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Articles
There are great, bu they just aren't there yet and if they ever get to be where we want them to be will they be worth it in the end? Do online users even care about pretty fonts when they are clicking away?
We all fall into the trap of using shortcuts just to get something out the door. Sometimes we just use shortcuts because we are lazy and want to accomplish what is only needed without going above and beyond. Because of this though we lack the intrinsic satisfaction that might bring us happiness.
Why do designers have a constant need to redesign everything they touch? It's as if everything is a scientific experiment and we simply want to see if things can be done better or a bit differently. Of course they can and we want to be the one to mold it with our hands.
Whenever someone comes across something you have designed they aren't sure if they want to enter into a relationship with you or not. You have to sell them on it because it's not their job to see you for what you really are. Hopefully you provide a better boyfriend/girlfriend experience than you did that poor kid in 5th grade.
Everything that is done on a website is design. If they can do it then they won't see why you can do it. If they can change it just as easily and tweak it they will want to know why they need to bring you in. To them there is no undesign and there might not even be design. To them it might just be trial and error and people will go to their site anyways so it doesn't matter. Good luck beating that mentality in the future.
A first impression can't be done twice. We all know this and yet how often do we forget the little details that set the expectations of our users. From a simple annoying popup when they first hit the screen to a bad signup form experience the expectations that we set are the ones that will be hard to erase.
Being a freelancer is hard, not only in acquiring money, but acquiring enough to help you live the lifestyle you want. Fortunately there are easy ways to make a passive income that freelancers overlook. It's time to stop overlooking and time to start making some money. Be a business man.
The web has changed a lot in the past 15 years (basically it's whole existence, not the Internet, the WWW), but sometimes our patience, or lack thereof, makes it seem like things haven't changed that much at all.
I know the concept might seem foreign, but it might be a good idea to hire another designer to design your site. What?! That's like hiring someone to cook our food...wait a minute. Okay it's like hiring someone to mow your lawn...wait a minute.
This article stems from feedback I got on Twitter asking for two words to help build an article. This is the result and it's interesting. I never even knew I could come up with a concept like this, but that is the life of an invisible platypus.
We study design. We learn about color theory and typography. We understand how the grid applies to structure. However, do you understand the value of voice in your design? Something that seems so trivial often gets so overlooked and yet might be the most important aspect of your design.
Your site looks good but is it fun to use? Do people walk away remembering the color of your background or the fact that they had trouble logging in? The experience of your site can be designed and yet we just want to make things work. Try making the experience work even better.
Design and development can be very frustrating and at times it makes us all want to quit and become crossing guards. Okay, maybe not crossing guards, but at least something that doesn't require us to chase people down just to get paid.
Is using one design that can work and flex its way around any device really the best option? Maybe there are times we need unique designs for devices to truly offer the best browsing experience for our users. Why the future of web design might still be a way off.
The best designs of the second quarter in 2010 as selected by the Community and Drawar.
The world would be a better place if we could all agree on what is pretty, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. However, it does get easier if we come away with the understanding that everyone has their personal preferences and with a bit of research we can meet in the middle to come up with a wonderful design.
One second at a time, that is how we improve. There is no fast forward approach to improving our skill set, but if we focus on how we can improve for a couple of seconds we will find that we are better today than we were yesterday.
When you are an in-house designer you look with envy at freelancers. When you freelance you look with envy at in-house designers. Are we ever satisfied? Probably not, but at least we can appreciate the differences.
Maybe we overvalue creativity and inspiration. We treat them as some magical elements that are hard to attain when they are right in front of our faces daily. To find them you just have to think and act a little bit differently.
It's hard to develop your skills in a bottle so what you should do is copy. Copy?! Yes, copy others so that you can steal their lifeblood to improve your own. This article isn't as diabolic as that though.
It isn't easy knowing the right rate to charge for work, but undercharging is the complete wrong way to g. It's better to just offer your services for free if you wish to maintain both your sanity and happiness.
It's great to take things away from a design so that it focuses on the essentials, but there is no point of removing if you aren't going to leave something great.
Maybe it's a fear of criticism, but if you learn to repress your curiosity as a designer you stop being a designer. Let it free and explore whatever comes across your mind, you might find a better solution than you thought even existed.
With the release of Endor.se it seems that the design community has the wrong idea of how we should handle projects launched by our peers. Instead of being down on them embrace them because one day you might be in the same situation.
We might spend years trying to understand what makes a web design special when the answer is right in front of our eyes. We focus too much on colors, gradients and shadows and need to put more focus somewhere else.
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The word minimalism seems to denote a design that is bare. Instead of looking at it that way let's see how we can create a minimum viable design that helps us get to the essence of the problem we are trying to solve.
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Drawar's selection of the best designs in the Gallery for the first quarter of 2010 along with the Community's selections.
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The best designs of the year with some analysis.
I understand the need to have advertising on a site so this isn't a blast against sites that make top dollar with advertising. This is a plea asking them to take a step back and look at their sites to see if advertising has become the dominant content on their site.
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I think the idea that many people have of minimalism is that there is nothing on a site, but some text. Maybe there is an image or two, but what you get is usually a black & white site that offers a nice, clean grid structure which pleases the eye. It's more than that of course.
News sites have a problem and for some reason they think it's everyone but themselves. Taking just a quick glance at a news site should alert you to their problems, but let's see if we can bring to light what these issues are for them.
Sure Web Standards are great, but you wouldn't know about them if it weren't for the hard work of a group of people. These pioneers took the web on their back and carried us to where we are now. Straight gangsta style.
The web design community is better than the sites filled with nothing but lists. The community should be about the exploration of design. We need to dig into the why's and how's. There is a place for inspiration, but what is inspiration without knowledge?
