Design Archive

October 18, 2007 3:57 PM

Favicons are those 16 by 16 pixel graphics that appear in your address bar, bookmarks and various other places. They maybe tiny, but they are becoming increasingly important.

Combating design by committee

October 4, 2007 1:29 PM

Design by committee has been the nail in the coffin of many good design concepts. So how can you minimize the damage done when a client decides to approve a design through a committee structure?

Recording creativity

July 26, 2007 3:20 PM

I like to think of myself as an ideas person. I guess that is another way of saying that I am crap at implementing the ideas I have. One problem I used to suffer from was recording the ideas I had in a form that I could refer back to later. Overtime I have developed a couple of techniques that help me manage my ideas better. I thought they might be worth sharing.

Emerging design trends

July 16, 2007 9:46 AM

Web 2.0. brought with it a lot of things. One was a new style of design. However, design is a fickle thing and we are already seeing some new trends emerging.

Taking a brand online

July 6, 2007 9:18 AM

"and here is our style guide"... thump! A huge tome lands on the desk in front of you. When it is written entirely for print, how do you begin to turn it into something that will work on the web?

When developers design

June 27, 2007 12:54 PM

In an ideal world designers design and developers develop. However, we don't live in an ideal world and from time to time we have to swap roles. The problem is that there is a lot of tutorials and articles showing designers how to develop but little showing developers how to design. I therefore thought I would share some very basic tips.

Design Testing

June 22, 2007 7:34 PM

Headscape run design testing sessions. We find it a helpful way of getting sign off on a design. I know not everybody agrees with this approach so I thought I would share what we do and why we do it.

Keeping your home page clean

May 16, 2007 5:55 PM

One of the most common sticking points I encounter when developing a website is the sign off of the home page. Client's want to cram it with as much content as possible, while the designer is seeking to maintain the integrity of the design. So, what is the best way of avoiding this kind of confrontation?

atMedia: Great Design

June 15, 2006 11:55 AM

John Hicks, Cameron Moll, and Veerle Pieters share their thoughts on what makes great design.

No more speculative designs

April 5, 2006 8:41 PM

One of the worst parts of my job is doing design work for pitches. You simply don't have enough information to produce a quality design. Recently I discovered I was not the only one to feel like this and that in fact there was a growing movement campaigning for an end to speculative work.

Design for your CMS

February 15, 2006 6:29 PM

With next weeks podcast being on content management systems I have been thinking a lot about how they work. In particular, I have been mulling over the unique challenges they create when it comes to the front-end design.

Designing for an older audience

January 27, 2006 12:22 PM

webCredibles.

The humble hypertext link

January 19, 2006 4:59 PM

The ability to link one web page to another is so fundamental to the web that it is often overlooked as just too darn obvious. Amidst more exciting subjects like AJAX, accessibility or web 2.0 the humble hypertext link is often forgotten. Well, no more. I am here to make a stand, to campaign for the rights of this downtrodden tag.

Vital first impressions

January 17, 2006 8:57 AM

Jeffrey Veen have often implied that web developers' obsession with design is detrimental. However, a recent report featured on the BBC website seems to indicate that good design is key to the way users assess a site.

Design 101: Imagery

December 3, 2005 1:49 AM

Whether you are a developer or a website owner, sooner or later you will have to deal with imagery. Even if a designer has set the style for your site, the chances are you will have to work with content related imagery. This post makes a few suggestions about how to use imagery to enhance your existing site rather than undermine it.

Getting online forms right

November 7, 2005 5:24 PM

At the end of last week, I was integrating an online survey into a client's site. It started me thinking about how difficult it can be to get online forms right. In this post, I outline just some of the many things you should take into consideration.

Links I love

October 28, 2005 5:24 PM

A quick post to let you know there is a new boagworld.com web feed (RSS feed) to which you can subscribe.

Print designers and the web

October 26, 2005 8:02 PM

I often find myself working along side traditional marketing agencies when developing websites. However, today is the first time that I have seen a client's website suffer because of it.

What makes good web design?

September 6, 2005 5:48 PM

I am in crisis today. Some days I am just not sure what constitutes good web design anymore. Help me see the light.

Website storyboarding

August 25, 2005 9:51 AM

With a project as complex as producing a new website, there is a lot of room for misunderstanding and confusion. That is why it is so important to have a clear specification of what the site will do and how it is structured. Enter the HTML storyboard.

Sugar and spice

August 16, 2005 9:38 AM

According to some recent research by the University of Glamorgan, if you are designing a site primarily aimed at women, it is worth ensuring a female designer is working on it.

Design 101: Layout

July 8, 2005 4:11 PM

For the next in my slightly sporadic series on the basics of good web design I am going to look at the issue of layout. In particular I want to address the use of negative space, the grid system (and when to break it), and creating a hierarchy in your design. If you not a designer don't worry, this article is actually for you. To be honest any designer should already know these things. If you know them too it helps you select the right designer for the job!

Stuck for inspiration

July 4, 2005 2:21 PM

I received a brief today that required some mock-up designs to be produced, however the brief made no mention whatsoever of design. There was no logo, no colour palette, no style guide, no likes or dislikes... nothing! There is nothing worse than a completely blank canvas. My trick for dealing with it is to start with colour.

Liquid Vs Fixed Design

June 23, 2005 8:15 AM

One of my clients recently requested a redesign of their web site so they could move from a fixed width site to a liquid layout. As we discussed the issue, I came to realise that the pros and cons of each were not obvious to all so I thought it was worth laying them out here.

Fearing the fold

June 21, 2005 7:54 AM

Its funny how challenging one preconception can leave you totally inspired. I am in the process of reading a book called CSS Zen Garden by Molly Holzschlag and David Shea based on David's superb site. While reading the book and browsing the associated site I couldn't help noticing that many of the designs were incredibly long and had little in the way of valuable content above the fold.

A personal project

January 27, 2005 6:26 PM

I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since my last post! I will be amazed if anybody is even aware of this blog anymore. Usual excuses I am afraid; moving house, family, Christmas, normal things. So what have I been up to while I have been away and what little tip bits have I picked up?

How to ruin a design

October 21, 2004 8:32 PM

I don't have a proper post for you today. I guess its more of a rant than anything else. Why is it that some of my clients just can't make a decision on their design?

Make your site easy to print

October 18, 2004 2:47 PM

If like me you get frustrated by the fact that most web sites never print properly then you will be pleased to hear that you can format your web site totally differently when you send it to print!

Design 101: Colour

October 15, 2004 1:11 PM

In the first of my series on the basics of good web design I tackled how to handle branding. In this article I want to deal with the more subjective issue of colour. How do you choose the right colour palette?

Design 101: Branding

August 27, 2004 9:44 AM

There are lots of articles on usability, accessibility, technical development and sales techniques for your web site but precious little on how to make your site aesthetically pleasing. I therefore want to post a series of articles on the basics of good graphical design. Today we will start with branding.

Get the fundermentals right

July 27, 2004 5:53 PM

Sometimes we get so carried away with the latest technology or the new approach to marketing online that we can forget the fundermentals. Here are just ten of the basic principles that should underpin every site.

Current web site design trends

July 9, 2004 9:38 AM

I am sure that I am not alone when I say I am always looking at web sites for inspiration and current design trends. In one of my previous articles I talk about how it is important to place page elements such as search and navigation in the screen locations where people expect to find them. But how do you know what the standard position is without trawling through hundreds of web sites?

Why all websites should look the same ;)

July 2, 2004 5:26 PM

One of the things I love about my job is the fact that I get to work with all sorts of companies and organisations. Headscape (the company I work for) has just launched www.smallpoxbiosecurity.orgwhich provides information on the threat of an outbreak following the deliberate release of smallpox. Not the average run of the mill web site! Although I have to say that isn't the most unusual web site I have ever worked on. That accolade would have to go to the chicken incinerator site, but that is a whole different story.

Art direction on the web