Archive for the ‘Web Designers’ Category
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Business Week published an article in June that contained their “10 Commandments of Web Design, distilled from what they say was a bevy of “Internet luminaries.” Many of the tenets listed are practical and relevant. Unfortunately though, they managed to break one of their own commandments while publishing the article. Some of the points they listed are marginal in my opinion (#5, #6). If you’d like to read their entire article, click here. Here are their 10 Commandments without all of the “fluff” from the original article.
- Thou shalt not abuse Flash.
- Thou shalt not hide content.
- Thou shalt not clutter.
- Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections.
- Thou shalt not name your Web 2.o company with an unnecessary surplus or dearth of vowels.
- Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography.
- Thou shalt create immersive experiences.
- Thou shalt be social.
- Thou shalt embrace proven technologies.
- Thou shalt make content king.
So, are you wondering which rule Business Week broke on their own site with this article?? Number 3. They took an article that should have taken up one page and spread it over two pages causing the reader to have to click through to a second page primarily filled up with advertisements. Irritating. Content is king. Wisely laying your content out is extremely important too. Creating content that gives the reader a great experience is extremely important. Business Week failed in its implementation of those aspects in regard to their content.
Anyhow, there’s the list. I’m not sure why it took an entire group of uber-Interneters to come up with this list. Most of us could have come up with a list that is equally as impressive while sitting on the couch at home…
Popularity: 31%
Posted in Design, Web Designers, Websites | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
While searching for wood grain textures yesterday, I found Alex Buga’s website. Yes, it does have a great wood texture in the background, but I saved his site to highlight other features that I like about it.
- As noted before, I like it when sites include hand drawn elements. Alex’s site does this very well with the character sketch and introduction. I also like the fluffy little clouds scattered here and there. The footer also incorporates more hand drawn elements.
- I also like his choice of colors.
- The pendant light is cool. I really like the way it “lights” up his comments section. Very clever idea.
- Navigation menu. Simple and not overloaded with too many choices. I don’t necessarily like the “skip to content” feature as it doesn’t really accomplish much (I can scroll down an inch and a half just as easily as I can hit that button). But, this does not take away from the nice, simple navigation menu he’s created.
So, check out his site and let me know what you think of it. I think it’s great!
Popularity: 45%
Posted in Headers, Navigation/Menu, Web Designers, Websites | No Comments »
Monday, July 14th, 2008
Have I said before how much I enjoy earth tones? Ha…just kidding, of course I’ve said it once, or twice…maybe three times. Well, it’s true.
The Bright Creative website is wonderful. I look at it and I just say, “ahh…that’s so nice.” Warm color combinations, smooth transitions, classy background textures all make it pleasing to my eyes. There isn’t anything harsh or abrupt about the design anywhere. Everything is subtle and smooth. Thank you Dave Shea for making such a great looking website. I appreciate it!
Popularity: 50%
Posted in Artsy, Colors, Design, Web Designers | No Comments »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Have you noticed the fancy little graphic at the top of our site announcing our new directory? Web Design Ideas is pleased to offer our Outsourcing Directory to graphic designers, writers, programmers, advertising/marketing specialists, and web designers.
Over time, we want to create a fantastic directory that is full of people and companies who excel in their particular field. We are hoping that this directory will become a great resource to all of us. List your services here with us! There are already some fantastic listings in our directory right now. Feel free to check them all out.
Why list your company on our site? Here are several great reasons:
• Right now it’s free. Free is a good price for advertising. As the popularity of our site and this directory continues to grow, we will be creating a fee system to place ads in the directory. Get it now and you’ll never be charged for your listing!
• Outsourcing various aspects of a project just makes sense these days. It’s the best way to get a project done with the help of highly skilled people who can increase your effectiveness while at the same time giving your customer the best results for their investment. We highlighted this topic in some detail with our article discussing the need for web designers to use good, quality writers to create the necessary content for them. Check out the article. http://www.wbdesignideas.com/2008/03/07/finding-a-great-writer-for-your-content/
• It just makes sense to take us up on an offer to provide a great, high quality link to promote your own website and services. Rest assured, we will not bombard you will senseless emails or pass/sell your contact information on to spammers. We simply want to create a great resource with our directory.
So, if you are interested in taking advantage of our offer, please click here to apply!
Popularity: 18%
Posted in Developers, Freelancing, Marketing, Web Designers | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 4th, 2008
First, happy 4th of July to all. Hope you are having, or had, a good one.
For the occasion I want to take a look at our presidential candidates’ website designs. Just to compare the design for fun. 
I went and looked at McCain’s (R), Obama’s (D) and Barr’s (L) websites, these seem to be the top 3 candidates at this time. I want to say right away that I am not representing any of the candidates and am not promoting any one of them here. This is simply a look at their website design.
Here is the first impressions, this is John McCain’s website:
And here’s Barack Obama’s:
And this one is Bob Barr’s:
Right away, Barack Obama’s website stands out, the design is beautiful. The first impression is obviously pleasant to look at. If you continue to the main page of Obama’s website you will see that the entire website is done with the same beautiful design and style. Airy, light blues and whites, hints of reds and greens here and there.
The graphics on his website are worth looking at too, here is a few I took screenshots of:
Like I said before, I am not promoting Barack Obama for President here, I am highlighting the skills and talents of the website designers that created his website.
I did some digging around and according to this article, the designed of the logo is SENDER and SimpleScott designed the website.
I really wanted to post some screen shots from McCain’s and Barr’s websites but, honestly, there was really nothing to show. Pretty disapointing.
Anyway, hope you anjoyed this post. I’d love some comments, guys and girls. I’ve been getting loads and loads of SPAM comments but very few real ones. I’d love to hear from the readers. Tell me something.
Popularity: 19%
Posted in Design, Graphic Design, Headers, Images, Layouts, Web Designers | No Comments »
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Graphic designers, web designers, artists, and photographers can all find something cool to enjoy at Scott Hansen’s website, ISO50. Not only are there great visual artistic examples, but the music playing on the site has also been created by Scott as well. I have to say that while I was writing this post, I was definitely “enjoying the groove” of his music. Smooth, mellow and relaxing are the first words that come to mind if I were asked to describe his music. Some of it kind of reminds me of the music from the future in the movie Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (I’m dating myself here…aren’t I?!).
ISO50 is definitely a feast for the eyes and ears. Lots of retro style art, grunge, and other enjoyable genres. Take a few moments to visit his site and check out the pictures, logos, websites and everything else that he’s designed. He’s definitely a busy, yet successful designer!
Popularity: 6%
Posted in Design, Graphic Design, Web Designers, Websites | No Comments »
Monday, June 30th, 2008
There are some really great looking “retro” style websites out there. How do you classify a site as retro? My opinion of what may cause a site to be labeled as retro is really pretty simple. It simply needs to remind me of advertising from really old magazines or television shows. Textures, colors, logo styles…stuff that resembles things that were in print 40, 50, 60+ years ago.
The MacTarnahan’s Brewing Company website is a prime example of what I consider a retro website. Its overall appearance is smooth and classic. It’s not shiny or glossy. It also uses really good, classic color combinations. Their website also matches their product packaging well too. This is something to remember as a web designer. Having a website that matches up well with a customers products or product packaging helps create an entire professional appearance that always scores well with the public.
Anyone else have some examples of great looking retro websites? Let me know!
Popularity: 7%
Posted in Web Designers, Websites | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
I had a reader leave a comment on another post and decided to check out their website. While doing so, I found a page entitled, “Top 10 Reasons to Hire 3rd Eye Solutions.” This is a great page. It’s a combination mission statement and a great marketing page for their company.
My question to you is this; do you have this same type of information on your own web design services site? Are you straightforward and confident enough to list reasons as to why a potential client should enlist your services? If you are competent and confident in your skills, then you should consider creating a page to tell the world why your services are the best! Promoting your skills and services is not an egotistical approach to business…it’s a wise approach. Being confident in your craft and being willing to tell everyone is a powerful way to gain additional customers.
By the way, if you have such a page on your own site, please feel free to let me know. I would enjoy reading it. Thanks!
Popularity: 3%
Posted in Marketing, Web Designers | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Quite a while back, I wrote an article and posted it here about The Long Tail and how it applies to web designers. I came across an article entitled, 5 Powerful Website Niches that are Here to Stay. I think this article is a great example of 5 niches that web designers can take advantage of as far as soliciting potential customers. In your local market, my suggestion would be to target businesses in these 5 industries and see what you may be able to do for them and their websites (or lack thereof).
Just some food for thought…
Popularity: 5%
Posted in Making Money, Marketing, Web Designers | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
As web designers, part of your duty is to properly advertise and market your own services. Sometimes you also are enlisted to advertise and create marketing concepts for your clients too. Because of this, I’m going to start featuring some “advertising inspiration” every once in a while. Whether the advertising is physical (billboards, magazine, promotional items) or it is web based, I think it can stimulate that creative process for us.
So, here’s the first installment. This is a group of creative advertisements featured at Toxel.com. I have a couple of favorites from this group. I like the Adidas ad. I also like the drunk driver’s parking space too. What’s your favorite from the list?
Popularity: 4%
Posted in Ads, Graphic Design, Web Designers | No Comments »
