420 Creative Blog

On password fields masking and Jakob Nielsen

2009-07-06T19:13:27+00:00

"Which makes me wonder when was the last time that Mr.Nielsen left his house to communicate with the real world. As a frequent traveller I am constantly seeing people logging into web sites in hotel lobbies (when they check in for their flight for example and enter their bonus miles account details), in Internet Cafes or when they use their laptop in a public space. While it is harder to spot the keyboard (especially with fast typers) there is no problem whatsover looking over their shoulder or – using my 10x optical zoom camera – even spot what they enter on the screen from across the room."

12 well-designed attorney websites

2009-07-06T18:24:19+00:00

Attorneys have a reputation for being stuffy and, well, boring. Unfortunately many law firms and lawyers haven't used the web to separate themselves from this preconception. A website is a great way to not just tell, but show how your business is different. And that's what the 12 law firms below did. Their websites stand out from the law firm industry by staying away from the MS FrontPage look to the clearly amateur designer look. Instead they've opted to enhance their brand and message through strong design.

Law Office of Gregory J. Grebe

The Cook Law Firm

Scarlett Law Group

The Offices of Lane & Lane

Bush & Levy

Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.

Gregory Law Group

Johnston Lawrence Lawyers

Lane Powell PC

Law Offices of Lloyd E. Bennett, Esq., P.C.

Helzer & Cromar, LLP

Sinas, Dramis, Brake, Boughton & McIntyre, P.C.

In defense of eye candy

2009-07-06T18:18:06+00:00

Stephen P. Anderson on A List Apart:

"According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility.

This makes sense. Think about how our personal appearance (our personal aesthetic) affects how people perceive us; or how product packaging inﬂuences our perception of the product inside."

This is why design that is slapped together rarely, if ever, works. Great article - good read for designers and clients alike.

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Visual Decision Making

2009-07-03T22:51:21+00:00

In case you're still wondering if the design of your site makes a difference, read Patrick Lynch's article at A List Apart:

"Smart graphic design is always some balance of current expressive trends, information architecture, classical layout aesthetics, and detailed research on user preferences and motivations. You should never ignore solid user experience data, but mountains of data won’t auto-magically build you a successful site. Design is a synthetic activity. It can be informed by the results of analysis, but the tools of analysis don’t create beautiful designs."

In defense of Twitter

2009-07-03T18:04:42+00:00

Jason Kottke:

So when you run across a Twitter message like "we had chicken sandwitches & pepsi for breakfast" from someone who has around 30 followers, what's really so odd about it? It's just someone telling a few friends on Twitter what she might normally tell them on the phone, via email, in person, or in a telegram.

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Republican candidate Otten is a bold-faced thief

2009-07-03T17:29:53+00:00

The Graphic Mac:

"Les Otten, Republican candidate for Governor of Main, has the nerve to claim that his Web site is completely original, and not a copy of President Obama's site, because "some local guys designed it.""

Wow... While it's bad enough Otten is defending the design and really trying to say it's not a rip off, it's worse that designers would even do that. But I guess you can't really call these "local guys" designers purely because of this. It's laughable that they even have "custom web design" listed on their home page* in the Web Solutions section. Custom? Folks, there's nothing custom about Otten's web design.

And I'm sure it's no coincidence that the Otten site isn't even featured in their portfolio.

*I would normally link their site but this is so appalling, they don't deserve the link juice.

I knew there was something wrong with the Bing “logo”

2009-07-03T05:38:48+00:00

Armin at Brand New:

I can’t even imagine how someone arrives at a design solution like this. The shapes resulting from the strenuous horizontal scaling are simply too unflattering and unattractive. There is bad taste and then there is this. What was going through the designer’s mind?

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Microsoft to use a new term for netbook

2009-07-02T05:34:49+00:00

Microsoft plans to redefine mini-notebooks that Intel has categorized as netbooks with a new term – low cost small notebook PC, according to Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Division, Microsoft.

There goes MS... making the simple complex again.

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Awesome Design: kokinhuis.be website

2009-06-30T19:34:11+00:00

Once again I've found a website that I can't read because I don't speak the language it's in. But that, in my opinion, shows just how universal good design is.

This site (Kokinhuis?) is simple but incredibly usable and easy to figure out despite language barriers. What initially drew me to the site was the home page, but once you start clicking through to other pages, the cleanliness and streamlined navigation and layout continue, as does the bright imagery. The typography is consistent and keeps the content easy to read (again, despite language barriers). It's a small site, and I love how simple they've kept it - no unnecessary elements - just straight to the point.

Click to view larger version

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Designer Quit

2009-06-30T05:32:33+00:00

Been meaning to post this for a while - it's just too funny to pass up.

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