Importance of User Interface

I was feeling very bored...nothing to do...didn't feel like working either...
So, i decided to explore some random websites (maybe i'll get some ideas for my next design).
www.google.com >>> good websites >>> *Enter*
& a whole list of links was displayed in front of me...
Thus, i began exploring...
Liked a few!!
Few were OK!!
Some were great!!
Some were a disaster!!
....
I came across a very eye-catching site & my mind drifted off somewhere else.
I am a designer myself (a bit self-obsessed), what was so special in this site that even i got attracted?? I started noting down the things that were creating the whole impact.

1) the color combination used was very appealing...they matched so well with one another that the whole screen looked alive & in harmony (you can achieve the color sense with practice)

2) the arrangement of text & other stuff was very neat. All had separate sections but yet the screen wasn't looking crowded (it's a difficult task putting so much on a single screen without creating a mesh)


3) the navigation was pretty smooth (i bet my 7-year nephew can operate this very well)

I assumed that it would have been an expensive project...the design was, for sure, a custom design & not a simple design template copy (my experience told me that). I was really impressed with the insight of both the client & the designer. Usually, what happens is that when we sit down to design or instruct a designer to design something for us, we tend to follow something that we have seen somewhere (not very innovative). Later, we wonder why don't the viewers are impressed.

The reason is that whatever we have put up there for them is nothing new,; they've already seen part of it somewhere & the other part somewhere else. So, the basic point for getting a good UI is to think about the look yourself.
Picture how you want it to look like...
User friendliness is not the only thing (though it is very important), but there are other things that need to be combined together with it to get a proper, attractive interface.
Only a brilliant mind can live up to the innovation level of the designing phase of a website.

Story of a Logo

Hi bloggers,

I am a Logo...a logo that was designed!!
Now the story of my making might be very interesting for you, so i thought i might share it (oh come on!! please read my story).

Once there was a very brilliant mind (I'll tell you later why it was brilliant). One day that mind devised a plan to start with a new business. It worked out the details, sorted out permissions etc. etc. & then it began on how to best represent its marvelous idea. So, it started thinking...

It explored the basics of geometry...focusing on each type of shapes, lines, dimensions...twisting it here & tilting it there...
It went deep into the whirl pool of colors, looking at each shade, mixing up tones, creating combos...
&
Finally,
I was born as an idea (see, if "I" was the creation, it has to be a brilliant mind).

The mind then searched for another brilliant mind to transfer me into, so i can be made real (yes, a designer). It was hard for the mind to explain me in words or images as to how i looked (of course, i was so beautiful, no words or drawings can possibly match up to my beauty).
& so the poor mind tried & tried & tried...

Finally, the other mind got a glimpse of my beauty too. It agreed to work on making me a reality & sat down to work.

Boy, did i drive it crazy or what!!
It lost its sleep...it forgot the sense of hunger/thirst...the meaning of "fun" was lost for it.
All it could think was ME & only ME.
My beauty possessed it so bad that the sole reason of its life was to give life to me (yeah, i was like the Frankenstein...just more beautiful).

Then one day, its hard work paid off & my beauty was revealed completely to it...it was successful in giving me a final form.

My original creator (the brilliant mind i referred to in the beginning) had bursts of happiness inside it...it was so happy that tears ran out of the eyes of the person possessing it (ahh, silly fans!!).

As soon as i got linked up to the business, it bloomed & blossomed so quickly that everybody was shocked. My magic was so captivating that anyone who looked at me instantly felt the urge to make deals with the business i was representing.
So, i turned out to be lucky, as well as, very important for the business i was meant to represent.

I am a Logo...a logo that was designed!!

Make way for a Freelancer!!

Hello everyone!!
My name is Susanne & Michael & Sandra & Alexandra & Tom & Jerry & Larry & Diana & Charles & Raj & Raja & Rani...tell me any name & it's me...
Because
I AM A FREELANCER!!
I go by any name, at any location...tell me your project & my profile will change accordingly. I don't have a fixed identity, yet i create identifying marks for you (whatever you hire me for adds more to your name...right?).

People think freelancing is not a proper job...the general rule book says if you leave your house at 9am, sit on a desk in a building crowded with people like you, go about getting commands from your boss all day long & come back home at 5pm, only then you have a proper job. Well, i tell you that freelancing is even more a tougher job in itself than the 9 to 5 routine you call a job. Let's see...shall we??

Freelancer - A CEO
I formulate my own rules
I set my own goals
I formulate my own budget
I communicate with the clients
I make decisions based on his requirements & my resources
I promote myself, my-self
I myself take care of my PR

Freelancer - A Project Manager
I formulate my own working strategy
I motivate myself, my-self
I do self-evaluations
I categorize my own tasks
I monitor my own performance
I manage my own projects

Freelancer - A Developer
I write my own code
I test my own code
I find errors in my own work
I update my tools myself
I update my clients myself

Freelancer - A Designer
I make my own designs
I implement my own designs
I ammend my own designs

So, you began by giving job openings in newspapers & websites, then you call for interview, then you ask questions from each & every person, then you select some of them & reject others, then you assign them posts, then you brief them their work & then you begin with your project.
Whatever things you do after formulating a complete team, i do all alone.
I AM A FREELANCER

A Possessed Designer

There i was, feeling annoyed & angry because of what the light rays had transmitted through my cornea onto my retina & into my brain. At first, i thought that maybe the cons of my eyes have gone insane, but no (i can still see the green trees & the blue sky & a yellow sun & my dyed shirt...so my vision & color sense is perfectly alright), this can mean only 1 thing...the gigantic billboard in front of me was really a mesh of colors thrown randomly here & there (more like they let kids have a color fight over it).

I was standing under it with my head raised to a 45 degree angle for the last i don't know how many minutes (many people have stopped by my side to look up for whatever i was staring at so intently & have moved thinking that i might be from the family of Mad Hatter...the character, not Johnny Depp). I was unable to believe how a company having guts to advertise can come up with such a childish & non-professional advertisement for their product (yeah, i believe if you dare do something, you should do it right).

The colors were all wrong; the pictures were too randomly placed; the tag line was not prominent enough; the background should have been pink instead of red & that big "T" in the middle is not at all giving a perfect look...I would have done it way better than this...If only i knew who has designed it, i can knock some sense into that person...What was he thinking while placing those flowery borders on the right edge...the middle picture should have been in a sepia-tone...
My thoughts were getting far out of control.

BEEP!! BEEP!!
A car honked loudly behind me & brought my mind out of the whirlpool of what's been done & what could have been done.
Are you alright? I'm like calling you for the past 5 minutes... What are you so engrossed in??
My mom got out of the car & began her inquiry while looking up for the source of my distraction. I was eyeing her weirdly as if how can't she see how terrible the world has become (well for me it was sort of that way) but somehow she did not look bothered at all; instead, she seemed a bit worried (maybe scared too) by the look on my face. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the open car door, looking cautiously around to see if someone was watching us (maybe she thought I've been possessed or something).

She turned the car around & started driving with a worried expression on her face. I was still looking out the window up to that billboard. As the car turned, my head turned with it & now i was sitting on the front seat, tilted towards the back, still staring at the billboard from the back window.
Stop doing that!! came my mom's worried voice as she jerked my shoulder to make me sit straight. I obeyed silently.

But now i stretched out my hand & re-adjusted the side view mirror so that the board was visible to me through it. My mom shifted slightly to my side & lightly touched my forehead to check if my body temperature was normal (now she must be certain about me being possessed). I sat there, silently watching the billboard disappear behind me. My mind shouting that this means war; the tribe of designers has a traitor somewhere within who is planning of ruining our repute & future by polluting the minds of others about us. Something has to be done about it or all will be wasted...ruined...destroyed...