Intuitive Website Design - Usability Tips for Web Designers

To achieve this objective, web designers should focus on building usable and intuitive interfaces.
Here, we present to you some fundamental factors that have to be taken into account by the web designers when working on an intuitive web design -
Identify the needs of the users
"Your" goal for creating a website is to take the site visitors from point A to B. But what do the visitors actually want so that they can move from the starting point to the main point? Answer to this can be obtained through a comprehensive research. First find out what actions you want the site visitors to take on your site (for eg. - signup for newsletters, register for membership, login, list their businesses, edit their profiles etc.). After that, you have to find out the factors that can compel the site visitors to take the desired action based on their intuition. By understanding this, you can create layouts that are naturally intuitive.
Help users understand what you are saying through the design
Knowledge gaps exist everywhere. While one person finds a website design intuitive, the others may not. This knowledge gap can prevent some users to take the desired action, simply because they don't find the design intuitive. Therefore, a web designer must respect the varying knowledge level of the users, and build a website that is catered to everybody. By adding few statements that explain how to perform the particular task, can greatly help people understand what the design intends to say.
Take small steps
Starting your web design project with a small and basic idea is the most appropriate way to go about it. You can do better with a minimalistic interface than a complex layout. So, when you are working on a web design and you feel like adding everything, start with the element that should be at the core of your design. Begin with that element and eventually expand your design in a more comprehensive manner.
Borrow ideas from other websites and apps
Learning in web design never stops. Designers often learn different tricks and styles from each other and integrate them in their websites. When you are working on an intuitive web design, you can look at different websites and applications to understand the factors that make them usable and intuitive. You can list out the different intuitive factors you found on these websites and apps for future reference.
Testing helps, a lot!
The best technique to assess whether the site is actually usable or not for people from different walks of life, you should gather a group of people with different technical understanding level and demonstrate your website layout. The way they will interact with the site would, to a great extent, give you an idea how the actual users would engage with your site. Such trial runs help you identify mistakes that you missed before.
Building an intuitive web design requires a lot of efforts & time, and the above mentioned points can somewhat minimise the efforts and time consumed by helping you define the right pathway.

Make Your Website Awesome

The chances are you want to get on with reading this article; after all, you are busy, you have lots to do and there is an increasingly overwhelming amount of information to face each day. One of the problems with the information explosion is that it makes us feel under more pressure to "get on". The result is that we feel as though we have even less time than we actually do have. There is plenty of research which confirms that the more you are faced with each day, the more you feel time rushing by. That then leads to you giving the information you receive only a cursory glance, because you "have to get on" and read the next set of material coming your way.
Relax.
That's easy to say, of course, but not so easy to do. After all, you have "millions of things" to get through; there's no time to relax!
One of the problems of rushing through the information overload is poor decision-making. Another issue is the fact that we so easily misinterpret information because we do not have enough thinking time left any more. And for anyone running a business website there is another problem.
People rush through your website, missing those "buying signals" you have so carefully prepared. No matter how hard you try, unless you are a major brand which can spend millions on promotion, you just can't get enough people interested in what you do. And that's because they are rushing past your content so quickly they cannot really attend to it or make decisions about it. The result is fewer sales than you would like and a general lack of engagement.
There must be something you can do? Luckily, new research on how we perceive time has come to the rescue. Researchers at Stanford University have just conducted three different experiments on the concept of "awe" and how it affects our perception of time. Something that is "awesome" gives a sense of vastness, of wonderment and of being generally amazed by it. In one of the experiments, all that people had to do was read a story about looking over Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Then they had to complete a simple task. Compared with people who read a similar story about going up an unnamed tower and seeing a plain aerial shot, the people with the Eiffel Tower story had an increased sense of "being in the present", of peacefulness and happiness. Similar experiments which provided other ways of a sense of awe found that when people felt wonderment and peacefulness they tended also to feel happier and have a better appreciation of time.
You have surely felt this yourself when you have been on holiday or you have been to an awesome event. Your sense of time changes and you feel more peaceful and generally happier.
So why don't we feel like that online? The problem is far too many websites give you a sense of time rushing past - read this, look at that, here's something else you should read. That just contributes to our need to "get on" and so we miss all those buying signals.
Instead, if websites created a sense of awe, giving us the feeling of wonderment of space and of being somewhat relaxed, then there is a chance we will linger longer. Oh, now remind me, isn't that rather how the Apple website appears?

Making The Most Of Communication In Your Graphic Design Business

Communication is the key to developing good business relationships, regardless of whether this is with your boss, your colleagues or your clients. Working in the graphic design industry means that you are one of the lucky few who has a wealth of communication tools at their fingertips. Whilst a number of communication avenues is one thing, however, the way that you communicate is also important - make sure that you are friendly, courteous and attentive. So, how else can you make the most of your communication?
Offer Advice - Sometimes, taking on a client's graphic design project is not a viable option at the present time. Perhaps they are unwilling to pay what you have quoted them or your plate is already overflowing. In these cases, however, clients will appreciate it if you sit down and offer them some advice - just make sure whether they are okay for you to do this first, as some clients will not listen to unsolicited tips.
Recommendations - It is important for everyone working in the graphic design industry to network with other creatives. This way, when projects requiring that little something extra come along, you will be able to recommend people who can work with you to bring the project to life or instead of you if you are unable to complete the desired work. If you pass on clients to your networks, you can hope that they will do the same for you.
Emails - Poor email handling can really make or break a relationship within the graphic design industry, especially as this is often the primary form of communication. If you are going to be on hiatus for an extended amount of time, consider setting up an automated reply that lets clients know you will attend to their email upon your return. And, when you have access to your emails, make sure that you respond to them in a timely fashion.
Live Communication - Above all, don't forget about live communication. Working in graphic design often submerges you into an online world, allowing you to forget how to deal with clients and colleagues in a face-to-face scenario. Make sure that you conduct yourself in a professional manner in the workplace (especially in meetings) and that you practice a friendly and clear phone manner.
The key to the success of any business is effective communication, and this is no different for someone working in the graphic design industry. By following the above tips, you will be set to make the most of the communication avenues that are open to you, allowing you to develop deeper relationships with your boss, your colleagues, your peers and your clients. You may even get some ideas of methods that you can add to your repertoire, allowing you to help out in even better ways.

The Importance of Mobile Friendly Websites

Darwin's theory, 'survival of the fittest' holds truth in every era. Change is the only constant thing and when it comes to technology, it is evolving like crazy!

We want things right at our fingertips, so much so, that we are developing technologies to cater our social requirements. The biggest example of evolvement is the current development in smartphones, mobiles, tablets and other handheld devices. The use of these devices has affected businesses to a large extent because of the new demands on browsing on smaller screens and handsets. If your website is not mobile friendly or amongst mobile websites there is the potential to lose clients before they have even reached your product.

With the increased rate of mobile search conduction, it has become vital to possess mobile websites and not only the basics, but one that has all the functionalities and is user friendly too. Websites with too many details cannot be easily browsed via phone and thus make the process frustrating for the user.

As a society, people love to be able to do things on the move, eating breakfast talking on the phone - anything we can really. We cannot spend every second in front of the computer, while on the run to check out information. That is why mobile phones come in handy, especially, when you can do everything online through them. If you have a business and your clients are just like the above, then it will take them a little time to browse through your website and go to another.

The following are some of the rules that should be followed when developing mobile friendly websites.
Every effort should be made to reduce the download speed.Website users are very impatient and will normally avoid sites that take too long to load. A fast download speed helps lower bounce rates.Cut down on image sizes by making them smaller before uploading.Make the images attractive and colorful so that they are visually effective.Provide only required information and not irrelevant text to users.Get rid of flash animation from your website because most mobiles do not support flash animations and images.

With the advancements made in tablets and smartphones, the internet is being made available in every aspect of our lives and everywhere too. Thus, it is highly important for websites to become mobile friendly websites, in order to survive competition and retain customers.

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The Must Have Features For Any Mobile Website Design

There are a number of differences between designing a website for a desktop computer and a mobile device - the web access between the two is completely different, the screen sizes are worlds apart, and even the situation of the user is unique (as in, the user of a mobile device is generally on the move and cannot browse at leisure). If you work extensively with mobile website design, there are four features that you should ensure you include in every project you tackle:

Auto redirect

This redirect should take users to your desktop computer website. All mobile websites should have the functionality to detect what sort of device is being used to access it and be able to send the user to the most appropriate site. If they are using a desktop computer, you will be able to provide the user with a very different experience than they would receive with a mobile site.

Call to contact button

This is the name given to a certain type of functionality that allows a user to press a button that automatically dials the number of your business. If a user is on the road, they may not have a pen and paper to jot down your contact information or be able to memorize your phone number, so this makes it easier than ever for users to contact you.

Driving directions

This should be something that is included on all mobile websites, but it is often the feature that most designers leave off. By not including driving directions, you are going to send users away from your website (to other sites like Google Maps and Melways) to find you. By including directions on the website, they can remain on your page for longer.

Location map

Posting a Google Map on your mobile website design can be critical in helping users to find your business. Whilst posting your address can be helpful, being able to actually see where you are located in relation to nearby streets and landmarks can mean that they get to your store or office much faster than if they had to pull over and plug your address into their GPS.

If your business is just branching out into the world of mobile website design, it is important that you ensure the four features outlined above are included in every project that you work on. This will ensure that users are given the most rewarding experience possible, as well as making it easier than ever for them to contact and locate you. And, if you have already created a number of mobile sites, you should go back and make sure that each of these features has been included.

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The Future of Website Design - HTML 5 and CSS 3

The internet has really taken the world with a storm since its inception and the early days when it was merely an instrument for academic research and limited military usage. From the humble and relatively anonymous beginnings, the tide has really changed and these days the cyber space invades our lives almost equally as the physical space.

Having a presence on web or cyberspace means that continuous improvements in the design of websites and the tools used for such design. HTML and CSS are undoubtedly one of the most widely used tools, simple yet versatile, capable of handling most situations. There have been continuous improvements and versions of HTML and CSS since their inception and the HTML-5 and CSS-3 are the latest kids on the block.

HTML has been in existence since 1990 and it was long time back in the year 1997 when the version number 4.0 was released. It was only recently about a couple of years ago that the web scientists started to think about the latest version which can take care of the current limitations and flaws of HTML-4 though it also means that the version was so stable that it lasted for over 15 years in a space where technology changes drastically literally every year.

There are lots of features which are there in HTML-5 which are syntactical in nature such as video, audio and canvas elements. Scalable vector graphics are also integrated in this latest version.

Experts are expecting this to be completed somewhere around 2014, so in about a couple of years time.

Similarly CSS or cascading style sheets are used to provide aesthetic appeal to a page and serves to separate the content from the layout and design. The standards of this are being taken care of by the W3C.

The latest version CSS-3 provides a lot of features which help web designers to break the previous boundaries and express their creativity in a much better manner. It won't be possible to elaborate on the features in this elementary article, still to describe in brief these enhanced features include those related to animation, borders, masks, text columns and so forth.

On the whole it can be said that apart from the rise of the internet, the websites which form a part and parcel of that cyberspace are also improving technologically as the tools used for creating those sites keep improvising. Once the HTML-5 and CSS-3 standards are fully functional in the near future, the web designers would certainly have a much better arsenal of tools.

Hence it can be seen that in the future of website design, HTML-5 & CSS-3 will play a very important role by providing a better platform for website development. This will certainly be a boon for the coders who feel themselves limited within the previous versions of HTML and CSS as well as the clients who can now get their dream websites converted into actual portals in a much more efficient manner.

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Tips That Will Help You Become A Better Web Designer

If you aspire to know more about the techniques of web design, then read on! You are going to learn what it may take to get started if you want to get into webdesign, but you will also get some solid, general website design information as well. There's a lot of knowledge out there, and nobody can possess it all. You can learn and improve your skills regardless of how much web design experience you already have.

The design of your website should not look anything like other websites selling similar products. To make sure this does not occur, have a look at the websites of your competitors. Remember that if your website is too similar to that of one of your competitors, you will not seem unique, and you might even accidentally send business to your competitor. You'll just be another version of the same old site to visitors.

If you have a professional to speak with, do so. Web design veterans can offer valuable insight into tips, tricks, traps to avoid, hurdles to jump and a variety of other information, that can boost your initial efforts. By doing this, you are helping to guarantee that one day you too will be a professional, because you are willing to take the time and gain the knowledge to do things the correct way.

If you've hired a web design professional or firm, paying your bill promptly is crucial. These people are responsible for the maintenance of your website, which is probably the cornerstone of your business. If anything comes up you'll find that they won't be willing to help you until you pay your debts, leaving your website unavailable or worse. Paying your bill promptly establishes rapport with the company and can ensure that your concerns are addressed quickly.

Do not feel that you have to hand-craft every portion of your website on your own. Web design requires knowledge of many different areas including graphic design, user interface design, web programming, search engine optimization and content creation. Do not hesitate to call in the experts when needed. You can pick and choose which areas you need help in and farm it out accordingly.

Be aware of the background on your website. Your background should not be too distracting and allow your reader to read the text easily. Choose a background to work with your website, not conflict with it, and your visitors will be able to better read and understand your site, and your point of view.

Try you best to write an informative and interesting "About Us" page. There are a lot of websites that do not utilize compelling or original content for their "About Us" webpages. Therefore, it is a good idea for you to spice things up a bit! Provide some insight for your visitors; tell them how and why you built your site and what goals you want it to reach for your company.

Keep your site fresh and up-to-date, and promptly remove any outdated content. If you have something on your site that lists an event that happened months ago, chances are you have lost some readers. People want the most accurate information available, and by leaving outdated information online you're showing you don't really care what they want. Set a review schedule to update content and remove items that are no longer useful.

Using shared hosting is an affordable alternative to buying your own server. Considering you cannot be certain about the level of traffic that your website will generate, you should utilize a hosting solution where you are only responsible for covering the cost of the amount of bandwidth that is used.

Think like you're an artist when designing websites. Keep your mind open to inspiration at all times. If an idea for your website strikes you while you are out eating dinner, make a note on a napkin. Or if you are not in a position to jot things down, give your cellphone a call and leave yourself a message so you can pick it up at a later time.

Do not hire a loved one to assist in designing your website. If you are looking for a web designer, you should probably avoid enlisting the help of a family member or close friend. If you are not satisfied with the work, it can be hard to fire someone you know well.

It is wise to buy some books that will help you learn how to web design successfully. Start with books around your skill level, so that you don't skip any necessary information.

This is rather obvious, but it is important. Be sure that you look over every word on your site to ensure that there are no typos on your site. Nothing looks more unprofessional to a visitor than misspelled or poorly-written content. Unprofessional appearances will likely cause you to lose your visitors quickly.

The more you keep at it, web design gets easier and easier. Try some easy web pages with C+ and HTML to learn the basics. It's important to practice to make sure you know the ropes of web design.

Make sure you sign up for things like newsletters, so that you always have saved information on different web design information. This way if you for some reason lose sight during your web designing efforts, you can get straight back into it. Web designers can derive great benefits from newsletters, whether they are self-taught amateurs or experienced pros.

Keep in mind that designing your website does not have to be expensive. Most expensive design tools have a cheaper or a free equivalent you have to look for. For example, free open-source software can usually help you to accomplish the exact same tasks that paid software does. Therefore, using open-source software can save you a large amount of money.

Now that you have gained some valuable knowledge about web design, you can feel more confident when it comes to taking that step in designing your own website. Be sure to always watch for new sources of knowledge, as the more you learn the more you will perfect your web design skills.

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The Top 5 Web Design Trends of 2012

It may seem as if the trends of web design never stop changing. New applications and design schemes are being developed and tested constantly to the point that it is hard to tell what trends are most effective. To stay on top of your website and take advantage of all the web traffic, you can follow the top five trends of web design for 2012.

Maintain function and visibility on mobile devices. There is no denying that people are accessing the Internet from a variety of devices nowadays. With the influx of smartphones and tablets, it is no surprised that more users are more likely to log on to websites with an iPhone instead of an iMac anymore. Too often businesses do not have a functioning and visibly attractive mobile version of the website and users turn to sites that are more friendly for mobile devices. Be careful to only include low-resolution images and videos to ensure that the site loads quickly even over a 3G network. Streamline the content to get information to your users on the go.

Integration with social networking websites is a must. By now, you should have at least set up a Twitter and Facebook account for your business, but there are many other social media sites to consider as well, including Pinest, one of the latest sites to emerge. These social networking and media sites can generate serious revenue, but only if done correctly. You must directly connect your website to your pages on sites like Facebook to keep the user active and interested. Your customers are looking for opportunities to share your content and feature your website, but you have to make it easy for them.

Keep browsing focused with fixed navigation. Too often, users have a tendency toward impatience and end up scrolling and clicking all over the website and before long they are lost in a web of pages. By using fixed navigation, the logo as well as the top and left navigation tabs will remain visible regardless of scrolling up or down or clicking on a new page. Fixed navigation keeps users focused on the most important things about your business and presents the content in the best light possible. Be wary of how much screen space the fixed navigation takes up, however, because they can claim much of the viewable space.

Allow for easy navigation with a multi-column menu. The debate is finally over about which type of navigation menu users prefer. Many studies have shown that users spend more time and find more value in websites that use a multi-column menu. The single column menu does not allow the user to browse through the content as quickly and does not provide the user an overview of the website. For this reason, users are showing a strong preference for the multi-column menu despite any concerns about the submenus becoming too burdensome.

HTML5 and CSS3 are the new tools in web design. Although these coding languages are still being developed and evolving as you read this, web designers everywhere are already in love with the advantages and applications of HTML5 and CSS3. Now you can feature complex animations without all the messy lines of code that ultimately limit the load time of your website. Features that are now possible with HTML5 and CSS3 include creating shadows around boxes and text, rounding corners and rotating through multiple background images.

As you consider updating your web design in 2012, you must implement these five top trends. With all of the advances in web design, this list is just scratching the surface of possibilities but all great websites need to have these elements.

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Top Most Important Tips for Selecting a Graphic Designer

There are various graphic design studios that are willing to work enthusiastically for businesses dealing in different sectors. The design companies take a note of all the requirements in advance and make sure to follow the same path to give the right look. The businesses are using highly specialized graphic design services to give a new look to their business stationary, website and other marketing materials.

While the options are many, it is important for you to make the right selection to work with a designer. The top most important tips for selecting a graphic designer are mentioned below:

1. Previous Work Samples: It's important to judge the degree of detailing in their work. If you find their previous work appealing to your eyes, you will surely able to achieve the desired results to engage your target market. You can pay attention to the styling, visual appeal and color combination to make the final decision.
2. Reference Check: Only work samples will not give you the clear idea about their work. It is important to check few references about their working pattern during the project. The satisfied clients will, of course, be a relief to you that you will get quality results without any botheration.
3. Ready to Experiment: The main idea behind working with professional graphic designers is that they have a fresh and unique approach. So, you shouldn't hesitate in experimenting with your project. When you have a chosen a good graphic designer, you have better chances of a successful experiment with your design. So, wear a positive attitude and go ahead with your deal.
4. Sign the Deal: A professional design studio will never worry to sign the deal with your company. It can be your deciding factor while looking out for a reliable company. Be clear about your requirements and sign a written agreement for clarity. This will assure you peace of mind and harmony with the design studio.

While you are sure about your option, you must start working on your project. In this tough competitive world, it's important to impress the target group with the first impression. So, be ready to engage your target group with the right approach and appeal.

A professional graphic design company will make sure to include your personal touch to the graphic design material so that you can relate yourself with the end-results. So, don't worry much and use the above tips to make your search successful.

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