When you think of the phrase "The customer is always right", your mind may immediately go to an unsatisfied "Karen" screaming demands at an overworked cashier or customer service manager. However, this phrase extends beyond the service industry into other fields. As graphic designers, we often feel the pressure of know-it-all clients, with visions well outside the scope of reality. Don't get this wrong, client feedback is amazing and necessary. However, when push comes to shove, sometimes the client is just flat wrong. What one may call "creative differences" another may see as "I want it my way". It's always a tough balancing act to merge what the client wants and what lives up to design standards. It's not just the service industry, even professions like Graphic Design fall into the mindset of "The client is always right". We all want happy clients (and being paid is a nice bonus too), but getting there can often mean sacrificing good design for a client's demands. Plus, caving to every single client request can sabotage the entire design. We are all capable of playing Simon Says with our clients, but we need to learn when to say no. The client is not always right and that's ok!
The best logos are designed using principles of proportion and symmetry. Illustrated below, you can see how both the Apple logo and the Twitter logo utilize circles of proportionate values as well as symmetry to create a pleasing, balanced aesthetic quality.
Your logo has to maintain its integrity and serve its purpose no matter what the use. A good designer will understand all this and create a logo that works in all situations. He or she will also take into consideration any other branding elements, like textures or patterns, that are part of your brand and create a logo that complements them.
A logo should not only reflect the company for which it stands; it should reflect its target audience, too. If your audience is middle-aged male gun owners who take part in the annual deer hunting season, your logo should be designed to appeal to them, with elements that suggest things like ruggedness, nature/outdoors, camaraderie, strength, etc.
If you design your logo in a vector environment to start, you'll be saving yourself a lot of heartache later. Using vector graphics software such as Adobe Illustrator or a logo maker like Looka will set you up for success in this regard.
Imagine this: You design your logo on your laptop at your home office. Then, you implement your new logo on your website. Someone in your department complains that the logo has "too many warm tones" even though your laptop is clearly showing a logo with cool tones. You print out the logo as a test and find out there's a third variation of the color altogether. Unfortunately, you already ordered paint for the office that's supposed to match this color that you thought was another color.
On the flip side, you do have more control over everything that happens in your app. If you have a designer on the team he or she will be forever grateful for being able to go completely wild with the design without you limiting his/her possibilities by only using native controls.
Use the layout editor to design site, category and space homepages, displaying the most important or highest-traffic content prominently on the page. Access step-by-step instructions to design kickass homepages here.
In the following infographic, you will learn that the road to becoming a UI or UX designer is not a piece of cake. It requires a lot of effort, keen interest, and understanding things that are beyond graphic design. Learn what is required to get into this field, and how to specialize in it with the following guide.
Being a designer is all fun and creative but just like any other job, the design also entails some repetitive and tedious manual work. We've compiled a list of 10 of our favourite Chrome extensions that increase productivity, foster creativity, or make work more enjoyable in an effort to make your life a little bit simpler.
Finding out what font is used on a website you really like is now easier than ever. With WhatFont., you can identify the font used for any piece of design you come across in your browser simply by hovering over it.
Want to bulk download images from a web page? Well, then Image Downloader extension is all you need. This extension is indeed a time saver for designers as it allows them to browse and download images from the web with just one click.
This tool will help communication between designer and developer. Using this extension you can turn any website into a canvas and add your notes which can be later shared with the developer. Through this extension, those minor misunderstandings will be thrown away during the deployment phase.
With the help of the Unstack Style Guide Chrome extension, you can quickly and effortlessly get all the design data you require from any website, such as the brand palette, text colours, and font styles.
For the topping, first dip the cupcakes in chocolate ganache then fill a piping bag with melted white chocolate to create the spider web design. Starting in the middle of the cupcake, create a swirl leading out to the edge of the cupcake. The swirl does not need to be perfect whatsoever. Then take a toothpick or tip of a knife and drag it from the center, creating the web effect.
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All landing pages share a similar mix of components, all designed to channel a user into the exchange of their contact details for content. The mix can vary, but in most cases landing pages will have the following elements in common:
Google has created an open, white design that uses their key colors to reinforce the brand. The predominance of white puts all the emphasis on the two CTAs, which lead into a simple, step-by-step sign up process. Like the Netflix example, the process breaks up data collection into small manageable steps for the visitor on the page. The page does feature a menu system, but in the overall hierarchy of page elements, it is subtle and played down in favor of the CTAs. Messaging is simple with the headline doing all the work.
Be guided by your audience and what you know about them. Ask yourself whether the design decisions you have made are appropriate to this audience. "Is the form too long? Is it asking the right questions? Does the page have the right imagery or colors?" Question everything and validate your decisions against what you know about your audience.
Neil is co-founder and digital director at Quattro, a growth agency and Hubspot Partner specialising in inbound sales and marketing.His passion for design and tech, fuse together to create highly effective experiences, that deliver remarkable results. He is a keen advocate of GDD as the go to methodology for delivering websites and can often be found waxing lyrical about the subject alongside his other passions, web typography and craft beer.
It is impossible for me to get through an entire book without thinking how it can apply to my work and the work of interior designers. Inspiration comes from all types of books, not just non-fiction business books.
Of course, I also read a lot of business books of all types, because I think looking across industries and fields helps me see possibilities I wouldn't by staying within the confines of interior design. This allows my business to develop and grow and allows me to help you in more original ways.
You are in charge of your business. You are at the top. You must take ownership of your service, your business, your job, your employees, your subs, of every aspect of business. "Every problem in the company was indeed my fault." says Horowitz, without this mindset you will be looking to others while they look to you because, "some employees make products, some make sales, the CEO makes decisions." You are the decision maker. If you can't take ownership of what you are building, don't start a design business, or as the author says, "If you don't like choosing between horrible & cataclysmic, don't become CEO."
Pulling the wool over your own eyes is not CEO behavior. Same goes for looking the other way or ignoring situations. This will not help your company. Here are some ways you may be lying to yourself. The clients hired the other designer because they were cheaper. Despite the project being behind now, we'll still make our deadline. The contractor will show up Friday. I can make Quickbooks work for interior design. I'll just answer this one email on Sunday.
Oh boy, you're in for a treat! Ahmet Simsek's personal website is like visiting a digital gallery of creative exploration. Each project is like a unique piece of art, showing off Ahmet's design chops.
MessageBird's website feels like a cheerful chat in a cafe, all laid-back and inviting, just more purple. The simplicity of the design combined with the pops of vibrant colors is just so appealing, isn't it?
The Tokens Studio site is like walking into a minimalist design studio where everything is sleek and curated. The clean lines, neutral tones, and uncomplicated layout are all about that less-is-more philosophy.
Also, note the lack of a navigation bar or menus. This sleek one-page design jumps right to the value with no messing about. For something simple and a product that knows its value, it really doesn't have to be anything more than this!
UIGoodies is like a treasure trove for designers hunting for UI elements. One visit and you'll find yourself lost in a sea of icons, design systems, illustrations, and much more, all neatly packaged and incredibly accessible.
The website design is an intoxicating mix of colors and playful visuals that perfectly align with the fun, engagement-centric vibe. The product is showcased effectively, giving you a clear idea of what to expect.
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