What You Absolutely Must Know Before You Form a Web Design Partnership

Advertise here with BSA

Should you work with a freelance design partner?

The answer is “maybe.”

Not every freelancer is cut out to be in a partnership. And not every pair of freelance designers who decide to work together succeed.

For many, working with a freelancing partner is the best thing that ever happened to them. But for others, forming a partnership results in nothing but chaos and misery.

What’s the difference?

That’s an excellent question, and one that we’ll explore in this post. We’ll look at why some partnerships work and others don’t. I’ll also provide five tips to help you form a working web design partnership.

If you liked this post, you may also like 10 Essential Guidelines for Freelance Collaboration.

Born to Be Together

The dream partners–you’ve probably met them at one point or another. You probably also envy them.

They seem to work together seamlessly. They get along so well, it seems that one could finish the other’s sentences. You may even wonder if they can read each other’s minds.

Of course, a smart web design company will avoid making any internal disagreements public knowledge. So, things might not be going as smoothly with the dream partners as you imagine.

Still, it is a fact that some personality types just naturally click. It’s almost as though they were born to be together.

Business partners who work well together generally have the following characteristics:

• Mutual respect and trust. Partnerships work best when each partner respects and trusts the other. Without this foundation, most partnerships can’t survive.


• Balance of abilities. In the best partnerships, the partners are equally matched. While their talents and skills may differ, one is not superior to the other.


• Clear lines of communication. As with any business, good communication keeps a partnership healthy. Bad communication dooms a partnership.


• A team mentality. Big egos need not apply. In a business partnership, working well with others means the difference between success and failure.


• 
  

  More work = more pay. Last, but not least, web design partnerships often earn more than solo web designers. And who couldn’t use more income?

  
  

Parnerships whose members have all or most of the traits listed above generally enjoy business success. But not every partnership is so lucky.

Freelancing Hell

A poor partnership match can be a true disaster. Freelancing is stressful enough without having to deal with in-house fights and power struggles all the time.

You’ve probably also run across those freelance web design partners whose relationship with each other is so bad you wonder why they ever went into business together. They may be wondering the same thing.

A web design partnership mismatch can seem like freelancing hell. And betrayal by a once-trusted partner can feel worse than a client rejection.

Here are some of the disasters that can happen when you aren’t careful about which web designer you partner with:

• Blame game. Whose does what? In a bad partnership, a lot of finger-pointing occurs. Mistakes are always the fault of the other partner.


• Double jeopardy. When partners are mismatched, both may attempt to contact the same client directly–causing confusion and distrust.


• Differing visions. Freelance web designers who don’t work well together are often unable to agree upon a unified project direction.


• Unhappy clients. It’s hard to hide the chaos caused by a bad partnership. Odds are you’ll miss deadlines and otherwise upset your clients.

5 Crucial Partnership Tips

Partnership success begins before you ever form your web design partnership. Here are some tips to help you make sure your partnership starts out right:

1. Be picky. When selecting someone to team up with, choose carefully. Just because someone is an excellent web designer doesn’t mean that they will work well with you. Consider their work habits, values, and experience. You should also consider their online reputation since they will be associated with your freelancing business.


2. Get it in writing. Communication is vital, so it’s important to keep a written record of any work-related discussions you and your partner have. This includes contracts, who is responsible for doing what, and even specifics like when each partner gets paid and how much. Don’t rely on your memory for important details.


3. Look for a complement. Often when a web designer looks for a partner they look for someone who is very similar to themselves. However, your partnership will benefit more if you choose someone whose skills complement yours. Try to find someone who is strong in your weak areas and vice versa. You’ll end up balancing each other out.


4. Do a trial project together. While working as partners may seem like a good idea in theory, the reality is quite different. Before you make a long-term partnership commitment, work on a trial project together. If the initial project seems like a struggle, don’t assume that things will automatically improve once you have a more formal partnership arrangement.


5. Don’t forget the legal questions. A partnership is often the first step to an agency or an even larger organization. Have an attorney draft a partnership agreement, or set up your web design business as an LLC. Laws vary depending on where you live. An attorney can help you decide what business structure works best for your situation.

As you can see, how you form your partnership is very important if it is to succeed.

Learn More

Are you thinking about forming a web design partnership? Here are three more resources to help you get started:

• From SBA.Gov, Partnership. This resource does a good job of explaining the types of business partnership you can form. It also reviews the advantages and disadvantages of forming a partnership.


• From Danny Iny on tuts+, The Ultimate Partnership Guide for Freelancers. I particularly liked the approach of this article, which provides an overview about partnerships as well as advice on how to fix a bad partnership.


• From Thursday Bram on Fuel Your Creativity, How the Right Partnerships Can Make Freelance Clients Love You. Here’s some very actionable advice on finding the right freelancing partner.

Your Turn

Have you ever been in either a good or bad partnership? Share your experiences in the comments.

Advertise here with BSA

Source: http://ift.tt/1lRjRZg

Design your way

We are happy to announce another massive giveaway from Inky Deals that comes with a free pack of premium resources worth $66. The freebie is sent to the email address you use to enter the contest and is part of The Epic Bundle: $20,048 worth of Top-Quality Resources From $49.

About Inky Deals

Inky Deals is the place to go if you want premium resources at unbeatable prices whether you’re a graphic or web designer, developer, or business owner looking to improve yourself and your work. They’re the only ones who offer a 200% money back guarantee on every product. This means that if you’re not happy with it, you get your money back and you also get to keep the product.

Take advantage of this opportunity to win an 11 inch MackBook Air and 1 of the 10 Epic Bundles: $20,048 worth of Top-Quality Resources From $49!

What Can You Win?

Youíll get a surprise free pack of premium resources worth $66 sent to the email address you use to enter the contest. Take a look at what’s inside the The Epic Bundle: $20,048 worth of Top-Quality Resources From $49:

10 lucky winners will be chosen from the list of participants and each one of them will win a free copy of The Epic Bundle: $20,048 worth of Top-Quality Resources ñ From $49. One of the 10 winners will also take home an 11 inch MacBook Air!

How to Enter the Giveaway:

To enter the giveaway, please use the widget below. You can gain more entries by leaving a comment, tweeting about the giveaway and sharing it with your friends.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for participating, you’re now part of Inky’s extended design family! Sit tight, because you’ve just embarked alongside 300,000 of your peers on a ship that will lead you to great professional and personal development.

You will definitely like these articles

• Ego Trippin: Snoop Dogg wallpaper design contest


• 1000 free custom size business cards and a rolled canvas print giveaway


• Winners for the 1000 free custom size business cards and a rolled canvas print giveaway


• Sitemasher 2009 Design Contest


• Giveaway: Get 3 Developer Subscriptions From Elegant Themes And The New Divi 2.0

Source: http://ift.tt/1pL5kpM

Design your way

The goal and only purpose of a user interface (UI), as the name implies, is to create an experience for the user.

Many automated solutions exist to make UI design simpler and faster; however, the designer must understand some basic rules of how to design a user interface. Because the focus is centered on the potential user, the user’s needs must primarily drive all design choices.

What are the needs of the user?

• To accomplish the task with relative ease


• To complete the task quickly


• To enjoy the experience

The single most important characteristic of the UI is that it has to work well and work consistently. Secondly, the UI must carry out commands and respond quickly and intuitively. Lastly, but still very important the user interface should be visually appealing to the user.

Not one of these user needs can be minimized or ignored, but they must be prioritized. The feeling of satisfaction that a designer experiences when putting on the finishing touches is wonderful – for the designer.



If a user becomes lost or frustrated during the interaction, it really won’t matter at all that he thought the program looked cool. All enjoyment of the experience quickly disappears and frustration appears.

Designing a fantastic UI can be a daunting task, because in order to do so, we must focus completely on the target client and the program’s usefulness to that client.

We will discuss some basic rules that are very easy to comprehend but not always easy to follow. As long as these principles are our guide and the resulting characteristics are present, our UI design will be successful.

Think about your user

This is very much an understatement of what really needs to happen. Constantly think of the user and his needs. Think of nothing else! It is very important that you do not assume anything about this part.

Pretend that you have no prior knowledge of the task at hand and approach your research form this angle. Truly and fully understanding the desired user experience is critical and all other aspects will depend on it.

The best way to gain a good understanding of the user needs is to, of course, speak with the client. Conduct an interview – face to face if possible. Ask detailed questions about what she wants to accomplish, what features he enjoys and dislikes. During the conversation, come to the meeting with an open mind, take detailed notes and employ active listening techniques.

Asking a question and simply pausing while the subject answers while mentally forming your response is the opposite of active listening and will block your hearing and comprehension.

After hearing your client’s response it is very important to summarize or restate what you have heard and ask them to clarify whether you are correct in your understanding. By interacting with the client in this way, you are giving them the control of the project and the end result will be that they feel at ease and in control.

A different aspect of a user’s needs is his or her level of competence or ability to use software. You may need to simplify or otherwise adjust to this.

After all, if you give them the ability to accomplish the job but they are not skilled enough to use your interface, what have you accomplished? Remember frustration and discomfort destroys enjoyment.

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

When beginning your UI design, start with a bare-bones approach. Build the skeleton of absolutely, fundamentally necessary elements and features. To go beyond this and add any additional features, stop and question your own motivation.

Does this feature have a definite purpose? Is it necessary to accomplish the required task? Will this make the user experience more efficient or simple? Am I showing off to a competitor or to myself by adding this? Are my desires driving my choices or am I remaining true to my goal of simply meeting the user’s needs? Remember, with a successful user interface design, less is ALWAYS more.

The same process should be applied to adding any design elements. If you can clearly explain the need for the element, then it should be included. If you are trying to impress someone else or yourself, it should be excluded. When in doubt, leave it out – at least for the present moment.

We certainly won’t pretend that the goal of being clear and concise at the same time will be easily accomplished. This particular guideline is much easier said than done, unfortunately; however, let the valuable time spent be an investment on your part rather than on the user side.

You are not improving the client’s quality of life by requiring them to read numerous, lengthy explanations of features in an effort to bring clarity. Self-explanatory tools are much more helpful than endless documentation. If there is a need for excessive documentation, then you have not achieved your goal of an efficient, quick and simple user interaction and your efforts are counterproductive.

Again, this is not to suggest that you neglect attention to visual design elements. I am simply making the point that visual effects cannot be the main focus or add an unnecessary complication to the user. You focus on what it looks like much more than a user ever will.

Additionally, make life simple for the user by allowing some room for error. Error is inevitable, both in your design process and on the user end. If a simple formatting or input error causes a need to restart the entire process, users will feel thwarted and defeated.

Make the design familiar to the user

This is not the time or place to reinvent the wheel or to teach new skills and patterns. The reality is that users spend a major part of their lives using an interface that is not the one you are creating.

Keeping certain elements similar to other frequently used applications will give the user a feeling of deja vu. If you give the user the feeling that they have used this application before and understand how it will react to certain actions, then you have achieved the creation of an intuitive product.

Menus and buttons should perform in a predictable manner according to similar applications. Humans see what we expect to see! Give them what they would expect from other experiences. For instance under a File menu, a user would expect to be able to save changes, print or share the document.

A feeling of comforting familiarity can also be imparted to the user by providing frequent feedback. The status of any action should be apparent to the client. No matter how airtight your product humans are going to make mistakes.

They should easily understand whether the action was successful or not, whether saving is required or if further action is needed. The last thing you want is a guessing user. A guessing user quickly becomes a frustrated user and ultimately, an ex-user. This feedback can be accomplished with brief messages or visual cues. As a user received various messages regarding the success or failure of a particular sequence, mistakes will occur less often.

Handling labels and icons

Place labels next to icons rather than having the label appear as the user hovers over the icon. This will only slow them down. Don’t assume the user will understand the meaning of any icon unless it is a commonly used and universally understood symbol. What a new image means to you may be completely unclear to the client.

Use a visual hierarchy

When considering the UI design, a strong visual hierarchy is crucial to the look and feel of the interface as well as to ease-of-use. Each screen and menu should be similar with options consistently placed. Once users have become acquainted with the opening or home page, the design should already seem familiar as they move through subsequent screens.

Overuse of fonts and other features intended to highlight important areas will result in an opposite effect. If everything is highlighted, nothing really stands out.

Any changes in color or other design elements may cause a need for many more changes through the user interface. In light of these points, a previously state rule bears repeating: only add or change design elements if the action is absolutely necessary.

Be consistent in your design

We’ve talked a lot about the comfort and confidence of the user and will continue. Remember: the user interface design is all about the user experience. If you keep your design steady and familiar the client will feel at home as they progress through the sequence. A consistent design helps the user to feel comfortable and confident. Every new phase of the program cannot require learning completely new skills. Similar tasks will look familiar and respond predictably.

Color scheme, general layout, navigational buttons and menus should remain exactly the same throughout each page. A consumer’s eye will automatically be drawn to a menu if the menu resides in the same area as on the previous page.

Make it look good

We’ve repeatedly stressed that design is secondary to functionality. If a program doesn’t function well and predictably, it won’t matter how it looks. However, if you have created a fantastic product, go the extra mile and put on the finishing touches.

The UI needs to look good to the target audience, so personal preferences of the developer may not be important. What is visually pleasing to one person may be irritating to the next.

Again, don’t make the mistake of going overboard with aesthetic elements. Know when to stop adding “bling”.

Remember, your design must be efficient

The primary goal of the user interface must be kept in mind here. The sole purpose of the UI is to accomplish tasks quickly and effectively, providing benefit and enjoyment to the user. Take the same care to evaluate the efficiency of the UI that you took to discover the client needs. After you’ve asked what the needs are, created an interface designed to meet those needs and provided a comfortable vehicle that meets those needs, the job is not done.

To determine whether your design had efficiently met the goals, observe actual users to see if your design needs improvement. You may discover elements that slow the process down or frustrate users. Only by testing the product in a real-time environment can you truly evaluate design efficiency.

Conclusion

This discussion is intended to serve as general guidelines to follow when creating any type of user interface. Every solution will be different in and of course, no hard and fast rules will apply to each situation. Some of the suggestions may seem to interfere with others.

Even as ideas appear to conflict, none can be ignored. Design features must be chosen only if they do not interfere with functionality; however, color schemes and other aesthetics are also important the user experience and should not be ignored.

Interfaces should accomplish all required task with clarity and efficiency, but in the effort to impart information, we can overwhelm and frustrate the customer with too much explanation.

The reality of user interface design is that every project will be different. The goal is to apply the guidelines discussed here in harmony with each other.

Paying particular attention to each aspect and choreographing a final product that is in perfect balance can only be done with meticulous planning and constant reevaluation. To pull all of these factors together in a balanced and smooth interface will take practice.

Mistakes will be made, but the most effective lessons are usually learned through making mistakes. Try, maybe fail and try again and again and again. Interface design is not a natural talent for most and success will come with practice and experience. Start from where you are and be brave.

You will definitely like these articles

• Data Visualization Designs That Should Inspire You – 23 Infographics


• Minimalist Posters Showcasing Philosophical Doctrines


• Show me some well designed logos! #29


• Black edition – Google Talk (GTalk) skin + theme


• 40 Beautiful And Amazing Twitter Backgrounds

Source: http://ift.tt/1vQIe12

How to flip an image in Photoshop – Tutorial

Flipping images option in Photoshop allows your object / image to flip either horizontally or vertically. Flip Photoshop option is useful when you want to duplicate a whole or part of an image and want to make it look a bit different.

In this tutorial, we are showing you how to flip an image in Photoshop – or rather, how to flip an object inside a photo in Photoshop.

Steps to flip an image in Photoshop

1. First of all open Adobe Photoshop. We are using Adobe Photoshop CS 5.5 but this also works on earlier or later versions.

2. Next, Open the image that you want to flip. To do that, click on the File >> Open and select the file you want to open. Then click on the Open.

3. Next, on the menu bar, select Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal. This will flip your whole image (canvas) horizontally.

4. As our complete image is flipped horizontally. Instead of this, you may want to flip the particular object or portion instead of the whole canvas. In that case, make a selection with the Magnetic Lasso Tool around the image or object / image in the canvas that you want to flip. To perform this, select Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) and make selection around the object or portion you want to flip. Before making the selection, make sure you set feather = 3 so your object won’t look bad after pasting it to new layer.

5. First of all copy the selection by selecting Edit > Copy from the menu bar simply press ctrl+c. Next, if you flip the portion then you will see that the image is distorted due to background. To overcome this, create a new layer by selecting ‘Create new layer’ button in the Layers palette. If the Layers palette is hidden then press F7 or from the menu bar choose Window > Layers.

6. Next, select newly added layer by clicking new layer in the layer’s palette and then paste the content in it by selecting Edit > Paste from the menu bar or simply press ctrl+v.

7. Next, from the menu bar select Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal

8. Now, this time your object / portion from the whole image is flipped excluding background. Arrange the object / portion by dragging it after selecting move tool so it looks good and realistic.

Here is the final result:

This completes our How to Flip an Image in Photoshop Tutorial. Do you want to add anything? Please leave a comment below!

The post How to flip an image in Photoshop – Tutorial appeared first on Web Design Blog | Magazine for Designers.

via http://ift.tt/1nMsIjy

35 Stunning Examples of Elegant Script Typography

Advertise here with BSA

Who doesn’t honestly love sophisticated culture? A three-piece suit with the cane & top hat seems to evoke the same feeling of a classy script typeface. Curly lettering with fancy linework has provided an articulate beauty in the design world.

With so many custom fonts you might expect all script writing to appear very similar. But custom designers put a lot of work into lettering which often turns into logos, posters, business cards, and other forms of promotional material. Check out this collection of script typography made for print and digital mediums. If you really love fancy design consider a quick look through this gallery with your favorite opera glasses.

Keep on Keepin’ On

Fart

Dyslexia Sexia

Branthony

Save The Date

Huxtable

Let It Be

Canspiration

Sullen

Elevate

Valentine

Nutella

Gusto

Risky

Northern Shore

Faith

Novoelle

Hey!

Happy Mother’s Day

Smooth

Baselime

Honcho

Our Heart

Bon Appetit Magazine

SignNow

Gandul

Flourish Fridays

The Script Letter

Life and Jazz

Sweet P

Errday

Tennessee Whiskey

Lipsum

Highly Honored

The Holdup

Advertise here with BSA

Source: http://ift.tt/1vtRfNp