I value prototyping a lot. My tools of trade are Invisionapp, Keynote, Balsamiq and HTML/CSS (sometimes), but that’s are not the most important part of prototyping (though they matter). Jared Spool tells about where to focus while prototyping as to avoid the traps that reduce the effectiveness of prototyping efforts. Prototyping is rendering ideas to […]

While re-reading Universal Principles of Design yesterday I came across Cognitive Dissonance and how it can be applied in web design to increase engagement and conversions. Though I was not familiar with the term Cognitive Dissonance but somehow we were already implementing this principles at Unmetric’s marketing site by saying: “Is your brand social enough?” […]

Along with a decent idea and great execution there’s more to the success of a web app. It’s not the features list but the simplicity and details of an app that matters. Here’s a talk by Des Traynor where he emphasizes the role of good content strategy in the success of a web app.

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 […]

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 […]

Typography along with grids, space and color is one of the most important aspect that distinguishes between good and great design. Jason Santa Maria is very well know for his elegant typography skills and I especially love his work for A List Apart. Here’s his talk “On Web Typography” where he talks about details of […]

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 […]

Designers are trying different UI elements to enhance user interaction everyday. Stephen P. Anderson has compiled some latest and interesting UI patterns emerging lately answering to the following question: What are the best UI elements (controls, patterns, etc.) that have cropped up in modern web sites and web apps recently? → Check the answer on […]

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 […]