There was a time when marketers used things like urgency, scarcity and FOMO to drive online shoppers to a sale. But scare tactics can actually hurt a brand’s relationships with customers. By their very nature, we run into similar problems with shipping and inventory alerts. That said, there are ways that web designers can keep panic and frustration from seeping into the shopper’s experience. If you want to better control your shoppers’ responses and keep them on the path to conversion, Suzanne Scacca will tell you how, in this article.
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In the tenth issue of Inspired Design Decisions, Andy Clarke will explain how Giovanni Pintori — the Italian graphic designer best known for his work with Olivetti — can inspire design for the web with his distinctive use of color and shape. Andy will teach you how to use color to attract attention and then to lead someone’s eye around a design. He’ll discuss how a minimal color palette can act as a guide, helping people through a design, and how lines and shapes add structure and style.
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We’re at a point now where restaurants can no longer be reluctant or stingy about improving their digital presence. And, as a web designer, this should get you excited. The restaurant industry has begun to undergo a major digital transformation. Those that want to survive will need a website that can handle the new way of operating, which means they can no longer afford to hold onto that cheap website they built for themselves years ago. And this spells big opportunities for web designers interested in working in the space.
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The ancients can teach us a thing or two about design — even web design. The Roman architect Vitruvius had buildings in mind when laying out his golden triad, but its principles are just as applicable to the web as they are to brick and mortar. Today’s article is about architecture, and how some of its core tenets apply to the worldwide web. Architectural terms are not unusual in web development, and for good reason. In many ways, web developers are digital architects. Today, Frederick O’Brien will focus on Vitruvius, a Roman architect, and how his principles can and should be applied to websites.
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Stress isn’t just something that makes people feel uncomfortable. It stimulates the urge to “fight” or “flight”. The very last thing you want is to design a website that stresses visitors out, leading them to dread the experience or abandon it entirely. There are many things that might invoke this response from your visitors, including the design. In the following guide, we’re going to look at some ways to de-stress your design.
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Constructing an equivalent experience may mean changing the way you think about development and design, and potentially reevaluating your existing work. In this article, Eric Bailey will discuss learning how to embrace an equivalent, inclusive mindset. He will also provide practical, robust ways to improve your websites and web apps by providing solutions to common, everyday barriers cited by the people he interviewed.
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These days, product companies seem more interested in refining interfaces and simplifying user experiences. In this ninth issue of Inspired Design Decisions, Andy Clarke will explain how studying the work of Max Huber — one of the less well known but most distinguished Swiss designers — will teach you how to turn mundane subjects into exciting visual communication.
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The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. In this article, Eric Olive will offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction.
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A landing page is a standalone webpage created to support a specific marketing campaign or targeting a particular search term. They are where users “land” when they click a link in search results, email or an ad. In this article, Paul Boag will show you how to create a compelling landing page, which involves a combination of clear focus, persuasive copy, considered design and relentless testing. Without all four your page will fail.
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In this eighth issue of Inspired Design Decisions, Andy Clarke will explain how learning about American graphic designer and typographer Herb Lubalin has transformed his approach to typography on the web. How can we combine elements to develop powerful headers and calls to action? How do we use pre-formatted HTML text, and the text element in SVG for precise control over type? How can we optimise SVGs and make SVG text accessible? In this article, we’ll explore just that.
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