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A podcast for those who design, develop and run websites.

Boagworld is the blog of web strategist Paul Boag who lives in the heart of rural Dorset (hence the cows). He produces a weekly podcast with UX consultant Marcus Lillington on building and running websites. They also run the web design agency Headscape.

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Win a copy of ‘A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web’

Posted in Design on: Monday, February 2, 2009 by Paul Boag

Everybody involved in the web design process needs an understanding of design fundamentals. That is why everybody should read “A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web”.

Maybe you are a website owner who has to sign off on a comp. Maybe you are a developer who has to implement the design produced by somebody else. You might even be responsible for a sites design without having any formal design . Whatever the case, you should probably read Mark Boulton’s new book.

This PDF covers the underlying principles of all good design. Whether it be online or in , good design is governed by certain best practices. This book introduces the reader to these principles, including subjects such as…

  • How to start the design process
  • Research and ideas
  • An introduction to
  • The basics of theory
  • The rules of good

The book is unsurprisingly beautifully designed. However it is also well written and engaging. I can highly recommend it.

Page sample from Marks book

Win a free

You could go and purchase a copy right now for only £12 (and I would encourage you to do so). Alternatively you could win one of three free copies by entering our .

For your chance to win a copy of this inspiring book, twitter your top design tip using the hash tag #designTip. For example your tip might be…

#designTip – If you wish to draw attention to a design element surround it with whitespace.

The closing date for this competition is Friday 27th February, so get your tips in before then.

The winners will be chosen by Mark and we will direct message them shortly after the 27th. To ensure we can do so please subscribe to the Boagworld Twitter feed.

The winners will also be announced over twitter and on the boagworld podcast.

Current entries

Below you can view the current Design Tips that have submitted.

What did you think about this post?

6 Comments

Comments are for the discussion of this post. If you have other questions / comments then post them to the forum or send me an email

  • Chris Morledge says:
    02/02/2009 at 7:41 pm

    Always up for a good competition, but is the person that is going to give the best design tip the type of person that is going to need a book on how to approach design? I understand most people will benefit from a book like this, but is the person who needs it most in with a chance?
    Please correct me if I am missing something.

    Reply
  • Shubox says:
    03/02/2009 at 8:28 pm

    Good point Chris. I suppose even the best of us can always learn something more though – and I’m sure (hope) that Boulton’s book will have a little something for everyone. I’ll only know if I win though – unless there’s a hard-copy!! I’d happily buy a ‘real’ book, but struggle with the thought of spending a fair amount on a PDF.

    Reply
  • Matt says:
    10/02/2009 at 9:27 pm

    I need all the help I can get when it comes to design, but scuse my ignorance, shouldn’t we be sending our tips by direct message? If so, don’t you need to be following everyone first? If not, won’t my amazing tip be lost in twitter’s sea of rhapsody?

    Reply
  • Paul Boag says:
    10/02/2009 at 10:58 pm

    @Matt – As long as you tag it with #designTip we will see it. The only reason you may want to follow me is to hear the results (although we will announce it on the podcast too).

    Reply
  • luke says:
    13/02/2009 at 12:30 pm

    maybe any of you have an extra copy of “A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web”, and would like to share with me?
    please sent it to me eyetrax@gmail.com

    Reply
  • Mustafa says:
    05/03/2009 at 4:52 am

    I’m wondering how come my tip didn’t show up? Feb 13th :s
    http://twitter.com/mustafaquilon/status/1206136741

    Reply

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Additional Information

Produced by Headscape

Boagworld is produced by the web design agency Headscape founded by Marcus, Paul and Chris Scott. Headscape also has a number of other talented guys who blog. Check them out.

  • Craig Rowe is one of our amazing developers and writes some superb posts on everything from .net to AIR apps.

  • Ed Merritt is a Headscape designer who's blog contains examples of his work and a number of free Wordpress themes.

  • Dave McDermid is a Headscape developer who has an excellent blog. He blogs on everything from AJAX to security.

  • Rob Borley is one of our project managers and blogs regularly on client and project management issues.

  • Leigh Howells is our multimedia design guru (whatever one of those is). He blogs on a mixture of design and music.

Paul elsewhere

Paul just can't shut up. He publishes regular audioboos, has a personal blog and is addicted to twitter. He also writes and speaks regularly. Check out the most recent below: