10 inspiring graphic design resources Whichever industry you are working at if your product is user centric then your ultimate goal is always to make the users happy. Nobody can deny the fact that a good designed product increases the chances of success and winning customers to a great percentage. Obviously there are many websites out there which would give you a sort-of vague picture of what to do while designing something but we have compiled some unique websites for you today which would give you an inspiration to boost your graphic design prospective in a whole different way. 1 – Abduzeedo By far this has been the site which I’ve been personally using for my design inspirations. Link : 2- Smashing Magazine Yes Sir, this site is also a great resource for designers and web-developers looking to find ways and tricks to put the love and romance of CSS3 on their lonely life of HTML5. Link : www.smashingmagazine.com 3 – Behance (Adobe®) Link : www.behance.net 4- Dribbble Link : www.dribbble.com 6- Pixels Daily
30 Beautiful Mobile UI Examples Nothing gets a web designer more excited than a visually stunning User Interface, especially on a mobile device. With mobile use constantly on the rise, it’s important for designers to capture the users attention and keep them intrigued. This means incorporating stunning color combinations with a sharp UI that makes the user want to “use” it. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. iTrain App by Jon Kyte 29. 30. Shortlink: About the Author Enfuzed is a web and graphic design blog. @EnfuzedWeb Google+ Free Beautiful UI Elements For Your Next Web Application Design Web app development has gone from strength to strength over the last 5 or so years. From frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Django for Python, it’s never been easier to get into coding web apps. But one thing that’s always been time consuming (at least for me) has been building out the UI. HTML and CSS frameworks like Bootstrap have helped to speed things up, but because they’re so popular, they’re also highly recognisable and it means your web app may look extremely similar to many others. Fortunately, there are some beautifully designed UI kits and icon packs that are out there that have been generously made available for free. Free UI Element Downloads Freebie PSD UI Kit Free UI Kit Flat Design UI Kit Flat Transparent UI Kit User Login Form Transparent Free UI Template Avengers Flat UI Kit UI Kit with free PSD Dashboard PSD Flatilicious Freebie PSD Flat UI Kit Simple UI Kit Line Icons Free UI Vector Icon Set Fun File Type Icon Set 44 Shades of Free Icons Othericons It’s Flat – Icon Set Google Map Pins
7 Data Viz Sites to Inspire Your Creative Eye In the age of data overload, "big data" and "data visualization" are major buzzwords, and they'll likely grow even bigger as we gather more information on a daily basis. With data visualization on the rise, we rounded up seven sites to help you find useful ways of interpreting big data, as well as infographics that parse information into visually pleasing graphics. These sites range from aggregation blogs to how-tos to tools that allow you to create your own visualizations. Check out the list, and let us know in the comments below what your favorite site is for data visualizations. 1. Flowing Data Image: Flowing Data Statistician Nathan Yau edits Flowing Data, which is one of the most popular sites for infographics aggregation. Flowing Data also features tutorials on how to make useful graphics and how to use the tools to do so. 2. Image: Information is Beautiful 3. Image: Visual.ly Visually is a community platform for data visualization. 4. Image: Information Aesthetics 5. 6. 7.
Mobile Testing Toolbox: Part 1 The mobile domain is growing rapidly. Mobile devices currently make up 20% of our online traffic. That's one-fifth of our user base accessing content through a mobile device: we cannot ignore the mobile channel. Even though mobile usage of websites continues to grow, mobile users are still not as prevalent as desktop users. To expand the sample, I’ve been evaluating and testing remote usability testing tools since the summer of 2012. The first part of the article will focus on mobile testing tools for moderated usability studies. Please note: this is not a complete list of all mobile remote usability testing tools. An Overview Of Features By Tool What Tools Can I Use For Moderated Remote Usability Testing? Moderated remote usability testing tools provide many of the benefits of in-lab tests with the convenience of a remote study. Moderated remote usability testing tools provide many of the benefits of in-lab tests.tweet this Ad by College of Creative Studies GoToAssist Features/Functionality
POMS Home Page by Kent L. Norman published by Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991, 368 pages (ISBN: 0-89391-553-X). About the Book Menu selection is emerging as an important mode of human/computer interaction. The volume has three parts. The reader will benefit from the discussion of the many issues, design possibilities and insights regarding menu slection. The On-Line Copy The complete table of contents is listed below. Order a Copy Ablex Publishing Corporation has been acquired by other publishers. The hard copy edition of the book, however, is still available from Intellect Books PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK, (telephone: +44 (0)117 955 6811), for $34.95. Table of Contents Preface Part I: The Theory and Implementation of Menu Selection Systems 1. 1.1 Research and Design of the Human/Computer Interface 1.1.1 Issues in Design 1.1.2 Three Paradigms of Design 1.2 A Model of the Human/Computer Interface 1.2.1 Characteristics of Tasks and Environments 1.2.2 Characteristics of the Human User 1.3 Research Methods 2.
What Is User Experience Design? Overview, Tools And Resources Advertisement Websites and Web applications have become progressively more complex as our industry’s technologies and methodologies advance. What used to be a one-way static medium has evolved into a very rich and interactive experience. But regardless of how much has changed in the production process, a website’s success still hinges on just one thing: how users perceive it. “Does this website give me value? Is it easy to use? User experience design is all about striving to make them answer “Yes” to all of those questions. What Is User Experience? User experience (abbreviated as UX) is how a person feels when interfacing with a system. Those who work on UX (called UX designers) study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at such things as ease of use, perception of the value of the system, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and so forth. UX designers also look at sub-systems and processes within a system. Why Is UX Important? There was no science behind what we did.
What 12 of The World’s Biggest Websites Looked Like at the Beginning Even the greatest among us had humble beginnings. This is just as true for websites, however, as it is for people. Even online giants like Amazon, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter were once itty-bitty websites with monochrome homepages, poorly-thought-out logos and boring or stark turn-of-the-century designs. Mashable, which collected the old homepages from the Wayback Machine, even included their own site on the list. Check out these images to see how the internet greats looked in their infancy. Source: Wayback Machine Google.com (1998) Facebook.com (2004) Yahoo.com (1995) Amazon.com (1995) Youtube.com (2005) Twitter.com (2006) NyTimes.com (1996) MySpace.com (2003) Mashable.com (2005) Wikipedia.org (2001) Apple.com (1996) Microsoft.com (1996)
Usability & User Experience Should You Build a Responsive Site or a Native Mobile App? You know your business needs a mobile presence, but how to best offer that experience — without breaking the bank — is something tons of companies, both big and small, continue to struggle with. Carl asks: Is it worth it for me to have a mobile app (or should I just have a responsive site)? How do I know whether I'm getting bang for my buck? If Carl had asked this question back in 2009 or 2010, it would have been phrased, "Do I need a native app or is a mobile-optimized website enough?" As a result, it's an increasingly popular option for companies that are looking to move into mobile, but that lack the budgets to support separate apps for each mobile platform and without the needs of something more complex such as a mobile web app. The first thing you need to do is forget about buzzwords and lingo and focus on the actual needs of your business. The first thing you need to do is forget about buzzwords and lingo and focus on the actual needs of your business. App or Website I wrote then:
Seeing with geometry: inside the mind of Andy Gilmore Jump To up down Close Andy Gilmore is practically unrivaled in his field. A master of geometry, his work has been commissioned by Nike, Fast Company, Wired Magazine, and others. To coincide with the sale of a selection of Gilmore's works, the design house / online store Ghostly International has released a video looking into the artist's creative process. The scope of Gilmore's compositions is very broad, ranging from soothing, almost-kaleidoscopic geometric patterns to bold, fractal-inspired loops. When he started out, Gilmore used to draw exclusively in pencil, but found the ability to erase paralyzing; "I could draw a hand and it would take me three days," he explains. Curiously, when moving from traditional techniques to computer software to create art, Gilmore found the opposite to be true. While most of us will enjoy architecture or nature at face value, Gilmore's mind is always working. All images copyright Andy Gilmore.
How Do Users Interact with Mobile Devices? — User Experience Research It is very important both for hardware and software developers to understand how users interact with mobile devices. How do we know whether the button placed on the side of the device or even the virtual button placed on the upper-right side of the screen is usable or not? To answer this type of questions we need to have a deep understanding of how users interact with mobile devices. And now in our user-centric world manufacturers and developers first of all need to understand the user and then based on that research create user-centric and ergonomic products, both physical and digital. Now let’s have a look at how exactly users are interacting with their phones. Only 19% of all mobile device holders didn't interact with the phone during the study. Here is the next finding: 79% of all users hold mobile device with the left hand and only 21% are right-handers. Here are some other facts according to humans’ interactions with mobile devices: Now let’s take a look at one handers.
5 things to know when converting your app design to iOS 7 Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Rob Palmer, the UK-based head of design for Fueled, a mobile design and development company based in London and New York. Apple is set to release iOS 7 this fall, an experience the company promises will be simpler, more useful and more enjoyable — while building on the things people love about the current iOS. For developers, the rules of the game are about to shift with iOS 7’s new UI, new design and fresh take on the user and device relationship. 1. If you’ve seen teasers for the iOS7 (or used the current developer version that’s out) you know Apple has upped the ante on its passion for simplicity. 2. Apple has embraced a more compact experience in terms of layering its native apps. 3. Apple has placed an emphasis on reducing app independence in order to increase interactivity between native apps. 4. Acting iOS 7-relevant doesn’t mean sacrificing your application’s personality. 5. Image credits: Shutterstock and Apple