Texture design

Posted by Oatmeal

Web design can be incredibly frustrating.┬? You'd think that with the infinite possibilities of what-goes-where it'd be pretty easy to land a design that works, yet somehow we've all been stuck before: working hour after hour on a design that refuses to look right.┬? Throwing away pixels like they're going out of style.┬?┬?

These 8 tactics are what I use to get out of that sticky spot.

1. Design from the inside out┬?
   
   This is some of the best advice anyone ever gave me about web design (thanks Cameron).┬? A lot of designers start off a design by focusing on the header.┬? Often times what's inside the page is what makes it look good; the header is supplementary.┬? Try leaving the header alone for awhile and working on some elements in the body, you'll be surprised at how much easier it is to design a page once you've got a solid body going.┬? The next time you're designing a header with no body imagine yourself adjusting a tie in front of the mirror, but being completely nude.┬?┬? (yikes)
   
2. Sketch something
   
   My whiteboard is my salvation.┬? Pencil and paper works too.┬?┬? I read an article years ago by a designer who would draw dozens of little 2x3" mockups in his spiral notebook before even opening up a graphic design program.┬? It helped him identify where elements were going to be placed and what options looked best .┬? The best part of creating mockups this way is the speed at which you can burn through possible layout ideas.┬? Sketch something, scribble it out.┬? Sketch something else, scribble it out.┬? Do this ten times and you've probably got a fairly decent idea of how to the page should come together.┬? I've used a few wireframe applications like Axure, but I've still found myself to be my most efficient while bathed in the saucy aroma of whiteboard markers.
   
   ┬?
   
3. Seek inspiration offline
   
   If you've paid attention to anything design related in the past two years then you've no doubt seen a few of the countless CSS galleries and design showcase websites that popped up.┬? These are excellent sources of inspiration, but sometimes a bit of offline media can be just what you need to spur some fresh ideas. ┬? Open up a newspaper or magazine, go to the grocery store and look at the packaging, watch a television ad.┬?┬? Pay attention to things that are applicable to your design such as typography, color, and element placement.┬? Ask yourself questions like "What is it I like about this magazine ad?" and "What is about this packaging that just works?"┬? There's a lot you can learn from observing traditional media.┬? A few years ago a co-worker of mine lent me a book full of Russian posters and print ads from the 1920's.┬? The lessons learned from looking at some of the material were invaluable - I was particularly impressed by how they were able to cram a ton of information into a tiny area but kept it from appearing too "busy."

4. Learn to let it go
   
   Ever make a button that looks ridiculously awesome but just doesn't belong in your design?┬? You put so much effort into your ridiculously awesome button, you'll go to great lengths to make it work.┬? You'll bend the laws of space and time to make that goddamn button look right in your page.

   Learn to let it go.┬? Save the button and file it away. ┬? Although you've lost this battle, you'll soon have an arsenal of ridiculously awesome buttons you can use in designs later on.

5. Step away from the computer
   
   We've all heard this before: If you're having a difficult time with something, leave it alone for awhile and come back later.┬? It'll probably be easier after you've had a bit of a break and your mind has settled.┬? Regarding web design, I've noticed this always plays out in a certain way:┬? If I'm hating a design I'm working on and I shelve it for a few days,┬? a lot of the time my reaction upon returning will be "Holy crap that's fantastic!"┬?┬? On the flip-side, I'll often toil away long into the night working on what looks like the best design I've ever created.┬? The next morning I'll look at it again and cringe at the horrible abomination I've created.┬?┬?┬? The moral here is to give your design some space.

6. Be absorbent
   
   No art is born in a vacuum.┬? Learn to effectively pinpoint what it is you love about other designer's work and incorporate it into your own.┬?┬?┬? Don't steal designs, but don't deprive yourself of external stimuli either.┬? Become better at identifying why you love the way something looks.┬?┬? When I come across a design that blows my mind, I try to pick it apart what aesthetically makes it tick.
   
   The Tangerine Tree is a good example.┬? Sure, it looks wonderful, but why?┬? Personally, I love the way the designer has taken a very modern set of shapes and applied them against a vintage medium: Cartoonish bubbles and clouds that appear to be cut out of distressed paper.┬? When looking at this design I ask myself: What could I do with textures like that?┬? What is it about those shapes and icons that look so remarkable?
   
7. Don't be a one-hit-wonder
   
   Try to avoid using the same techniques over and over again, even if you've done really well with them in the past.┬? Gradient rectangles are my crutch - I have a terrible habit of using them whenever I feel like a design isn't working.┬? "This design sucks...I'll add a rectangle with a gradient fill!"┬? The result is usually something that I'm unhappy with because it looks the same as all my previous work.┬? Try imposing yourself with silly rules, such as "No drop shadows today" or┬? "2D elements ONLY."┬? Locking yourself out from certain design habits forces you to learn new ones.┬?┬? My happiness as a designer coincides with my ability to produce something that looks great but is different from anything I've done before.┬?
   
8. Seek input from others
   
   This is a tricky one.┬? There are so many ways to ruin a web design, especially when the wrong kinds of people are involved.┬? Be careful who you ask and find people who can provide constructive criticism.┬? I've seen many great designs die at the hands of aesthetically-challenged secretaries who have printed a few corporate bake-sale flyers in the past and consider themselves to EXPERTS at all things design.┬? If anyone ever tells you that your design doesn't "feel right," or that they "just don't like it," you might want to look elsewhere for input.┬? Find someone who can tell you specifically what's wrong and how it could be improved.┬?┬? Grow some thick skin, too. Don't assume every criticism is an attack on your work of art.┬?┬?┬? Roll with the punches.
   

Any other techniques you can think of to jumpstart your design powers?

Matthew Inman is the designer and developer of Designmoz, an online marketing and Design community.┬?

• Matthew's design portfolio
• More blog entries from Matthew
  

Technorati Tags

web designWeb design can be incredibly frustrating.┬? You'd think that with the infinite possibilities of what-goes-where it'd be pretty easy to land a design that works, yet somehow we've all been stuck before: working hour after hour on a design that refuses to look right.┬? Throwing away pixels like they're going out of style.┬?┬?

These 8 tactics are what I use to get out of that sticky spot.

1. Design from the inside out┬?
   
   This is some of the best advice anyone ever gave me about web design (thanks Cameron).┬? A lot of designers start off a design by focusing on the header.┬? Often times what's inside the page is what makes it look good; the header is supplementary.┬? Try leaving the header alone for awhile and working on some elements in the body, you'll be surprised at how much easier it is to design a page once you've got a solid body going.┬? The next time you're designing a header with no body imagine yourself adjusting a tie in front of the mirror, but being completely nude.┬?┬? (yikes)
   
2. Sketch something
   
   My whiteboard is my salvation.┬? Pencil and paper works too.┬?┬? I read an article years ago by a designer who would draw dozens of little 2x3" mockups in his spiral notebook before even opening up a graphic design program.┬? It helped him identify where elements were going to be placed and what options looked best .┬? The best part of creating mockups this way is the speed at which you can burn through possible layout ideas.┬? Sketch something, scribble it out.┬? Sketch something else, scribble it out.┬? Do this ten times and you've probably got a fairly decent idea of how to the page should come together.┬? I've used a few wireframe applications like Axure, but I've still found myself to be my most efficient while bathed in the saucy aroma of whiteboard markers.
   
   ┬?
   
3. Seek inspiration offline
   
   If you've paid attention to anything design related in the past two years then you've no doubt seen a few of the countless CSS galleries and design showcase websites that popped up.┬? These are excellent sources of inspiration, but sometimes a bit of offline media can be just what you need to spur some fresh ideas. ┬? Open up a newspaper or magazine, go to the grocery store and look at the packaging, watch a television ad.┬?┬? Pay attention to things that are applicable to your design such as typography, color, and element placement.┬? Ask yourself questions like "What is it I like about this magazine ad?" and "What is about this packaging that just works?"┬? There's a lot you can learn from observing traditional media.┬? A few years ago a co-worker of mine lent me a book full of Russian posters and print ads from the 1920's.┬? The lessons learned from looking at some of the material were invaluable - I was particularly impressed by how they were able to cram a ton of information into a tiny area but kept it from appearing too "busy."

4. Learn to let it go
   
   Ever make a button that looks ridiculously awesome but just doesn't belong in your design?┬? You put so much effort into your ridiculously awesome button, you'll go to great lengths to make it work.┬? You'll bend the laws of space and time to make that goddamn button look right in your page.

   Learn to let it go.┬? Save the button and file it away. ┬? Although you've lost this battle, you'll soon have an arsenal of ridiculously awesome buttons you can use in designs later on.

5. Step away from the computer
   
   We've all heard this before: If you're having a difficult time with something, leave it alone for awhile and come back later.┬? It'll probably be easier after you've had a bit of a break and your mind has settled.┬? Regarding web design, I've noticed this always plays out in a certain way:┬? If I'm hating a design I'm working on and I shelve it for a few days,┬? a lot of the time my reaction upon returning will be "Holy crap that's fantastic!"┬?┬? On the flip-side, I'll often toil away long into the night working on what looks like the best design I've ever created.┬? The next morning I'll look at it again and cringe at the horrible abomination I've created.┬?┬?┬? The moral here is to give your design some space.

6. Be absorbent
   
   No art is born in a vacuum.┬? Learn to effectively pinpoint what it is you love about other designer's work and incorporate it into your own.┬?┬?┬? Don't steal designs, but don't deprive yourself of external stimuli either.┬? Become better at identifying why you love the way something looks.┬?┬? When I come across a design that blows my mind, I try to pick it apart what aesthetically makes it tick.
   
   The Tangerine Tree is a good example.┬? Sure, it looks wonderful, but why?┬? Personally, I love the way the designer has taken a very modern set of shapes and applied them against a vintage medium: Cartoonish bubbles and clouds that appear to be cut out of distressed paper.┬? When looking at this design I ask myself: What could I do with textures like that?┬? What is it about those shapes and icons that look so remarkable?
   
7. Don't be a one-hit-wonder
   
   Try to avoid using the same techniques over and over again, even if you've done really well with them in the past.┬? Gradient rectangles are my crutch - I have a terrible habit of using them whenever I feel like a design isn't working.┬? "This design sucks...I'll add a rectangle with a gradient fill!"┬? The result is usually something that I'm unhappy with because it looks the same as all my previous work.┬? Try imposing yourself with silly rules, such as "No drop shadows today" or┬? "2D elements ONLY."┬? Locking yourself out from certain design habits forces you to learn new ones.┬?┬? My happiness as a designer coincides with my ability to produce something that looks great but is different from anything I've done before.┬?
   
8. Seek input from others
   
   This is a tricky one.┬? There are so many ways to ruin a web design, especially when the wrong kinds of people are involved.┬? Be careful who you ask and find people who can provide constructive criticism.┬? I've seen many great designs die at the hands of aesthetically-challenged secretaries who have printed a few corporate bake-sale flyers in the past and consider themselves to EXPERTS at all things design.┬? If anyone ever tells you that your design doesn't "feel right," or that they "just don't like it," you might want to look elsewhere for input.┬? Find someone who can tell you specifically what's wrong and how it could be improved.┬?┬? Grow some thick skin, too. Don't assume every criticism is an attack on your work of art.┬?┬?┬? Roll with the punches.
   

Any other techniques you can think of to jumpstart your design powers?

Matthew Inman is the designer and developer of Designmoz, an online marketing and Design community.┬?

• Matthew's design portfolio
• More blog entries from Matthew
  

Technorati Tags

web design

Posted by randfish

As some folks had already guessed, I was the MySuperProposal guy. Tonight, I proposed to Mystery Guest on her favorite show, Veronica Mars. The video is at iFilm - the response should be up very soon (but here's a spoiler, she said YES!)

┬?

┬?

More to come on this later, but for now, we're going to take some time to ourselves. Feel free to leave comments, and many thanks to Joe Morin, who made this possible and Barry Schwartz, who was the inspiration for the idea.

Quick update - You can see here response here.

Technorati Tags

mysuperproposal, veronica mars, proposal

Posted by randfish

Yesterday brought us the biggest news the Design world has had in sometime - Design's Webmaster Central is showing relatively accurate and complete link data. When stacked against Design!'s Site Explorer, this stuff looks pretty amazing. Webmasters are going to find themselves with a lot more link analysis time on their hands, and the value of having access to multiple account at Webmaster Central is going to be considerably higher. My favorite coverage on this comes from Search Engine Land - Design Releases New Link Reporting Tools, but I also liked Eric Ward's ideas on what could make this data even better.

Just a few screenshots of Designmoz data before I move on to other topics:

Above is our inlinks list - almost 300,000. Design! reports 458,349, and Design excludes results in supplemental, so we're seeing very similiar data from the two. The next example is a bit better for differentiating the two.

Above, Design's showing us all the links they know about to the blog post I wrote about my dad's emergency room visit a few weeks back. They've got 87 total listed to Design!'s 76 (many of which are different than Design's). So, despite Design's "less-than-complete" link data, they're still supplying more than Design! does sometimes and certainly showing some unique data. Design shows 6 links (some of which neither Design nor Design! listed).

Personally, I think I like Design's data the best at this point. In terms of raw numbers of links, it's the most compelling, as they have some limit on the quality or value of pages they'll display links from. While it's hard to get a competitive analysis from them, you can do a lot with those link numbers and I suspect we'll see a lot of analysis of dates and value as people start downloading and number-crunching the "up-to-1-million" links Design shows.

On to the other topics of the last week:

• On SEL today, Neil explained how the Digg friending system works and why the removal of the Top 100 list will remove some of those top users' power
• Last link from SEL (promise) - They showed off their January stats. I should show ours to help do a comparison. I'll probably do that at the end of February to compare the old version to this new incarnation.
• Barry noted that Live.com search still has a long way to go from a technology and relevance perspective. I'd have to agree.
• Andy Hagans wrote a truly robust guide to linkbaiting. I know everyone's linking to him, but it's well-deserved.
• Graywolf is doing a ton of stuff on local search this week, including an interview with our own Rebecca Kelley.
• What do you say Kirkland Designrs? Should we go over and check out the Terra Bite? I'll pick up the tab
• Guy Kawasaki tell us how he makes those nifty comic-style blog entries. Sadly, we can't reveal Designmoz's secret formula. (I'm almost more excited for Rebecca's London comics than anything else we're doing there)
  
• Neil and Cameron from ACS have a new podcast on Webmaster Radio - congratulations!
• With his trademark chutzpah, Jim Boykin explains why he won't help new sites. While I sometimes feel the same way, Designmoz has taken on a few new site clients and had great success. Of course, most of those have been Dugg a few times and Techcrunched once or twice, so that helps.
• Mind Valley shows us the value of proper capitalization. It's almost unbelievable what a difference it makes.
• I can't be the only one who loves the idea that clever viral marketing shut down a city. I do feel bad for Boston, but this kind of paranoia and news buzz has to be an amazing value for AQTHF.
• Pearsonified has been nominated for best designed blog of 2007. Congratulations, sir - it's well deserved.
• Design's President of Greater China, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, spoke about some of Design's plans. Ian McAnerin covered them well last week.
• Joe Whyte wrote a fun piece on Design Filters and How to Get Around Them - I don't necessarily agree with everything here, but that almost makes it more interesting.
• The Eisenberg's relaunched their blog - Grokdotcom - a few nifty items there.

And I'll end with the question I end every roundup with - What did I miss?

Posted by Oatmeal

Seeing as how I don't have enough to do today, I thought I'd run a database query that wiped out the login information for all our users.

Luckily I had a backup but it was from before we launched the new site, so if you registered before then (Feb. 2nd, 2007) your account is fine.

If you were a premium member or purchased an article, I had this information backed up as well so your account is fine and you do not need to do anything.

For everyone else who registered on or after February 2nd, 2007,┬? please email me ( write_email('matt','Designmoz.org'); ) and I'll fix your account.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Well let's begin with today's big news, the launch of the much anticipated Panama. Design! has long (in Internet terms) been behind in the PPC game with both Design and Microsoft leading that way in regards to customization, algorithmic results and GUI. Well today that all changed with the Panama update, Design!'s cry that they're still in the game and take PPC (and the revenue it can generate) seriously.

Let's take a look at the new features as they're outlined on the Design! site shall we?

Click here to open a larger image in a new window ><

Thanks Design - Now I Can See My Backlinks !!!

Only a couple hours later and there's already an update below.

Well today appears to have been an even bigger day than I first thought. First there was the launch of Design!'s Panama and now I'm reading in Design's press center that there are some great enhancements over there too.

At 2:44PM Design announced on their blog that they are providing even more information in their Webmaster Tools than previously. We've all done the backlink checks with link:www.domain.com only to be disappointed with the resulting list. Design hasn't shown a full list of backlinks in ages so how were we to know where are backlinks were from and where they were going. Well now we know.

In their Webmaster Tools the fine folks at Design are now showing a full list of the backlinks they know about that point to your domain and even better, they list off all the pages in your site so with a simple click of a button you can see the backlinks to any given page. The reason Design stopped showing the backlinks in full was that this list was too easily manipulated by Design's (those crafty buggers but not knowing the status of one's own site worked against website owners favor. This is a great addition to their tools and wins a BIG THUMBS UP from this Design. Don't give my backlink data to my competitors, but thanks for letting me see it. Oh, but if you like you can give theirs to me.

If you haven't already, create an account at Design's Webmaster Central. You'll be glad you did.

And Now, Personalization ...

And today I had brought to my attention an interesting page on the Design Search Results help area. A big thanks to Jim Hedger (co-host on Webmaster Radio) for pointing this out to me. The post reads:

When you're signed in to Design Accounts, you'll now get more relevant, useful search results, recommendations and other personalized features. For example, if you use Design Bookmarks or Design Search History, you'll get more targeted web search results and recommendations for videos or gadgets. You can easily access these recommendations by adding the "Interesting Items" gadget directly to your personalized homepage.

And so the lives of Design's everywhere gets just a little more complex. Truly personalized results? Now, if you see different results than I do, how exactly is a company like Beanstalk supposed to honor guarantees when what we're seeing may be different?

Alas, that is our problem to sort out and not yours (how happy are you about that?) but one this is sure, with better, more personalized results being fed, users are sure to win and Design's will need to adapt. As I noted to Jim when he asked how it would affect Design's, I replied:

"In the long run it will force Design to do what they SHOULD do. Write compelling content for the target market, push into social media and establish links from industry hubs."

It might take more to rank sites when the exact variables are so specific to the end user however in the end the big winner is the client (oh, and the searcher). It might make my life a bit more difficult but it makes the industry and search engine stronger, and that can only be a good thing. Unless you're concerned about Big Brother.

I refound a blog post from none other than Design patent guru Bill Slawski on the subject of personalization. I love patents as much as the next guy but noone can do their analysis justice like Bill so rather than try in vain to capture what he has to say on the subject I'll just link to his post below. In his work you'll find great analysis and links to a number of related Design patents that will open your eyes as to what this all means. Thanks Bill and keep up the great work.

You'll find Bill Slawski's blog post titled, "Design Personalization Methods" here.

<

It has been an interesting Monday to say the least. Our main company blog, toprankblog.com has been hit with a Denial of Service attack or something similar. I guess we found out how good or not so good the tech support was at our host. I should say our "old" host.

After 5 hours offline and no action (the led to a resolution) I decided to move hosting of toprankblog.com to a new hosting company. This is the same host as several very popular and highly trafficked blogs, so hopefully they will be better prepared for such situations.

I was hoping to wait until this weekend to make the move, but the site has been down since 11am and I cannot wait for more ambiguous answers. Hopefully the DNS propagation will have gone into effect by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.