Advice for Beginners
August 19th, 2010 — No Comments
Good to see an article directed towards beginners, offering the best advice as they get started from people who have already been in that position and succeeded. Here are a pick of what I thik is crucial advice for everyone as well as beginners:
Never stop learning
I can’t stress this enough. I’m actually in the process of writing a post about this is so important so stay tuned.
Comment your code
You WILL forget work you’ve done in the past (I do all the time). Good commenting will help remind you what you did.
Think of the visitor who is trying to find out something. They need to understand what’s going on, not just be impressed.
This is a crucial part of design that people, especially website owners, often overlook. It’s your job as a designer to educate your client/boss on this because they’ll most certainly be looking it through their eyes and not from the point of view of the visitors’.
Read more...Call to Arms for Web Designers: Make Simplicity the Trend for 2010
January 15th, 2010 — 51 Comments
When designers talk about web design trends, more often than not, they’re referring to a visual design style such as letterpress or gradients but a trend doesn’t have to be something you see.
So this doesn’t mean you have to resort to using a minimalistic design to achieve simplicity in web design. Far from it. Applying simplicity to your websites or designs can be as simple as removing unnecessary elements or by reducing the steps it takes to complete a specific task.
We live in a world where technology is becoming more and more advanced but the way we interact with it is becoming more and more simple. The current example are touch screens and the impending release of tablet computers. When you look at what touch screens are doing for usability, you realise they are removing any intermediate devices (keyboards and mice) and allowing you to interact with the device directly. A great example of making something easier through simplicity.
Read more...A Look Back at the Best Redesigns of 2009
January 7th, 2010 — 29 Comments
With 2009 complete, we can take a good look back and realise that it was a great year for web design. It’s time to reflect and see what redesigns really were the best of the bunch from such a great year. While redesigning Inspect Element, I took the time to see what other sites had done to reinvent themselves and breathe new life into their projects. Here are just some fantastic examples from the last year and what makes them so great.
New Year, New Design, New Motivation
January 4th, 2010 — 19 Comments
The first six months of Inspect Element have been great but it’s time to step it up a level. If you’ve been following Inspect Element lately, you’ll notice that everything looks new! Times have changed and the site was in desperate need of a redesign in order to grow and improve. Although saying that, I wanted to carry over the fundamentals from the previous design including keeping a minimalistic appearance to keep the focus on the content.
Hopefully this new design conveys a sense of higher quality, something that I have been trying to do with my writing after writing for the last couple of months.
Read more...Build Working Concepts to Communicate your Ideas more Effectively
December 21st, 2009 — 11 Comments
The general convention in web design is to present static images of designs to clients but what happens when you have an idea that can’t be visually presented in this form? Perhaps it is some form of interaction or animation that can breathe extra life into the design.
Read more...Breakdown of Great Web App Homepage Design
December 16th, 2009 — 23 Comments
Web applications are becoming more relevant due to the future release of operating systems such as Google Chrome OS and possibly the Apple tablet as well as the fact that people are starting to use multiple devices. Being able to get access to them from wherever you have an internet connection combined with owning multiple devices means that web apps are becoming more and more relevant and will continue to do so as internet speeds increase.
The biggest area where web application has to encourage new users to sign up is on the homepage so we’re going to take a look at what makes a great web app homepage design. Don’t forget that many of these observations can be easily applied to other aspects of web design, not just for web application homepages.
Read more...7 of the Most Common Web Design Mistakes You Must Avoid
December 7th, 2009 — 58 Comments
As a web designer, it is difficult for me to use the web without analysing almost every page I see. Web design is my passion so I can’t avoid it. It’s one of the best ways to learn what has been done well so when I see poor use of design on the web and think about the average user, it annoys me to notice that some aspects of websites, or even complete sites, are poorly designed.
Here are seven of the most common mistakes made in web design and why you need to avoid them at all costs in order to make sure you are on the right track to producing the best work you possibly can.
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