Graphic Design Strategy 101 – Make an Outline

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This is a guest post by Julian Hartley…

Gather All The Information You Need

For this to happen, you have to first discuss the basics with the client. You should ask questions like who is the target audience, what message needs to be transmitted, how many pages and what dimensions the layout should have.

It’s always useful to ask for an example of previous designs similar to the one he needs now. Still, note that this can limit your creativity. In the end, it’s up to you if you ask for a sample or not.

Don’t forget to talk about budget and deadlines. If you want a good work relationship, pay attention to these aspects because they are important too.

Create An Attractive Website Presentation

Let’s assume you have to design a website. If you have to create business cards or posters, we are talking about a one-page layout and it’s a lot simpler. However, the same steps are to be followed, since only the complexity of the project changes. Continue reading

What Happens When You Forget SEO During a Website Redesign

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A recent website maintenance client of mine redesigned their website. The new website looks really good and I wish them the best in terms of improved conversion rates and user interaction.

Unfortunately, a redesign must involve many more considerations than just a new skin & the same website content. When you fail to consider the impact a new site will have on your search engine rankings, you stand to lose a lot… it’s not an urban myth or a misnomer.

In the following examples, I hope to show those considering a site redesign just how important it is to factor SEO into the design and migration process. And not only after the fact, but from the beginning of the redesign process.

In this example, I knew the client was working on a new website, but because we were only providing maintenance, they did not notify us when the new site was going to launch, nor did they ask us to look at it for any SEO considerations.

How Quickly You Can Lose Search Engine Rankings After a Redesign

Less than a week after launch, the website is already seeing some pretty significant negative search engine results – Google specifically.

Website Redesign Lost Keyword Rankings

Website Redesign Lost Keyword Rankings

Continue reading

Detect & Load High-Res Images Based on Device Resolution, Speed

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This is an awesome script you can add to serve images on iPads and next-gen high resolution devices dynamically. I’ll let the description of this script tell the story…  Foresight.js

Foresight.js gives webpages the ability to tell if the user’s device is capable of viewing high-resolution images (such as the 3rd generation iPad) before the image is requested from the server. Additionally, it judges if the user’s device currently has a fast enough network connection for high-resolution images. Depending on device display and network connectivity, foresight.js will request the appropriate image for the webpage.