With the ever-increasing computing power of desktops, browser sophistication and use of native apps, every day we learn of new ways to push the limits of what defines a well-crafted UI. When used correctly, motion can be a key utility in helping your users achieve their goals. UX designers who are considering motion in their designs will find themselves under pressure to explain, communicate and defend why the extra effort is required. Know your audience, and communicate your intentions to the team early on. With UX animation, subtlety is key. Focusing on helping users achieve their goals is paramount.
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The best designs balance aesthetics and performance by working with mobile in mind from the start. In this article, Danny Bluestone will share the current mobile performance optimization processes he uses at Cyber-Duck. Aim to create a website that can balance aesthetics and performance on mobile, and achieve real conversion metrics. A collaborative, iterative performance optimization process will help you achieve this. Right from the start of the project, build an understanding of the client and server-side factors that determine website performance on mobile.
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As Veerle Pieters explores print and web design, photography, art and type, she uncovers a lot of brilliant design gems. She has compiled a selection of inspirational examples for you in this showcase, and the plan is to bring out a new one every month, so let us know in the comments if you like what you see. But for now, please lean back and enjoy!
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Vitaly Friedman believes that blocking loyal readership isn’t a reasonable option for any website. Relying on donations for an “ad-free experience” is unlikely to work either. Publishers should figure out a way to initiate an honest, direct conversation with their readers and find a respectful and profitable way of dealing with the ad revenue gap. Fighting against ad-blocking extensions is a fight against windmills. Ad-blockers have the upper hand, and while advertising will evolve, and it will become less disturbing and annoying, it remains to see if the trust users lost in traditional display advertising can be regained.
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What’s going on in the industry? What new techniques have emerged recently? What insights, tools, tips and tricks is the web design community talking about? Anselm Hannemann is collecting everything that popped up over the last week in his web development reading list so that you don’t miss out on anything. The result is a carefully curated list of articles and resources that are worth taking a closer look at.
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If you are creating a website, app or wearable that uses location data, building in responsible development and regulatory compliance from the very beginning is easy. In this article, Heather Burns will teach you how to build a healthy workflow for developing with location data by using best practice frameworks, providing users with privacy-friendly options, coding to development guidelines and working with an insightful regard for the law. By following this advice, you can create a responsible and legally compliant development process.
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The time, effort and money invested in designing better user experiences, more beautiful branding, and innovative advertising creates stronger, successful companies. Designers can become founders by implementing the three key simple phases of ideation, validation and iteration. Yes, there are other factors to making this process successful. However, the path should start with designers. Regardless of space, time and budget, the future of design founderism can be better realized with disruptive educational practices and open source collaboration, which nurtures more innovative designers and, in turn, results in more innovative companies.
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Solid typography, well-crafted with attention and care is one of the small details that make a project shine. In practice, however, publishing on the web is supposed to be fast, and the little details are often overlooked, which is a pity, because they are not only pleasing to the eye but also improve the reading experience. The tools and resources compiled in this article will help you bring some of that meaning that typography has always benefited from in print to your web projects. Are you ready to do some catching up on that type game?
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Your “virtual retrospective board” needs to allow team members to sync the current state of the board in real time between all team members, talk about the board via video chat, create, edit and move sticky notes and make sure users log in with the right password. To achieve this you need deepstream and a bit of JQuery. In this article, Wolfram Hampel will show you the step by step you need to know.
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In this article, Anya Pratskevich will share some ideas about app page design. She’ll also argue that dropping your assumptions and testing is the only way to find content that not only looks and reads great, but also helps your bottom line. The reality is that nobody knows for sure how to design for maximum conversion. What worked in one project will not necessarily work in another. What you can do is test everything: whether it is a different background color for each screenshot (worked in our case) or simply rearranging your current visuals on the page. Design optimization is a dicey game, so roll with it and have fun testing.
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