Showing posts with label website design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label website design. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Why web design is losing its soul
As responsive design becomes the norm, designers have developed a reliance on boxes and grids, argues Noah Stokes.
About a year and a half ago, I had seen enough. A tweet came through my stream and like so many others at the time, it was a link to a hot, new, amazing Responsive Web Design site.
"Oh, I love an amazing design," I thought, so I clicked. What I saw was a design casualty: boxes and grids everywhere. This was the 'amazing' new design? To me it looked like every other #RWD out there.
So I did what most people would do; I composed a tweet. "I hate #RWD."
That may not come off right, I thought. So I did a little re-composing. "I really hate #RWD."
Where's the magic gone?
That's more like it. It's blasphemy, right? RWD is the future of web development. The thing was, to me, the web was losing its magic. And I blamed RWD. In order for me to explain why, we have to go back to the web of the early 2000s.
In those days, websites called K10K, CSS Zen Garden, Stylegala and 2advanced were some of the biggest sources of website design inspiration out there. Stylegala would feature a Site of the Month that, for me, was like Christmas morning to a six year old.
I would spend hours exploring these sites, studying all the wonderful details; all the passion the designer had put into creating it.
Beauty in the intangible
Back to my tweet. I had enough wits about me to completely rewrite it to something less trolly and more politically correct. "I feel like responsive design has sucked the soul out of website design. Everything is boxes and grids. Where has all the creativity gone?"
Away it went. Someone created a branch around it that went on to get close to 15,000 views. A lot of folks (rightly so) were asking me to define what a 'soul' was.
This all goes back to my earlier references to K10K, Stylegala and so on. Those websites featured designs that were so unique, so full of thoughtfulness at every turn. My early exposure to web design was full of soul. So I would say: a soul is the intangible details of a design.
Stand-out sites
You've seen sites like this. Sites that stand out from the others. What sets those apart? To the untrained eye, they look like any other site, but to those of us that love design, these sites have a soul. I miss them. Why don't we see many of them around any more? I think I have a pretty good idea why.
Last year, Elliot Jay Stocks wrote an article called 'Why have today's designers stopped dreaming?' In it, he said:
"You click the website link and the assets begin to load. The page is a gigantic photo, filling the entirety of the viewport. In the photo is a group of people ... the product is just about visible on the screen of one of their iPhones. Overlaid on top of this photo is a brief sentence that introduces the product in a not-really-saying-anything-in-particular sort of way, set in a sans-serif typeface ...
"You're gently transitioned further down the page and the large, cheerful photo remains in place, without scrolling, until it's obscured by the main content area that appears from below ... You scroll a little further down the page and small diagrams begin to animate themselves as they enter the viewport.
"Then ... you notice that a semi-transparent menu has slunk into view and attached itself to the top of the page. It stays there as you scroll through the product descriptions, the giant bands of flat colours and the well-lit photos of the support team pulling their best 'fun' faces."
Sound like a website you've seen before? Trends come with the business, and they can be something to embrace. I love what Stocks goes on to say though – just because we have this style that is very minimal and subdued doesn't mean that we shouldn’t push ourselves as designers to create beautiful experiences online.
The RWD wrench
What about RWD? There's no doubt that RWD takes longer to develop than those old fixed-width sites of my past. Chris Cashdollar of Happy Cog wrote a great article about how RWD has kind of thrown a wrench.
With established patterns, it can become habitual to look at a design and break it apart in our minds, working out how we are going to do the markup for it. We do that based on our past experiences with similar designs – and sometimes when a design challenge comes along we get stuck because it doesn't fit inside the established patterns we know so well.
Push yourself to think outside that box. If you understand the fundamentals of the position property in CSS then you can literally do anything. If you don't yet fully understand it, or need a refresher, I wrote an article that may help.
RWD is the future, no doubt, and some of us are just now getting our feet beneath us. I'm excited to see what we build as we continue to learn and master responsive development. Even more so, I'm excited to see some of you bring some soul to your work, and bring some magic back to the web.
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques.Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
One Guy Made $66 Billion on China’s Web. Now He Needs a Second Act
South African billionaire Koos Bekker has spent 15 years riding the rocket of the Chinese Internet thanks to one really smart -- or really lucky -- investment. Now he's trying to do it again.
In 2001 Naspers Ltd., the media group he chairs, put $32 million into a then-obscure Web company called Tencent. Its stake today is worth $66 billion -- roughly equal to Naspers’ entire stock market capitalization. To prove he’s capable of more successes like Tencent, Bekker is scouring the globe in search of new tech deals.
“What we’ve done over the years is take huge risks,” Bekker said over a cup of Rooibos tea in Naspers headquarters, 19 floors above Cape Town’s harbor. The task now, he said, is “to find the countries where the gaps still exist because in many countries the good opportunities have been taken.”
Bekker, 62, is seeking to prove Naspers is more than a giant venture-capital fund built on a single grand-slam investment. The markets accord little to no value to the company’s other businesses, including Africa’s largest pay-TV network and investments in dozens of other startups.
A year ago, Bekker stepped down from running Naspers for a year-long “sabbatical” that took him to Shanghai, Seoul, San Francisco and elsewhere in search of new ideas. He says the time away convinced him the firm needs to double down on e-commerce in developing countries -- even though there’s a lot more money chasing emerging-market Internet deals today, and brutal competition both from locals and U.S. giants like Amazon.com Inc.
Naspers is almost unrecognizable from the company Bekker took over as chief executive officer in 1997. At the time, it was called Die Nasionale Pers, or The National Press, and was principally known as the publisher of Die Burger, an Afrikaans-language daily that was a staunch defender of apartheid. Though the editorial line has changed, Naspers still publishes the paper. Bekker now serves as chairman and has given the CEO job to former EBay Inc. executive Bob Van Dijk.
Using cash from the pay-TV division, which was founded in the 1980s, Bekker started plowing funds into more than 100 technology businesses around the world. Most of those bets bled money: Online retailers in Africa had to be shut down, and the company took an $80 million loss on a Chinese Internet service provider.
When Naspers bought half of Tencent in 2001 (since diluted to 34 percent), the Chinese company was a fledgling player in a country with minimal Internet use. Today more than a billion people use Tencent’s messaging services, such as WeChat. On May 13 the firm reported record profits from its vast range of online businesses.
A deal with Russian portal Mail.ru Group Ltd. was another win, albeit less spectacular. Naspers bought 30 percent in 2007 for $165 million; its current 29 percent holding is valued at about $1.6 billion, though the shares have fallen by almost a third since the start of the Ukraine crisis.
Naspers is Africa’s biggest company by market capitalization, worth about $66 billion. Its shares have climbed more than 500 percent since 2010, thanks largely to Tencent, growth that’s allowed its chairman to acquire some of the trappings of tech super-wealth. Bekker is now worth some $2.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and he and his wife spend much of their time at Babylonstoren, a sprawling farm and luxury hotel they own in the Cape winelands that dates to the 17th century.
In emerging markets "there are no more secrets"
Yet when it comes to betting on emerging-market tech winners, “there are no more secrets,” said Ciaran O’Leary, a partner in Berlin at Earlybird, a venture capital firm that invests in Turkey and eastern Europe. “Valuations are even higher than the U.S. in many cases.”
Closer to home, Naspers’ pay-TV business is bracing for assaults from Netflix Inc. and Apple Inc. That’s forcing it to invest in mobile applications to deliver content more widely in a region where high-speed landline connections are rare, and to find ways to sell movies to poor consumers while still eking out a profit. A sustained slowdown would reduce Naspers’ cushion for bad bets on startups.
Some of Bekker’s more recent investments face a long road to success. Naspers owns 19 percent of Flipkart, an Indian online retailer that's locked in a head-to-head battle with Amazon, which last year said it would spend $2 billion to expand in the country. Another flagship Indian investment, travel site Ibibo, needs to fight off the likes of Google and Kayak.com.
Bekker said the epiphany of his working holiday -- which made him more determined to stick to his strategy -- came after he gave a lecture on entrepreneurship at China’s Nanjing University. The moment he finished, Bekker was “absolutely stormed by people with pitches,” he recalled. “One guy will say, ‘give me one minute to just explain my concept,’ another one will say ‘here’s my paper, its three pages, please read it,’ so you feel absolutely enormous ambition,” Bekker said.
His vision is for Naspers to become a leading e-commerce presence in places that American tech giants haven’t yet focused on. Though Bekker concedes it’s a difficult game, he argues the hunger of consumers and entrepreneurs in India, China, Africa, and Eastern Europe offer ample opportunity for those willing to wait for their bets to pay off.
“E-commerce is not a get–rich-quick business,” Bekker said. ‘You need a good amount of patience.’’
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques.Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
Friday, May 15, 2015
Top Web Design Services Rankings Named by bestwebdesignagencies.com for May 2015
NAPLES, FL, May 15, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- The one hundred best web design companies have been named by bestwebdesignagencies.com for the month of May 2015. Each month of a team of researchers
The central goal of bestwebdesignagencies.com is to assist clients in looking for strong companies based on established standards created by the independent research team. The resulting standards are used to uncover which solutions produce the best experience for clients in mobile development.
The 100 best web design companies for May 2015 are:
1-
2- WebiMax
3- Netmark.com
4- VJG Interactive
5- Web Talent Marketing
6- Leverage Marketing
7- Web Full Circle
8- The Creative Momentum
9- Bruce Clay
10- Moonstone Interactive, Inc.
11-
12- SearchPro Systems
13- Websites
14-
15-
16- ATAK Interactive
17- 15miles
18- Holbi.co.uk
19- 2 WEB DESIGN
20- Pure Imagination
21- 61designstreet.com
22- 2 Fish Group
23- Studio 7 Designs
24- 70plus2 creative design
25- 2ndLAW Media
26-
27- 123triad.net
28- Web Designer Express Pro
29- Pear Logic
30- 39WebDesigns
31- Daddy Design
32- Off-Road Studios
33- NeboWeb
34- Volusion
35- Wevio
36- PINT
37- Scopelink
38- Project6 Design
39- Hudson Horizons
40- USA Web Solutions
41- NFINITY Web Solutions
42- Nowspeed
43- ESolz Technologies
44- Ydeveloper
45- Clikzy Creative
46- MoreVisibility
47-
48- Nautech IT Solutions
49- Clicksor.com
50- STI SEO Services
51-
52- 3PRIME
53- 20/20 Creatives
54- A3 IT Solutions
55- Team Web USA
56- Local Results
57- Mainstreethost
58- Saathiva Creations
59- High Rank Websites
60- CMS Advertising Group
61- Infoscaler Technologies
62- Envisionext
63- 64clicks
64- Comet Conversion
65- WebPromoExpert
66-
67- Fusion92
68- AceFlex
69- SEO Impressions
70- AffiliateCrew
71- EchoPoint Marketing Partners
72- 3.7 DESIGNS
73- DreamSoft
74- Local Plus Marketing
75- Fishpunt Design Studio
76- SEO Content Lab Pvt. Ltd
77- Get Local
78-
79- Corporate Conversions
80- Absolute Web Services
81- Konoozi
82- W3trends
83- Hire Website Designer
84- Click & Go Solutions.com
85- Incredible Marketing
86- 7SEO
87- A to Z Net Ventures
88-
89- Genesis Web Designs
90- Didit.com
91- BeyondROI
92- David Williams
93- Apollo Online
94- 21st Century Technologies
95- Adaptivity Pro
96- Comtech
97- Cazarin Interactive
98- 76Fix Web Development
99- 2 WEB DESIGN
100- 1Digital Agency
These agencies are tested in order to determine which produce the top overall web design solution. This is achieved through the use of a set of investigation criteria consisting of five verticals of evaluation used to benchmark and compare agencies based on the most integral aspects of these solutions. The five verticals of investigation used during this process include
ABOUT bestwebdesignagencies.com
bestwebdesignagencies.com is a producer of web design rankings. The key ambition of bestwebdesignagencies.com is to establish and publish those individuals or firms offering best web design solutions available. Web design firms are put through a rigorous evaluation to ensure the ratings contain the absolute best firms the web design industry has to offer.
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8
Want To Win Fights With Your Web Designer? Use These CRO Tactics
When should you take off the gloves and have a dustup with your designer? Columnist Jeremy Smith shows you how to make your CRO case in a powerful way.
Normally, I’m a pretty peaceful person. But sometimes there are things worth fighting for.
When conversion optimization faces off with other forces in the digital marketing world, sparks will fly.
As conversion rate optimization pros (CROs), we need to understand that we are the spear tip of Web marketing. Design is important. Social media is enormous. SEO is essential. UX is critical. Content marketing is imperative. All those things are clutch. But when it comes down to it, conversion optimization is what makes the whole effort turn into money.
Every aspect of marketing is entirely useless unless it produces conversions.
And that’s why some things are worth fighting for. In particular, I want to focus on several aspects of Web design, and how they aid or conflict with conversion optimization.
A Word About Web Design, And How It Applies To Conversion Optimization
First, allow me to set the stage for the discussion that will follow.
What does Web design have to do with conversion optimization?
The answer is, a whole lot. Web design forms the entire landscape where conversion optimization takes place. If the user can’t understand, use, view, operate or experience a website, then the user can’t convert, period.
Crappy design means crappy conversion rates.
For example…
I’m positive that this design is going to get amazing conversion rates, but only after 99 percent of users claw their eyeballs out with their fingernails.
But CROs aren’t designers. How do we handle the importance of design in the conversion optimization space?
Like the proverbial T-shaped marketer, a conversion optimizer should have some familiarity with Web design. If a CRO and a designer happen to sit next to each other on a subway, they should have a few things to talk about.
Should a CRO know how to create a wireframe or whip out a mockup in Photoshop? Nah . But should a CRO understand the basic limitations, processes and tools of Web design? Yes.
How much power does a CRO have?
This brings up an important question. Is it truly the CRO’s place to boss people around like this?
Yes and no. A CRO doesn’t need to be bossy. Why? Because the CRO has data to back up his points. One can be persuasive without being bossy. The CRO can communicate using authoritative information, not with anger or force .
In other words, CROs don’t operate on behalf of their own power. A CRO is someone who can show the designer the results of the split test: why A is not working, and why B is better.
The CRO should understand human behavior and psychology to explain to the copywriter why headline A is superior to headline B. The CRO should be able to communicate the basics of mobile conversion principles to a UX designer who is redesigning the mobile checkout.
The CRO holds immense sway in his or her organization, because he or she can assess how all the disciplines together are impacting revenue.
Remember what I told you about CROs being the spear tip of marketing? It’s true. A conversion optimizer fills a critical function where it really matters. For that reason, the CRO should have the ability to make calls on things as important as Web design.
Now, let’s get into those things that you should be willing to fight with your designer about.
1. Make Incremental Design Tweaks, Not Huge Sweeping Changes
[Stay tuned, because I’m going to clarify this point with a completely contradictory one coming up next! Yeah, I’m tricky like that.]
One of the core truths about conversion optimization is that it relies on continual improvement. That’s the whole premise of split testing. You take a single element — let’s say the image on your landing page — and produce two versions to see which one improves conversions.
When image A wins the test, what do you do? Swap out the headline, move the button, change the form fields, and rearrange the bullet points, right?
No! You change the freaking picture to the one that got the best results. You don’t touch anything else!
Split testing shows you which single element is doing better.
Split testing does not give you license to change the whole website.
Designers need to understand this, and you need to enforce it. A designer’s dissatisfaction with a Web design is not his or her excuse to go changing around the whole website. “Creative license” has its place, but if it messes with the exacting science of conversion optimization, then you need to snatch that license away.
For example, if I were the CRO for Treehouse (which I’m not), then I would look at this website, and think to myself…
What would I not do?
I would not tell the designer to change the color scheme to fuchsia.
I would not tell the designer to add a picture of an attractive person.
I would not tell the designer to put all the course choices above the fold.
I would not tell the designer to add a video.
I would start small, improve carefully , and gradually make this website better.
Most of the time, conversion optimization deals in micro-changes, not mega-changes. Designers must understand that conversion optimization is all about making systematic and small changes.
2. Make Huge Sweeping Changes, Not Teeny Designs
[This is the point in the article at which I totally contradict the above point.]
There are times when the whole website needs to be redesigned.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
For example, let’s pretend that Arngren.net called me and needed some help optimizing their website.
I visit their website.
I gasp, grab my heart, and drop dead.
(Or, more realistically, I simply pass out, and my loved ones come in, close the computer, take me to the ICU, and help me recover on bed rest and viewing therapy.)
What would I propose as the CRO for such a site? I would propose radical, sweeping, earthshaking , outright, revolutionary, shocking and totalitarian change.
This can be a tough conversation when you’re standing face-to-face with a designer. He designed this. He poured his life into it. He loves it. He has become attached to it.
And now you’re proposing that he ditch it and start all over again?!
Tough.
When should you suggest incremental changes versus demand sweeping changes?
How do you know when it’s time to tear it down and start from scratch with a redesign? I hate to rely on simplistic answers, but you just know.
I mean, seriously, the above website? You simply know.
Other times, it’s hard to tell. For example, I’ve always thought that Salesforce’s landing pages were downright horrific.
But maybe, after rigorous testing and thorough analysis, this is the best possible landing page on the planet for its product and user base.
It just depends.
There is no simple test that can tell you when to demand sweeping change versus making incremental adjustments. However, I can give you several pointers.
Know the user.
The user gets to decide what’s best. This is the underlying principle of testing, and it is the theory which guides conversion optimizers. Know the user, understand where they are coming from, assess their awareness, and comprehend usability before you make a decision.
Know the history.
Maybe the site has already undergone lengthy redesigns, multivariate testing, and expensive optimization to get it where it is. Or, maybe, the company doesn’t have a clue. Find out before deciding.
I’ve worked with clients who are operating vintage 1980 CMSes . I’ve had people who weren’t allowed to change a single pixel without permission from the CEO and the unanimous support of the 200 board members, an act of the Sudanese Congress, approval by the Italian and Russian mafia leadership (and their spouses), and a UN executive committee agreement (slight exaggeration). Sometimes, you have to work within the constraints of technology and the limitations of politics.
Know the goals/KPIs.
A company’s goals determine the direction of your conversion optimization work.
If the goal of a website is to shock users into thinking “CRAPPIEST WEBSITE EVER,” then don’t touch a thing. If, however, the goal is to sell a widget, get a newsletter sign-up, or have a visitor read an article, then this fact will guide your decision.
3. The Designer Should Follow Your Basic Advice, Not His Webby Dream
Here’s something I’ve learned about designers. They have dreams. They sometimes have topknots and tattoos. They want to win awards. They innovate. They are artists. They are restless souls.
[/Offensive Stereotyping]
So what happens when the dream collides with the anal number-crunching CRO?
I hyperbolize , but I speak words of wisdom.
When it comes to the basic design and construction of a webpage , you should make conversion recommendations to the design process.
Conversion optimization involves a holistic perspective of every area of the digital experience. Design is part of this experience — a very significant part. Although there are certain “design best practices,” these should mesh with a conversion optimization strategy.
One important principle to keep in mind is the familiarity principle, also known as the mere-exposure effect.
This principle states that the more you are exposed to a certain thing, the more you like that thing. For example, the more often you see a person, the more attractive they become to you.
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques. Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
7 habits of great Web designers
Design is all about pushing the boundaries of technology and creativity to better solve problems. At its core, design is about people.
.jpg)
When we talk about people, we mean team members as well as users. In the Web and mobile app space, successful digital designers must be able to work with different people to create targeted experiences for people they might never even meet in their lifetime. It’s an extremely difficult balance between logic, cognitive science, fearless creativity, and plain human empathy.
There’s been a lot of trial-and-error over the years, and from the wreckage (some of it our own, admittedly), some common best practices survive. We’d love to share what we’ve learned from our own experiences (and from excellent designers we’ve worked with).
Without further delay, let’s begin.
1. Design for Emotional Connections
What a world it would be if everyone behaved logically and users flocked to the sites and apps with only the best functionalities. But this utopia (or dystopia, depending on how you look at it) is far from the world we live and design in, and studies have shown that users generally prefer products that create emotional connections over those that just work well.
Don Norman links this to human evolution – thanks to the life-or-death situations of mankind’s prehistory, we’ve adapted to make split-second decisions based on our emotions, or “gut reactions.” User research studies have proven the power of emotional connections in design: users determine how trustworthy and credible a site is based on looks and users perceive pleasing products as being more usable, even under identical conditions.
Effective designers recognize this, and design specifically to create this emotional connection, whether through aesthetics, gifts, discoverables , and feedback conversation (which we’ll discuss below). Because perception is reality in user experience design, we can say that emotional design techniques like powerful images and smooth animations makes a product’s usability more memorable.
2. Proactively Work with Developers
Of course, all designers will work with developers at some point, but the key word here is “proactively.”
Handing off fully formed designs to the next link in the chain is the bare minimum of collaboration, if you can even call it that. What’s best for everyone is forming a deep relationship with all members of the design team, especially designers and developers. Designers aren’t just pixel pushers, and developers definitely aren’t WYSIWIG machines.
Get developers involved in the design process as early as possible. Invite them to meetings, user research tests, brainstorming sessions, etc. Their input, after all, determines whether your vision actually comes to life. At the very least, they can warn you if your ideas are a technical nightmare, a diagnosis that saves you time if caught early enough.
Try to understand the developer’s perspective, and watch how you phrase things. Instead of asking, “What’s not doable?” try, “What’s too difficult?” The framing of the question demands less upfront commitment, and creates a more casual atmosphere for honest feedback.
Whether you’d like to admit it or not, you both share the ultimate goal of creating something that makes user’s lives better. Developers can’t do it without someone to ensure everything is human-friendly, and you certainly won’t get far if your idea never gets built.
Never forget that developers are simply designers of code. Get together, think out loud, criticize each other’s ideas. Ask hard questions, and give straightforward answers. Whatever you do, just don’t assume anything.
3. Focus on the Right Idea, Not the Best One
We hate to burst your bubble, but digital design is not art. It’s artistic, and there’s a a lot of creativity involved, but as long as the greater purpose it serves is business-related, it can never be a pure art form.
Let’s say you come up with an idea for the most brilliant, ground-breaking design for an ecommerce site that will change the way people interact with websites forever. If prior research has shown that your older user base prefers the comfort of existing interfaces as seen on Target or Macy’s, then you’ll have to shelf the work of genius until another day and create something that fits the mold of the Most Acceptable Yet Advanced principle. That’s not to say that you need to crush all your creative urges.
Effective designers create for the needs of the project, not their own. They’re able to set aside their personal tastes and build a design that fulfills its purpose, even if they themselves wouldn’t use it. Every designer knows what it’s like to kowtow to finicky clients and stakeholders – but the exceptional ones do it for the right reasons. That’s not to say they don’t stand up for their ideas (or walk away), but that they understand the business aspects of the design industry come first, especially ahead of their own egos.
How do they know how to fulfill specific needs outside of their own tastes? One of the best strategies is to reference user data. Researching how your users act and what they like will give you solid footing so that you don’t have to rely on guesswork or subjective opinions. Building user personas from reliable data will keep you on track to designing what’s right for the project, regardless of whether you (or other stakeholders) think it’s best.
4. Treat Interface Feedback as Human Conversation
As described in Interaction Design Best Practices, the goal of interaction design is to create the most lifelike and human interaction possible, between a person you’ve never met and a machine. That’s no easy task, so effective designers rely on every tool available, especially feedback .
Feedback is the system’s side of the two-way dialogue, making it a unique emotional channel for breaking the “black box” feeling for new experiences with technology. That’s why every bit of feedback, from pop-up messages to account creation confirmations, are an opportunity for conveying humanity. You should always pay attention to these opportunities, because even if you don’t, you user will.
There’s no one right way to talk to you user. The only thing that really matters is that your tone suits the personality of your product – it is, after all, the product’s voice. Think about whom you’re talking to – would a casual tone put them at ease, or would they prefer more formal language that promotes professionalism?
The best example of how feedback can change the tide is the 404 page.
A dry, humorless “page not found” message will exacerbate an already annoying situation, whereas using the opportunity to make the user laugh (echoing our first point about emotional connections) or give them a fun distraction like Pacman (as with Blue Fountain Media above) could turn a negative experience into a positive one. Users may be glad they encountered a 404 error, and that page may be what they remember most about the experience.
5. Design the Right Details at the Right Time
Different stages of the design process call for different levels of detail.
Being too concerned with the visual details too soon will distract from the matter at hand. Putting them off too long will either delay the project or force a rushed job. Effective designers can pinpoint the right fidelity, then present them in a way that encourages accurate feedback.
Each designer values the freedom of forming their own unique process, making it individual to them.
However, there are some general milestones to hit. The first stages, like wireframing , should be lo -fi, in order to focus more on layout and structure – decisions here are subject to change, so delving into details like button bevels and background gradients can be a waste of time. Once you’ve gathered stakeholder and user feedback on the early design, then you can start hammering out the fine points of the visuals.
That said, we’d like to recommend a process that’s worked well for us.
We start with a lo -fi wireframe that allows us to focus on the broader structure and overall picture – however we give it limited interactivity by building it in our UXPin . This allows us to test usability very early on, but without having to build something hi-fi that will inevitably be scrapped. Our lo -fi prototypes give us valuable research data going forward, and because they’re lo -fi, there’s minimal waste in throwing them out and starting over with what we learned.
6. Balance the Amount of Choices
Freedom of choice is a bit of a paradox when it comes to UX design.
Users want the freedom to choose multiple options and available actions. At the same time, users want simplicity, a clear path, and as few distractions as possible. But somewhere in between those two, there exists a perfect balance, and effective designers know how to find it.
While Hick’s Law may have originated in the 50s, it has since been modified to fit modern design in defense of simplicity. This classic psychology principle states, in simplified turns, the amount of time it takes someone to make a decision increases with the more options they have. In digital design, this amounts to reducing the number of on-screen choices to improve the UX.
In order to avoid the choice paralysis we advised against in Interaction Design Best Practices, Hick’s Law can be applied to your interface in a few different ways. First, and most obvious, is to trim the fat. Getting rid of unnecessary secondary content will focus more attention on your primary content. Never forget that overloading your interface just ends up watering down everything.
Spend more time chiseling your layout and content hierarchy. By cleverly structuring your content, you can still offer your users plenty of options, but present them in a way that doesn’t overwhelm them. Elements like size, color, location on the screen, and white space can all influence what gets seen and what doesn’t.
Just compare Overstock’s dropdown menu to Amazon’s slideout menu. By saving tertiary information like “Bedroom Furniture” for the actual page, Amazon’s slideout menu is less overwhelming. Oftentimes, good UX design is about leading users on a path that feels the most natural, revealing more information only when necessary.
UI patterns work great as shortcuts to creating order out of chaos. Applying pre-existing patterns that your users already know how to use (such as the cards layout described in Web UI Patterns for presenting many content choices) can help you preserve features through better layout and discoverability . The pattern of hover controls (having optional features appear only when the cursor is over a certain areas ) was designed for this purpose in particular – until they’re needed, extra options remain out of sight and out of mind.
7. Think Beyond the 3-Click Rule
For starters, let’s take away some of it’s power by not calling it a “rule.”
The 3-Click Theory states that users should be able to find what they’re looking for within three clicks. The theory hinges on the idea that the more a user has to click, the less they’ll like the site, and after three clicks they’ll give up and go to an “easier” interface.
The fact is, this is an idea that’s been proven wrong. Joshua Porter conducted a series of tests that showed no correlation between user dissatisfaction and the number of clicks, and that users were no more likely to give up after three clicks than they were after twelve.
So how did the 3-Click Theory sneak itself into design canon ? The heart and intention of the idea is sound. It’s the rigid application of limiting oneself to three clicks that went awry. What the three-click rule does right is promote simplicity and convenience. However, these things are not always synonymous with “fewer clicks.”
In order to follow the 3-Click Theory, interfaces will have to overload their menus with options to ensure everything is covered – which, as we explained above, would do more harm than good. Instead, good UI design strives to make each click count, as opposed to obsessing about staying under three clicks.
The best methodology is to design each click to bring the user one step closer to their goal, while simultaneously eliminating some of the other destinations irrelevant to the user. Chas Grundy calls this the “One-Click Rule,” and explains it in more detail on his blog.
Conclusion
We know that what makes an effective designer can’t be listed in seven simple steps.
Rather, this article aims to pinpoint some of the strategies successful designers commonly use – the ones that separate them from the rest of the crowd. These aren’t, by any means, the only habits that great designers have – but taking them to heart will bring you one step closer to being as effective as you deserve to be.
If you’d like to explore more skills and techniques of great Web designers, check out our free 109-page e-book Web Design Best Practices. The book explores techniques spanning UX design, visual design, and interaction design. Examples are analyzed from 33 companies including Apple, Spotify, Skullcandy, and others.
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques. Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Placester launches web design for single property listings
Through Single Property Sites, real estate agents can set up and publish standalone websites to showcase unique or featured listings.
Real Estate agents can even use a street address as a unique URL.
The site also allows professionals to choose Placester designs, images and copy for targeting specific buyers or sellers.
Interested buyers can view open houses and schedule showings from Single Property Sites.
“Real estate brokers and agents compete with a lot of white noise when trying to connect with home buyers and sellers online,” said Placester CEO Matt
“Single Property Sites cuts through that noise, allowing professionals to message and market directly to the most relevant consumers online. This is exactly why we created Placester in the first place: to foster better connections between real estate professionals and
e-commerce
Our successful eCommerce software solutions deliver an optional shopping experience for targeted prospects. Our solution creates fast, easy browsing and simple ordering and checkout process
Contact us for your online shopping requirements email-info@pixotritechnologies.com. Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8
Monday, May 11, 2015
Say Goodbye to These 5 Web Design Trends
Thankfully, computers, phones, and cameras are not the only areas where technology evolves. Web design has changed drastically since early 2000 and it appears to be changing trends again. Over the years, web designers find what works and what causes people to leave a site. Here are five of the web design trends that you will soon be able to say goodbye to.
Desktop-Only Sites
Smartphones and tablets have taken the technology world by storm and sites now have to conform. Google is pushing the issue by ranking sites based on their mobility. Sites that are best viewed on desktops will be phased out, as viewers will be looking for the ability to visit on-the-go. You will find that web pages are going to load faster and graphics will be responsive to screen differences. It is vital for a site’s success to handle mobile devices, and businesses will enjoy the ability to only have to pay for one version for their site.
Complexity
Over the past few years, websites have become more simplistic in design. It appears that minimalist designs are attracting more viewers and this is very apparent with Apple’s new iOS version. It has been found that when Apple makes a large change in their software, the rest of the technology world follows. It may also be that the simple designs are more likely to be seamless when it comes to switching from desktop to mobile. Whatever the reason, complicated designs are being left behind.
Multiple Pages
Similar to the simplicity of the design of a site, the latest trends show that multiple page sites are disappearing. A lot more is being done with one or two pages, with links reserved for contact us, about us, and blog pages. When you take out the need to constantly click on links, you are going to spend more time on a site. In addition, sites that enable scrolling as the main feature load faster and are more responsive.
Stock Photos
With programs like Picmonkey making editing photos simple, stock photos are quickly becoming an outdated web design tool. Photos are now being taken that show reality and reach target audiences. It is imperative that photos are original and clear to the point, all while gaining the trust of your readers. It should also be noted that videos are becoming more common than photos.
Dated Typography
Typography is also getting a complete overhaul when it comes to web design. Sites that use Calibri or Times New Roman are being phased out. Designers are finding fonts that are bigger and attract the reader’s attention. The shading is gone – removing the 3D appearance to titles – and big, bold letters are being used instead.
Web design is moving away from static designs that use a lot of simple text and stock photos. The new trends have videos, real photographs, and fun fonts to draw the attention of the target audience.
Alesia Hsiao has been writing tech articles online for several years as a ghost writer. Over the past year she has published numerous articles on credible tech websites.
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques. Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements email- info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
10 qualities that separate great web designers from the rest
Are you merely a "good" web designer? Here's how to become a great one...
What separates the best designers from the rest? What are their secrets? Sure, some were born with it or just got lucky – but most designers learned certain skills and habits that keep them grounded yet above their peers.
We've collected the tips and traits from some of the masters of the craft, and put them together in one quick, easy-to-remember list, so you can break free and enjoy the open-air from up front.
01. Empathize with the user
This is the difference between designing for yourself, and designing for the person who really matters – and no matter how much you like your design, you're going to need more than one user.
Great designers understand their users: their fears, goals, behaviors, frustrations, tolerances, preferences, and sometimes even favorite colors (when relevant). This is not a concept unique to design; all business relies on giving the customer what they need (which can be much different than what they want).
As described in Web UI Best Practices, one of the most practical forms of empathy in design is the user persona: these fictional identities built from real research eliminate a lot of the guesswork in what your users are thinking, and serves as a compass for the entire product team.
02. Rely on data, not instincts
While empathy alone can get you far, the best designers rely on more concrete facts. Usability testing will pinpoint the tastes of even the most fickle users, and give you a sheet of hard facts to fall back on. This data creates a foundation for user personas, and helps validate designer instincts.
Usability testing can even reveal new insights you never would have guessed. All too often we get set in our beliefs that a certain way is best, until even a quick hallway usability test shows us how wrong we are. Moreover, reliable research can even strengthen your instincts to defend a more experimental idea, giving your stakeholders the confidence to move forward.
Good designers may be sure their designs will work, but great designers make sure.
03. Don't make users think
Steve Krug's seminal book Don't Make Me Think blew open a revealing door in the world of interaction design. It forever solidified concepts like 'cognitive load' in the designer lexicon and explained the depths of human memory, and how it relates to design
The more effort a user must put into figuring out how to use an interface, the less they'll enjoy it (even if the system works extremely well once learned)
This holds true for largely confusing (and fairly obvious) issues like buttons that don't function, but has a more direct effect on the interface's subtle minutiae – all the extra milliseconds a user spends figuring out meanings soon add up. The moral is, the more intuitive and instantly comprehensive an interface, the more pleasurable the experience.
Strategies
The strategies for doing this vary. One could follow Hick's Law – the number of options available to a person increases the time required to reach a decision – which in interaction design means offering just enough options to satisfy the user without overburdening them, (especially in dropdown menus where there's always the temptation to nest out multiple submenus)
You must always consider the limits of human memory. If you absolutely must include a large number of options, try chunking them out so users see blocks of similar content instead of a scattered array of items.
UI patterns
Another strategy is implementing UI patterns, so that the user is already familiar with how to use your system even before they start. Basically, any method that hints at the function of feature without actually explaining it will help you
For example, grouping items with similar functions together (a Gestalt principle discussed in Web UI Design for the Human Eye) will suggest they all work the same way. In that same vein, giving features with similar functions a similar appearance, such as the same button graphic, achieves the same result
Consistency is especially important in reducing cognitive load; or more accurately, inconsistency is notorious for increasing cognitive load. As described in Consistency in UI Design, maintaining visual and functional consistency ensures the user isn't wasting precious time wondering why something is different than before.
Of course, you still need elements of inconsistency to keep the design interesting, but it's more important that your interface is first consistent so that it's usable
04. Curb your designer ego
Part of being a master designer is not acting like it. You don't get far designing for your personal preferences. The design business is, after all, a business, and you need to understand the business needs of whatever project you're working on. For a start, as we mentioned above, you must know your user, but there's more to it
You need to put your personal tastes in the backseat and do what's best for the project. There's a time to let your creativity shine (another part of being a great designer), but there is also a time to shelf what you want for the greater good of the project – even if it means creating something you personally think is only second best. To put it simply, user goals (which must always intersect with business goals) trump personal goals
Another aspect of curbing your ego is that is helps collaboration. Design is a team effort, and whether you admit it or not, some of your weaknesses might be mitigated by another member's strengths. As design thinking suggests, keep an open mind to others' suggestions and critique, even if you're the master in the room
05. Know when to yield, and when to defend your ground
A bit of a caveat to the previous point: curbing your ego is not so black-and-white. Listening openly to others' opinions is always a good tactic, but when it comes time to make a decision, great designers stay true to themselves
If you've successfully curbed your ego, then you'll be able to admit when someone else's idea is better for the project. But what if you still think you're right? Say so
Even great designers must deal with less-than-grateful clients and stakeholders, but they stand by what they think is best. Sometimes they're able to convince others of their opinions; for this, our above point about relying on data over instinct can be a big help. When it comes to defending design decisions, it always helps to let the user do the talking – stand behind any relevant usability data
WEB DESIGN
We are a professional web design company with an experienced team of creative professionals. We create outstanding designs for Websites. Our team is adept at implementing the latest web standards and programming techniques. Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development .
Contact us for your web design requirements . email-info@pixotritechnologies.com Visit our website: www.pixotritechnologies.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)