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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
  • Eye appeal is everything, but what's appealing to one pair of eyes can be singularly unattractive to another.
  • Site design and eye appeal
  • 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.  
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.
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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  • 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.
  • 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
  • "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. 
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.
Cheyenne Isles

Top 40 Most Popular Social Networking Sites - 0 views

socialmediatoday.com/...-social-networking-sites-world

shared by Cheyenne Isles on 17 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Cheyenne Isles on 17 Mar 14
     
    A website that shows the top 40 most popular social networking sites around the world. Each website has a brief summary of what it is and where it is popular. Very interesting contrast in popular websites that are international, and some that are more specific to different regions/countries.
  • Cheyenne Isles on 17 Mar 14
     
    *Note: this list is as of 2012
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.
Sasha Ross

This Augmented Reality App Could Change the Way We Shop Online - 0 views

mashable.com/...augment-app

augmented technology future reality media media+society

shared by Sasha Ross on 11 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Enter Augment, an Android and iOS app which uses augmented reality to let you visualize how products will look in your home
  • Sasha Ross on 11 Feb 14
     
    This link is to a website on Mashable.com where there is a very cool YouTube video on augmented reality.  The clip talks about an App called Augment, where you can virtually see an object placed in any environment.  The app takes online shopping to a whole new level.  It is a very interesting video and following the video is a more in depth description of the app. 
Sasha Ross

228: The future of privacy. Surveillance society. Mobile security. Genome identificatio... - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...security-genome-identification

surveillance future privacy society security identification cbc radio mobile

shared by Sasha Ross on 08 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Kevin Haggerty, professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Alberta, on surveillance and security.
  • Sasha Ross on 08 Feb 14
     
    This website has 6 great radio clips that you can listen to, all relating to the topics of privacy and surveillance.  The clip of Kevin Haggerty talking about Surveillance Society I found to be particularly helpful and interesting! 
Sasha Solomon

The Public Domain Review - 0 views

publicdomainreview.org/about

shared by Sasha Solomon on 18 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Sasha Solomon on 18 Feb 14
     
    A not-for-profit website that have work that fall out of copyright and enter the public domain. This website has collections of text, images, films, articles and more.
Cheyenne Isles

How Benefit from the Top Social Media Sites - 0 views

www.hongkiat.com/...-how-you-can-benefit-from-them

shared by Cheyenne Isles on 18 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Cheyenne Isles on 18 Mar 14
     
    Through a list of the top social media websites, it explains how you can benefit from each one. The website explores communication, brand exposure, and traffic to your site. It also discusses how each site can benefit you and reasons why you should use it.
ryley Hughes

Tips to Make Money With Social Media - 0 views

www.mashbout.com/make-money-social-media

tips make money money social social media communication advertising marketing selling products income entrepreneur business media Virality

shared by ryley Hughes on 01 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • social media marketers basically have one broad goal: to increase traffic and/or exposure
  • The media they post is focused on a lifestyle – not a brand
  • ryley Hughes on 01 Apr 14
     
    This article could be helpful for anyone hoping to work in communications or as an entrepreneur in the future.  It thoroughly explains how companies make money by using free social medias including Facebook and twitter (even providing visual examples).  Due to the increase of people online, and on social networking websites these tips can largely increase profitability and communication clarity of any public company.  They may also help with the media episodes project whilst trying to create and market social media to a specific audience.   
Raweeh Paz

Social Networking Fact Sheet - 0 views

www.pewinternet.org/...social-networking-fact-sheet

Social Media Networking Technology Communication Statistics

shared by Raweeh Paz on 08 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Raweeh Paz on 08 Mar 14
     
    The article provides a commentary on social media. It gives insight on the different types of people - the demographics - that use all the various social media that is out there and relevant. It sorts out the different age groups, ethnicities, genders among other things like the way they are using it - creation vs. curators. One can also find other articles on the same website that link to other various information relevant to the topic at hand. There is also a longer but more in-depth analysis on the usage of social media done by the same group of people here (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED525056.pdf).
Raweeh Paz

Reddit Donates $80,000 To Orphanage After Man Trying To Save Kids Attacked With Machete - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...kenya-orphanage_n_1237016.html

Social Media Networking Technology Communication Reddit Imagined Communities

shared by Raweeh Paz on 08 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Raweeh Paz on 08 Mar 14
     
    Similar to the example given in class early in the semester about the young boy who asked for donations because of a disorder he had, this article also involves Reddit and users donating money to help those in need. The article is an example of concept of imagined communities. It features that idea of people from all over the world being unified because they read something on the same website and thus sharing an experience together by helping the orphanage.
Cheyenne Isles

Connecting The World Through Social Media - 0 views

www.iabc.com/...Swan.htm

shared by Cheyenne Isles on 17 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Cheyenne Isles on 17 Mar 14
     
    An article that discusses social media and how it can be a useful tool for a global organization/company that crosses at least one national or regional boundary. Provides tips on how to get their message heard, as well as provide the top used social media websites in different countries.
Stephen Flanagan

YouTube Vs. Vimeo: Which Video Site Is Best for Business? - 0 views

sproutsocial.com/...youtube-vs-vimeo-business

media technology communication

shared by Stephen Flanagan on 25 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Stephen Flanagan on 25 Mar 14
     
    This video disputes the strengths and weaknesses of two valuable tools of media; YouTube and Vimeo. The video explores the variables that effect and contribute to the strengths and weaknesses of each type of video host website.
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.
Rhonda Atkinson

14 Social Media Trends for 2014 - 0 views

blog.crazyegg.com/...14-social-media-trends-2014

media social communication technology media+society Networking trends

shared by Rhonda Atkinson on 25 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Rhonda Atkinson on 25 Mar 14
     
    (Borgini, 2014). Julia Borgini in this compelling article discusses the top 14 social media trends of 2014. While some trends seem obvious, others are more interesting, such as Slideshare becoming a key influencer. Who knew it was one of the most visited websites in the word? These 14 trends are good to keep in mind when promoting on social media pages. This is a good list to keep in mind for video series promotions.
Talia Baksh

Occupy Wall Street uses social media to spread nationwide - CBS News - 0 views

www.cbsnews.com/...ial-media-to-spread-nationwide

Occupy Wall Street social media social movements

shared by Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Occupy Wall Street uses social media to spread nationwide
  • (CBS) - Social media has been an important tool for protesters overseas. Now that the Occupy Wall Street protests have reached a tipping point, the abundance of online organizing is staggering.
  • Once we took a closer look at the movement and how it was being organized, we were impressed. The protesters used all forms of social media keep the movement alive. 
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Facebook pages have popped up for major cities across the country. Twitter hashtags have been established for communication at general assemblies. Countless videos have been posted to YouTube, Vimeo and Livestream. We found some moving personal accounts of job loss and helplessness shared on the blog, "We are the 99 percent."
  • Occupy Wall Street even got an Internet meme. The Occupy Sesame Street meme puts the central characters of the children's show in the shoes of regular Americans, with one Twitter user tweeting, "Truly outrageous that 99% of the cookies are consumed by 1% of the monsters on PBS. #occupysesamestreet."
  • Meetup groups have formed in 872 cities across the U.S., using the Occupy Together website as a central hub. We look forward to seeing the status updates, tweets, Instagrams...you get it.
  • Talia Baksh on 24 Mar 14
     
    This short article describes the social media efforts employed by the Occupy movement. It also includes links to some of these social media pages to further arouse the interest by the reader.
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:
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • 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.
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