However, there are endless possibilities for us in the web design world – it is quite easy to grow both in skills and personal experience. Each one of us has a life planned and a path he wants to follow, even if there are many overwhelming challenges to get through.

But sometimes you just have to ask yourself, what is it you want to achieve during your career?

Image by DoBeRaGi.

Answering this question is not easy to do and to get the best answer you need to look back at how you started. What feelings did your first job give you? Did you become a designer by accident, or was it something you always planned? Do you want to work as a designer for your whole life, or is it just something you want to use to get a bigger role in the future? It is important to answer these questions because each aspect brings about different outcomes. Some future outcomes bring much more than the others and if you always wanted to become a web designer, then it is highly likely you will always be happy with your career choice. Designing only for the money might not make you so proud of yourself – Steve jobs once declared he would rather go to bed every night knowing he did something great the previous day than being the richest person in the cemetery.

There are lots of reasons why an individual wants to be a designer. You might be a creative person, like the fact that you have the opportunity to work freelance, enjoy mixing both left and right brain work by coding and designing at the same time or enjoy working in a sector that is growing. Of course there are many other reasons, but these seem to be the most popular.

If you still need to plan your career path, then there are two things you should do. First, make a list of things that make you get up all excited in the morning when you go to work. Then, make a list of things you think should be improved. Afterwards, make a short narrative about how your career has been to this point. Clarify your roles and what you like and don’t like about your career. Lots of new job descriptions are written every year, so you might as well be the creator of your new job if you feel like it, but you first need to know where you want to head to in order to reach that point.

Image by Mr. T in DC.

If you are in the field because you are a creative individual, then design is definitely for you. You can be the creative director of a company because creative people tend to do really well when being in charge of a focused area of work. They might not be the best managers or business people, but they are definitely great at managing teams in their field.

If your main skill is flexibility, you are most likely what every company owner looks for. You can be everything, from outsourcing partner to company partner. You probably have the highest chance of living the dream and creating your own business. You probably like managing people, being in charge and taking care of every small detail – then this is for you. You can step by step decrease the number of hours worked for others and increase the hours spent on building your own company. In a few years this company might bring you money without you having to lift a finger.

If coding and designing are what you’re in for, you are great for working in a company or even freelance. You can develop interfaces, applications and even advise people in regards to what might be best for them when they decide to create a website. If you want to aim as high as possible, right now that would probably be Apple. I doubt there is better design out there, both for their web identity and for their products. I am sure there is a reason behind many Product and Industrial Design programs using Apple’s products as case studies.

If you’re in it for the money, you can pretty much accomplish this everywhere. However, I advise you that being in something for the money only brings short term enjoyment and you might have to change careers several times throughout your working life. In the design field you would be suitable for an executive staff job more than a regular day to day coding job. You can also start your own business and if you are flexible and good enough, this will make good money for you.

Image by Doug88888.

What you want to achieve depends also on what you want to focus on. Do you want to provide for your family and make sure they have everything they need? Do you want to offer services for the small companies who need start-up help? Do you want to provide services for specific communities only? I have a friend who owns a company that focuses on churches. They only design for churches and they have quite the portfolio. It is totally up to you what you focus on, but remember every decision you make will reflect upon you later in your career.

To give you a more specific answer, Mark Zuckerberg makes donations. Google’s co-founders have become philanthropists. Adriana Huffington wrote about how to maintain your health if you live and work in a fast-paced digital environment. Every one of those is a legacy they left behind. What is it you want to leave behind?

Some other questions you might ask yourself are: do you want to design for you or for others? Do you want to take direct responsibility for your actions? What kinds of websites do you like to design? Are you more excited about coding or actually building interfaces? Do you want to write about design or actually do it – or both?

Image by espy786.

Working as a web designer is hard work, and many times you will have to spend more than 60 hours per week forcing ideas out. Challenges are out there at every step and it is purely impossible not to run into  them now and then. If you know what you want from life and mostly from your web design career, and you are ready to work hard for it, it is difficult not to enjoy great times. Before making a decision, think about what you want to achieve – then work for it, and sooner than you think you will find yourself on the right path.

Until next time, let’s hear your opinions on this topic. Do you think you made the right choice? Is there something you would like to change in your approach?

They have done a good job with their advent calendar which has created a new meaning for it. I am not sure if 24 ways was the pioneer in the wave behind advent calendars for blogs but they surely have been the driving force. Today, we will try to show you some of the best advent calendars. We will discuss what makes these advent calendars stand out and how they can catch the attention of your website’s visitors.

What is an Advent Calendar?

Google the keywords Advent Calendar and you will find the Wikipedia page that states that Advent Calendars have something to do with Christmas. Advent Calendars are more like flashy archive calendars which are being used by webmasters to give their schedules a new meaning all together. Well, that is the textbook definition of an Advent Calendar. Otherwise, the term Advent Calendar has evolved quite a lot lately and it is no longer just for Christmas but anything that you want. Actually, the blogging community recently picked up Advent Calendars and shaped its definition to suit their needs.

5 Amazing Advent Calendars

1. 24 Ways

The mother of all advent calendars, 24 Ways (as I said before) was the reason behind the sudden surge in advent calendars on various websites. The quality of content and the presentation of the advent calendar with a blog made people’s jaws drop. 24 Ways is famous for topics ranging from design to development. Even discussions on business matters and inspirational articles make way into the elite list of content that is published in 24 ways. This way the website is able to target niche readers and new readers alike.

The design of 24 ways takes care of various screen resolutions which in itself is a big advantage for readers and publishers too. Also, this advantage takes care of readers who prefer to access the website on mobile devices or other platforms like tablets. 24 Ways is famous for its high quality content and the over-the-top advent calendar is enough to attract users.

2. HTML5 and CSS Advent 2011

You might feel turned off when you see the HTML5 and CSS Advent Calendar 2011 after 24 Ways. But, please bear with the new players in this game. 24 ways has set a standard that might be tough for the rest to achieve, but it does not mean that others will never achieve the same. It is just a matter of time. Anyways, this advent calendar was designed with a set plan. The plan was to publish a new article every day until the end of the year 2011 and looks like the webmasters behind this advent calendar did well to publish quality content.

HTML5 and CSS3 Advent Calendar is full of crazy content with amazing images and planned drafts. The final versions of articles that you see on this website will surely force you to learn something new no matter how big an expert you are in the field of HTML5 and CSS3. I wish that these guys had planned to continue even after the year 2011. But, good things always come to an end, right?

3. Electric December 11

This happens to be Watershed’s annual calendar which covers the best possible short films from across Europe. Electric December 11 gives you the opportunity to enjoy 24 short films from across Europe. Enjoy the underwater bubble ride, discover secret twins, listen to unbelievable music, hug a tree or meet the prime minister.

Electric December 11 is not like the regular blogs with advent calendars. Rather, it happens to be an amazing collection of video based content with presentation skills that cannot be ignored. Do share your experiences once you are done with Electric December 11.

4. PHP Advent

Let us concentrate on websites that are more like blogs with advent calendars of sorts. PHP Advent is one such website with a simple to understand advent calendar. PHP Advent is another blog with content curated for the needs of its niche readers. The idea behind PHP Advent was to push its writers to write regularly. This is another advantage of an advent calendar. If you see a calendar right on the home page of your blog then there is this instinct to push content so that the advent calendar looks lively. This is when you learn to be disciplined and regular.

While you are at PHP Advent, you can also visit Photo Advent which happens to be the brain child of the same people who are behind PHP Advent. Similar template with niche concentrating on photography instead of PHP.

5. MDN Holiday Calendar

When big guns enter the arena they have to be different and better than the best. This is what Mozilla Developer Network did when they launched their advent calendar. The calendar focuses on dates that have something special related to Mozilla and its fan following. Be it just for fun stuff for its followers or ongoing developer news which can be of use to Mozilla developers, the advent calendar is regularly updated with fresh content.

The best part of Mozilla’s advent calendar is its look and its smooth display on any browser. Being a firm believer of Open Source, Mozilla has uploaded the source code of the advent calendar on GitHub. If you want something similar for yourself then you know exactly where you need to look for help. Good luck and do share your experiments with us.

Create Your Own Advent Calendar

You can either use the source code provided by Mozilla (and the two part tutorial) to create a Mozilla look alike advent calendar or jump over to Advent Calendr if you are using a tumblr blog. With the tools provided by Advent Calendr, one can easily turn a Tumblr blog into a advent calendar. You get to choose from multiple skins which can help you create an advent calendar that stands out from the crowd.

Advent Calendr provides its users with customization options and can be customized to suit various users’ needs. One can even separate the Tumblr posts from the advent calendar to reduce the amount of confusion that tend to creep in with a advent calendar.

Lastly, it will be your own expertise when it comes to designing your own advent calendar.

Conclusion

There was a time when blogging was new for us. It took time, but slowly everyone dived into the world of blogging and we know how it is today. It’s the same case with advent calendars. They are still in their infancy and webmasters are still experimenting with them. It will take a lot of time before we see very polished advent calendars and they become common on a lot of blogs. Until then, let us just enjoy 24 ways!

This is when one takes inspirational work, and directly takes aspects from it for your own. This was something that was understandable and was just brushed off when it was only a few young naive designers doing it, you really couldn’t fault them too much for only wanting to create something like a designer they admire. However, today it really does seem as if this act of using inspiration is a valid reason for taking the work of another and calling it your own.

Since that seems to be the case, in this article we’re going to go over a few things that will help give insight on how to turn inspiration into original creative works.

What Does Stealing and Inspiration Look Like

Before going to deep on this topic, it is best to first illustrate my point visually for a better understanding of my argument. So below you will find a few quality websites, and then examples of how they have been imitated in our community.

Apple

I don’t think that there is another website around today that has been more influential than that of Apple.com. It is quite easy to understand why, even if you aren’t a creative you’ll find yourself appreciating the simplicity and excellent use of white space. With all that being said, the Apple website has been imitated by pretty much everyone in our community. Whether consciously or not, the inspiration is clear as day. Below you’ll find several articles showcasing Apple.com inspired websites:

• 60 Apple Inspired Websites – Why Apple Design Works? via 1stwebdesigner.com 
• 22 Website Designs Inspired by Apple.com via Web Designer Depot
• Web Design Inspired by Apple.com via Inspiration Magazine

Fiverr

Well in accordance with anything, when you do good work expect it to be cloned and see other people profited off of it. Right now, the highlighted design that’s been stolen is Fiverr.com. There is a WordPress theme available for those looking to have a website with all the same functionality, and similar design, of Fiverr.com.

Groupon

If anyone is just cruising around the internet is looking for some good local deals, 10 times out of 10 you’re going to end up on Groupon’s website. It is quite clear to understand why too, it has a clean interface that gives clear direction to what is usually thought of as a messy and unorganized scavenger hunt. Because of the success of this site’s design, there have been many interpretations of it and tutorials available to get that Groupon design down for yourself. Below you’ll find a few links to what I’m referring to:

• Create An eCommerce Site Inspired By Groupon With JQuery Slider via pvmgarage
• The Groupon-Style Website Trend: Why and How it Works via Onextrapixel

Where is the Problem

As shown in some of the above examples, there can be inspiration found from looking at anothers design and used with a positive original result. However, there has also been shown that it is quite easy, maybe unknowingly perhaps, to just take parts from other sites and put them into your own. Some have been so bold as to deliberately duplicate the design, seemingly pixel for pixel, and expect it to be viewed in the same light as the original. Now for the rest of this article, we are going to go over a few key things to consider when finding inspiration and stop yourself from taking it to far.

Think of how it would Feel if Your Work was Stolen

Feels like having a fever because of that Rage you're trying to keep.

*Image Credit: hang_in_there

The phrase “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” relates perfectly to this situation. It is a common occurrence for a designer who has stolen the work of another designer have someone steal from them, and then feel offended by it. This is pretty funny when you think about it, a thief calling someone who steals from them a thief. When someone is taking an aspect of someone’s design, there isn’t too much thought of how it would feel to be on the other end. All the countless hours of just wondering how you can give your design that ‘wow’ factor, and then you finally figure it out. The next thing you know, someone just took your idea that you spent hours thinking about, and labeled it theirs.

Remember Originality Brings the Best Rewards

*Image Credit: Viral~

The designers that are regarded as the top professionals didn’t get to where they are by taking from others until they reached the top. The respect they have achieved in their career came from hard work, consistent remembrance of self, and pushing for individuality and originality. Sure taking things here and there from others will make you some money, but you’ll never truly be recognized for the talent you have because all you’re doing is copying what you see and making an appealing collage in your work.

Missing Out on the Feeling of Accomplishment

*Image Credit: Slightlynorth

For many people involved in a creative profession, the monetary gains they receive are not that great. Actually, those that major in art related fields in college have one of the lowest average annual salaries around the world. So why would anyone even bother getting into a field like this? What sense does it make to be in a career that does not have good salary growth in comparison to other fields?

To those in creative fields, things like that don’t matter. The only thing that does is being able to make a living doing what you love, creating. Now if that is the mindset of the majority of our industry, why would you forgo that feeling. Personally, one of the best feelings I get is when I complete a cool project that took me an awful lot of time to get exactly right.

In Conclusion

When someone takes on a creative field as their career choice, they are making a statement. A statement that declares that they prefer self-fulfillment by taking their respective creative talents as far as they can go, and make a living while doing so. This is a bold and powerful statement, which somewhat distances the creative spectrum from the rest of the world to a degree. So for someone to take on a career that represents the aforementioned statement shows complete disrespect to the creative community and themselves when they go out and steal from others. Gaining inspiration from a design is completely normal and great; just remember that inspiration is not a plausible cause for stealing.

Do You Have Any Thoughts To Add To Help End Inspiration Leading to Stealing?

This block is not something easy to get past and it can come around exactly when you need inspiration the most. It might be right before a deadline or just after you landed a huge project, most importantly is that if (more like when) it happens to you, you need to make an effort to get past it.

The more you fight surpassing it with the techniques that seem useful at a first glance, the deeper in trouble you will find yourself. Unlike what many think, getting past a designer’s block can be done with the help of some easy and natural procedures.

Use music

Many of us use music to get rid of day-to-day stress, while others listen to it all the time, wherever they are. Music relays different emotions to people and, if you are very creative, it also relays different colors and shapes. If you ever listened to a song and created a video for it in your mind, then you are one of those who can get a lot out of music – it creates positive images in your mind, which you can use for inspiration.

Image by Doug88888.

However, this does not always work. The reason behind it is simple: we always listen to the same music, bands and artists. The same music creates the same images in your head, therefore you might not get too many new ideas if you listen to your everyday tunes. You probably know the feeling of a song which always brings back the same memories.

Find new music in the genre you like, try searching for your favourite artist’s old songs, go out there and experiment. Otherwise music, something which is so accessible to us, will not be too much of a help.

Go outside

This is something I recommended before, in my article targeting freelancers that get distracted. Going out is probably the cheapest and easiest way to relax. This is also when and where creativity can hit you right away. Many times a short walk in the park or a tour to the zoo can give you ideas. You can find them all over out there, from color schemes to shapes. Only being outside on a great summer day gives you a feeling of liberty and happiness – if you haven’t experienced this yet, make sure you do it soon – this is a must for creative individuals.

Image by Mike G. K.

If nature can’t help too much, then there is still hope outside home. Use architecture for this purpose. I bet the New York architecture inspired many designers in building grandiose designs. Pretty much everything you are passionate about (which is outside the house) can inspire you.

I, myself, love airplanes and airports. If I lived near La Guardia, Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle or John F. Kennedy, I would be there the whole day. I would just sit and watch airplanes landing and taking off. That would give me a huge boost of inspiration. If there is something out there you are inspired about, go and check it if you find yourself dealing with a designer’s block.

Deal with it some other time

This happens mostly when we work on multiple projects and we feel there is no inspiration left for one of them. If the deadline isn’t two days away, push the project longer down the queue. Not focusing on it and working on something else will allow you to come back later on and will free your mind for a period. Many times a designer’s block comes from lack of relaxation and for people who work way too much and exhaust themselves. You will notice that you will come back with new ideas when you take some time away from a project.

It doesn’t always help to think too much about something that isn’t there. Ideas usually come up in conversations and actions that have no relation to your project so if you stay home and think of your project, it is highly unlikely you will get past the block. It may sound weird or false, but the best ideas I have had were generated through diverse discussions; they just popped into my mind. I am sure some of you experienced this as well. Forcing ideas out is the worst thing you could do.

Get inspiration

Now I am not saying you should steal or copy other people’s work. I am just saying it’s never a bad idea to go out there and see how others are doing similar assignments. There is no harm in this and at the very least you get ideas that you can use some other time. I think it is highly unlikely to spend time researching and looking over inspirational examples and not get anything out of it.

Image by Mighty Crumble.

However, getting inspiration from the internet is something you should do carefully. Using something another designer used before is not only illegal, but might also be a poor decision for your project. If, for example, you found a design and liked the use of  italic text and a serif typeface, it doesn’t mean you can just take it and attach it to your project. Perusing others work is something you should think twice before doing.

When looking for inspiration, you might want to use this as a way to understand your website’s problems, not as a way to find solutions. If you see a webpage that sends a powerful message, learn how they do it and adapt it to your solution – don’t copy. Adapting is a different concept than copying.

Relax

The key to getting over designer’s block (as well as writer’s block) is relaxation. As fast as you can achieve this, you will become better at what you do and will be able to get past this block. If deadlines are approaching fast and you feel the block, you naturally get stressed and nervous. The simple step in solving this issue is the following: just relax.

Image by Nakic.

It sounds superficial, but this is the only way to get past such an issue. It is something natural which can only be solved by taking natural steps. Your mind will not start to execute at command – you need to relax it in order for it to deliver.

Conclusion

Yes, there is such a thing as designer’s block and it is also quite dangerous. It can destroy careers, make people miss deadlines or get fired; that’s how bad can it get. However, as just presented, getting past it doesn’t require years of training – it requires you to be able to relax and take your mind off the project for a while. Sure, I agree that this is not always possible because of deadlines, but whenever you can, take these steps and you will notice an improvement in the way you handle the block.

Today, we will go through the basic semantics of header image design and how the very default looking header images are still sitting on most websites. We will try to figure out what web designers can do to create jaw dropping header images and use examples to understand how designers are actually implementing original ideas.

Old is no more the gold

Gone are the days when a regular rectangular header image design will be good enough for your upcoming website design. Notice that if your website is very old and has its own fan following then you might not have to experiment with header images, but if you are new in business then you have to do something different so as to attract visitors. I am sorry to say, but the wrapper of the chocolate is an important reason behind you buying that chocolate. Get it?

There are plenty of default designs and plugins available that make it super easy for website designers to come up with a basic header image but that just isn’t helping you out. If you want to be part of this business then get real. Think. Out. Of. The. Box!

It will sound a bit weird if we tag something as default design in today’s website design industry, but unfortunately it is true. The structure that you see above has become, more or less, the default website design for those who want to go live real quick. Register a domain, pick up a template and you will be live within minutes. But, is that of any use? The ready-to-go designs help you go online but don’t help you get the attention of internet surfers. True?

So, how can we actually take our first step toward out-of-box looks? What can one really do with the default header shapes, sizes and designs? Aren’t they supposed to be what they are? Well, they are supposed to be the way they are, but with a little tweaking we can actually make them look super attractive. Here are my suggestions when it comes to tweaking your header images:

Submerge!

Don’t compare this tip with something that pops out of the screen due to its amazing design. Rather, what I am trying to suggest here could well be a simple but unique way to make your headers look different from the rest. This is actually the easiest too, once you are into it.

Look at the header image of Gary Nock. It is more or less merged with the rest of the website design. You will never find such kind of rectangular in shape header images. Rather, such header images submerge with the rest of the design which as a result gives the website design the clean and riveting look. So, when I say “submerge” then I mean merge your header image design with the rest of the website design in a fashion that the old rectangular look of the website is not around to turn off your readers.

Break The “Text Book” Definition of Dynamic Headers

Enough of  the jQuery codes to make your headers look dynamic. Can’t we make them look a bit different considering the fact that almost everybody is either using a jQuery based header or a (good old) flash header.

Check out the above header design from Raskulls. The website has done well to balance the looks of a dynamic header with a clean header image. The end result is a sleek looking header image that does justice to the niche of Raskulls. See, I am not asking you to give up on jQuery or Flash either. What I want you to understand is that it is high time that we start looking for header image designs that are sleeker and different from the rest. You’ve got to stand out to attract visitors.

Ditch the Rectangle

I won’t give you an example in this case as my first tip of submerging the header image with rest of the website design was almost similar to this. See, we are used to the usual rectangular looking header images. As I said before, they have become part of the default website design which is of no use. What if you ditch the rectangle shape of header images and look for something which is different. This is when you will attract attention and that is the sole purpose of your website. True?

Ditch the Header Itself!

OUCH! What was that?

Well, that was getting rid of something that confuses you the most. If you are not happy with your rectangular looking header image design and you are not sure of anything different then why not just ditch the header itself? Why can’t we start with the content directly and use a small square in the sidebar for the name of the website? What is the real problem? There isn’t any hard and fast rule suggesting that headers are a must for a website design, and if it isn’t a rule why do we actually have to stick with them?

Have a look at Sony’s portal displaying its tablets. Sony has smartly left only a little  amount of space on top for the name and menu while the rest acts as the place where content is displayed. Really, if you are not sure about the kind of header that you should use then you will be better off ditching the header. Try it!

Keep Thinking Different. Don’t Give Up!

This is supposed to be the usual tip of any inspiration pointers and it applies here too, but with a slight difference. The point that I want you to understand here is that if you keep trying the different looks for your header image then you are bound to come up with something which is a lot better than the rectangular looking header images. And, trust me on this one, any header shape will look better than a rectangular header image design.

Your hard work and your honesty should be reflected in your out-of-box header image design. This is when visitors understand the seriousness of your purpose and end up giving more time to your website. Also, keep changing your header images. Experiment with different looks and see what leads to a jump in your traffic. Try. Fall. Getup. Try. Succeed. Continue Trying.

Inspiration

Juan Diego Velasco – Web Designer Portfolio

Giancarlo Fajardo – Creative Graphic Design Portfolio

Duirwaigh Studios

N.Design Studio

Octwelve – Blog of designer MeryLuc Melgar

Pixel Cool

Shaun Groves

Conclusion

Header images have come a long way. I know plenty of websites that have successfully experimented with header image designs, but I know so many who still go live without proper design plans. Please remember that you might be better off with a simple looking header image design if your website is old with huge visitor numbers. In that case, the visitors are aware of the quality of content that your website produces and this is when an attractive header image is not that important. But, if you are new in business then better take care of the looks of your website design otherwise be prepared to end up nowhere.

A French startup, Eenox, has developed a platform to help create dynamic HTML5 websites without writing a single line of code. If you are familiar with Wix, a Flash website builder with drag-and-drop features, it basically works the same.

Eenox is an application that you can use right in your browser. Designing an application/website is easy. It is literally a drag-and-drop, draw and place, kind of application.

Among the many features it has, one thing that took me by surprise is how easy it is to use even for a non-technical person. The interface is like storytelling, directing its users what to click, what it’s for, and how to properly do it. You rarely see something like this from applications, but games do it all the time.

Below I masterfully tested the application, adding an image and sample text, and a Twitter stream. I have set the resolution for tablet.

Every web page created automatically generates a QR code for them. And unlike testing the website to see if it works, which usually entails setting up your localhost (if you work on your local machine), every element is as you see it. No more setting up, just drag, drop and add your content.

Several months ago, the talk was about creating a responsive website which can automatically adjust itself based on the screen of the user. Eenox has successfully employed this with every website or application that is made using their platform. Here’s proof of that. Try resizing your browser, and you will see the image and text adapt to your browser’s size.

Changing the background color, or the color of any element for that matter, only requires moving some slides through a gradient.  You can even download the website you made, and then host it on your web server.

There is a free version that you can use to test the application. A paid version starts at $99 for every 2 months up to $280/mo.

Features of Free Version

• Maximum of 3 web pages to download
• Maximum of 3 images per page
• Limited to 1 web page
• Hosting

The free version is pretty limited, hopefully someday the features for the free version will increase. Truthfully, I haven’t had enough of a chance to test it because of the limitations, but I can say that I like how easy it is to use.

Benefits of using the paid version:

• Unlimited downloads
• 25 to 120 web pages
• Unlimited image number per page
• Hosting
• Other Advanced Features
• Statistics
• SEO
• Can publish app on the App Store or Android Market

See image below for the full pricing details:

Image was shamelessly taken from their website.

• subscribe for a newsletter
• add comments to an article, pose questions or ask for support
• fill out applications (e.g. job applications)
• answer surveys
• perform purchases
• join clubs and forums

Styling web forms for both usability and aesthetics is a usual practice for any web designer working on a project. However, at the very beginning of the Internet forms were so dreadful that no modern user would have had the slightest desire to fill in one of them – no customized design, no smart capabilities, scarce consideration towards user experience.

Let’s see the evolution web forms over the past 10 years. It’s simply a lot of fun!

1. Pre-web era forms – the prints that we all despise

Yes, yes, these ones do bring bad childhood memories of endless queues at public administration desks. Perhaps this is the reason most of us don’t enjoy filling out any kind of forms. Hopefully, those prints will become out of fashion before we run out of wood.

2. The early days of WWW: 1991 – 1998

The first years of the Internet (1991-1996) remain obscure as far as web forms are concerned. Since we don’t have NeXT software on hand anymore, there’s no possibility of taking screenshots from back then to see how forms looked (if they existed at all).

As we all know, in a short time WWW became a mass medium and electronic forms made their way in. However, they were awfully rudimentary. Customer feedback was processed through executable files running on the hard disk. It was hard to find  anything like an online contact form. For subscribing to a service, you most likely had to download a form, fill in a hard copy and send it to the webmasters via postal services.

The existent web forms at that time mainly performed search and submission tasks. The interface was dead simple and dull, HTML based with no CSS of course.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

3. Form use in online sales: 1994 – present

1994 brought two major enhancements in the web arena: e-banking and online ordering (pizza, as you may guess). Shortly after, Amazon launched its online shopping service in 1995 and eBay the next year. Naturally, all of them were using web forms.

Those days, e-commerce was hindered by the limitations of credit cards that didn’t support online transactions. The issue was solved around 2000, once online payment processors appeared. Web forms could then exhibit products for sale and then direct submitters right to the payment gateway where they could complete the transaction. This was a major leap for the internet making its entrance in the day-to-day life of regular people.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

4. Web forms in the days of social media: 2004 – present

Two major landmarks for social media are 2004 (the launch of Facebook) and 2006 (the birth of Twitter). Facebook had the most interesting evolution in regards to web forms.

From the very beginning Facebook provided its own tools for creating simple polls and for planning events. However, the original Facebook forms were simple ones, they had security issues and as for styling they used to hold the blueish standard skin of FB. Things got better though. In August 2006, Facebook launched the free Developers API, which led to a burst of applications, widgets and tools. Around 2010 came the first form management apps for Facebook. Users could now have their own signup forms for fan pages, reuse personalized forms brought from outside and build specific mailing lists. Since then, Facebook forms and surveys are among the most popular tools for businesses that perform social media marketing.

BACK THEN:

NOW:

5. Web forms and security

SSL protocol for data encryption was released by Netscape in 1994. Anti-spam tools for web forms such as CAPTCHA and password protection have only been available since 2000. In the dark ages before, there were knight battles with hackers and spam.

How could you prevent bots from signing up countless times? Using IP validation methods that aren’t by far infallible. One famous hijack of a web form occurred in November 1999, when slashdot.org had the idea to run an online poll asking what was the top graduate school in computer science. Even if the IPs were stored in order to prevent duplicate entries, the students of Carnegie Mellon managed to create a program that voted thousands of times for their university. The next day, the competitors (students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) put up their own program and the two rival bots took over the poll, leaving the valid submissions in shadow. Fortunately, security options we have today are by far more efficient.

6. Contemporary profile of web forms

An important improvement came around 2007 when the first WYSIWYG form builders made their way in. Any internet user could then create forms. HTML knowledge is not mandatory anymore, since the remotely hosted form generators provide wizards with intuitive interfaces.

The portrait of a form that stands at the top of the evolution chain includes, by case:

• slick design, CSS customizable
• various publishing options: on blogging and social media platforms, on regular websites
• e-mail submissions received, secure data transfer and storage
• capacity to draw reports over data
• payment processing
• integration with 3rd party apps to extend its functionality.

Today’s websites are bursting with creative web forms. Contact pages aim to be both visually appealing and efficient as lead generation tools. Forms are successful in performing a wide variety of tasks: online ordering, event registration, research across the web, feedback. With CSS and HTML 5 at hand, forms can be successfully styled so that they blend in with the overall look and feel of any website.

Some Creative Contact Forms

Aterlier Detour

Camping ilfrutteto

Red Bull Soapbox Racer

More amazing contact forms:

40+ Creative Contact Forms That Will Inspire You

91 Trendy Contact And Web Forms For Creative Inspiration

Revamping your site is a mega-headache, redesign is necessary at one point in the web site’s life cycle. You will need to revamp your site at some point in time, and the sooner, the better. You need to know when it is high time to revamp your site by looking into a few signs.

Sign number 1: The Metrics are Down

Have your metrics gone down over the past few months? Then it may be high time to revamp your site. Metrics are the number one indication that you should redesign your web site. Metrics give you an immediate indication that something needs improvement. To better understand your visitors, you need to speak to them using surveys and usability testing. A face to face conversation with your customers allows you to learn more than simple surveys and questionnaires. Conversations will reveal attitudes towards your website, brand, and overall company image.

Sure, there may be other reasons as to why your metrics are down. Be sure to look into them first and fix any problems you can see. Converse with your users, as only through dynamic conversation will you be able to know if your site needs redesigning, and to what extent. But if the sales, traffic and general user participation of the site are still down, it may be that your web design has ‘disconnected’ with your users.

Image by iamwahid

Sign number 2: Change of Brand Image

Changes in your brand image or company image may require changes to be implemented and reflected on your website. Update your logos as soon as possible, to be in tune with the shift of image or branding. Remember that the website is like the face of the company, where people get their first impressions and make assumptions.

Even if you’re not, establish yourself as the industry leader and adopt new technology and introduce innovative aesthetics to the site. Always provide relevant content to your audience.

Sign number 3: Your web site just looks tired.

Websites are like fashion trends–they can get old. What was really cool a few years ago can now look cliché and old. For example, 3D buttons and interfaces were so cool a while back, then beveled and embossed styles were all the rage. Flash intro pages were popular at one time, and most users enjoyed it. But soon web users got tired of it and wanted to skip and go straight to the content. Flash introductions were great then, but now they look old and pointless.

George RR Martin sure writes good books, but his website looks like something from 1995.

Thing is, what was new and innovative a few years ago will start to look tired soon enough. Nowadays,  the shelf life of the site’s aesthetic is only one year. If it has been more than a year since your last revamping, it’s time to do it now.

So if your website looks old and tired, it’s time for a makeover. Aesthetics eventually evolve, and an old design can destroy a company’s whole image. A fresh and new design will refresh your loyal users’ experience, and at the same time attract new ones. Your focus on revamping the site is to keep your brand image fresh.

Other Questions to Ask

From the perspective of the web user or customer, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the website give me a favorable user experience?
• Is the website entertaining and interactive?
• Can I navigate through most of the web content within three clicks?
• Can the web users get an idea of the company’s branding and image through the web design aesthetic?
• What are the drawbacks and weaknesses of the site?
• Would you return to the website often–and for what reasons?

Provide relevant content on your website. Be sure that when people come to your website, they get what they’ve come for–information, education, and maybe some entertainment and interaction. Avoid unnecessary elements such as flash intros and annoying banner ads. The web site should be easy to navigate with a user-friendly interface.

Educate and entertain to keep your visitors coming back again and again. Always have new and fresh content on your web site. And, provide information with blogs, articles and pictures. Be sure your web site is searchable by increasing your SEO. Nowadays, content is king, so build on relevant content related to the company’s product and industry.

Content is King

Image by enimal

In the end, the web site you made should be something that you’re proud of. It is the online storefront to the company or business. It is where your current and potential customers go to seek information, and engage in a relationship with your business. For you to survive, you must constantly adapt and go with the flow of the most recent technological and aesthetic trends. Invest in being up-to-date rather than being safe all the time. Ride the wave!

1. Save the Children

This website has a very sleek design with beautifully designated avenues intended for assistance. There are plenty of courses of action for users that could have made it a cluttered mess, but the design keeps it all very well-organized.

2. Keep a Child Alive

This sleek design makes use of large buttons with a variety of ways to contribute to the mission. A slight grungy effect is used in order to highlight areas of the page. Overall the design is simple and impressive.

3. Manna FoodBank

In this website, you can see the use of a natural color scheme that fits with their mission. The call to action button with the slightest change in color definitely stands apart.

4. Red Nose Day

The Red Nose Day site makes use of a simple two-tone color scheme that symbolizes the passion for the mission. The red colors spreading through the donation page drive people to take action.

5. Oxfam

Here the design of the donation page focuses the entire attention on the obligatory mission and calls to the readers.

6. Habitat For Humanity

The design of this website’s donation page is simple and clutter free; and focuses only on the mission.

7. Witness

The Witness donation page is mainly covered with the text and relevant information with a nicely designed call to action button that is placed right at the upper right corner.

8. Make-A-Wish

In this web design, although it is constructed well, there is a lack of distinction for its calls. The blue turns out to be rather awe-inspiring with the amount of information it contains.

9. American Heart Association

This stylish donation page mainly draws the attention of their users towards the calls. They picked their color scheme quite smartly and the subtle uses of white with the blue definitely look great.

10. Giving to Johns

Giving to Johns Hopkins pushes their cause with a very stylish and appealing donation page that stands out mainly because of its alluring contrast in colors on the header and call to action button.

11. Doctors without Borders

This design of a donation page stands out in our collection as it utilized tabbed windows in order to separate the different paths that users can take to dig in.

12. ASPCA

Here is another example of a subtle donation page. ASPCA uses purple for their calls that truly stands out from the overall orange design colors. With such a soft coloring, ASPCA imparts a sense of comfort that in turn eases the readers into the cause and taking action.

13. Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Susan G. Komen for the Cure website uses a brilliant color scheme that symbolizes their true passion for the mission.

14. Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council uses a very simple approach. They bring overly large and bold call to action buttons into play that make their donation page stands out from the rest. This no frills approach puts pure focus on the mission.

15. Invisible Children

The Invisible Children donation page is as inspiring and touching as their mission is. In order to connect with their mission effectively, they utilize large images of the children the world tends to overlook.

16. Donate Life California

This is a somewhat unusual design for a donation page but this one really stands out from the rest of the site because of its pink calls to action buttons.

17. Charity: Water‘s

With the help of this understated design, Charity: Water‘s keeps their donation page extremely simple and focuses only on the mission.

18. Humane Society‘s

Large images and bold buttons are used to draw the users’ attention towards the main cause and convince them to take action.

19. Action for Children

This website has an attention-grabbing, large and appealing call to action area. This call to action area offsets the donation area satisfactorily and efficiently pulls the reader to it.

20. MJFF

MJFF brings warm and inviting colors into play in order to engage their readers. The color scheme works well and the gradient on the actual donate button makes it stand out.

21. The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy uses a quite unusual approach for their donation page. They placed two subtle calls under the header where users are likely to expect the navigation to be.

22. Kiva

Kiva has a very simple, sleek donation page that focuses on several routes to help users. The boldly colored call to action buttons are truly attention grabbing.

23. Operation Warm

Here you will notice a nice, friendly color scheme that varies throughout the page. Though the main calls to action mix together with a majority of the site because they are the same color while the secondary calls are a bit more obvious because they break from the blue.

24. Mozilla

Mozilla features a delicate donation page design with an innovative header that accompanies their website. Their fans and users can donate to keep their mission active.

25. Network for Good

Network for Good has got a fantastic design that possesses three courses of action that their readers may pursue. Each of them holds a large, attention-grabbing call to action button.

26. Virgin Money Giving

Here is a unique donation page that is divided into categories in order for users to find the kind of charitable organization they are seeking to support.

27. Planned Parenthood‘s

Here a form is used for the main appeal with more subtle calls placed in the upper right corner. Overall the design is simple and effective leading the reader into the ‘action center’.

28. World Food Programme

World Food Programme uses a very subtle design for their website with an online form to help their users donate for their cause to keep it alive.

29. Red

In this web design, you will see minimalism in a new style as this donation page features overly large typographical elements that truly work well to draw the users’ attention to the action areas.

30. Amnesty International

Amnesty International design of the donation page focuses the entire attention on the obligatory mission and calls to the readers.

31. Dalit Freedom Network

Dalit Freedom Network uses a very natural and earthy color scheme that works well with their mission along with eye catching and appealing call to action buttons.

32. Take The Walk

The boldly colored call to action buttons in this design truly stand out from the other donation page designs. The color scheme is also very appealing.

33. Practical Family Living

Another excellent example of a subtle donation page design that works very well for the mission. All the design elements are in perfect balance making this design stand out.

34. Housing Works

What makes this design stand out is its excellent color contrast as well as call to action button. Housing Works pushes their cause with an extremely trendy and tempting donation page.

35. Children’s Rights

Children’s Rights donation page is designed by keeping the overall design simple and clutter free. The call to action button is moderately sized and positioned at the center of the page.

37. Project Rescue Foundation

In this web design, you will see a unique approach for designing donation pages. An online form is also there to help you donate to their cause.

38. Custodial Abuse

Here they use a large image to connect with their cause in a simple but effective way as they are working for a very sensitive cause.

38. Memphis Zoo

This rather remarkable design for a donation page truly stands out from the rest of the site due to its excellent and vividly colored calls to action button.

Starting a web design business might seem something anybody can do, but is definitely a difficult task. Note that this discussion is purely theoretical, if you wish to read a real opinion, then find someone who owns such a company and ask him how it was in the beginning.

The difficult part about starting your own company is that you need to be patient – the good stuff comes to those who wait. It is a long-term commitment and results might not come right away. Actually, it might be a bumpy ride up until the results come; or worse, they might not come at all and you will fail miserably.

Image by kristja.

In the beginning it sounds nice. You are your own boss, make lots of money and do pretty much nothing besides sign papers. This might be the life of huge company owners (although I would like the right to disagree), but it will not be yours. You might have to work even more than your own employees, you will not really make that much money and yes, you will be your own boss, but the clients you work with will still decide whether or not to hire you – they have the money, right?

Statistics say 80% of new businesses disappear within their first year. It takes a lot of determination and it is not the path to take for people without drive and stamina. If you’re still reading and think you have a fairly good chance of being one of the 20%, then continue reading, this is for you.

Owning a company

Great, are you ready to embark on this journey? Then you need to know things will change for you. Your career will not be a 9-5 job and won’t even be similar to the bits of freelancing you experienced before. Expect to get a feeling of accomplishment when things happen as you wish them to – expect to put your head down and be disappointed when things don’t turn out the way you want. Now you are on the other side of a business. You control what is happening and you give jobs, order people around and decide on wages. Landing a big project will mean much more for you now than if you were working in an agency, where you just get assignments and, when you deliver them, you get new ones. Your life has changed!

Now you can also employ people and let them do your work, while you spend time with your family or doing whatever else you wish to. However, most designers or developers who start their own businesses have no, or a limited, amount of money in the beginning and choose to do some of the work themselves, to save up until they have a bigger budget. You will most definitely have to do this in the beginning, unless you find a partner who is willing to contribute to the finances.

Advantages of owning your business are many. You are able to schedule your own time and have more freedom to experiment; even more freedom to hang out with your friends. You get total control, price up jobs as you think and have a different feeling knowing this time everything you do is for your own purpose. You are in charge of everything. But challenges arise at any minute too…

Get ready for problems

The first part of the article was about the nice stuff. Now it comes the ugly. Just because you are a great web designer doesn’t mean you are a great entrepreneur. There is a whole new path for you to learn and there is not much free time for you after you throw yourself out there. As in freelancing, you need to be able to motivate yourself and the ones you work with and be the boss, not just a friend or co-worker.

Unlike in a company, there is no one who takes care of other things for you. Unless you hire people for it, you will need to do the bookkeeping, taxes, client meetings, project presentations, project management and so on. This doesn’t allow too much time for hanging out with your friends.

Image by iprole.

Working on your time and whenever you want is an advantage – like in freelancing. But in both careers you need to be able to motivate yourself and start working right away instead of doing laundry or walking your dog. Also, you need to be good at following a schedule. If you slack off a day, the second day you will find yourself in a lot of trouble. Distractions are also something difficult to deal with, from social media to e-mails and, if you work from home, to kids and family members.

Maybe the most time-consuming task is email. This time you need to create them yourself; from scratch! There are no short answers to your project manager anymore. Now you are also in charge of communicating with the client and there is a reason why every company hires specialized people to do this – because it requires special skills. Now go and ask yourself, will you spend the necessary time to learn them or will you hire someone to handle the external communication? If you prefer to do it alone, get ready for some difficult challenges. Not every client is a joy to work with and you need to learn how to get the best out of them. Your job will be even more stressful if most of the clients are difficult to work with – and you probably already know most of them are difficult to work with.

Some good tips I can give you for when you decide to start your own design company is getting an accountant and focus on smaller tasks. Having an expert to keep control of all the stuff you have no idea about will pay off because it will allow you more time for the things you know how to do. It is not really possible to keep track of everything and doing both administrative and technical tasks will only give you sleepless nights.

If you are out there always looking for clients and you do it well, keep doing it and hire somebody at the office to actually turn the ideas into projects. Chasing clients and doing the work is quite impossible to do at the same time. It is possible for freelancers, as they have more free time than you do, but don’t forget – there is no real free time for you in the following months or even years. On the other hand, if you’re really good at completing the design briefs, then do that and hire someone else on commission to land projects. All big companies have several departments for a reason: keep sales, finance, design and technology apart from each other.

What’s in for you later?

Now we talk about the future. What are your opportunities in the future? Well, there are actually only two: success and failure, but we all know failure is never an option. Forcing yourself to be successful is the only way to actually reach your goals. If in the beginning you only run a business, in the future you have the opportunity to own it and hire people to run it – this is the dream, I would say. It is as far as it will go for you.

Image by cobrasoft.

You will pick up business skills along the road that might help you get back in with another agency. If at some point in time you wish to start working again, nobody will reject you – with the experience of leading a small project to running a company everybody will be delighted to have you around.

If you fail, however, the only thing you can do is go back to an agency or freelance. You can still have the company on your CV, but is it really worth? How likely are you to get a job if you state your small business failed? If you disagree with this, you are more than welcome to share your opinion with us; I would love to hear them.

Bottom line

Well, now you’ve heard it all. You know what is good about owning your own business and you know what challenges to expect. I would be glad to hear that some of you still want to pursue your dream or maybe start or continue on this path. I can’t wait to hear about your results.

Until next time, let’s hear your opinions on the topic…