While discussing the aesthetics of a library program promotion, my supervisor made this comment: “Their graphic designer never met a font they didn’t like.” In other words, there were too many fonts being used in one campaign. There wasn’t a cohesive look as far as the text used in the graphics. It was distracting, and… Continue reading Does your library have a font problem?
Category: Design
4 rules to make your promotional graphics a lot better
Do you create promotional graphics for your library’s website or social media? Yes, design can be subjective, but there are definitely guidelines that should be considered. After all, you’re not doing this for the sake of creating art: you’re trying to sell a potential user or attendee on an idea. I’m sharing my four rules… Continue reading 4 rules to make your promotional graphics a lot better
Are you designing for something that isn’t there anymore?
When I started doing web stuff in the 1990’s, I remember it being very much a “Wild West” kind of realm, with few hard and fast guidelines or rules (which is why sites made with GeoCities could get away with looking incredibly awful and still be “cool”). Everyone was experimenting with creating for the World Wide… Continue reading Are you designing for something that isn’t there anymore?
Carousels: time to go
Carousels have almost become ubiquitous. I am frequently asked about them when I start designing a site for a library. I often. now, make it clear that these don’t represent a good design choice. Yes, they’re convenient. They seemingly solve the problem of how to fit all that “stuff” on the front page. They’re flashy… Continue reading Carousels: time to go
3 truths about your library’s website
I create websites for public libraries. I’ve been doing that for more than 15 years. In that time, I’ve learned a few things, especially in my current job, where I work on sites for multiple libraries. I’ve learned some hard truths about these sites, and sometimes I’ve shared those with the clients I’ve worked with. … Continue reading 3 truths about your library’s website
Challenges
I was recently asked to talk to a SLIS class for the University of Illinois, concerning what I do and what real-world advice I might care to impart to a class full of potential web librarians and developers. One of the things that I shared were the major challenges that I typically face in my… Continue reading Challenges
Some lines about logos
In my job, I work with a lot of library logos. Especially because, when possible , I design around the logo. I don’t like to just create a template and stick a logo in it. I like the rest of a design to reflect the aesthetics of the logo. Which, I have found, creates a… Continue reading Some lines about logos
Is it theft? Yeah, it is.
Recently, I had the unpleasant experience of discovering that one of my custom graphics was appearing, without permission, on a library’s website. It appeared that the library had simply copied the graphic from the original site for which it was created and placed it on its own site. I was disturbed by this. It’s 2012. … Continue reading Is it theft? Yeah, it is.
Website work starts with education
“Though art may be subjective, Web design is not. In Web design, there is a right way and a wrong way to approach layout, navigation, copy, white space, and other critical website components.”—Andrew Follett A lot of what I do in my job is education. Sure, I spend time actually designing websites, writing code and… Continue reading Website work starts with education