Web Design
Viewing 9 Posts
Aug 22, 2008

Staying Current with a Portfolio Site

Website designers tend to be obsessed with redesigning their own websites all the time. It's nothing unusual - we're just trying to stay current, not necessarily with web trends, but more our own design style. After all, our websites *are* us virtually, so it's important that they reflect who we are and what our design preferences are.

Feb 05, 2008

White Space for Rent

White space is important when reading an online or printed document. It gives the reader some breathing room, a place for the eyes to rest. A lot of sites can overcomplicate their interfaces with too many colors, text and graphics and while this can be visually appealing, it can also be chaotic.

Feb 02, 2008

When There's Too Much Color

When it comes to choosing colors for your website, there's a standard limit: three. Most things in the world come in three's: jokes, pigs, stooges, blind mice, space dimensions... But in terms of color on a website, you can think of the three being:

Jan 28, 2008

Typography and Technology

In a medium where communication is key, it makes sense that understanding typography would be useful. Let it not be underestimated; typography is not simply about typing words and phrases. Rather, it's identifying why one font is better than another in one context or what sizes and colors are appropriate. Thinking about how you display text can dramatically alter the overall site experience.

Jan 15, 2008

When Animation Goes Awry

Too many sites overuse animation. It's supposed to be a subtlety that adds to the overall user experience by making something more intuitive. For example, having something slide in and out can be very useful if you're mimicking a drawer (such as sliding comments in and out on a blog post). Other times, animation can just be unnecessary and annoying because of the time it takes.

Dec 15, 2007

From Architecture to Web Design

Your step-by-step guide to creating the foundation and all the little details. An Architecture Analogy Again? Yeah well, architecture is very similar to interface design. Let's think about some of the steps to building a house. You've got the floorplans, then you actually build the frame. Then you fill the frame with all the wiring and heating, etc. Then you cover up all the walls and start painting, adding trim, etc. And once you buy the house, you bring in your own furniture. So what does this have to do with web design? Well, you need a floorplan for your site, a mapping of the user flow from how they start engaging in your site to how they move around. You can think of all the piping/wiring as the functionality associated with a website. You build the HTML frame and you embed PHP or another scripting langauge to make everything work together. Let's add the CSS, or interior design. Pick your colors, fonts and other styling elements to make things pretty. Finally, if you're building a dynamic site, let the users "move in" and add their own content. You've provided them with a free, empty house with all the functionality they need. Now it's time they made it theirs. So, here are your steps: Step 1: Design your floorplan; your ergonomic flow, how you want the users to move around your site Step 2: Build the framework to allow this flow Step 3: Fill out your functionality to make everything work together Step 4: Add your interior design; do some CSS work to define colors, fonts, borders, etc. Step 5: Let the users "move in"

Oct 10, 2007

Information Architecture and Interface Design

You may have heard the terms "information architecture" and "interface design" especially when it comes to websites. When there's a good relationship between the two, then you have yourself a decent site.

Aug 26, 2007

Getting Lost in a Website : Navigation Principles

Ever go to a website looking for something specific and you just can't seem to navigate your way through the pages to find it? It happens a lot and it's the result of poor navigation planning. Information architecture I feel is one of those things that you kinda think about but you don't always pay that much attention to when making a website. But really, it ends up being one of the most important parts. After all, the whole point of your website is to display content and if a user can't even find the right content, then what's the point? You want users to find their way around easily. If they have too much trouble, they might just give up and go look at some other site.

Jul 24, 2007

Focus Your Site Design

It's amazing to me sometimes how little people know about design. They seem to know all the stereotypes or what generally looks good, but they don't necessarily understand the concept of interface design or color scheme or focus.