BlogmyQuery – BMQ

There are many new web design methods or techniques out there in the world today. Many designers choose a method, style, or technique and stick to it to master it and put their name on it.

However, others try to hop from trend to trend to keep up with the industries needs, which is indeed, a great idea for freelance designers. Minimalist design is becoming ever popular in the web design industry, and because of such, we discuss several key points that favor that designers should adapt to minimalistic design in order to keep up with the trending or evolving industry.

What is Minimalist Design?

Minimalist design is a new design style or technique that is based on the usage of web technologies and content. The minimalistic designing process involves less use of web technologies such as JavaScript and less use of images, icons, and the likes including the way the elements fit onto the grid or layout.

The point to it is to keep the design as simple yet as elegant as possible. For example, minimalistic design can include a great lightweight illustration that blends in with extensive whitespace with little use of JavaScript. Add a nice mixture of colors and well laid out content across the grid, and you come up with a great minimalistic design.

To grasp the idea of minimalistic design, have a look at the two sites below:

Dbushell

Dbushell is a great example of the use of web technologies in minimalistic design. It has a nice lightweight header with a great illustration right below while utilizing the hierarchy method for the content and typography.

Ah-Studio

Ah Studio has an interesting touch with the way it utilizes minimalist design. While there may be a lot of scrolling to do to get through the content, it handles the illustrations and navigation quite well throughout. It is a great example to show you that minimalist design really has no borders to how lightweight it can actually be.

Now that you have a general idea of what minimalist design is all about, you can quite see that why many companies in a plethora of industries quite desire minimalistic designs for their websites, as they are lightweight but carry a lot of character to them.

The Wow Factor

Minimalist Design provides that wow factor to-many companies as these minimalistic designs are not only lightweight and simple to work with, but they often contain hidden treats waiting to be found. For example, many minimalistic designs out there in the world today scatter the usage of JavaScript, enough to satisfy our cravings but not too much to qualify as heavy use.

With that said, we are often found searching about these websites only to find some great JavaScript use in some features we never imagined to find. This not only increases the wow factor for viewers and clientele alike, but it also keeps them searching or hunting for more of these hidden treats to see what you have for them next.

Heavy Use of Creativity and Ingenuity

Due to minimalist design being so lightweight, it limits how much color, gradients, icons, and the likes you can use throughout the design or layout. However, because of this, it requires a lot of creativity and ingenuity that you would not otherwise put forward when designing fully-fledged websites.

This extra ingenuity or creativity that it requires allows you to expand on its borders or boundaries having you come up with new elements and factors to minimalist design, one of the delicious key features when using this style or method. Think of it as this, if I give you two blocks and two tools including a carving tool and tell you to build scale-sized cave like home, you really do not have all the materials or tools to do it.

However, because I only gave you these tools and materials, you have to use your imagination to become very creative to how you can use the tools with the materials to build the end result, and in the end, the output will generally be better than what you would have done if I gave you all the necessary tools, as you needed to be more creative on how you can reach or obtain the goal.

Many Companies Want It

As freelance designers, we find many small to large companies in search for designers to help redesign their websites. However, when we accept their job, we learn that their entire website is built upon only a few pages. Instead of heading the minimalist or minimalistic route, we decide to build a full-fledged site around these few pages.

Often, our designs are a definite overkill to what these companies offer online and these companies are generally pleased with the end result but not quite as great as they may have imagined their website to look. Therefore, when it comes down to a few pages, the best satisfying route would be to create minimalist or minimalistic designs as they are not only universal, but they are also great pieces that express the content well with great hidden treats between. Leaving these companies more than satisfied and pleased, of who will most definitely return to you for future design work.

To conclude, the minimalistic designing method or style is a great style to adapt to as its demand is constantly increasing as more and more companies and individuals find the need for them. Companies and small business often want websites but have no need for no more than a few pages on that website. Many designs and designers tend to stick to designing for content filled websites despite these sites only having a few pages.

Therefore, the end result is generally not as great is it should be. Moreover, by adapting to minimalistic design, you can maximize on your growth in the industry as well as always “over satisfying” your clientele by reaching or exceeding what they would have imagined their website to look like or be.

There have been numerous posts on human architecture in which most of the architects have sharpened their skills with the help of education. However, these small birds and insects are naturally endowed with this super gift. We all find nests everywhere and are awed by the beauty of so many different nests which have been created by these wonderful creatures. In today’s post we have compiled some examples of ravishing architectural “Nests”.

The nests are built mostly by males; the nest’s shape, size and position reckons on the species. Although they may differ, their beauty keeps them a source of attraction for both kids and elders alike. Some of us might have tried to construct nests at summer camps. Those among us will definitely agree that these tiny creatures can do wonders. Enjoy the ultimate creativity!

Wren’s nest

Life beneath the surface….

House Finch Nest & Eggs…

Hummingbird and Nest

Swallows’ Nests

Mama Hummer Sitting on Nest

Patient Mama

Nesting Season

Baby Hummingbirds in Nest

BABY BIRD IN NEST

Tree Swallow nest

Prairie Falcon Female on side of pothole cliff nest after deliverying squirrel to Chicks CS CO

Filedfare

Turdus pilaris nest

The Robin’s Nest

4 of 6 Great Egret (Ardea alba) nest with three chicks at the Morro Bay Heron Rookery

Osprey Bringing Mullet To Mate On Nest Everglades National Park

Nesting Rufous Hummingbird

Mother & chick on the nest

Honeybee Nest Removal

Building Summers Nest

Weaver birds building their nests

Tree with Weaver Bird nest, evening light, The Naukluft, Namibia

Least Flycatcher’s Nest Revisit – Feedin’ Time

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The other day I came a cross a website with text too small for me to read it comfortably. I hit Command-Plus a couple of times to make Safari bump up the text size a bit… and nothing happened. What?

After some investigation of the CSS used on the site the culprit turned out to be the following CSS (don’t use):

body {
    -webkit-text-size-adjust:none;
}

What that does is prevent WebKit-based browsers from resizing text. Not even full page zoom resizes the text. Now, how can preventing your users from resizing text be a good idea?

Read full post

Posted in Accessibility, Browsers, CSS.

“Form follows function” is a widely accepted — albeit controversial — principle that most designers in a variety of disciplines have adopted since its inception at the turn of the 20th century. On the web, we commonly refer to function as usability which is the ease of use and navigation of a website in order to achieve user’s goals.

In this showcase we present websites that sacrifice usability for beauty and present issues related to clutter, loading, navigation, archiving or visibility. Unfortunately, although the sites featured in this showcase are visually appealing, they are quite difficult to use. By studying such examples, we can learn what mistakes we can avoid in our designs and how not to strive for strong aesthetic appearances on the account of usability.

You may be interested in the showcase of Bizarre Websites On Which You Can Kill Time With Style as well.

Visual Clutter

Where do I look? Where do I click? What do I do? Visual clutter is one of the most serious issues a designer can present to an audience. Not only is the user unlikely to achieve the desired goals (because it’s hidden in the clutter), chances are they’ll just leave out of frustration before they do anything.

Creative With aK
Navigation overload! Not only are we unsure of where to look, we’re unsure of what’s clickable! Having to scan around the design with the mouse is not helpful for usability. And that’s if, and only if, you get past the load screen with no load progress bar. In addition to that, it takes a while until one has figured out that the welcome screen has to be closed to enable the actual in-site navigation. The inexistant scroll finally lets potentially interesting content disappear under the frame of the browser window.

Marc Ecko
Marc Ecko is an extremely successful businessman with countless ventures and he definitely wants us to know it. The problem is, he’s got so much business we don’t know where to start, provided you get used to the almost erratic horizontal scrolling feature! Getting the information you are looking for will take quite some time.

Content Of
Even after reading the “About” page and randomly clicking links, we’re still not sure what this page actually is about. Our best guess is a portfolio, but due to link clutter and no solid explanation of what the navigation does, we’re left confused.

There Studio
Half of the circles that look clickable aren’t; the other half jumble into a new rotation if you drag and drop them. Granted, the movement makes sense for the philosophy of the company, and there isn’t too much clutter, but it took us a minute to figure it all out and that’s 58 seconds too long. If you feel the need for more bubbles, click and drag on the empty space to add more to the confusion.

Loading Issues

As bounce rates increase, and time-on-sites decreases web-wide, it is becoming increasingly important to grab people’s attention immediately. By the time all of your effects load, chances are your user is back on Google or Facebook looking for the next cool site. Loading times, skip buttons, missing instructions on navigation and many other issues are all subject of considerations here.

Coke Light
One of the worst things you can do as a Flash designer is force an introduction on your audience. A long intro and no skip button means this site is likely to be abandoned by most of its visitors before they get in. Add an unclear “Call to Action” and no visual navigation indicators and most people will never encounter the beauty this site has to offer. Long transitions back to the home screen waste time the visitior could have spent successfully “travelling the world”, searching for the numerous balloons hidden within the map.

Design Sul
We’ve never seen so many load issues on one site. Multiple load times for different elements, re-loads once you’re in to the site core, and no clear indication that loading is finished make for an extremely confusing and difficult to use website. Actually, discovering how to reach the content takes some time, what it all has to do with milk cartons is a different question.

Nicola Walbeck
A big loading wait-time at the beginning of the site is excruciating, but sometimes manageable once you enter a beautiful, usable website. Scratch that here, because once you get in, you’ll have to wait again and again for each individual image, forcing you to stare at blurred photographs. A better idea would be to use loading bars on the image to indicate that the image is loading. If you are on a broadband connection, then it’s fine, but if you are not, you start to get nervous very quickly. Add the fact that there’s no prominent back button and the experience could be a bit frustrating.

Navigation Issues

For content/category heavy sites especially, navigation is extremely important. Imagine driving without a map, or the grocery store with no aisle indicators. Navigation tells us where to go and how, or — in these cases — tells us very little. You might consider taking a compass with you, these examples make getting lost easy.

EContent
After quite a long load, this site requires the user to click “enter”. Okay, we’re in. Unfortunately, although there is a quick-menu, it does not draw attention and the user is required to blindly scroll over images to see categories. Navigate with caution and carefully look out for navigation buttons!

Prism Girl
Unusable sites have actually developed conventions. When we don’t see clear category navigation on a beautiful site, we poke around with our mouse looking for the category links. This site is beautiful (and complex) enough to poke around for an hour, but you’ll probably never guess you have to click on the mouse trailing icon to enter. Other than impressive design work, this site does not have much to offer.

On Toyota’s Mind
Slow load time leads to an unclear ‘Call to Action’, no visually clear navigation as well as a hard-to-find back action. Our question: What crossed Toyota’s mind when conceptualising this site?

Theologos
No button to skip intro. No visually clear navigation. Slow transitions. And here’s the kicker, a separate page to mute the music player. When visiting the site using a fast connection, the animations make the visit even less enjoyable.

Archiving/Category Issues

Your site loaded fine, it’s clear what you want people to do, you have a solid navigation, but once the user begins moving around, they can’t figure out your category structure. When you want meat, you go to the deli, not the dairy aisle. Some sites, unfortunately, get it wrong.

Self Titled
A hidden quick menu and unclear category organization make this site difficult to navigate. The actual information one gets when entering a category is rather scarce.

Vanalen
Image slivers make-up the category composition on this site, giving us very little information as to where/what to click on. If you’re new to the site, you are likely to spend a while until you find what you were looking for.

Grip Limited
The website does tell you to “click and drag” but finding this instruction amidst what looks like a typographic poster is something we suspect many people weren’t able to do. Realizing this might be a problem, Grip did create an “Open Menu” bar at the top of the page, but what are the chances you’re going to look there?

Kyle Tezak
Another example of an extremely talented visual artist who has great design work, but a small usability problem makes the user experience less enjoyable. There is no actual navigation on this page, just a floating header and illustrations of Kyle’s work. To find the designer’s contact information, you need to click on the “Information” link in the upper right corner. Using more traditional wording would improve usability: e.g. putting an e-mail right there or naming it “Contact information” or adding contact information at the bottom of the page would help. A nice example of how one little detail can improve site’s usability.

Visibility/Scrolling Issues

A site may be uncluttered and have great navigation, but if the magnification is off, or scrolling is dysfunctional, no one is going to see it. Visibility issues can quickly turn to invisibility issues as users navigate away from your site.

Real Casual
This site is invisible until you start hunting with your mouse, at which point different areas of the screen appear. A long roll-over hunt is followed by long load times, during which fade effects additionally take your chance to get a good look at content.

Lego Click
Scrolling is conventionally top to bottom or left to right, but this site starts at the bottom which is confusing. Add to that an inability to retrieve closed elements, and several other minor issues, and you get an extremely frustrating (but beautiful) website from Lego.

Journey to Zero
This site is rather large, but you wouldn’t know it. It starts magnified with no suggestion to drag scroll, leaving the user wondering where all the content is. If you scroll too far on the other hand, you might end up in empty regions of the site, making it hard to get back to the content. Very beautiful website that is difficult to use.

Faub (currently offline)
Another beautiful site that starts magnified and does not let you decrease the magnification, or suggest dragging for navigation.

Uniqlo
Uniqlo presents what looks like a beautiful and usable online store. That is, until you’ve added 10 items to your cart only to find out there is no check-out. Turns out it’s not a store at all, just a wishlist! A truely frustrating experience for every consumer willing to spend!

Bio Bak
Another drag navigation site that’s just too big for its own good. This is one of our favorite sites from a beauty/having fun perspective, but it does an awful job of presenting the design agency from a usability perspective. Using the mouse wheel by chance let us discover that the site has more to offer than what is visible on the first glace.

Summary

Design for function and communication. If your website ends up beautiful in the process, you kill two birds. Design for beauty only if the primary function of your site is to convey beauty.

Be wary of visual clutter, especially in navigation and on landing pages. Designing with too much clutter can make an audience unsure of how to use your site. In the worst case users won’t be able to load your page in the first place. Web customers don’t like to wait. Ensure that your site has a fast, clear load that conveys an easy understanding of how long it will take and when it is finished. This minimizes your risk of losing visitors to other sites in the meanwhile, keeping them occupied with joyous anticipation.

Once users arrive, you want to direct them to certain pages on your site. Always make clear what and where your navigation is, and what each element of your navigation does. Don’t make users guess or poke around to find an answer. On big sites, with lots of content, archiving and categorization is especially important. Make sure people can effectively navigate your archives. Try to make your menus self-explanatory, saving the users time, letting them invest it in effective exploration of your site.

Visibility is a huge issue most people don’t consider. In addition to designing for minimum resolutions, make sure your audience can clearly see the content you want them to at all times. If you’re designing to sell, make sure you’re designing to sell. This is especially important as your goal is to promote purchases. The more difficult you make it to buy your product, the less likely you’ll make money.

Related Articles

• Bizarre Websites On Which You Can Kill Time With Style
• 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
• Common Usability Blunders and 30 Usability Issues To Be Aware Of
• Common Mistakes in E-Commerce Design And How To Avoid Them
• Principles Of Effective Search In E-Commerce Design

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© Daniel Eckler, Glenn Manucdoc for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: showcases, unusable website, usability

The modern freelancer has a platter of tasks and responsibilities dumped onto their head every day. The masses assume the work-from-home lifestyle to be a refreshing break from the corporate office, though at times we see this is not the case. Freelancing shifts most power into the hands of designers and developers to create and work with whoever they want. It’s a big step towards running your own business and provides enormous potential in regards to income and professional experience.

Among the downfalls of this path can be poor time management and lack of any fixed schedule. After all, working from your home computer in pajamas every Monday can make temptations seem lucrative. Working for yourself and earning your own money is one of the most liberating acts available to us in modern society. In this post I’ll discuss a few ideas I’ve learned over my time freelancing to stay organized and on-task.

List Out Daily Objectives

Deviating from digital text to a form of pencil and paper seems ludicrous to some. There are so many benefits to storing your information digitally these days, why go back to handwritten tasks? A powerful question which shows just how advanced our society stands today.

Written word will always hold a concealed benevolence in that physical words can be easily manipulated, changed, updated or crossed out. I keep a small piece of paper near my desk and write out all tasks I hope to accomplish for the upcoming day and week. The physical activity of stepping away from the computer for some time to write actually helps clear my mind about what I need to do for that day. It allows for a small pause from our techno-enhanced world to reflect upon my personal goals and what I wish to achieve.

If you find task organization is easier via Internet tools such as Gmail’s Tasks pane then by all means go with your preferred method. Reviewing any set of tasks will boost motivation to complete them and hopefully keep you on track with your freelancing goals.

Keep the Motivation Flowing

Throughout the day it’s easy to break for some television or video games. Often it’s recommended to get away from the computer every few hours to rest your eyes and brain from the tasks at hand. Though it’s also important to understand the difference between resting and slacking off. You are ultimately the only judge upon your daily work. There will not be any managers or higher-ups to scold you for slacking. In the end you will just face a heavier workload or lose money, neither of which is a good scenario.

This is a good reason to keep your daily tasks list small. If you’re looking at 5 major projects listed in detail you’ll be inclined to procrastinate and put off such huge projects for a long time. If you’re stuck in this rut try breaking down larger tasks into small goals. Attempt to complete part of a project or work for a set 60 minutes before breaking.

It’s always good to hold a “bigger picture” in your head but it doesn’t benefit the day-to-day work mindset to be so focused on larger things. Understand that each work day is merely a means to an end towards a much greater goal, and Rome wasn’t built in a single day. Project scope is important to understand and the easiest way to keep motivation at it’s peak is to focus on your current conditions.

Set Realistic Timeframes

Unrealistic goals are the killer beast for many projects. This is another scenario where as a freelancer you won’t have anybody from above setting your goals here. Only you can understand how long a project will take and you have to the be the one quoting a timeline. If you find yourself putting things off until the last minute it may be smart to quote for an extra day or 2 of work. Granted it’s potentially smarter to get a head-start on the project and maybe finish early, but we don’t live in an ideal world.

Never plan for projects too soon to impress clients. This will generally backfire unless you know for certain you can complete their tasks within a shorter set of time. It’s often easier to give some padding and space between due dates. You’ll feel a lot more relaxed when approaching a task and will find focusing much easier.

Stress Hinders Productivity

I’ve read this many times and it’s constantly held true for my work. When I find myself in a place of deep stress or anxiety about a project the quality of my work suffers poorly. I can’t think of how many projects I’ve done under rushed terms and seen an amazing result pop out. This is almost counter-intuitive since the life of a freelancer is mostly hectic and stressful. Mindset plays a big role in this since how you work will project based on how you feel and analyze the situation.

Working freelance there will be times when you run into stress but don’t let anything get the best of you. It’s only work, after all. The world isn’t going to end if you can’t complete a 5:00PM deadline. Use such experiences as learning curves down the path to freelance enlightenment. Expand your knowledge for time management and figure out how to quote for projects in the future to allow for more time and less stress.

Creative Growth Period

Creativity doesn’t just stem from nothing. It takes a lot of mental processing power to churn out creative works of art in design, programming, writing, and all areas of business. The one place I don’t find my creativity soaring is front-face to a computer monitor.

I’m not saying I can’t be creative while I’m online or working on something. I do notice a much larger improvement in my mental capabilities if I take a short 30 minute break to go for a walk, or maybe cruise around downtown for a little while. Getting outside the house becomes somewhat of a luxury when you’re cooped in all day answering phone calls and replying to e-mails. Give some leeway in your schedule to allow for creative time.

As universal creators we all need a way to flush our mind from the activities of the day and replenish our creative fluids. Meditation, creative drawing, and other activities will also work well. A quick cat nap during the mid-afternoon has always worked wonders for me and replenished any lost energy. Find what suits you best and be sure to fit it in with your schedule.

Short vs. Long-Term Goals

Corporate lifestyles working for an office keep you focused on the day-to-day activities. This is great if you’re only working to collect a paycheck and couldn’t care less how the company advances. This attitude is the worst if you’re working as a freelancer and could spell a heavy downfall in your estate.

As designers we not only create digital works of art but must plan and sculpt our lives in a similar fashion. Always have a list of some larger goals you’d like to achieve. Whether it’s launching a new web application or taking a small vacation there has to be some type of incentive for you to get out of bed every day and work. Long-term goals will keep you feeling hopeful and, more importantly, deeply motivated to keep working.

When your focus shifts solely on goals in the long term you may never find motivation to attack your current problems. There is a gentle balance which freelancers must abide by. This balance stems from holding a knowledge about long-term goals and achievements but keeping primary focus on daily activities. In this sense you won’t get lost in a daydream reality and can really focus in at the heart of what you wish to accomplish. Goals based out long term also tend to change as time passes, so it’s much smarter to have a general idea of what you’re trying to accomplish while attending to current matters in the present.

Day is Day and Night is Night

Freelancers are all very passionate and driven individuals. This would make sense having the guts to quit a steady job and earn money based on how much work can be reeled in. Because of this we will often develop the idea that working harder and longer will process more orders and more money. This simply isn’t the case and could be detrimental to not only your business but your well-being. Although you may want to stay up all night developing for your latest client it’s smarter to fix yourself into a schedule for work.

Each day completed is always one step closer to the final goal. With this knowledge you should feel proud to get through each day reflecting back on your accomplishments. It’s also true that our creativity and energy will be drained after staring at a screen for 6+ hours a day. Give yourself some mental down time to forget about project works. I can promise when you wake up tomorrow all of it will still be waiting for your attendance.

Set High and Low Task Priorities

If it helps, you can organize sets of tasks and give each one in your list a priority. This could be based on importance of the client, due date, or even general interest in the project. It doesn’t matter how you order these but tasks with a set priority roster have a much higher chance of being completed.

This problem is common amongst freelancers who build up a huge to-do list but can’t seem to attack any single problem. Seeing such a huge list can be overwhelming and the entire process seems almost hopeless by the end of the day. I’ve found that having priorities gives me a way to just get started and disregard all my other thoughts. Once you can sit down and attend to a project without applying too much analysis on the problem you may notice after an hour or two you’ve already completed a large chunk of your task(s).

Shape Up Your Schedule

Find a way to live your life that works best for you. This is one of the main reasons I see people quitting their desk jobs and entering the profession of freelancing. Yet barely anybody takes advantage of this amazing resource to its fullest extent. Once every day is entirely yours to do with what you will, it seems like almost too much to take in. Try out a few different schedules for your work habits to see what fits best. Maybe you are most productive in the early morning so that is the best time for you to work.

Those of us who over-analyze everything will tend to enjoy this feature. Figuring out a new schedule to fall into can be fun and also enjoyable as you traverse the landscapes of your lifestyle. Mix things up a bit and see how it can affect your workflow and mentality towards freelancing. Maybe you can accomplish all your weeks’ tasks in only 3 or 4 days of work. If this is the case why not shorten your working week? Or maybe you’d rather work all 7 days for only a few hours. If this benefits you best then who is to say it’s a “wrong” way to live?

Conclusion

Truly the best place to answer these questions is from deep within yourself. You could poll 100 freelancers on their best practices and ideologies behind time management and there’s no guarantee any of them would fit into your mold. Take these ideas in stride and apply them into your daily life.

Over time you’ll realize what works and what doesn’t for your particular schedule. For further ideas check out past articles on freelancing and time management. Professional freelancing can be extremely rewarding if you enjoy working for yourself and building unique products. These are some of the most powerful time management tips I’ve learned over the years and have served me well. If you have other ideas or constructive suggestions feel free to share them in the comments below.

Image Credit

About the Author
Jake Rocheleau is an abstract web designer and Internet entrepreneur. He writes about new-age design trends and social media exposure in a large web 2.0 landscape. You can find him extensively throughout Google and follow his updates on Twitter @jakerocheleau.

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