Lines that are too narrowly set impair reading speed because the upper and lower line are both taken in by the eye at the same time The eye cannot focus on excessively close lines and … the reader expends energy in the wrong place and tires more easily. The same also holds true for lines that are too widely spaced.
Lines that are too narrowly set impair reading speed because the upper and lower line are both taken in by the eye at the same time The eye cannot focus on excessively close lines and … the reader expends energy in the wrong place and tires more easily. The same also holds true for lines that are too widely spaced.
(Source: whereisthecoool, via cavalier)
Innovation Is About Arguing, Not Brainstorming.
Deliberative discourse is not just arguing for argument’s sake. Argument is productive for us because everyone knows that we’re working toward a shared goal.
Like any talent, you don’t find a good designer by asking for the one who’ll do it the cheapest or the one who will do it in two weeks instead of four. You find the designer that you trust enough to call an ‘expert.’ A designer makes only the amount of impact as the confidence they are given.
–
(Source: idsgn.org)
Helvetica is like a good screwdriver; a reliable, efficient, easy-to-use tool. But put it in the wrong hands, and it’s potentially lethal.
– Tom Geismar
Calls-to-action
The hard fact is that they just don’t care.
Or more precisely, they don’t care yet. They’re interested, but they do not know enough to care. We have not given them enough of a reason to care. They are not ready to take that step.
A good read on “why you should bury your sign up button”. I’ve considered similar things as of recent. When someone tells me to “make it pop so it stands out and people will click it” I think, the user isn’t stupid (well, mostly) and making things “pop” more is just not going to make them click it. They know it’s there. They will click it if you make them want the product, not because the call-to-action button is fire-engine-read (as the article puts it).
You don’t need to “bury” the sign up button exactly, but you certainly don’t need to pull out every visual cue under the sun to try get people clicking.
Options, Arguments, Solutions & Stuff
There is more than one way of getting something done. It’s good to be diverse and have options. That’s why when someone tells me about an absolute I will argue on behalf of the other options - even if I think that the “absolute” might be the best option.
I do this for a couple of reasons, and some of those are:
- I don’t just want to take things on face value, I want to be able to look further into something, learn more about it, dissect it, find alternatives, etc.
- I want to try to create or promote more intelligent conversation/discussion (think: “Oh that movie was good.” “Why was it good?” “Because of the cool explosions.”) Yeah…
- I want to inform people (to the best of my knowledge) but also be humble in this approach because I know I don’t know all of the answers (very few, in fact!)
So, an example: discussions regarding mobile operating systems. Always some hot discussion surrounding this topic (and why not? Who wants to talk about boring and depressing things like starving kids in Africa?)
Even though I use one product, if someone asks me about it (and any other options) I will give pros and cons for mine, and information about other products as far as I am knowledgeable.
My next example:
Brief: “It has to be fun and light-hearted.” Solution: “Comic Sans!!11”
Brief: “It has to be elegant.” Solution: “Scripty typeface!”
Excuse my French, but… bullshit.
There is more than one way of doing these things and one of those ways is going completely the other way. Think: the Von Restorff effect – do something completely different, “stand out” by being different, not the same as everyone else.
Don’t search for a “WordPress designer.” Anyone who pre-selects their tool because that’s the only thing they know how to use is being silly.
–
(Source: bleikamp.com)
Designers can get by with fancy, intricate designs, but you’d be surprised at how easy and powerful a simple, no-frills approach can be.
(Source: zachholman.com)
