Whenever I get a spare minute here at Design Fusions, I often browse the Internet looking at new site designs. There is often so much new material published each day that it becomes very hard to take it all in.

I have recently found that, as a designer, I am often subconsciously influenced by what I have seen on the web. I find that by looking through all of these designs it is a great way to spot new trends on the web. One of my favorite trends at the moment is the crossover between online application design, widget design and website design.

It appears to me that many designers have come to realise that a thing or two can be learnt from the usability which is so often built into User Interfaces within online applications and widgets. Many of these techniques have now started to be replicated across the design of general websites.

In my experience, clients don’t just want a website which looks great, they also want a site which is easy for their customers to use and understand. Often, online, and offline applications are easy to use because they have gone through many rounds of changes and updates during their life. The experience of the application is tested and refined to the requirements of its intended user, therefore, this makes user interface design one of the best places to pick up inspiration and tips on how to aid the design and development of your own websites.

Take a look below at some of the most recent examples of the close relationship between online app design and web design that I have found.

When designing forms, it is a good idea not to use standard Text Fields, Radio Buttons and Checkboxes. Aid the users experience by giving them big, clear Fields with hints on the information which you require along the way. This should help to stop you user from getting confused and potentially exiting your site. Above is an example from LiveStream.com. It is clear to see which text field you are filling in and which fields are mandatory.

GrooveShark is an online application which has many aspects of the design which draw parallels with many good examples of modern web design.

Getty Images use a beautiful ‘mood wheel’ to help its users to locate appropriate imagery. These intuitive ways of helping users to find what they are looking for often help to add to the users experience rather than using a standard category selector. However, it is often important to also offer a standard format as some users prefer to use traditional means to find what they want.

The interface design for the soon to be released Episodic website is very simple and clear for even the novice user to understand.

coTweet is a great example of a highly user friends online application. Many of the features built into the app can also be found built into modern websites.

Meta Lab Design are an Interface Design Agency who specialise in creating applications which work brilliantly online and offline. Many of the user interfaces which work well for their Offline Application also work equally well when implement with their Online Applications.

The Nike Football website uses very clear search boxes which makes it very easy for the user to see what they are typing.

NewsPond is a site which automatically sorts news items by real-time global popularity. The website clearly displays and breaks-down information into manageable snippets so that the user can browse through the information quickly. The design of the site has many similarities to the sorts of applications and software which you find on the desktop of your computer.

Xero.com have a great dashboard interface design. Data is pulled from many other pages and displayed in a simple and clear format. They have used many of the most widely recognised navigation features such as sliders and adapted them accordingly, but not so much that they become unfamiliar.

The above images are purely intended to be my observations of current trends in web design. Tackling the design of interfaces, whether it be  online or offline, is a science in itself, and there is a huge amount of further reading and discussions to consider in this field. However, I hope that I have given you a small insight into this area.

For me, striking a balance between a great website design and seo practicability is one of the biggest headaches I face in the industry. After all, whats the point in spending the time to make a beautiful website that the client and the customer will love, if the potential customers cant find the website in the first place?

Search engines such as Google eat content for breakfast, lunch and dinner and if you cant create that magic recipe then your client is quickly going to start knocking on your door.

So the million dollar question is how do you strike a perfect balance between beautiful web design and brilliant seo? It may sound like a challenging thing but with a little improvisation its more than possible.

Blogs

Blogs are a brilliant way to house a whole load of content without cluttering your website with unnecessary copy.
The fresher the content the better. Blogs always allow you to categorise and organise content into form. They can be even better if you contain all or even a small part of blog posts in your index page. Often a preview of latest posts is enough to keep the index page fresh and rolling high in serps.

Some examples:

Just Host Blog

37 Signals Basecamp Blog

Using Javascript to show/hide content

A brilliant way to keep all that ugly seo rich content is to hide it using something like the jQuery framework and allowing the user to show and hide the content if and when they wish. Search engines will still be able to index this content as its still contained in the markup as its simply just hidden out of view using css.

Although this is a great solution, its important to make sure you dont hide any vital information that the user may miss. After all, the user will only give you a few seconds upon landing on your website before giving up and clicking back.

Some Examples:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Preview Boxes

Preview boxes are a great way to display a small amount of the full content and link the user to ‘read more’ if they wish. This way users are able to find the information they are looking for easier, you still have content for seo and your website is not cluttered. Relevant content images are also a great way of breaking content up and making it not look like an essay.

Some examples:

Apple Macbook Pro

Google Analytics

Striking a balance between design and seo is a fine art and something that you will have to experiment with over time as it can differ from site to site. There are many ways to optimise your website to rank well in serps and well tuned content is just a small chunk of the work involved. Just remember content may be good for seo to increase your websites traffic but good design can help turn that traffic into customers.

Having graduated last year with a degree in Communication Design from the University of Portsmouth I experienced a big transition from being a design student to a design professional. I felt that I should pass my experiences onto anyone else who is in or going to be in the same situation.

Firstly, I would suggest that having a degree in the field of design is definitely not an essential when it come to finding a job in the design. When I started applying for jobs I quickly learnt that a degree doesn’t count for much, an employer will usually assess you by the quality of your portfolio. I have met many great professional designers who didn’t go to university but are equally skillful as those who did. However, although a degree may not be taken into consideration in your early stages of employment, it may be considered when choosing from two equally talented people for promotion. This can also be said for many other professions as well.

Having said this, I still don’t regret going to university one bit. My course helped me to develop a strong appreciation and understanding about true graphic design. Any final outcome which I produced came after months of research into my chosen subject area. It made me realise that good design isn’t about simply making something ‘look nice’, but that it has to have a strong concept as its underlying foundation. I spent a lot of time experimenting with different typography and printing techniques such as the letterpress and screen-printing. This helped me to understand the history of graphic design and the expressive, powerful nature of presenting information through graphics.

Once I was approaching the end of my degree, I knew it was important to get some experience before applying for full time jobs. This in itself can be very difficult. Good design agencies receive a huge number of applicants for internships. Employers know that having an intern within the company can be very time consuming, as initially, you may require a lot of their time when it comes to making sure that they are doing things correctly. This can be a big strain for small companies as often their time is very limited. I recommend being selective about who you approach. Make a list of the companies that you really like and who you think would suit your style of design. When you come to apply, make yourself stand out from everyone else; include clever ways of showing your portfolio and develop self branded business cards, letterheads and a CV, which are presented in such a way that separates you from the norm. This will help to make any potential employer remember you when they have a vacancy.

If you are accepted for work experience then make yourself indispensable. This will make it very hard for the company to get rid of you when your placement comes to an end. Hit the ground running and try to sort things out for yourself so that you don’t become a burden. Make lots of tea, everyone loves a person who is happy to make the tea.

Employing a graduate can also be a big risk for employers. They usually have little or no industry experience and it can sometimes take a long time for graduates to make the transition from student to professional. Personally, I believe that taking a year out of my degree between level 2 & 3 would have been a big benefit. Not only would this have increased my overall knowledge of the industry, it would have also made me a far more attractive proposition to potential employers.

However, I was lucky enough to be offered a job at Design Fusions shortly after completing work experience at another local design agency and before i had even completed my degree. As brilliant as this was, I must admit it did make the final stage of my degree challenging. You are left with the thought “do I really need to do this, after all I do already have a job”. Luckily I managed to ignore this thought and continue to complete my degree and achieve the result which I had been chasing for the last 3 years.

When I started at do1, the hardest thing for me was applying my design skills in a way that would meet a client’s brief. Creating design which adheres to corporate guidelines is a challenge, and sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. However, the beauty of Design Fusions is that there is quite a lot of freedom to produce creative designs, where appropriate. Although sometimes it can be difficult to judge how open minded the client will be to these experimental and creative designs.

For me, the best part of this industry is that no two days are the same. Every day I have a new task to complete. Having not worked for a long time at any other design agencies I do not know what the normal working environment is. However, I can tell that here at Design Fusions the atmosphere is brilliant. Working alongside talented co-workers really pushes you to continually improve in everything you do. Overall, I am pleased with the path I followed and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone else considering a future in design.

If you’re a skilled designer or developer, with or without a degree, why not apply to us by sending an email to jobs(at)designfusions.com

Good luck! Daze Cooper