The Creative Home of Scott E Franson

Wed Design Trends: How to use them

Posted on June 6, 2013 by scott e

I am speaking to the Web Design & Development Society at BYU-Idaho today. I decided to talk about recent trends in web design. Focusing on the trends that impact the visual look of a web page and how to use this information.

Initial research

To get some perspective of where the trends are I did a basic search for 2013 web trends and here are some of the results.

Web Design: 20 Hottest Trends To Watch Out For In 2013 By Jake Rocheleau.

1. Responsive Layouts
2. Retina Support
3. Fixed Header Bars
4. Large Photo Backgrounds
5. CSS Transparency
6. Minimalist Landing Pages
7. Digital QR Codes
8. Social Media Badges
9. Detailed Illustrations
10. Infinite Scrolling
11. Homepage Feature Tours
12. Sliding Webpage Panels
13. Mobile Navigation Toggle
14. Fullscreen Typography
15. APIs And Open Source
16. Deep Box Shadows
17. CSS3 Animations
18. Vertical Navigation
19. Single-Page Web Design
20. Circular Design Elements

15 Web Design Trends for 2013 by David King

1. Content First
2. Design Simplicity
3. UX Centered Design
4. App Style Interfaces
5. Responsive Design
6. No Skeuomorphism
7. Coding Languages
8. Fixed Header Bar
9. Large Photo Background
10. CSS Transparency
11. Social Media Badges
12. Infinite Scrolling
13. Homepage Feature Tours
14. Sliding Panels
15. Parallax Design

2013 Web Design Trends by Creative Market

Responsive Web Design (RWD)
Flat Design
Parallax
Full-Screen Photo Launch Pages
Advanced Page Scrolling and Navigation

This list is just a sample of the trends for 2013. The lists are shown in this post to look for trends. Some of the trends are on all of the lists. Does this mean that as a designer you should incorporate all the hottest trends in your design?

These articles from blog.kissmetrics.com Why Following Design Trends Can Turn Your Website Refresh into a Colossal Waste of Time & Money & The Psychology of Why Sexy Websites Suck at Sales argue that trends are bad for sales. Does this mean that trends should be avoided?

How not to be different like everybody else

A focus on the customer and content is the role of a real designer.

Base your design decisions on the site’s content and voice. Design based on content has a longer shelf life than design based on trends. Following a trend doesn’t make the design of a site successful. In fact following a trend may make your work disappear in a sea of sameness.

following a trend may make your work disappear in a sea of sameness.

Focal point make sure that a user focuses on a communicating element immediately.

Clarity Make sure that the user knows what to do.

Payoff Reward the user for spending time on your site with useful content.

kerem.co
bigmonocle.com
Calistro
Boston Globe
Jess & Russ
We are Buffalo
zuelements

Posted in web design | Tagged web design | Leave a comment

SkillShare class

Posted on April 2, 2013 by scott e

I just finished taking a micro class from Brad Woodard on skillshare.com. I learned a few really cool tricks and had a good time. The project was to illustrate the word quiet or loud. I picked quiet.

There use was a baby in the image but it was a bit difficult to look at. I will need to re work it.

Brad did a good job in presenting the content. I know he was nervous about teaching but came through in flying colors.

I took the class to experience an online course. There were some things that I liked and some things that were difficult. But as a whole it is a great platform to share information and there is interest for these kinds of classes.

To brush up on some skills take a look. I liked skillshare.com

Posted in Design, Digital painting | Comments Off

It has been awhile

Posted on March 14, 2013 by scott e

It has been awhile since I have created an image for my blog. I was working in my office yesterday and saw an old copper plate that I used for a dry point etching. I scanned the back of it in to use as a texture for painting in Photoshop. Then I began to wonder.

I wondered what the front of the plate would look like scanned. So I gave it a try. It was more fun than I ever had imagined. I discovered that smudging the plate with my finger made the plate less shiny and resulted in a darker value when I scanned it. I will be experimenting with this more.

Have you ever scanned in plates or blocks for printmaking? How did it work out and why do you do it?

Posted in Digital Painting Experiment | Comments Off

Picture book storyboard templates

Posted on March 2, 2013 by scott e

The typical picture book for children has 32 interior pages | pdf download | Choose between tall, wide, or square format.

Downloadable storyboard templates

Using a storyboard helps visually plan the arc of your story. It is useful for planning the visuals of a story but can also be used to break up the text if you are writing for picture books. Publishing for Children 101 | What is a Storyboard?

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Sunflowers on a warm pink day

Posted on March 2, 2013 by scott e

Armed with fabric from Spoonflower.com and a bit of desire here is a new tie for a sweet summer day. It would be perfect with lemon aid and a shaded hammock.

I have been scared of the sewing machine ever since my mother told me tales of needles through fingers when I was small and impressionable. I have faced my fear to create my bow ties. I am getting better at sewing, but still have a way to go. I know it will take some time to develop the skill to craft a perfect tie.

But for today I am happy.

What do you think?