Web Design Trends in 2012

It’s that time of year again, where we look into our crystal ball to see what will be the hot trends in web design for the upcoming year. It’s no secret that trends come and go, with some hanging around longer than they should. (Yes, splash page, I’m talking about you.) But trends are a necessity in the development and growth of our craft. Trends are born, improved upon, and often spawn other trends. So as a web designer, when you apply trends to your projects, challenge yourself to expand upon them and make them your own. (more…)

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HTML5 Essentials and Good Practices

HTML5, together with CSS3 and responsive design are the new buzz around web technologies these days. This article will help you get started using HTML5 on your projects today and show you some good practices to put what you learned to good use. (more…)

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Perfect Beginner Tips for Branding your Startup

During the process of launching a new company your logo and branding ideas are possibly the most important concepts. You have to consider not only the solid brand, but a whole slew of factors additional including website design and user interface, internal graphics, print work, marketing & conversion goals, maybe even branding yourself on mobile devices too. It can be a lot to consider all at once – but I’ve included a few tips below which may help you during the process. (more…)

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Top 4 Reasons Your Beautiful Website Doesn’t Convert

There can be many pitfalls on the way to getting traffic to that beautiful site you created. All the design and creativity in the world won’t bring visitors to your site. You have to know a few basic laws of optimizing a webpage for search before the traffic will begin to flow in your direction. (more…)

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Teaching Yourself Web Design While You Freelance

There is plenty of opportunity to make a decent living online. The field of web design is extremely popular in the current information age. Everybody needs to have a website up and you can always find a few solid business clients. But what about building upon your already-existing techniques? (more…)

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Practicing Perfectionism as a Web and Graphic Designer

The idea of artistic perfectionism lies in a duality. Most web designers try to perfect their work with creative updates and patches. Not only to code, but also in Photoshop mockups and Illustrator vectors as well. There is a limit to this perfectionism mindset where you can take things too far overboard. (more…)

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The Science Behind A/B Testing

If you own a business, there’s always concern that your marketing efforts aren’t reaching their full potential. Of course, great design will sell but having strategies and formulas in place to make sure your hard work is paying off it well worth the time. One of these formulas is A/B testing. A/B Testing, or split testing, has been enacted in the past few years by companies who want their designs to go under experimentation as an approach to their marketing decisions. It’s a simple practice that companies that to maximize their profits. In this article I will uncover the science behind this approach to design decision making, giving you the tools necessary to make decisions on whether you want to incorporate this into your own design process. (more…)

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Avoiding Distractions and Procrastination

We have all been there. Staring down the nasty to-do list and mentally checking through each of your tasks. Procrastination can be a deadly practice for those working on the Internet. It is so easy to put off work until tomorrow while focusing on more pleasurable activities. Even including work on your own projects! (more…)

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SEO Essentials for Freelance Web Designers

The life of a freelance web designer brings you freedom in your work and allows you to escape the confines of a boring 9-5 office life and develop your creativity within the comfort of your own home. However, as a freelancer, you’ll have none of the support structure that a professional web designer can rely upon in a large agency; you cannot rely on the marketing department to create contacts with clients on your behalf. Therefore, the only way for you to survive is to showcase your unique web design skills, present your passion and flair for design and make sure to avoid the common SEO mistakes in web design that can ruin the chances of your site ranking high and block your path to success. (more…)

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Techniques for Constructing Usable Registration Forms

Most websites offer a way for users to sign up into their databases. This is often coupled with a username or e-mail address tied to a unique user ID number. The process of creating a user database is heavily developed and streamlined to a point. However there is still a lot of debate in the realm of registration forms and layout design.

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