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Home/ CMN450 (03) Participatory Media/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by Talia Baksh

Contents contributed and discussions participated by Talia Baksh

Talia Baksh

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

  • 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.
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    This website provides advice on what colour combinations go well together when creating a website template. It contains sample templates of webpages.
Talia Baksh

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

  • 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. 
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  • 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.
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    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

  • 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.
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    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

  • 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.
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  • 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?
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    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

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

  • 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.
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    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.
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