Video Games! Who doesn’t like them? When it comes to the PixelHaze team we’re addicted to our games, our Steam and Xbox libraries are filled to the brim with games upon games that we still haven’t got round to playing. This is why it only felt right that our brand conveyed our passion for all things retro whilst not being “in your face” with it. This is where we stumbled upon our love for isometric artwork.

Finding the right colors can be a nightmare in Adobe Illustrator. Most times, I'll be creating illustrations and building a color palette as I go through the design, Later in the design process, I can find myself having to change these colors, to fit the adapted brand. Changing all the colors to match the new color palette can be quite challenging and time-consuming. But using the Recolor Artwork tool in Adobe Illustrator can be enormously time-saving, so you can spend more time designing!

I love to doodle. One of the main things I find in working at PixelHaze is I've been encouraged to doodle even more throughout my branding and logo designs to the point where we've painted the walls in chalk paint to encourage me to draw on the walls themselves!

We’ve been working on a new Squarespace template, great for those who sell products online. Ken Rees gives us an overview of this template and why it might be the one for you!

It was a pleasure to visit the University of South Wales in Cardiff, to deliver our Bootcamp brief for the third-year graphic communication students. Coming in on week three of the Boot Camp module, we set a design brief based on branding and web design.

How my knowledge of design and fear of code led me to find unique ways to problem solve and break the boundaries of Squarespace without using any CSS! (Code is scary)

This feature can be found by going on to any of your pages, adding in a new section, then finding the item called 'lists'. In the list section, there are a number of different formats, which can be handy in many different scenarios. This feature is only available in Squarespace 7.1. There are three main list formats, these being simple list, banner, format, and carousel. The main list format we've been using currently is the circular list format, also known as the simple list format.

As we design our websites and continue to add content once it's up and running, we can run into a problem where our homepage in particular can start to look rather cluttered. We can lose our key messages, and sometimes it's great to take a step back and have a quick ‘Strategy Session’.

Sensible rules to follow in the work place. If you have a creative working environment like us at Pixelhaze, you may want to take a look at some of these novel themes based on pop culture classics.

PixelHaze Creative Director Ken Rees shares the origin of the internet’s most infamous Dinosaur.

PixelHaze Creative Director Ken Rees shares what keeps him up at night through a truly horrific poster!

PixelHaze Creative Director Ken Rees shares the Pixelhaze design process for creating a website through an isometric poster design.

PixelHaze Creative Director Ken Rees shares the top design trends leading into 2021 and how these trends can be implemented effectively into your Squarespace site.

By Ken Rees: The beginning of our crash course series. Using illustrator we pay homage to the retro 8bit styling of 80's video games through our own Pixelhaze branding.

By Ken Rees: When considering the virtues of a Video banner, especially an animated one, can be a welcome addition to any Squarespace site, the use of a video banner will often encourage a viewer to stay on a site for far longer and increase engagement, but, is a video banner right for your site?

By Ken Rees: Wordpress sights can be a nightmare for beginners who are new to web design. There is a lot to digest and take in straight from the start, and without a decent knowledge of web design or coding, it can often be difficult for start up businesses to create a bespoke website which best fits their business.

By Ken Rees: Pixelhaze has developed vastly over the years from its foundation in 2015 to present day. Not only has it evolved as a business with the addition of the Pixelhaze Academy, but also as a brand. Looking at how the branding has changed over a 5 year period it’s clear that Pixelhaze’s philosophy has stayed true in its development.

By Ken Rees: Icons are often used within websites to help navigate the user with simplistic designs intended to explain the meaning of sections in a minimal way. Used correctly, icons can be a create addition to a site.
Although icons are a create way to break up your content, they can be improved upon further to add an extra layer of depth to your site. Eye candy used to engage your viewer. Depending on the websites branding, using animation in the right way can be a welcome addition to your website.

By Ken Rees: Nearing the end of my University at the Atrium in Cardiff, I’ve been reflecting on my graphics degree as a whole wondering what I would’ve done differently and how I could’ve approached Graphic Communications with the knowledge I have now. That’s why I’ve compiled Ken’s Top 5 Tips for Undergraduate Designers. These are things I’d wished I knew at the start of my degree to give me a proper head start in a career of design.