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Holiday Branding 11/15/2006 Holiday branding is a design element that you mostly find in high budget corporate web sites. You will see this reflected in the sites below: Starbucks, ebay, and Target , all huge names with gigantic budgets. This serves them well as it keeps in line with their in store holiday branding. Starbucks in particular does this very well. |
Shiny Sites - Part 3 11/12/2006 It has been interesting to watch the shiny style of sites evolve. It began in somewhat of a random fashion, with all sorts of elements being made shiny. It started with tabs, and buttons, grew into logos, and now has become the entire theme for sites. |
Ornate Backgrounds - Part 2 11/10/2006 Ornate backgrounds are one of the more popular elements to use on a web site. It is a quick and easy way to incorporate some visual interest in your site. Plus, the element can be used in a wide range of sites; it fits countless topics. The ornate background certainly adds an element of style and design, and can do so with out interfering with your content. The biggest suggestion I have is to unify the design by working the element into the overall design. Don't just slap an ornate background on it and call it quits. Modify the color, give it some texture, mix similar elements into the rest of your site. There are so many ways to do this. A great design really happens when all the elements are working together! |
Rounded Corners 11/10/2006 Please join me in welcoming the first Design Meltdown guest writer, Mel Hogan. Mel takes us on a tour of the meaning and usage of rounded corners, something I am sure every designer has used at one point or another! |
Real Estate Sites 10/25/2006 When I purchased my home I had to deal with many sites related to real estate, I quickly realized how terrible many of them were. I found it odd that their sites were so lame and yet they were pushing the most expensive item most people will ever buy. Consider how few people purchase a Porsche, and yet they have a wonderful web site. Real estate can easily exceed the price of such a car. So how is it that an industry far larger, with far more revenue, has such a terrible web presence. In fact, the web stands to be real estates greatest tool. When shopping for my house I used the internet and found every single house we wanted to look at, our agent did next to nothing. Why don't the real estate companies embrace the web and use it to their advantage? |
Styling Dates 10/22/2006 Attention to detail is one of the most important aspects of a successfully designer. Following through on the final details of a sites design can transform it from something ok, to something great. Believe it or not, some slick styling on an element as simple as the date stamp on a blog post can really add a lot of life to a site. It basically creates an additional way to establish a unified design. The date could just be a string of text, instead these sites have turned into a beautiful aspect of their design. |
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