A slim waist and a flat stomach are coveted for the way they look, but it turns out that losing belly fat may not only help you feel better in a bathing suit — it can also improve your health.
Belly fat, or visceral fat, isn't the type of fat that's under your skin (subcutaneous); the kind you can pinch. Instead, it's deep within our abdomen, in between our organs. Why is it that some people store fat around their middle and some don't? Where we store fat on our bodies is determined by various factors, including hormones and genetics. Women tend to begin to gain more belly fat as estrogen levels start to drop during menopause. Also, as we age our muscle mass starts to decrease, which causes us to burn fewer calories, leading to weight gain.
Why is belly fat dangerous?
Belly fat is linked to an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, breathing problems and pancreatitis. In women, it's specifically linked to breast cancer and the need to have gallbladder surgery.
How do I know if I have too much belly fat?
Waist size, especially in women, is a better predictor of heart attack risk than BMI (body mass index). And even people who are at a normal weight can be carrying too much belly fat. According to the Cleveland Clinic, you can determine if your waist is at an unhealthy size in three easy steps:
Wrap a measuring tape around your waist, just above your hipbones.
Exhale (but don't suck your stomach in), then look at the measurement. In general, risk increases when your waist measure more than 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men. If you're from South Asia, China or Japan, your risk rises if this measurement is more than 31 inches for women or greater than 35 inches for men.
You can also measure your hips to get a waist-to-hip ratio. Measure your hips by putting the tape measure around the widest part of your hips. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. The healthy range is less than 0.8 for women and 0.9 for men.
How to lose belly fat: 5 easy tips
Age-related weight gain and genetics may be working against you, but you can still take steps to reduce belly fat and boost your health.
1. Get active daily
Getting exercise not only burns calories but can also help you maintain muscle mass as you age, which helps keep your metabolism going steady. It's best to get a combination of cardiovascular exercise and resistance (weight bearing) training. The World Health Organization recommends getting a minimum of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity — or a combo of the two — each week. If you like to track your steps, you can set a goal to meet daily. While 10,000 steps is a wonderful goal, you don't necessarily need that many to see a benefit.
2. Reduce added sugars
According to the USDA's 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines, we should be keeping our added sugar intake to no more than 10% of our total calories. For a 2000-calorie diet, that's a maximum of 200 calories, or 12 teaspoons. Currently, most Americans are eating about three times as much! Those added sugars lurk in so many foods, not just in the obvious ones like ice cream, candy and cakes. Added sugars (not the naturally occurring sugars in fruit and milk) are also found in various foods from condiments to crackers, so make sure to look at ingredient lists when shopping for products. Also, sweetened beverages, like energy drinks, soda, sweetened teas and other drinks can rack up grams of added sugar. It's smarter to stick with water (sparkling or plain) and unsweetened teas.
3. Eat more plants
Fruits and vegetables can help fight belly fat in several ways. First, the fiber they contain helps give us a feeling of fullness, which can be the difference between feeling satisfied with your lunch, or craving a high-calorie snack just an hour after eating. Second, many fruits, and nearly all vegetables are relatively low in calories, so filling your plate with them can help you reduce your overall calorie intake without having to count calories. Just a reminder: Women should aim for 25 grams of fiber each day, while men need to aim for 38 grams. Most of us don't get enough! Try to fill half of your plate or bowl with colorful fruits and veggies at each meal. (Bonus: eating more plants will help you feel less bloated, too).
4. Get enough protein
Protein may not help burn belly fat, but it's helpful for general weight maintenance because it helps us feel satisfied. Studies have shown that people who eat a higher protein snack have less post-snack hunger, more feelings of fullness and wait longer until their next meal. Protein-rich snacks include Greek yogurt, nuts and nut butter, beef or turkey jerky, some energy bars, hard-boiled eggs, canned tuna or salmon on crackers, hummus and veggies, edamame and cottage cheese. And research shows that protein intake has an inverse relationship with belly fat — the more protein you eat, the less belly fat you'll have. And by eating more plant-based proteins, you'll also get additional fiber.
5. Stick to portion sizes
Americans love big portions! It has been clear for years that increasing portion sizes, at restaurants and at home, have contributed to weight gain in both adults and kids. It can be confusing to know what a portion size should be, especially when you're eating from a large container of really tasty food. Learning what an appropriate portion of various foods looks like can help you avoid eating excess calories. And serving those portions in smaller containers (smaller plates, bowls, etc.) can help you feel more satisfied with a smaller amount — really!
Dealing with belly fat can be frustrating, but if you implement the strategies above, they can add up to some real results and serious health benefits. You've got this!
Related:
Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN, is a nutrition expert, writer and best-selling author. Her latest book is "Smoothies & Juices: Prevention Healing Kitchen." Follow her @FrancesLRothRD or check out her website.
You might be running hard and doing lots of resistance training, but you can't outtrain a bad diet. This simple fact has kept even very active people from achieving their weight loss goals. And after three months of zoom calls, in which we've not been seen from the shoulders down, "lockdown belly fat" is becoming a real hazard.
Keto diet: Everything you need to know
16:8 diet: How to get started
With gyms in the UK set to reopen in a couple of weeks, many people are anxious to lose the belly fat they've accumulated while sitting at home. Fortunately, there's a few things we can do to speed up the process of losing weight.
As well as returning to a healthy, sensible diet and a regular exercise routine, science has a trick up its sleeve to help accelerate your metabolism and help you burn calories even while you rest. If belly fat is the question, the answer is green tea.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It sounds trite, but it's true: a study published in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences conducted an experiment, which monitored the effects of green tea consumption in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The group that drank four cups of green tea per day, for two months, saw a significant drop in body weight, their BMI, waist circumference and blood pressure.
Another group drank two cups of green tea and a third was issued a placebo. Neither of these groups reported significant change to their weight or systolic blood pressure.
Is is thought the tannins in green tea, part of a group of compounds called polyphenols, have antioxidant properties. In addition, another group of chemicals called catechins have been found to reduce inflammation and boost metabolism in significant quantities.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The metabolism-bolstering properties of green tea are thought to be responsible for its many health benefits, including weight loss. Because your body is always working, with your heart pumping blood around and your gut digesting food, you are always expending energy, even at rest. Your metabolism dictates how much energy you are expending, causing you to burn calories without even exercising.
There's other health properties attributed to green tea, ranging from everything to better skin and fingernails to feeling happier, but there's no guarantees from a scientific perspective. At the very least, drinking green tea instead of black tea and coffee will reduce your caffeine intake, and by extension your stress levels.
Switching to green tea is a great way to lose belly fat, reduce your risk of heart disease and tackle the warning signs of prediabetes. Coupled with an already healthy lifestyle, it's going to supercharge your metabolism and bolster your weight loss efforts. If you're not working out a lot already, it won't make any difference so get on board already.
You've no doubt seen plenty of stories on social media touting apple cider vinegar (ACV) as a belly fat-melting elixir that can help you lose weight. But what exactly is it and does it actually work for weight loss? To start, it's important to know that "apple cider vinegar is made by crushing apples, squeezing out the juice," says Vanessa Rissetto, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. "Bacteria and yeast are added to the liquid to start the alcoholic fermentation process, which converts the sugars to alcohol. In a second fermentation step, the alcohol is converted into vinegar bacteria." Many holistic health experts and Instagram influencers swear by the stuff, but whether ACV will really help you squeeze into a smaller pair of jeans isn't so straightforward. Here's what experts and the research actually says about apple cider vinegar for weight loss.
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The science behind apple cider vinegar for weight loss
Let's get one thing clear up front: There's only a small amount of evidence directly tying ACV to weight loss in humans. One study in the Journal of Functional Foods, which followed 39 adults, found that participants who consumed a tablespoon of ACV at lunch and dinner, while cutting 250 calories per day, lost 8.8 pounds in 12 weeks. On the other hand, those who cut the same number of calories but didn't consume ACV lost only 5 pounds.
In another study in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 144 adults with obesity were randomly assigned to drink either a placebo or one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar daily for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, those who drank two tablespoons had lost close to 4 pounds, while those who drank one tablespoon lost 2.5 pounds. (Those who drank the placebo actually gained a little bit of weight.) However, those findings alone don't prove that ACV is a magic fat melter. "These studies were done on very small populations," says Erin Palinksi-Wade, R.D., C.D.E., L.D.N. "But the consistent results indicate that ACV may be a beneficial tool in reducing body weight."
On top of that, ACV seems to have properties that could potentially support your weight-loss efforts. For instance, a 2013 study from the Journal of Functional Foods suggests that drinking apple cider vinegar before eating is linked to smaller blood sugar spikes. Another 2010 study from the Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism shows that having two teaspoons of ACV during meal time could help reduce sugar crashes and keep blood sugar levels stabilized. Why this happens isn't totally clear, but nutrition researchers like Carol Johnston, Ph.D., who has studied ACV at Arizona State University for years, suspects that compounds in the vinegar interfere with the absorption of some starches.
That matters because blood sugar highs and lows tend to lead to cravings for sugary snacks. "So if apple cider vinegar can help control blood sugar, this could help manage cravings and portion control, potentially leading to fewer calories consumed," explains Amy Goodson, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., L.D.
What's more, a 2014 study from the Journal of Food Science suggests that vinegars, such as apple cider vinegar, can help reduce the effects of diabetes and prevent cardiovascular disease due to its antioxidant activity. Apple cider vinegar has high levels of a polyphenol called chlorogenic acid, which could help improve heart health by inhibiting the oxidation of bad LDL cholesterol.
It's also possible that ACV might directly make you want to eat less. One study by Johnston in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that participants who drank the fermented liquid before a meal consumed up to 275 fewer calories throughout the rest of the day. But again, the reasons behind that are murky. ACV could boast compounds that actually suppress your appetite. But drinking it could also just be so unpleasant that you end up getting turned off from food for the rest of the day.
So should you try drinking apple cider vinegar for weight loss?
Drinking ACV alone isn't going to help you shed excess pounds, butit could support the efforts that we know work for weight loss (like eating a healthy diet and exercising more). And it won't likely hurt you, according to Goodson and Palinski-Wade—as long as you don't overdo it.
Like all vinegars, ACV's high acidity can irritate your throat and strip tooth enamel, Johnston says. Plus, "the acidity could bother you if you experience reflux," adds Rissetto. Stick with a tablespoon no more than twice daily, and always dilute it in eight ounces of water, recommends Palinski-Wade. "ACV should never be consumed straight," she warns.
How to add apple cider vinegar to your diet for weight loss
Wondering about the best time to take apple cider vinegar? You can drink a tablespoon of ACV diluted in eight ounces of water up to twice a day—ideally, before or with a meal. That'll increase the chances that the ACV will boost your satiety and help keep your blood sugar steady, Palinski-Wade says.
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If you can't stomach the idea of drinking vinegar, think about working it into your meals instead. Try drizzling ACV and olive oil over a salad or steamed veggies, Palinski-Wade. Or add a tablespoon of ACV to a smoothie.
To maximize the health benefits, choose an ACV that's labeled raw and unfiltered. "Unfiltered versions contain proteins, enzymes, and healthy bacteria from the vinegar starter or mother," Palinski-Wade says. Try Bragg Organic Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar or Spectrum Organic Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar.
Apple Cider Vinegar Recipes
Apple Spice Smoothie
This filling smoothie features apple cider vinegar, coconut water, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, and chopped apple. Get the recipe »
3-Bean Salad
A flavorful side dish, this three-bean salad offers a hefty dose of fiber and plant-based protein. Pair it with a main entree of chicken or fish. Get the recipe »
Rosemary Potato Salad Recipe
Infused with the bold flavors of rosemary, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar, this side salad is sure to steal the spotlight. Get the recipe »
Pork Chops With Celery Root and Apple Slaw
Apple cider vinegar is the key ingredient in the flavorful sauce of this delicious pork chops dish. Get the recipe »
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Marygrace TaylorMarygrace Taylor is a health and wellness writer for Prevention, Parade, Women's Health, Redbook, and others.
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Everyone eventually has to deal with a little belly fat — even those of us who naturally had flat stomachs in our younger years. But too much of this type of tissue can have a negative effect on your health. But how much is too much? That depends on several factors, but experts agree that if you're a woman with a waist circumference of 35 inches or more or a man with a waist measuring 40 inches or more, you're vulnerable to the dangers of belly fat.
It's not just about the way your jeans fit. Excess abdominal fat increases your odds of developing some serious diseases, including diabetes, dementia, heart disease and cancer. Want to tip the scales toward better health and a smaller waistline? Try these healthy techniques to help banish belly fat and get fitter.
Have you heard the saying "Great abs are made in the kitchen?" It's true — what you eat really matters. And that certainly applies to taking a healthy approach to losing belly fat. For starters, it helps to know what to eat — and what to avoid. Skip high-sugar foods and drinks. Take a hard pass on anything with high fructose corn syrup, chuck trans-fats from your pantry and limit your intake of processed white-flour breads and pastas. All of these foods can contribute to gaining belly fat.
Photo Courtesy: M_a_y_a/Getty Images
Instead, load up on fiber-rich foods; these can help you feel full longer by stabilizing hunger hormones so you don't want to eat as often. Whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits are all good sources of soluble fiber, your belly fat-fighting sidekick. High-protein foods, including fish, chicken, eggs and dairy, have also been shown to reduce belly fat gain. They can help keep you feeling full and boost your metabolism, too. Good-for-you fats like olive oil and avocados also contribute to satiety, meaning you'll stay full and, as a result, eat less.
Get Moving to Get Losing
There's no single exercise that can blast away belly fat. Experts agree that spot reduction, such as doing hundreds of daily situps and crunches to slim your waist, isn't the best or healthiest way to get the job done. You'll likely end up with rock-hard abs under a layer of pudge. Instead, look for workouts that combine strength training, cardio and core work to reduce body fat and whittle your middle. As an added bonus, regular exercise can lower your blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation and improve the metabolism issues associated with carrying excess belly fat.
Photo Courtesy: Diego Lezama/Getty Images
Even if you're new to fitness, you can start where you are. Go for a walk, hop on a stationary bike — just get moving. Running, walking, swimming and bicycling are all good ways to get your heart pumping. Start building fitness into your daily routine to make a habit of it. For example, you can start walking on your lunch breaks at work, or hop on the treadmill while your favorite TV show is airing. The less you have to go out of your way to get workouts in initially, the easier it'll be for you to make fitness a lifelong health-boosting habit and reach a healthy weight.
Lose the Lifestyle Limitations for Lasting Losses
Diet and exercise are important, but they're not the only things you need to address to shed stubborn belly fat. Reducing your alcohol intake, for example, is one beneficial adjustment you can make. Excessive alcohol consumption not only makes it easier to pack on pounds (it's all empty calories), but it also can damage your liver, increase your odds of developing health problems and increase inflammation. Alcohol has also been linked to suppressing your body's natural fat-burning abilities.
Photo Courtesy: PeopleImages/Getty Images
Other healthy changes to make include drinking more water every day, which can boost your metabolism and help flush toxins from your body. Reducing your stress levels is another key step. Stress is linked to higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which can cause your body to hold onto fat in your abdomen.
Lastly, make sure you prioritize getting a good night's sleep — every night. In one recent study from the journal SLEEP, researchers found a clear link between the amount of sleep people get every night and the amount of weight they gain, particularly around their midsections. Short sleepers, who sleep fewer than five hours every night on average, are at the highest risk of gaining abdominal fat. So rest up to boost your chances of maintaining a healthy weight.
Given that stroke is currently a serious problem in the population, employing more reliable and objective techniques for determining diagnosis and prognosis is necessary in order to enable effective clinical decision-making. EEG is a simple, low-cost, non-invasive tool that can provide information about the changes occurring in the cerebral cortex during the recovery process after stroke. EEG provides data on the evolution of cortical activation patterns which can be used to establish a prognosis geared toward harnessing each patient's full potential. This strategy can be used to prevent compensation and maladaptive plasticity, redirect treatments, and develop new interventions that will let stroke patients reach their new maximum motor levels.
UI style guides are something that always comes in handy and that will simplify our work enormously.
According to Wikipedia, we can define a style guide as:
A style guide establishes standard style requirements to improve communication by ensuring consistency both within a document, and across multiple documents. Because practices vary, a style guide may set out standards to be used in areas such as punctuation, capitalization, citing sources, formatting of numbers and dates, table appearance and other areas. The style guide may require certain best practices in usage, language composition, visual composition, orthography and typography. For academic and technical documents, a guide may also enforce the best practice in ethics (such as authorship, research ethics, and disclosure), pedagogy (such as exposition and clarity), and compliance (technical and regulatory).
Source: Wikipedia
Although many times we will see projects that do not have an adequate style guide, having it will greatly reduce work time and team discussions.
One thing to note: it's a common misconception to confuse UI style guides with UI kits. However, while similar, they're not the same.
To make it better understood: A UI kit is a collection of elements that make up a user interface. For example, typography, colors, buttons, forms, layout, and so on. A UI kit can be found in both user interfaces and web design, and it always has an added technological aspect.
In contrast, a UI style guide is not as punctual when it comes to building interfaces or web designs. The style guides are broader, and have more to do with the brand image. It is for this reason that the style guides affect all the products and by-products of a brand: web, mobile apps, impressions, advertising, communication with users and many other dimensions that make brand design.
Of course, even if they are different things, there is a significant degree of overlap.
For comparison, imagine that you are going to build a building to sell your apartments.
The doors, windows, bulding height, architectural style, electrical installations and other construction elements are equivalent to the UI Kit.
And on the other hand, the decoration, the color of the paint, the style, the laws of coexistence between neighbors, the methods of sale, the tone of the advertising, the color of the posters or the neighborhood where the building is located are equivalent to the style guides.
As you can see there is an overlay, but the UI Kit is more related to the specific elements, while the UI style guides cover elements that go far beyond the interface, so they are more related to the user experience ( UX).
Having clarified the point, it is important to note that in this case they are UI style guides: that is, they are style guides that apply to user interfaces. Therefore, they are not as broad as the brand guidelines, but they are a little broader than a UI kit since they take into account these guidelines.
We use style guides on all projects, you can see some of them in our UX work portfolio.
UI Style Guides in Sketch Format
Bohemian Sketch is one of the most popular tools between UI and web designers. Although only available for Mac users, it became quickly popular. At the time of launch, it replaced the program of choice for many designers (Photoshop). Now it's facing a lot of competition, including Adobe's answer to Sketch: Adobe XD. Another app that is quickly getting a lot of traction is Figma, a firm contender in the UI design app battlefield
Web Style Guide Sketch Resource
This is very nice web style guide with the following categories: Typography, Colors, Bases, Icons, Buttons, Inputs, Selectors & Dropdowns.
The styles are simple, yet very complete, so you'll be able cover most UI design elements (or maybe just add a few ones).
Download Web Style Guide Sketch
UI Style Guide Template
This is a beautiful style guide , very elegant and clean. It's quite UX oriented, and features the following UI elements:
Intro
Intent
Attitude
Typography
Colors
Iconography.
Download UI Style Guide Template
Simple UI Style Guide
As its name suggests, a simple template, but suitable for most projects. If you're a web designer rather than a UX or UI designer, this will probably be very helpful
Download Simple Style Guide
Responsive Style Guide
Responsive web design came to stay. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to think about web design in fixed sizes, so having something that is useful for all device sizes.
In this case, we have a style guide focused on responsive formats, with representation of different formats (web, tablet, mobile).
It also contains a good explanation about the reasoning behind the construction of this guide.
Download Responsive Style Guide
How to create a UI style guide in Sketch in 3 seconds
In this case, we don't have a template, but rather an article on how to create a style guide using Sketch and Craft from InVision.
The article is very short and simple, so even those starting with InVision and Sketch will probably understand it immediately.
See Tutorial on how to create a style guide in sketch in 3 seconds
UIDE Kit – Style Guide Template
Probably the most complete of the list, it includes all kinds of elements, even some you wouldn't find on most style guides. Some of the included elements are:
colours
typeface & typography (before you open this file make sure you have Lato font on your mac 😉 )
buttons (small & large option)
text inputs (regular, hover, active + validation)
dropdowns (normal, hover and active)
switch (on/off)
checkbox (off, hover, on)
radio (off, hover, on)
slider
tooltips
calendar & date picker
4 different graphs
tables
nav bars & menus (lot of them 😉 )
alerts
Download UIDE Kit – Style Guide Template
Tutorial: Create UI style guides in Sketch
Another tutorial, but this time much more complete (and complex). For those who need to understand how to build guides from scratch, especially for large projects.
Nevertheless, if your project is small, or even if you don't have a design project, it's a great resource to learn by example
See Tutorial on How to create UI style guides in Sketch
Style Guides in PSD Format
PSD is the extension for Photoshop. While nowadays Photoshop has lost a good chunk of its users base, it's still teh tool of choice for many designers, specially those oriented to web design. UI designers will probably feel more comfortable with Sketch, Figma or XD, but Photoshop still has a lot of fans!
UI Style Guide Template
Quite complete, with a good selection of design elements. It looks very good and it's free, so, what else can you ask for?.
Download UI Style Guide Template
Template and Style Guide Tutorial
In this case, we have the PSD design template, but also the author Rafal Tomal teaches us the theory to build the guide, which we can adapt for our purposes. Attention:Requires free registration.
Watch and Download Template and UI Style Guide Tutorial
Style Tiles
A very interesting concept: Rather than a UI style guide, UI designer Samantha Warren builds something like a style pre-guide to avoid generating additional design work.
It includes both the tutorial on how to work with this concept, and a PSD template to get started. Personally, I see it as a very simplified style guide, but see for yourselves.
Watch Tutorial / Download
Style and Workflow Guide
This template made by French web designer Stephanie Walter is very complete and includes something that no one else considered: Accessibility.
The PSD file uses artboards, so at least the 2015 version of Photoshop is required. You can download this project from GitHub, which means you can fork the project.
Watch Tutorial / Download
How to Make the Perfect Web Design Style Guide
An article that includes an example PSD on how to create a "perfect style guide" (sic). The concepts are very good, and can be useful, especially for beginners at UI and web design.
However, I gotta admit I'm including this as a curiosity, since in my modest opinion this is not a style guide. Instead, it's a nice example of how could a UI style guide look. Or, in other words: more a suggestion for an approach to web design guidelines than a style guide by itself.
Watch Tutorial / Download
Style Guides in AI Format (Illustrator)
Adobe Illustrator style guides are mostly oriented to the presentation of such styleguides and guidelines in print format. This may include PDF as well, but it's very common for large companies to have their style guides presented as books.
Brand Style Guide
Template for guides intended to be printed, kind of "old school". It serves both for work projects and to present in a university task. Very useful indeed!
Download Brand Style Guide
Brand Style Guide Template
Another template designed to show web design and UI style guides in printing. It includes a PDF with instructions on how to use it. Simple and somewhat limited for professional projects, but it can work well as a complement to mood boards or for small design tasks.
Download Brand Style Guide Template
Cool Blue – Brand Guidelines Template
Excellent option for printed style guide manuals. It includes 8 pages in the free version, or 26 in the paid version. The price is small and it really deserves a look.
Classy, elegant and well designed, just the kind of design you'll want to use to impress clients from big companies
Attention: requires registration to access the design template
Download Cool Blue Brand Guidelines Template
The Harmony – Brand Guidelines Book
Same as the one above, and made by the same designer.
This one is a beautifully designed, sophisticated 8-page brand image book, ready to print. Includes files in AI, INDD, IDML and PDF formats.
Attention: requires registration to access the design templates
Download The Harmony Brand Guidelines Book
Style Guides in Adobe XD format
As mentioned above, Adobe XD emerged as the answer from Adobe to Sketch. In order to gain momentum and steal some of Sketch's market share, Adobe offers the app for FREE, which is very good news for most UI designers. Still, XD faces some fierce competition from Figma, which is free as well and has some very interesting features.
Free Adobe XD Styleguide
A simple, clean and yet complete style guide with well documented layers and all the basic elements you may need for most UI design projects.
While it lacks some complex elements, it has a very nice presentation and lots of color, which is always a good thing.
Ideal for basic web design projects that don't have a lot of UI elements, or as a starting point for more complex style guides
Download Free Adobe XD Styleguide
Adobe XD Freebie-UI Style Guide
This is a free design resource created by UI designer Muharrem YaÄŸan. And here, free design doesn't mean demo-like, freemium or restricted. Quite the opposite, it's an amazing resource like you have never seen before.
This MASSIVE UI Style Guide template includes everything: more than 500 UI elements, Bootstrap grids, Google fonts, color swatches, dark and light modes… it's like a web design agency dream came true.
Probably one of the more complete UI kits I've ever seen, at least for free. A huge time saver, so be sure not to miss it!
Download Freebie UI style guide (sorry, the link is now dead, will replace it soon)
XD Web Design Style Guides
Another nice, clean and massive free resource, this time by Vivek Popat. You may argue on some of UX principles like usability and accessibility, but a great web design styleguide for most designers.
Also, while the author titled it as UI, this is mostly oriented to web design so I include it as such. With 300+ web design elements and free to download, there's no much room to complain!
Download XD UI Style Guides
Free Dark Style Guide for Adobe XD
As the title says, this is free, and it's dark. And I mean DARK. It's nice, well presented and elegant. It will never pass any accessibility test, though.
Interesting as a concept or to evolve from this. Not recommended for use "as is", unless you hate accessibility and UX guidelines with a passion!
Jokes aside, I really mean it: be really careful if you want to use this design resource.
Download Free Dark Style Guide for Adobe XD
Conclusion
UI style guides are of great importance for our projects. They will ease our work and provide a clear foundation for our projects. This is specially useful when working with other stakeholders such as other designers, programmers, marketing departments or the clients themselves.
We hope that the ones mentioned in this article will be useful to you!
Shameless plug: Here at Dorve we specialize in creating high end UX work which includes clearly documented style guides, user flows, research, etc. Contact Us if you need us to create a succesful, effective and well documented project
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Do you want a free book cover maker for your ebook? Here are seven free DIY book cover apps you can try.
It is expensive to hire a book cover designer. But you want to create a book cover that will be eye-catching and unique.
For a print book, a high-resolution professional book cover image is a must if you want a beautiful book. You almost always need a professional graphic designer to help you with a paper book cover.
But for ebook cover design, the specifications are not as strict. Amazon KDP recommends that the ideal size for a Kindle cover is 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. Most free cover maker tools can create this ebook cover size.
Find a free book cover maker for your ebook
There are many possibilities to create a design if you want to know how to make an ebook cover for free.
You can make book covers online that are eye-catching.
Most sites that offer a free ebook cover creator have a paid option as well.
Prices vary, but the options might give you more value than designing a cover for free.
Another use for a book cover maker is to create a few different book cover mockups.
Then you can ask people what they think about your book mockup cover versions and design ideas.
It is a clever little marketing ploy. You could use it before you publish your book to attract reader interest before your book goes on sale.
With anything free, expect that you will need to provide your email address and get some junk mail. Well, nothing is really for free anymore.
The following book cover maker sites below are well worth trying.
You can use the basic design tools and image effects to create a quick and free ebook cover in minutes.
1. Canva
Canva is a great all-rounder graphic designing suite of tools for things such as gift certificates, brochures, headers, or business cards.
I use it a lot to create unique blog images.
But it has a lot of book cover design templates for you. It is quick and easy to make eye-catching book covers.
All you need to do to get started is to register for your free account.
Once you log in, you can start hunting for abook cover template.
There are hundreds of free ebook cover templates available. But there are many more with the paid version.
Because it uses stock photos and images, you can't change thebackground image.
However, you have a wide range of fonts to style and arrange your title, author name, and extra text.
If you are publishing ebooks on Amazon, it is a quick and easy Kindle cover creator.
The free version doesn't do a bad job at all in creating an acceptable ebook cover in png, jpeg, or pdf.
2. Poster My Wall
Poster My Wall is a graphic design site for all types of posters and flyers.
But it has a great selection of cover design templates for Kindle ebooks.
You don't need an account, so you can jump right in and start designing with this book cover creator tool. It is why I have listed it in second place.
The easiest way to get started is to type "Book Cover" in the search box, and you will get hundreds of template choices.
Once you select a template, you can modify it in the editor by changing text,colors, and fonts.
It is a quick and easy way to make and download abook cover for free in only a few minutes.
3. DIY Book Design
DIY Book Design is a very popular free tool for Indie authors.
You can create 3D versions of your book cover in single or composite forms.
It's a very simple process. Choose your style, upload your cover image and then download your free 3D book cover.
It's an ideal tool to help you promote your books online.
Check our article explaining how to create 3D book covers with DIY Book Design.
4. Adobe Spark
Anything called Adobe is probably going to be good atbook cover design.
You will have to create an account with Adobe Spark before you start using it, but it is free to do so.
There are quite a few restrictions, however, if you opt for the free version.
The features listed below are only available if you pay for a monthly subscription.
Replace the Adobe Spark logo with your own. Add your brand to Spark graphics, web pages, and video stories. Select colors and fonts that reflect your brand.
5. Cover Creator
Cover Creator has a cover design facility. But its best feature is that it can produce a range of 3D versions of your book cover.
All you need to do is upload your cover and then download your 3D versions.
You can also choose a design type for ebooks to produce your cover on a smartphone or tablet.
It is a great tool to use to promote your book cover on social media and your website.
You need to register with an email address. So perhaps expect a few emails and newsletters in your inbox in return for this free
service.
6. Snappa
Snappa has a great range of features for a free book cover maker.
The only restriction worth noting for the free version is that you are only allowed five downloads per month.
This is not too bad if you are using it to produce only one book cover.
The editor has a lot more functionality than many other free ebook cover makers, which is a big advantage.
7. Design Wizard
Design Wizard is a free and premium design suite where you can create unique content in minutes.
Every element in a selected template is editable.
Change or upload backgrounds, images, videos, and colors. Add a logo, change fonts, or include a personalized caption.
But there is also a wide range of free templates for book covers in different genres, from romance to recipe books and everything in between.
Design Wizard is a quick and easy solution for creating a Kindle ebook cover in just a few minutes.
Choose carefully
It is horses for courses when designing your book cover with free book cover maker tools.
Sometimes you can produce a stunning book cover using free services.
But you need to realize that a lot of other people are using these sites too.
It means that you will never be able to create a truly unique book cover.
Sure, the text will be different at the top and bottom, but there is usually little or no facility to manipulate the images.
These services are free because they use stock photos, which are often available for free on many other sites too.
Summary
Are you new to publishing? Not sure you'll be able to recoup the cost of a professionally designed book cover. Well, it might be worth trying a free ebook cover at first.
You can always change your cover later if you change your mind and want to hire a professional cover designer.
If you are writing self-help books, you can style many of the free ebook covers to make them (almost) unique.
Avoid using stock images in the background and stick to line graphics.
The resolution of free covers is another factor to consider.
They are quite low at between 72 and 96 dpi. Covers in this resolution range are not suitable for a paperback book cover. They would look awful.
Even for an ebook cover, low-resolution images do not stand out as brilliantly on a screen as high-resolution.
But both Kindle and Apple accept 72 dpi, as long as your cover meets their minimum size and ratio requirements.
If you understand the pros and cons of making book covers with a free book cover maker, they can be extremely useful. You can save time, and of course, save money.
But remember that readers always judge a book by its cover.
Making a brand kit is going to make your work life so much easier! Plus, it'll keep your brand looking so consistent that your professional cred will soar sky-high.
Just gather together all your most important fonts, colors, logos, templates, and graphics into a single location. And, like a faithful puppy, these branding assets will follow you throughout PicMonkey as you zip through your workflow of creating digital marketing assets, packaging labels, or social media promos.
Here's the full scoop on brand kits, their importance, and how to assemble one (or more) in PicMonkey.
What is a brand kit?
No more searching for that oft-used graphic every time, and forget about trying to find your logo over and over. They now live in your brand kit, ready to be used when you need them.
A brand kit is essentially a toolbox for spreading your brand's visual identity across everything you design. Not only does it help improve your workflow, it's an easy cheat sheet or educational guide for anyone who needs it.
Pass it to employees, prospective customers, or even publicize it for anyone to see. If you manage branding for multiple clients, check out PicMonkey's business subscription. You can make multiple brand kits and collab with your team easier than ever.
Creating your brand kit in PicMonkey
With just a few clicks, you can create a brand kit that includes the fonts, logos, colors, and graphics that compose your brand. You can even add designs as templates, so you don't have to recreate branded materials from scratch every time.
Open PicMonkey.
Click Brand Kit on the left panel.
Click the "+" sign to add your favorite assets to each category: Logos, Fonts, Colors, Graphics, and Templates.
Now when you work in PicMonkey, your brand assets will appear at the top of the Graphics, Templates, Colors, and Fonts menus.
For a deeper dive on brand kit functionality and details, see our support article: How do I make a brand kit in PicMonkey?
We've also written before about using brand board templates to develop your brand. This is a great resource if you're just getting started in thinking about what your brand's visual identity should look like.
Now let's talk more about each individual element of your brand kit.
Add graphics to your brand kit
When thinking about brand graphics, the first thing that probably comes to mind is your logo. But chances are, your brand includes a lot of visual assets, and the graphics section of your brand kit is the perfect place to store them all.
For example, you might have social icons you use in posts and stories. Or graphics like arrows and lines that you use for accents. Do you have photos that you regularly use, like product shots or bio pics? They'd also go in this graphics section. Once you add graphics and photos to your brand kit, they'll always be available at the top of the Graphics menu.
Add templates for consistent branding and design
Having branded templates for your designs is gonna save you a lot of time as well as extend your brand each time you post something. Just change out a headline or a photo in your template, repost, and you keep your brand looking consistent and pro. Use our template sets to easily assemble an array of matching designs ready to deploy to all your marketing channels.
PicMonkey's templates let you start with a pro design. That's a pretty good leg up. When you find one that's a good fit for your Instagram post (or Facebook banner, sale announcement, Pinterest pin, whatever you need), you can change any element to make it match your brand. When it's picture perfect, add it to your brand kit.
To use designs you've created in PicMonkey as templates for future designs, just open a copy of the saved design, and start clicking and replacing to add new content while retaining your brand's look. All the effects, textures, and adjustments you've made to the original will persist in the new design.
Add fonts to your your brand kit
To add fonts to your brand kit in PicMonkey, just click the style (heading, subhead, or body) in the brand kit interface and select the font. PicMonkey has a giant bucket of fonts you can choose from, but you're not limited by them — you can upload any font on your computer, too, and drag it into your brand kit. And if you want more detailed instructions, see how to upload fonts on PCs and Macs.
If you're establishing your brand fonts for the first time, think about the image you want to portray. Traditional and reliable? Look into serif fonts. Modern and agile? San serif is the way to go, as a glance at the logos of most tech companies right now will show you. Maybe you want a font that implies a high level of craft. If so, a font that looks hand-drawn might be the way to go. Look at companies you admire to see what fonts they use and choose something in the same family.
Consider what fonts pair well together, and also how they affect readers' emotions. Here's an interesting article about how fonts make people feel.
Choose brand colors
Update for July 2020: Now add multiple color palettes to your brand kit!
Brand colors are just as important as logos and fonts. British racing green, Coke red, and Facebook blue are all instantly recognizable. Your customers can tell if the wrong shade is used, and if it happens, it dilutes your brand and implies that you're not paying attention to details.
Adding colors to your brand kit is totally easy. If you know the hex codes, you can just type them in. If you need to get a color from a logo or other asset, our Eyedropper tool (in the color picker) lets you take care of that in a snap.
If you don't have brand colors and don't know a shade from a tint, we've got some color theory info about what colors complement each other and what they mean. It's a good place to start.
Add your logo to your branding kit
Your logo is probably the most recognizable representation of your brand, so we don't doubt for a second that you have it handy. But how about a secondary logo, like a logo and brand name lockup, or a version of your logo that you use as an icon? If you have multiple variants of your logo, having them in your brand kit ensures that you'll always grab the right one at the right time.
Elevate your branding game
Brand kits are a win-win-win. You establish your brand's look, gather the materials to make marketing assets, and never have to worry about logos or fonts or colors going awry — they're all right there! If you're just starting out, branding might feel like a tall task, but with a bit of help you'll be nailing consistent looks in no time. Check out our library of branding templates and dozens of business & branding tutorials to make every design count.
