Archive for the ‘Website Design’ Category

The Importance of User-Centered Design

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Let me introduce myself, I’m what you call “a user”

So, you might be thinking this is something of a contrived statement? One that is to lead on to an article full of humorous wit and intrigue, maybe with a twist! Well, I’m afraid such an assumption may lead to nothing more than bitter disappointment. But hold on and wait just a moment longer, there is a reason for doing so.

User centered design

Okay, let’s get down to the nitty-grit, the nuts and bolts, the crux, the real reason why we’re all here.
Your latest site build has gone live – it’s looking good, it’s on-brand, it’s ticking all right the boxes, it’s a master piece of modern art, a real winner. The analytics figures are beginning to come through and traffic is hitting the site in huge numbers… It’s looking like a massive success, the client is going to be ecstatic, joyous beyond all belief. You’ve got them now; a roaring success and new business will indeed be yours for the taking.
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Ye Olde 960 Grid System

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

There’s no denying that a solid grid system is imperative to the design of any successful website, but there’s not enough variety in what I’m seeing out there. It’s all the same, and it doesn’t all work. I’ve titled this post “Ye Olde 960 Grid System” because I think this grid (whether fixed or responsive) is exactly that. Old.

Mark Boulton has been talking about taking a “content out approach” to web design for a while now and I think moving away from the ‘standard’ grid fits into this approach perfectly. Unfortunately I haven’t attended any of the conferences where he’s been discussing this topic (so, sorry Mark, you may have covered this), but using the 960 grid (or any of the slight variations) as a starting point is too easy. It’s lazy. We should let the content decide the grid, not force it into a tried and tested method that’s supposed to be ‘the best’ way.
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Web Design Trends: Don’t be a sheep. Do your job right.

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Trends are everywhere, especially in the design world:
fashion, web design, interior design, even type design - we can’t avoid them. But are they actually a good thing? In many ways I think possibly not…

People don’t buy websites based purely on how they look

The Web Design industry is a little different from other creative industries who may be, for example, purely focussed on creating visual impact. We have many other variables to consider in order to create websites that benefit the users by having a good user experience, and that also benefit the client by increasing conversion and/or awareness of their brand - which both go hand in hand with it having a quality design. My feeling is that some people get so hooked on design trends that they forget what they are actually supposed to be doing as web designers / developers.

We aren’t paid to simply create pretty pictures and seek the approval of our clients second to our peers, we are paid to create usable systems that benefit the users of the Internet.

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Font Embedding & The Law

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Choosing the right font is key to any piece of graphic design, whether it be for web or print. Unfortunately web designers have been stuck with the same old system fonts for years, unable to create intricate typographical layouts without the use of images. I think we’ve done a pretty good job to be honest because any old-school print designers would have a heart attack if they knew we’ve been working with a choice of about six fonts to fulfil the needs of every website that we create.

There have been a number of different processes and applications written to try and solve this problem by allowing custom fonts to be embedded into websites. In this post we will outline the latest and most popular techniques, and the legal issues that you may unknowingly face by using them.
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Texture in Web Design Part 2: Pixel Patterns, Noise, and Grain

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

We began this two part series on texture in web design by talking about text and button textures, and how they can be used to inset, or outset page elements. These help to add more depth and subtle aesthetics to your designs, making them look more professional and polished. This week, we’ll be showing you how to add texture to other page elements such as your backgrounds / content areas, as well as how to use pixel patterns to make your text and box-shadows more interesting.

Noise and Grain

Noise and grain is all over the web at the moment, with some big players in the design community using it very effectively in their designs. A good example of this is Dribbble. If anyone doesn’t know what Dribbble is then you can read about it in this post.
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