themselves flung at her feet, for she tempts not only death.

These sisters are all bringers of grief, and ensure it shall find us. It will always find us.

I have seen all of them, they have come to me in dreams, floating behind Levana disguised as burning flames of black, twirling through the air like petals. But they are not the essence of spring. They are the essence of the winters that wrap around our hearts and squeeze until we must ponder if we are the ones who perished instead.

Knowledge of them is scarce. And to prove my knowledge of them whispers to me that soon, they may visit me. Not in my dreams.

Not anymore.

[sendpseuds]

I'm a graphic designer who specializes in vector art and illustration.

Today, I'm working on a brochure for a client who only has horrible photos of their product. The product is not a firepit, but let's just say it is - all they have is photos of this firepit [clearly taken on a smartphone by a cis man] in the middle of a dirty parking lot.

So they get the proof back and ask if I can just change the background in the photos.

Again.

I'm a graphic designer who specializes in vector art and illustration.

Now, I'm sure there are people out there who could do this no problem, but I haven't used Photoshop outside of creating mockups in years and even if I remembered exactly how to do any of this, there's no way I'm going to be able to find a perfect royalty-free background [because they're not paying extra for that] that will match the lighting and the positioning and the blah blah blah

I opened Photoshop anyway, just curious to see if I could remember anything about anything, and immediately, Adobe popped up like some modern-day Clippy:

"Oh, hey, you can do that with our generative AI!"

I've never closed a program so fast.

Now, there are some features that have existed in these programs for years that could, by some definitions, be considered AI - things like smart select and content-aware fill - but those are tools that are only concerned with the current file.

But this?

This has a whole other set of terms and conditions to accept.

This is different.

I have no fucking interest in stealing my work from other people.

Fuck I hate it here.

[daemonya]

Useful AI Websites

Remember when we thought robots would take over the world? Well, they kinda did, but instead of laser eyes and metal claws, they're armed with… tools? Yep, these days, AI is less "Terminator" and more "personal assistant on steroids" 🤖

Bot Making Assistant:

Ever wanted a personal minion but can't afford the banana budget?

Fantasy Name Generators

Rabid's Generators and RPG Resources

Random Original Character Generator

Perchance ― AI Character Description Generator

Perchance ― AI Chat & Roleplay and AI Chat w/image

Perchance ― AI Story Generator

Perchance ― AI Text Adventure and AI Adventure w/image

Perchance ― AI Hierarchical World Generator

AI Writing Assistant:

Don't blame me when your AI-assisted love letters start sounding suspiciously like robot poetry.

Cohesive

Dreamily

Fiction Fusion

Grammarly

Hemingway Editor

NovelAI

Perplexity

Phind

Quicktools

RambleFix: AI Note-taking & Writing Tool

RedQuill

TinyWow

ToolBaz

Tune Chat

WriterHand

You

AI Voice Generator:

Want to sound like Morgan Freeman without the years of smoking?

Murf AI

Dupdub AI

Vocal Removal

Adobe: Enhance Speech

Kits.AI (vocal removal, voice cloning)

AI Music Generator:

Who knows, you might accidentally create the next viral TikTok earworm and retire to a private island.

AI VOCALOID

Suno

Udio

AI Image Generator:

Whatever you need, these tools are your ticket to visual madness.

Bing Image Creator (SFW only) 👉🏻 how to prompt

Microsoft Designer (SFW only)

Maze Guru

Tensor.Art

CivitAI

PixAI

Runware

Text to Image

NeuralBlender

Leonardo.AI (and videos too)

Perchance AI Image Generator

Perchance AI Photo Generator (realistic)

AI Video Generator:

Video killed the radio star, and now AI is coming for Hollywood.

Hedra (make your characters sing)

VIGGLE (make your characters dance)

Dreamina (text/image to video)

Luma (text/image to video)

Vidu (text/image to video)

Genmo (text/image to video)

Haiper (text/image to video)

KLING (text/image to video)

Pika (text/image to video)

PixVerse (text/image to video)

invideo (text to video)

Fliki (text to video)

AKOOL (deepfake, face swap, talking photo)

D-ID (make live, speaking portraits)

Runway (prompt to video)

Creatify (create AI video ads)

Adobe: Animate from Audio

AI Image and Video Editor:

These magical tools are here to save your digital bacon!

123apps (edit, convert, create video, audio, PDF)

3D Book Cover Creator (book cover mockups)

Color Picker (from image)

Capcut AI Tools (upscale video)

Upscale.media (upscale image)

removal AI (image background remover)

Photopea (advanced image editor)

[bepisdotmp4]

alright gang hear me out. they're FOILS.

both sonichu and sonic.exe are spin offs (recolors, if you're feeling bold) of sonic the hedgehog, made by equally infamous people. both are authored into doing terrible, terrible things- and after their stories end, are given newfound agency.

where sonichu wants to make things right, sonic.exe wants to make things worse.

sonichu, at the end of the day, cares for people. he wants to do right in the world. he wants to fix the awful world that chris-chan and various trolls have made him create.

whereas sonic.exe relishes in the awful world that jc the hyena and other authors have made him create, so when given the chance, he turns it up to 11. more guts, gore, and tortured souls, baby! because he doesn't have that same sense of sympathy and caring sonichu has- he only sees others as playthings, tools, or obnoxious flies (cough cough faker/exe if this is 2011x canon cough cough).

side note: sonichu is not having fun and is haunted by guilt. sonic.exe is having the time of his LIFE right now.

thus- they're foils! two answers to the same question: i am a poorly-done recolor of sonic the hedgehog, and my terrible author(s) have made me create a world of nothing but suffering- do i continue to kill, or do i stop what i've started?

i made a rough mockup, with my interpretation of sonichu and someone heavily based on 2011x, to show their differences in design. sonichu has much brighter colors, large irises and pupils, and his design leads the eye up- through the quills and up to his ears- which symbolizes how he's escaping the cycle of suffering. sonic.exe has duller colors, small pupils with big sclera, and his design leads the eye down- with his sideways ears, downturned quills, big smile, and large hands and feet- which, you guessed it, symbolizes how he descends even further from where he started.

[digitalsfontssoccer]

Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font – Celebrate a Legacy in Style

Celebrate the golden legacy of Argentine football with the exclusive Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font – a tribute to the nation’s rich history and its collaboration with Adidas. Perfect for custom jerseys, Cricut projects, or football-themed gifts, this font echoes the design of Argentina's 50th Anniversary Kit and honors their 1978 World Cup win.

👉 Get the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font on Etsy

🏆 Adidas x Argentina 50th Anniversary Kit – On-Pitch Tribute

Kit Release & Debut: Adidas released the Argentina 50th Anniversary Kit on November 14th, 2024, and the national team debuted it during a match against Peru on November 19th.

Design & Features: The kit blends classic white and light blue stripes with gold details, including the Adidas Trefoil logo and AFA lettering. It features a special collar graphic, black and gold shorts, and matching socks. The look is both modern and nostalgic.

Historical Significance: This is Argentina’s first-ever anniversary kit, celebrating 50 years of partnership with Adidas, which began in 1974. Though Argentina worked with other brands like Le Coq Sportif in the past, the Adidas connection was renewed in 2001 and remains iconic today.

Color Palette:

Main color: Ambient Sky

Gold accents for the Trefoil, AFA, and laurel wreath

3 stars symbolizing Argentina’s World Cup wins

🎨 What You’ll Get – Argentina 50 Años Font

This font is inspired by the unique number and name styling seen in the anniversary kit. You’ll receive:

✅ OTF & TTF files for easy installation

✅ Complete A–Z and 0–9 set

✅ Retro feel blended with modern block design

✅ High-resolution quality for vinyl and fabric use

👉 Get the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font on Etsy

🖨️ How to Customize Your Jersey

Whether you're a collector or a fan who loves to wear your pride, you can apply this font to your own kit using:

Install the font on your computer

Open your software (like Canva, Illustrator, Cricut)

Create your name + number using this font

Export it for print

Use HTV or DTF printing with a heat press for best results

🛠️ 5 Best Tools for Using Football Jersey Fonts

To create your custom designs professionally, try:

Canva – Quick and easy mockups

Cricut Design Space – For vinyl cutting and layout

Adobe Illustrator – Vector editing and pro design

CorelDRAW – Great for large-format printing

Inkscape – A free alternative for SVG editing

🛍️ Why Buy from Etsy?

Our fonts are listed on Etsy, a safe and trusted marketplace for creatives. With instant download and secure checkout, Etsy gives you:

🔐 Trusted payments

📥 Immediate access to your files

✉️ Easy communication and support

🌍 Global accessibility

👉 Get the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font on Etsy

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Can I use this font with Cricut or Silhouette? Yes – the SVG and vector files are fully compatible.

Is this an official AFA font? No. This is a fan-made recreation inspired by the 50 Años kit for personal use.

Can I sell jerseys made with this font? The font is for personal use only. Contact us if you need a commercial license.

What formats are included? You’ll get OTF, TTF, SVG, AI, EPS files in a zip download.

How do I install the font? Just double-click the OTF or TTF file and click "Install" on your Mac or PC.

—

Unlocking the Style: The Significance of the 🇦🇷 Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font

The Historical Context of the 🇦🇷 Argentina 50 Años Jersey

Argentina football history, 50 years celebration, soccer jersey design, iconic sportswear

The Design Elements that Make the 🇦🇷 Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font Unique

jersey typography, font design in sportswear, visual identity, branding in jerseys

Why the Right Font Matters in Sports Jerseys: A Look at Impact and Recognition

sports branding, jersey recognition, fan engagement through design, typography importance in sports

The Influence of Typography on Team Spirit and Fan Culture

fan loyalty symbols, cultural significance of fonts, community identity through jerseys

A Closer Look at How to Acquire Your Own 🇦🇷 Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font Design

where to buy jerseys online, custom jersey options, limited edition sportswear availability

Conclusion: Celebrate Argentine Football Legacy with the Iconic 50 Años Jersey Font Today!

👉 Get the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font on Etsy

Unlock the Nostalgia: Discover the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font

Introduction: The Significance of the Argentina 50 Años Jersey

Argentina football history, commemorative jersey, sports design, football culture, jersey typography

The Unique Style of the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font

jersey font design, typography in sports, unique athletic fonts, visual identity, custom jersey fonts

How to Incorporate the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font into Your Designs

graphic design tips, sports branding, using jersey fonts in projects, personalizing jerseys, font applications

The Legacy of Argentina's Football Achievements Celebrated Through Design

football achievements history, Argentine football legends, cultural impact of sports jerseys, iconic designs in football history

Where to Find and Download the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font for Your Projects

font download sources, free font resources for designers, where to buy jersey fonts online, creative marketplace options for fonts

Conclusion: Celebrate Argentine Football History by Using the Iconic 50 Años Jersey Font Today!

👉 Get the Argentina 50 Años Jersey Font on Etsy

[dubaiwebsitedesignss]

What Is The Difference Between Web Development & Web Design?

In today’s world, we experience the growing popularity of eCommerce businesses. Web designing and web development are two major sectors for making a difference in eCommerce businesses. But they work together for publishing a website successfully. But what’s the difference between a web designers in Dubai and a web developer?

Directly speaking, web designers design and developers code. But this is a simplified answer. Knowing these two things superficially will not clear your doubt but increase them. Let us delve deep into the concepts, roles and differentiation between web development and website design Abu Dhabi.

What Is Meant By Web Design?

A web design encompasses everything within the oeuvre of a website’s visual aesthetics and utility. This might include colour, theme, layout, scheme, the flow of information and anything related to the visual features that can impact the website user experience.

With the word web design, you can expect all the exterior decorations, including images and layout that one can view on their mobile or laptop screen. This doesn’t concern anything with the hidden mechanism beneath the attractive surface of a website. Some web design tools used by web designers in Dubai which differentiate themselves from web development are as follows:

● Graphic design

● UI designs

● Logo design

● Layout

● Topography

● UX design

● Wireframes and storyboards

● Colour palettes

And anything that can potentially escalate the website’s visual aesthetics. Creating an unparalleled yet straightforward website design Abu Dhabi can fetch you more conversion rates. It can also gift you brand loyalty which is the key to a successful eCommerce business.

What Is Meant By Web Development?

While web design concerns itself with all a website’s visual and exterior factors, web development focuses on the interior and the code. Web developers’ task is to govern all the codes that make a website work. The entire web development programme can be divided into two categories: front and back.

The front end deals with the code determining how the website will show the designs mocked by a designer. While the back end deals entirely with managing the data within the database. Along with it forwarding the data to the front end for display. Some web development tools used by a website design company in Dubai are:

● Javascript/HTML/CSS Preprocessors

● Template design for web

● GitHub and Git

● On-site search engine optimisation

● Frameworks as in Ember, ReactJS or Angular JS

● Programming languages on the server side, including PHP, Python, Java, C#

● Web development frameworks on the server side, including Ruby on Rails, Symfony, .NET

● Database management systems including MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL

Web Designers vs. Web Developers- Differences

You must have become acquainted with the idea of how id web design is different from web development. Some significant points will highlight the job differentiation between web developers and designers.

Generally, Coding Is Not A Cup Of Tea For Web Designers:

Don’t ever ask any web designers in Dubai about their coding knowledge. They merely know anything about coding. All they are concerned about is escalating a website’s visual aspects, making them more eyes catchy.

For this, they might use a visual editor like photoshop to develop images or animation tools and an app prototyping tool such as InVision Studio for designing layouts for the website. And all of these don’t require any coding knowledge.

Web Developers Do Not Work On Visual Assets:

Web developers add functionality to a website with their coding skills. This includes the translation of the designer’s mockups and wireframes into code using Javascript, HTML or CSS. While visual assets are entirely created by designers, developer use codes to implement those colour schemes, fonts and layouts into the web page.

Hiring A Web Developer Is Expensive:

Web developers are more expensive to hire simply because of the demand and supply ratio. Web designers are readily available as their job is much simpler. Their job doesn’t require the learning of coding. Coding is undoubtedly a highly sought-after skill that everyone can’t entertain.

Final Thoughts:

So if you look forward to creating a website, you might become confused. This is because you don’t know whether to opt for a web designer or a developer. Well, to create a website, technically, both are required. So you need to search for a website design company that will offer both services and ensure healthy growth for your business.

[mockeyteam]

Mockey.ai is your new favorite mockup tool! 💥 📦 Create Beautiful Box Mockups Online (For FREE!) Perfect for designers, brands, and creatives who want that pro look without the heavy lifting.

[bulkmockify]

The Best Tool for Selling Sublimation & PNG Files

Selling SVG or sublimation designs on So Fontsy, Creative Fabrica, or Etsy? BulkMockify makes it easy to prepare mockups in bulk, so you can focus on creating bundles that catch the eye of potential buyers and grow your sales.

[nareshkumartech]

Agentic Research in Tech: Human Voices Behind the Algorithms

In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, algorithms influence everything—from what we read and watch to how we navigate health care and job applications. Yet, much of tech design is still built on abstraction and efficiency, leaving out the lived realities of users. This is where agentic research introduces a powerful and necessary shift. By prioritizing user voice, experience, and emotion, it humanizes technology development.

Agentic research views users not as test subjects or data points but as active collaborators. In tech design, this means co-creating systems with the people who will use them, drawing from their real-world challenges, emotions, and feedback. It invites deeper questions about ethics, impact, and inclusion—transforming the way digital tools are built and experienced.

Traditional UX research often relies on usability metrics, click-through rates, or predefined tasks. While useful, these metrics only scratch the surface. Agentic methods, on the other hand, go deeper by engaging users in reflective storytelling, visual mapping, journaling, and open dialogue. These tools capture not just how users interact with a product, but why they behave the way they do, what they fear, value, or desire, and how the system shapes their agency.

This approach is particularly important in areas like AI design, health tech, educational apps, and social platforms, where the consequences of digital experiences are deeply personal and emotional. For example, consider an AI recommendation tool used in hiring. Instead of merely measuring response rates, agentic research would involve job seekers in discussions about transparency, bias, and dignity—leading to a more ethical, human-centered solution.

Moreover, agentic research emphasizes co-design, encouraging users to sketch features, build mockups, and critique early prototypes. This not only results in more relevant products but also empowers users as co-creators, building trust and equity in the design process.

Incorporating agentic principles into tech research isn’t just a methodological shift—it’s a moral one. It challenges developers and researchers to think beyond convenience and efficiency, toward empathy, justice, and inclusion.

Using Agentic Research in Tech:

Use reflective journaling tools to help users share their experiences in their own words and time.

Involve users in co-design sessions, letting them shape wireframes, flows, and content.

Test concepts through dialogue, not just usability labs—focus on meaning, not only metrics.

[graphypixllc]

Reflle | Branding Style Guide Presentation

Create a stunning Branding Style Guide effortlessly with the Reflle Presentation Template. A professionally crafted template designed to help brands, agencies, designers, and creative professionals present their visual identity in the most modern, clean, and compelling way possible.

Reflle is more than just a presentation template — it’s a powerful tool to communicate your brand guidelines with clarity, consistency, and style. Whether you’re working on a client branding project, presenting your own company’s brand rules, or building a design portfolio, this template makes it easy to showcase every detail of your Branding Style Guide.

Why a Branding Style Guide Matters

A Branding Style Guide is the heart of every professional brand. It defines how your brand looks, feels, and communicates with the world. Without a proper brand guideline, brands risk inconsistency, confusion, and a weak identity.

Reflle gives you a beautiful, easy-to-edit structure to present essential brand elements such as:

Logo Usage & Variations

Color Palette & Codes

Typography & Font Guidelines

Imagery Style & Moodboards

Iconography

Brand Voice & Messaging

Do’s & Don’ts

Grid System & Layout Rules

Stationery & Mockup Presentation

No matter what industry you are in — creative agency, startup, corporate business, fashion brand, or personal portfolio — a Branding Style Guide helps create trust, professionalism, and recognition.

[solsdevblog]

NaNoRenO 2025 Post-Mortem Blog

Hello everyone! Now that NaNoRenO has officially ended, I figured it'd be the best time to write up a little post mortem about all the work that went into my entry: Madame Ro's Curiosity Quiz!

Inspirations and Ideas

It should come as no surprise that one of the main inspirations for my personality-quiz game is the other main personality-quiz game, Refind Self: The Personality Test Game. The way the game is presented, and how it tracks your stats to give your final results was super fascinating, and I even got direct inspiration for what possible stats I could track for Madame Ro from it.

I also wouldn't have had the idea to make this game for NaNoRenO if it wasn't for Stella creating her Make Visual Novel Quizes Kit, which was a huge help in figuring out the backend and debugging a lot of issues early on.

As for Madame Ro herself, her design overall was the result of a random idea of a "mysterious entity who wants to quiz the player". I decided to take this idea and try making up a concept, and thus Madame Ro was born!

My original mockup sketch before I started NaNoRenO.

The final big inspiration, and the reason for one particular question in the game, is actually Ekkoberry's past few O2A2 games, Hollow Victory and Holonomy! I got really inspired seeing them use the pydraw functions available in Ren'Py for their games, and I decided to start playing around with them. After some noodling to see how it works, I then thought "how hard would it be to randomly generate a shape?", which then spiralled into the thought of "what if I made a Rorschach Test in Ren'Py?"

The Process of Making Madame Ro

Madame Ro is the first game where I made the entire outline and rough script in Obsidian! I've slowly been getting more use out of this program and I'll definitely be using it more in the future!

As I was working on the initial outline, I did some design brainstorming for Ro herself and the setting the game will take place in.

My original brainstorming canvas for Ro's design

The rough script and rough sketches overall took me about 5 days, which was faster than I'm used to, with the thing that took the longest being thinking up the questions. I didn't want all of them to be too similar to what you'd see in other personality quizes ‒ or just be outright copies of them ‒ so I spent a long time thinking them through carefully.

Madame Ro's personality really started to shine through when I started to think up the demon-aligned questions, and it helped me solidify the direction I wanted to go in with the overall "plot" of the game.

When I was thinking up the stats and results I suddenly had the idea to make the images for the results screens my OCs! It was a super self indulgent idea, and it made that part of the process extra fun.

Some of you may have recognized a certain someone from the Daring result (and you can check out her game here:)

As for everyone else, not all of them will have games made for their stories. It'd be nice to, but for now this quaint little cameo in this project is where the most of the attention they'll be getting comes from.

Madame Ro was also the first time I used music and sound effects from Itchio! I'd been neglecting to use the vast amount of resources available on the website, and made it a point to try and use at least a few things for this game. Because of that I found music and sounds that fit really well with the overall vibe of the game, and I'll definitely be using more things from Itchio in future projects!

How I Made the Rorschach Test

Now let me ramble for a bit about the other main feature of Madame Ro: the Rorschach Test.

As I mentioned earlier, I was inspired by how Ekkoberry used the pydraw tools to add in new "assets" for their O2A2 entries without going against the rules of the jam (for reference, the acronym stands for One Of Any Asset). The way they used it for the second game especially caught my eye, and I immediately wanted to noodle with it.

I have a sandbox project in Ren'Py that I use to practice ideas I might want to use in a future project (something I highly recommend everyone do tbh), and in there I was able to learn exactly how this feature worked and just how far I could push it.

Screenshot from my sandbox game, showing the testing grounds for what would become the Madame Ro Rorschach test.

When I took this into Madame Ro I wasn't really happy with how it looked, and I didn't know why. It wasn't until a sudden brainwave when I realized that it wasn't a symetrical image, and decided to tweak the output a bit so that I could make it more like I envisioned.

The result is as you see in the final game, the Rorschach test which the player will always get as the fourth question.

The "apron" that one of my playtesters Glueblade got on their first playthrough.

I'm super happy with how it turned out, and I'm honestly excited to figure out more ways I can play around with the pydraw tools in future games.

Final Thoughts

This was the first NaNoRenO game I completely finished for the jam (my other attemps being in 2017, the sketch demo of what became Battle Live, and my 2024 NaNoRenO game which got cannibalised by the school version of Locked Room on Rails because they were in dev at the same time haha).

I'm really really happy that I finally managed to get one game out for a NaNoRenO, and this makes me confident I can make even more games not just for it, but for other jams as well!

Along with that, my workflow this month was super good! I used a lot of the new project management skills I've learned to really keep myself organized and on schedule, and because of that I even released the game a whole week earlier than expected!

Whether I join NaNoRenO 2026 remains to be seen, but if I do I look forward to what sort of game I'll end up making.

Thank you to everyone who's checked out and shared Madame Ro so far, and I'll see you in the next game!

See ya~!

Sol

[rpgsandbox]

Are you ready to return to The Wood?

The Wood surrounds and divides the realm and anyone (or anything) that has not yet sworn fealty. The Wood is not one forest, but all forests. The Root is the realm of mystery and horror underneath, and does not care for the petty divisions overground.

Cairn is the DriveThruRPG Platinum Best Selling adventure game about exploring a dark and mysterious Wood filled with strange folk, hidden treasure, and unspeakable monstrosities. Character generation is quick and random, adventures are tense and reward careful exploration, and combat is frantic and deadly. The first edition rules are freely available here, and should be familiar to any fans of Knave and Into the Odd.

The definitive second edition has been freshly revised and developed, and includes an expanded Player’s Guide, a brand new Warden’s Guide, and a new adventure Trouble in Twin Lakes in a robust and lavishly illustrated boxed set packed with useful gaming tools.

Digital mockups, final presentation may differ.

If you’re looking for a rules-light, player-forward system for classic fantasy roleplaying, look no further. Cairn 2E includes everything you need to get started with a minimum of setup and zero hassle. A simple 3-stat system and roll-under d20 resolution makes it familiar to old-school gamers and new players alike, marrying the best of the OSR and 5E mechanics.

The first edition of Cairn was a simple, 24-page Player's Guide that provided the basics of character creation and dice mechanics. For the second edition, we've greatly expanded upon and clarified the rules for players, starting with the backgrounds. Each character background now includes its own unique set of equipment, abilities, history, and relation to the world of Cairn. With 20 backgrounds and 36 possible ways to build each, that means over 700 different characters can be made before gameplay even begins. 

While Cairn 2E is bigger, bolder, and weirder than its predecessor, it remains as simple and easy to jump into. Character creation is a quick, four-step process: 

1) First, roll or choose a background from such creative possibilities as the Beast Handler or Fungal Forager.  2) Now, roll or choose from an array of tables to fill out your specialties, histories, and magical equipment.  3) Roll 3d6 to determine each of your three Attribute Scores—Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower—and 1d6 for your Hit Protection, or HP.  4) Lastly, you'll name your character, determine their age, and array them with a selection of traits and bonds to establish their place in the world.

A Beast Handler, Bonekeeper, Half-Witch, and Aurifex take a quick break from dungeon delving.

The Player's Guide is a 5.5" x 8.5" perfect bound softcover of approximately 92 pages.

In addition to the expanded Player's Guide, the Cairn 2E Boxed Set comes with a dedicated Warden’s Guide, which includes everything you’ll need to create, populate, and manage a game in the world of Cairn. Inside you’ll find: 

Advice and guides on designing and running a forestcrawl, pointcrawl, or dungeon delve

A bestiary of strange and foul creatures your players will encounter in the Woods and Roots

Spellbooks and relics, magical artifacts from a bygone age with their own strange powers and personalities

Rules for character advancement through personalized quests, downtime activities, and relationships with the people and creatures of the world

The world of Vald, Cairn’s first detailed setting and the perfect place to begin your adventure

And much more! 

With a few rolls of the dice, you can now generate entire sessions worth of content for adventures in the dark forests of The Woods, the stygian depths of the Roots, or even spruce up existing modules for a classic dungeoncrawl. Or perhaps your players would prefer to spend that session in town, following up on leads and training up their skills to better tackle the next leg of their quest. In the Warden’s Guide, you’ll find everything you need to really bring the world of Cairn to life. 

The Warden's Guide is a 5.5" x 8.5" perfect bound softcover of approximately 120 pages.

Trouble in Twin Lakes

Two weeks ago, Aldra, the beloved butcher of Isthmus Town, suddenly vanished without a trace. Some days later, a local teen reported seeing a man swallowed up by the earth near Deadmill. Others have also gone missing. Now, the townsfolk are left wondering: Who might be next? Trouble in Twin Lakes is the first in a brand new series of adventure for Cairn, set in and around the Twin Lakes area.  Trouble in Twin Lakes is a 5.5" x 8.5" saddle stitched zine of approximately 24 pages.

The Adventure Anthology

We've got THREE more adventures in the works as stretch goals. At a certain funding level, these three adventures will be collected and printed together as The Adventure Anthology, and included in each boxed set.

Digital mockups, final presentation may differ.

A first for Cairn and exclusive to this boxed set, the Warden's Screen is meant to inspire and inform in equal measure. It features a new, full-size illustration by Bruno Prosaiko on the front and tables galore on the back to help Wardens run their best game of Cairn ever! We're hard at work behind the scenes to determine the most relevant and useful information to put on this board, and our final design will be revealed in a future update.

The Warden's Screen contains five 5.5" x 8.5" panels made of thick gameboard, with art on the outside and reference text and tables on the inside.

Digital mockup, final presentation may differ.

The new Cairn 2E Character Sheet Pad feature art by Licopeo and are perfectly designed to show off your character's skills, stats, and assets. Backers at the Cairn 2E Boxed Set tier will get a whole pad of sheets that can be torn off as needed (useful in case of a sudden TPK).

Digital mockup, final presentation may differ

Collectors and enthusiasts will appreciate the robust box with unique art from acclaimed artist Bruno Prosaiko. Made of sturdy cardboard made to withstand years of intense gaming sessions, it'll contain everything you need to run a game of Cairn: just supply pencils, dice, and friends. 

The Cairn 2e box also includes a handy lift ribbon inside, to access all your books and papers easily without needing to upend the whole box! 

======================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, April 26 2024 3:00 PM BST

Website: [Space Penguin Ink] [twitter] [instagram]

[loserkaleidoscope]

if you dont mind me asking what do you use for the instagram thingies of your ocs theyre very cool and i crave a fraction of your power/silly

Haha i totally don't mind! <3

This is the site I'm using! The only downside of it is that you will need to screenshot your finished product, because you can't download it without a membership. Some people also use Canva(?) to create them as far as I know :) Have funnn with it <33

[designmindsstudio]

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