Working with clients is always a great learning opportunity, that is if all parties involved are willing to listen and learn. Let’s face it, not everyone understands how design works or what creates an effective design. Instead of taking the reins and completely plowing over what your client wants, try listening and informing the client of why something may or may not be a great idea. Maybe they never stopped to think why sparkles following the cursor around is a bad idea. This is when you as a designer can take the time to stop and explain why it’s a bad idea. This will not only help your client’s experience, but it will also create a lasting relationship with the client, and they’ll more likely recommend your services to others.
Let’s face it, sometimes the designer will be right, but at the end of the day the client is paying for the designer’s services. The best solution to solve these issues is to take the extra ten minutes to explain yourself. If you don’t think that you can explain it well or come off sounding intelligent, take notes from Paddy Donnelly & Jack Osborne, because they have put together WeeNudge, which contains a ton of links to articles covering anything under the sun in regards to web design. Heck, even if you aren’t a designer it is still a great educational resource on all things web.
While surfing the internet I came across two random pieces of inspiration, both of which have a feel of defeating danger.
Take a look at the image I found on Reddit; it inspires me more than it should. Not only is it drawn well, but it’s an epic picture.
It’s summer time!! How much sunscreen do you put on? How often? Don’t want to read the long drab articles explaining the ins and outs of sunscreen? Check out this creative infograph created by Information is Beautiful. It is pretty and informative. What more could you ask for?
It’s one thing to be hot and it’s another to be fried. Please be cautious and protect yourself. Don’t be burned by fire breathing dragons or the dangerous rays of the scorching sun.
When designing a website there are many things to consider before the development process begins.
Your homepage should present the most relevant information to the user in a 1024 pixel width by 768 pixel height viewing area, thus eliminating the need to scroll to access information. There should be a strong contrast between text and background colors to maximize readability. The site should use a consistent header and footer throughout the site, to make it easy for users to navigate. It would be ideal to feature a site map for a way to allow users to easily navigate throughout your site.
Make sure that users can read your content. Common web-safe fonts should be used such as Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Lucida Sans, Tahoma, Verdana and Geneva. Techniques for organizing information should also be implemented such as headings and bullet points. Content should provide users with meaningful, useful information that is organized consistently. Information should be easy to find in minimal clicks.
Specific attention should be given to the navigation, titles, keywords and headings. Research keywords and key-phrases before you create your website. Target key phrases rather than single keywords and use longer words and plurals. Focus on creating key-phrase rich text content especially on your homepage.
Users experience psychological and physiological effects when interacting with websites; experiencing frustration when information is not organized clearly, and engagement when users are able to easily access information. Think about your color choices and presentation, because all of these variables affect the user experience.
Design your website using a grid based system, this allows for you to easily organize page elements into the composition of the site. If you are unfamiliar with grid based layout systems, I’ve created a simple 960 grid free for you to download.
I ran across this little Flash gem today while surfing the world wide web and I must admit, it’s quite addictive. Trust me, you’ll have a blast! The ToneMatrix is a free music synthesizer that lets you create your own audio sequences by selecting steps on a 16×16 matrix. Simply select steps with your mouse across the whole matrix. The sound plays from left to right, based on your selected sequence of steps. Click once to select, click again to deselect. Press the SPACE key, to clear all.
The ToneMatrix was created back in 2009 by Andre Michelle after he played with a Yamaha TENORI-ON, which I had no idea existed until now (I know what I want for Christmas next year). Andre Michelle got his start in 1998 with Flash 4 as an autodidact and has repeatedly pushed the limits of Flash possibilities in gaming, interactivity and music. Currently he is working on Audiotool (which is genius), an online music application entirely developed in Flash.
