BlogmyQuery – BMQ

We all have that one t-shirt that we love; we love the fit, we love the color and we absolutely adore the design. For some, the t-shirt design can be a form of expression or it can simply be a fashion statement. Then there are a few folks who wear t-shirts to show off their great taste in art and creativity. Regardless of the reason one wears a t-shirt, it goes without saying that without great designs, your t-shirt game is probably lacking.

Far too often we take the design and designer for granted. Today, we’ve gathered some super, amazing (and funny) t-shirt designs to showcase the work and the artist.

 The Shirts and Designs

The Great Connection by  roncabardz

Water for Life by deyaz

The Fall by dhectwenty

Living Paint by gabrielng

Voyage by dhectwenty

War is Over by dandingeroz

The Painter by sebasebi

I <3 My City by wotto

Rebuild the Forest by free_agent08

Cuckoo by hogboy

Direction of a Dream by Ikkie

Avalanche by Greg Abbott

Spectrum by dobi

Aerosoiled by Randy Otter

Experimental Idea by CW.cnatch

Wave Goodbye by Raw Meat

Say Cheese by Addu – sc

What Up Polar Bear by Cryface666

Chapter 7: Outside the Box by The N-Spired Story – sc

The Pond by Moulin Bleu

Safari by Fresno

Gae Koen Tok Surabaya Xray by noodlekiddo

Lick Everything by amegoddess

Sausage Party by biotwist

Glow Green by choppre

The Guardian by metalsan

Sugar Skull Tee by John Williamson

All Hands on Deck by biotwist

Panda Sweater Pattern by ghozai

Protect your Soul by X3RTY

Melting Blues by SeedSickShit

Trap Set Trike by seventhfury

Caught by Todd Fooshee

Streets Are Dangerous by Peach Design

Reunion by andreasardy

Last Samurai by EligoDesign

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We look in all kinds of places for inspiration, and today we are taking things inside. Interior design has hit so many new heights with the growth of 3D modeling generators, like 3Ds Max and others. With these highly advanced tools, concepts can come to life off of the page before they are fully constructed and arranged. Giving interior designers more power to showcase the power of their imaginations, and giving the rest of us some gorgeous interiors to marvel at.

So below is a collection of amazing designers at work, to give our readers a little 3D interior design model inspiration. Take a tour of these stunning designs shaped from the artist’s imaginations, and get a creative recharge from their beauty.

The Interiors

Italian Resto Pt2 by kee3d

roza 03 by sweetandsexy

Antique House 3 by sanfranguy

DD-Hallway by 3Dswed

Children WC by SamorizMisha

our bedroom by zigshot82

living room by Ertugy

Oriental palace by Togman-Studio

Abstract Room by 3DSerge

relaxation room v1 by subaqua

living with water by brown-eye-architects

Alimos interior detailed by voodoq

Office 2 by Stas-Oliva

“Sealike” Bedroom by rOSTyk

neu office-conference room by kee3d

Antique House 2 by sanfranguy

A touch of Red by 3Dswed

green day by zigshot82

avantgarde3 by Ertugy

Luxury Condominium by 3DSerge

piano sun by brown-eye-architects

Studio in the house by Stas-Oliva

50 m2 by rOSTyk

Living Green by nightreelf

Modern Loft by xcEmUx

Afternoon In The Bath by pro2004

Architecture by melign-3d

Bedroom Night by kehaola

livingroom 2 by tancute

mod.young bedroom by zigshot82

old school by brown-eye-architects

Maxwell Livingroom by sanfranguy

Facilities by Stas-Oliva

sutami_bedroom I by kee3d

Quiet Interior by 3Dswed

_ catwalk_ by zigshot82

lobi by Ertugy

Restaurant Interior 2 by iraklisan

Relax by Phanox

Evermotion white Living room by zipper

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One could argue that every year the WordPress platform gets better and better, and 2011 was no different with the release of three major updates: WordPress 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. We have seen the addition of post formats, advanced taxonomy and custom fields queries, an improved import and export system, the introduction of an admin bar, distraction-free writing mode, revised dashboard interface, drag and drop uploader and much more.

As always, it’s theme developers who are taking advantage of these new features and pushing WordPress to do things that no one expected it to do. Today we would like to share with you 25 more of our favourite WordPress themes from the last 12 months. Included in the list are themes for personal blogs, photography websites, businesses and communities. There have been so many great designs released this year that this list could have extended to over 200, so please don’t be offended if your favourite design didn’t make the final 25 :)

2011′s Top 25 Themes

1. Daily Post
FREE

A simple yet beautiful free design from WPLook that was created for personal blogs. It was designed using HTML5 and CSS3 and due to its responsive design it looks great on portable devices such as phones and tablets too.

Post formats are supported and through the theme options area you can define your social media profile URLs and modify some basic SEO options.

Info & Download | Demo

2. Pink Touch 2
FREE

Designed by WordPress developers Automattic, Pink Touch 2 is a great looking single column blog design with beautiful typography, unique designs for post formats and custom header and background. Although the blog doesn’t have a sidebar, there are three widget areas in the footer. This simplicity is what sets the design apart from many alternatives.

Info & Download | Demo

3. PhotoClick
FREE | $4.99 For Premium Version

A feature rich design that was created for photography websites and personal blogs. It has great typography, shortcodes for styling content and its one column design is perfect for displaying large images.

The theme is free to download however for only $4.99 you can get an additional colour scheme (grey), custom widgets, banner integration, more theme options and the original layered Photoshop PSD file.

Info & Download | Demo

4. ProReviewTheme
Single License: $37, Multisite License: $67, Developer License: $127

An advanced WordPress theme that allows you to create an Amazon or Clickbank affiliate review site in seconds. All products can be rated using the popular 5 star rating system and the theme helps push traffic to affiliate sites by prominently displaying links to the product website.

It has been optimised for use on mobile devices such as tablets and through the theme settings area you can change basic style settings and modify the header. Arguably the best affiliate design for WordPress released in 2011.

Info & Download | Demo

5. FaultPress
Regular License: $100

Working in a similar way to their help desk theme SupportPress, WooThemes FaultPress design turns WordPress into a fully functional bug tracking system. It allows you and your team to monitor the progress of your project through milestones. Tickets can be raised by users to allow you to track what needs to be addressed.

It also features a great messaging system to allow users and developers to communicate with each other effectively and it has been optimised for use on mobile phones and tablets.

Info & Download | Demo

6. The Navigator
Regular License: $40

The perfect theme for a travel website. Utilising Google Maps, The Navigator shows a map of the world in full screen. Every trip (post) is noted on the map using a pin. Details of each location are displayed in a content box at the left hand side of the page whilst an image of the location is displayed in the background in full screen.

Info & Download | Demo

7. Delicioso
Regular License: $35

Perfect for restaurants, Delicioso displays a large image slider on the home page to showcase your dishes. It comes with 6 colour schemes and its own unique shortcodes to help style your content. There are also dedicated blog, gallery and menu templates.

Info & Download | Demo

8. PixelPower
Regular License: $35

A responsive WordPress theme that has a clean minimal styled design. With support for all post formats, PixelPower is one of the best options available for personal blogs. It also comes with 1, 2 and 4 column portfolio templates so should prove popular with photographers and designers too.

It is optimised for use on mobile devices and it includes dark and no-CSS child themes too.

Info & Download | Demo

9. Continuum
Regular License: $40

Boasting over 200 theme options, Continuum is one of the most feature rich designs released in 2011. It comes with 5 custom sliders, 11 custom widgets, 19 unique sidebars, 68 custom shortcodes, 6 colour schemes and 28 pre-selected backgrounds and 8 page templates.

It also has an in built ratings system that supports 5 review types: movies, music, video games, books and products.

Info & Download | Demo

10. Grido
Regular License: $39

A responsive Tumblr style theme from Themify that supports all WordPress post formats. The sidebar can be placed on the left or right or be removed altogether. You can also set 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns of posts to be displayed.

Coded using HTML5 and CSS3, it comes with a lightbox gallery, 9 post gradient colours and 7 colour schemes. It also has child theme support.

Info & Download | Demo

11. Rockwell
Regular License: $35

Packaged with one of the best looking theme options areas we have seen, Rockwell is a versatile design that is suitable for portfolios, business websites or blogs.

In total there are 43 category templates, 20 single page templates, 10 page templates, 30 shortcodes and 6 colour schemes. There are also 3 different home page sliders, 3 different styles of top navigation menus, a slider manager and much more.

Info & Download | Demo

12. Announcement
Standard License: $70, Developer License: $150

It’s becoming very common for couples and families to create websites to celebrate important events such as weddings, graduations or the arrival of a baby in the family. The Announcement theme was created specifically for events such as these.

Everything is displayed on one page. When a user clicks on a section in the top navigation menu the page scrolls to the appropriate area on the page. Visitors can also leave comments at the bottom of the page. It also includes a photograph slider and you can choose between 1 and 3 columns for your content. There are several preset layouts for evens such as births, graduations and website launches. A baby statistics grid is also included.

Info & Download | Demo

13. Sofa Shoppr
Regular License: $40

A cool eCommerce design that works with PayPal, 2CheckOut and Authorize.net. Orders and stock inventory can be tracked in the back end and featured products can be rotated at the top of the home page. There are 8 built-in widgets and 3 different layouts for the home page.

Info & Download | Demo

14. Studio8
Regular License: $35

A minimalist photography design that comes in white and black colour schemes. Images are displayed in the background in full screen and it is optimised for use on tablets. Videos are also supported though what many photographers will love is the ability to upload hundreds of photos at once using the themes built-in gallery management system.

Info & Download | Demo

15. Stereotype
Regular License: $32

A clean looking one page portfolio design that was created using HTML5 and CSS3. It comes with 4 colour schemes and is optimised for use on mobile phones and tablet devices. Featured images, videos and galleries are all supported and the contact area has Google maps integration.

Info & Download | Demo

16. Daily Deal
Standard License: $89.95, Developer License: $179

Given the success of daily deal websites such as Groupon and Living Social, it isn’t surprising that a lot of imitation scripts and templates have been released. Daily Deal is one of the best available. The design turns your WordPress website into a full functional daily deal service.

Each deal shows the length of time left before the deal expires, the savings you can make and the number of items sold. Several payment gateways are supported to allow sellers to upload their deals directly with no fuss, and there is a newsletter form built into the home page design that supports MailChimp and Feedburner.

Info & Download | Demo

17. Morning
Regular License: $69

A visually impressive magazine theme that comes with blue, dark and light colour schemes. Posts and pages can be shown in full width or have a sidebar placed on the left or right hand side of the page. It has fantastic video support and images are automatically resized so that they fit into the design correctly. One of the best looking magazine designs released this year.

Info & Download | Demo

18. Handmade
Regular License: $30 ($50 on Obox website)

A warm theme that was designed with arts and crafts, cooking and clothing websites in mind. It has a great looking home page that displays large featured images of your latest blog posts. The included gallery makes it a good choice for anyone who wants a welcoming blog design.

Info & Download | Demo

19. Lucky Times
Regular License: $30

A responsive design for blogs, portfolios and online magazines. The developer allows you to download the Photoshop PSD file for free before you buy to see if the template is suitable for your project.

It sports a unique columned menu design at the top of the page and bizarrely no home page template. Instead, users of the theme can build a homepage design using short codes. The theme has great typgography with Google Fonts support and it a great options panel that lets you customise the header, footer, colour scheme and blog and portfolio templates.

Info & Download | Demo

20. Me Gusta
Regular License: $35

The self proclaimed ‘user driven content sharing system’ uses a Facebook-like system that allows visitors to vote for the posts that they like. Posts that get a lot of votes are deemed ‘Hot’ and can be listed in your sidebar or your home page (instead of new posts). You can also make posts ‘Not Safe For Work’ for adult related content.

Me Gusta has great Facebook integration too. Users can register and login using their Facebook account and you can replace the default WordPress commenting system with Facebook comments directly from the options area. With good support for post formats, Me Gusta is great for a content sharing website or a personal blog.

Info & Download | Demo

21. Huddle
Regular License: $50

A community design for users of the popular BuddyPress and bbPress plugins. It features 6 custom page templates, 9 custom widgets and a blog template that supports featured images.

Even though BuddyPress and bbPress had major updates during 2011, support for the plugins has been lukewarm at best from developers. Huddle is certainly one of the best options available if you want to create a community website using WordPress.

Info & Download | Demo

22. SocialLike
Regular License: $30

Another Tumblr style blog design that has support for all post formats. It could also be used as a portfolio as it has 4 great looking gallery templates.

It includes 22 background images, unlimited colour options for text using a colour picker, 25 fonts for headings and 9 for body text and an unlimited number of colour options for your post icons. Content can be styled using over 40 included shortcodes and you can publish any type of post directly from your iPhone using the Express App.

Info & Download | Demo

23. DK For Photography
Regular License: $35

Another versatile photography theme that supports a full screen rotating image gallery in the background. There are 4 home page layouts to choose from, 10 page templates, 6 gallery templates, 7 custom widgets, lots of shortcodes and support for password protecting your galleries.

Whilst some photography designs consider the blog template unimportant, DK For Photography has a beautiful blog design that integrates Facebook and Twitter voting buttons into the post area perfectly.

Info & Download | Demo

24. Humble
Regular License: $35

A powerful WordPress theme that can be used for just about anything. The first thing that you will notice about the theme is the unique polaroid style slider on the home page. It’s a great change from standard featured post sliders.

The homepage can be styled using shortcodes which allows you to create a near unlimited number of layouts. Additionally the theme includes support for 19 fonts, 5 custom widgets, over 80 shortcodes and 4 portfolio layout designs. You can also change CSS settings directly via the options area without having to touch the style.css stylesheet file itself.

Info & Download | Demo

25. Lightning
Regular License: $35

A beautiful business and portfolio WordPress theme that allows you to create an unlimited number of layouts using a visual drag and drop interface (this costs $25 if you buy it separately as a WordPress plugin). This allows you to create portfolio pages, columns, sliders, tabs, galleries and much more.

Info & Download | Demo

We hope you enjoyed this list of further theme faves from the year we just left. As always, we would love to hear what your favourite WordPress theme from 2011 was. Feel free to let us know about it in the comments, or leave your opinions on some of the featured themes that you may have used yourself.

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Tutorials are one of the best ways to learn and practice new tricks using Illustrator’s various tools. Learning through a step-by-step AI tutorial not only assists you in twisting the tools, but will also let you learn how to combine them in order to generate innovative and compound vector artwork, icons, and more.

In today’s post, we are presenting a collection of some valuable step by step Adobe Illustrator tutorials. These learning tools have been compiled to help guide you through the process of using this powerful program more efficiently. All the tutorials presented in this showcase have been created by some astute members of the graphic design community; therefore you will definitely be doing yourself a favor by checking out this collection.

Let us take a close look at the tuts. Feel free to share your opinion via the comment section below, and do let us know if we have missed out on any great Illustrator tutorials that you tend to turn to for enhancing your skills.

The Tutorials

Create a Burning, Vector Match Using Gradient Meshes
In this tutorial you will learn how to generate pragmatic vector fire, via the Gradient Mesh Tool and Screen Blending mode. Not as difficult a tutorial as you might think. Let’s strike a match!

How to Make a Classic Air Mail Envelope with Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial Ryan shows us how to create a classic air mail envelope in Adobe Illustrator, using simple shapes, effects, and gradients.

How to Create a Vector Snake Using Adobe Illustrator CS5 and Mesh Tormentor
In this tutorial we will find out how to create a vector snake using the Mesh Tormentor – a free Gradient Mesh plugin, which will make your work with the gradient mesh easy and pleasurable.

How to Create a Vector Radiator Artwork
In this detailed tutorial you will use 3D-rendering, blends, as well as other tools and techniques for creating an oil filled, vector radiator. The skills you will learn here can easily be transferred to other creations and projects. So let’s get started!

How to Illustrate a Tomato Using Adobe Illustrator
You will employ meshes, gradients and blends for producing the resulted picture. The techniques learned in this tutorial will come in handy far beyond this creation alone. So let’s get started!

Basics of the Mesh Tool in Illustrator
In this tutorial we’re going to find out about Illustrator’s mesh tool. We’re going to build a Super Mario-style mushroom so as to better comprehend how to use this tool by means of a real life example.

How to Draw a Vector, Music Folder Icon
Here, you can learn how to draw a music folder icon in Illustrator. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the 3D revolve tool and extrude & bevel effects. They are put into use all through the complete workflow, starting from shaping a 3D folder by means of a single path and finishing with all the bright lustrous musical notes.

How To Design a Print Ready Die-Cut Business Card
Want a new set of business cards? Follow this step by step tutorial to learn how to produce a cool business card design in Adobe Illustrator.

How to Illustrate a Vector Kitchen Pot
In this thorough tutorial you will study how to illustrate a standard, everyday household utensil, a cooking pot.

How to Create Advertising Billboard Using Adobe Illustrator
Create an advertising billboard by means of 3D modeling and a small amount of other simple techniques; for example shape building with the pathfinder palette, defining the vanishing point by means of using the guides, filling an object through gradients and using the blend tool.

Creating a Realistic Curtain
In this tutorial, you will learn to create realistic looking illustrations with the mesh tool. You can use this to create an interesting damask style curtain as it shows you how to give the piece the illusion of the silk accompanied by a nice floral design.

How to Turn a Photo into Vector Artwork
In this Adobe Illustrator tutorial, we’ll construct a vector illustration of a high-heeled shoe by tracing a reference photo using the pen tool.

Create a Steel, Vector Power Button Set
This tutorial will walk you through creating a set of steel looking power buttons in simple easy to follow steps.

Create a Cute Robot Using Adobe Illustrator
There are several reasons why Adobe Illustrator is an exceptional application for producing icons. The same components can be applied as building blocks to ensure uniformity and expedite your workflow. This tutorial is filled with a variety of techniques, from fundamental shape-building to more intricate lighting effects.

How to Make an iOS Style Mobile Navigation Bar
This tutorial will teach you how to recreate the navigation bar of an iOS mobile device complete with icons. This plain, easy to follow tutorial is great for a novice to intermediate level user. Let’s get started!

How To Create a Cubist Style Logo Design in Illustrator
Create a cubist-esque design perfect for logos using Illustrator and learn how you can incorporate lots of detailed vector facets in it. This tutorial explains the whole process of logo designing right from the initial sketches to finishing off the final design.

Create a Detailed Toilet Plunger Illustration
In the following tutorial you will employ essential shape building techniques, together with advanced Illustrator tools, to create the best plunger artwork you’ve ever made. By using these techniques you’ll become skilled at making several household tools to boot.

Create a Simple Vector Ninja Character in Illustrator
In order to create your very own set of awesome vector ninjas, you can follow this simple Illustrator tutorial. You will learn how to make the designs from basic shapes by using Illustrator’s core tools.

How to Create a Simple Web Button Set Using the Appearance Panel
In the following tutorial you will learn how to generate your own set of web buttons using Adobe Illustrator that can come in handy for any of your web design projects. Let’s get started!

Make a Fun Holiday Reindeer Illustration
This tutorial covers illustration style, color choice, shading and touches on typography. The procedure of adapting your illustration throughout the creation is also covered. This tutorial is created by Jesse Hora and Darrin Higgins.

Easy Clock Icon in Illustrator
A very simple and easy to follow tutorial to show you how to create this slick looking clock icon in AI. This tutorial is perfect for the beginners as well as for the pros.

How to Create an Open Book with Illustrator’s 3D Extrude & Bevel Tool
In this tutorial, we’ll generate open pages with graphics and put in a crimped background. The book can be personalized by employing your own graphics to the pages.

How to Create a Watercolor Background Using Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial, we will make a watercolor painted styled background by means of a gradient mesh, tools of deformation and blending modes. The techniques covered here permit the creation of intricate textural backgrounds in an easy and effective way.

Create Super Mario’s Head in Illustrator
In this tutorial the artist explains how to craft a Super Mario face using mostly plain and easy to create shapes.

Create a Garden Scene Using Brushes in Illustrator
Become skilled at how to create a magnificent garden scene in Illustrator. You’ll explore the depth of the appearance panel, and art and scatter brushes in this tutorial.

Magnifying Glass Tutorial for Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial we will be learning how to create a simple magnifying glass in perspective with Illustrator. This process uses the pen tool and a few ellipses.

Create a Wireframe Face with the Envelope Distort Tool
In this comprehensive and methodical tutorial you will learn step-by-step how to produce a wireframe face in Illustrator using the envelope distort tool.

How to Cell Shade and Add Texture to a Vector Comic Character
This tutorial will demonstrate how to produce a cell shaded character in Adobe Illustrator. This is a quick technique applying the live paint bucket used for block coloring, the gradient tool to add depth and form, and masked blended shapes for texture.

Create a Vector Gift Box for Upcoming Christmas
Here we will be creating an eye-catching gift box in Adobe Illustrator. We are going to apply a few standard types of tools, for example, the rectangle tool, ellipse tool, extrude & bevel 3D effect and some pleasant colors to help us in this creation.

Create a Magical Vector Landscape Using Illustrator
In this extremely detailed and magical tutorial you will learn how to produce a fantasy landscape by means of some of Illustrator’s powerful tools.

How to Create a Vector Stamp Set in Illustrator
In the subsequent tutorial you will learn how to craft your very own set of vintage styled stamps with AI. Go through creating the stamp border, emphasizing the edges, generating the branding, and providing the vector postage stamp a vintage texture, to help complete the effect.

How To Create a Cute Hairy Vector Monster Character
Follow this step by step Illustrator tutorial to generate an attractive vector monster character. We’ll generate the character from fundamental shapes to furnish a cute and forthcoming appearance then we’ll bring the character to life with gradient colors and a meticulous fur effect.

How To Create a Gruesome Zombie Illustration
Follow this step by step Adobe Illustrator tutorial to craft a hand-drawn zombie illustration. We’ll make use of a photograph as a critical reference then bring into play our Wacom tablet together with Illustrator’s vector brush tools to put together a range of gruesome components on our zombie character.

Create a Macbook Pro Illustration Leftside View
In the following tutorial you will gain knowledge that will teach you how to generate a semi-realistic looking MacBook Pro illustration. This is the left side view of the product.

Create a Simple Penguin Character
In the following tutorial the artist will demonstrate how to generate a plain little penguin character. The twenty-seven comprehensive steps will set up the fundamental tools and shape building techniques needed. Once you’ve created the starting paths, you will insert some basic colors and effects. At last, you will learn some fundamental stuff about the blending techniques.

A Complete Guide to Drawing Evil Vector Skulls in Illustrator
This tutorial will teach you how to pencil in evil looking skulls with ease, as well as learn a little anatomy along the way.

Create a Cocktail Glass in Adobe Illustrator
In this very comprehensive tutorial we will learn how to produce a cocktail glass with a multi-colored drink and fancy ornamentation. Producing a glass object can be a challenge seeing as there are only few colors you’re allowed to employ, frequently white, light blue and light gray.

Create a Sale Tag Icon with Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial, we will be learning how to produce a smart looking sale tag in Adobe Illustrator. This tutorial will show you how to reproduce the look of a folded corner of the paper by using plain color gradients.

How to Create a Rainbow Beetle Using Adobe Illustrator
Here you will learn how to use some basics like the gradient tool, gradient mesh tool, art and scatter brushes, blend tool, and many other techniques to create a rainbow beetle.

How to Create a 3D Chart Using the Perspective Grid Tool and Adobe Illustrator CS5
The perspective grid is not extensively employed by designers. It’s a moderately powerful tool, although not truly a suitable one. Let’s learn how to make use of it on this simple example of the construction of a three dimensional chart.

How to Create an Illustration of Stylish Club Shades Using Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial we will learn how to create club shades via simple and wide-ranging techniques. To create dramatic reflections from the lights of the discotheque club, we will make use of different blending modes. The tutorial contains lots of professional tips and techniques.

Create Vector Whiskey on the Rocks Using Adobe Illustrator CS5
In this complete and handy tutorial you will learn how to craft a vector glass of whiskey on the rocks by means of Adobe Illustrator CS5.

Make a Worm in Illustrator
In this throwback tutorial the artist demonstrates some quick tips on how to make an effortless but efficient vector illustration inspired by the classic video game, Worms.

Create a 50s Ad Poster in Illustrator
This tutorial will teach you how to make a retro looking poster for a web designer that gives off the impression that it was crafted in the 50’s.

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For designers, it’s easy to jump right into the design phase of a website before giving the user experience the consideration it deserves. Too often, we prematurely turn our focus to page design and information architecture, when we should focus on the user flows that need to be supported by our designs. It’s time to make the user flows a bigger priority in our design process.

Design flows that are tied to clear objectives allow us to create a positive user experience and a valuable one for the business we’re working for. In this article, we’ll show you how spending more time up front designing user flows leads to better results for both the user and business. Then we’ll look in depth at a common flow for e-commerce websites (the customer acquisition funnel), as well as provide tips on optimizing it to create a complete customer experience.

Start With The User

When starting a new Web design project, we’re often handed a design brief, branding standards, high-level project goals, as well as feature and functionality requirements. Unfortunately, these documents typically amount to little more than the technical specifications of the project, with almost no thought given to how exactly the website will fulfill the multiple user objectives that lead to successful interactions.

Two examples of popular user flows for e-commerce and subscription websites.

If you start with a detailed look at the objectives of the user and the business, you would be able to sketch out the various flows that need to be designed in order to achieve both parties’ goals. User objectives could range from finding a fact to replacing a product to learning a new skill to buying a gift for someone. Business objectives could be getting a lead, a like, a subscriber, a buyer, a download or a phone call. Identifying each user and business objective is the first step to creating design flows that meet all of them.

Map User Flows Into Conversion Funnels

Not all website visitors are created equal. Users come from different sources, with varying levels of knowledge and engagement, and with different goals. It’s up to you as a user experience designer to map those in-bound user flows to conversion funnels that provide value to the user as well as the business.

You should prioritize the flows and focus your effort on the few that will impact the most users and have the greatest gain. Custom flows allow you to architect experiences according to traffic source or visitor type and enable you to set the experiential pace, build user confidence and get buy-in on the way to the ultimate conversion.

Typical User Flows

Some typical user flows are:

• Paid advertising
  A user coming from a banner or Google AdWord ad.
• Social media
  A user coming from a friend’s post on a social network.
• Email
  A user coming from an email newsletter or referral invitation.
• Organic search
  A user coming from a deep link that was surfaced by a search.
• Press or news item
  A user coming from a mention in the news or a blog post.

Each of these visitors has their own needs, expectations and level of knowledge, and they need to be treated accordingly.

Diving Into Funnels: A Closer Look At Customer Acquisition

E-commerce websites typically have many different conversion funnels.

Let’s look at a critical flow for many websites — paid online customer acquisition — and break down its various elements. For this example, we’ll examine the experience flow from new visitor to email subscriber to purchaser.

Consider a company that uses display advertising to generate new customers for its business.

Display Media

With display advertising, it all starts with the banner. The design of the banner needs to achieve one precious goal: get a click from the right person. Here are some key questions to answer when designing the ads that represent the very front of your user flow:

• What type of user am I targeting?
• Are they actively seeking a solution to a problem, or are they casually browsing?
• What problem are they trying to solve?
• How can I best capture the user’s attention?
• How do I relate to the user?
• Is there a message that will resonate with the user?
• Is there a pain point that my product or website alleviates for the user?
• How can I articulate this solution clearly and quickly?
• What compelling calls to action will get our target user to click?

Your ads should address these main motivations and provide a compelling hook to get that all-important click. Up-front research and real-world testing will help to optimize the experience. Using this model, ReTargeter improved its banner click-through rate by four times. Its blog post lays out exactly how it achieved this success.

The Landing Page

The point when the user hits the landing page is when the user flow work really begins. Because these users are coming from a low-information source (such as a banner, as opposed to an in-depth blog post), you must design a flow that fills in the gaps of information by providing the user with the data that they need to be converted.

In our example, the user will hopefully be converted to an email subscriber; but depending on the business, the conversion could be to create an account, download a white paper or make a purchase. Whatever the conversion goal for the business, the key is to give the user a reason to keep moving through the flow, down the funnel.

Use the following methods to keep the user moving down the funnel:

• Build user confidence by clearly articulating key benefits, backed by easy-to-digest proof points.
• Streamline the content and design to focus on a clear call to action (in this example, to sign up for an email newsletter).
• Remove friction at every step. Ask for the minimum amount of information, and reduce the number of fields, extra clicks and page-loading time.
• Create an enticing hook, an itch that can only be scratched by completing the registration step.

KISSmetrics’ “Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page� details the design, UI and copy elements that can help you meet your users’ need and drive conversions for your business.

Stacking Flows For A Complete User Experience Life Cycle

While viewing a funnel as something like Click on banner ad → Land on Web page → Register email is easy, designing and building stacked flows that drive the business’ ultimate objectives takes a bit more thought. In our example, we’ve successfully gained an email subscriber from the banner ad campaign, but the real business objective is to generate revenue through new purchases.

Treating the email subscriber flow and the e-commerce purchasing flow as two separate conversion funnels is an easy trap. In reality, the experiences are connected, and by looking at them as stacked flows, we can create a more cohesive interaction, one that drives optimal results for the business.

In our example, this stack is made up of the customer acquisition funnel and the customer relationship management (CRM) flow.

Stacking funnels creates a cohesive user experience life cycle.

When designing this flow, you need to consider what the biggest levers are for converting the subscriber into a buyer. Many of the earlier principles apply, but this time you have more touch points to consider and leverage.

In this flow, you need to look at all elements of your CRM strategy and the purchase flow of your website, including:

• Email communication back to the subscriber,
• Pages that the subscriber lands on when returning to the website,
• The flow from internal content pages to check-out.

Here are a few key considerations when designing the flow from subscriber to purchaser:

• Tell a visual story that the subscriber can identify with and wants to be a part of.
• Ensure that your emails reinforce the story, and give proof points to remind users why they subscribed.
• Include compelling calls to action to give the subscriber an opportunity to relate to and be a part of the story.
• Include prominent calls to action and easy, direct paths to the check-out process from the website’s internal content pages and blog posts. These validate the user’s hope about their role in the story.
• Make the check-out process as frictionless as possible, and reinforce confidence along the way to help the buyer commit to being a part of it.

By considering how the two flows interact, you can create a seamless experience that builds confidence and deepens the user’s connection to your website, leading to the ultimate purchase conversion. Equally important, this flow also increases customer satisfaction because the stacked funnels keep the user experience smooth and on track to meeting their needs, with little confusion or ambiguity.

Putting Flow Design To Work For You

Whether you’re mapping out a brand new website or looking to optimize an existing user experience, flow design will keep you out of the trap of designing individual pages and interactions and instead focus you on fulfilling users’ needs. By prioritizing your user flows and focusing on the ones that drive the most value to the most users and to the business, you can make the greatest impact with your initial flow design.

When considering user flows, think past the first conversion, and design for the ultimate conversion, which might lie a few steps behind. This is particularly important with any type of commerce-driven business, for which the first conversion is often just a prelude to the primary revenue event. By stacking these complementary funnels, you create a more cohesive user experience that drives better results for both the user and your business.

So, the next time you’re asked to create a new design, step back and ask yourself and your team what user flows you are trying to create through the website, and let that insight drive the design process.

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© Morgan Brown for Smashing Magazine, 2012.