Design trends

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:02:07 +0000

Fad.Tastic is a really interesting and useful site, dedicated to current trends, do’s and dont’s etc. There are quite a number of authors covering such diverse topics as viral marketing myths and toddler branding exercises.

The weary web designer can find hope with such excellent articles as the single mockup theory while for those seeking a little levity, there are things like leather blazers to amuse. I reccomend a visit to the site, after all where else might you see a 15 year old Canadian web designer wax lyrical on the fickle nature of trends and the need for a creativity revolution?

Hidden Text

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:11:28 +0000

The use of hidden text to get high ranking in search engines is prohibited. Anything that hides text from a browser while remaining in the body of the document is indexed by the search engine spiders, but since it is prohibited, it can cause search engines to permanently ban your website. The progress in search engine technologies means that these days, the actual keyword tag is virtually useless anyay, and since hidden text is likely to get your site banned from the search engines instead of helping it, there’s no good reason to keep it. Here is a very informative article on the subject

Shadow Domains

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:53:09 +0000

A shadow domain is a website which is designed to be read by search engine spiders (not human users). Shadow domains are indexed by the search engines in the same way as other sites, though the content would appear as gobbledygook to a layman user. Pages on shadow domains are stuffed with extra keywords that deceive the spider, helping the page to rank higher in the search results. Shadow domains are also known as ‘cloaked sites’, and the pages are often called ‘phantom pages.’ The aim of a shadow domain is to redirect a human user from the phantom page to the valid page, leaving the search engine spider to scan the phantom page. Phantom pages are commonly used in highly competitive fields such as pharmaceuticals, pornography and Gambling; the technique being employed by black hat SEO consultants contrary to the search engine’s terms of service

Duplicate Content

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:05:00 +0000

The abusive practise of cutting and pasting other people’s content into blogs and websites is extremely common at present, with some people attempting to manipulate search engines by duplicating keyword rich pages. Thankfully though, search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated in identifying duplicate content through highly intuitive duplicate content filters, which is the death knell for this type of rogue practice.

Webconfs.com shows you how you can determine whether or not your pages have duplicate content, and what you can do to fix it.

Website Principles

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:30:12 +0000

When a visitor lands on a homepage, they need to be able to figure out what the site is about within a three or four seconds. If they can’t, then the site is a failure. First time visitors who stumble across a website are either;

Looking for information
Looking to be entertained
Looking to buy something
Looking to join a community

Usability Analyst Vincent Flanders says “Too many organizations believe that a web site is about opening a new marketing channel or getting donations or to promote a brand or to increase company sales by 15%. No; It’s about solving your customers’ problems.”

Which begs the question ‘what problems does the page being viewed solve for the viewer?

A business website is not designed for the company’s own needs, but for the needs of potential customers. If the website fails to deliver on this simple principle, the visitor will go away from the site; straight to a competitor site… usually within a few seconds.

Navigation Issues

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:08:33 +0000

The basic principles of website navigation are obvious, an based on the same good common sense one would use if travelling;

Where am I?
Where have I been?
Where can I go next?
How do I get back?

This most important of all usability issues is often compromised for the sake of design, though it must be said that a good web designer will never compromise navigation. In some cases, where a client is persistent over the better advice of his designer, poor navigation can be sacrificed at the alter of ego, but in extreme instances, most professionals will remove it from their portfolio. With business websites this is uncommon, but not unheard of.

Dr Jekyll & Jakob Nielsen

Ferg — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:30:18 +0000

Web Design is a subjective industry I know, but there are some websites that exceed all boundaries of ‘web propriety’. Recently, I came across a website that would looks like something that Jakob Nielson might have created if he’d gone into politics instead of becoming a Usability Guru. In fact, this leads me to wonder what Jakob’s alter-ego might produce if he’d been in Dr Jekyll’s shoes. What strange metamorphosis would have been unleashed on the world if Jakob had drunk the serum? It seems reasonable to assume (in a weird hypothetical way) that his alter ego; unrestrained by his usual dogmatic obduracy, would have imposed a frenzied attack on the public by way of a ‘usability monster.’ The result may have been something like this.

Logo design for Appleseed

Ferg — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Logo design for Appleseed Publishers based on a loose comp. This had to be styled in accordance with a certain market perception, though it had to be ‘arty’ in a way that was never properly explained to me. As usual, with this sort of comp, I was able to read between the lines, and the logo was born (via a painless cesarean section).

Appleseed Publishers

Logo design for API

Ferg — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:21:36 +0000

Logo design for AP Insurance based on a tight comp. They wanted to combine a traditional conservative feel with a minimalistic fresh & modern one. I always get asked to combine traditional and modern styles, and I’m still not sure if the right term isn’t ‘post-retro’ (whatever that might be.

AP Insurance

Logo Design for Annie Gerber

Ferg — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:14:03 +0000

Branding design Annie Gerber Photography based on a tight comp. This is more of a re-design using existing elements (though modernised), and a customised font.

Annie Gerber logo design mock up