Software has a history of dull designs, ridiculous jargon and robotic error messages. Thankfully UX designers have been designing more casual and enjoyable software creating fun experiences for our users. Tone of voice Fun language helps builds a certain personality into your website. By approaching your content with a less serious attitude, you’ll create a more friendly […]
The last few years have seen a revolution in the web design process. Many web designers and their clients have moved away from vast numbers of time consuming and expensive deliverables towards leaner processes producing fewer, more useful deliverables. One item I’ve briefly written about before is the use of HTML prototypes. Where wireframes and […]
Websites are just tools for people to use to complete a task. For example, people want to find out about a company so look at your business’s website. People want to keep in contact with friends so use Facebook. People want to store their photographs somewhere so use Flickr. Web designers and businesses should always […]
For those familiar with user experience design we go around our daily lives noticing areas of bad user experience. “This door opens the wrong way”. “That sign is in the wrong place”. “They should accept card payments”. We also go around the virtual world with that little voice inside our heads screaming out similar curses. […]
There are a few tools that you’ll find in any professional web designer’s arsenal that enable them to produce the project deliverables. Whether is creating website design mockups, prototypes or the finished article there is a specific tool (or set of tools) to produce said deliverable. Pen and paper As more and more work is […]
Icons, when used effectively, are a great way to emphasise aspects of your website design, make elements more recognisable and create minimal interfaces. Last week I wrote about how considerations in your website design such as imagery and colours can establish a personality but the style of the icons you use are equally as important […]
They say it’s what’s on the inside that counts and, just like (most) people, websites have personalities too. Where some people are fun and vibrant so are websites! Along with content strategy and tone of voice, visual design significantly contributes to the personality of your website. So how should you go about injecting the right […]
In 2011, we really saw the boom of two great website design community websites: Forrst and Dribbble. Both communities are based around the same concept: designers can sign up and share their design work with the community either to get feedback or just show off. Part of how these communities generate their income is through […]
Design grids are invisible intersecting vertical and horizontal lines upon which design elements can be placed to structure 2d content. Print publications have been using grid based approaches for their layouts for a long long time. Traditional newspapers for example, have been using this method to organise their pages since the dawn of commercial printing. […]
IT projects of any size rely on deliverables to communicate the progress and direction of the project between client and contractor. Website design projects are no different and are often used to ensure the contractor you are paying to design your website are producing your dream design. The project contract should outline the deliverables from […]