📝 Issue #459: 3 Essential Design Trends, Being Fearless and Unattached, CSS Masonry Layout, What Ballots Teach Us About UX Writing, and more…

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Every month we publish a pro’s guide to the three biggest trends we’ve seen gaining traction on the web in the previous four weeks. November’s issue takes a look at the final major design ideas before things settle down for the holidays. In this edition you’ll find connectivity, the tail-end of Brutalism, and all things beige.

The CSS Grid Layout Module Level 3 has just been released, which introduces Pinterest-style masonry grids to CSS. This popular design pattern has been notoriously difficult to code until now, so expect to see it spring up everywhere. Rachel Andrew walks us through implementing the latest CSS technique.

Handshake is an experimental peer-to-peer root naming system that’s hoping to take on the existing domain name systems on the internet, in order to decentralize the web. Handshake constitutes both a piece of software, and a loose agreement on how it will be used. You can download the full source on GitHub.

UX Writing is one of the key areas of a product or site that impacts user experience. Lauren Jessen investigates the merits of simple and transparent language when writing for interfaces, by examining what lessons UX writers can learn from the language and guidelines that accompany ballot papers.

First every brand switched its logotype to a geometric sans, then they all adopted Material Design colors, then they jumped on the Atlassian illustration trend. Now, brands are rushing to strip the personality and individuality from their icons. Georgia Coggan asks if the latest UI design trend has gone too far.

If you’re a freelance creative you’ll be all too aware of how vital accurate time management is. Timefibers is an awesome app that tracks how much time you spend on different devices, and automatically categorizes your hours into different projects, and between apps and sites. There’s a full-featured free plan.

We all know what is meant by being fearless: not lacking fear, but rather not allowing fear to control you. Being unattached, is the ability to be open to ideas, results, and techniques outside of your preconceived expectations, as described by Ward Andrews in this empowering must-read post for creatives.

When you’re learning to code a language, the most reliable way not only to reinforce your memory, but also to increase your practical understanding, is to build a real project. What Should I Build? is a fantastic set of suggestions for projects to build when learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, or PostgreSQL.

Discogs, the internet music database turned 20 on the 1st of November. From fun side-project, to eight million active users contributing content, the inside story of Kevin Lewandowski’s labor of love is an inspiration for anyone who hopes to build hobby into a career, or sell a copy of a Prince album for $27,500.