UX Design - Page 8

Accessibility / 30 Mar 2016

Designing for the Web: Are There Colors You Should Avoid?

The web is a rainbow of color options. Color is a great tool for grabbing the attention of users, providing visual interest and impact and creating contrast for readability. Color is also at the center of many design trends, including flat and material styles.

But can you go wrong with color? Are there hues or combinations that you should shy away from? In a word … yes! Today we’re looking at colors or color combinations that you should avoid when designing websites and apps. (And on the chance that you’ve already made one of these mistakes, we offer alternative suggestions as well.)

Navigation / 21 Mar 2016

5 Alternatives to Drop-Down Hover Menus

Is the era of drop-down hover menus over? It might well be. This design pattern doesn’t work for today’s users. The concept is clunky and doesn’t always translate well to smaller screens.

Users want menus and navigation options that are easier to use, simple to understand and don’t come with more options than they can think about in a few seconds. Navigation menus should be device-agnostic and work in the same way, creating a single experience, across device types. So what can you do to say goodbye to those drop down menus? We have five alternatives.

UX Design / 14 Mar 2016

7 UX Tips You Might Not Have Considered

Great user experience starts early in the design process. It is in no way a last minute add-on — it’s something you need to consider right from the outset!

Creating experiences that users want, and that they will stay engaged with, is a delicate balance between giving users just what they want and a little something extra they didn’t even know they needed. Here are a few ways to think about UX that you might not have considered.

App Templates / 2 Mar 2016

7 UX Design Tips for Mobile Apps

Do you have a mobile app project in the works? What’s your design plan? Have you jumped straight in, or stopped to consider the experience that the end user is going to have when they first open the app?

It might be worth thinking about an aesthetic featuring carefully considered user experience techniques. Many of the concepts that we’re seeing in website design apply to mobile apps as well, but they might take on a slightly different shape or form to better fit the smaller screen size.

Here, we’re going to look at seven great options and examples that you can apply to your own mobile app design.

UX Design / 16 Feb 2016

How Emotion Can Impact Your Website Conversions

Is there a connection between happy, sad, or funny and getting users to complete an action on a website? You bet there is!

Users connect to websites through branding and personas. This emotional bond happens visually at first but can have deeper linkages when it comes to long-term brand relationships. And elements of the design impact exactly how (or if) these conversions happen. Today we’re going to look a bit more closely at this connection between conversions and emotion, and consider how you can make the most of instilling a positive emotion in your audience.

Reviews / 11 Feb 2016

Learn UX Basics: What, Why, and How?

Before you can become a User Experience (UX) designer, you need to understand the importance of UX, the reason it exists, what the goal of the UX designer is and how they think.

Today we’re featuring a course in which you’ll learn all about UX Design, what it is, what UX designers do, how UX designers think, what tools UX designers use, and how to move forward in the field of UX.

Reviews / 10 Feb 2016

5 Tips for Perfect Forms in WordPress

Do you ever find yourself filling out an online form and then rolling your eyes? It happens way too often. But it doesn’t have to.

You can create great forms that are easy to use, include security features and that look great with ease right within your WordPress website. Great forms can help users sign up for important features on your website and help you collect valuable user data in a safe and manageable way. Today we’re looking at how to create one, using the popular CaptainForm plugin for WordPress.

Graphics / 25 Jan 2016

How to Design Killer Micro-Content

The smallest parts of a design project can be the most important. It’s something we all know conceptually, right?

But do you ever get caught just filling in these details at the last minute? Does your micro-content suffer because you are ready to be finished with a project? Don’t let that happen. Plan out micro-content from the start to create better, more usable pieces that will help make the design better than you had hoped.

Graphics / 4 Jan 2016

Designing With Constraints: Thinking Inside the Box

It’s one of those fundamental parts of design we don’t talk about much: Designing within the rules. We talk a lot about creativity and innovation, but sometimes leave out one of the ideas that pushes most projects along, and that’s actually creating something with a lot of rules attached. It’s thinking “inside the box.”

Design constraints are those little keys to consistency that help brands establish visual identity and guide voice. These restrictions can come in a number of forms, and like them or not, it’s something you are going to have to deal with.

And here’s the good news: Constraints can actually help you become a better designer.

Graphics / 22 Oct 2015

Detox Your Design: 8 UI Elements to Eliminate

Is your design starting to look old? Old and out-of-date user interface elements can make a site feel much more dated than it actually is.

Here, we look at eight UI elements that you should eliminate from your design plan. But that’s not all; each “don’t” comes with a suggestion for modernizing your website. We’ll get that design looking up-to-date in no time!

Layouts / 7 Jul 2015

7 Website Design Mistakes That Drive Me Nuts

Sometimes websites make me grouchy. I click with anticipation and then… design disaster. Admit it, you have grumbled at the screen more than a few times, too.

From poor type to missing links to usability issues, I am going to share the mistakes that just drive me absolutely bonkers. Take heed! These are things to address and fix on your own site, before someone else comes across them!

Inspiration / 23 Jun 2015

10 Popular Trends in Newsletter Signup Forms

The art of the newsletter signup form is one that you may interact with more often than you think. Email marketing is one of the best and most-used ways that brands interact with customers. And it all starts with a simple sign up.

From pop ups to full-page forms, newsletter signups are everywhere. Many of us click through without consciously thinking about the design, but a well-designed form encourages that action in the first place. Some of the best-designed forms in the email signup landscape are from retailers, which are using emails to sell to customers directly. So how can you create a signup that looks fresh? Here are 10 ideas.