I Need Sugar now on tumblr.
Last week we announced that we had moved Say Yeah’s website to tumblr. Today, we’re announcing I Need Sugar now has a refreshed site, also running on tumblr.
The original 2009 I Need Sugar website was designed before there was a logo, so the move to tumblr was more than just a behind the scenes switch. With a design refresh called for, the site now also supports flickr, facebook and Twitter widgets.
See it in action: http://ineedsugar.com
Our Value Pricing deck from last week’s NXNE Interactive panel.
Last week we had the pleasure of joining Sam Ladner, Jon Lax and our moderator Simon Conlin on a NXNE panel discussion about value pricing. Abolish The Hourly was a well attended session and, from on stage, appeared to be capture the audience. I suppose any time you challenge the status quo, people take notice. But this topic is really nothing new, though it may be somewhat foreign to the creative services industry.
Towards better readability on the Web.
Proponents of Web font options have been given a boost with @font-face, Typekit and now Google’s support with the Google Font Directory (of course, in Google ubiquitous Beta). However, the greatest barrier to Web legibility is not typefaces but rather screen size.
So why so quiet?
We have tons of stuff we’re looking forward to sharing with you but we’ve been so swamped lately we’ve ended up being terribly neglectful. I’ve even got a half written blog post on the sketchy iTunes 9 GUI, which will sadly not likely see the light of day (it’s too late to bother now, right?). So, if we’ve been so quiet over the summer, what have we been up to?
UI exploration: Improving date and time entry.
While we’re plugging away on the next update to the Events Calendar, I thought it would be fun to walk through the process we took while designing the new time entry elements used when adding or editing an event in the calendar.
Facebook Cookbook Review
A good technical book will achieve two goals: inform and inspire. Now, a great technical book, that will motivate. It will force you to act. Not out of obligation, but with verve that’s usually reserved for a kid in a candy shop. And the Facebook Cookbook is motivating as hell.
Vector version of Safari 4 for your web mockups.
Yesterday we published an article on designing websites in Illustrator. There was a link at the end of that article for a vector version of Safari 4 for use in mockups, portfolios, and any other safe and respectable use you can think of. Here’s that link so you don’t have to scroll through the on pixel discussion:
Yes, we use Illustrator when designing websites.
I personally don’t understand why anyone would use a photo editing program to design a website, but I also recognize we’re in the minority here. So here are some reasons why we use Illustrator when we’re designing websites, along with some tips and assets to help you do the same.
Working towards a better experience.
No matter what type of system you’re building, be it a website, web app or desktop app, user testing is a vital tool that will allow you to identify problems in your system and help you build a better experience for your users.
It’s not necessarily a costly and time consuming endeavor. In fact, a few friends and some food may be all you need to get some great insight on how to improve your system.
Here are some introductory tips to help you get started towards building a better experience for your users with the help of user testing. Note that I’m using the term ‘website’ to describe a project or system, but this process can be applied to any activity that requires user interaction.
The More You Know, The Better Your Work at flyosity.com.
Mike Rundle has posted a great article on the value of knowing your medium. The article is focused on user experience design for the web, but it applies to all mediums.
In addition to the examples that Mike provides in his article, I’d like to add that a designer who creates printed material knows the constraints of their medium. Print designers need to take into account the size of their canvas - is it a billboard or business card? They need to know technical limitations of the printer - is the process digital or press? Are my images at a sufficient resolution? The list goes on. You can’t effectively design for any medium without an understanding of how it works.
Mike’s article is in response to an article by Lukas Mathis which argues that designers who code (or at least know how to code) can negatively impact the design process. It’s worth a read, though I personally disagree with his theory.
I’d argue that because Lukas is both designer and coder he’s able to identify the issues that arise from being multi disciplinary. He’s not, however, taking into account the issues that arise from knowing too little about your target medium, which presents a host of other issues.
