10 kinds of practical ways to break the barriers of web designers

As a web designer, there is nothing worse than feeling unproductive, unable to complete or end design projects. That depressing, depressed, and waste our income.

Now, imagine that if there is a magical, foolproof technology that leaves us with an immediate hurdle of creativity and immediately gives us the power to be creative and hands-on.

This is really great, is not it? Oh, it's too bad, because there's no such thing. The obstacles to the designer have appeared in each of us, and there is no easy solution. Here are some things you can try.

1, start from the inside out

Every serious web designer tells you to start your layout with a sophisticated grid, make some wireframes, and see where the text is placed in those blocks and columns. Then set the color scheme and design theme, and finally work out those details.

In other words, we are taught that from beginning to end, all the way down to the details.

But we know that things are not always (or I should say, never) dealt with like this. Staring through the boring, tedious grid all day long will not help you advance an inch. On the contrary, the content of those inspirational websites gives us many good ideas that let us know how these topics are implemented on a company website. The only textual content that our clients give us is just some of the "people-oriented, service-oriented customer first service" copy and paste from the ubiquitous website (originally Lorem ipsum dolor sitmet, meaningless latin, used by printers Display font features).

Why not break all the rules and then from the inside out? Design something small, like a form button or a "read more" link. Do not worry about color; you can change it at any time. Or pick a palette from kuler or COLOURlovers and do something that looks good; something that can make you look at the decorating site.

First try to design a key detail, then the next part of the design may follow.

Dribbble, a site that features widgets in the design project, shows us that it is possible to get inspired by the widgets in the overall design, even if we do not have to see the entire layout. You can put this as your working principle, the first focus on those little things.

2, solve the problem first

Sometimes you can not find inspiration for some very special reasons, you just have to look back at the website album to find it. For example, you can not be inspired because your client does not provide you with any content, and you are removing words such as "people-centered service." Or may the customer's logo is quite scary, engage in the edge you can not design any good things.

In this case, it is best to recognize the problem and solve it first. For a long time, we all wanted to see ourselves emerge as a design superman, and everything we produced was good. But recognizing that the quality of our output depends on the quality we get and input, there is nothing wrong (the well-known principle of "if it's junk, junk out" principle)

How do you design a website around this LOGO?

Ask your clients to hire web copy writers if the quality of the content is poor or nonexistent. If their existing LOGO looks scary, remind them to pay attention to that if you can provide professional LOGO / logo design services, but also provide additional mark-up service.

If you do not solve the real problem first, you run the risk of producing a defective product and the process can be very frustrating.

3, the code first, design second

In the complicated process of designing a website, the design is usually preceded by code. Things like navigation menus or Javascript effects are often after the design is done. But if you're stuck on the first thing (design), you can just change that convention in time, even when you're in a design hurdle.

Reverse order, starting with the code, and then designing for the code, which may not be conventional. However, there are arguments that this approach can ensure that forms are functional and that functionality has topped the usability website design.

Like solving a maze, design can sometimes be easier when you start with the results.

Some real things you can do are:

In the browser design, the next step before opening Photoshop.
Write jQuery scripts, you know which ones you'll be using, or those scripts that make up the main attraction of design, such as slides.
Write a "payment" form code (do not worry about styles), focusing on user processes, information architecture, error validation, and more.
Develop custom WordPress themes, starting with the template page (archives.php, author.php, etc.)

4, starting from the design elements

One of the most common ways of getting inspiration is to simply find something cool in your design. Many designs start with the designer finding a beautiful new font, a special texture, a set of funny icons, or a new design technique they want to use.

Again, this may sound paradoxical, and the "right" way is to find the right design element for your project, not the other ways around.

Font selection can have a big impact on your design, but also a great source of inspiration.

But the truth is, we usually have only a certain degree of freedom in our work. We should not be afraid to follow our intuition and creativity. Some of the best and most original designs happen when creators are not afraid to follow his own inspiration, no matter where inspiration is generated.

So build a font, brush, texture, photo library and look at them next time you get stuck. This is the most efficient way to get rid of designer obstacles. You can also check out one of my small projects, design resource search engine, which allows you to search for 150 design resources website (咦, it is not writing soft articles it).

Think outside the box (literally, think outside the box, literally)

Most creative / creative guides will tell you that when you're in trouble, you should go to Flickr to see a photo of the setting sun and the red panda, or go for a walk. Although I love to walk with the Cubs holding hands during the sunset, I find it a difficult way to do little to my creation.

On the contrary, here are some reliable ways to look: Box.

Packaging design is a big source of inspiration. Packaging has existed for centuries, both in art and science, and packaging is the web design for the coming years. Any cereal carton competes with another 50 packs, attracting the attention of the shop owner, so you know that no matter how small, no one is lucky.

There are a lot of packaging examples for blogs like Dieline.

So, walk to your local supermarket or take a look at these great websites, blogs and blog articles.

The Dieline Packaging Museum of the United States lovely packaging packaging design world (Creattica)
Beautiful expressive packaging design (Smashing Magazine)
50 beautiful and impressive packaging design (Webdesigner Depot)
Packaging Design Inspiration (Dzine Blog)

6, copy (but do not steal)

Now let me be clear about this point before you start out to your lawyer: I'm not advocating plagiarism at all. The key here is understanding what you're copying. Simply copying is not enough; if you want to succeed, you have to analyze the small details of why the original was created.

Do not copy and paste, zoom to pixel level learning is the best.

Let's say you want to copy a shiny "web 2.0" button (though I do not recommend adding this already thousands of things). Take a screenshot of the page, import it into Photoshop, then draw a blank rectangle, try similar gradients, glows and shades until you get the same look. Experiment with these parameters, when your new button is not the same as the original one, you have an original look and feel. Rebuild the rules that shape the appearance of things, not the things themselves. Study technology, you can learn from your colleagues, and may even be better than the original.

7, switch to another project

Sometimes, no matter how hard you work on something, you do not go well. This is the time you should take a break before you start something else.

This is the essence of structural procrastination: Doing other things with the feeling of "do not want to be done". Sometimes, the completion of the second thing you can do to promote, or even stimulate you to do the original task!

8, do something that makes you feel good

I promised not to mention the new century and the sensitive things in this article, but I would like to remind you that your mood has a great influence on your writing.

Sunny white sand beach. . . Are there any more clichés? I believe you can find more beautiful photos than this.

If you're in a bad mood, go play, cook, watch kung fu movies - anything that makes you happy. The risk here is that you may be more upset, not focused, so I make this last suggestion.

9, get feedback

This advice is not really for the type of situation where you play a leading role on a blank stage. But if you find yourself in the late stages of the design process, hurriedly asking others about what they think of the current state of the design. No matter what they say will always help you move forward.

If they like it, use this positive feedback as a motivation and as a sign that you are on the right path.

Ask them why if they do not like it. Welcome criticism and use it to improve your work. Sometimes it takes only 10 minutes to solve the key details enough to create a completely different impression and change someone's thinking about the design.

10, start again

One of the biggest flaws of designers is that sometimes we get too focused and excited when it comes to our designs.

Sometimes starting again and feeling completely free within minutes is what you need to get out of the way and you will find that you can even use some or all of the work you've done, whether it be in this or the next project. So do not be afraid to press Ctrl + N (or Command + N) to restart. If the new design can not move forward, you can still return to your original - what loss do you have?

Reprinted form of a hyperlink when you indicate - Translator: Long Nanke article source: http: //www.jxln.info/wangzhan-zhizuo/10-bust-web-design-block.html