Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category
Market and Sell Your Digital Goods the Right Way
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012In previous years, digital marketplaces have evolved significantly. Day by day, more and more designers, developers, photographers and musicians of all levels have started to begin their experiences with marketplaces and selling digital files online. These ‘stock markets’ represent a good source of revenue for people of all skills, from beginners to advanced, that is why if you have not started your adventure with these places that are great for generating income, you should consider it right now.
Basic Marketing
Most markets usually don’t ask you to pay a monthly fee; instead they take a cut of your profits which is at least 25%. This cut is spent on processing payments and doing some basic marketing. This basic marketing consists of online advertising, paid/guest posts and promotions. Such marketing intends to bring customers to the marketplace as a whole, not to your specific files, that is why you should not rely on it. You should fight to get sales on your files, but you must be in a friendly relationship with your fellow authors.
Social Media Traffic
Most of the modern marketplaces allow you to put (if they aren’t there automatically) certain Facebook, Twitter, Google+ sharing buttons which can drive social media traffic. The social media traffic is not of the highest quality, and visitors from these sources are not likely to make an immediate purchase, however, if you set an affiliate link while sharing on social media websites, it has better chances of receiving a nice amount, either from the first purchase or the first deposit.
Advertising
It is a well proven fact that, if advertising is done right, then it won’t be hard to drive high-quality and keyword-driven traffic to your files. It can be either, CPM or CPC — it’s totally up to you, however some authors from the well known flash files stock, ActiveDen, proved that Google Adwords CPC ads work excellent and can even double your profits!
Word of Mouth
A recommendation from a good friend will always be considered, that is why it’s good to be on cordial terms with everyone in the market. There are many authors who are happy to point their clients to other files, if they think the specific file is worth their attention and time. There is not much you can do about it, except producing high-quality and unique files which will be loved by everyone.
Use Your Own Website/Blog
Another simple yet effective way is spreading the word using your website. It can be a blog post, a link to your latest file in the header of your site (be sure to use some attention-grabbing techniques) or a link in the sidebar of your website. It is good to try different placements and ways of informing your readers about your new files, but it is extremely important not to abuse the concept of banners and announcements as it will drive away both visitors and potential clients.
Giving Away Free Files
Everyone loves getting free files, but it’s even more enjoyable to receive free copies of paid items. Giveaways are a great medium for promotion, and when thinking about giveaways, you would better think about organizing these giveaways on more popular websites than yours, as you may simply get more purchases and more promotion.
Website Usage, the Clever Way
It is a very powerful and very effective way of attracting customers on PremiumPixels. PP is a website where you can download free .psd files, however, after each download you are shown a nice message which encourages you to take a look at the author’s stock files. It is very powerful because the author is giving away free files, and hopefully you wouldn’t mind spending a few minutes of your time checking out their premium offerings. That’s how eventual customers are attracted!
Set Up a Newsletter
Orman Clark, who is well-known for his amazing WordPress themes, has recently set up a newsletter and started gathering subscribers. With every newsletter, you get an amazing (exclusive) freebie and a great deal. He has only sent 2 newsletters so far, but I suppose his success with this newsletter is far beyond the expected. Everyone loves free files, but exclusive free files are loved even more because you never know what’s going to be in there. It may be a file you really needed, or an amazing graphic set for which you would have paid a nice amount.
Successful Stock Sellers
Christian (Kriesi)
Peerapong
Brandon Jones
Musicians :
Soundroll Studio (Dmitry Lifshitz)
Tim McMorris
Beat the Beat
Photographers:
Yuri Arcurs
Pressmaster
Andresr Photos
Conclusion
A good file will always sell! Just make sure you focus more on the quality of your items rather than quantity or marketing. Marketing your files is an amazing source of revenue, but it should only be applied to high-quality files which would impress anyone easily. A simple file with lots of promotion efforts is going to get a lot less sales rather than a high-quality one, with just a bit of proper marketing.
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog
How to Create a Sexy Small Download Icon
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012Hi there folks, I’m back with another tutorial on how to create a sexy small download graphic. It doesn’t even have to end up as a download graphic, it can be anything. Think of a loading bar, a upload thing or even a cool button.
In this tutorial you will learn simple but elegant techniques that you can apply on your designs!
Resources for this tutorial
The only thing you need for this tutorial is the Open Sans font. Download here. Original shot on dribbble.
Step 1: Setting up the Document
- Start by creating a document in Photoshop, something like 600 x 400 px.
- Fill the background with the bucket tool (G). My colour was: #f0e9dd.
Step 2: Working on the base shape
Here we go. When I first started this graphic, it had a basic circle shape. Not really original, that’s why decided to use the anchor points to modify the shape.
First, grab the Ellipse tool. Pull out a nice circle with the size you like. Next, grab the pen tool (P). Ctrl + click on the circle you just made. This should make the anchor points of the object show. Again ctrl + click, but now only on the lower anchor point. You should see this now:
With that anchor point selected, hold shift and press your down arrow twice. This should drop the point 20px down. There it is, the sort of upside down egg shape.
Let’s style that thing up!
All there is on there is:
- Gradient Overlay
- Inner shadow
- Stroke
Settings below:
Next is the little lip at the bottom of the main shape.
I made this with the pen tool. I created one side first, duplicated this layer, flipped it horizontally and moved it to the right position. With these 2 layers merged you can go ahead and give it some styling.
- Drop Shadow
- Inner Shadow
- Color overlay
If you look at my finished image, you see there’s another highlight at the bottom. We’ll get to that in the end.
Step 3: Let’s bring in some colour
For the workflow it’s easiest to first create the inside of the coloured circle. Like this:
This is also made with the Ellipse tool (U). Layer styles below:
- Drop Shadow
- Inner Shadow
- Inner Glow
- Gradient Overlay
We’ll be adding text to this later.
Now it’s time for the orange loading bar. I guess there are more ways to make this. But I took the easiest approach. First, create an Ellipse again. about 10px larger than the one above. Make sure the layer is set beneath the dark ellipse and above the main shape.
Now we’re gonna modify this shape a bit with the pen tool by adding some anchor points and curving some lines. Try to make it like this:
This shape has 5 added layer styles, and next to that some lighting layers above which we will get to after this.
Layer styles:
- Drop Shadow
- Inner Shadow
- Inner Glow
- Color Overlay
- Stroke (with gradient)
Now, make a new layer, (ctrl-shift+N) and ctrl click on the orange shape layer thumbnail. This should bring up a selection.
Put the new layer selected on Blending mode Soft light, grab the brush tool with about a 40px radius and white colour and start playing around to make some highlights on the orange circle.
Than, again a new layer. Still with the selection of the orange circle. Again on soft light, pull down the opacity to about 60-70% and pull a standard black-white gradient from top to bottom.
Now you should have something like this:
Starting to look pretty sexy ha!
Let’s make the shape in which the orange is sitting. Above the orange layer, and beneath the inner circle layer create a new layer and grab the Ellipse tool again. Create a new circle the same size as the orange circle.
To make things clear, we’re making this now:
Load the selection of the orange layer again (ctrl+click on the layer thumbnail). Rasterize the new shape we made and hit delete. This should delete all of the overlapping on the orange. Doe the same thing again, but now load the selection of the inner dark circle. So you only have the visible of the circle left. (The one-quarter piece). Let’s give it some styling.
- Drop Shadow
- Inner Shadow
- Gradient Overlay
What a bummer guys, we’re almost done already!
Few things left to do.
- Add the numbers in the middle.
- Highlights on all the shapes.
- Simple background shadow
Grab the text tool, with the Open Sans font, typ 75% in the middle on everything (16px, bold #ddd3c3). Give the text a drop shadow, deselect the Global lighting option and set the direction to -90 degrees. distance: 1, spread: 0, size: 0. Colour: #000.
Another text layer beneath the percentage. This will show the file size, or download speed. Whatever you like. Same styling same options, only not bold and 10px big now.
All set, now we have this:
Now we have to add some highlights to make this thing shine.
This is after my added highlights:
Try to do something similar, most of it is done the pen tool, or just by loading the layers selection and stroking it with white on a new layer, a little erasing some parts an blending options should do the trick. Just play around 
. If u have questions feel free to ask.
My shadow is a gaussian blurred triangular shape on 5% opacity. Transform it a bit to get the right shape of the shadow. It also depends on when your light is coming from.
You can spice up the background a bit more with patterns/textures/lights/shadows, etc.
Here’s my final outcome once more:
I hope you likes this tutorial. If you still have any questions, feel free to ask!
Follow me on Twitter to stay tuned for more!
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog
Beautiful and Inspiring Logos
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
Browsing beautiful logos is always inspiring. Logos are actually a very good way to check out how designers put together colors, typography, textures and several other design elements. Today we gathered a few beautiful and inspiring logos to show you. From colorful, bold and textured logos to clean and monochromatic ones, here are 15 logos to keep you inspired.
What is Pro Bono Work and Why Should You Embrace It
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012Few weeks ago I wrote an article where I torn Spec work apart. There is no reason in going back and I think I should do as promised and explain why I think pro bono work is something you should do to help you build up a portfolio if you are new to the design business and to give a helping hand to different communities.
Pro bono work comes from a Latin phrase and is mostly used to describe professional work delivered voluntarily and without payment or at a highly reduced fee. Pro bono work is increasing in popularity lately in domains such as marketing, technology and yes, web design. Such a concept offers the specific skills of a professional for free to someone who is not able to afford them otherwise. The main difference between Spec work and pro bono work is that pro bono work is usually for a good cause and even if you don’t get paid, it will definitely bring you awareness and allow you to build up a portfolio and earn experience. The reason behind me preferring pro bono work instead of spec work is that it is usually for a good cause. We designers love the nature, optimistic and energetic volunteers and good causes like charity. Why not work for them and earn their respect rather than do Spec work and (most of the time) earn nothing?
We sometimes feel like helping somebody in need of our services and only ask for a trackback or a modest fee. If you really need to build up a portfolio in the beginning of your design career, doing this kind of work for non-profit organizations or charities is a win-win situation. You help them and, in exchange, you have your work online and will also feel better about yourself. It must feel better helping NGOs battling for disadvantaged children, disaster victims, people with special needs or poor people than doing work for a who-knows-who and not get paid for it, right?
Pro bono also means you have a big responsibility. It means providing fully professional results, not something done while watching your favorite show or while you wait for the train. You will not get paid for it in most cases, but you still need to be professional. Not only for the sake of your portfolio, but also for the sake of the organization you help. Only deliver designs you would normally deliver to people who would pay. I know it sounds difficult and does not make too much sense – why would you submit free high-quality work instead of asking for money for it?
Well, not all of us have a reputation that every company would be glad to fill our pockets for a redesign. When you start working in the business you will understand you need experience – and how else will you get it? I have knowledge of companies looking at people’s previous work and digging for pro bono publico. Why? Because it says a lot about you. It shows your passion for this business. It shows money may be on the low end, but you will always be there for the client and will deliver high-quality work. It shows integrity. It shows just the right qualities.
All design jobs I had when I was a lot younger were pro bono or poorly paid. I mostly did it for fun and to learn. I was proud of my work. I wouldn’t be proud of it today, but back then I was thrilled to be able to deliver friends and local charities their own website. I had no problem working for free and this helped me a lot. Sure, I was not older than 15 and money issues were not pressuring me; fair enough, I give you that one. On the other side, what was in it for me if I was starting to ask for money? Just think about this yourself, would there have been any chance for a 14-year-old without a bit of experience in the business?
Image by mrszooropa.
Is pro bono equal to volunteerism?
Many think so. I doubt it, however. I also volunteer in my spare time and it is quite different from undertaking pro bono work. The main difference is that while volunteerism means providing something for free, pro bono means acting as a professional, having client meetings, providing drafts, changing, providing another draft, changing again, getting the green light and so on. It is like in the real world. Pro bono is a playground for the real business. It is where we experiment with our techniques and skills. It is where we act as professionals although we are not paid – we only do it because of our desire to help.
Pro bono involves getting familiar with the client, the community you will provide for, their volunteers and their needs. Pro bono for a local charity means getting involved.
Image by twestival.
Another difference between pro bono and volunteerism is that pro bono leads sometimes to paid work. If the local charity will need a poster, a more professional website or an advertising campaign and will have money for it, whom do you think they will turn to first?
How to choose?
It depends a lot on the area where you live. There are a lot more charities in Chicago then in a small city outside of the Ukraine capital Kiev. But providing you live in an area with lots of them, choosing a local charity or a non-profit organization to do some pro bono for might be tricky.
I heard lots of opinions about doing pro bono from more experienced designers and developers. I think there should be several reasons behind doing it, not only one. You should not only do pro bono in order to improve your portfolio and your skills, because let’s face it, all of us like to help. This is a good way to show your support and make a charitable contribution. If you find at least one of these reasons being enough for you, then you should undertake pro bono work. Why we do it is not as important – charities and organizations will appreciate our help anyway.
The search for a suitable organization might be long. Try to choose something that fits you, something that you like. If you like dogs, you will most likely be more excited about doing a website for an animal shelter than for an Elderly Home. Keep in mind that money is out of this equation and the only thing that can make you run and keep you still wanting to help is working for a cause which is close to you. Your main goal is to find a charity or an organization whose agenda and goals match your own. You need to feel passionate about a group’s cause in order to do professional pro bono for them.
Another thing you should remember is that many of these organizations already have their own websites on the internet, therefore think of upgrades, tweaks and redesigns instead of new web pages.
Another piece of advice would be to start locally. I say this because getting in contact with volunteers and clients will be much easier if they are located 10 minutes from your home, than if they are placed somewhere 10 hours away. Also, don’t forget that larger organizations probably have lots of sponsors and already own a website or have what they already need.
Image by sarah_dr.
Finding the right client should take some time, but it shouldn’t be a tremendous effort. You can start looking for the following:
- Religious organizations or churches
- Adoption agencies
- Community projects
- Community theaters and playhouses
- Public school projects
- Private and public after-school programs
- Academic organizations
- Political organizations
- Food banks and other aid distribution organizations
- Disease research groups
This is a just a list out off the top of my head. There should be many more out there and a simple Google search will probably reveal hundreds or thousands more from you to choose from.
What’s in for you?
Besides the things we already talked about, there is something else for you as well in pro bono work. Besides polishing your skills and padding your portfolio, earning some promotion is also on the table. Because there is nothing else they can offer, many NGOs will allow you to post a link of your portfolio on their website. They also have large networks and as said earlier, pro bono might result in paid work for you somewhere in the future. And not only the organizations have a network, but also the volunteers and people involved. Imagine what kind of viral marketing you can get from a group of 500 people in your small city.
Bottom line
So yes folks, this is why I think you should embrace pro bono instead of Spec work. If you read both my articles it should be more than enough to convince you that doing something for a specific community is worth much more than doing something for an unknown person that is highly unlikely to pay you.
Until next time… what do you think about pro bono? Is there a clear difference between it and Spec work or you still consider both as being under the same umbrella? Have you ever undertaken pro bono work?
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog
15 Beautiful and Useful Free PSD Files
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
Dribbble is a great community, and is a place where you can find much more than inspiration and awesome professionals. It’s a place where you can find really talented people sharing their work with you for free. This is the case of today’s list, we are presenting you with 15 beautiful and free psd files we found on Dribbble. From tags, to social icons, and complete UI kits, there is a lot of useful files for you here. Click the images to check out each designer’s (show these guys your appreciation, they definitely deserve it) page to be able to do the download.
Sliding Tags
Sticky Butterscotch UI Kit
28 Layer Syles
Mimi Glyphs
Ui Elements
Light UI Kit
Share Buttons
Mini glyphs (12 px)
Progress Bar
Bella UI
12 px glyphs
Derailed Ui Set
Mini Clouds Set
Share buttons
Vector UI Kit
Hero: A Minimal and Responsive Portfolio WordPress Theme
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Over at Theme Trust, we just released a brand new WordPress theme. Hero is a responsive and minimal portfolio theme for creative types who want to show off their best work and highlight their services. One of the key features of this theme is the parallax home page banner that allows you to display your key message in an engaging fashion.
At Theme Trust when you buy one theme, you get another free. Just add any two themes to your shopping cart and then enter the code “1free“.
Theme Features
Here’s a run down of the key features included in Hero:
- Responsive Layout
- Parallax Home Page Banner
- Filterable Portfolio Template
- Paginated Portfolio Template
- Google Web Font Integration
- TouchSwipe Slideshow Shortcode
- Custom Options Panel
- Custom Post Type for Easy Portfolio Management
- Widget Ready Sidebars
- Archive Page Template
- WordPress 3.0 Custom Menus
- Set Your Own Colors
- Post Thumbnails
- Upload a Custom Logo
- Upload a Favicon
- Threaded Comments
- Twitter Integration
- Flickr Integration
- Button Shortcodes
- Column Shortcodes
Creating a Productive Home Office Setup
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Working from home is like playing a whole different ball game than at the office. You’re always around the house and prone to distractions such as dishes or phone calls. Because of this it’s important to have a room you can feel productive working any hour of the day.
However not everybody has a personal budget to spend on new office equipment. Instead I’ll share some easy techniques you can use to spruce up any living space around the house. A home office setup doesn’t require large spacious areas(although these are nice). You need a room to put yourself in a good mindset and focus on productivity.
Staying Organized
I stress this frequently because a messy workspace only leaves room for a messy thought process. I could never freely write or design knowing I’ve got loose papers and a mismanaged organizational system. Even if you’re a naturally messy person it’s key to run your home office in an orderly fashion.
Have all important contact information saved in one place whether written down or digitally. Your smartphone address list can be an option, although I prefer to have freelance details copied down as well. You don’t want to feel cluttered in the space or confined to a closed area. You should be able to pull out anything you need without digging through too many desk drawers.
And this attitude should follow through on your digital desktop as well. Mostly all of us are working on computers and need to create some form of organization hierarchy. Freelancers have the need for written documents, web designs, wireframes, graphics, icons, and plenty of other file types.
Setup a plan for how you’ll store these documents and stick to it! I organize folders based on the current month and year so I have archives going back throughout all my work. Figure out a system that works for you and don’t be discouraged if you can’t find something right away. Test out a few different solutions of organizing files until you hit the sweet spot.
Setup Trial Work Hours
If you have a house to yourself during the day then it’s much easier to setup your own working hours. But when you have family and young kids around the house sometimes they don’t understand the value of privacy. You need to plan times where you have 1-2 hours of solitude for completing important works.
This time may feel better coming later in the evening or very early in the morning. These are hours where it’s naturally a bit quieter and less stressful on your attention span. Even if you live alone it can be a chore to force yourself into getting any work done.
Moving around the house throughout the day will keep you active and taking frequent breaks from your work. If you feel cramped in your office space then try moving into the living area or kitchen. Sometimes a change of scenery can boost creativity and make you feel more alert.
Remove Easy Distractions
Each person has their own list of weaknesses and distractions to tear them away from working. It’s important you have time to relax, but during work hours you need to stay focused on each task. Remove any objects from the room which you may find distracting – radios, televisions, or video games are just a few examples.
It’d be best to ultimately keep all these things elsewhere in the house. However if you work from rooms with a TV or games there’s not much of a choice – you’ll have to learn power over self-control. The distractions will always be there, and so will your work, so you have to find a common middle ground. How much time is required for you to get a significant amount of work completed in any given day? How many breaks do you find reasonable between 1-2 hours of work?
Again, these questions do not have a “one size fits all” answer. The best part about freelancing from home is the enormous freedom to experiment with different working schedules. Find out what motivates you and what works best for your situation.
Managing your To-Do List
Every freelancer working from home should have a set of daily to-dos. If you go into working head strong with no solid goals you may find much less accomplished come the end of the day. Focused energy is a powerful mentality.
Have your to-dos easy to access and move around. If you’re obligated with other family-oriented tasks then schedule these in throughout the list. You don’t want to miss appointments by accidentally working through them. Try to update and sync all your calendars every few days so you have one master to-do list you can look over each morning.
Work in Comfort
Nobody should have to feel strained when sitting down to work. This may be the case in some office jobs where your comfort level is not exactly in your control. But at home you should make no excuses!
If you buy a desk & chair setup make sure you feel comfortable with everything. You’ll be spending a lot of time sitting down typing away at various tasks. If you already have a setup that feels well you could try moving around the room furniture. Interior decor is a whole larger topic which explains how you sit and where you’re facing can affect creativity flow in the room.
I find it best to work when there is sunlight streaming in through the windows. It gives more stimulation to the room and my train of thought. But I know plenty of freelancers who prefer working in the dark of night. As long as you’re comfortable and feeling relaxed then the work will just flow.
Conclusion
Creating a productive atmosphere is more than office furniture and extra space. It’s about a feeling and emotional state as well. I hope this article has provided useful tips to building a productive mindset when working from home. Keep yourself motivated, focused, and above all love what you do!
21 Examples of Big Photography in Web Design
Monday, March 12th, 2012
Using big photographs in a web design, either as the background or part of the content, is a great way to easily set the overall mood of a site. However, when doing this, you run the risk of creating a site that it visually too busy. That’s why most site’s that you see making use of big images have an overall minimal style when it comes to the other design elements. For today’s inspiration, we’ve gathered a collection of sites that are excellent examples of how to use big photography in a web design.
Nemeth Interactive
Beg Bicycles
Confirmed Stock
encandle
Manual
Zola’s
Blind Barber
Salt Surf
Guns N’ Roses
Bomb Girls
Anna Safroncik
Y.CO
Bleu de Chauffe
inze.it
7 Days in Havana
Edoardo Leo
digitz
Archikon
Two Arms Inc
Planet Propaganda
Modern Ink Mag
CSS Design Awards
The Best Designs
Awwwards
8 Tips to Follow for iPad App Designers
Sunday, March 11th, 2012Most of us didn’t understand the real use of iPad but still we bought it. The touch keyboard wasn’t as quick as our laptops, still we used it. And, before we even realized, the iPad had become an integral part of our lives. Now, no gadget is complete without the plethora of apps (good or bad) that come running alongside. iPad was no different. A market came into existence and everyone was looking for “iPad compatible” design. Guess what, the keyword iPad compatible is already being searched over 50,000 times on Google every month if Google’s Keyword Tool is to be believed. And then there are multiple related keywords. It simplyshows how important the iPad market has become for app designers.
(The usual) NOTE - This discussion will not teach you how to create a riveting iPad app. And, trust me when I say that “I am NOT covering the usual tips that have been covered a zillion times already on other blogs!”
How Many Instructions are too Many?
Personally, I hate apps that have a lot of instructions. What is the use of designing an app when you cannot keep it simple? If your app requires the end-user to read the thick user manual over and over to easily use the app then, my friends, you have just designed a flop app. Remember that you give out instructions for your app users so that they get the feel and move on to the real app. Your list of instructions should never be a turn-off for the app users.
So, avoid the usage of a “question mark” icon on every possible screen of your iPad app. Let the app be the instruction booklet in itself. Seriously, I hate apps with too many instructions!
Now, Don’t Confuse “Hints” with “Instructions”
You know what? Sometimes I feel bad when I get the feeling that my reader may have misunderstood me. Above, I asked you to avoid using too many instructions for people to be able to use your app. “Hints” are a different ball game altogether. Hints are a form of “positive poking” that helps the users move on when they are struggling. So, its good to give away hints to keep the app users interested.
WARNING - Never overdo your take-my-hint-and-move-on style in your app. The end-user might just lose the much wanted interest.
Layout Must Change Comfortably With Orientation
The image above says it all. In the case of orientation sensitive devices like iPad the layout of an app must not be broken with the change of orientation of the device. Though the broken layout might not hamper the productivity of the app, it is surely a turn-off for the end-user. Who would want to use an app that does not understand the orientation of iPad? It is like using an app which was never designed for iPad (or any other orientation sensitive gadget for that matter) in the first place. Consider checking out the Holy Grail of Mobile Layout?
Always Display the Username On Screen
This might sound weird, but with devices like iPad this is a must. iPad is the sort of gadget which will be used by multiple members of a family. I am not saying that iPad is a family gadget, but in many cases it might just be. One family member uses the iPad and then another picks it up. Who would want to use an app or an interface while someone else is logged into it? Worst case would be that you would never know if someone else is logged in until you figure out the data is not yours. Like the eBay app for iPad which won’t display the logged in user’s ID:
So, it is suggested that you clearly show the logged in user’s ID on every page of your app. It will help clear any sort of confusion and unwanted situations.
Never Overdo the Gestures
Users of iPad know that the device understands tapping and sliding. You don’t have to write it in bold and make it overly obvious. A slight mention of “Tap me for more” is all that is needed to keep the users looking for more. You don’t have to explain to the end user what tapping means, how it can be done and what are its advantages. Don’t make it look silly.
The White Space..Pleeeease!
Don’t tell me that this is one of the obvious tips that has been discussed already. I have to discuss this over and over til you guys understand the importance of it especially in the context of iPad like devices. See, devices like iPad can stretch your design or make it look cluttered. If you are creating an app especially for iPad then you can minimize the clutter, but what about the times when the app has to be updated every now and then?
Dynamically updated apps can sometimes break because of the different sizes of images that are pushed on daily basis. So, design your app in a fashion that there is lot of free space available. It helps the user’s mind to relax. Also, it automatically de-clutters the result.
iPad Hails Minimalism. So Should Your App!
Steve Job’s speech below has nothing much to do with the minimalist looks of iPad (and all other Apple devices) but somewhere or other they all connect. I’ll be shocked if you tell me that you haven’t seen this video before. Which bunker do you live in?
One quick glance to your iPad and you will know how simple it is. The device is packed with extremely amazing technology but it doesn’t show off. Now, will you consider designing an iPad app that pops out of your gadget especially when the gadget itself is placed comfortablly in your hands? Follow minimalism and see how your app merges itself with the amazing iPad interface.
Touch is Good but Don’t Over-Use it
Quickly, check the image below before I start explaining what I want:
The CNN app for iPad features a sleek-looking navigation bar at the very bottom. This bar makes it easy for readers to quickly go through various stories and read whichever stories interest them. See how CNN minimized the usage of browser buttons by pushing the important content on one screen itself. It is good that iPad features feather touch experience but sometimes too much slide and touch kills the experience too.
Make it comfortable for the end-user and see how they fall in love with your app.
Conclusion
Tips to design iPad apps are available everywhere. I’m not saying they’re not valuable or useful. but sometimes you have to think about the small things that can be the reason why people ditched your app. Design but don’t overdo it. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog
Master Social Networking Using Engag.io
Saturday, March 10th, 2012Part of web working is being a part of social networking sites. Let’s face it, some days these sites are just a pain in the neck to keep up with. Sure you may have a great conversation going on Twitter or Google+, but what about that landing page you should be creating for your eagerly waiting (and paying) client? Engag.io can help you manage your social networking conversations more efficiently so you can mix some pleasure into your business.
How Engag.io can make you more productive
The most basic reason you will be more productive using Engag.io is, you won’t need to hop all over the web from sites to site answering a tweet here or reply to a comment on a blog thread there. Everything is done from a single inbox.
Being that you aren’t going off to the site to reply to messages, you are less likely to get distracted by what other people are doing. Think of it like looking at your email while offline. You can see what you need to attend to, but you can’t get any new messages to distract your flow.
Setting up Engag.io
You will need to make an account. The process is pretty easy, you need to pick a username, enter in an email address and a password. Once you are in, you need to grant access to all of the sites you have accounts for.
The most popular sites are available.
Using Engag.io to manage your messages and replies
Like I mentioned earlier, Engag.io is kind of like an email program. Most likely, you will spend a good chunk of your time in the Inbox. The Engag.io Inbox is really no different than your Gmail inbox. You can see all of your recent messages and can reply to the messages. See how this is less distracting already?
When you open your your inbox you will see unread messages just like your email inbox. If you grow tired of a thread, you can mute the particular thread or even the site. When you mute something, the data is still collected but does’t show up unless you unmute the site or comment thread.
Other parts if Engag.io
There are other parts of this web-app you may spend some time looking through. First off is your Contacts list. This contact list is a little different than what you may be used to. It isn’t a list you just add in everyone you want to talk to. This contacts list is only people you engage with.
This may seem a bit strange to some. But really, do you honestly need to import all of your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and everyone in all of the Linkedin Groups you belong to? Nope, you just need to manage the conversations you are currently involved in. That’s why you have limited contacts. If you want to add more people to your contacts list, you need to talk to more people.
If you are on Twitter.com, how can you tell quickly who you are talking to the most? You really can’t accurately tell can you? The Engag.io Dashboard will be able to see that. The dashboard is kind of an analytics for your engagement. When you are looking around here you will see how many times you talked to your contacts and the top sites you comment on.
One of the coolest features of the Dashboard is how you can see where your contacts are commenting and their comments. You will also see a list of their top sites. If you find that someone who is an acquaintance who you want to know better is commenting frequently on a site, you can also comment there more. Being in the same places more often will liken the chance they will open an email you send them.
Pros and Cons of Using Engag.io
Pros
- The most popular social networks are included.
- Everything you need to manage existing conversations is all in one place.
- Comments are searchable and can be shared.
- It’s easy to see who you communicate with the most and where else they are commenting.
Cons
- You are limited to a single account per social network.
- There is no option to start a new conversation with an existing contact.
Final thoughts
When you are using an application to manage your social networking messages versus managing your profiles there are differences that may seem like you aren’t doing much. Let me ask you this question. If you shut off the television and read a book, do you feel like you should be doing something else too? Just because there isn’t the constant bombardment of information doesn’t mean you aren’t spending your time well.
How do you manage all of the conversations on your social networking sites?
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog