Below is our list of 30 animated examples of UI mobile app animations that will surely inspire you to do the same next time you present your app concept to your client.

1.Speedcam App Animation by Jakub Antalík for Sygic.com

This speedcam app in GIF is simply impressive

Undeniably, Jakub Antalik has successfully presented his speedcam app in action in this GIF. Its nice colors and smooth animation simply make it impressive. Jakub Antalik created it in After Effect, imported it in Photoshop, and exported it as a GIF.

2.Designer Screen GIF-Animation by Sergey Valiukh for Tubik Studio

This GIF image is simply awesome

This mobile app design by Sergey Valiukh is simply awesome! You can’t help being in awe with his concept and approach.

3. Gif Animation of Template Gallery by Sergey Valiukh for Tubik Studio

This GIF app is another work of Sergey Valiukh

This is another bang-up work of Sergey Valiukh. This animation for a user profile gallery slider simply rocks!

4.Weather Rebound by Chris Slowik

How you view weather will never be the same with this app

What an impressive weather app, without question. Kudos to Chris Slowik for this awesome work! Chris Slowik removed its current weather icon from the ‘window’, hence, you can’t see an icon when you look at it.

5. Curl by Nicolas Girard

If this app won’t get you to exercise, what would?

Health buffs out there may say that the model in the app’s GIF displays a wrong form for bicep curls. But, hey, there is no questioning that this app concept is simply awesome! Nicolas used 3DSMax for the armband module and did everything else using After Effects.

6. GIF – Workflow Payment by Barthelemy Chalvet for AgenceMe

Welcome to content that moves!

If you are not a fan of content that moves when the screen is rolled, then you may think that this app is not cool at all. However, if you have no problem with such, you’ll surely agree that this work of Barthelemy Chalvet is awesome. Its animations are really nice, appearing undeniably fluid and fast. The GIF focuses on a payment procedure that does not only look neat but handy, too.

7.FaceScan App by George Frigo

Get the latest information about your favorite celebrity just by scanning their photo

This animation only lasts for 12 seconds. Nonetheless, it is already pretty obvious what it is all about. This concept formed from George Frigo’s desire to establish a similar application that makes it possible for Internet users to obtain information by using a photo of a person, whether he’s a celebrity or just an ordinary citizen.

8.WIP Discover Music app by Alexander van Ravestyn

Discover music in an interactive way with WIP Discover

As its name suggests, it is pretty obvious what Alexander van Ravestyn wants to direct users’ attention towards the process of navigating: a slickly designed screen with a music player. This IOS app focuses on discovering music in a rather interactive way. There is no denying that it is simply awesome.

9.Walkthrough Animation by Devin Ruppert

Walkthrough has a series of dynamic slides and buttons

The GIF of Walkthrough by Devin Ruppert highlights a welcome screen featuring a slider with numerous dynamic slides and a panel featuring login buttons. Everything about this app is brought to life so that what you can expect from this app can be effectively showcased. Great work!

10. Interaction Overview by Mihnea Zamfir

An app that is designed to make life simple

Despite being concise, there is no denying that this animation is effective in showing a client a simple procedure of adding and deleting entries from a card directory. Now, talk about simplicity, beauty, and efficacy all rolled into one!

11. Delete Task and Assign Task to Your Teammate in Action by Tobs

Never miss a task with this app

The GIF is targeted at demonstrating swipe technique in action that is not only common but effective, too. The whole thing simply looks alive, conventional, and engaging! What a great way, indeed, to delete and assign a task to a teammate in action. The animation was done in After Effect as well.

12. Menu Interaction GIF by Ben Dunn

A stylish app with a stylish design

This work by Ben Dunn, without question, is an impressive tool for showcasing the appeal of a standard menu in action, sliding out from the left side elegantly as it presents the important links. Don’t you just love the way how icons pop up from the left side?

13. Abracadabra App by Sergey Valiukh for Tubik Studio

The animation might seem complicated but you can’t deny the awesome design of this app

Although there are some who have criticized this particular work for having an animation that seems complicated, it just can’t be denied that this another work of Sergey Valiukh is just as awesome as the other apps he has created. The menu idea is simply great, especially how it folds.

14. Showtime App by Luft

Want to know where the hottest place in town is? Showtime will lead you

This app by Luft is the most ideal for the weekend nocturnal creatures who are constantly in the lookout for a nice place to paint the town red. The only problem about this app is its right button color which makes it less readable. With this app, it’s show time, indeed!

15. iOS 7 Animation by Fabio Basile

A fun and fancy app for iOS 7

This app is, obviously, a result of the freedom of Fabio Basile to have fun with animations and fancy interactions. Without question, this is way better than those horrid settings trays that people use.

16. Life Minimal App by Budi Tanrim

Hard work resulted in an impressive app

This app by Budi Tanrim is one great example of an app with impressive transitions and visualization. With the help of PSD, After Effect, and 12 grueling hours of hard work, this animation came into existence.

17. Weather by BeardChicken

Weather lives up to its name and the animation makes it even more interesting

Is the weather outside frightful? Well, just imagine how fun and easy and checking the weather will be with this weather app by BeardChicken. This work is simply elegant!

18. Account by Barthelemy Chalvet for AgenceMe

Awesome transitions – that is how you describe this app

You can’t help but admire the transitions of this app, although some people think that it gives them motion sickness. Others observed, though, that the text is too small. Whatever your take on this is, there is no denying that it simply looks awesome!

19. Work Page by Barthelemy Chalvet for AgenceMe

A neat app with impressive animation

Another app with great animation. Its colors and font are simply spot on. It may look minimal, but it’s definitely looking neat! This is another animation made possible with the use of After Effect.

20. Covert Inbox by Creativedash

This app puts Photoshop CS6 to good use

This app clearly demonstrates what happens when you are tapping on something and you get a new message. Its animations and details are simply incredible.The GIF was created with the use of Photoshop CS6.

21. Soccer Analytics by Monterosa

Keeping up with the latest news in soccer is much more fun with this app

This app by Monterosa is a must-have for every soccer aficionado. The graphics are awesome and the animation is simply amazing.

22. Tour by Mark Geyer for Salesforce UX D

Discover your pace without an y pressure with this app

This is an onboarding tour concept for Salesforce1. The users would be able to swipe through the tour at the pace of their choice before diving into the app. The animations are just as impressive with the other apps listed on this list.

23. Loading Animation by Nicolas Girard

This is an Iron Man-ispired app

Mind blowing animations that simply awe. Nicolas created it for Commongood.TV. Iron man-inspired? Hmmm…

24. Photo Navigation Concept by Chapps

Save, retrieve, and access images easily with this app

This app is based on the concept that, in just a few clicks, the user can already get the necessary images that have been added and tagged earlier. With just one touch, you can choose the category that you want or need. The whole process is reminiscent of an image search on a desktop, only it is done in a mobile device.

25. Fiche Workflow Payment by Barthelemy Chalvet for AgenceMe

A great concept fo a payment card

This is definitely a gorgeous app. A great concept for a payment card, indeed!

26. Map Pin Bubble by Ben Cline for RALLY

A map app with a refreshing design and concept

Oh, the secondary bubble simply look slick. Commenters refer to it as ‘design with life’, thanks to its riveting animation. This app makes use of Map Box API. Without question, it is a refreshingly unique approach to iOS map callouts.

27. Menu (Animation) by Nest

Neat and simple – that is what this app is all about

You’ll surely love the neatness and simplicity of this app. Its transitions are simply awesome. Everything about this app is done in AE.

28. First Shot by Plady

The design and color palette used in this app shout simplicity and fun

Another app that oozes not only with an impressive concept but great animation, too. Now, can you imagine how exciting Dribbble can even become if it adapted this concept? Plady used Photoshop for this great work.

29. Exercise Screen by Vitaly Rubtsov for Yalantis

Workout tracking becomes easy with this app concept

Are you a health buff? Then, this app concept will surely be in your good graces. This GIF showcases a little of its set interaction. Hopefully, this concept can be fully actualized as it can surely make workout tracking a piece of cake. Just be careful, though: you might end up spending more time playing with it than exercising!

30. Animated Sliding Tab Bar by Virgil Pana

There’s no denying that the 3D fold effect of this app is simply awesome

This concept is simply smart as it can be of help on devices that have small screen size. Its drag handler is close to the edge of the screen for the bounding box because the action is limited. Nonetheless, the 3D fold effect is just cool, isn’t it?

Conclusion

Both UI and UX developers have recognized the importance of animated pictures in presenting their ideas that are a result of their painstaking work and inherent artistry. With GIF animations, the usually irritating and time-consuming procedure of explaining to clients can be averted.

No matter how wonderful the screenshots of app concepts are, only short and fully animated GIFs can convey and demonstrate the interaction between all of the vital components in a more alive manner.

All the Web Design Resources You Could Ask For

DOWNLOAD NOW

A. FREE DESIGN RESOURCES

Unlock your design potentials with these free design resources that will surely enable you to achieve a web design that is not only visually appealing but user-friendly, too.

The following are some of the best free design resources:

• Freebbble: Should you want to have more freebies for your web design, visit Freebble. It offers a lot of high-quality designs that are for free.
• 1001FreeDownloads: Loads of free vectors, photos, fonts, wallpapers and more. Thousands of exclusive free files.
• Dribbble: Dribbble search results for “freebie”. An absolute freebie treasure.
• Graphic Burger: Graphic Burger offers tasty design resources that are high resolution.
• Pixel Buddha: If you are working on websites for professionals, you should consider Pixel Buddha. It is loaded with premium resources that are for free.
• Premium Pixels. Is your website meant to showcase your creative works? If yes is your answer, then, you should download Premium Pixels for free.
• Fribbble. This offers you PSD resources that you can use in more ways than one.
• Freebiesbug. If you want to incorporate the latest PSDs and other resources in your website, you should download Freebiesbug.
• 365 PSD. You can have numerous PSDs and use a different one every day as you can download a new one on a daily basis.
• Dbf. This is Dribbble & Behance best design freebies that can help you in more ways than one.
• Marvel. These are free resources from designers who have the respect of their colleagues and clients. Certainly, you need to check this resource out.
• UI Space. You can get excellent quality freebies that are hand-crafted.
• UrbanFonts. Here you can get thousands of free fonts and dingbats well categorized.
• Free Section of Pixeden. You can get free design resources from here.
• Free Section of Creative Market. You can get freebies every Monday.
• Teehan+Lax. This is the best resource for DiOS 8 GUI PSD for iPhone 6 and iPad.
• Freepik. You can get iFree graphic resources here.
• Tech&All. This offers PSD, Tech News, and other resources without any charge at all.
• Tethr. Without question, this is the most impressive IOS design KIT ever.

Fill your design with the right colors using these color pickers

B. COLOR PICKERS

With the following free color pickers, getting the best color for the images, fonts, or background of your web design is a walk in the park.

• Material Palette: This is very helpful for you in generating and exporting the color palette of your material design.
• New Flat UI Color Picker: Without question, this is a must-download, especially if your UI makes use of the trendy flat design. The colors can simply make your website more attractive despite its flat design.
• Flat UI Colors: This is another must-download for the believers of the flat design. The colors are simply amazing.
• Coolors: Without question, you should download Coolors if you are the kind of designer who wants to get the colors of your website done not just impressively but fast, too. This is a must-download for cool designers.
• Skala Color: If you want the color of your images and fonts to stand out and contribute to the overall appeal of your website, you should not dilly-dally in downloading Skala Color.
• Couleurs: This resource makes it easy for you to grab and tweak the colors you see on screen. Playing with colors has never been this easy and fun with this app.
• Material UI Colors: Whether the website that you are working on is for the web, iOS, or Android, you can easily use this Material UI Colors. This will not only make things easy for you; your web design can be a standout, too.
• Colorful Gradients. This is another must-have because you can effortlessly have color gradients that are generated automatically by a computer.
• Adaptive Backgrounds. If you have this resource, you can easily extract and copy dominant colors from the images that you have.
• Brand Colors. If you go for this resource, you can easily achieve the look, especially the colors, of the famous brands.
• Paletton. Coming up with your website’s own color scheme will be a lot easier with Paletton.
• 0 to 255. Finding any color variation becomes a lot easier for web designers with this resource.
• Colour Lovers. With this resource, you can easily come up with your own colors, color palettes and patterns. You can share what you have created, too.
• Adobe Color CC. This gives you color combinations that have been created by the Kuler community.
• Bootflat. If you are working on a website that has flat designs, you should try this resource.
• Hex Colorrrs. Converting Hex to RGB is easy with this resource.
• Get UI Colors. You can have awesome UI colors with this tool.
• Coleure. This is a nifty color picker tool.
• Colllor. Useful color palettes generator.
• Palette for Chrome.This enables web designers to create a color palette extracted from any image.

Why bang your head for inspiration when it is just a click away

C. INSPIRATION

At times, the most difficult part of any project is to start it. You may already have ideas floating in your head. Of course, banging your head against the wall won’t help. Hence, why not take inspiration from some of the best design resources on the web? With these sources, coming up with a trendy and standard web design is a piece of cake.

• MaterialUp. Get your daily material design inspiration from MaterialUp.
• FLTDSGN. Are you working on a flat design website? This resource gives you a bountiful of inspirations daily with the exceptional showcase of the UI apps and design websites.
• Site Inspire. Are you running out of creative juices on how to make the best website for your client? Go to Site InspireWeb design inspiration.
• UI Cloud. You should check this out as it is the world’s largest UI design interface database in the world. This can really help you come up with a good UI design that will provide a great deal of ease to the users of the website you have designed.
• Moodboard. This resource can help you create an impressive and useful moodboard, whose result can be shared to others.
• Crayon. Are you working on a website design that is meant to market a product or a service? Check out Crayon to get the most important and helpful ideas with your design.
• Land-Book. If you are working on the product landing page gallery of a website, Land-Book can surely help you come up with a design that will surely entice prospective clients to go for the products that the website is offering.
• Ocean. Aren’t you sure of the design that you are contemplating on using? Visit Ocean and learn from other web designers as it is a community where designers let their thoughts known.
• Dribbble. This resource can also help you learn from or teach other web designers regarding various design issues.
• Behance. This is another resource where you can showcase your works or learn from the works of other web page designers.
• Pttrns. This is one of the best resources that you can check out, should you be in doubt about your ability on using mobile user interface patterns.
• Flat UI Design. This a useful inspiration board that can help you in more ways than one.
• Awwwards. Learn and take inspiration from the awarded websites for their creativity and innovation. For all you know, your work will be the subsequent multi-awarded website design as you learn from those that have been recognized.
• The Starter Kit. This is another helpful resource for both web designers and web developers.
• One Page Love. If you are working on the design of a one-page website, you should check out One Page Love and be inspired on how to make your work more visually appealing and user-friendly.
• UI Parade. Apart from knowing various interface design tools that you can use, User interface design tools and design inspiration.
• The Best Designs. This is another resource where you can find only the best web designs.
• Agile Designers. Whether you are a designer or a developer, this is one of the best resources that you should consider checking out.
• Niice. Without question, this is a search engine with taste. With only one search, you can already gather hundreds of sources. You can search the best sites in just one place. Coming up with smart and impressive moodboards that can make your concepts stand out is a breeze with Niice. It is so nice, indeed.

Get high resolution images for free

D. FREE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, photography has always been a vital component of web design. However, many websites have made use of crappy images in their design. Additionally, these photos come with a high price tag. Thanks Heavens, though, there are now numerous websites that offer strikingly awesome photographs that you can incorporate in your web design. The best part is that these stock photography websites offer their respective images for free; you don’t need to worry about copyright restrictions. This simply means that you can copy, modify, or distribute the images that you have downloaded.

Here are some of the most common stock photography websites that you can visit for a free download of stunning images:

• StockSnap. Without question, StockSnap has the best free photos in one place-from summer, business, abstract, sunset, art, black-and-white, car, building, people, vintage, technology, street city, nature, and many more, you can surely find an image that you can use for the website that you are working on.
• All the Free Stock. This website offers not only free stock images and videos, but music and icons as well. As this website is also listed under the Creative Commons Zero license, you are free to use its photos even for commercial purposes, even without spending a single centavo.
• Unsplash. Again, this is another stock photo website that enables you to use its high resolution stock images. For every 10 days, you can download 10 new photos.
• Splashbase. Finding the photo that you need and discovering other high resolution images and videos are all possible with this website. They are free, too.
• Startup Stock Photos. You can easily start something and go with the free photos that you find in this website.
• Jay Mantri. Apart from being free, you can do anything that you wish to do with the downloaded pics from Jay Mantri. With its high resolution photographs and a little imagination, creating magical images is a breeze.
• Moveast. There is no need for you to worry about using photos from this website for free as this is about the journey of a Portuguese man traveling East, who believes that every photo on the Internet should be used by anybody without any cost at all.
• Stokpic. If the other mentioned stock photography websites cannot give you the photos that you are looking for, you might just find it here. They’re totally free, as well.
• Kaboompics. Without question, this is the best way to download free photos that are absolutely stunning.
• Function. This website offers free photo packs.
• MMT. This website offers some of the most impressive free stock photos on the Internet as the photographs are taken by Jeffrey Betts.
• Travel Coffee Book. This website abounds with high resolution images taken from travels around the world. Yes, they are for free, too.
• Designers Pics. You can easily find engaging photographs here, whether for your personal or business use.
• Death to the Stock Photo. This website sends you great images every month for free.
• LibreStock Photos. Great site that lets you search the top 50 free stock photo websites all in one place.
• LibreStock Video. They scan and index the best free videos from the top stock footage sites. 2,400 free CC0 video and counting.
• FoodieFactor. Working on a food-related business website? FoodieFactor has a lot of high resolution food pictures that you can use and make your website users salivate.
• Mazwai. High definition video clips and footages are available for free in this website.
• Jéshoots. If you want to avail of new and modern photos for free, this is the ideal stock photography website for you.
• Super Famous. This stock photography website features the works of Folkert Gorter, a Dutch interaction designer.
• Picography. This website, likewise, features free hi-resolution photographs.
• Pixabay. This is another website where you can get free high-quality images.
• Little Visuals. You can get 7 hi-res photos in your inbox every week. That’s one new high-resolution photo every day.
• Splitshire. Mouth-watering free stock photos.
• New Old Stock. If you want to use vintage photos from the public archives, check out this site.
• Picjumbo. This is another site where you can download completely free photos.
• Life of Pix. The photos from this website are not only for free; they are high resolution, too.
• Gratisography: If you can’t find the free high-resolution photos that you want, this website might just have it.
• NegativeSpace: Great place to find beautiful free stock photos. And their site itself is beautiful and easy to use.
• Getrefe. More free photos that might just be of big help to the design that you are working on.
• IM Free. This website boasts of a curated collection of free photograph resources.
• Cupcake. This is, without question, a photographer’s treat, specifically by Jonas Nilsson Lee.
• The Pattern Library. If you are looking for free patterns for your projects, this is the website worth checking.
• Public Domain Archive. This website offers new 100% free stock photos.
• ISO Republic. This stock photography site offers high-quality photos that are for free.
• Paul Jarvis. Paul does not just give you valuable tips on design, but his site also teems with a lot of high-resolution photos which you can use for free.
• Lock & Stock Photos. Before deciding on what photographs to use, check this website for more free stock photos that you can choose from.
• Raumrot. This website also offers a wide array of choices for free high-resolution images.
• Bucketlistly. This website offers a wide array of travel photos that can surely make your web design more visually appealing.
• Magdeleine. You can get a free high-resolution photograph every day.
• Snapographic. You can pick from a wide array of photos featured in this website and use your choices either for personal or business use. Free stock photos for personal & commercial use.
• ShotStash: A small independently managed free stock photo site with the mission to create and offer for free a highly curated collection of beautiful stock images that you can use both personally and commercially.

Use the right typography and improve user experience

E. FREE TYPOGRAPHY

Whether you realize it or not, your typography helps to create an experience for users before they even read a word or clicked a button. Typography has the potential to go beyond merely telling a story; it shows the user who is behind the website and what you’re about. The treatment of type creates an atmosphere and elicits a response much the same way as your tone of voice does.

• TypeGenius. With TypeGenius, you can easily find the most suitable font combo for your next project.
• Font Squirrel. This offers 100% free commercial fonts.
• FontFaceNinja. This browser extension enables you to find what type of web font a particular site uses.
• Google Fonts. This is a free and open-source fonts that are optimized for the web.
• Canva – Know more about your fonts with this concise but helpful glossary about fonts
• Beautiful Web Type. You can find the best typefaces from the Google web-fonts directory here.
• DaFont: This site houses fully downloadable fonts that are for free.
• 1001 Free Fonts. This site has a wide selection of free fonts that can make the website that you are working on more user-friendly and visually appealing.
• FontPark. Without question, this is the web’s largest collection of free fonts.
• Font-to-width. This source contains fit pieces of texts that are neatly within their containers.

Generate free icons with Fontello

F. FREE ICONS

As you already know, icons are a great way for you to grab a website user’s attention, hence, they should be part of your arsenal. While it is true that you can create your own icons, there is no denying that doing so is time-consuming. So, why don’t you just check out the following sites that offer attention-grabbing icons for free?

• Fontello. This site generates icons.
• Flat Icon. This is a search engine for 16000+ glyph vector icons that can help you choose the best icons to make your website standout.
• Material Design Icons. This site offers 750 open-source glyphs by Google that are for free.
• Font Awesome: Without question, this is the best resource for the iconic font and CSS toolkit.
• Glyphsearc. This is meant to help you search for icons from other icon databases.
• MakeAppIcon. With just a simple click, you can already have app icons of all icons.
• Endless Icons. If you are into flat design, you should visit this resource as it offers free flat icons and other creative stuff.
• Ico Moon. This is an icon generator that can generate more than 4000 free vector icons.
• The Noun Project. This offers thousands of glyph icons made by different artists.
• Perfect Icons. This is a tool for the creation of social icons.
• Material Design Icons. This features 750 open-source glyphs by Google that are for free.
• Icon Finder. This offers free icon section of the website. Without question, this is a must-try.
• Free Round Icons. This includes a Doodle Set, Flat Set, and Vector Line Set. Very useful, indeed.
• Icon Sweets. This includes 60 free vector Photoshop icons that can, without question, make your website more fun and entertaining.

You can use this name generator for your mock-ups

G. OTHER USEFUL STUFF

Here are some of the other resources on the Internet that can help you with your design with its free offerings:

• UI Names. This generates names for use in designs and mock-ups randomly.
• UI Faces. With this, you can find and generate sample avatars for user interfaces with ease.
• UI Blurbs. This offers quick user bios that you can use for your mockups.
• Copy Paste Character. This enables you to come up with an easy click-to-copy.
• Window Resizer. This can help you monitor how your design works on various screen resolutions.

With the above-mentioned resources, coming up with an engaging design that is fun and easy to use is, without question, a breeze. As an adage goes, “Sometimes, the best things in life come for free.” Apparently, the same thing can be said when it comes to web designing resources.

Resource: The  Next Web

1.Twitter

Twitter, the micro-blogging and social networking site we have all come to love, takes pride in the tweets composed of not more than 140 characters, @username, and timestamp.

Check out the UI style and web guidelines of Twitter and find out how to properly use its bird trademark logo and other graphic elements in whatever project you are planning to work on.

Twitter is more than just 140 characters

2. Adobe Corporate Brand

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American multinational computer software company that has been reputed for its award-winning products. Based in San Jose, California USA, it has long established its strong brand identity even from the time it was just starting.

Adobe is primarily represented by its logo and colors; thus, they are so strict about how to use them properly.  Check out its brand guidelines and learn more how Adobe integrates every design element in their logo.

Adobe has always been strict about how its logo is used

3. Mozilla

Did you know that Mozilla was actually Netscape Communication’s nickname for Navigator, which, incidentally, was the company’s first web browser? Additionally, it was also the name of an open source public collaboration created with Navigator.

The Mozilla Style Guide is simply thorough, having a distinct identity and branding each for Mozilla, Firefox Family, Firefox Browser, Firefox OS, Marketplace, Webmaker, and Thunderbird.

These guidelines include styles for websites, text content, videos, typography, and presentations. Furthermore, they have a complete style guide for Firefox OS. Without question, this is one of the best style guides ever.

Mozilla has one of the best style guides

4. Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet is, without question, the biggest travel guide book publisher in the world. Owned by American billionaire Brad Kelley of NC2 Media, he bought it from BBC Worldwide in 2013 for US$77 million although it was valued at US$250 million in 2008.

Lonely Planet’s Style Guide include colors, typography, UI colors, design palette, destination colors, and icons.

Lonely Planet is very particular about its colors, typography, UI colors, design palette, destination colors, and icons

5. Facebook

Without question, Facebook is the most popular social networking site. It has accomplished its mission to make the people more connected and the world more open. Facebook users have been blessed with the opportunity to be updated about their friends, family, and the world learn about the latest happenings in different societies, and express their thoughts and opinions on issues that matter to them.

Should you want to use the logos, copy blocks, image assets, and many other things about the Facebook brand, know the dos’ and don’ts in their guidelines.

Facebook has some dos and don’ts as well when it comes to their logo design

6. Behance

Behance is a creative platform where a user can upload his projects. Then, the uploaded work will appear in the Behance galleries, giving the user exposure to millions of visitors who visit Behance to discover creative work.You can download the 4 variations of the Behance logo in their style guide should you wish to use it in the application or website that you are creating.

The Behance logo has four variations in their style guide

7. Android

Android is a mobile operating system (OS) by Google. It is based on the Linux kernel and designed basically for touchscreen mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.If you are creating an app for an Android phone, check out its style guides on the Android robot, Android logo, and Google Play in Text and Badges.

The Android logo is based on the Linux kernel

8. Skype

Gone are the days when one has to cough up with their high telephone bills due to the long distance calls they make. With Skype, registered users can easily communicate through instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls for free of charge wherever they may be in the world.

If you check Skype’s brand guidelines, you will be in the know on how to use its logo, typeface, colors, strapline, clouds, illustrations, rainbows, photography, photography usage, and many more.

Check the Skype guideline to properly use the typeface, cloud, color, etc.

9. Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is a cloud computing company located in San Francisco, California. Salesforce also attempts to capitalize on commercial applications of social networking through acquisition although its revenue comes from a customer relationship management (CRM) product.

As of 2015, it is one of the most highly esteemed American cloud computing companies, thanks to its market capitalization of $50 billion. Its brand guidelines include its colors, icon, and typography.

The Salesforce guidelines include its colors, icon, and typography

10. Tuts +

Tuts + is a part of Envato’s creative ecosystem. It contributes to its mission of helping people learn and earn online. The company wants to empower individuals by learning creative skills and enabling them to earn money as they sell their creative creations to the world.

Its style guidelines cover a lot of things, including abbreviations, ampersand, apostrophes, attribution and citation, bold and italics, emoticons, measurements, spaces, and many other things.

11. LinkedIn

There is no better way to connect professionals from around the world other than LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, you can establish your own professional profile online, connect with trusted contacts, expand your professional network, and exchange information and ideas.

LinkedIn web and UI style guides include their visual identity, color, downloads, and product screenshots.

Visual identity, color, downloads, and product screenshots are part of the LinkedIn guideline

12. Pinterest

Pinterest is a free website where users can upload, save, sort, and manage images (known as pins), and other media content through collections known as pinboards. Pinterest serves as a personalized media platform that enables users to browse the content of others on its main page.

Its style guidelines include the Pinterest name, logos, graphics, and any word, phrase, image that are identified with it.

Pinterest is particular with any word, phrase, image that are identified with its logo

13. Shopify

Shopify is a cloud-based, multichannel commerce platform primarily meant for small and medium-sized businesses. Business owners can use the software to design, set up, and manage their stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media sites, such as Pinterest and Facebook. Its logo, color, glyph, spacing rules are included in its brand guidelines.

The Shopify logo tells you exactly what it’s meant to do

14. WordPress

WordPress has become the biggest self-hosted blogging tool in the world. It is used by millions of sites and visited by tens of millions of people every single day. Everything about WordPress was created by and for the community. Since it’s an open-source project, there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it.

Should you want to integrate the WordPress logo and colors in your project, check out its brand guidelines and learn the proper way to do so.

Integrate the WordPress logo into your project properly through its guideline

15. Dribbble

Dribbble is a community of web designers, graphic designers, illustrators, icon artists, typographers, logo designers, and other creative types who share small screenshots showing their work, process, and current projects. Its branding guidelines include the ball and script logo and Dribbble colors. However, the guidelines are mostly on the do’s and don’ts on the use of the logo.

The Dribbble guideline is mostly on the do’s and don’ts on the use of the logo.

16. SoundCloud

Soundcloud is the leading audio platform that gives its users unique access to the world’s largest community of music & audio creators. SoundCloud makes it possible for everyone to discover original music & audio, connect with one another as they share the sounds they hear.

Additionally, the sound creators can instantly use the platform to record, upload, and share sounds on the Internet. If you download the brand’s guidelines, you will get a bundle that contains CMYK AI vector files for print purposes, RGB PNG files for digital use, and their logo guidelines.

The SoundCloud guideline contains CMYK AI vector files for print purposes

17. Spotify

With Spotify, you definitely have music at your fingertips. And, it’s not just any music, it’s the kind of music that you want. Spotify provides the easiest way for a music lover to access millions of songs that can give him pure listening pleasure.

Are you working on something that makes you need to use the Spotify logo? Check out its guidelines to know about its primary logo type, horizontal logo type, size relationship, alignment, dos’ and don’ts, colors, and many more.

Check out the Spotify guidelines to know about its different logo types

18. Tumblr

Tumblr is both a social networking site and a microblogging platform owned by Yahoo Inc. Founded by David Karp, the site now boasts of more than 200 million blogs. The site has also an app version allowing you to post anything anytime and anywhere.

The Tumblr trademark guidelines include 8 variations of the Tumblr logo, size, typeface, colors, and other graphic characteristics.

The Tumblr trademark guidelines include 8 variations of the Tumblr logo, size, typeface, colors and other graphic characteristics

19. Vimeo

Vimeo is a video-sharing website that enables users to upload, share and view videos. It was founded in November 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein. Its guidelines include the proper use of its logo, icons, colors, and spacing.
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The Vimeo guideline includes the proper use of its logo, icons, colors, and spacing

20. Youtube

Many kids and adult turn to YouTube to check on almost any type of uploaded video, from tutorials on almost everything, movies, movie clips, shows, and many other things. Even ordinary netizens can even upload their own video and have subscribers in their own YouTube channels. YouTube is, indeed, one of the most popular sites on the web these days. If you want to use its logo, icon, assets, or icon pack, simply check out its guidelines.

Use the YouTube logo, icon, assets, or icon pack by checking out its guidelines

21. Blackberry

BlackBerry is a company known for its line of wireless handheld devices and services. It is designed and marketed by BlackBerry Limited, which was known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM) once upon a time. Are you interested in using the Blackberry logo in a project? Check out its guidelines on application icons, iconography, color, typography, and many more.

The BlackBerry logo remains one of the most outstanding logos of all time

22. Bootstrap

It was in the middle part of 2010 when Bootstrap was created at Twitter by @mdo and @fat. Before being an open-sourced framework, the Bootstrap moniker was Twitter Blueprint. After a few months into its development, Twitter held its first Hack Week, where project exploded as developers of all skill levels jumped in despite without any external guidance.

Since then, Bootstrap functioned as the style guide for internal tools development at the company and continues to be to this very date since its public release. Check its style guides on its mark, logo, name, and colors should you plan to integrate any of which in your project.

Bootstrap functions as the style guide for internal tools development

23. Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an online email marketing app that makes it possible for designers to easily create, send, manage, and monitor branded emails for themselves and their clients. Its style guide includes its logo, marquee, and colors.

The Campaign Monitor style guide includes its logo, marquee, and colors

24. Codepen

People in CodePen.io describe themselves as a “playground for the front-end side of the web.” It is without question that CodePen is great for testing out bugs, collaborating, and finding new inspiration as it allows the users to create “pens”, which are sets of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. To learn how the CodePen logo is made, check its style guide.

Codepen – the playground for the front-end side of the web

25. Creative Market

Creative Market is an online market where one can buy digital design goods to use in his personal or commercial projects. The products it offers are fonts, icons, themes, clipart, UI kits, Photoshop brushes, stock photographs, and many more. If you want to know more about its logo, icon, and colors, check out its style guides.

The image marketplace is also very particular of its image and logo

26. Slack

Communication is a lot easier with Slack with its real-time messaging, archiving, and a messaging app. Teams have full access to the messages and archives in one place. Files are also easily uploaded and one can be alerted with a notification once a file or message is received on his desktop or mobile device.

The Slack marks included in its style guides are the Slack name and logo, and any word, phrase, image, or other designation that associate the source or origin of any of its products.

The Slack marks included in its style guides are the Slack name and logo

27. Dropbox

Having Dropbox on your computer is like accessing any folder in your hard drive. The difference is that, with Dropbox, the files that you uploaded automatically sync online and to any other computer or mobile device that is linked to your Dropbox account.

Hence, anywhere you are, as long as you are connected online, you can have easy access to the files that you need. Learn more about the Dropbox logo, colors, and spacing as you check its branding style guide.

Dropbox enables you to access any folder in your hard drive

28. Drupal

Even those who lack the technical skills can use this open-source software if they want to easily create and manage different types of websites. Drupal is free and comes with a content management platform and a development framework. Download Drupal’s media kit and get the logo in 3 different colors.

The Drupal logo comes in 3 different colors

29. Evernote

Evernote is a cross-platform app created for note taking, organizing, and archiving. It is created by the Evernote Corporation, a private company based in Redwood City, California. Evernote is designed to help individuals remember everything.

If one wishes to develop products and applications that leverage to Evernote’s platform, and there is a need to refer and link to Evernote, its products, and services. One needs to check its trademark style guide which includes names, logos, words, characters, and colors.

Evernote aims to help you remember everything

30. Fancy

The Fancy is a way of sharing the exciting things you discover and compiling a collection of things you like. These things are not exactly the things that you’d spend your money on or plan to go, but, definitely, you would if you had the money to burn. Know about the style guides of this app on its logo, colors, and images.

Fancy is a social media app which allows you to share the exciting things you discover

31. Github

GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service that offers all of the distributed revision control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features.

Unlike Git, though, which is strictly a command-line tool, GitHub offers a web-based graphical interface and desktop in addition to its mobile integration. Find out the style guides on GitHub’s logo, icon, and octocat should you wish to integrate this online brand in your project.

Find out the style guides on GitHub’s logo, icon, and octocat

32. InVision

InVision is a design project management and collaboration platform that every creative team needs. InVision allows agencies, startups and corporations stay design-driven and succeed as it bridges the gap between designers and business stakeholders.

Its style guides on its logos, icons, and brand colors are a must check if you want to use any of which in whatever you are working on.

InVision bridges the gap between designers and business stakeholders

33. Kickstarter

Kickstarter is an American worldwide benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York. It has built a global crowd-funding platform that focuses on creativity. Kickstarter’s stated mission is to help bring creative projects to life.

Download its assets that include its logo, colors, and badges.

The Kickstarter guideline includes its logo, colors, and badges

34. KiSSmetrics

KISSmetrics is a perceptive web analytics package that sets your sights on metrics that matter, such as your bottom line. Whether you’re just a small, bootstrapped, start-up, or you’re a part of a larger organization, there is no denying that KISSmetrics is very easy to use. Its style guide includes the 6 variants of the KISSmetrics logo.

The KISSmetrics style guide includes the 6 variants of its logo

35. Mailchimp

MailChimp is an email marketing service and the trading name of its operator, which is a United States company. Its service is accessed through a web-based  or mobile-based application. However, some of its features can be accessed even if someone is offline. Its style guides include its logo in PNGs and EPSs, Freddie, brand color, and app screenshots.

The Mailchimp guide includes logo in PNGs and EPSs, Freddie, brand color, and app screenshots

36. PayPal

PayPal is global payment platform used by people in 203 markets. It allows its customers to get paid in more than 100 currencies and withdraw their funds to their bank accounts in 57 currencies. Without question, PayPal provides people better ways to connect to their money and to one another as they help them safely access and move their money while offering a choice of how they would like to pay or be paid.

Read PayPal’s guideline about its logo and learn how to use it properly should you need to use it.

PayPal makes money transfer much easier

37. Reddit

Reddit is an entertainment, social networking, and news website that enables registered community members to submit content, such as text posts or direct links. Hence, it can be said that it works like bulletin board system, only it’s done online.

Check out Reddit’s guidelines on how to use its distinct alien logo in different files and its color guide.

Want to use Reddit’s alien? Check it’s style guide

38. Foursquare

Foursquare is a social networking service that can be accessed by iPhone, BlackBerry and Android smartphone users. This free app has to be downloaded so that it be used in a device. The app is aimed at helping users discover and share information about attractions and businesses around them. Foursquare style guide includes its wordmark, logo, and social media icons.

Foursquare style guide includes its wordmark, logo, and social media icons.

39. DeviantArt

There is no denying that DeviantArt is the world’s largest online social community for artists and art enthusiasts. It allows visual artists to connect with one another and share their passion for art.

The style guide DeviantArt includes the proper way to use its logo, typography, color palette, and pattern.

Artist or not, there’s no mistaking the Deviant Art logo

40. Disqus

Disqus is a network community platform that is used of thousands of sites all over the web. A website can gain a feature-rich comment system that is complete with social network integration, advanced administration and moderation options, and other things with Disqus. Its style guide covers its text logo and social icons.

Disqus covers its text logo and social icons

41. AirBnB

Airbnb is an online community marketplace that aims at connecting people who are looking for homes to rent or simply looking for an accommodation. Airbnb is most popular to hosts and travelers. The travelers book for accommodations in almost 200 countries worldwide while the hosts list and rent out their unused spaces.

Are you planning to use AirBNB’s logo on your travel website? Download its style guideline now and learn how to use it properly.

Airbnb encompasses around 200 countries

42. Twitch

For gamers out there, there is no more popular social video platform than Twitch. Founded in June 2011, more than 100 million community members who gather to watch and talk about video games with more than 1.7 million broadcasters. Game developers, publishers, media outlets, content creators, and the entire e-sports scene are the die-hard users of Twitch.

Check out Twitch’s guidelines on the proper use of its logo, social media icon, and colors should you want to use them in your project.

Check out Twitch’s guidelines on the proper use of its logo, social media icon, and colors

43. Uber

Uber Technologies Inc. is an American international transportation network company that develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app. With the Uber mobile app, consumers with smartphones can submit a trip request that is forwarded to Uber drivers.

Learn about this transportation network company’s logotype, color palette, design system, typography by checking its style guides.

Learn more about Uber’s logotype, color palette, design system, typography by checking its style guides

Myspace has served as the launch pad of the careers of some music artists and actors in the entertainment industry

44. Myspace

Myspace is a social networking site that enables users to create web pages for interaction with other users. Users are able to create their own blogs, upload videos and photos, and design profiles that showcase not just their interests but their talents, too.  Myspace has provided a venue for users to meet new friends and communicate with people across the world.

It has served as the launch pad of the careers of some music artists and actors in the entertainment industry these days. You can learn more about the logotype, logomark, and colors that represent the Myspace brand if you check out its style guides.

MySpace is as particular as any brand about its logo and branding

45. Dailymotion

Dailymotion is a French video-sharing website where users don’t only watch videos; they can upload, and share their own videos, too. There is no denying that Dailymotion is, indeed, one of the biggest video platforms in the world, thanks to its wide array of content from users, independent creators, and its premium partners.

If you want to use Dailymotion’s wordmark and icon, visit its style guide and download them.

Dailymotion is the French version of YouTube

46. Yelp

It is pretty obvious that one of the biggest blessings that the Internet has brought is the ease of communication. These days, spreading and knowing vital information about the quality of services of all types of business is definitely a piece of cake. When it comes to reviewing businesses and sharing information about them, Yelp is the choice of many Internet users.

Yelp was founded in 2004, and, since then, it has served like a huge online bulletin board that caters to local business reviews based on experiences of consumers.

Do you need to integrate Yelp in your website? Check out its style guides and see the Yelp logo variations and their approved colors.

Review businesses and get information about them using Yelp

47. Google Plus

Google+ (also Google Plus) is a social network developed by Google. Some of its tools and features have been derived from current services and platforms, such as the Picasa photo storing and sharing platform. On the other hand, some of its features are comparable to those of other popular social networks and micro-blogging platforms.

Google+ is Google’s social community

48. Windows Phone

Windows Phone (WP) is a family of mobile operating systems by Microsoft for smartphones. It is the replacement for Windows Mobile and Zune and features a new user interface derived from Metro design language.

Its style guide covers its animations, app settings and data, controls and patterns, custom user interactions, files, data, and connectivity, globalization and localization, help and instructions, identity and security, launch, suspend, and resume, layout and scaling, maps and location, text and input, and tiles and notifications.

The Windows Phone style guide covers its animations, app settings and data, controls and patterns

49. Instagram

Instagram is an online mobile photo and video-sharing social networking service that allows its users to take pictures and videos, upload and share them on a variety of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Share timeless memories with Instagram

Customizing screenshots, glyph and multi-color camera Logo, embedding Instagram content, and using Instagram for marketing are some of the things that you can find in its style guide.

Conclusion

Without question, you can learn a lot by checking out the various style guides of the online brands mentioned above. When the time for you to create your own style guides, you can surely take inspiration from them.

While it is true that Adobe Photoshop was primarily meant as a tool for photographers to edit their captured images, its compelling features empower web designers to come up with striking and useful websites, too.

A lot of web designers still favor Photoshop

Photoshop: A Designer’s Hammer

For the longest time, Photoshop has been a canonical tool for designers. In fact, many designers still consider this tool as their “hammer”. Many clients of web designers are aware of what PSD is. These native files made in Photoshop are composed of layers that can be unraveled and manipulated.

Clients usually request for them to be used for references, while front-end developers know how to apply them.

They’re very easy to share and update with other members of a design team. However, since the arrival of Photoshop CC 2014, Photoshop, since then, has proven that it is more than just a photo-editing tool as it can be a friendly tool for web designers, too, who work on digital designs.

The following are some of the features of Adobe Photoshop that make it a useful tool for web designing:

• Libraries. The assets are synced to a Creative Cloud account that can be used again in other Adobe software, files, and future projects.
• Smart objects. Just like its libraries, the smart objects can be reused in several situations, whether in a single file or with other files.
• Extract assets. These days, Photoshop has made it possible for web designers to extract objects, elements, and images for web and mobile elements after integrating more comprehensive features. With the help of plugins such as Cut&Slice and DevRocket, exporting these assets is way easy.
• Layer comps. Layer comps enable a designer to make variations of a design by tweaking attributes, positioning, and the visibility of elements without the hassle of making multiple files.

Let’s face this fact: Photoshop is still the number one design tool that a designer should master. I consider Photoshop as the mother of all Adobe and web deisgn software. Everything you need (well, almost all) is in there. You just have to stretch your creativity a wee bit. But being imperfect too, Photoshop has its limits at times. Sometimes, it cannot seem to perform the way we want it to be.

Designers often have problems with Photoshop functions that are non-existent. This predicament calls for additional software. So what designers do is search, download and open another software just to fit the needs of their imagination.

Now, you, as a designer have two choices: Either you get rid of Photoshop and look for a more versatile software (which I think would be very difficult, if not impossible), or look for solutions that could make Photoshop better. Hence, plugins.

Plugins are extensions that you can download and install within a program. They save time, problem-solve, and in the long run, money for designers and this also allows them to stretch their creativity more.

Because I love Photoshop very much, I looked for plugins that might help designers in their design needs. Here they are:

24,500+ UI Kits, Website Templates, Sketch Templates, Photoshop Actions and Fonts are now available for just $29 per month with Envato Elements

By joining Envato Elements you gain access to plenty of assets for Sketch and Photoshop, as well as many other useful design elements. All of this is available for a single monthly subscription to Envato Elements. Join today, and gain access to a massive and growing library of 24,500+ creative assets with unlimited downloads.

Sketch has been aggressively making its way to the top

The Rise of Sketch

“I love Sketch. I made the switch some time ago and I haven’t looked back. I was a Photoshop advocate for my entire working life until Sketch came along, and within a week, I was a total convert. No regrets whatsoever. I know lots of designers who’ve made the switch, but actually a lot of the designers I speak at conferences with, are still 50% Photoshop and 50% Sketch – that’ll change, they’ll see the light soon!” – Sarah Parmenter

After reigning supreme for more than two decades, Photoshop’s supremacy is finally challenged with the arrival of Sketch. Sketch has become one of the favorite topics for discussion by those who belong to the web and UI design community. But, what has made Sketch keep the web design industry abuzz lately?

You Have All You Need

Compared to Photoshop, organizing all the documents that you have and making revisions on Sketch is a great deal easier, thanks to Sketch’s clean and simple interface. Nonetheless, this app only comes with tools that can be tweaked using CSS3 and HTML.

Unlike Photoshop, it doesn’t have 3D tools, irrelevant photo filters, and other features that can affect your designing speed. In short, Sketch only offers the things that are vital for your web and UI project, enabling you to finish your work at a much faster pace.

Of course, not all web designers like this. To compensate for its lack of tools, Sketch has a lot of plugins which are comparable to that of Photoshop’s tools, and they have everything covered: from a simple plugin that enables you to swap the border color and fill color to a wide range of content generators.

Artboards

Making multiple artboards is a piece of cake with Sketch. Simply press A and voila, you have an artboard! Then, Sketch will show a list of the 28 most common screen icon sizes that you can choose from. This is downright helpful when creating a responsive design because getting the right dimensions when creating a mockup is a breeze.

Moodboards

Sketch also makes mood boards simpler to create and a better project resource. First up, note that all of your files can live in one document.

Sketch contains a page drawer in the artboard sidebar that allows you to quickly scroll between files. For large projects like this one, it was particularly nice to be able to quickly jump back and forth between the site tree, your mood board, and your mockups as you design or make changes.

Sketch Toolbox

Before using Sketch, it is highly recommended that you download the Sketch Toolbox first. This is a plugin manager that enables you to browse directly and install the plugins you want.

Toolbox is also a great help for you to properly monitor what other plugins you are using.

Vector-Based

We are now in an era of responsive design, and the key to achieving this is to use vectors in creating one. Designers need to consider high-definition versus normal definition displays, narrow screen versus wide screens, and many other things when coming up with a design.

Obviously, working on a design that rescales all of the formats is of utmost importance. However, coming with a separate mockup for each set of dimensions is a meticulous process, demanding much time. With Sketch, though, this is not a problem because of features which enable you to freely resize objects. Imagine the time and energy that you can save just with this feature alone.

Sketch Mirror

In contrast to other vector-based programs, Sketch is also pixel-aware. Since the shapes that you create always come to the nearest pixel, there is no need for you to worry about blurry lines and images.

With the Sketch Mirror plugin, you can easily open your documents and see how your design would appear on an iPad or an iPhone. The plugin also allows you to immediately preview the changes you’ve made, helping you make final tweaks based on what your client wants, especially if you are face to face with each other.

AEFlowchart Plugin

AEFlowchart plugin is what you need to create sites for the websites that you are working on. It can help you monitor a website’s new organization. This provides a great deal of ease for reference in the design that you are working on, without having to create another program that will consume much of your time.

Text Styles in Sketch App

One interesting thing about Sketch is that you can easily make typographic elements. For example, you can come up with text styles that you can use in inline styles, such as heading blocks and headings. Later, you can apply what you have created in other documents.

If your client does not like the font you have made, all you need to do is to update it once, and the style in all your project will be automatically updated. What is more impressive is Sketch’s use of native text rendering. This means that the text you used in the design file is exactly the same in the browser.

Ease of Color Management

Managing the colors of the project you are working on is also a walk in the park with Sketch as you can simply make a color palette on the mood board. The most common colors you use will be pulled out above your references so that you can easily use them in the future when you work on another project.

Furthermore, since Sketch allows you to access all your files in a single document, it is a lot easier for you to copy and paste objects and object styles, including color gradients and color fills, from all your files. This is something that Photoshop is clearly missing, probably not realizing the ease this feature provides.

Built-In Layout Grid

Another standout feature of Sketch is its built-in layout grid. Unlike Photoshop, you don’t need to rely on a plugin or a series of guidelines or separate layers that have a makeshift grid, which is not really easy to edit. With Sketch, pinning a transparent layout guide and changing the column and gutter sizes is a piece of cake.

If you want to tweak the layout grid, you simply need to go to “View”, then go to “Layout Settings”. If you want to turn off the grid, what you need to do is hit Control +L.

Unlimited CSS Possibilities

“I also really like how Sketch has incorporated CSS logic into the app. This makes converting your designs into CSS much easier, as you have to use CSS logic when applying styles. Another feature which is really handy for speeding up the design/development crossover is Automatic Slicing.” – Dan Edwards

As mentioned in the earlier section of the article, you can do almost anything in CSS using Sketch. If you click the object and adjust the radius in the sidebar, you can easily come up with rounded corners on the action button.

If you want gradient overlays on images, it just takes one click to add. While it is true that stylish CSS3 tools are not exclusive to Sketch, this app raised the bars higher by empowering the designers to accurately copy CSS styles for various elements. It only takes a right-click of any object for you to copy the styles and the layer’s name as a comment above the specific code.

This establishes a seamless connection between designing and developing. Additionally, Sketch enables you to convert a group of objects into a symbol that can be copied, repeated, and synced to all situations the changes made to the object. Certainly, making and duplicating CSS styles and designing replicated content is stress-free with Sketch.

“Symbolic” Sketch

It is a lot easier to play and experiment with the size of the images, text, and colors at the same time with the use of symbols. They simply make life a lot easier. Even between templates, symbols work better.

Hence, if you want to use the same layout on a blog’s page listing post, for instance, all you have to do is to replicate the instance of the symbol there, and the changes you make will be automatically synced in all of them.

If you want to add real content, such as a headline or an image, what you need to do is right click and remove the object from its first symbol. Cool, isn’t it? Surely, Sketch’s symbols can ease your workflow by cutting your work time short.

Dynamic buttons are one of the most notable features of Sketch

Sketch’s Dynamic Buttons

Although it is true that symbols are great for product listings and blog posts, the Dynamic Button plugins are great for the buttons on the page. This plugin is primarily meant for creating a symbol for the button.

However, the padding of the sides are also adjusted automatically based on how long the text is. This will save you a lot of time working on your design, especially if you are working on pages that have multiple buttons.

What you need to do is just create a text layer bearing the initial button text, choose the plugin, and enter Command +J. The result? A dynamic button that you can use over and over again throughout the design if you edit the text of the button.

Day Player Plugin

Filling in the placeholders from different image services is without sweat if you use the Day Player plugin. Doing so will even be a lot easier if you use Lorem Pixel to get the specific images that you want.

Pick the plugin and the image service that you are considering, edit the options for the placeholder, and insert it in the object group of the product. Imagine how easy carrying on a task is with this plugin compared to searching images on the web for placeholders!

Content Generator Plugin

The Content Generator Plugin is what you need if you want to add more filler content. With this plugin, all you need to do is to select the image placeholder boxes of for every team member and select a male or female avatar in the plugin options.

Built-In Generation of Bulleted Lists

Another impressive feature is the built-in generation of bulleted and numbered lists. This is one important feature not found in many design programs, including in the widely-used Photoshop.

With this feature, there is no need for you to subject yourself to a time-consuming and tedious process of creating a well-formatted text that appears great in a browser.

Support for Multiple Artboards on One Canvas

With Photoshop, you need to make numerous PSD files and switch between windows as you work on many mockups. Luckily, Sketch has a feature that supports several artboards on one canvas. You can see your desktop, tablet, and mobile mockups in just one view. This allows you to work on all your mockups simultaneously.

If you are editing the symbols, colors, or text styles, you can be aware of the effect of the changes that you make in all mockups. With this, you can easily become mindful of the content flow and the connections happening between the different devices.

Exporting Assets

“Exporting is a common task, but Sketch 3 improves the process by allowing you to specify various resolution levels for your sliced components. That means you can save the same slice into several files that support different screen resolutions in one stroke.” – Geoff Graham

One of the most interesting things about Sketch is that it makes exporting of all the files a great deal easier. For instance, if you want to export the icon buttons used in mobile navigations, all you have to do is click a group of layers and click the “Export” button located at the bottom-right corner. You can then save these icons for web either in SVG or PNG format. This includes everything in relation to displaying the assets on different devices.

Sketch Style Inventory Plugin

With the Sketch Style Inventory plugin, creating an inventory of all the HEX codes of colors and swatches used on the page is a breeze. However, this is not only limited to colors; you can use it on text styles, too.

Both tools have their own pluses and minuses

Sketch VS Photoshop: What’s Best for You?

So, what should you go for: the ever-familiar Adobe Photoshop or the unstoppable Sketch?

Here is the list of the basic difference between these two:

• Rendering. In terms of rendering, Sketch has one that is close to web. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about Photoshop.
• Shortcuts. Photoshop wins this round as it has a lot of shortcuts. Sketch clearly lacks shortcuts that can contribute to the further ease of work.
• Documents. Sketch has tiny documents whereas Photoshop has large ones. This tiny document file size is what you can expect from a vector app. Since most files created using Sketch is lower than 4mb, they are not only easy on your hard drive but they are quick to load up and work on.
• Library. Photoshop has one library, Sketch has none.
• Grids. Sketch has built-in grids, while, with Photoshop, you have to make your own grids.
• Color Management. Adobe Photoshop has an excellent color management. This is in contrast to that of Sketch.
• Application. Sketch wins this round again because it enables faster application as compared to Photoshop, which is slow.
• Symbols and Objects. Symbols are to Sketch, objects are to Photoshop. Looks like it’s a tie, huh! However, Sketch symbols come in the same size whereas the objects of Photoshop come in different sizes.
• Artboards. Sketch has a clear advantage as it comes with multiple artboards. This is in contrast to the single artboard of Photoshop.
• Measuring. Clearly, Sketch wins this one. With a marquee tool, you open the info palette, draw the distance between 2 objects, and you can already check the results. This is, indeed, an advanced measurement that only Sketch can provide. Clearly, Sketch’s approach is not only more direct but easier, too. If you use Photoshop, this is just not possible as the ruler that it provides is cumbersome.
• Zoom views. This round goes to Photoshop as it has multiple levels of zoom. Sketch has only one.
• Tweaking. With its nondestructive tweaking, Sketch has the upper-hand. You simply have to type a number into the radius, and you’re good. In the case of Photoshop you need to plug in a new radius and redraw your shape, and you need make sure that you copy the exact dimensions
• Weight. Sketch is lightweight while Photoshop weighs a lot heavier.
• Photo editing capabilities. Well, this round goes to Photoshop as it was primarily created for this purpose. However, Sketch makes up for this with specific features that can deliver digital designs that are well-designed.
• Usability. Sketch is an app that is only exclusive for Mac. However, Adobe’s Photoshop Creative Cloud can be used by both Mac and PC users.

Sketch: A Real Threat to Photoshop

“I’m convinced that Sketch, at the moment, is the best tool for designing websites, user interfaces, and apps.” – Brian Hoff

Clearly, with the many advantages of Sketch, it has upstaged Adobe Photoshop. Does this mean, then, that you should go for it, especially if you are just a beginner in terms of web designing?

Well, that’s going to be a pretty tough question to answer. It is true that many designers are already making the switch to Sketch because, for one thing, it only costs $99. On the other hand, Adobe Photoshop’s Creative Cloud can make you spend $49. 99 for a monthly subscription.

Loyalty plays a big role why Photoshop still reigns

Sketch is Great, But Many Are Still Loyal to Photoshop

“I can see problems swapping files with other designers if one or more of them haven’t yet switched to Sketch. However, the beauty of the web stack is you can generate the assets however you like, so from that perspective Sketch can output your PNGs or whatever just like Photoshop can.” – Khoi Vin

At this point, however, it seems that a complete exodus to Sketch is unlikely. For one thing, people, on the whole, are resistant to change, no matter how great and promising that change may be.

Unfortunately, many companies aren’t ready to get rid of the comfort of using Photoshop for UI design projects. Switching to Sketch will demand time for everybody on a team to understand how this app works until they can finally become comfortable using it.

With this, it can be said that it is still safe to stay with Photoshop. Once you have mastered using the “reigning king”, Photoshop, then you can start learning Sketch. After all, it is your responsibility to continuously learn new tools and adapt to their use whenever it is necessary.

We really hope you got a better idea of both great tools, now we want to share some awesome cheat sheets.

Conclusion

So what do you think about Adobe Photoshop and Sketch, which one are you using and what is your experience with them? Did you try any of the web apps? Tell us in the comment section.

When you come to think of it, there’s nothing really special about these buttons, but, since they are a practically a new concept, many website owners and designers incorporate them in their web designs.

Table of Contents:

1. Understanding the Ghost Buttons
2. Find the Best Location for the “Ghosts”
3. The Awesome Functionality Ghost Buttons
4. Elements of the Ghost Button Design
5. The Advantages of Ghost Buttons
6. The Disadvantages of Ghost Buttons
7. Where did the Ghosts come From?
8. Call to Action Buttons: A Survey of Best Practices
9. 10 Crimes a Web Designer can Commit on Call to Action Pages
10. Case Study: Call to Action in Web Design Usability

Understanding the Ghost Buttons

Transparent and shadowy elements are not new in the world of web design as these started at almost the same time when the flat style design was embraced. Because they are simple, and many web designers have acknowledged the importance of minimalist designs in strengthening web page designs, ghost buttons will maintain its popularity as an inclusion in many design pages.

Additionally, understanding the anatomy of these ghost buttons are not above your head:

• thin button frame or outline
• transparent button background
• light font for call-to-action

Trendy yet Simple

Ghost buttons, without question, are trendy. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that they are complex in terms of design. In fact, it can be said that their popularity can even be attributed to the simplicity that makes them up. Additionally, this simplicity of design is celebrated even by novices in the field of web designing because the ease they provide when they are made.

If you try to compare the ghost button designs by pros and by the new web designers, you can never tell the difference. However, this simplicity can be both a blessing and a curse. Okay, it’s a given that they are easy to design. Nonetheless, this also makes it easier for designers to place these buttons anywhere in the design.

If you are a web page designer, you need to have a clear understanding of how ghost buttons work; they are more efficient in specific areas of the design and if they are used for the right purpose. Therefore, bear in mind to never abuse the ease that comes with creating these ghost buttons.

Find the Best Location for the “Ghosts”

The middle of the homepage is the perfect place for a ghost buttons

One of the best locations where you can place your ghost buttons is the home page, at the center of the home page to be more specific.” Why”, you may ask. This is because this spot will give the ghost buttons a high level of visibility which can impact the number of visitors who will actually click them.

You need to remember that, on the whole, the home page is the center of attention of many website users. This is where they gaze for a while before finally browsing the rest of the website. Take a look at the following website and notice how your eyes move.

You can see in this website that the ghost button is right at the center of the web page. Doesn’t it catch your attention immediately as if calling you to click on it? It surely does, right? But, of course, this particular ghost button is way bigger than other ghost buttons of other websites.

Calls to Action

As already mentioned, one of the primary advantages of ghost buttons is that they call on the visitors to your website to act. Generally, they have that 3D effect, hence, they are much better than the usual CTA buttons. While it is true, though, that this innovation in buttons may not have a significant impact on your sales (if you are a selling website), ghost buttons will certainly change your users’ perception of your website.

Navigation Menu

Apart from being a great call-to-action button, ghost buttons are also ideal for navigational menu and tabs, too. No matter how simple your web page design is, if you have functional and highly usable buttons, these may be enough to satisfy your web page visitors. Take a look at the placement of the ghost button of Visage.

The Awesome Functionality Ghost Buttons

When a new design trend emerges, as a designer, you may not stop thinking how you can use it in your web design, isn’t it? The same thing can be said about with ghost buttons. However, these buttons are the most ideal for the following websites:

I. Business Website Designs

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, ghost buttons are the most ideal for business websites. While they are the most popular type, unfortunately, they are also the most restrained. Generally speaking, business websites steer clear of trendy features and common design techniques, but some just can’t resist using ghost buttons. Here are some of the business websites that use ghost buttons.

How Ghost Buttons can Affect your Business Website:

Price Ink’s ghost button changes color

1. Your business website can look more trendy and creative at the same time if you use a ghost button that changes color when the user hovers over it. Visit the website of the picture above to see how its ghost button works.

Ghost buttons complete the professional look of a website

2. Ghost buttons can make it more professional and unobtrusive, especially if you use it as a CTA.

3. You can engage your users to sign up for a product beta, much more if you place it above the fold section. This will enable the visitors to take notice of its presence.

II. Ghost Buttons for Creative Studios Websites.

If there is one type of website that almost always adapts the trend, it’s got to be the creative studio websites. Does this mean that they have embraced the ghost button trend, too? Take a look at the following websites:

Black and white work well with ghosts

1.Create Conquer

This web site makes use of black and white colors, and its ghost button has the same colors, too. Some of the borders and the text of the buttons are black, some are white. It all depends on the background that they have.

Ghost buttons add to the elegance of this page

2. Audrey Azoura

This furniture and interior design website just ooze with elegance. Apart from embracing the image-focused design, which is also the current trend, this website also makes use of ghost buttons with a color palette that compliments its theme.

III. Ghost Buttons for Software Websites

Many software companies have also incorporated the use of the ghost button to their websites. Many of these websites can give you a hint on how you can use the creative buttons creatively. Some of these websites come with only one ghost button, while others use colorful buttons and conventional shades.

Traditional still works

1. Philosophie

. This site makes use of the traditional black and white colors blended with the tone of pink. The designs of the buttons are dependent on the color used as their background.

Using empty buttons work amazingly

2. ShopMyApp

This website makes use of empty buttons that have a white outline; they turn into green once you hover over them. Additionally, the menu tabs make use of ghost button as well. Cool!

IV. Ghost Buttons for Education Website Designs

Many educational websites have, likewise, adapted the ghost button trend. Well, this is not really surprising as this type of website aims at attracting the youth.

Ghost buttons can be placed in other parts of your website, too

1. Vantage Points

Apart from featuring a video on its landing page, this website also makes use of a ghost button over it. Ghost buttons can also be found in the other pages of the website.

You can try different colors for your ghost button

2. Campus Bubble

This website makes use of different colors and so does its ghost buttons. Specifically, the ghost buttons make use of green, blue, and orange colors. Without question, the buttons make the website more engaging despite being simple.

V. Ghost Buttons and Ecommerce Websites

More often than not, ecommerce websites are content rich. Since ghost buttons are simple and thin, they are most suited for these websites.

You can also use the double outline for your ghosts

1. Industry Standard

However, Industry Standard’s double outline ghost button, without question, looks awesome on its website design. Double borders simply makes the button more visible.

An image-focused website can also use ghosts

2. 20 Jeans

This online business website is another validation that it is perfectly okay for an image-focused website to employ ghost buttons. The models in the photo are situated at the right, which makes the black text on top of the white background on the opposite side attract attention. It would have been better, though, if the color of the text was different from that of the ghost button.

Its bold text works as if manipulating the eyes to gaze to the direction of the ghost button. Additionally, it only has one ghost button on the homepage above the fold, making it easy for the CTA to be noticed. Furthermore, the CTA makes use of the word “shop”, making it clear to the users what’s going to happen once they click the button.

Without Question, Ghost Buttons are Ideal for CTAs

With the above-cited examples, it should be clear to you by now that ghost buttons are ideal for almost every type of website. However, it is also obvious that many designers of the mentioned websites made of the ghost buttons for the call-to-action purpose. Who knows how the ghost buttons they have made use of work to their advantage in terms of the actions that they desire?

If you are into business, maybe these ghost buttons can help you rake in more sales. Again, who knows? However, always remember that, when adding buttons to a website, there are several things that you need to take into consideration if you want to improve the conversion rates that you’ll get.

It is normal to see a bold button over a simple background or a button whose color contrasts to that of the background where they are placed. This has long been a proven strategy to gather high CTR.

Ideal for Image-Focused Design Website

While it is true that ghost buttons can be employed in many different types of websites, in terms of webpage design, they are most ideal for those that make use of the image-focused design. How many website examples given above made use of the image-focused design with ghost buttons? Several of them! After all, with the simplicity of ghost buttons, they cannot disrupt the aesthetic value that the large images provide, as compared to the traditional buttons do. Additionally, this type of button is also ideal for one-page sites.

Ghost Buttons and your iPhone

Have you ever noticed the round buttons on your iPhone that runs on iOS 7? Well, if you haven’t, it’s time for you to realize that those are actually ghost buttons. Experts have said that the emergence of ghost buttons can be attributed to the fact that people are more passionate about making full screen backgrounds that have 50 % opacity. These backgrounds also make the interface form over them. It is an opportunity for the users to divide their attention to the background image, the reflecting styles, and the ghost elements, which may not be that visible but are, definitely, still visible.

Elements of the Ghost Button Design

As already mentioned, the most basic elements of a ghost button are a transparent outline, button background, and a light font for CTAs. However, these are not just the elements that you need to consider when your incorporate ghost buttons into your web design. You should also make sure that your ghost button is:

• contains simple and readable text
• larger than the conventional buttons
• placed in prominent areas of the page
• placed alone or in a group
• used with flat or almost flat designs
• makes use of geometric icons inside the borders sparingly and if needed

The Advantages of Ghost Buttons

Should you incorporate ghost buttons in your design? Here are some of the good points about this trend that may make you decide to go for it:

• Undeniably, ghost buttons look and feel clean. The simplicity of the buttons allows the main layout of your page to stand out.
• Since ghost buttons are transparent, they can go with almost any design that you can think of. This transparency enables them to adapt to the designs where they are superimposed.
• Ghost buttons are a continuation of the flat design. The only way for design trends to maintain their popularity is to continue the change as they adapt the new concepts.
• Ghost buttons can deliver an element of surprise as they are different from what many users have been accustomed to.
• Ghost buttons provide a great level of ease to those who will create and design them as they are meant to be simple. If you are a designer, make sure to make them subtle and steer clear from anything that may make them flashy.
• Ghost buttons have a way of calling people to act without being obtrusive. You may have already encountered many websites that feature ghost buttons that are large or larger than the other elements on the screen.
• Because they can be made large without affecting the other elements, they can easily attract users to perform the action that the buttons tell them to do. Now, talk about an effective interface.
• The transparent and linear design of ghost buttons gives the designer a subtle freedom as it enables the visual weight on the design to lighten.
• Ghost buttons make a web design sophisticated, no matter how simple the overall design may be, much more if the designer knows how to make use of the right color combination and where to place the buttons.

The Disadvantages of Ghost Buttons

While it is true that ghost buttons have a lot of advantages, there are some disadvantages as well. Hence, before you start working on any design, make sure first to analyze if a trend is suitable. Here are some of the disadvantages that come with ghost buttons:

• Ghost buttons may be placed in the part of the design that can make it difficult for non-savvy users to notice them. In fact, there are people who even have difficulty identifying the normal buttons and don’t know how to use them. How much more with the non-traditional buttons?
• Using ghost buttons over images that have varying or contrasting colors can be a bit tricky. You may have a hard time figuring out how to play with colors that can still make the ghost buttons noticeable despite the background where they are placed. More often than not, ghost buttons are either black or white. However, you may have difficulty using these colors if they are to be placed over an image or background that makes use of the same shades. You have to remember that the efficacy of ghost buttons rely much on where they are placed and how visible they are, despite their transparency.
• There are times when ghost buttons can overpower the image that they are paired with.
  While it is here that ghost buttons are simple, the truth of the matter is that they are more complex than “click here”. Since the buttons, more often than not, are small, you need to be very careful in choosing the text that you will use so that it can call a user to act. Additionally, the text has to jibe with the design.
• Ghost buttons can sometime lead to legibility problems, much more if they are placed over photographs or colorful backgrounds. There is a tendency for some designers to overuse ghost buttons. While it is true that ghost buttons are trendy, always make sure that you know how to limit using them. Use them for a purpose and not just for the sake of jumping at the bandwagon.

Where did the Ghosts come From?

No one is really certain how ghost buttons came to existence. Design experts can only suspect that they are a result of the combination of different factors that have prompted them to exist and be embraced by many websites. As for its name, is believed to have been coined by Tumblr.
Here are some of the different contributing factors that may have given inspiration to the birth of ghost buttons:

1. The HUD

HUDs (head-up displays) have been in existence from the 1960s and were primarily used in military aircraft. However, it was only in the past couple of years when these became a part of the popular culture and have been used in movies, video games, and car dashboards. Since the data projected by HUD is seen on top of your viewpoint, it is important that this data has to be presented in a basically lightweight and transparent style so that the viewpoint will not be obscured.

Sure, these HUDs are not buttons, but take notice that the elements of the interface are clear and their text-based units are bordered by thin lines. When it comes to introducing the HUDs to the general public, there is no denying that Hollywood films such as Ironman, Ender’s Game, and the Star Trek reboot have provided inspirations to the emergence of ghost buttons.

2. IOS 7

When Apple’s iOS 7 was introduced to the market, users were not as ecstatic about its interface filled with minimal buttons and icons that were bordered by grey or blue lines. However, it is widely believed that these contributed to the eventual emergence of ghost buttons.

3. Nexus 7

Eventually, Google also tapped the use of the ghost trend. Since 2013, it has also used the ghosts in their Nexus 7 website. It made use of a transparent button bordered by a white line, providing a good contrast to its background.

4. Bootstrap

Another contributor to the popularity of the ghost buttons is Bootstrap. It was in August 2013 when Bootstrap 3 was introduced to the market, and it was in its homepage where what seems to be a prototype of the ghost button was seen. Although it was not necessarily transparent, it had a monochromatic background and very simple characteristics. Many people started using what Bootstrap has started as Bootstrap itself is considered an efficient way to develop a website. As a result, more and more websites were developed with the inclination to flat designs and minimal buttons.

Conclusion

In conclusion, beyond the shadow of doubt, ghost buttons can really be remarkable if you know how to apply them correctly. The examples given above demonstrate that a good background is important for the visibility of the ghost buttons. It is also important to use colors that will make these buttons more noticeable. The more simple and basic the designs are, the more abridged they must be.

Now in the next section we will take a look at some of the other best practices.

Call to Action Buttons: A Survey of Best Practices

Call-to-Action buttons play a pivotal role in soliciting action from the user. To garner the requested action, buttons are placed on the website that allow the user to perform an action, such as buying something, or leading to another page for more information.

Careful planning is necessary in the creation of your call to action, and in this article I will explain the best practices for creating effective call to action buttons. I will also present you with examples in action to give you a better understanding of what works.

In order for your Call-to-Actions to work successfully, you must first determine how they’ll fit into the overall scheme of your site. By laying the groundwork, or information architecture, you’ll begin to discover how the buttons work within the web interface. To survive in the market, you have to generate revenue. So, the successful website is that which leads the reader of web page to the desired end result (“Buy Now”…”Learn More”). Now the question arises, how can we make effective call to action buttons which work in the real world.

Factors to Consider

Size

In web design, historically the larger the element, the more important it is. The size of your call-to-action in relation to its surrounding elements is essential in converting users to take action. After all, it’ll be hard to get the intended action from your user if your button is miniscule in size and blends in with the rest of the text.

• Use white space: A lot of what can be achieved from increasing the size of a button can also be accomplished by simply placing the button around plenty of white space. A button surrounded by white space will be much more prominent than one which is lost in a sea of text and graphics.
• The more white space there is in between a call to action button and a surrounding element, the less connected they are. Therefore, if you have other elements that can help convince users to take action, reduce the white space in between those elements and the call to action.

ScrapBlog
You can see the effects of using a prominent color, sufficient white space, and size relative to surrounding elements to attract users’ attention. Straightforward language conveys a sense of easiness, claiming that you can “start” right away by taking action.

Mozilla Firefox
“Free Download” button of the Mozilla Firefox is a true revolution in terms of call-to-action graphics. Its large, unevenly shaped, vibrantly colored and detail oriented button has made its mark in the industry.

Color

To ensure the user notices your button, it’s also important to consider its color. Although there are a few choice colors for a call-to-action button, it can be worthwhile to choose a contrasting color than the background. This essentially makes the button jump toward you, enticing you to click it.

• It has sometimes been said that a red button (and red text links) performs the best
• Perform some A/B testing to see what colors performs best for your website
• The performance of any button may be attributed to the contrast on the page instead of its color

Vuze.com visitors will have no problem finding the download call to action button. The use of contrasting color, plenty of white space, and placement on both the top and bottom of the page make this call to action noticeable and effective.

Placement

An effective button should be clearly visible on a page, and at least relatively prominent in relation to other elements.

• On a landing page – and indeed for most pages, where this is feasible – a button should appear above the fold. The likelihood that a button will be clicked is greatly diminished if a visitor has to scroll to see it.

• Increase the likelihood of a button being clicked by placing both at the top of the page (or above the fold) and at the bottom of a longer page. It’s likely a user may not scroll back up the page if they’ve passed it, or scroll down a page if they already see one.

• Proximity to other page elements is important as well. Obviously for an e-commerce site an “add to cart” button that’s right next to a product should perform better than one that’s further removed.

• In other situations, it is important to keep a call-to-action button close to such things as value propositions, testimonials and feature lists that are intended to stimulate conversions.

You can see these concepts in practice on the website for YourWebJob.com. By putting the call to action “Post a Job!” in a very prominent area, it is more likely that the user will notice it or remember it later, after they have looked at the site’s content.

Mobile Web Design
This call to action button is placed in a prominent location; it has large size and a distinctive color with respect to surrounding elements.

Mobile Cubix
Mobile cubix uses a round outline surrounding the “Read More” button and then leading it to the application that not only attracts visitors’ attention but also informs them what they can expect.

Making Its Use Known

Of course none of these procedures matter if the button doesn’t actually look like a button! You need to make it clear to the visitors that this graphic is in fact a button that can be clicked on to result in a specific action and not simply another element on the page. Graphically speaking there are a number of ways to do this, including:

• Embossing the button
• Placing the call-to-action text in a discreet bordered area
• Offsetting the button from other graphical elements
• Making it behave like a button when the user’s mouse hovers over it
• For buttons that are not hyperlinked (and so do not automatically generate a hand symbol in the mouse over state) this can readily be accomplished with CSS.
• A change in the button’s appearance itself on mouse over, such as a change in color, is a further signal to the visitor that the button is clickable.

Kalculator
This call to action tells users exactly what to expect: by clicking on this call to action, they should anticipate shelling out $3.99. Using the word “only” hints that this is quite a good deal, which can help make the sale.

Postbox adds value through the download call to action by adding that its “FREE” 30-day trial and reduces consumer doubt with the purchase call to action by stating it’s a “No Risk Guarantee!” More often than not web sites calls to action simply ask the visitor to Buy Now! without reinforcing the value or ease of the action.

SEO

A button, in many cases, is directly linked to a page indexed by search engines. Adding an <img> alt attribute will provide the search engines with text they will associate with the target page:  if you are targeting keywords on that target place, you should employ them in your <img> alt.

To get the most out of your button, your image’s alt attribute (or, depending on the browser, an <a> title attribute) may be displayed to a visitor when they mouse over the button, providing yet another opportunity to reinforce or your call-to-action (“start your trial today!”).

Additional Resources

How to Create a Slick and Clean Button in Photoshop

10 Techniques For An Effective ‘Call to Action’

The next section will be dedicated to show the worst examples of call to action buttons. You should of course avoid these.

10 Crimes a Web Designer can Commit on Call to Action Pages

Call-to-action pages are dedicated to prompt visitors to take a desired action, whether an opt-in, a sale or any type of click that brings a user one step closer to a company’s goal. Basically, any website can be classified as a call to action page because virtually every person who creates a website has a specific action he/she wants a visitor to take. Most websites commit at least one of the top crimes listed below. Do you agree with the choices?

1. Graphic Clutter

It’s obvious this website’s purpose was show as much information to visitors as possible above the fold. While this is a valiant effort, too many graphics can work against you.

A great call to action page will send your eye to a specific area. When you look at this page, your eyes are drawn everywhere and if you were looking for a car, you wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Though this page is not a landing page, it is a prime example of why less is more when trying to increase conversions with web page design. A call to action page should include benefits, features, logos, maybe one or two images and a prominent call to action button. Any more and the page will suffer.

A website home page should follow suit while including clear navigation and an easy experience for visitors. Avoid clutter at all costs. White space is your friend!

2. Blended Call to Action

Though the call to action button on this page is outlined in yellow, it does not stand out enough from the background. The yellow also matches the font above it so it blends into the background even more. The color scheme of the page is yellow, red and orange and the call to action button follows the same color scheme; therefore, it does not stand out enough. A solid color in contrast to the page would work best.

3. Distracting Background

Many businesses want to incorporate their brand colors into their website design. While this is a smart marketing strategy, if the color is overdone or distracting, it can have an adverse effect. The bright yellow background in this web page is very distracting and it draws the eye away from the purpose of the website. If you view this website in its normal size, you will see how truly distracting the bright yellow background is.

It’s good to implement your brand colors in your website design, but not at the expense of distracting visitors away from your purpose. Your background should support your web page and be somewhat neutral.

4. Lost call to action

On this page, the call to action button is not only lost, it is nonexistent. One of this website’s desired actions is to urge users to click and find out more information about the Thank You® Premier card. The current call to action is simply text that says “Get Moving”.

If you really want to lead users to an intended action, use buttons in contrasting colors. Text will never be strong enough to get users’ attention. The button should include a contrasted color that screams “click me” without slamming it in user’s faces.

Also consider the call to action button’s proximity to other elements. For example, with an ecommerce site, the “Add to cart” button would be most effective if it were placed right next to the product. You can also place call to action buttons near places of interest like testimonials, feature lists and benefits, etc. Make sure, though, not to clutter your page with too many buttons. Keep them close to your key points and at a  maximum of 2-3 per page for simple landing pages.

5. Too Much Information

When people offer us more information than we want to hear we often say it is TMI or Too Much Information. Similar to how you would want that person to be quiet, a web page will suffer this same reproach if it is suffering from TMI.

On this example web page, the call to action is not front and center and your eye is drawn to the articles instead of the “Get a Quote” text. This page, while meant to attract visitors to get a quote, leads them towards reading an article which may be too much information for this page. Content is not necessarily bad; great content outlines the pages of some of the greatest websites. But when it blurs the message of the site or distracts users from a clear call to action, profits will suffer.

For this website, a more prominent call to action in a more effective location would draw the eye there first.

The goal with a call to action page is to lead your visitors to click on the call to action button without distracting or boring them with too much information. You should include enough information (features, benefits, guarantees, testimonies) to lead them to take action without overdoing it. If your visitors cannot figure out whether or not your site will be beneficial to them in the first few seconds, they will assume the worst and hightail out of there.

6. Too many Links

This page is actually ranking quite well for competitive mortgage related keywords, but the design of the site unfortunately does not follow suit.

Unless your site is product specific (e-commerce) or purely informational, excessive text links can overwhelm users.

The purpose of this website is to guide consumers to get a mortgage quote. While classifying the links by states is a good idea, the clutter and small font does nothing for visitors’ eyeballs. As stated before, text links are ineffective as calls to action on pages like these and the close proximity of these links jumbles everything together to look like one cohesive blue link.

There is no clear call to action here. This webmaster would benefit from making this page a second page and redesigning the home page to include one or two buttons only, leading people to “Get a Quote”.

Here is a trick: Squint your eyes slightly to blur your vision and look at the page. If your call to action doesn’t stand out, adjustments may need to be made.

7. Button Placement & Location

Though this website is committing many faux pas, I chose it due to improper placement of the call to action button.

If you look on the far right (it probably took you a few seconds to find it, which is a few seconds too long), you will find a small box with a dropdown menu. This is where the webmaster would like a user to click. The only element standing out is the small red arrow and that is even questionable.

The placement and location of your call to action button is equally as important as its size and color. A great call to action will not be effective if it is surrounded by too much text or not enough whitespace, or if it is located out of sight.

Generally, it’s important to keep call to action buttons above the fold (visitors can see it without scrolling), clearly visible and prominent in relation to all other elements. If you have content that is only visible by scrolling, include a call to action button towards the end so users do not have to scroll back up to click on it.

8. Button Size

Your website visitors should know exactly where they need to go the second they land on your website. In this example, though well-designed, this “Buy Now” call to action button seems a bit small for the animation of the site. If you click on the entire website, you will notice a busy background which can distract from the small button as well.

Please note, though, that a bigger button is not always associated with higher conversions. The button should stand out from the other design elements without overwhelming the entire design, which can turn people away as well.

9. Button Text

This website used the word “Go” to urge users to click for a quote. While the design does draw your eye to the quote box, I am not sure the word “Go” is the best choice.

Though there are some basic rules for button text to maximize conversions, it is more of a function of the type of website rather than a general consensus. For example, a business offering a free trial may use “Click Here to Get Your Free Trial” while a service-oriented website may use “Get Started Today”.

General rules of thumb for call to action button text:

• Avoid being too wordy
• Keep it simple
• Add urgency
• Limited availability if applicable
• Use action words like “now” or “today”
• Always split test

When it comes to elements such as button text, the only way to determine what works best is to split test. Sometimes, minor changes can increase conversion rates dramatically.

10. No Clear Message

Many businesses are not clear on their sales funnel; therefore, their visitors are not led to take a desired action. This dealership is trying to push users to perform too many actions at once along with reading text which can be boring for people looking to buy or lease a car.

TIP: The purpose of your call to action is to get users to the next step only. In the case of the dealership, the final goal would be to sell a car, but that should not be the main goal of the website. That is the car salesperson’s job. The website should only urge visitors to take the next step which is to visit the dealership.

Don’t try to sell a car with your website. Just sell the next step!

Have you seen any call to action crimes? What call-to-action crimes have you committed?

With all this talk about ghost buttons and call to action buttons, we have one more thing for you. A case study about usability and call to action buttons.

Case Study: Call to Action in Web Design Usability

I’ve recently been working on a new website for a very large organization. The organization is made up of numerous policy teams who are all tasked with keeping different topics of interest up to date. The one downfall of this is that each policy team considers their content to be the most important. This has led to every new section being given to us with the instruction of “making it more prominent”.

We keep informing them every time we make something ‘more prominent’ we are taking prominence from the previously highlighted sections, effectively making nothing stand out. While researching the topic, to formulate an evidence based repost for our client, I discovered numerous reasons why it’s essential to distil your calls to action down to only the core outcomes you want from your audience.

Be wary of causing choice paralysis

“…we think, if we provide (users) with 200 brands of peanut butter, they are more likely to find a brand that suits their taste. Schwatz cites surveys done in supermarkets that showed the reverse. When customers were presented with a huge selection of brands of a certain item, fewer customers bought the item than when fewer brands were displayed.”

Christopher Heng

Choice paralysis occurs when users are supplied with too many similar choices. The abundance of choice leaves consumers confused as to which option to take. They end up not making a choice at all, in fear of making the wrong decision.

Your calls to action should have clearly distinct outcomes

“…it is not so much the number of actions as the distinctiveness of each.”

Paul Boag

If you need to provide your users with more than one call to action on a page, try to ensure that your users understand the difference between them. For example, having one call to action labeled ‘Sign-up’ and another labeled ‘Register’ would make it very difficult for any users to decipher which option they should take. If both calls to action seem to lead to the same outcome the likelihood of confusion increases.

We don’t read pages, we scan them

“One of the very well-documented facts about Web use is that people tend to spend very little time reading most Web pages. Instead, we scan (or skim) them, looking for words or phrases that catch our eye.

Steve Krug (Don’t make me think)

If users read everything on a Web page in the order they are displayed, numerous calls to action wouldn’t be as much of a problem. The individual would read the supporting paragraph, decide they want to read more about that and hit the corresponding link.

However, as Steve Krug describes, “we scan (or skim) them, looking for words or phrases that catch our eye”, which means it is unlikely that your users are going to read the accompanying paragraphs and will instead choose where to go next by the text within the call to action. The more call to actions they have to scan through, the higher the chances they will choose the wrong one.

There are only so many ways to make something stand out

Every time our client asks us to make something ‘stand out’ on a page they don’t seem to grasp our warnings that this will dilute previous calls to action. I think the reason for this is because they are used to seeing the page in its previous state and therefore have become desensitized to the previous calls to action. So when we add another one this stands out, to them, far more than any others.

However, a new viewer of that page has no previous experience with it and therefore everything is new to them and therefore fighting for their attention.

There are only a few different design techniques that can be used to make something stand out; contrast, white space, size, positioning etc. With this in mind, when you have numerous calls to action on a page it is very unlikely that any of them will stand out more than others.

More choice leads to greater dismay because expectations are raised

“When people have more choices, they expect more, because they expect that they will be able to choose the exact item that meets their needs perfectly.”

Christopher Heng

Our client’s homepage consists of a number of pods, with each pod representing a different segment of their target audience. We tried to create broad pods, to ensure that everyone who visits the site instantly notices a section that could potentially be for them. However, our client wanted to present some very specific roles along with our broader suggestions.

This presented the problem that a visitor to the site could see these more specific options and believe that there would be a specific role for them, thus raising their expectations. When they discover that their specific area hasn’t been represented, they could wrongly decide that this site doesn’t have what they are looking for.

However, if we were able to keep the number of pods to a minimum, users would be more likely to want to explore a section that could possibly relate to them.

To conclude

When thinking about the possible calls to action on your site, be sure to ask yourself exactly why every call to action needs to be there. More calls to action lead to a more complicated interface and could possibly lead to more dissatisfaction.

Try to highlight only the most important actions on your site, otherwise you could risk none of your calls to action being noticed. Finally, I thought I’d leave you with an excellent example of a focused call to action.

The guys at 280 slides have decided they want their users to try a demo of their product and so this is the only call to action on the homepage. They could easily have given numerous options to their users increasing the cognitive load, however they have done a great job of focusing their audience on the task they think is most important to them.

Related reading

The Paralysis of Choice and How to Improve Sales and Customer Satisfaction

Call to Action Buttons: Examples and Best Practices

10 techniques for an effective ‘call to action’

A designer may come up with the best looking online platform or app, but if users cannot easily learn how to utilize it, they are likely to abandon it. This is the reason why, as a web designer, you need to sharpen your skills in ensuring a great user experience for your websites.

1.What is UX by Géraud de Laval

There is no bad car and there is no bad UX

This is one presentation that you should not miss, especially if you are still uncertain of what career path you should take. Here, Geraud de Laval clearly defines what UX is. What makes it more interesting is that, in this presentation, he discusses the UX concept by comparing it to a car.

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, there is no bad car because everything is dependent on who uses it.

2. UX is not UI by Nicolas Demange

Of course, there is a whole lot of difference between UX and UI

Still confused as to what the difference between UX and UI is?

Well, Nicolas Demange presents a highly simple, yet comprehensive and truthful tutorial that sheds light on what sets UX apart from UI. This will surely help you assess your skills, much more if you are applying for a job.

3. UXNight: Designing For your Mom with Andi Galpern

Andi Galpern encourages web designers to come up with a design that would be easy to use as if they were designing for their moms who are not tech-savvy. This video tutorial points out that a great user experience should be for everybody and is easy to navigate, whether one is tech-savvy or not.

It also covers an introduction to the basics of a good UX but focuses more on proximity, continuity, similarity, figure/ground, otherwise known as the Gestalt principles.

4. How to Teach UX Design by Christina Wodtke

Encourage more designers with these tutorial

#Coming up with an effective UX design may be a tedious task, but teaching how to create one can be even more complicated. However, this SlideShare by Christina Wodtke will show you that sharing your knowledge on UX design is not that complicated at all!

Christina makes teaching UX not only interesting but convenient, too, as she provides a complete workshop model for each day. Apart from the way the day is supposed to be designed, it also has students’ inclination and exercise design.

If you are the type of UX designer who is not afraid of sharing what you know to the new ones, then you should seriously look into this in order to help create more effective web designers.

5. How UX Design has Changed the World by BuiltByHQ

This tutorial will help you create a website that delivers

Are you planning to have your own business website, or already have a current website that doesn’t deliver the results that you want? This tutorial will enlighten you on the importance of UX design on whatever type of business you engaged in.

After all, a poorly designed UX can push some clients away which, obviously, results in the drop of profit. Inversely, a well-designed UX can increase conversion rate and boost an entrepreneur’s profit.

6. Learn Web Design Basics with Paul Boag

Learn Web Design Basics with Paul Boag

This compilation of video tutorials will be interesting for those who are going to learn the basics of web design. It will be a really great starting point for amateurs striving to become experts one day. This educational course will show you exactly what good web design is and what might be considered not so good, too.

You will be able to view a number of techniques including layout, typography, styling, color, imagery, usability, branding, calls to action as well as some other principles that will help you design professional sites.

Eight tutorials by Paul Boag will teach you some fundamentals based on the greatest designs found on TemplateMonster. Paul is a well-known expert in digital transformation with many years of experience in this sphere (over 20 years now).

7.Typography and User Experience by Sara Cannon

Bad typography can make your UX into a nightmare

There are still some designers who don’t know the link between a typography and user experience. If you are one of these designers, you should check out Sara Cannon as she explains how bad typography can lead to a nightmarish user experience.

You will certainly be enlightened on the various roles typography has on the overall user experience. For one thing, good typography can set the tone and guide a user if it is properly used in a website. At times, it just doesn’t contribute; it is a takeaway, too!

8. Content-first UX Design: What

A good UX design can make a website a very influential force in the market

Video Games Teach Us about UX from Stephen Hay

In this tutorial, content strategist Stephen Hay explains how a good UX design can enable a website into a force to be reckoned with in the market. This is especially helpful to business-related websites.

Stephen Hay points out that, without a UX, a website may be at the tail-end of a game. He educates web designers and business owners on the importance of a content-first UX design and contextual learning.

9. UX Design Myths from Evan Samek

Web designers should do their best to provide the best user experience to their audience

A serious web designer is committed to delivering the best user experience to its audience and users in every way possible. However, there are several myths that professional UX designers should be familiar with so that they can avoid them and work efficiently. And this tutorial will set the facts straight.

10. Foundations of UX: Prototyping by James Williamson

The design process involves 5 steps according to James Williamson

It is a given that not all web designers share the same design process. However, there are many common elements that web designers should bear in mind. This video tutorial by James Williamson, an author from Lynda.com, breaks down the design process into 5 steps:

• brainstorming
• project planning
• prototyping
• testing
• ..and refining.

This tutorial also clearly explains the importance of each step in the whole process.

11. Graphic Design Tutorial: User Experience by Shawn Barry

Delivering what you have promised is very important

Shawn Barry enlightens designers on the importance of UX when a user visits a website. This will surely make you aware why it is important for you to deliver what your website has promised and its subject matter. This way, your audience can experience your site the way they expected it to be.

In addition to all that, this tutorial will surely enable you to be more committed to providing your audience a great user experience.

12. What’s New in Photoshop for Web, UI/UX, and App Design by Adobe Photoshop

Paul Trani continues to praise the many advantages of Photoshop over Sketch

If you are still undecided whether you should go for Sketch or remain loyal to Photoshop, this tutorial will help you arrive at a decision. The 2015 release of Photoshop CC has many impressive features for web, UI/UX, and app design.

One of its new features, Artboards, allows you to come up with numerous layouts in a single Photoshop document. On the other hand, Device Preview enables you to preview your design in real time on any iOS device. Adobe Evangelist Paul Trani will surely leave you in the know of the latest from this version of Photoshop.

13. The Three Ways that Good Design Makes You Happy by Don Norman

Don Norman shares what kind of design becomes successful

This is not really a tutorial but Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things, has a lot of wisdom about design. He talks about visual, behavioral, and reflective design and their effect to our emotions. He said that design that touches people’s emotions is most definitely needed to succeed. So if you want deeper insight into this topic, this video is a good place to start.

14. Forty UI/UX Design Examples by Forty Agency

Find inspiration for your next project in this tutorial

Are you having a hard time coming up with an idea for your next design? Forty UI/UX Design Examples might just give you the best inspiration for your next project. The video starts with the basics of UI/UX designs and goes on with some tips on how to do it properly.

It also reiterates that a good user experience should be anchored on the people who will use the website and not on the specs, encouraging web designers to rethink a design from people’s point of view.

15. UX Design + UI Design: Injecting a Brand Persona by Jayan Narayanan

This tutorial shows the impact of UX and UI to your brand persona

This SlideShare is meant for a group of entrepreneurs with inadequate knowledge and insight of the web design process. This can help entrepreneurs come up with an idea that they will demand from their would-be web designers.

If you are planning to put up a website for your own business, checking this will surely help you in more ways than one, as Jayan Narayanan explains in detail not only the concepts of UI and UX but their overall impact on a brand experience, too.

16. Lean UX for Startups and Enterprise: Ten Secrets to Success by MoDev

John Whalen shares his insight how to have a balanced design

This video showcases a consultancy using LeanUX, Agile and Design thinking methodologies that provide UX insights, strategies, and ideation discussed by John Whalen. It is based on the collective opinion and suggestions of startups and large enterprises seeking to produce the right product faster.

You can certainly come up with a balanced design as John is esteemed for his understanding of audience perspective and finding the ideal balance between user experience, business needs, and technological possibilities.

17. Foundations of UX: Accessibility by Derek Featherstone

Derek Featherstone clearly discusses what accessibility is

Derek Featherstone gives you a clearer idea on what accessibility is and its impacts on people with disabilities using the web. This will also help you familiarize with many accessibility concepts and their importance to web designers.

If you want to learn how to develop assistive technology apps for people with disabilities, this can help you in many ways. You will certainly learn many accessibility concepts and their relevance to you as a web designer.

18. UX Design Techniques: Creating Personas by Chris Nodder

Learn to use data you gather from customer interaction with this tutorial

This is the third installment of the UX design techniques series discussed by Chris Nodder. Here, you will learn how to use the data that you have gathered from customer interactions and previous site visits. These will help you create a picture of the users that your design is aimed at.

Furthermore, the interface of your design will become more coherent and focused as the common understanding will ensure that everybody in the design team is creating a design for the same people.

19. Android Design in Action: Common UX Issues by Nick Butcher, Adam Koch, and Roman Nurik

This tutorial is a real gem regarding Android UX

This video features Nick Butcher, Adam Koch, and Roman Nurik discussing the many elements of Android design. In this particular video, they give a run-through of the top ten most common user experience issues.

20. Photoshop/Illustrator Tutorial: Google Material Design by Ferdi Armagan

Get more ideas about Material Design with this video tutorial

Ferdi Armagan will surely enhance your knowledge on Material Design, the latest design trend set by Google. You will be guided on how to use the documentation and how to design the assets that are needed so that you can successfully use Material Design in line with the guidelines set by Google.

Ferdi also discusses how to create icons within the Photoshop and Illustrator environments, add the characteristic shadows from material design, interface design, typography, and much more.

21. Sketch 3 Tutorials by LevelUpTuts

These video series will give you a lot of insight about Sketch 3

Are you entertaining the idea of switching to Sketch and abandoning Photoshop for good? Well, you surely need to see the 33 video tutorials by LevelUpTuts. Without question, this is the most complete and comprehensive tutorial for designers who want to take a new path in web designing.

These series of video tutorials will get you to know Sketch, understand Artboards, pages, styling shapes, grids and layouts, alignment and distribution, shapes in Sketch 3, creating and using symbols, iOS and design UI tools, Foundation 5 UI kit, Bootstrap 3 UI kit, installing and using plugins, dynamic buttons, shortcuts, creating GIFs, and much more.

22. UXPA Lean UX Bridging the Gap between UX and Developers by Andrew Mottaz

Andrew Mottaz discusses if Agile is compatible with modern UX

Is Agile compatible with Modern UX? Andrew Mottaz, CTO and Founder at Site9, Inc. answers this question and discusses lean UX, shared understanding, shared understanding stories of user experiences, how to create shared understanding, examples of user testing, and many more topics in this SlideShare.

23. Love In an Elevator – UX as Business Strategy by Stephen Collins

UX impacts business strategy as well

The focus of this topic is the need for UX practitioners to consider and deliver UX messages in terms of user strategy and business. This tutorial also discusses some social media topics, such as community building, collaboration, and more.

24. Win User Loyalty by Targeting Logic and Emotions by Mike Donahue

Design UX that touches the emotions to win their loyalty

This came from Mike Donahue’s talk at the UXPA2014 Conference held in London, which was attended by some of the most brilliant minds in the industry. Mike emphasizes the importance of making a connection with the audience or users on a deep emotional level. He strongly believes that in order for you to come up with a great and effective user experience, you need to target emotions.

25. Making UX Matter to Your Company by Wendy Johansson

UX is a strategy says Wendy Johansson

Make UX a strategy, not a deliverable. This is the core of the message of Design and Brand at Wizeline Director of User Experience, Wendy Johansson. She discussed this topic at the Silicon Valley UX Meetup held on April 14, 2013. There is no denying that this will be a great help to designers who are in a quandary on how to integrate UX in their designs.

Conclusion

Needless to say, user experience is different for every user, and everything is dependent on how each one experiences a website. As a UX designer, you should develop or promote certain experiences that can elicit a positive reaction and experience from the user.

Whether you’re a newbie in web designing or already a seasoned one, you can surely find one tutorial above that will help you become a better UX designer in more ways than one.

More often than not, a web design consists of a header, footer, sidebar, and the area for the main content, which seems to be the default layout.However, web designers, UI experts, and layout artists have become brave in breaking the norms and creating new web layout designs, even taking them to a new and exciting level.

The year 2015 is drawing near to its end, and here is our list of layouts that have already impacted the web design industry by providing the users a compelling and dynamic experience.

Table of Contents:

1. Top Web Design Layout Trends
2. 40 Reasons Why Your Website Design Sucks

Top Web Design Layout Trends

Times have changed. Nonetheless, if you try to look back at how websites have been designed in the last 10 years, you can say that nothing much has changed despite the numerous changes on the web.

1. Split Screens

This is one of the most riveting web layout trends that you need to watch out for not only this 2015 but in the coming years. If you want your website to stand out, you should seriously consider the split screen layout. Here are some of the important reasons why the split-screens layout is a must-apply:

Provides equal importance to two primary elements. It is a common thing for websites to rank each element according to its importance, which defines the order and structure of the design. However, what would you do if two elements are of the same importance, and you can’t seem to know which one to put over the other?

This is the advantage of the split-screens layout. With a split-screen, you can give prominence to both elements and enable the user to quickly choose between them. You can easily convey dual importance. For example, if you want to convey to your website visitors that your core strengths are your digital roots and talented staff, you can simply place one on the left side, and the other on the right side.

If you are a business website, a restaurant, for instance, you can place the identity of your brand on the left, and the list of the dishes that you offer on the right. If you are operating a clothing line website, you can use one side to feature some important information about your company while showcasing the photos of the latest clothing and apparel that you sell on the other side.

On the whole, a split-screen layout can either be a single and static page. However, if a company wishes to display more information or content, the content of the dual page can be scrolled down. There are some cases, though, wherein scrolling down one side of the split screens can result to the scrolling of the other side, too.

However, split screens provide a great deal of ease to users, especially if they are potential customers, as they are provided two sections to check so that they can easily find the item they wish to purchase, or a service that they need to avail. They can do it without having to spend a lot of time, thanks to the reduced clutter on the website and its more streamlined look.

Why Go for a Split Screens Layout

The look of your website, especially if it is a business-related, plays an important role in attracting potential customers. Hence, you have to ensure that it covers what potential clients want as you display the relevant information and other elements that will engage them.

Potential clients or customers looking for important information are easily dissuaded from staying in a website if they find it hard to navigate the site. If you opt to go for the split screen type of website layout, you will not only have a website that is visually appealing but is user-friendly, too.

The Rising Popularity of the Split Screens Layout

A lot of websites that have embraced the split screen layout, thanks to its qualification as a part of the responsive design. Responsive designs, as you already know, adjust a website to the proportions of the device where a site is viewed on. This is especially important as more and more people access the Internet using their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

Split screens can preserve a website’s proportions regardless of the device where it is accessed. If you can come up with split screen design correctly, you have a masterpiece. Many people are especially attracted to the vertical split design believing that it is a fantastic tool, much more if it becomes a fully responsive design.

Furthermore, in contrast to many other websites, a split-screen layout design gives a website an edgy look – big and bold, yet oozing with simplicity and power. However, you have to exercise a great deal of precautions when working on a website that makes use of the split screen. If you are not careful, your overall design may look like a before and after photo in magazines, newspapers, or social media.

How to Do the Split Screen

The split screen layout has become popular because of responsive design

Another great thing about the split screen web design is that you can apply it on any type of theme that you have. With the help of a page builder, you can split the screen easily. The following is a great example of split screens web layout design.

2. Container-Free/ No Chrome Layouts

One of the major elements used in web design is containing elements, such as boxes, borders, shapes and containers of all types. They are used to divide the content of a page separately. However, things have changed nowadays as more and more websites are getting rid of these extra chromes. The new trend that many websites have embraced features the removal of any graphic structure to give way to a more free and open style.

This trend shares some common traits with minimalism. The difference is that it is totally devoid of any visual packaging. The content of the website itself is placed at the center, attracting the attention towards it. On the other hand, the importance of the information is determined by the choice of color, position, or typography instead of the structures and the boxes.

A chrome-free layout is similar to a minimalist design

Foreword

Foreword is one website that clearly makes use of the container-free/ no chrome layout. As you can see, its website has done away with the containers. With the use of colors and fonts, the attention of the users is focalized. Specifically, they bank on typography to provide the most important information about the company itself. On the other hand, the color is used to highlight the other clickable voices. There is no denying that this website is highly minimal, apart from, of course, being responsive.

There are some websites that have eliminated the use of the header and the footer at the same time. Such a move can make the website look like an interactive kiosk. In terms of hierarchy, the content can be done through a left-to-right arrangement. This can make the layout more intuitive. Obviously, there is no need for a chrome that will separate the content from navigation. As a result, the products stand out even more.

Great Way to Emphasize a Brand

If you remove the header and the footer, the brand that your website is promoting can be emphasized. The name of the company can be further highlighted and the statement on what your website does or offers can even be clearer to your visitors. Hence, your visitors are aware of your brand before they start to navigate it. It will make the overall flow of your website become more elegant.

You can easily achieve a neat and nice effect if you get rid of the distractions as you unobtrusively place the menus and links on the page that are devoid of containers. Additionally, if you have no borders, headers, and footers, the eyes will be more drawn to the subject of interest.

These days, the word chrome is no longer related to cars, but it is more identified with site and page design, particularly in reference to all of the headers, footers, containers, and borders that enclose a page. For many web designers, web layout designers, though, chromes are a distraction to the user and take away the focus from the very essence of a website, which can be the products or services that it offers, the photos and images associated with it, or the brand itself.

3. Modular or Grid Based

Each module of these designs is meant to flex based on the size of the screen. When you come to think of it, this isn’t really a new approach. However, since the introduction of responsive web design, the use of this layout design has even become more in demand, thanks to its usefulness. This suggests at the type of flexible layouts one can come up with, especially with the help of plugins like Masonry.

Websites That Have  Embraced the Modular Layout

Team Bad Company is the perfect example of a modular website

1. Team Bad Company. Without question, this example perfectly exemplifies the idea as the design is totally responsive. Since space is divided evenly, the design adapts evenly, regardless of the device where it is viewed. What makes this website further interesting is that it introduces an element in larger screen sizes that disrupts the stiff barriers between the modules themselves.

The layout modules are made of varying sizes

2. Madagascar Dreamworks. This example is a powerful description of the pattern. As compared to that of Team Bad Company, this layout features modules that are of varying sizes. You have to remember that the size of the modules is reflective of the importance and order of hierarchy. While it is true that modules of the same size have their own set of advantages, there is a risk involved in going for it, too; that is your website fails in making an emphasis to the major element.

Clients can see the different amazing shots Peachey Photography can deliver

3. Peachey Photography. If your website is meant to showcase your creative works, there is no questioning that you should go for the modular type page layout. For instance, this photography website makes use of this layout. Not only does it make its potential clients aware of the many impressive shots that he had taken, it provides them the ease of navigation, too. The more you can display on one screen, the more potential clients you can entice to go for your products or services.

White Bear uses 5 different modules

4. White Frontier. This is another example of a website that has pulled off the use of modular layout. The page consists of 5 modules which are of different sizes. The biggest module, of course, bears the image that represents the products that they are selling. As you click on each module, you are taken to the different elements of the website.

A modular layout is ideal for fashion-related websites

5. Lardini. Another website that has embraced the modular layout is Lardini. After all, it is a must for every fashion-related website to showcase groups of marvelous photos that can be easily viewed non-intrusively. Hence, the use of a modular layout is really apt.

Developers are familiar with employing a grid system as a solid foundation for their websites. Because of this, they can easily overcome the difficulties or issues that they experience when they do the prototyping. They don’t only develop it into a project, but they also get to be creative with it. Hence, they can offer interesting solutions that result to exemplary effects and trendy styles.

Modular layout, without question, is essential in maintaining harmony between the elements of a website as it effectively organizes the multimedia data. This results to a balanced structure that provides a great ease for users. Likewise, this type of layout improves the ease of use as it gives the users a simple and quick access to comprehensible pieces of information. This type of layout can help prevent chaos in presenting your content-intensive website. Although modules can sometimes be slightly disproportionate in terms of their asymmetrical balance, the modular layout is still capable of organizing and managing your documents rather effectively.

WordPress Themes for a Modular Layout

Should you decide to go for the modular or grid layout for your website, you can easily do so if you purchase the following WordPress Themes:

Hybrid has a clean and contemporary design

Hybrid. This is a clean & modern WordPress blog theme. Apart from being minimalistic, this theme is definitely clean and has a contemporary design. It is sure to leave your website users in awe. It is highly flexible, easy to customize, and is well-documented. This theme is perfect for blog, news, or an online shopping store. It boasts of numerous setting features, such as categories, layout, cover style, and sidebar. Furthermore, this theme is SEO-friendly.

Neo supports 8 post formats

NEO. This is a modern personal WordPress Theme that will enable you to display your content in a new way. This is also readable in all devices. NEO supports 8 post formats and is equipped with the capacity to display images, videos, and audio. This is most ideal for a personal store, blog, portfolio, and journal.

4. Filling a Single Screen

This layout is a subset of the responsive design where the layout completely adheres to the screen size. This type of layout adapts to fill the whole screen, and the whole layout does not contain scroll bars. Since scrolling is not available, the focus is mainly on the content. A single screen features either an image or a video clip.

And now this question: Would you go for this filled single screen layout? Well, when you really come to think of it, since this type of layout makes use of the whole screen, the image or the video that you use will be highlighted even more. In the event that you opt to use large images, and you use a compelling one that best represents your business, those who visit your website will have a clearer idea as to what your website is all about.

The Advantages of an Image-Focused Single Screen

It is said that a picture can paint a thousand words. This adage may have been around for ages, and it still rings true even in this day of technological advances. According to psychology experts, the brain is faster by as much as 60,000 times in terms of processing images as compared to reading texts. Therefore, the probability of the potential clients to be enticed to go for the services or products that you offer is much higher if you use the filled single screen layout, whether you bank on a video clip or a large image. The more eye-catching the image or the video clip that you use, the higher the probability for you to bait in potential clients or customers.

The most interesting thing about a filled screen layout is that all the information that the users need is properly arranged. The information can be placed over a large background image, ambient video background, or full-width sliders. More often than not, websites that make use of the full-screen layout feature a burger menu or fly out.

WordPress Themes for Single Screen

Onetone is a highly customizable business website

Onetone

This WordPress theme is the most ideal for a business website. Apart from being modern, it is optimized based on CSS3 and HTML5. With this theme, your website can feature all the relevant information on a single page! You are also empowered to tweak every detail of your website. Since Onetone is highly customizable, you can apply all of your creativity to make your website even more enticing. It provides sections that you can commonly see on a professional business page such as gallery, about, clients, services, and many more. With the use of the versatile admin panel, you can add an unlimited number of additional sections, too.

Helix is an amazing website template to build your personal portfolio

Helix

Helix is an amazing website template for building a personal portfolio style blog. Helix is a free full-screen WordPress theme with a flat style menu on its left side. Additionally, it is a WordPress 3+ ready theme that boasts of features such as custom menu, full-screen slideshow homepage, widgetized sidebar etc. Helix also comes with an intuitive options panel that makes it possible for you to adjust several settings existing on the theme. With its broad and expansive full-screen slideshow on the homepage, capturing the attention of your online visitors is, without question, highly probable.

Wallbase a full-screen portfolio theme

Wallbase

This is a free full-screen slideshow portfolio theme that is most suitable for creating personal, photography, and wedding photography blog or website. Wallbase offers a very unique and fully functional layout that will surely make your content stand out. With its professional and modern look, your website visitors, especially your target clientele, will surely be captivated. This theme provides you an option to use a regular blog with image slideshow as the background or a full-screen slideshow. Since this theme is fully responsive, its width adjusts automatically, regardless of the device where your site is viewed. This impressive theme boasts of multiple page templates for various purposes, such as contact page, full-width page, and many more. Wallbase also comes with a custom background color, custom post types, and an ad management feature.

Conclusion

The above-discussed layouts can be likened to building blocks. Just like building blocks, they can be assembled in more ways than one. The truth of the matter is that many of the mentioned samples can be moved to other categories that have been discussed. The design layouts of 2015 are a clear demonstration of the fusion of diversity and experimentation that results to the blending of the traditional and novel ideas. Finally, gone are the days of predictable and monotonous web page layouts.

Now let’s see what are the reasons that your web design doesn’t rock.

40 Reasons Why Your Website Design Sucks

We all have or have heard about those clients from hell, those that really love pink pages with red text. Even worse, what about those people who call themselves “web designers” with expensive prices and services listed on their really messy, horrible and amateur portfolios, just because they made their uncle’s business page and they liked it. Unfortunately, many people believe that web design is all about personal style and smart IDE’s with pre-built buttons. Let me tell you something – they are wrong. I love to play football, but that doesn’t make me a professional player, and Dreamweaver does not make you a professional web developer.

Web Design and development demands knowledge, practice, daily effort to learn and study, and passion, like professional football players. (Design conventions: Necessary guidelines in order to improve a specific design.) No matter how good or bad personal style is, the truth is that everyone has one. However, when design conventions are left out of a project, the result will be a bad or uninteresting design. That is exactly what happens with those terrible clients, when they try to implement their personal style without knowing anything about design conventions.

1) Balance

Balance is a basic principle in design. It is directly connected to every element, and helps you control the design flow of your page. There are two important concepts in balance – symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. With Symmetrical Balance, elements have equal weight on both sides, leading to a formal and traditional web site, however, with asymmetrical balance, elements have a different weight which leads to a different and unique layout. I decided to include this topic because its importance is major in layout design. If incorrectly used, it can lead to the total ruin of your layout.

Above is a good example of asymmetrical balance. Did you notice the “DECO Windshield Repair” text on the right, and the background map image on the left? Although those elements do not have the same weight, it feels perfectly balanced. However, if you hide the text on the right, the page will lose its balance very quickly. Now take a look at the white bottom section, those three columns don’t have the same weight, but it’s perfectly balanced because the left text (“You can’t be everywhere…”) has equal weight as the top right text on the red background.

The result is a “cross balance”, meaning that the weaker and strong elements create a balance between them. I consider this to be of huge importance in asymmetric balance.

The website above fails in so many ways that I could use it as example in the remaining nine topics below, but let’s stay focused on this one. Do you feel the balance? Yes, you are correct, there is no balance. The left side has plenty of images plus a video of the person standing, which results in the left side having more weight than the image on the right.

2) Bevel and Emboss

I had to include this one. It’s really annoying to see the misuse of this layer style. For those who are starting, I understand that you think bevel and emboss is a nice effect and it should be everywhere on your page, but it’s not. Bevel effects should be used sparingly. There are plenty of tutorials on how to transform bevel and emboss into a powerful technique, but if you don’t know how to use it, don’t use it at all.

3) Distracting Backgrounds

Implementing a busy background distracts the user’s attention, hides important information, and disrespects visual hierarchy. If your background image has a higher visual impact than everything else, users won’t catch the message of your website and will leave quickly.

John Kavanagh’s website makes good use of background images, respecting visual hierarchy and also content information. Reading is left to right, and in this case, the user’s attention follows the buildings on the left towards the Eiffel Tower and London Bridge on the right, consequently leading to navigation (which is not visible in the image). This is a perfect example of how background can be used as a “tool” for design flow.

Above is a perfect example of what not to do with your background.

4) Lack of Detail

If your website sucks, it’s probably because you didn’t care about the minor things. When you think your design is complete, you need to start from the beginning and try to apply detail on every single element. As soon as you finish with detail, you need to start again and consider where it can be improved. A single stroke, light effect, or shadow makes the difference between a good and a great design.

Blackberry’s website is a good example of what you can achieve by spending time with details.

Detail, detail, detail.

For a company with the size and impact of Microsoft, their website is far from great. It’s definitely a good example of lack of attention and detail.

5) White Space

White space refers to the space between elements, and it does have nothing to do with the color. If you don’t know what I am talking about, stop your design projects and read about this subject – How to Actually Use Negative Space As Design Element. White space defines the space/distance between your site elements, providing good readability, focus, and design flow. It also gives your website a clean and professional look.

Clean layout is not the same as minimalist, think about clean as the opposite of cluttered where content is all over the place. One other thing you should consider is to use the same height between elements, so if you have three divs vertically aligned, and the middle div is 50px from the top div, it should also be 50px from the bottom div. This is not mandatory, but helps you achieve a good balance between elements.

Uberspace’s website makes good use of white-space.

Just looking at the image above, gives me a headache. The quantity of information is overwhelming, but the way it is displayed is even worse. Cluttered information makes the user feel lost and unhappy. Avoid it!

6) Flash Intros

Once upon a time, having a flash intro in your website would make you a web design ninja. There are plenty of great intros out there, and plenty more of really bad attempts. Nowadays, most visitors want quick access to information and when you demand them to wait, they leave. If you want an intro in your website, make sure it has a point, it adds value and that it is well made.

7) Music

So I have my headphones on, I open several tabs, and suddenly I jump from the chair because irritating music starts playing. I then search for the correct tab and when I find it, I search for the mute button and guess what, there isn’t one. I don’t want to mute my speakers so I close the page and I won’t return to that loud place. Loud and boring music coming from your website is really annoying, but not having a way to shut it down, is an exit ticket from your website.

8) Tables

This is a controversial topic, some people defend the use of tables and others not so much.  This topic is not meant to convince you not to use tables, but to use tables when and where you should. Personally, I do not remember the last time I’ve used tables, I simply don’t like it. However, for tabular data, tables are the best choice, since it increases readability and organization.

Shopify’s pricing page is a good example of how great the use of tables can be for tabular data.

Never use tables to style your layout!

9) Colors

The wrong choice of colors can ruin an entire website. Contrast, saturation, types of colors, target audience, style, etc. There are many factors you need to consider when choosing the right colors for your website. If you don’t know where to start, Tina wrote a great article about this subject – Colors in Web Design: Choosing a right combination for your Website. Using too many bright colors, or a similar contrast for your background and foreground elements, or even warm colors along with cool colors, you are basically forcing your visitors to leave.

Color needs to fit perfectly, according to your target audience, style and personality.

If you enter the website above, please be sure to use sunglasses.

10) Overflow

Unless you’re building a website with horizontal layout, showing a horizontal scroll bar is a mistake and looks bad. Make sure your layout is optimized for a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, this way 98% of your visitors will be able to visit your website without problems. If you really want to use a bigger background image, be sure you hide the horizontal scroll bar, using the CSS property overflow-x: hidden.

11) Distracting Animations

A boring design does not bring light to your visitor’s eyes, however, having too much animation on your website brings plenty of downsides to your business. Distracting the user from the purpose of their visit ensures he doesn’t get the message and doesn’t return. If you plan to use animations on your website, make sure they are appropriate for the product you are selling or displaying. After that, make sure it is correctly balanced with your content, so in order to do that, you need to ask yourself three questions:

1. What is the first thing you look at when you visit that specific page (animation or content)?
2. How long it takes to view the entire animation?
3. Can you read text easily while the animation is playing?

The answer to the first question will probably be the animation, if it’s not you have passed the test and your animation is not disturbing your visits. If the animation is the first thing you see, it means it has a bigger visual impact than your content, and you need to answer the second question. If the answer to the second question is “looping” or “too much”, you have a problem and the answer to the third question will be “no”.

So the rule is simple – the user can’t be distracted while he’s reading, so make sure your animation ends quickly or has a small visual impact.

12) Cross-Browsing

In a perfect world, there would be no IE, people would use the same web browser everyday, and web developers wouldn’t have headaches while coding their websites. However, in the real world, there are hundreds of web browsers and each one renders a website differently.

“Cross-browser refers to the ability for a website, web application, HTML construct or client-side script to support all the web browsers.”

When you start building your website, you simply can’t forget that it will render differently in Firefox than in Chrome or Internet Explorer. So in order to get consistent results on most popular browsers, you need to write clean code and follow the W3C standards.

13) Confusing navigation

Navigation should help the user to navigate your website. If it fails in that purpose, there is no point in calling it navigation. One thing I really hate about it is the need to search for a website’s navigation or the need to figure out how a navigation system works. If you don’t tell the user how to proceed to the next page, he leaves. Your navigation should be consistent, easy to find, and intuitive.

Another thing you should always try to do is to use text instead of symbols. Remember, never ask the user to think.

I actually like localwanderer.com’s design, however, there’s a problem with the navigation. The blue text on the right are buttons which can be tricky to identify as such. I had to move my cursor over those elements to figure out they had a little animation while the cursor is over them, telling me that those elements are indeed buttons. If you need to move your cursor over a button to confirm it’s in fact a button, it means your navigation is somehow confusing.

14) Bad use of themes

With the increasing popularity of market places, it’s possible to see more and more amazing themes with great design and functionality, and companies and individuals who buy them as soon as they see one they like. The problem appears when those themes are not suitable to the image of the company, or when they are incorrectly used. I have seen many companies turning great themes into ordinary designs. That amazing design doesn’t always fit that amazing brand, so be careful buying the best-seller theme on Theme Forest.

15) Labyrinth of information

Although this topic title may sound weird to you, it’s a really common mistake which I usually call the labyrinth effect, and in part, it’s also a problem related to usability. There are great websites out there with dramatic content problems. If the user has problems finding information, he will leave and won’t return.

Make sure your information is easily reachable. It is also extremely important to always provide your contact information on every page of your website, and to make sure the user can easily find it.

I really like bitbytebit’s design, but it clearly suffers from the labyrinth effect. Contact information is situated in the middle of the page, hidden among other information squares.

16) Image versus text

Typography is one of the most important elements in web design, and almost the only element that can be used both for aesthetics and text. However, its misuse can make your website bad for both the end-user and also for programmers and web designers. Make sure you choose a font that’s readable and suitable to your target audience, but you can’t also forget about the person who is in charge of the website maintenance. Using images to replace typography can be a huge mistake, especially in big projects or projects that won’t be updated by yourself.

17) Image Optimization

If your website takes too much time to load, you lose visits and probably profit. You already know that you simply can’t resize your image in Dreamweaver or Notepad, right? The image resolution will be smaller (or bigger) but the file size will be the same, so there is no point in resizing that way. You need to resize your image with image editing software like Photoshop or Fireworks. Resizing, however, is not enough – you also need to compress the image. Depending on the image, you should compress it as much as possible, until you start seeing image quality loss. You can compress it using JPEG, PNG or GIF format.

18) Clear Message

The crucial element of a website is the message that’s transmitted to the user which illustrates its purpose, telling the user what the website is all about. The message should be clear and immediately recognized by the user, as soon as he sees the site. One thing you should always have in mind is that the user simply doesn’t care about you or your website, they do care about fulfilling their desires and ambitions which is why they visit your site in the first place – to help the user with his mission.

The example above fails to transmit a clear message, or any message at all. I need to click on another button to figure out what the website is about. Remember, the user doesn’t care about you, so if they find another brand with a clear message they won’t think twice to exit your website.

19) No Updates

This doesn’t really make your website suck, but it definitely helps. No one cares about a website that is extremely outdated and whose posts are from 2008. Remember that content is more important than aesthetics, so it is very important to keep your website updated as much as possible. If you have a beautiful website with no useful content, the user will leave and won’t return.

20) Full Dedication

Having a website with 20% of inactive functionalities transmits lack of confidence to the end-user. Building a website requires full dedication and attention from your end. Most of us have an “update list” for each website, where we write that during the next week, the 404 Error Page, or the widget discussed during the first meeting needs to be online. After two weeks, you realize you didn’t have the time to do it,  because you are now with three more projects in hand, and you also noticed that you have yet to finish some minor details in your online portfolio.

Organization is important, but without dedication it loses its value. When you finish a website, try to also finish every item on your “update list”.