Being a designer who knows HTML/CSS quite well helps me to make thoughtful decisions about how my designs will perform. Front-end plays a great part in overall performance of an website/webapp. Lara Swanson emphasizes the point in her recent article at A List Apart. Adding half a second to a search results page can decrease [...]
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” said Steve Jobs and I remember this by heart and try to follow it always. These days there’s been a [...]
I’ve read a few books and good articles about baseline grid and how to use it for the Web. But over the time I’ve found it difficult to fit it in my usual design process. Jason Santa Maria share his problems with baseline grids on the web and other technical issues. It’s incredibly difficult to maintain a baseline grid in [...]
There are many definitions of Simplicity but Daniel Ritzenthaler explains what does Simple actually mean at 52 Weeks of UX: Prevailing wisdom suggests that simplicity is about less…removal and reductionism. But simplicity is really about comprehension and clarity of purpose…can we design such that people instantly understand what’s going on and make a confident decision [...]
Since the Responsive Design has been introduced, we all started focusing on making websites responsive and on our way we ignored the aesthetics. At A List Apart, Paul Lloyd explores this subject and suggests how we can retain the aesthetics while being responsive. We’re embracing “responsive” but neglecting the second part: “design.” We’re replacing fixed-width [...]
A website homepage has been considered most important page till date as it’s believed to be the first impression of any product or company, online. Kyle Meyer—product designer at Facebook—lists 3 types of homepage layouts: Sparse, Short-form and Long-form and explains why Long-form does the best job and how: Long-form home pages aim to provide [...]
Mailchimp.com is more famous for it’s personality than newsletters. While reading Redesigning the Web by Smashing Magazine I came across the case study about Mailchimp.com redesign launched in January of 2011. It contains some vitals thoughts from senior designer, Aaron Robbs: I’m a big proponent of modernism and minimalism. If we stripped it back to [...]
I, too, am practitioner of minimal design that is built on solid foundation of grids and typography. But sometimes minimalism is misinterpreting as Minh Tran states on Viget Inspire: A generalized definition of minimalism could be when something, an object or idea, is stripped down to its essential elements. In minimalistic art in the 1960s, [...]
I’ve always loved reading good design books. I believe they are better and reliable source of information as compared to blogs as many great people put lot of hard work to get a single book out. In 2011, I bought 40 books and managed to read just 16 as of now. Books I’ve read: Recommended [...]
Keith – lead designer at Forrst – has some interesting thoughts about the concept of “Getting Back to Zero” in design: The ability to consistently look at a design as a new user while laying out elements and keeping the project goals in mind. Getting back to zero. An on-going back-and-forth between making design decisions, [...]
I highly recommend that. Reading books over blogs gives you an in-depth knowledge for a particular subject and that too by an expert. Unlike blogs where people like me share their thoughts and ideas which may or may not be logical while in books these are not just thoughts but tested, proved practices. Blogging is [...]
Hiding important stuff behind code words might cost you business. Navigation titles should be clear and that people use in daily life. Jared Spool beautifully explains this with examples and following DOs and DON’Ts: Don’t hide your most valuable assets behind generic links. Avoid copying the design of your site’s navigation from other sites, especially [...]
Reading is not my hobby but I’ve to read as to learn. Here are few articles from my learning list: What makes a good UX designer Dashboard Design Gestalt Principles of Perception Sales: The Fail Team Should you blame your designer for poor conversion rates? Style vs. Design Inline Help Ellen Lupton Interview
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. — Abigail Adams Since I’ve started designing for web, learning for me has never stopped. And there is still lot to learn which I’m sure won’t finish till end. Every week I try to read 5-7 good [...]