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Current web design trends – an overview

Web design trends keep on changing with every passing year or within a period of few months. There had been significant changes last year whose impact can be seen more clearly in this year.

Popularity in the mobile device space has immensely increased in the sense that Smartphones and tablets like the iPad have made the interaction between users better and have facilitated easier accessibility to contents. Moreover, now people can take more and more advantage of the latest and the optimized features.

And this is possible because of web standards like HTML5, web fonts and CSS3, but What about the small businesses? It actually becomes difficult for them to stick to the latest designing trends because of factors like cost of the redesigns and the need for reaching a wide range of users.

Read the rest on skyje.com

Quote of the Day

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

13 Essential Tips for Landing a Job on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the best places online to find a job, period. It’s also a great place to connect with top decision makers, generate targeted leads for your business, drive traffic to your website, and more.

I hear countless stories every week from people who land amazing full time positions at great companies thanks to engagement on LinkedIn. Although there are a number of approaches you can take when hunting for the right job, start with these 13 important tips for using LinkedIn effectively.

Read the full article on mashable.com

Quote of the Day

“Starting out to make money is the greatest mistake in life. Do what you feel you have a flair for doing, and if you are good enough at it, the money will come.”

~ Greer Garson

The Ins and Outs of Working In-house

I started my career at the in-house design department of a Fort Lauderdale-based construction company. It was a terrible experience that lasted all of seven days. After that I swore to never work in-house anywhere, ever again. For four jobs (and about as many years) I kept that promise. Then I moved to New York City.

In other cities, I never had any trouble finding work. I would decide I hated my job one week, only to have another one lined up the next. I got unsolicited job offers and was the subject of a few hostile take-over attempts. I ignorantly assumed that New York would be the same. As one of the capitals of design, it must have thousands of jobs to offer, no? As you can all imagine, I quickly discovered it was quite the opposite.

Read the full article by Johanna Björk on aiga.com

Why and How I Switched to a Standing Desk

I spend about 45 to 50 hours a week working on my computer. Up until a week ago, I did that work sitting on my ever-expanding behind.

Last Monday I adjusted my desk to standing height (pictured right). I spent the week working on my feet, and I’m never going back to a sitdown desk again. Here are some questions and answers about the change.

Read the full article on lifehacker.com

Quote of the Day

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

~ Confucius

Get More Out of Your Fonts

It’s a text-based world. Everywhere you look, there’s a sign, an ad, or a screen relaying information. The hand-lettered signage at your mom-and-pop corner store aside, most of the messages you see are set in familiar fonts.

You’ll find plenty of tips and tricks on using type elsewhere –- and far more technical ones, at that –- but here are some select ideas and advice that will put you (and your online presence) on the path to becoming a font savant.

Read the full article at mashable.com

30 Brilliant Advertisements

Most creative ads strongly believe that there is no second chance to make an impression on the buyers. So it creates that impression on the very first sight itself. Here are some great creative ads that can make you look at them again and again. Never forget to close your mouth in wonder. They are that impressive and creative.

See the ads on dreamtuts.com

Quote of the day

“Work and Play are words used to describe the same thing under different circumstances.”

~ Mark Twain

5 New Paradigms for a Socially Engaged Company

The age of social media is not just changing our personal lives, but is increasingly affecting how business is conducted. No longer satisfied with strictly top-down models that view employees as cogs in a system, businesses are quickly adapting to a new paradigm that emphasizes connection, collaboration and innovation.

When people in companies and teams feel engaged, the benefits are significant. Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin), the global professional services firm, interviewed 90,000 employees in 18 countries, and found “companies with high employee engagement had a 19% increase in operating income and almost a 28% growth in earnings per share. Conversely, companies with low levels of engagement saw operating income drop more than 32% and earnings per share decline over 11%.”

Companies are realizing that it is not enough to get people to show up to work; the real challenge is creating cultures that enhance creativity and innovation. Below you’ll find what leaders in the field had to say about this new age of innovation and engagement.

Read the full article on mashable.com!

Attention Freelancers! 3 Simple Ways to Attract Higher-Quality Clients

Lower-quality clients suck. All they focus on is how little they can pay. They make unreasonable demands for the amount of work they want you to do and how fast they want it done. And they’ll inevitably ask you for designs that you don’t really enjoy creating. Does this sound familiar? Then chances are you have suffered from working for clients like these. We all have at some point, especially when starting out. So how do you avoid working for lower-quality clients? You attract higher-quality ones. How? Well, you’re in luck: there are 3 simple ways to attract higher-quality clients.

There aren’t any tricks involved. It’s simply adjusting your attitude and approach towards clients. You stand your ground and don’t compromise on what you’re worth and who you’re willing to work with. By doing so, you’ll be well on your way to attracting higher-quality clients that you actually want to work with. Without further ado, here are 3 simple ways to attract higher-quality clients:

Read the full article on speckyboy.com

Quote of the day

“What is it that you like doing?  If you don’t like it, get out of it, because you’ll be lousy at it.”

~Lee Iacocca

Why Your Next Business Card May Be Virtual

(mashable.com) – Pundits have been calling for the death of the business card for years now. Writing in The Globe and Mail in 2007, for example, Amy Verner wrote that the growing number of Blackberry users (this was pre-iPhone and Android) presaged the end of the traditional business card. As more people began to carry smartphones, predicted Verner, more people would begin to ditch paper cards in favor of swapping digits.

Of course, reports of the business card’s demise have been exaggerated. At South by Southwest this year, as at any conference I have attended over the past 4 years, I collected a stack of business cards that nearly tore the seams from my wallet. Clearly, for most people, the business card is still the networking tool du jour.

Read the full article here!

20+ Infographics to Help Web Designers and Developers

(designtutorials4u.com) – Infographics are a great, creative and concise way to present vital information in a visual and interesting way that’s easy for most people to understand.   There are many of us that learn visually and be presenting data in graphic format is more useful.

Today lets take a look at 20+ Infographics with concepts important to Web Designers and Developers that could perhaps provide them the information they need to get their jobs done quicker.

Read the full article here!

How to Prepare for a Phone Interview

(about.com) – Some employers choose to prescreen job applicants over the phone before doing an in-person interview. If you’re selected for a phone interview, prepare for a phone interview just as carefully as you would for a regular interview.

Prepare for a Phone Interview Research the job and the company so you are prepared to discuss the company and your role if you were to be hired. Compile a list of answers to typical phone interview questions. In addition, have a list of questions ready to ask the interviewer.

Read the full article here!

Quote of the day

“Wednesdays are like Mondays in the middle of the week!”

~Lee Fox Williams

Logo Design Trends for Big Companies

(www.graphicmania.net) – Logos are one of the most important components of a brands identity which promotes instant public recognition. Although logos are designed to be instantly recognizable, they don’t always remain the same.

Some modifications are minor; others can result in an almost entirely different logo. In this article, we will look at some logos from well known companies and see how they have changed throughout the history of the company.

Read the full article here!

Quote of the day

“If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well”

~Proverb

Important Factors of Minimal Web Design

(www.instantshift.com) – Less is More’, an aphorism coined by the German – American architect for Coining suits the term ‘Minimalism’ in an apt way. In today’s world where everything is growing in a fast paced manner, we have to compromise somewhere to catch up with the speed, like a skyscraper cannot be constructed with all the architecture and the fine details as in case of a palace, but a skyscraper does justice to its part and everybody accepts this. In the world of darkness, a simple candle can light the whole place rather than a chandelier or heavy lightings. Similarly a minimalistic design is created to justify its purpose rather than incorporating all the materials and create a chaos.

Read the full article here!

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