Posts Tagged ‘design’

Colors bring out an emotional response in everyone – and while it may not be the same emotion in all of us, there are some commonly accepted ties to certain colors. Pulling a small segment from a 2004 article written by Naz Kaya, Ph.D. and Helen H. Eppds, Ph.D., professors from the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors at The University of Georgia:

The color red has been associated with excitement, orange has been perceived as distressing and upsetting, purple as dignified and stately, yellow as cheerful, and blue has been associated with comfort and security. Moreover, some colors may be associated with several different emotions and some emotions are associated with more than one color. Red, symbolically known as a dominant and dynamic color, has an exciting and stimulating hue effect. It has both positive and negative impressions such as active, strong, passionate, warm, but on the other hand aggressive, bloody, raging and intense. Green has been found to have a retiring and relaxing effect. It too has both positive and negative impressions such as refreshment, quietness, naturalness, and conversely tiredness and guilt. – Relationship between color and emotion: a study of college students

The article goes further in depth to analyze the difference in reaction to principle hues (i.e., red, yellow, green, blue, purple), intermediate hues (i.e., yellow-red, green-yellow, blue-green, purple-blue, and red-purple), and achromatic colors (white, gray, and black). While it is not necessary to go into this level of analysis when choosing colors for a website design, the understanding of colors is imperative for a successful response to your design.

Before taking on any new web design project, I always follow these three steps to choose the colors for a website:

1. What am I trying to sell? Selling fluffy pillows needs different colors than selling chainsaws – and not just because they appeal to different genders. The product or the service will be a huge determinant in the colors that you choose because of the emotion you need to product to incite. There are many products that people will not buy without a connection – and others, they want to feel as disconnected as possible when purchasing. Knowing the difference will help in choosing the colors.
2. What type of person will visit this site? As different as men and women are in their color choice – so are different types of women. A teenage female, a college age female and a mother of 4 will all react to colors differently. So it is not enough to just define the gender or basic age group – you must get down to the details. For some sites, they may appeal to many generations and all genders, which can make design difficult, but needs to be understood to have any chance of getting it right.
3. What do I want the visitors to feel when they see the site? Some sites, you want them to immediately react. Some, you want them to browse and feel welcome. Still others, you need to get them to share the information. We are accustomed to reacting to colors in traditional manners. Red, yellow and green have (and will always be) associated with stoplights. Therefore, most people will see stop, caution and go, when they see the primary versions. But what if you make them tones of the colors? It changes the reaction!

Once I have determined the product, the person and the action for the site, then I can move onto picking the colors. When I need to play with colors, I most often work in photoshop. I create 5 boxes (the average color palette for a site is only 5 colors, not including black or white), and make each one a different color. I play and test them until I get a set of 5 that I like the shade and the combination. But, there are also a lot of great free tools you can use to do the same thing! I recommend checking out:

1. 0 to 255 This is a great tool for finding shades of a color. For example, say you love this color pink but you want to turn it into a gradient – and not one that goes into white. Using this tool, you just enter the hex code (the six digit number that starts with # that defines any color) and it gives you the entire shade scale – like this! Then, you can choose any other color and then turn it into your gradient.
2. Kuler from Adobe Do you have trouble knowing which colors go together? Then kuler is your hero. Simply click “create” and place the hex code of a color you want to start with in the center box. Then, using the different rules, you can create a color palette that matches perfectly! Personally, I love using the complimentary and compound rules for websites. You can also look at other user created palettes for inspiration if you are feeling really stuck.
3. Colour Lovers I get lost in this site very easily – there is so much to do! From creating a color palette or seamless background , to browsing other users designs, I can spend hours on here. I recommend checking it out when you have a lot of free time, just so you can get used to it and find out everything that really exists. My favorite piece of the site? Trends! It shows color palettes for some of the most popular clothing fashions, web and print designs.

What do you think about colors? How did you pick your site colors? Let’s talk!

Are you looking to hire a web designer for your website or blog? You probably want this to be an easy process, and want it to go as smoothly as possible, right? Well then I suggest avoiding these 5 steps to pissing off your designer:

1. Don’t tell them what you want. Every (good) designer has a questionnaire they fill out about their clients. This includes what they want in the site, who their customers are, and all the important details that will make the design a rousing success without too many revisions. Unfortunately, designers are not mind readers, and unless you are willing to answer some questions and provide some details then the design is off to a bad start.
2. Don’t be available. A web design takes conversation. It takes revisions, it takes discussion and it certainly takes your approval. If your designer emails you for your thoughts on an image or a revision, and you take a week to get back to them, how do you expect the design to get completed in a timely manner? Just like you appreciate prompt replies, so does your designer. Being accessible during the process guarantees it will go much more effectively.
3. Change your mind 20 times. Having an idea in the middle of the project, and wanting to add something small is perfectly acceptable, and expected. Changing your mind every 10 minutes about the big details? Not okay. Before you hire someone, make sure that you are ready to let them design and have a clear understanding of what you want. Still in the “trying to get some clue of what I want” phase, make sure to let the designer know! Many are very willing to help with this, but need to know where you stand.
4. Bring in everyone you know to review the site. The designer knows you want the site to be perfect, so do they. Despite what you may think, the designer want your site to seriously rock. Wanna know why? Because a happy client is a client who will refer. So the designer is going to make a site that will work, looks good and covers all the bases. So when you bring in everyone from your business partner to your mother to review the site, it is a little frustrating and tells the designer one thing: You don’t actually trust the designer you hired to do a good job.
5. Ask for flash. Really, it’s that simple. If you want flash, call a flash designer. If you want a website that is gorgeous, easy to navigate and SEO friendly, then call a web designer.

So, remember, when it is time to hire a designer, we are your friends. We want you to have a killer site that works awesome and looks great. So trust us. We’re the professionals.

Last night I spoke at a Women in Business meet-up on the topic of blogging, twitter and facebook for small business. The event was a lot of fun, and I met a lot of wonderful women. At the end of the event, I had a few of the people ask me what I charge for my services and I couldn’t give them a straight answer. I know that this was frustrating for some of the women, but it was an honest answer. I explained that my prices vary based on the level of services needed, the size of the commitment, and the technical involvement. This, of course, was no more helpful as it still didn’t define my prices, but again, it was an honest answer. Finally, after realizing that this was not an answer they were happy with, I gave them price ranges, and explained that to give a truly valid price quote that I needed a lot more information from them. I could tell this still wasn’t exactly what they wanted, but it would have to do.

When I got home, I started thinking about my answers, and the way that products and services are priced. In most cases, you can look at a product and the prices are plainly printed on the tag (unless you’re in a city that likes the whole “let’s negotiate” system), so you don’t have any questions about the cost. Unfortunately, when it comes to most services, there is no easy answer to “what do you charge”. An automotive technician can give you an idea of the initial cost before looking at your car based on what you tell them, but until they look under the hood or inside the dash, there is no way to give a concrete answer. It is the same thing in my business – as much as I would love to say a web design costs x amount and blog management costs y, that is neither fair nor realistic. The benefit to the way that services are priced is that there’s no one-size fits all pricing, which means that a client will never pay more than they have to for exactly what they need. The downside is that the client is really at the mercy of the service provider, since there are no published prices to determine if they are getting the same price as another person.

I believe in the system that I use – pricing a project only after I have thoroughly understood what is needed. But, there are many people I know in my industry who have flat rate pricing because it is “easier”. I have heard the positive and negatives on both sides, and have my own thoughts, but want to hear yours:

What do you think about the pricing on services?

Do you struggle with pricing your services?

**Unsure why the title only has one word? Read my stand against blog titles.**

Your website design speaks volumes about your business, no matter the business you are in. Unfortunately, I think this message is getting lost. I have had more conversations than I can count that end with “I don’t need a high end site design, people in my industry don’t care what my site looks like.”

This just isn’t true!

I’ve talked before about what makes a good blog design, since this is the type of design I offer most often. But, most of the ideas in the post hold true for all design types. No matter the industry, your website is the one of the first things that a potential client sees. More people than ever are going online to research companies before working with them – and whether you want to believe it, the minute they hit your site, they start to judge you. Your website needs to be clean, well put together, easy to use, and for lack of a better term – glamorous! When potential clients visit your site, you want them to want to stay and look around. You want them to read more, check out more, and learn more. But if your site is hard to use, doesn’t look appealing and isn’t welcoming, they won’t stay long.

Whether you are involved with furniture, finance or film, your site needs to show that you know what your doing.

Luckily, there are a 3 easy ways to make sure that your site looks and feels more professional:

1. Make sure that your colors work together. Tools like Kuler from adobe (free!), allow you to enter one color and it gives you other colors in that color palette. You can also use an image to create an entire palette from, which protects you from choosing clashing colors.
2. Choose fonts that are easy to read and look professional. The cleaner the font, the easier it is to read and the more professional it looks. While I am a proponent for a ‘fun’ font mixed in, the main writing on your font should be classic. And please, whatever you do, avoid Comic Sans and Papyrus!
3. Leave lots of white space. White space refers to the the blank (called white but is whatever color your background is) area between paragraphs, lines or images. White space is what opens up a page, makes it easy to read, and eliminates the feeling of being overcrowded. Simply put, white space is your friend.

Thoughts?

I am not a creative snob, I don’t think it is reserved to one area of life. I love it in almost every form, the only thing I ask in creativity is that it is easily accessible to the masses. I want the world to be able to see it (even if they can’t afford to own it). I also tend to find certain pieces, designers or styles of work that I love and stick with them…so when I am looking for a creative jolt, I will look at their work, in whichever form I can, and enjoy the new focus it brings. Here are just a few of my favorites, divided by their genre.

When I want to be astonished by great websites, I always turn to Smashing Magazine. Their inspiration section is filled with designs from all over the world, and I find it so interesting to see the trends. While I would never copy someone’s work, I do often find new ideas that I can tweak to work into my clients designs. My most recent find? A new trend in fabric backgrounds…leather, silk, etc. I am looking forward to trying those out on a new clients site!

If print advertising is what I need, I love Communication Arts. It is a submission based magazine (thick enough to be a book!) of interesting pieces of work. I love their advertising series, as the photoshop work and taglines are just so incredible. I know how much effort it takes to get a design from start to finish, so to see all these completed pieces is not only inspiring creatively, but helps me to put my goals into perspective. If I get to the point where I feel that I am ‘rushing’ my designs, I can look at the work here, and realize that good design takes time…and it helps me to slow down my process to make sure it is the best. While I don’t do any print work, the freedom of expression found in many of the pieces is still motivating.

On a different side of the coin, I have many designers that I love, but only two have ever taken my breath away. In shoes, it is Christian Louboutin (his site is actually very cool as well). His designs are so clean, most are very simple, but each is so beautifully hand crafted and perfected that he has me head over heels (hahaha!) for his work. While I don’t any any of his creations (yet!), I have two pairs of his shoes that I desperately desire…a pair of simple nude pumps that make you look anything but simple (top picture) and a pair of over the top, beyond glamorous, completely impractical and oh so perfect for me, pink, sparkly pumps. Both are very simple in their structure, but their details, material and design make then anything but. Unfortunately with a combined price tag of almost $2k…I’m just dreaming right now.

In clothing, no designer for women can hold a candle to Diane von Furstenberg. I own one of her suits (in pink, of course!) and every time I put it on, I feel different. It’s powerful. Just like the rest of her designs. They are all colorful, creative, and unique (my favorite one is on that link) without being too over the top. I love to watch crazy runway fashion but it doesn’t inspire me like a piece you could actually imagine wearing. She makes women feel gorgeous without having to be scantily clad, and she never ceases to amaze me with the way she uses fabrics…

Photography amazes me. Especially because I have zero skill whatsoever when it comes to cameras. There are many great sites dedicated to photographers, but I don’t really like looking at it on the web. So when I need my photography fix, I wander into my bedroom, where this piece by Thomas Mangelson, hangs on the wall. Standing in front of the photo, you can almost feel the fur on his nose, and his eyes have about 11 different shades of colors, beautiful and intricate. The picture is so simple, but you feel something the minute you look at it. It has raw power and a cool strength that gives me motivation on a tough day.

Do you have certain places you turn for creative inspiration?

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

I often get the comment that I don’t act my age – that I carry myself with many more years – and most people are surprised when I tell them how old I am. I have been like this pretty much since the day I was born, but was never more apparent than in May of 1989. When I finished private kindergarten with the aforementioned Mrs. Gitlin, my parents thought I was ready to go to public school and start first grade. Unfortunately, state regulations required that I be 5 years old by mid September if I was to start first grade that year, and I wouldn’t be 5 until December. Rather than accept defeat and stick me in kindergarten for another year, my parents approached the principal of my school. The principal agreed to put my into one of the current kindergarten classes as they still had a couple more weeks of school before summer break. She would let the teacher gauge how I did and would determine it after that. Well, as I mentioned on Tuesday, I have always been precocious, and not afraid to be a little outspoken. The teacher quickly saw that I not only had a handle on my conversational and relationship skills, but I was already reading. It was a quick decision from that point to allow me to start first grade in the fall, despite the age thing. In 1989, this was just a little thing, but it was the first stepping stone in my maturity and ability to handle situations above my age. My one thought to anyone who has kids getting to school age? Don’t let the schools or regulations tell you what they are ready for…let it be determined by your child’s demeanor.

At the same time I was awaiting my fate of whether or not I would start first grade, Nintendo released the first Game Boy, making sure no child, teen or adult who had $179 to spend would ever go outside again (kidding)! But, in all seriousness, the release of the game boy permanently altered technology and media history – and the advances that came because of this product have changed the world as we know it. Think about where we are today with portable gaming, laptops and cell phones. I still remember my first cell phone. All it did was call and text. No pictures, no apps, no open source tools. And definitely no cool graphics. Now, I have my email, my football team and my life in the palm of my hand. Not to mention full color graphics and streaming video. All of this technology was developed out of the need to take a step above the competition and I can only imagine what the competition will come up with in the next 20 years.

The goal of today’s post from problogger about link posts is to promote link sharing and traffic. He suggests multiple types of posts that you can do with a link – expanding, taking another side, pointing out good advice, etc. One of the suggestions was to find someone that you admire, or appreciate and write a bit about them and link to their site. It gives people not only a reason to go visit them, but a glimpse into the people you associate with as well.

Today’s post is dedicated to Kyle Reddoch, the amazing gentleman that coded my incredible design for this site. He has been not only a great coder, but easy to work with. I have yet to meet him in person, but we have talked numerous times on the phone as well as through our social networks. Kyle’s web expert blog (which I have contributed to a couple of times) is alwasy full of great ideas for web design and web tools. I know that I can always expect the most up-to-date facts about the web, as well as a bit of humor. His most recent article about browser caching was not only interesting but eye-opening. Being on the graphics side, I never really thought about it – and never thought about how to stop it (definitely worth reading). Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit about Kyle and send me a link-thanks for coding my site!

Creativity is not to be taken for granted, it is not something you ‘have’ it is something that you must work at, and practice, to keep strong. I practice my creativity daily, by writing, twittering, designing and researching. I am always trying to find new, unique ways to practice my creativity. One of my favorite ways is to pick a photo from flickr, and create a marketing campaign for a product, using the image. I don’t do it for work, or because I have to, but because it helps my mind to stay sharp and think outside of the box. So, I figured I would let you all try it with me today. Here is the image that I chose:

And here are the questions you have to answer:

1. What product would you use this image for
2. What would the tagline be for the product
3. Where would you promote it (web, billboard, tv, etc)
4. What would you expect people to visualize when they saw the image
5. What other colors would you use with the image
6. What fonts would be great to use with the image

Please leave your answers to any or all of the questions in the comments. I will be interested to see what you choose to use the image for, and what you can picture!

*photo courtesy of Flickr – mandj98