iTunes

Anybody who like the new iTunes Store design raise your hands (raising hand!). I absolutely love the new version of iTunes and am so glad they finally got rid of their last design. It was definitely time for an upgrade. Their new design looks more like the times now. It's much more sleek and clean, which is my style. The format is basically the same, but they did move some stuff around so that will take a few days to get used to in order find things.

One thing I noticed every time I opened the iTunes Store was that text would overlap when the home page was loading. Not a big deal because once the page is loaded its fine, but kind of annoying. Other than the design of the store, one big thing they changed was the format of the list of songs, movies, apps, etc. you get when you search something. It's not at the bottom like it used to be and instead of having to go to the top to preview the song, they have a play button the pops up next to each song when you roll over that area. It's a nice feature, however, first time users don't know the roll over play button is there until they "accidentally" roll over that area. It took me a couple minutes to catch on.

Also, they changed the feature of being able to extend the area where the songs are listed to see the entire song, artist, album, etc. Instead, if the box isn't long enough to show the entire album for example, the album is linked and once you click on it, iTunes will take you to a list of songs on that album. That's nice, but sometimes I just want to read the album. To fix this, when you place your mouse on the text, a window will pop up and show the entire text. This happens because of the link. This is kind of a pain in the butt. I think I preferred the old version over this one for this feature, but they had to change it because of the new design.

Other than that one change (I guess I'll have to get used to it...) I really like the new version and design of iTunes. The changes they made were good because they weren't so drastic that users wouldn't be able to find anything. When revamping or redesigning a designer always has to take into consideration the customers and/or users and how the changes will effect them. Just because something looks "pretty" to you, doesn't mean it's a good thing for everybody else.

CG Textures

Our Adv. GD class was giving presentations on our design concepts for our final projects when another professor mentioned a site called CG Textures. At first I wasn't interested in it because I don't like using textures in projects, but I checked out the site and they have a lot of cool textures to choose from. And the best part is.... it's FREE! They have all sorts of textures to choose from. I'm not saying I use them all the time, but it is a good resource for those who like to use textures or just need a quick find. I haven't needed to use any textures yet, but I still keep in mind this site just in case I should ever need a texture.

This is a good site because on the home page it showcases a wide variety of textures so that the visitors are given an idea of what type of products they have to choose from. They have 2 navigations: one at the top which includes about, textures, tutorials, and members. The second is on the right which lists all the different categories of textures they have. I think this a good way to separate the navigation and keep like items together.

Although the design of the site isn't great, it's still a good site and does just enough to keep visitors in their site browsing.

The Design Inspiration

I was searching the web for some general design inspiration when I happened to come across a really cool site called The Design Inspiration.... fitting name if you ask me. They have categorized their stuff into sections such as Logo design, Illustration Art, Website Showcase, Fonts, Photos, Patterns, and Inspirational Articles. Plus, they are updated daily so there is something new everyday. For each section they give you a handful of thumbnails to allow you to preview what type of art they have. So, if you want to view all of their fonts for example, you can choose "view all" and you will be given all the fonts they have (to view that is).

When you click on a specific thumbnail you are then given a larger view of that example along with who posted. There is even a section where visitors can post their thoughts or comments about the selected font, photo, etc.. The site also gives you related fonts, photos, etc. to the one that was selected, which I think is a good feature because you could be looking for a specific look and feel, but the font you chose wasn't exactly what you were looking for, so now with this feature, you can check out what else they have that has the same look and feel without having to search through the entire stock. This saves a lot of time.

The fact that artists can post/submit their own work onto this site is good because it gives them recognition for their work and exposure for their career. That's always something to think about.... how to market yourself.

Minted

Again me and Kristy found a great site for inspiration for our e-commerce site we are currently working on in web design 2. The site is called Minted. This is a great site and what I like about this site is, like Wedding Paper Divas, they have images fading in and out to showcase their products. I absolutely love this feature. Like other websites I've come across with card products they have a drop down menu in their main navigation. I want to incorporate this feature in our site as well.

They have a section called 'Design Challenge' which is similar to what we want to do, but not quite. We want to allow members only to submit their designs to us in which we will buy them if we feel they are something we want. What they have is like a competition, which is fun, because the winners get money and everybody gets recognition and exposure. We might do something like this later, but for now were sticking with our first idea.

The color scheme goes well with their company name and it's not overpowering. The overall design of the site is professional and easy to navigate. This site is something to aspire towards.

Wedding Paper Divas

So me and Kristy came across another card website that we liked for our project as inspiration. The site is Wedding Paper Divas. What I like most about the site is that on their home page they have an area that highlights their products. Basically they're just pictures, but the images changes every few seconds so that the consumer gets an idea of all the different layouts and designs they have. I like this because a lot of people will look at the overall look of the site and think they know what kind of cards this company designs. This way they can see all the different styles without making assumptions.

I also like the color scheme they use. It's not in your face, but it's not dull either. It's warm and inviting. Also, they have an area to narrow your search, which is something we want to do for our site. It only appears once you have chosen an area in which to look (i.e. wedding invitations). It's not on the home page, which it wouldn't make if it were on the home page. So that's good.

One other thing I like what they did with their site was using 'breadcrumbs'. It's a really good idea to use these in such a complicated site so the consumer doesn't get lost and decide to leave the site altogether. Losing a customer is never good.

Inkd

So we started a new project last week and we are developing an e-commerce site. Me and Kristy are working together on this project for which have decided to do a site for invitations and whatnot. The idea behind it is to have pre-made templates and to allow the customer to personalize the cards. While researching for this project we found some pretty cool sites to give us ideas on how to structure the site and what type of content we want to include.

One great website we came across was Inkd. They don't sell the same stuff as we want to sell, but the look and feel of the site is very professional and I like the way they have it structured. It is very easy to navigate through. We have decided to include a feature that allows designers to submit their own designs/templates to us in which we would buy (if we liked the design or didn't have one like it already) and they would get a certain percent commission for every time someone used their design. Inkd has this feature as well and I like how they have set it up. It is not structured the same as the rest of the pages, which helps distinguish this section from the rest of the site.

Our site will be slightly different, other than the content, with how customers will be able to customize the design. Inkd provides a set look with a template and sells that template. We want to allow our customers to change colors, amount of photos used, style, etc. to what they want and not be restricted to a certain look.

Inkd is a great site for businesses looking to create a look and feel for their company.

Kuler

I have been using a site I was introduced to at the beginning of this semester and it's called Kuler, which is by Adobe. This site provides color themes that can be used for any project. Kuler is a great site because it provides you with a color scheme instead of you going through your color swatches trying to find just the right colors that go together and illustrate the feeling you are trying to achieve. It saves a lot of time, especially for me because I'm the type of person that would go through my entire swatches palette and not be satisfied with the colors I've chosen and end up starting all over. Kuler does that process for you, all you have to do is pick the color theme you like best. Even then, you don't have to go with the exact colors they give you. You can easily adjust the colors to your liking.

Kuler doesn't just give you a list of color schemes, it categorizes them for you, from most popular, newest, highest rated, and random. Also, if you search a color, it will give you a lot of themes to choose from that have that color in it and all variations of that color. ( i.e. if you search red, you will gets results like hot red, vintage red, or spice cabinet). Even cooler is if you search multiple colors at the same time because it will give you those colors in various shades and tints that compliment each other.

So, if you're ever having trouble deciding on colors or can't find just the right match, visit Kuler.