May
26

Heat Maps: What they tell us and what they’ve confirmed

Posted by in Other
If there’s only one often-neglected but very useful method of testing a design, it’s the use of a heat map.Heat maps are very easy to read; they display a color on every place a click is made. The warmer the color (from completely clear all the way up to crimson...
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May
18

7 Analytics to Watch to Examine your Website Properly

Posted by in Other
You've designed, developed and marketed your website and people have started trickling in. You feel like moving onto the next project, but if you stop examining the finished product at this point you could be losing customers because of any number of things. The final step to designing a...
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May
4

Overcoming the Frustrations of Stuck-in-a-Rut-Designing using Microdesign

Posted by in Other

The problem

Often, companies have their designers regurgitate previously used designs because they are safe. Why take a risk when you already have something some other customer liked in the past? Right?Or maybe the client has a previous version of their site that they want only updated. Perhaps you’re...
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Apr
27

Unusual Emotions to Coax out of Users

Posted by in Other
Last week we talked about the commonly targeted positive emotions, and I promised to talk about unusual emotions that can be targeted. These negative or more difficult to influence emotions are a challenge to access and aren't often a good fit for most sites. When they do work, and...
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Apr
17

Targeting and Coaxing an Emotion out of Visitors Through Design

Posted by in Design, Other
Design is emotion. Picking a cool blue color palette will bring out certain calmer emotions than the ones brought out by fiery oranges and reds. Fonts can encourage sympathy or discourage seriousness. Key phrases can also boil blood or send people away. The best designers select everything to...
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Apr
2

Foolproof Design Tips for Large Website Projects

Posted by in Design
Designing large projects can quickly get complicated for developers, clients and designers alike. While the designer isn't the only role that must stay organized, everyone on the project must also stay organized, but everything starts with the designer. Losing control of the site at the design level means the...
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Mar
27

Designing for a Mobile Audience

Posted by in Design, Other
You've got your web design down pat. You know how users interact using their mouse and their track pad. You know that those devices are precise. You also know that they’ll spend quite a few minutes at a time. What do you know about your mobile users?

Understanding the Mobile User

Mobile...
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Mar
20

Copy and designers: The love/hate relationship

Posted by in Design, Tutorials
Designers like me like to draw layouts. We love structure. We love plotting navigation and UX. However, when designing a website, we rarely pay attention to the copy that goes in the design until the very end of the process. This causes fonts to be awkward and verbiage to be…...
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Mar
15

Communication: A Designer’s Guide to Speaking with Developers

Posted by in Other
One of the most frustrating duties for designers is communicating with the developers and convincing them to follow their design. This is one of the tasks that you didn’t sign for, but come with the job anyway. There are plenty of tips for us to share with you to help...
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Mar
9

Usability Testing Basics: Designing for the Users

Posted by in Design, Tutorials
As a designer, you want to make a work of art. I know I do. Our personal goal is to make the best looking site we've ever made, with that one (or more) nifty feature that nobody else has. If you had your way, the only usability test performed would be your own...
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