Just Simple

It’s Christmas time again and to my surprise I found an online advent calender for graphic designers. Instead of chocolate there are articles which include web design.

There are some great articles on this site that are worth having a look at. Some posts move back to the basics of web design but I feel that it’s important to remember that sometimes less is more. Not all articles are design related some talk about the importance of coding a site. One of the hardest things to do as a web designer is to keep in mind what the code can do while designing.

It’s worth having a look at, and some articles in the years before are still relevant today.

A link to the site: 24 Ways

Earlier this week I found an article on the web designer’s depot on Jakob Nielsen.

Jakob Nielsen along with Donald Norman are considered to be experts within the web usability field.

It’s an interesting article on Jakob Nielsen’s current thoughts on web usability. I found it quite useful and will use it in my future web design developments.

I found the concerns about web usability today quite interesting. When Jakob Nielsen started out, it was in the days of 28.8kbps. I believe because we are in the age of ADSL people are less likely to hang around for a response on a webpage. I tend to think of it like art you have 30 seconds to impress someone, the time is cut down to 1 second with web design.

I suggested people read this article and frequently visit his site to gain more hints on web usability.

Donald Norman’s books Emotional Design and The Design of Everyday things are a good read. I suggest anyone planning on getting into design to have a read of them.

For a link to the article:

Web Designer Depot Interview with Jakob Nielsen

And Jakob Neilsen’s site:

Jakob Neilsen’s site

And Donald Norman’s site:

Donald Norman

I found an interesting magazine the other day. It has some interesting articles and design work from all around the world. I love the front cover of their first issue.

For a link to the site:

Uppercase

One of my favourite comics of all time is Fables. I don’t only love it for the storyline but also for the fantastic art. So it’s a shame to see the cover artist james jean leaving the project. After issue 81 there will be no more James Jean lovely art works. However that doesn’t mean he will be disappearing off the face of the earth.

I love his works, so much he’s inspired me to take some more course in watercolours and life drawing at the ACSA and WEA. Tafe is over for another year in 10 weeks, luckily for me this is when those short courses start

For anyone wanting to see James Jean’s site the link is here:

http://www.jamesjean.com/

And a link to his blog:

http://www.processrecess.com

This has been going around the youtube circuit for quite a while now. Though this is pretty clever especially if you have a cat. If you don’t have a cat they pretty much act like this except more annoying, come to think of it your probably lucky.

This animation works so well because it is simple and based on real life experiences. From my understanding it is done in flash and is possibly frame by frame animation. Simon Toefield is simply a wonderful animator.

Here’s a link to his youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat

and the company he works for:

http://www.tandemfilms.com/

I found this site photoshop disasters and it’s really funny. Most people think they are genius with photoshop not really considering what is actually REAL. There have been plenty of times I’ve looked at a photo wondering what’s wrong here. Only to relaise the leg is missing or there is an extra hand.

I had a good laugh but also some embarrassing moments when I had a look back at my old work. Since I think I’m guilty in my early days of some of those disasters! Good thing none of them went to publication.

Here’s a link to the site:

http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

I caught this post on Design Zen and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing copy cat cards for years to come but it’s an original idea and I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first. Though I have a few ideas in the works, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something better!

He has a flickr set shown here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/etaymor/sets/72157606459028460/

I found another blog on the DRAWN! website which I feel can be a useful resource for me and other students. It has some interesting post on how logo’s are created and even a post on logo’s similar to other companies. I’m planning on redesigning my logo later on in the year since I’m not 100% happy with it. Though I doubt I will ever be 100% happy with it, I believe a better resolution can be found.

It’s worth a look as a student designer.

Link:

http://www.logodesignlove.com/

A good thing about subscribing to other blogs is finding out new things. Through the Lines and Colours blog I found out about colour lovers.

Colour Lovers is proving to be an interesting resource for me as a student.

This site is aimed at designers and is used to exchange colour ideas and trends in the market. It has resources on colour palettes made by designers, and what colour is fashionable now.

I find the blog more interesting since it’s updated more. The blog show use of colours in nature, paint etc. I love the post on the children’s toys and how bright they are.

I think anyone considering getting into design keeps an eye for these types of blogs. They’re interesting to read but also a great resource!

Links:

http://www.colourlovers.com

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/

I picked up this book at a garage sale last weekend. I’m not really that big on fashion but I loved the line drawings in this book.