If you are like me, after graduating from a graphic design school, your goal was to make it as a freelance web designer. The lure of flexible hours, working from home and the freedom to manage your own time was too much to resist. At some point, I decided it may be “easier” to work [...]
At some point in our careers, there is a time when we open our paychecks and breathe a sigh of disappointment. After years of studying at a graphic design school and countless hours spent devoted to learning from colleagues and researching new design techniques, the numbers on our pay stub just don’t seem to measure [...]
A picture is worth a thousand words. Graphic design schools teach us that photos on web sites have the potential to capture our attention, motivate us to read more or even propel us to navigate to another web site entirely. They inflict emotion and can establish a connection between site visitors and the goods or [...]
While walking through the pharmacy I passed the aisle filled with red heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolates and remembered Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. Even though I was surrounded by so many representations of love, it reminded me of one thing that I actually despise – web content updates! Graphic design schools teach many, many [...]
I was recently on a home improvement web site searching for ideas for renovating my bathroom. After a few minutes on the site I realized that I was not going to find what I was looking for – it certainly could have been there, but I just could not find it. Menu after menu had me [...]
Graphic design schools prepare us well for our immediate future, but it takes effort to stay on top of the ever-changing field of web design. Following are a few of the upcoming conferences and trade shows meant to help you stay a step ahead of the competition.
Interaction Eleven In its fourth year, Interaction Eleven is [...]
The font styles you choose for your web site set the tone of the content. Some fonts are so powerful that even unrelated characters, when combined, can convey a message of fun, whimsy, importance or even elegance. While the right style can contribute to keeping site visitors engaged and interested in exploring more, a poor [...]Animated GIFs, dynamic HTML, Flash Macromedia – with the plethora of animation methods now available to even amateur web designers, should you feel obligated to add some to your website? The answer is yes… and no.
Here’s a helpful checklist to make sure you use animation effectively and to decide if you need it at all:
Does [...]When designing your website, you need to carefully consider your color choices. That’s because site visitors form their opinions about your site within nine seconds of first seeing the page. Your colors give some of the first visual clues as to the site’s content, importance, and navigation. Used wisely, colors group similar ideas together, express [...]