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It's not you, it's the user

Software as social hacking Finding out how you site/app/whatever is being used and percieved by the users is as important (or more) as your original specifications for it. This is what Grupper (a social service that sets up up drinks between 3 men and 3 women) discovered when they realized that cancellation rate for their [Continue reading]

Responsive design strategies

Through fluid grids and media query adjustments, responsive design enables Web page layouts to adapt to a variety of screen sizes. As more designers embrace this technique, we’re not only seeing a lot of innovation but the emergence of clear patterns as well. I cataloged what seem to be the most popular of these patterns [Continue reading]

Glyphs, Icons, Pictograms, Free!

I’ve been a long time user of the famfamfam.com icon library but recently I’ve been looking for something fresh. Here are some very nice choices for your icon greed :) Entypo by +Daniel Bruce Over 100 icons in EPS or as OpenType font. Free with attribution (you can donate, 50% goes to wikipedia)http://bit.ly/wEuNiE +GLYPHICONS by [Continue reading]

It's an upside down world

I know you like maps on signs so I put a QR code on your sign to open up a map… Someone please explain the rationale for placing a huge QR code on a sign on the space where you would normally put a map, and then having the QR code be a link to [Continue reading]

Responsive design wireframing

The #responsivedesign concept is quickly becoming a must-have item in any new web design project. But while the miracle of "code once, run everywhere" is upon us, some challenges are ahead for the designer. Suddenly, it’s not one #wireframe , but three or four (for each #layout of the website). And while there may be [Continue reading]

iOS 1986

Awesome retro iOS icons by Anton Repponen http://bit.ly/xq0RJj

Can you convince me in 5 seconds?

Value proposition is the #1 thing that determines whether people will bother reading more about your product or hit the back button. It’s also the main thing you need to test – if you get it right, it will be a huge boost. If I could give you only one piece of conversion advice , [Continue reading]

How to Design User Flow

Getting visitors to your site is one thing. But once they are there, you need to provide an exciting/useful/engaging/you-name-it experience if you are going to have results. The good folks at conversionXL.com have a very thorough post on how to guide your visitors to the desired action (whatever that may be: sale, quote form, support [Continue reading]

Testing your responsive design

So you’re following the latest trends in #web development and have decided to develop your new site with a #responsive design. You quickly realize that’s kind of hard testing the site on multiple resolutions every time you make a change. +matt kersley has a nice solution: http://bit.ly/ycYno9 A simple setup with iframes will show the [Continue reading]

Amazing Cisco

What kind of mind decides that a "contact support" form should have a 128-characters limit? That said, when there is an issue with an account and it gets disabled, what kind of mind decides "let’s not send an e-mail to the customer about it, he’ll figure it out next time he tries to use our [Continue reading]

Building a website in 2012?

If you are planning on developing a new website, here as some concepts (some old, some new) on how to go at it: – Think responsively – Even if you’re not implementing a full responsive design, simply thinking in responsive terms goes a long way to achieving usable universal design.– Think touch-first – A button [Continue reading]

Advancing the HTML experience

www.mycookingdiary.com by +Mike Matas is great example of what you can do (and how to do it properly) with #HTML and #CSS today: – A continuous user experience using AJAX to keep the user engaged. However, each "slide" has it’s own URL. This means you can bookmark it, share it, etc.– Animation – but on [Continue reading]

Creating an effective company/product presentation

An excellent post by +Guy Kawasaki on presenting your company and product. Extremely long but really analytical! Read on… Reshared post from +Guy Kawasaki (Mon01) Welcome to the first in a series of posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover [Continue reading]

Searching for a font, Part II

After my first attempt, I thought it was time for a small visual update on the site. The previous choice: Ubuntu The alternative: Adelle Bold by TypeTogether (you can get the font via Font Squirrel) Current choice: Franchise Bold by Derek Weathersbee (free download, donations accepted) The last choice also lead to some minor layout [Continue reading]

LEGO 404 page

Very nice #404 image by LEGO :)(via +Sebastian Schmidt) I think I’ll start a collection! What’s your favorite 404 page? Reshared post from +Daniel Waisberg Greatest 404 page I have ever seen! Had to be from LEGO…

How to build a brand identity

Excellent comment by #xkcd :)

Introducing… the MacPhone in 1984

Follow the link to see concept work done by Hartmut Esslinger, designer of the Apple IIc. Among them, a design for a future (for 1984) phone in co-operation with AT&T. http://fudder.de/artikel/2007/07/17/origin-of-the-iphone/artikel/ [Update] see also: Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Grouphttp://www.amazon.com/Appledesign-Apple-Industrial-Design-Group/dp/1888001259(thanks +Charis Tsevis)[Update] the book mentioned above is rare to find (Amazon sells [Continue reading]

Starbucks, best identity of 2011

Underconsideration/Brand New declared the evolutionary change of Starbucks as the best identity in 2011. I tend to agree although I could have also gone for Voices of Youth. http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/the_best_and_worst_identities_of_2011_part_ii_the_best.php

Some very nice designs!

Some very nice designs! Embedded Link Getting Festive: Free Holiday Card Giveaway From 99designs » News » Design Festival Have you or your business sent out your Holiday or Christmas cards for the year yet?? 99designs asked their amazing

Illustrations is a great way to make your site stand-out

(if the concept can match your site’s subject of course) Embedded Link 10 beautiful examples of illustration on the web | Feature | .net magazine As more and more graphic designers and illustrators gain web design skills, illustrations can increasingly be found on the web. UK designer Mike Kus showcases his 10 favourite examples of [Continue reading]

Some excellent concepts on designing a blog

Obviously many (like considering who your audience is, how your page will be used, paying attention to details, etc) also apply to designing any site. #blogging #design Embedded Link 7 Blog Design Tips from a Content Strategist When designing a weblog, it’s imperative to make sure the content is at the forefront. These sets of [Continue reading]

#free #apple #icons what more do you need from life? :)

#free #apple #icons what more do you need from life? :) Embedded Link Free Icons: Apple Icon Devices We have a gorgeous set of icons made by IconShock where you can find thousands of amazing icons in a variety of themes. Today’s freebie is brought to you exclusively via our sister sister site, MightyDeals.com, where [Continue reading]

I don't do wireframes on paper but this looks like fun!

#web-design Embedded Link Website Stencil Kit — UI Stencils Quickly sketch out your website and mobile application ideas.

Good morning :)

Some very nice tips Embedded Link App design versus web design: what designers can teach each other | Webdesigner Depot We often look at application design and website design as two different, if related, fields. The lines blur a bit with web apps (which are technically both

Agreed :)

#WebDevelopment #UI Embedded Link 10 ways to screw up a web form and piss me off Today I complained (on Google+) about web forms where you have to re-enter your email address. I always feel insulted when sites ask me that. As if I can’t be trusted to know my own … Google+: View post [Continue reading]

Get #Instagram in your #Photoshop :)

Get #Instagram in your #Photoshop :) Embedded Link dbox – Instagram Filters as Photoshop Actions Instagram Filters as Photoshop Actions. I recently did a google search to see if anyone had “converted” instagram filters to photoshop actions. After not finding any results, I decided to see if I cou… Google+: Reshared 1 times Google+: View [Continue reading]

The new View Ripples feature is simply Google engineers kicking a** :)

And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read this http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/google-popular-posts-eye-catching.html

An excellent speech on #education and an excellent #animation as well!

An excellent speech on #education and an excellent #animation as well! Google+: Reshared 5 times

How to quickly evaluate your site's effectiveness from a user experience point…

How to quickly evaluate your site’s effectiveness from a user experience point of view Embedded Link ZURB – Critique a Web Page in 30 Seconds or Less An article written by Bryan Zmijewski titled ’Critique a Web Page in 30 Seconds or Less’. Update: Due to enormous popularity of this post we have created a [Continue reading]

Designers: drop Photoshop, do it in HTML!

Any designers who can understand HTML raise your hands :) Embedded Link Prototyping in code | Feature | .net magazine Alex Morris, user experience director at Mark Boulton Design, walks us through some of the rationale, the tricks, the processes and techniques you can employ to build HTML prototyping into your workfl… Google+: Reshared 1 [Continue reading]