Design News & Articles

Adobe (news, site) has pulled at the heartstrings of creatives everywhere with an early demo of Photoshop on the iPad.

Today's keynote for DrupalCon 2011 couldn't have been more appropriate. Usability guru Jared Spool spoke on The Unintuitive Nature of Creating Intuitive Designs. Most web CMSs and related technologies struggle with this issue. If you want to do better, read on.

When you think of your content strategy, are stories a part of the user experience? Randall Snare, Elizabeth McGuane of iQ Content thinks that telling stories should be a major component of your sales strategy.

As web content management systems are adopted by broader numbers of organizations, content producers should demand tools that can (at the individual article level) provide content-appropriate, customizable and compelling design, said designer Greg Wood in a presentation at the ExpressionEngine/CodeIgniter 2010 conference Wednesday in San Francisco.

A few weeks ago we took a look at the free tools available for conducting usability testing. While free is always welcome, using free products or services can have limitations. When looking at paid options, however, making a decision can be complicated. Recently we had the opportunity to talk with Clicktale, one of the major players in the usability game, about their product, its features and how it can help companies improve their site’s design and user experience.

When Adobe released its Creativity Suite 4, it was designed to make it easier to design websites that combine different types of media. With the recent launch of Adobe’s Creativity Suite 5, the aim is to improve creative editorial workflows and analytics; while offering some cool new design, video and photography tools.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

With the advent of Software as a Service (Saas), it's surprising that more browser-based options for web development don't exist. Which is what makes Platformic (news, site) so unique. Not only does it offer a browser-based web development strategy, its platform combines web design with content management.

Recently we spoke with Mark Underhill, Chief Technology Officer at Platformic about their many innovative features. The essence of Platformic 3.0 is that it lets designers, developers and laypeople use the same tools to make exciting designs, offer new media and dynamic content to users who demand it.

Zimplit (news, site) adds a further update for its easy-as-pie website creation system, making it the simplest design system to come out Estonia, and possibly anywhere.

Conversations start on the web.

Customers often have their first interaction with companies on the web. Their actions can be guided effectively if designers can understand how customers act, on what they are naturally inclined to click and ultimately what they are wont to purchase.

Thank goodness designers can turn to decades of research in social psychology, behavioral economics and human decision making to help them make strategic design decisions.

Are you a designer looking for clients? Or are you looking for a designer but don't know where to begin? Meet 99designs. 

99designs, one of the largest design competition marketplaces, has a platform that allows graphic designers and their clients to crowdsource. Lucky for you, they will be demonstrating the platform at the San Francisco New Tech Meetup, one of San Francisco's largest and longest running technology event and community group.

Quantifying design is a concept that many consider blasphemous. Yet, we realize that the value of design is under scrutiny. Often we are asked “what is the value of good design?” or “how much does good design cost?” As we know, ‘good design’ is subjective and can vary greatly, depending upon your organization, audience and product.

To better understand what ‘good design’ is, it’s best to evaluate if your design is fulfilling the needs of its users. To help simplify the process and to outline useful design strategies, the folks at Rosenfeld Media offer Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior.

There’s a new competition in town that seeks to award design and its impact on community. The Spark Awards, entering its second year, is focused on designed change.

Change for the better: studied, researched, cognizant of criteria like sustainability, suitability, context, inventiveness, process, universality—and yes, beauty.

Any good web publisher knows that it isn’t just content that keep readers reading and visitors returning. Interface design can be just as important as quality content. A bad website design can drive your audience away or seriously erode their confidence, just as they’re coming through the door.

More than 88% of Internet users believe they are served poor content on the Web, according to an online poll conducted by Webcopyplus.

Redesign is classic organization-centric thinking. It rarely has much to do with making things better for the customer.