7 Psychology Secrets for Impactful Web Design
I chose this article because I enjoy psychology and have a natural affinity for it. I learned long ago it's not what you do, but how you do it that makes the difference.
One interesting point in the article was the suggestion to practice minimalism in website design. I remember the days when packing all sorts of bells, whistles, and all sorts of stuff was the way to go. It was intriguing to learn less is more even in web design and that people will stay longer on a page that is minimal.
Minimal design works perfectly with the negative space suggested in the article. The idea of surrounding an important design element with negative space makes a lot of sense, yet most of us don't think of it.
The visual tour was another good point. The article says to avoid abruptly stopping at the footer, making sure the potential client has a call to action or more to look at. I hate it when a website just stops at the bottom, but I never really knew why. Now I do.
There's a lot I can do with the information from this article in my portfolio project for this week. I already like to use the psychology that goes into building trust and using color, but I'm going to keep these other elements in mind, as well.
8 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
I chose this article because, although I am pretty good at designing ads and videos, I'm not terribly good at designing websites. I felt this might help me find ways to make any websites I design more interesting.
When working in other types of design, I not only can use asymmetry, but I prefer it. Using it for a website just never entered my mind for some reason, though. The article suggests using asymmetry is a good way to capture and keep people's attention. The pitfall is that if it is overused, it makes the message muddied and confusing. The point is to know when to stop. This is something I'll see if I can incorporate for my portfolio project.
Like the first article, this one says that white space, or negative space, is a beautiful thing. It can be used to guide people's eyes to the elements the designer wants them to look at and in what order.
The last and, to me, most interesting mistake in website design is using vector images instead of raster. This was news to me. I didn't even know there was such a thing or that there were two different kinds of images. Now that I do, I can be more selective with images with my portfolio project.
Tips for Creating a First Class Personal Portfolio
I chose this article because, although I'm good at sales, I don't like to sell myself. I felt this would be a good article to help me come up with ideas on how to do that.
The first point was to have a clear logo and tagline. This is kind of a no-brainer, but what the author said about making the tagline about the "why" was interesting. Why do I do this work? Why should the client hire me? It's a good thing to think about.
Another tip was to showcase only my best work as opposed to all of it. Obviously, I wouldn't want to put up the projects I'm not proud of on my portfolio, so it's just common sense. However, knowing how many projects to post was my question, and the article answered that for me.
The tip about playing up my uniqueness made me want to pump a fist. At work, I have been described as quirky, different, and dynamic. Basically, they're all saying I march to the beat of a different drummer. It's difficult for me to suppress or tone down my true nature, something I find I have to do a lot in a stiff, stuffy corporate environment. I think using my bent sense of humor as a selling point can be done.
I had to design a personal logo in another class. I'm not sure I like it, exactly, but I do like the tagline and I'm glad it does let people know who I am, what I do, and why. That will definitely work on my portfolio. I think the uniqueness factor might help me design a better logo, too.
Suggested website for MCBS-WDC Diigo page:
Web Design Principles Of Successful Websites
In some ways, it repeats what other articles have said about design sites, but not only are these things worth repeating, this article expands on them a little and I think it explains it a bit better. It also includes tips not in the other selections that I feel are valid.
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