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The “design is” is a concept created by J. Hicks as a wallpaper. I doubt this is a real message, it is mostly a humorous approach to design. However it soon became a trend and many designers made their own wallpapers with their own messages.
There were so many that a public group was created in Flickr under the name Designer Wallpaper. It is a group for geeks mostly, but anyone can use these wallpapers.
It came to me intuitively and I created my very own versions. You can find them in the group or download them by clicking on them right here. They are of fine resolution and dimensions of 1900x1200 px.
A 404 error page is the destination reached by a visitor of a website who didn’t find what he was looking for. A metaphor: a driver follows a path and reaches a dead end. What comes next? He turns back. Fortunately things can be better in the Web.
There are several reasons why a visitor may be found in a 404 error page:
Because of a bad link.
Because of a mistake while typing in the address bar.
Because of a page which has been removed from the website
Users are one click away from leaving your website.
As a result, when a visitor comes to a dead end, his next action is most probably to go away. We don’t want this, right? Moreover, we do need to make our websites friendlier anyway. This is why our 404 pages should be more usable.
Actually, a 404 error page can be decorated the way we want. It is up to the designer. Some people include a link to the homepage, some others a search form and others the whole sitemap of the website.
You can take a look at my 404 error page. Notice that the link sends you to a lala.php page. Which doesn’t exist of course. So you are automatically driven to the 404 page. I tried to create a humorous one but it could be anything.
The idea is to make your visitor feel fine with your website even if he reaches a dead end. Just like a good road network should help drivers to find their way a website should foresee errors and help visitors find what they are looking for.
There are a lot more that could be mentioned about 404 error pages. Smashing Magazine holds all the details.
This is something which always made my life difficult. Selecting some colors for a website has to do with a number of parameters such as content (e.g. what is going to be the target group), location (e.g. white represents purity in Western cultures but death in Eastern ones), general style of it etc.
Lately, I have focused on two techniques which solve most of my issues. They are not supposed to solve all issues concerning coloring, but they are pretty handy. Here they come.
Photos and Photoshop
(This is a technique I first read at the website of Andy Clarke. Since then I have found a lot of similar approaches.)
Sometimes life provides the best ideas. A harmonical photo (clear or not - it doesn’t matter) could create a perfect color palette. There are thousands of photos in Flickr, so this is a place to begin from. It is even better to have your own photos. An alternative to photos is art paintings e.g. Van Gogh paintings can be a great source.
From this point on it is Photoshop that helps. By using the filter Pixallate > Mosaic a photo is being divided into smaller or larger squares. With the Eyedropper Tool you can accurately select the color of each interesting square. In the end you can have a great color palette.
Now the question is: when a photo is good enough? This is something which has to do with experience in first place. Harmony is something perceivable, if not provable. It doesn’t have to do with the clarity of the photo or the feelings raised because of it.
Playing with one color
The Color Palette Creator is a tiny but exceptional tool. In a few words it uses blended colors and transparency to create color schemes.
I use this tool when I need less, not more, colors. This way I can have excellent alternatives for secondary menus, shadows or borders. The idea behind this technique is to use exactly the colors you need. It is not a constraint in any way.
Are these techniques enough? Don’t you need more?
Out there there are some really impressive tools like Kuler. I decided to write about these two techniques only because:
When you begin by real photos you sometimes come up to original or unexpected results. This is important because it actually expands the limits of the design.
Color is not as simple as it looks. There is a whole theory behind it and many parameters difficult to be grasped. All this might be a serious obstacle when time matters.
More about color you can find in my Magnolia bookmarks. The sources gathered there are valuable for me so it might be useful for you too.
The following post has to do with designing the skeleton of a website either in Photoshop or Illustrator. It is not a comparison between them. A comparison is impossible anyway since each software does different things.
Any website requires certain work before you start doing the markup. Such work could include gathering of content, information design, mockups in paper etc. The moment you decide to move from paper to the screen you select the appropriate software. This is the issue of this post.
I admit Illustrator was a strange land for me for many years now. Arguably most of the Adobe family products work similarly. After some decent efforts I managed to used it quite effectively. I am not saying I know everything about it but I can now create my mockups there.
My experience shows that there are two main reasons why Web designers don’t use Illustrator:
Because Photoshop lets them slice images and transfer them later to the final design
Because they never learned how to use it
I personally don’t do any slicing in Photoshop. It is an old fashioned approach which works well when a designer works with tables in HTML. So I don’t take it.
Not taking some time to learn something which may be valuable was bothering me. This is why I decided to change.
Some thoughts on the design procedure
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
However Photoshop focuses in detailed work. Designing a web page is not that easy, you soon realize you are confronted somehow. Illustrator provides freedom and easiness. You can do a lot of things without caring about the layers structure. You can have many different versions of the same design and detect them all in seconds.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too.
All in all Illustrator is better for me for the specific use. Apparently the better a Web designer uses both programs the more profitable work he produces. For me both of them are great design weapons and to take the best of them depends on us.
It is widely known that corporate websites are painted grey and blue. The word “painted” was not used in vain. Actually corporate sites often are built the same (difficult to be described but easy to be recognized) way. They all look the same to me and at the end of the day I can’t recollect any of them.
Grey and blue are two colors which add validity, solemnity and authority. Strict menus, somewhat dull images (yuppies and luxury work places) and solid lines do the same. People who use them they certainly have something on their mind. The question is: five years ago these design schemes served the purpose they supposed to - what about now?
The implication is clear. Corporate websites should change. Adding new colors to the old scheme should not embarrass CEOs. AJAX effects should not be frowned upon. All in all what makes a (corporate) website credible? According to me the most important issue is the way texts are written (clear, to the point, providing solutions). It is much easier to use some greys and blues instead of taking time to compose a text which would transmit powerful messages to the visitors of the site. People seek for solutions - that’s why they visit such websites. They need clear answers and they need proofs. Clear answers can be provided by the Web. Proofs not always (valid online services are proofs however).
My conclusion? Say no to grey and blue color combos. Say yes to deep thought and solid development from the very beginning.
Well guys you want me to design a website for you. Let us clarify what this thing is about.
What a web designer does:
He arranges the data according to a clear semantic structure
He uses images or he does minor amendments
He measures distances
He selects a proper color scheme
He is responsible for the typography
He codes in XHTML and CSS
He takes into account the user’s hardware and software
He looks for accessibility and standards
He tests
He communicates with the programmer
He communicates with the client
He stays up with the latest web trends
He invents ideas and puts them into action
He listens to everyone
What a web designer does not:
He doesn’t set the budget (unless he is a freelancer)
He doesn’t have to do a graphic design work
He doesn’t document
He doesn’t screw in order to make a computer work
He doesn’t code in PHP, ASP, JSP etc.
He doesn’t make coffees for the rest of the team
I might have forgotten some aspects for both lists. To put it shortly: A web designer is responsible for what a user sees. And as you can see he does a lot of things.
Last but not least: a web designer who does all the above most probably he knows more than you.
I often hear people say: “I only need some inspiration” or “This designer is really inspired”. What they actually mean is that suddenly an idea falls from the sky and by using it they manage to solve all of their problems no matter what.
I don’t believe in this. It took me years and some meditation to have a structured opinion about inspiration. Inspiration is not an abstract matter which springs from the void. Inspiration has nothing to do with our beliefs. There is no super creature (you may call it god) who sends it.
Inspiration is a result. Let me clarify this. Suppose you design things. What do you need in order to design? What do you need in order to design well? You need:
knowledge (such as color theory, geometry etc)
skills (which means you have to do a lot of practice among others)
sources (something to start from and a pile of ideas already used by someone else)
to work hard (enough said)
So you start creating things. Mixing ideas. Putting all of your knowledge in action. You do and you don’t. You carry on and you withdraw. All at the same time time. And one day you are stuck. You are left high and dry. You think you can’t go on. You need a bit of inspiration.
Then you go to bed. And at 4:00 am you wake up with the perfect design in your head. This vital bit of inspiration emerged at last. Who made it come? You. It’s only you who did it. You just gave yourself some space. The critical piece of the puzzle came out of your mind. It is the result of the previously done work.
There ‘s no metaphysics or abstractness here. Inspiration is you.
I wish we only had the proper amount of time to give ourselves a break in order to gain the indispensable space mentioned above. Because it often makes the difference.
I don’t like very much the design of my blog. Who cares? Maybe I do. So I visit and re-visit my favourite blog design ever: Ladies and gentlemen here comes the brilliant Jason Santa Maria.
It is so very very stylish, I envy him. I love the colors and and the typography. I find it very readable. To navigate in it is a piece of cake. And it passes the validation tests.
There is a tiny devil inside my head who whispers: “Copy the design. Duplicate it. If you don’t you ‘ll be cursed with this design.” Then a tiny angel appears and shouts: “Don’t! Just don’t. If you do you ‘ll be cursed with a stolen design.”
Who is going to win? I don’ t know. However I think I will redesign this blog anyway. It will take me ages. Who cares?
(This is a technique I first read at the website of 
Sometimes life provides the best ideas. A harmonical photo (clear or not - it doesn’t matter) could create a perfect color palette. There are thousands of photos in Flickr, so this is a place to begin from. It is even better to have your own photos. An alternative to photos is art paintings e.g. Van Gogh paintings can be a great source.
Playing with one color
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too. 