Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
When we find ourselves dealing with customers, they will ask us sometimes: What do you recommend me, a page with or without motion? Then comes the time when we have to think and give a good answer. Here are some tips for you to get the best answer possible:
Dynamic:
Is the site where motion is added, this motion can interact with the viewer while he/she surfers through the site. The content is most of the time motionless, but the images or scenarios around it will be dynamic. If you want to do a dynamic site, you’ll need Flash. A good example would be a web site where the surfer can interact with the data base. The customer types in what he/she wants and it comes out. This is called a non-linear web page.
The great advantage of these pages is their easy way to administrate. As long as you know the programming language. Some examples of dynamic sites could be: Forums, picture galleries, etc.
Static:
Like the name indicates, there’s no motion in these types of pages. This doesn’t mean it’s a boring site, because it could have a good design and attract a lot of customers. These sites are linear. Because the client can jump from a place to another. Or as the designer wanted it.
Now with this in your head, we can give our customers a clearer idea of what he/she would need for the company.
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Sunday, February 17th, 2008
It doesn’t matter if you’re a programmer, writer, etc. freelancer, this will help you all so you can generate great business contacts.Never leave your business card at home, you can leave home anything and meet a potential customer or you can even find somebody who can recommend you for a job.
Don’t be shy, I know that you’ve wondered why your neighbor is so successful as freelancer. When he is not as talented as you are. It’s most likely because he/she is not a timid person, and gives out his/her business card to every new contact. Sometimes even two cards, one for the contact, and one for the person who referred him/her in the first place.
Give a card to the right person. How many business cards did you give out at the last meeting you had? Or at the last course you had? Imagine the great amount of people you’ve lost as potential customers?
Use your cards for your personal benefit, but use them!
Posted in Ads, Articles, Freelance | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
I couple days ago I was just commenting to one of my friends how we designers can be really picky about certain designs. We use colors that we like, and we don’t think of the physiological impact this color has in a person’s mind. This affects the message we’re trying to convey. For example, do you remember a site that had really awful colors? Now try to remember a website that you don’t normally visit, where you have learned something interesting.
Even if your site has the most amazing design someone can ever create, if the content is poor, the site most-likely will be forgotten. It’s not the design, it’s the message. It’s true that a person that finds a pretty web site will stay there, but within the next couple minutes, due to the lack of content, this person will leave the site. On the other hand, if this person found what he/she was looking for, this new visitor will tell everybody he/she knows about this amazing web site. This is why you need to remind your customer’s, the design really matters, but the content matters the most.
Posted in Articles, Graphic Design, Tips, Web Design | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
Carrying the message your customers wants, might be one of the greatest challenges you might find yourself with in the designing world. Specially when you work for a big company where many people have to approve your designs.In my personal experience is that the idea of the customer has “evoluved” while the concept was been developed. In some cases for example, it happened in the transpassing from person to person. This tends to happen when it comes down to web page designing, today they’ll like something, tomorrow it’ll be something different and so forth.
It’s because the message that the designer has is not conveyed to the customer. Maybe the customer was trying to say “coorporate”, but you were using the most cutting-edge Flash effect in the market.
Talk to the people in charge, that’s my best advice. Write down the ideas out of a brainstorming, and try to get the big picture of the concept.
Posted in Articles, Graphic Design, Tips, Web Design | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
Many people think that since they already know Illustrator and Photoshop and they have a major in Graphic Designing, they already know how to design for online pages. This is not entirely true. Because online designing is completely different from paper designing. It’s like a chef and a regular person. They both know how to cook, but each one will be doing something different, with different efficiency and quality.
The same thing applies for the world of designing. You don’t only need to learn to use programs, you also need other technical experiences: like programming, image resolution, etc.
Now that you have read this, you know the first step: Understanding that both are different.
My advise for you would be to keep on trying and to remember that you’re about to discover a whole new world. You’ll have greater challenges, but also greater experience. Have an open mind for new things, it’s like learning a new language. Just remember, nothing’s impossible.
Where to start?
You’ve probably already seen pretty looking sites in Flash. That would not be your best point of start, for first for the basics: HTML and CSS. Why? Because it’s the most fundamental thing on the web. You’ll learn to join all the elements, and it’s going to be a great base to learn a new language. And by the way, have fun!
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