Blog Archives
Goodbye 800×600?
Design & Coding As I was redesigning my own site I debated what resolution to use. More and more sites are optimized for screens at 1024×768, and the WC3 reports 80% of users have monitors that big or bigger. Even my own stats suggest users on my site with 800×600 at only 4%. But it’s still 4%, which is more then Opera, Safari, and IE5 combined and I still make sure my sites work within that small percentage of users, so why not these? One ...
Continue readingDesign Podcasts
Links Podcasts are a great way of sending and receiving information. It’s just so much easier to listen to something while doing other things, allowing me to multitask. I’ve even tried my hand at doing a monthly cast, but here are some design related podcasts for you to check out. The Prepared Mind Discussion about designing human interaction. I personally listen to this show but they haven’t published in some time. Still the old ...
Continue readingPatterns
Design & Coding There is a big trend in using ornate background patterns in the last few years. Vintage patters are also making a comeback as well online as well as in home decorating if you happen to watch How Not to Decorate or Home Heist. So as you can imagine you can use patterns and texture in a variety of ways in your designs, as well as offline in business cards and other marketing collateral. So here are two sites to help you find a style to go with. ...
Continue readingUsability
Design & Coding When the web began, few people knew what to do and where to put things. But as time marched on patterns evolved in how users reacted to our websites, and out of an analysis of that came discussion on usability and accessibility. In fact there are even standards enforced by government legislation to improve accessibility and usability for less able users. But what can you do to make your site more accessible, and more importantly why would you ...
Continue readingCommunity Logo Design
Design & Coding I was approached to design an identity for the city of London for use in a web and print-based newsletter for an ongoing project in the neighborhood I live in. The project focused on revitalizing the area that had gained an undesirable reputation throughout the city for crime and poverty. Programs developed for youth and young parents hope to create a more positive environment and lose the stigma. Through surveys conducted of residents, two ...
Continue readingRandomize
Design & Coding This is a little snippet of code I’ve been using since forever now. It is a simple way of putting quotes, or any other data you want, on your site and having it rotate randomly through the different items you specify. I’ve used this in a bunch of different ways and it has thus far not failed. Not sure where I found it though, as it’s been so long. The download (here) has three files, but you only really need two. The first you ...
Continue readingiPhone Web-Development.
Design & Coding Now that you have your custom icon set up for iPhone users, here is another helpfull guide from the folks at apple to get you started on developing iPhone versions of your site. The guide has some examples on how to make content that are optimized for iPhone’s gesture-based, windowless environment. With the iPhone accounting for larger and larger amounts of mobile browsing, despite being 2% of the smart phone market, it seems like a worth ...
Continue readingBrand Building
Design & Coding Last month I talked about how branding is more then just a logo, but the entire package. Well here are a few tips to help you develop that brand and expand it. Who are you, and what do you want people to believe about you. This is the foundation for any good branding strategy that should reflect in everything you do. What’s your message? Hip and high tech, or formal stocks and bonds. Where are you in the marketplace, and where do you want ...
Continue readingInspiration
Design & Coding Command Shift Three; since finding this site I’ve discovered numerous other sites that have inspired me, through a hot or not like rating system for design. On CommandShift3, you are presented with the screenshots of two websites side by side. You click the screenshot of the site you think looks best. The leaderboard is a good indication of current trends. You can also browse winners by name, designer, or category to focus on your results. ...
Continue readingBrandless Identity
Design & Coding Branding is more then just a logo, it’s the entire package. You might recognize Derek Stroup’s work illustrating this in food packaging with the logo removed. Shape, colour, texture, and other things work in harmony and support the brand, making the packaging recognizable even without the logo. Your blog should be no different. Without the logo is the site still recognizable as being your brand, or does it begin to blend in with all ...
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