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Talia Baksh

5 Killer Web Design Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier | Adda Birnir - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...eb-design-tips-_b_4038652.html

web design tips and tricks design rules

shared by Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • 5 Killer Web Design Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier
  • We all want to have a beautifully designed website and yet, it's surprisingly hard. So what is it that great designers know that the rest of us don't?
  • 1. Learn the fundamental rules of type design:
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  • The key to good web design, says Ryan Shafer, Lead Digital Designers at MTV & VH1, is remembering that the web is really just a bunch of text. "I encourage all budding web designers to embrace that the web is fundamentally about typography design."
  • For headlines: Make them bold and easy to scan San serif typefaces are great for headlines because they are stark and easy to read at larger sizes For body text, you want to maximize legibility: For lots of text opt for a serif typeface Make the font-size much larger than you think is necessary, we recommend 16 px at minimum Lines should never be more than 50-60 characters long
  • 2. Pick a solid typeface, and maybe one with a touch of whimsy
  • the web is pixel based. So if your image isn't large enough it's going to look pixelated.
  • Proxima Nova has replaced Helvetica Neue as my sans-serif typeface of choice.
  • 3. Pick a three-color pallette & then stick to it!
  • When it comes to picking a color pallette the key is to pick it and stick (to) it. Consistency is everything when it comes to creating a cohesive color palette for your site.
  • 4. Make sure your photos are the right size
  • When it comes to picking a font-face you want to pick something super easy to read, graphic, and maybe something a little, you know, whimsical.
  • "Photo clarity adds a lot of credibility to a site, even if they weren't taken by you."
  • 5. When in doubt, give it space
  • The most important design tip is also the simplest: "Make sure your content has breathing room; give it proper margins will help with legibility and focus."
  • "Too much text can be a bit daunting. Text is necessary so make sure to break it up with larger sub headings and legible paragraphs. Considering using icons or images as alternative ways to communicate your point."
  • Consistency is key. Nothing will tank your design faster than picking one design direction and then switching it halfway through.
  • Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14
     
    This article highlights 5 golden rules for effective web design. The article describes how to make typefaces work to your advantage, how to choose colour palettes, the advantages of correctly sized graphics, how to include space and headings, and the importance of consistency in design.
Talia Baksh

Website design aesthetics - 0 views

www.webcredible.co.uk/...website-design.shtml

website aesthetics website colours website layout website design tips

shared by Talia Baksh on 09 Mar 14 - Cached
  • The Internet can be a cruel place, where the laws of evolution apply. You have to adapt, be adept and adopt a new attitude about your site's aesthetics - and the look and feel and the impression these design aspects have on visitors.
  • Even if you're working on your own, with free website templates, you still have to consider that first impression on your site visitors. If the website looks cheap, it won't instil visitor confidence. In fact, most of them will click off before your dancing bear Flash animation fully downloads (and you thought it was so cute).
  • Product selection, tone of screen text, motifs, marketing strategies, links - virtually everything about an online business must be targeted with laser precision on a known demographic.
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  • If you aren't a writer, outsource the writing to capture the right tone, the appropriate slant and the most cogent organisation of content. You may be working on a shoestring budget, but this is one area of ecommerce where it pays to get professional help if you don't know much about effective written communication and visual appeal.
  • Do some market research. Visit other sites - successful sites - to see how they're doing it so well. It's unethical to rip off an existing site, no doubt, but you can't copyright an idea and ideas - the right ideas - are what you're after.
  • Look at your homepage
  • Site design and eye appeal
  • Eye appeal is everything, but what's appealing to one pair of eyes can be singularly unattractive to another.
  • Consider the elements of visual design. Are the colours appropriate for your target demographic? If you're selling quilting supplies, pinks and lavenders are perfectly appropriate.
  • Put yourself in the place of the ideal visitor (the one with something to buy) and ask yourself if the colours work for that individual.
  • Consider the balance and proportion of the elements on your homepage. Is that gigantic banner attractive?
  • Site demographics
  • Market expectations
  • So what does your target demographic expect when they shop online? A certain attitude? Certainly the 'right' look and feel. Warm and fuzzy? Razor's edge? Comforting and welcoming?
  • Sohyun Kim on 09 Mar 14
     
    This article deals with website design and what to make note of when designing, as most first-time visitors will give you less than five seconds to "wow" them, making the aesthetics a vital part of reeling in customers. The website must be both visually appealing to your targeted demographic as well as communicate important things to know.
  • Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14
     
    This article covers website aesthetics. Clara Teoh advises web designers to design their websites with: the preferences of their target demographic in mind, the right tone  to focus on designing the layout of the website to capture the attention of users by choosing appropriate colours and  correctly sized buttons. She also says to compare your site using other successful websites as benchmarks. She goes on to say that site aesthetics even affect variables like conversion rates and sales for businesses.  
Sohyun Kim

The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Ugly of Parallax Web Design - 0 views

www.thewire.com/...67234

web design website trends asthetics

shared by Sohyun Kim on 09 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Parallax is the web design technique of using CSS to make different layers on the web page move at different rates. So, when scrolling down the page, instead of having all the text, photos, videos, and other elements move screen altogether, it feels more like a visual page turn, with a new layer of beautiful imagery or video or a pull quote gliding up to replace the just read "page."
  • Take last month's Fast Company story about Baratunde Thurston quitting the Internet for 25 days. Toward the bottom of the page, the designers used parallax to make leaves and flowers bloom onto the page. Unless your browser window is extremely wide, the details ended up covering the text, however, making it difficult to read the story: 
  • "It's getting a little overused everywhere," Trei Brundrett, the chief product officer for Vox Media, which owns SB Nation, The Verge, and Polygon, told us. The makers of "Snow Fall" and the other parallax pioneers who have used it made it the defining feature of thoughtful web design. "It's a signifier of quality. It has become a trope,"
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  • The low barrier to entry means, a lot of the times the effect doesn't add much to the story. "I think it's cool if used appropriately or in moderation," said Brundrett. A good use, he says, would be to "cleverly position" photography next to supporting copy
  • Unfortunately, that means it has gotten very tired, very fast. The Pitchfork team sees the whole trend winding down in the next year or two. "I think people will start to use it a lot more and possibly tire of it," said Renaud.
  • "Designers are excited that there is a lot of energy and curiosity around more thoughtful design and breaking out of our optimized content world," added Brundrett. 
  • Sohyun Kim on 09 Mar 14
     
    This article talks about a new trend in Web design- Parallax- and how it became popular. It shows examples of what websites effectively used this trend, and others that have done the opposite. It ends off with how this trend effects designers and readers alike. 
Talia Baksh

An Introduction to Color Theory for Web Designers - Tuts+ Web Design Article - 0 views

webdesign.tutsplus.com/...-web-designers--webdesign-1437

color theory web designers web design colour schemes

shared by Talia Baksh on 23 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • What is Color Theory?
  • 3 terms which define the basic Color Theory:
  • Here are 3 of the commonly accepted structures for a good color scheme: triadic, compound, and analogous:
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  • Rather than straining to accommodate for a particular area of the color spectrum, the eye is provided a balance.
  • Contrast Contrast reduces eyestrain and focuses user attention by clearly dividing elements on a page. The most apparent example of contrast is an effective selection of background and text color, as shown below:
  • Vibrancy
  • Brighter colors lead the user to feel more energetic as a result of your design, which is particularly effective when you are trying to advertise a product or invoke an emotional response. Darker shades relax the user, allowing their mind to focus on other things.
  • How Do I Select an Effective Color Scheme?
  • Complementation Complementation refers to the way we see colors in terms of their relationships with other colors. When colors occupy opposite ends of the color spectrum, they lead people to consider a design visually appealing by establishing a happy medium the eye can reside in.
  • Triadic Color Scheme
  • Composed of 3 colors on separate ends of the color spectrum. There is a very easy way to create a Triadic color scheme:
  • Take a color wheel, and choose your base color. Draw an Equilateral Triangle from this point. The three points of the triangle will form your tri-color scheme. By using an Equilateral Triangle, you can ensure the colors have equal vibrancy and compliment each other properly.
  • Ways to Make Your Life Easier
  • The Compound color scheme is based on providing a range of Complementary Colors: two colors are chosen from opposite ends of the color spectrum.
  • Analogous
  • An Analogous color scheme is based on a careful selection of colors in the same area of the color spectrum.
  • Compound Color Scheme (aka Split Complimentary)
  • there are a few tools at our disposal that make color selection extremely easy when utilized properly.
  • Kuler
  • A tool developed by Adobe, Kuler is aimed at providing an intuitive way to create a color palette. Every color on the palette can be individually modified, or chosen as the base color, with a few simple clicks. Palettes can be saved and published, and there are a number of great community entries available on their site. Under each color, the export codes are provided (including hexadecimal).
  • Color Scheme Designer 3
  • By providing a very simple and controlled selector, Color Scheme Designer provides a very low barrier of entry, and its choice of color principles present a variety of options. While it doesn't teach its users why the colors work well together (Kuler's dynamic color wheel is much more effective in that regard), its results are great as a starting point or to finish a prototype.
  • Its more advanced options are very useful: features such as the ability to adjust an entire palette's saturation and contrast, color blind overlays, and sample website previews are things I hope Kuler implements very soon.
  • Summary Choosing colors on opposite ends of the spectrum creates a visual harmony for the eyes. A high contrast between elements makes text easily readable, and guides your reader's attention. The brighter the colors, the more mental energy they will consume. Don't be afraid to use tools such as Kuler and Color Scheme Designer 3, they only make your life easier and prevent you from becoming frustrated with the learning process.
  • Talia Baksh on 23 Mar 14
     
    This website contains very detailed information on colour theory. It defines and explains the 3 core principles of colour theory (complementation, contrast and vibrancy). It also advises the reader on structures of how to select good colour schemes (triadic, compound, and analogous). Furthermore, it includes advice on tools the reader can use to design colour schemes.
Rhonda Atkinson

How To Design for Viral Growth [Infographic] - 0 views

www.dtelepathy.com/...design-viral-growth

Viral media Infographic communication Design social media+society

shared by Rhonda Atkinson on 25 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Rhonda Atkinson on 25 Mar 14
     
    This dynamic and info-packed Infographic highlights how to design for viral growth. The author, Morgan Brown discusses virality, how to make viral designs, and sums its all up in one neat infographic that is compelling, easily embedded into personal websites, and acts as a good reference sheet. A must to keep in mind when designing content for online promotion.
Brooke Meehan

Web Design Aesthetics - 0 views

www.shire.net/...aesthetics.htm

design aesthetics internet

shared by Brooke Meehan on 10 Mar 14 - Cached
  • Brooke Meehan on 10 Mar 14
     
    This website focuses on what to consider while trying to make your website as visually appealing as it can be. Specifically the article touches on overall appearance, page layout and a detailed section on the importance of color. This link provides helpful tips that people can utilize to design their website the best they can.
Jacob Nemirov

Can 'crowdsourcing' be slave labor? | News Blogs - CNET News - 1 views

news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6095563-7.html

crowdsourcing slavery

shared by Jacob Nemirov on 06 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • the idea of asking consumers to create ads and design products has already become an accepted practice.
  • These initiatives typically tout the importance of companies creating new interactive relationships with their consumers in the digital age.
  • this concept of "crowdsourcing" is not necessarily utopian in all forms. The main reason is compensation--or, more accurately, the lack thereof.
    • Jacob Nemirov
      Jacob Nemirov on 06 Feb 14
       
      Interesting to consider: Is crowdsourcing simply exploitation?
Carolynne Wong

Lil\' Kim Sued Over Zombie Makeup Photo - 0 views

www.hollywoodreporter.com/...-kim-sued-zombie-makeup-673437

media technology copyright intellectual property canada Hollywood

shared by Carolynne Wong on 18 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Carolynne Wong on 18 Feb 14
     
    Vancouver artist, Samantha Ravndahl is accusing hip-hop star, Lil' Kim of stealing her photo and using it to promote and profit her new album, Dead Girl Walking. First posted on Ravndahl's personal Instagram account, the stolen image is of Ravndahl wearing an original zombie makeup design. A coincidentally identical image was later found on Lil' Kim's new album cover, with Lil Kim's name and copyright notice on the image. Their dispute on copyright and intellectual property rights has yet to be resolved.
ryley Hughes

Main Film Genres - 0 views

www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Film genres genre movies categories focus subject motive audience media communication Networking

shared by ryley Hughes on 01 Apr 14 - Cached
  • high energy
  • exciting storie
  • new experiences or exotic locales
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  • light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter
  • sinister actions of criminals or mobsters
  • serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction
  • dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop
  • often paired with other genres
  • Musical/dance films are cinematic forms that emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance routines in a significant way
  • centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography
  • quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative
  • They are sometimes an offshoot of fantasy films (or superhero films), or they share some similarities with action/adventure films
  • horror and heartbreak of war
  • frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time
  • easily evaluate a film within its genre and allow for meaningful comparisons and some judgments on greatness
  • ryley Hughes on 01 Apr 14
     
    This webpage relates to our earlier discussion about genre theory which depicted some forms of media are more prone to fit into a particular genre label.  More so this page outlines the main types of genres in film which could be helpful for the media episodes project, in order to help identify an appropriate audience and content per the given episode content.  
Talia Baksh

50 Websites with Fantastic Color Schemes - Speckyboy Design Magazine - 0 views

speckyboy.com/...s-with-fantastic-color-schemes

webdesign tips colour schemes website aesthetics

shared by Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • 50 Websites with Fantastic Color Schemes
  • A great color scheme can make or break a website. It’s got to be good looking, fitting, and appeal to the site’s users. At the same time it must not be distracting, or impede the users ability to view the page.
  • The websites that we highlight in this article have color schemes that do all that and more. They are truly great uses of color scheme to produce creative and beautiful websites that users love to look at almost as much as they love to use.
  • Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14
     
    This website provides advice on what colour combinations go well together when creating a website template. It contains sample templates of webpages.
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