Sunday, December 31, 2017

Popular Design News of the Week: December 25, 2017 – December 31, 2017

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. 

The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that were posted, so don’t miss out and subscribe to our newsletter and follow the site daily for all the news.

HTML 5.2 is Done, HTML 5.3 is Coming

 

How Developers will Work in 2018

 

A Study of Homepages Over Time

 

Ether – A Modular Base for any Design System

 

25 Free HTML Website Templates for Zero-Cost Websites

 

4 Key Web Navigation Principles

 

Beautiful Map Visualization

 

From Concept to Reality – A Guide to Logo Development

 

Text-only News Sites are Slowly Making a Comeback. Why

 

The Rise of the Butt-less Website

 

Pantone Colors for Designers

 

Designing Better Design Documentation

 

10 Most Awesome Hi-fi Prototypes of 2017

 

Resourcy – An Index of Sites that Help You Discover Resources

 

UI/UX Case Study : A Brand New “Get Taxi Experience”

 

Our 10 Favorite Open Source Resources from 2017

 

Hiiistory – Museum of Web Design

 

Re-thinking Reading on the Web

 

Component-Based Design

 

Site Design: This Year in Books by Amazon

 

Apple Plans Combined iPhone, iPad & Mac Apps to Create One User Experience

 

GIF my Year – A Lil Holiday Hack to See your 2017 in GIFs

 

The 5 Biggest Typography Trends of 2017

 

Fictional Logos

 

How to Design a Remarkable Logo?

 

Want more? No problem! Keep track of top design news from around the web with Webdesigner News.



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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Comics of the Week #421

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

Gray or color

Working vacation

 

Happy New Year!

Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

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Friday, December 29, 2017

8 Tips for Designing Awe-Inspiring Conversational Interfaces

UX Design is almost synonymous with conversational interfaces, which are used left, right, and center from natural language messaging to voice-based action.

Biggies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon are neck-and-neck when it comes to taking conversation as a platform to the next level with their virtual assistants, that make it easy for users to take the next course of action. It is no different than talking to the next person beside you. One-on-one.

Sample these scenarios: Need to buy a product? Ask a bot to guide you. Want to download an app but need to know more about its features? A bot will answer all your queries. Looking for a discount code during checkout? Fret not, as the bot will help you search and apply the best deals!

As more number of sites, apps and other platforms go conversational, it becomes mandatory for web designers to know how to make the most of it. Those of you who are just getting started in this direction will benefit from these eight tips for designing awe-Inspiring conversational interfaces.

1. Pay Attention To User Reactions

When you want to design a conversational interface, the first thing you need to take into consideration is the target users and how they are most likely to react in specific situations.

Getting this perspective is mandatory before you start working on conversations that fit their interests and requirements like pieces of a puzzle. Address their issues in the first screen itself and take it from there.

2. Provide a Unique Personality

One of the major characteristics of conversational interfaces is that they are as different as chalk and cheese. If you take the example of Alexa, Siri, Cortana and OK Google, you’ll find that each of these speak to the user in a different manner and yet, serve their ultimate purpose. It is the best way to humanize them even if they can never replace a human. It will not only set your interface apart from competition, but also hook the users.

3. Break the Ice

Everything will be futile if you leave the users playing the guessing game about the features and functionalities your bot is about to serve. You need to make it clear to them at the very beginning itself, maybe as an introductory message, animation or speech bubble. Let your creativity do the talking! The more you work on the onboarding, the easier it will be for them to interact with the interface.

4. Use Conversational Text

Make your chatbots as human as possible. On a virtual level, this is possible by using conversational text.

It should be as seamless and as natural as possible. Even for questions as random such as “are you a bot or a real person?” the bot should be able to handle the query like a human and take the conversation further.

Ergo, make the tone of the conversation as informal so that it gives incentive to the reader for responding back. If they don’t understand the conversation in the first place, the chances of them replying back are bleak.

You’ll need excellent copy for this as the main purpose is to increase user engagement with colloquial language. For instance, if your target audience includes Millennial and Gen Z, you may use phrases or abbreviations like On Fleek, Lit or SMH, which they can easily relate.

5. Write Short Texts

Say goodbye to long strings of information and use short texts to retain your target audience’s attention span. The texts should be easily skimmable and if the reader wants, they can directly take a call-to-action without having to go through large chunks of text using smartly designed buttons. One of the best ways to do this is to take the help of visual feedback, which is the next point.

6. Offer Plenty of Visual Feedback

Web designers cut down on text and include whitespace on the websites to improve readability for visitors. Something similar also applies to conversational interfaces. In this case, the whitespace is replaced by visual cues.

Use several graphics, charts, images, GIFs and maps to relay bite-sized information. Alternatively, you can even go a step ahead and add infographics, slideshows or videos to explain features and functionalities of a product or a service and even to guide them to a physical store. If they ask for a recipe, maybe you can give them recipe cards straight from the website.

These are the best options to reply to the queries put forth by the users. You get the drift!

7. Don’t Forget The Emojis

Emojis are used for a reason. Various chat-based applications have their own emoji sets to assist users in expressing a varied range of emotions, which are difficult to pen down in words. In this digital age, emojis are an integral part of our lives and it’s a given that emojis or emoticons need to be a part of your conversational interface.

8. Give Users Plenty of Choices

If you don’t want users to leave midway from a conversation, give them plenty of choices, which include but are not limited to buttons, shortcuts, quick reply options so that they can reply/respond speedily.

Remember the automated replies by LinkedIn messenger? Work on something similar and make them type less. Give them the option to select from sending texts, attachments, stickers, videos, photos and so on and so forth.

Conversational interfaces have skyrocketed and there is no coming back. To keep up to speed, use these tips to offer the best AI experiences to your users on a design level.

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Thursday, December 28, 2017

​Find Your Creative Freedom Online with Wix

What kind of website would you create if you had total creative freedom online? If you had the same kind of comfort level that you have in your sketchbook? If you weren’t hampered by inflexible design tools, and code you don’t understand?

That’s the freedom that Wix gives you. The freedom to tell your story online exactly the way you envisioned it.

Wix is the most advanced website builder available. With hundreds of design features, you can create without limits, and feel confident the results will be stunning, unique, and totally personal.

Total Creative Freedom

Wix gives you the power to create anything online. With its innovative drag and drop website builder you can create a site that looks great on any device – desktop or mobile.

Start with one of the beautifully-crafted templates, or a blank slate if you prefer, and build your design. Text, images, even video can be dropped into place, and grid markers make it easy to move elements into neat ordered positions. Choose from hundreds of different font styles, or upload your own to match the look and feel of your brand. And that’s not all, when you build your site with Wix, everything on the page is fully customizable.

From a beautiful photography portfolio, to a successful online store, you can build anything you like. The only limit is your imagination.

Low on time? Then try out Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) – the first ever artificial intelligence that can design a stunning website for you. After learning about you, and your preferences, Wix ADI applies this knowledge to design a unique site for your specific business needs.

Take Control with Code

You don’t need to know any code to get the most out of Wix. You can design in any grid or layout you want with drag and drop. However, if you are interested in code, you can use the stunning visual components of the Editor to create your own web applications and robust websites. It’s serverless, hassle-free coding for all levels, from notice to advanced builders. Designed to help you take full control of your site functionality, its advanced features, and intuitive interface will have you programming web components before you know it.

Not a coder? No worries, you only have to use it if you want to. Otherwise, it’s all drag and drop.

A Design Tool for 2018

You can even add advanced design features like parallax scrolling, animation and hover effects. Because Wix is constantly pushing the limits of the platform, you can be sure to find emerging design trends right inside the Editor.

Video and animation both look huge for the coming year, and Wix already makes it simple to add both to your site. Their revolutionary video player allows you to upload, share, and even sell videos or video subscriptions right on your site! You can add your videos from anywhere – YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. And grab your visitors’ attention by adding beautiful autoplay video backgrounds to your site. Use your own videos or explore the free Wix collection.

Want to add a specific effect to your images, but don’t have Photoshop or Lightroom? Edit your images right inside the Editor with around 40 filters to choose from. Once you’re happy with how your images look, add them to the Wix Pro Gallery to create a professional looking portfolio with text, images and videos.

You’ll be amazed by what you can create online – all with one website builder. You won’t have to open a million tabs to create a site that will impress your visitors.

Wix for Business

Wix was built from the ground up for professional web designers. You’ll find all the essential features you need to help you create beautiful sites for your clients.

Reliable hosting, custom domain names, professional mailboxes and best-in-class SEO, Wix takes care of all the heavy lifting for you.

You can even ask for feedback from clients, team members or friends before publishing. Then when you’re ready, share your website on social in a click.

Wix also has innovative SEO features that ensure your website will get found on search engines like Google. Follow your own personalized SEO plan to help you choose the right keywords and track your success.

The Total Website Solution

Wix is by far the most technologically advanced site builder in the world. Their drag and drop website builder and advanced design features, combined with Wix Code, and Wix ADI, belies a wealth of features that enables anyone to create the website they want.

Whether you need a portfolio, a business site or you’re designing a website for a client, Wix gives you the creative freedom online to create the exact website you want. So, what kind of website will you create?

 

[— This is a sponsored post on behalf of Wix —]

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