Blog of Sebastian Kaiser @sebastian-kaiser - Tumblr Blog

This is what many german speaking people think is great web design. However, I guess they missunderstood something ;)

What makes a truly great logo

Logos are basically the face of a company and have to work in tiny and huge size. There a three specific types. The wordmark, the pictorial logo and abstract iconography.

Wordmarks consist just of text. Pictorial logos are represent the company’s name in a picture. Like e.g. the apple logo represents the company apple. Abstract iconographies are logos that do not directly correspond to the company’s name because they are indeed abstract. These logos are nothing the day they are drawn. It’s all about making the logo stand for its own caused through marketing. The goal is that it makes you immediately think of the company when you see this abstract shape that you’re normally referring to nothing. One example for this is the Nike swoosh.

Lately there a new 4th category has come up: The logo system. It is a graphical framework that can have endless permutations. Examples for this are the MTV logo that is used in so many different variation and also google with its different doodles, which show the google logo in combination with certain persons or things and often animated.

But to conclude, it might not really matter what your logo especially is. It can be anything but the point is it needs to have long live (not just should be discussed shortly but then are buried in oblivion). At the beginning a logo can be considered an empty vessel where you need to pour water in to make it live long. It’s all about a good marketing appearance after e.g. the ideal of Nike.

source video: YouTube

#logo design

2016 Logo Design Trends

The art and science of logo design is continuously changing as businesses can now engage consumers in an increasing number of digital channels. The frequency of engagement is increasing at a rapid rate, while the quality of engagement has become more inclusive, more personal.

source: justcreative.com

Using White Space in Design

Making use of white space is one of the most important principles in design. Therefore it is just as important when it comes to creating websites.

Having places without other elements in design is the key-way to pull everything together with a seamless visual flow. It does not necessarily have to be white space but just space in general. If you take a look of most well designed current websites you mainly notice just a background and a logo with maybe very little text (and a menu of course). So there is lots of space and this simplification makes it look professional if used correctly. Too much elements and text is distracting and makes the visitor of a site wanna leave. Across-the-board, in web-design as well in all other fields the KISS (Keep it simple and straightforward) principle is a golden rule. The goal is to tell the visitor what he should be coming to know in the fastest way there is. One picture and one headline often will be sufficing for the landing page. The other information should then be well packaged in the other content of the site, piece by piece and never too much as well.

All in all, white space is not something we can easily forget. It should be used it to create a grand design and to make a statement. Make white space a priority!!!

article source: designmodo.com

Facebook is eating the world

In the digital age social media sites have proved to become the most used sites on the web. However, they got so powerful that everything happens within them. It’s not just about sharing private stuff with other people it’s about news the whole world. Social media punctiliously hasn’t just swallowed journalism, it has also swallowed political campaigns, banking systems, personal histories, the leisure industry, retail, even government and security. The phone in our pocket is our portal to the world. I think in many ways this presages enormously exciting opportunities for education, information, and connection, but it brings with it a host of contingent existential risks.

Social media and platform companies took over what publishers couldn’t have built even if they wanted to.

Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Snapchat and emerging messaging app companies, have become extremely powerful in terms of controlling who publishes what to whom, and how that publication is monetized.

People spent most of their time on social media platforms when using their phone and at the moment the reach of Facebook is far greater than any other social platform.

To sum up, we can see that Facebook (or social media in general) has taken part in nearly all sectors of life and metaphorically eats the world.

article source: cjr.com

#social revolution

Speculative and Critical Design

Speculative and Critical Design are alternative forms of design besides the mainstream design.

The world we live in today is incredibly complex, our social relations, desires, fantasies, hopes and fears are quite different from those at the beginning of the 20th century. Yet many key ideas informing mainstream design come from the early 20th century. So withing speculative and critical design both is combined.

Speculative and Critical Design are approaches in design which are quite powerful for imaging new possibilities and to confront complex Problems.

The goal of speculative design is to generate new visions and new ways of dealing with the unknown and the ambiguous.

Critical design is more of an attitude than anything else, a position rather than a method and its goal is to create a design without a happy ending. It tends to create friction, dilemmas, debates and questions.

Critical design is mainly there to make us think. But it also raises awareness, exposes assumptions, provokes action, sparks debate or even entertains in an intellectual kind of way, like literature or film.

Both forms create open proposals and also help us to free our imagination and create a framework for discussion.

Critical and speculative design projects seem especially appropriate not just for “communicating” science but for generating big public debates and also at the same time some level of joint learning through discussion.

To conclude, I think that it would be great to focus public projects that approach science to citizens in a critical way by making use of speculative and critical design attitudes so that they can learn by debating, reflecting and thinking.

article source: co-creating-cultures.com

#speculative design critical design

Understanding Immediate and Anticipated Emotions in Landing Pages

The first page to which a user gets to when he accesses your site is of course the most important. The reason for this is because the landing page is represents the factor that decides whether the user stays on your site or leaves it.

This phenomenon is caused by immediate emotion. Therefore the best way to lure someone on your page is to think in a psychological way when designing your landing page. What could capture your user most, in connection with what you provide on your site?

The most important point about attracting people immediately is to have a visually attractive landing page. Cool photos are always good. A video can however even be more captivating.

In addition, it is vital to get to the point extremely quickly with making a clear demonstration of the product on your photos or in your video. It may be the best to show situations in life where the product is used by real and happy people so that the user gets the impression that he also needs this to be happy.

Another rule is to reduce to a minimum. When using text, stay concise and also try to address the psyche. Other content should also be immediately comprehensible.

To conclude, we all know that focusing on benefits instead of features it the way to go. Benefits are a great way to speak directly to a person’s emotions and therefore are best to use on landing pages.

article source: Designmondo

#emotions #landing page

When someone asks a designer about his job...

Wireframing, Prototyping, Mockuping – What’s the Difference?

Weather someone is speaking of a prototype, a wireframe or a mock-up of a website, one thing is clear: the person talks about a certain form of representation of the final product, the final website. However, these terms do not mean exactly the same.

Wireframes are the most basic form of a website-representation. They are quite low fidelity and are just made to give and get an impression what exactly the site should do or what there should be shown, without even showing some of the content. One can work with boxes and text to describe interactions and the like. It is used as a documentation of the project and shows the design in a clear way so that web-developers can go further with it.

A prototype is a simulation of the final interaction between the user and the interface and is used for user testing in the UX-sector. It’s not just a sketchy thing like a wireframe and should already be kind of similar with the final site.

Mock-ups also (nearly) represent the final site but they demonstrate the functions in a static way, without interaction. So they are visual representations of what the user will see on the screen.

In many cases all those three steps need to be done. Nevertheless, for me personally Mock-ups are the best way to have as a reference for the actual site, maybe because prototypes are kind of too advanced for me and wireframes too lifeless.

article source: Designmodo

#mockup #wireframe #prototype

Use Desire Lines to Evolve Your Product, not Restrict Your Users

It is in the nature of humans to always find the easiest way for doing or achieving something. Especially in our capitalistic society where people follow the guiding principle of “time is money”, our need is to find the fastest ways and short cuts all the time.

When it comes to designing a product (or a website) this thought should always go along with the actual designing process. It needs to be efficient since people are lazy. The goal is not to put something across as detailed as possible but to make the target group get what they should get the fastest way as possible.

In the field of UX Design it is so important to get as many reviews as possible to avoid unnecessary obstacles and implement the functions the straightest way possible.

These faster ways of achieving goals are called desire lines because it is our desire to get from point A to point B as quick as feasible (in straight lines). It is the same with paths in the nature where people tale short cuts although there are official paths because of the mentioned immanent nature of being efficient.

To conclude, the article has opened my eyes that I now will skimp in all my projects because normally I tend to go the long way and try to embroider without having in mind that people will get bored if something is too long or if they don’t get to the goal they want to reach the fastest way.

article soure: medium.com

#desire lines

Mockups for my Portfolio

#web design

Design in Tech

For all of us who use a computer or mobile device, great design is changing how we live and work. Nowadays there is an intersection of design, business, and technology that prevails. In his “Design in Tech” report John Maeda talks about design trends revolutionizing the entrepreneurial and corporate ecosystems.

In Design you don’t just have the focus on aesthetic looking because it is about business thinking, about market relevance and meaningful results as well. Design is not about pretty– it’s about experience too.

One could say that the capacity of creativity has been turned into a value, a monetary value.

Maeda says that creative people are curious and it’s about inclusion in many other segments like especially economy.

In our modern world everything has to be fine designed (as a self-evident standard), otherwise people don’t want to use it.

At this time, the Design Industry is so far ahead of education that it is not able anymore to teach Design correctly but with the missing knowledge can be researched easily online because every designer should be a good self-learner. So the education should be rethought when the designers in the tech industry increase at the same time.

Maeda also states the fact that today’s startup companies are driven by work in the research labs from decades ago

Finally, the general word “design” will come to mean less as we will start to qualify the specific kind of design we mean.

In my opinion, John Maeda has some really good points regarding the future of design, which is very important in this fast-changing industry.

The source Video: Here on YouTube

#design #technology

Prevention of making people leave a site quickly

Hamburger menus are quite popular at the moment and I also like them personally, especially with the mobile phone they are good to use.

Yet, it is not always the right way to implement such a navigation just cause it’s trendy because sometimes such a hidden hamburger menu can literally hide some functions that are vital and should therefore be as findable as possible. For creating a great websites the main focus lies in combining modern design with easily usable functions. For sure, the menu is an important part of the site because it is your navigation and should be as intuitive and comprehensible as feasible.

When it comes to such questions it is important to do intensive User experience studies and get as much feedback as you can get. I guess making a website perfectly user-friendly s one of the hardest things to do within web design. Working experience may be really important regarding this subject.

To conclude, one shouldn’t hide important functions into the website’s menu. They have to be on the screen when the users need them.

article source: uxstudio

#user experience #user interfce design #user-friendly website

Web Design Trends for 2016. Quite helpful/ interesting!!!

Working as a Graphic Designer

Actually I didn't know quite much about the facts of working in the graphic design industry although I'd like to become. The article "Who Are Graphic Designers, Anyways?" gave me some nice insights, although it's only about the UK & US. I am surprised that there is such a big gender pay gap regarding this Job, since I knew also many females are working as graphic designer and thought therefore it would be paid quite equally.

The fact that most graphic Designers are considered to be “overworked and Underpaid, but Largely undeterred” is not such a good motivation for getting part of this industry, but I guess with passion, accuracy and good references the job will be fine. It is for certain that the income often can be unpredictable because it depends on the number of assignments one gets and also on the companies that give you the assignment. In Addition it's kind of a flexible job because you can determine on your own whether you work a lot and earn more or chill down for one month.

It is mentioned that graphic designers enjoy critical but of course constructive feedback, which I can totally agree with because it is so important to get as many people to judge your work because it should appeal to a rank and file and not only to yourself as a designer.

Finally it is cool that this domain is ruled by creative, ambitious young people mostly in their twenties, but on the other side it makes you think about why that is the case, hopefully not because many die early because of excessive labor or involving coke abuse.

source: fastcodesign.com

#graphic design #job

Great websites that use material design!!!

For Explanation purposes:

Material design is a design language by Google. Expanding upon the "card" motifs that debuted in Google Now, Material Design makes more liberal use of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and depth effects such as lighting and shadows.

#material design

Landing page design is a tough gig which focuses more on snazzy design coupled with smooth page copy. In order to sell a product or service you really need to draw people into the site. This means colorful graphics and well-placed typography can make all the difference in converting new customers. This gallery is perfect …

some inspiring creative web design

#web design #creativityrules

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Blog of Sebastian Kaiser