Flat Pixels: The Battle Between Flat Design And Skeuomorphism
Good to revisit this topic every now and then.
Flat Pixels: The Battle Between Flat Design And Skeuomorphism.
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RyRy
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RyRy
Repurposing Photoshop For The Web | Smashing Magazine
A more balanced and intelligent way of approaching the +-Photoshop discussion.
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RyRy
How to Design Pixel Perfect Photoshop Files for iOS Apps | Teehan+Lax
Neat.
How to Design Pixel Perfect Photoshop Files for iOS Apps | Teehan+Lax.
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Bobby
Warning: Good Copy is More Valuable than Design
AMEN:
2. A great home or landing page design should come only after extensive research and getting inside the head of your customers… crafting good copywriting makes you understand your product, and more importantly your customers.
We’ve all seen lorem ipsum on rough design concepts… I’ve even been guilty of it too. However, why the hell would you start designing intricate details without any clue as to the message your trying to convey? The messaging should be dictating these design decisions, or at least guiding them.
via Warning: Good Copy is More Valuable than Design… | Robert Williams.
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Bobby
Material Honesty on the Web – Flat vs. Skeu
Today there’s a materials debate between flat and skeuomorphic design. While design debates are healthy, too much finger-pointing is prolonging the problem—web folks on all sides are still figuring out their sensibilities to and vocabulary for web materials.
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greg
To customize bootstrap a bit more, here’s a site that generates the CSS to use different colors for buttons when using bootstrap.
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RyRy
Love Full Stop’s style Here’s a fantastic…
Love Full Stop’s style. Here’s a fantastic responsive site from them that just launched.
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RyRy
had to fix that link.. the previous link was to one of the pages in the site.
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greg
going to have to disagree. The majority of the massive graphics have a lot of text in them that isn’t in the markup – meaning it can’t be searchable or display to screen-readers. And the “Big News” goes to an Access Denied page…
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RyRy
Hmmm, I’m not getting that error. Agree that the info graphics aren’t searchable, but they sure look perty!
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Bobby
20 Clean and Minimal Ecommerce Designs
Ecommerce is an ever-growing industry that is convenient for both seller and buyer. Shoppers can buy products without leaving the house, while merchants can manage a website rather than an entire store. But when developing your online store, you should approach its design the same way you would a physical store, and think about what your customers will want to see. Excessive clutter and confusing navigation will turn visitors away; quality product photos and a clean layout will draw them in. The success of your ecommerce site relies on the functionality of the store, as well as an attractive and professional look.
This is a collection of twenty ecommerce websites that are especially appealing in the way of aesthetic design. While different in the way that they reflect their own unique brands, they share certain characteristics – subtle background textures and colors, attractive typography, creative layouts, white space and quality imagery – all resulting in beautiful, minimalistic designs.
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RyRy
Looking Beyond User-Centered Design ∙ An A List Apart Column
Looking Beyond User-Centered Design ∙ An A List Apart Column.
Interesting and measured take on this. It is my opinion that each design project will always have it’s own unique solution.. comprised of various processes and smaller solutions. It’s good to have best practices, but we can’t lose site of what we bring as front-end designers. In other words, we shouldn’t be automatons, churning out generic, indistinguishable work.
“User-centered design has served the digital community well. So well, in fact, that I’m worried its dominance may actually be limiting our field.”
Money quote: “I don’t expect UCD’s pre-eminence to change. Nor do I think it necessarily should. But a design community is most healthy when it shares a respectful variety of opinions.”
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Bobby
The Post-PSD Era < AGREED!
This is one of those posts that really makes me think and then cringe. While I totally agree with this…
Throughout my career, I’ve watched immensely talented designers waste a shitload of time creating fully fleshed-out comps of what a website could look like. Pixels get pushed, details are sweated, pages are printed out, hung on walls, and presented to clients. Clients squawk their feedback, then designers act on it. They repeat this dance until everyone is content (or until nobody gives a shit anymore, which happens more often than you’d think). Only then do those pristine comps get handed (more like shoved) over to developers to build.
It’s an increasingly-pathetic process that makes less and less sense in this multi-device age. I’m not making a case for ditching Photoshop altogether and designing solely in the browser (where are the blend modes in Chrome dev tools again?) but rather better understanding how we use Photoshop in modern web design (thanks Trent).
I hate to see this era coming to an end.
I will say that last year (’12) I started prototyping in a web based app called PROTO.IO This was the first time that I honestly believed I could design a complete site or mobile app and not rely on photoshop 100%.
This doesn’t make photoshop something I wouldn’t use. I would use it to create background textures, icons, and any images needed, but the actual layout I can do in something like Proto.io.
The advantage to using an app like Proto.io is that it will let me not only design the experience, but prototype the experience. It forces the designer to think about HOW something is used and not just what it will look like. It also lets you preview your work via the device you’re designing it for.
So yes, I believe that we are in a Post-PSD era.
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RyRy
Quickly Convert Objects to CSS Using Photoshop CS6.1 | Psdtuts+
Quickly Convert Objects to CSS Using Photoshop CS6.1 | Psdtuts+.
You can now convert a layer’s shape and style to CSS with a single click. In this article, we will explain how this works. Let’s take a look!
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RyRy
6 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly
6 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to prioritize your website’s design considerations for tablet functionality. Ignoring this could negatively impact your website’s overall conversion rate, return visits, sales and more.
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greg
10 Mobile Web Design Best Practices
Go to full site – the mobile website escape
Always include a link to the full site for your users. No matter how good your design, some people just want the experience they’re used to. The only thing that likes change is a wet baby.
Keep headings shorter than short
Headings that wrap over more than 2 lines push your content down the page and often out of frame for users. Keep them short, focused and descriptive without telling the whole story.
Use placeholder text on small, common form inputs
On small forms where context is obvious, use placeholder text instead of labels (eg. login forms, search boxes or address forms).
Place labels above form inputs
When you use labels they should be placed above form elements. Using top-aligned labels makes sure that if the mobile browser zooms in on the input, the user doesn’t lose the context of the input.
Pop-ups suck on mobile
Window management on mobile still sucks. YouTube, Maps, anything that opens native applications takes the user outside the website’s flow and out of context. Do your best to integrate these elements on the page so that users can stay with the website they’re viewing.
Save time with font-based icons
We (heart image) icons! They spice up your designs. To avoid managing a sprite sheet with both retina assets and smaller icons, opt for a font-based icon set like: Font Awesome; glyphish; iconsweets; or symbolset. Or, make your own. Here’s how.
Give your mobile website a mobile-first makeover
Going mobile is about more than just squeezing an existing website into a one-column format. Examine your analytics and your user feedback. Tackle the opportunity to re-imagine your website for mobile and to focus on the important elements. Reorganize content so that it makes sense to the user. Drop extra content blocks. Move elements up or down the page. Add new elements for mobile devices. It’s your site to make amazing.
Make your default font size at least 14 px
Even if that seems really big, it’s the right thing to do. The only time to go smaller (and just to a minimum of 12 px) is on very precise labels for forms.
Respect the fat fingers and tipsy taps of your users
None of us are as dexterous as we’d like to be on our mobile devices. We can all have a touch of “fat fingers” symptoms. So design your actions accordingly. Make the touch targets big. We recommend 40px by 40px.
Give targets lots of margin too. We recommend at least 10px margins around the targets. Primary actions should always be big and tappable.
Embrace the wild and wonderful world of device APIs
When making a desktop site mobile we sometimes forget that smartphones and other mobile devices access user location, can make phone calls, take pictures and much more. Don’t confine your creativity to what’s on your desktop site.
via 10 Mobile Web Design Best Practices | Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog.
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Bobby
The top 50 books for web designers and developers
The top 50 books for web designers and developers
The ultimate web designer and developer book list. I have to say I agree a TON with the books on this list. And looks like I have a lot of reading to do…. ugh.
I have to agree with Cameron Moll about reading. To me it’s a chore. It’s something I have to make myself do and I’me a very slow reader but at the end of the day reading books like this only help and I find the subject fasctinating.. still.
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Bobby
The Real Problem With Apple: Skeuomorphism In iOS
Really good article about some of the “design” and “creative” issues people have with iOS. It’s something I’ve agreed with but never really saw it explained like this article does. It’s a great read. Highly recommended.
What’s skeuomorphism? If you’ve ever used an Apple product, you’ve experienced digital skeuomorphic design: calendars with faux leather-stitching, bookshelves with wood veneers, fake glass and paper and brushed chrome. Skeuomorphism is a catch-all term for when objects retain ornamental elements of past, derivative iterations–elements that are no longer necessary to the current objects’ functions.
I think Windows 8 and Android ICS are both great examples of how to move away from this design metaphor.
via The Real Problem With Apple: Skeuomorphism In iOS – Forbes.
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Bobby
Mobile Marketing: How do I create a mobile optimized email campaign? – Quora
and EXCELLENT post on Quora about mobile optimized email designs.
Mobile Marketing: How do I create a mobile optimized email campaign? – Quora.Here is a great list of links n’at.
Some recommended resources that our designers use when creating mobile ready emails.
- Designing emails for touch: Part 1(http://stylecampaign.co
m/blog/?p=98 ) and Part 2(http://stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=94 ) (and many other articles at the StyleCampaign blog) - Designing emails for mobile devices – http://www.smartinsights.
com/ema… - Mobile email design in practice – http://www.campaignmonito
r.com/b… - Your Subscribers Are Mobilizing — Is Your Email Program Ready? –http://www.mediapost.com/
publica… - 6 Design Tips for Mobile Email – http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit…. - Five Keys to Mobile-Ready Email Design – http://chiefmarketer.com/
email/c… - Email insight: future of email part 1 – Mobile – http://emailblog.eu/2011/
03/14/e… - Designing Mobile Friendly Emails – http://blog.campaigner.co
m/2011/… - Menu size for touchscreen phones – http://emailfail.posterou
s.com/m… - Email Marketing Design for Mobile Devices – http://www.strongmail.com
/resour… - 5 Tactics For Successful Mobile Email Marketing – http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit…. - Mobile Email: Is It Going Anywhere? – http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit…. - The rapid growth of mobile email – http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit…. - 5 Ways To Keep The Magic Alive In Your Email Design –http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit…. - Designing an Email Newsletter: One Column vs. Two Columns –http://infocenter.emailtr
ansmit….
One last thing before you begin your campaign
Your team needs to decide…- Should we create and send a mobile ready email and a normal desktop email separately?
- Should we send a normal desktop email with a link to the mobile version?
- During sign up should we ask our clients whether they want to receive a mobile ready email?
- Designing emails for touch: Part 1(http://stylecampaign.co
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RyRy
Web Blog / Creative Website Design Trends
Web Blog / Creative Website Design Trends by COLOURlovers :: COLOURlovers.
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Bobby
Android Design
I’m not sure why i didn’t know about this site/style guide before today, but glad I found it.
Designing for mobile can be a frustrating and tricky thing, especially for Android.
The latest version of Android is 4.0 or “Ice Cream Sandwich”. I personally think it’s one of the best designs and UI’s I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’ve blogged about the design philosophy behind it before and this site just brings it all together.
Enjoy.
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Bobby
Circle / Design Reconstruction (not only) For Designers
Circle / Design Reconstruction (not only) For Designers.
Awesome way to show the design process for a mobile app update.
Check out this video and visit the site… WELL DONE!
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Bobby
RyRy and 
greg are discussing. 
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