Russell Webb Design

Tag: designer

  • 8 reasons why you should use sidebar as navigation

    8 reasons why you should use sidebar as navigation

    TL;DR; Why is this new style of popular navigation winning hands down against old-fashioned navigation methods? Well, here’s my take on why, in eight easy sound bites.

    Contents

    01. Users are familiar with desktop left navigation patterns

    This is difficult to implement with such small real estate. Sidebar solves and provides for with this problem.

    8reasonsToUseTheSidebarIcon4
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  • 10 considerations when designing for mobile

    This is the first 10 steps to take your mobile design skills to the next level

     Watch the animated version here

    10 Considerations For Mobile DesignWhen designing for the desktop you can consider the end-user environment, when designing for print you can picture where the magazine will be read but when design for mobile the end-user scenarios are so varied and so far ranging that todays savvy mobile designer needs to develop an entirely different skill set.

    Mobile Meet Up - Glassblowers in London's SohoThis is the edited version of a presentation I gave at Mobile Meet Up on Tues 27th Sept about ‘10 key considerations when designing for mobile ‘.  I must stress this doesn’t mean there are only 10, in fact it’s the opposite, there are many more considerations. But here are my top 10:

    1. Real Estate

    10 key considerations when designing for mobile

    Whether you coming from a desktop background or from advertising the canvas size you have to pay with is drastically reduced on the mobile environment.

    Over the years the relative screen size difference has increased. The difference between the smallest (128 x 128) and the largest (800 x 480) is now a factor of 23. That means the largest screen is 23 times bigger than the smallest one.

    2. Design with distraction front-of-mind

    10 key considerations when designing for mobile
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  • Branding an iPad Casino App

    Branding an iPad Casino App

    1.0 Aims and Objectives

    To produce the best-in-class iPad and iPhone App for playing slots and table games.

    Recently I was involved in conceptualise and leading the UI for a iOS casino App for both iPhone and iPad.  I’m not going to detail all design decisions here but walk you through my perspective on why branding for this product is so important and why the decisions made differentiate it enough to stand-out in what is already a fiercely competitive and crowded marketplace.

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  • Design habits – Tip your hat to your design heroes

    TLDR: Inspired by design masters, this can aide your creative process: User first through to competition analysis, (innovation nit imitation), to
    familiarity and then focus on value then finally beautiful execution

    Contents

    As a junior designer, way back when, I visited our local design museum (I studied in London, UK, so my local design museum was fortunately the rather impressive Design Museum in Shad Thames) and fantasied over how great it would of been to be involved in, say, designing a Charles and Ray Eames leather recliner, or Dysons Cyclone Vacuum cleaner.

    Now I’m doing stuff I feel proud off, in the field of UX/UI, I thought it worthwhile to see if I could mirror the process these great designers took and document it from a UXers perspective. So, here we go. I started with the following criteria:

    • Give users choice.
    • Competition Analysis
    • Design with familiarity in mind
    • Prioritise features that add value – the “Magic Moment”
    • Beautiful execution
    • Todays’ Brave New World
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  • Best practice for your on-boarding experience

    Best practice for your on-boarding experience

    TL;DR; As a guided experience for new users simplifying your onboarding to prevent that overwhelmed feeling.

    Contents

    Simplify your Onboarding; A UX Guide

    Getting new sign-ups is arguable the ultimate challenge, but the process of helping people get started, called on-boarding, can prevent many users from feeling lost, overwhelmed, and confused. It’s your responsibility, as a professional UXer, to shake their hand and show them the ropes and take them on that ‘first date’.

    Drilling-down on the detail of the betting coupon - on-boarding
    Drilling-down on the detail of the betting coupon – on-boarding

    The Do’s and Don’ts

    Downloading and jumping straight into an experience you’ve just heard about is one of the most exciting parts of UX design.

    When formulating this, be conscious not build further barriers as part of the on-boarding. The ‘Skip’ or ‘Tell me later’ and continuous Swipe is an important tool.

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