What’s the difference between data, findings, and UX insights? And how do you argue for statistical significance in your UX research? Let’s unpack it. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/data-vs-findings-vs-insights-ux/
Road-tripping along the line between engineering and spirituality, Robert M. Pirsig’s musings on the arts, sciences, and Quality ring as true now as they ever have. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/what-zen-art-motorcycle-maintenance-teach-web-design/
While there are plenty of ways that CSS animations can bring designs to life, adding simple SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) animations in SVG can help them do much more. Andy Clarke explains where SMIL animations in SVG take over where CSS leaves off. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/smashing-animations-part-3-smil-not-dead/
Helpful PDF worksheets and tools to get the design system effort up and running — and adopted! Kindly powered by How To Measure UX and Design Impact, a friendly course on how to show the impact of your incredible UX work on business. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/design-system-in-90-days/
Learn how to create and implement a UX strategy framework that shapes work and drives real business value. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/building-practical-ux-strategy-framework/
Remember that last team brainstorming session where you were supposed to generate a long list of brilliant ideas? How many of those ideas actually stuck? Did leadership act on any of those ideas? In this article, Eric Olive challenges the value of exercises like brainstorming and explores more effective methods for sparking creativity to improve design and enhance the user’s experience. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/fewer-ideas-unconventional-approach-creativity/
What if you could take your CSS animations beyond simple fades and slides — adding an extra dimension and a bit of old-school animation magic? In this article, pioneering author and web designer Andy Clarke will show you how masking can unlock new creative possibilities for CSS animations, making them feel more fluid, layered, and cinematic. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/smashing-animations-part-2-css-masking-add-extra-dimension/
Learn how two designers tackled the challenges of building a localization-ready design system for a global audience. This case study dives into how Rebecca and Mark combined Figma Variables and design tokens to address multilingual design issues, such as text overflow, RTL layouts, and font inconsistencies. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/integrating-localization-into-design-systems/
The Penpot team is not slowing down on its mission to build a free design tool that not only offers powerful design features but is also well-integrated with code and modern development practices. In its latest release, Penpot, as the first design tool ever, introduces support for native design tokens. Let’s take a closer look at this concept and how you can employ it in your process. https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/05/integrating-design-code-native-design-tokens-penpot/
Have you ever thought about how the limitations of early cartoon animations might relate to web design today? From looping backgrounds to minimal frame changes, these retro animation techniques have surprising parallels to modern CSS. In this article, pioneering author and web designer Andy Clarke shows how he applied these principles to Emmy-winning composer Mike Worth’s new website, using CSS to craft engaging and fun animations that bring his world to life. h