{"@context":{"rdf":"http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#","rdfs":"http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#","owl":"http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#","foaf":"http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/","dc":"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/","dct":"http://purl.org/dc/terms/","sioc":"http://rdfs.org/sioc/types#","blog":"http://vocab.amy.so/blog#","as":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#","mf2":"http://microformats.org/profile/","ldp":"http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#","solid":"http://www.w3.org/ns/solid#","view":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/view#","asext":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/as#","dbp":"http://dbpedia.org/property/","geo":"http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#","doap":"http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#","time":"http://www.w3.org/2006/time#"},"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2011/05/design","@type":"as:Article","blog:bloggerid":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18505529.post-5487103910304554663","as:actor":{"@id":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12227954801080178130"},"as:content":"
At the Future of Web Design conference earlier this month, I was inspired. As\r\na developer primarily and a designer when I have to be, the talks and people\r\nat FOWD were perhaps more valuable to me than if my main focus was on design.\r\nI don't need inspiration to develop, but I do to design.
\r\nBut an incredibly busy week and a bit later, I find I haven't had an\r\nopportunity to really make use of the ideas that were triggered at the\r\nconference; not only that, but the inspiration is beginning to fade. And I\r\nwill struggle to find time to watch the talk videos over the next few weeks.
\r\nI had intended to shove together a new portfolio site, to match my shiny new\r\nbusiness cards, before the first day of FOWD. Naturally I didn't manage to\r\nstick to this deadline, continued to work on the site during the conference,\r\nand to this day the redesign remains unfinished at localhost/. It is so far\r\nresponsive up to iPad dimensions, but the design that I was initially\r\nsatisfied with has fallen out of my favour, so I'm struggling to finish. I've\r\nbeen browsing collections of great web design, like\r\nthis one, as well as staring agonisingly at localhost/, hoping for\r\nre-inspiration.
\r\nTurns out I dislike quite a few of the designs on that list. Some just have\r\ntoo much blank space. Many go way overboard with the 'Web 2.0' look; glossy\r\nbuttons, excessive rounded corners, and the like. Pretty on first glance,\r\nperhaps, but after seeing so many sites in the same style, you suddenly\r\nrealise the genericness of them all; they give an impression of designers who\r\nforgot that the purposes of, or the companies behind the sites have their own\r\npersonalities and branding that can't be represented simply with shiny buttons\r\nand background gradients.
\r\nI am currently a fan of textured backgrounds, and I'll confess I am currently\r\nof the opinion that a text shadow automatically makes almost any header text\r\nlook better. I'm sure this will wear off, just like glossy buttons did. But\r\nI'm still struggling to find a style that suits me personally (and matches my\r\nbusiness cards).
\r\nSo far, just writing about it has helped a little, and I think I have enough\r\nbeginnings of new ideas to push on. Watch this space.
\r\n__