Minimun Usable Design

I read this great article on Smashing Magazine called "MUD: Minimum Usable Design" by Paul Scrivens.  He shares a working method for design. Many designers, myself included, often find themselves feeling like their design is never quite finished. He shares this quote to describe this dilemma:

 "To walk through the woods, you first need to walk halfway through. Then, once you're in the middle of it, you still need to walk half the of the remaining distance, then half of the distance again, and then another half, and you can never successfully make it through the woods"

I know I've personally felt trapped in this forest, constantly editing details of a design, never quite sure if its finished yet. However, the author twists this idea of "only getting half-way done" to be motivating rather than draining. He shares his theory of Minimum Usable Design: When working on a project, at first only aim to get half-way there. Try to get the project to a point that is 50% usable. This can be achieved by putting the most needful parts in first. In the case of a website, this would be the content. Then you can focus on getting 75% done with the project, adding the next most important piece like logos, etc. And keep going, always aiming for half of what you need to do. Eventually you will get close enough that it will be as good as it is going to get. True, some argue about stopping at just "good enough", but for projects on a deadline this is a great way to work. And, lets face it, no matter long you work on a design, there's always something that needs to be worked on.

I liked this method the author presented. I know from experience, it can be easy to get caught up in little details of projects and spend way too much time on them. This method offers a way to manage time on your project. If you focus on the most important stuff first, then you will be able to spend enough time on them. As you get to less significant details, it won't matter if you start running out of time. Also, it's a great way to break down a huge project into smaller steps. That way it can feel more manageable and easier to achieve.

Tips for Making Websites More User-Friendly

I found this article on website usability on the Web Designer Depot blog. The article, "10 Usability Tips for Web Designers" (http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/10-usability-tips-for-web-designers/) shares these tips:

1. Include a Tagline: Have a statement that tells what you website is about, and have it be the most noticeable thing on the page.

2. Implement Site Search: Include a search box, make it easy to find and easy to use.

3.Don't Use Extensive Graphics: Too many design elements can mislead people. Be minimal with graphics.

4. Use Site Maps: These are lists of the pages in your site, so people can find what they need quickly and easily.

5. Don't Break the Workflow: Allow users to cancel whatever operations they are doing. Don't force them to finish it.

6. Create Easily Scannable Web Pages: Make your website easy to scan. Use emphasis on the more important information, so people can find what they need easily.

7. Don't Design Misleading UI Controls: Keep buttons, tabs, rollover, etc. consistent so you font confuse the users.

8. Give Meaningful Feedback: Let people know what's going on. Like, with an error message, give more information that just error. Let them know what went wrong and how to get back to the site.

9.Do not overuse Javascript: This is for compatibility. Not everyone has the latest version of JavaScript, so using it too much can prevent them from using the site.

10. Avoid CAPTCHAs: These can be difficult and annoying for some people to interpret, so find more user-friendly ways instead.

This author makes some good points. I like his ideas about having taglines and making the pages easily scannable. I feel it is very important to make a website easy to understand at a glance. People are busy; they want to be able to find what they are looking for quickly.  I also like his point about giving feedback, especially with error messages. Those are so frustrating when they don't give any information and you don't know why it showed up. I don't completely agree with his point about using graphics. Admittedly, I have a weakness for using lots of graphics, but I feel that that isn't necessarily bad all the time. I feel it works for some websites and not so much for others. More personal sites, like blogs, or portfolios can have plenty of graphics and still work, but in a more public site like news sites, or stores, too many graphics would just be distracting.

Inspiration for Websites

Today, I found a fun site for inspirations for web design ideas. It's called "Web Creme" and contains links to various websites with fun and interesting designs. (to see it click here: http://www.webcreme.com/)
The first website I discovered was the portfolio site of Neil Judges (http://neil.judg.es/). As you navigate through this site, the character on the page stays in the same location while his clothing and backgrounds change, much like a paper doll. It's really quite hilarious, with funny outfits including jet-packs or hot tubs.  I love how he took something simple like paper dolls, and by applying it to a website, it became a really clever idea.
Another one i found was "Design and Code" by Nick Jones (http://www.narrowdesign.com/). This one has some interesting scrolling features. It starts as just a normal webpage, but as you scroll down, instead of the page scrolling a black rectangle appears and grows to show links to other parts of the websites. When clicked on, these links show up in their own rectangles that can be scrolled through. I liked it because it was a clever and unique way of scrolling through options on a site.
The final one I found was "My Dirty Desk" by the My Dirty Desk design studio (http://www.mydirtydesk.com/). I just love the overall design of this site. The fun cartoon-like characters, the simple shapes and color scheme, the nice typography, and the large diagonal shapes that continue as you scroll down all make for a site that is both simple and fun in it's design.

Fun Interactive Websites

 

While reading an article ("Creating a Lasting Impression") in the Smashing Magazine blog, I came across some  interactive websites. The first one,“Karlo Jurina Selbstgespräche” by Britzpetermann, is a site created for the musician, Karlo Jurina. It visualizes his music with an array of colorful icons that move and undulate to every note of the songs. It's mesmerizing to watch. It's like an orchestra of icons. I'm amazed that such simple icons were used in such a creative way.

Try it here: http://www.karlo-jurina.com/

Another website I found was the "Hidden Heroes" project by Grimm Gallun Holtappels. This site commemorates the simple things in life, from rubber bands to light bulbs. It has a beautifully simple design consisting of brightly color bars. When clicked, these bars reveal an object and a sound related to that objects. It's very entertaining to click around and hear the various sounds. Like the first website, simple shapes, bright colors, and interactive sound and movement combine to make an entertaining and beautiful website. 

Try it here: http://www.hidden-heroes.net/

references and images from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/14/creating-lasting-impression/