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CMS Template Design and Build
Posted: 1st Oct 2009
We have just finished designing and building some templates for Halogy CMS.
The process is similar to other CMS like Wordpress or Drupal - do the information architecture design, design the look and feel in Photoshop, then build it in to HTML/CSS. The next part will be integrating it in to the CMS. We are pleased with what we've done so far.
Please, think about the UI
Posted: 18th Aug 2009
After recently trying to book some flights on a very major airline I was very put off by the poor User Interface design and got very frustrated. Poor navigation, forms that were clumsy and awkward, error messages that had no Back button and therefore resulted in me having to use the Back button on the browser and then losing data - not to mention having my session expire!
User Interface design is very important, far more important than whether your logo looks cool or not. The user journey needs to be smooth, clearly informed with obvious buttons, nice forms that have descriptions by the form elements, and tested thoroughly! C'mon major companies that should have budgets for these kind of things!
As Seth Godin puts it:
Don't get stressed about your logo...
Get very stressed about user interface and product design
Dare to be different!
Posted: 6th May 2009
We recently released the logo for our flagship product Halogy and received mixed responses. Many said it was very cool and exciting, others didn't like it that much because it was too different and unconventional.
We love to be different and unconventional! A recent quote from a brand designer I know when quized about whether one should use the same typeface as the logo in the rest of the brand:
No. i would never do a typeface that matched the logo that's a recipe for mediocrity.
Having signage, stationary and websites in the same font as your logo is just brand-dilution.
We like to think that with Halogy we have broken the trend to follow mainstream thinking which can lead to mediocrity. We are very proud of our work and what's wrong with being a bit different. One thing is for sure and that is that it's sparking a lot of conversation :-).
Halogy Brand Released!
Posted: 1st May 2009
We are excited to announce the launch of the Halogy Brand!
You can go to halogy.com and sign up if you are interested in our new CMS which is due to be released shortly.
For more on the branding see the Halogy Brand Guidelines.
Halogy Branding Teaser
Posted: 15th Apr 2009
Well, we have been getting along nicely with the Halogy Branding. The brand guidelines and the logo are complete, and we're now working on the web design. We have so much we could tell you about the plans for Halogy (the new exciting easy-to-use CMS), but for now we have to keep our mouths shut sorry.
The brand and a full explanation of what to expect from Halogy will be released shortly. It's going to be amazing.
Simplicity in Design (1)
Posted: 31st Mar 2009
We're starting a series on Simplicity in Design. We thought we'd start off with a couple of sites that we really like which have very simple designs.
What do you think it is about these sites that makes them so simple? Is it the colour palette? Is it the Information Architecture? Why is simplicity in design so important?
12 Free Garden Textures
Posted: 16th Mar 2009
In web design we often use textures from photos to give a website a certain look and feel. For example, a site about gardening may benefit from a grass texture in the footer, or maybe a wood grain background (was very popular in 2008!).
New portfolio section using JQuery Carousel
Posted: 3rd Mar 2009
We have just launched a new Portfolio section called Our Work. It uses a (quite heavily) adapted version of jCarouselLite. We are quite chuffed with it, and also it worked first time in IE6!
Branding - what's it all about?
Posted: 1st Mar 2009
We have begun work on branding the Halogy product (this is the service that provides everything you need for a website). But what is branding all about?
You have read all about how the Halogy product works I'm sure, but branding it in order to sell it is a whole new world. We want it to look great, but we want the unique selling points to shine through - the fact it is easy to use, the fact it pretty much covers everything most people would need from an off-the-shelf website solution, the fact that it is 100% British!.
Over the next few weeks we will keep you updated on the branding process and explain how this kind of thing works, and how it could work for your business.
Haloweb is a web design company in Cheltenham.
Our blog features latest work, latest thoughts, screencasts and other musings on the world of web development. Enjoy!