Blogs

I blogged at haigkayserian.com.au last week about the pending release of Bing; Microsoft's new search engine and the company's latest attempt to win some market share over the globally-dominant Google.

 

Since that blog, Microsoft has released a video previewing the features of Bing, which they are pinning their hopes on to drift internet searchers to this engine. Click here to see video.

 

Despite this clever marketing, my opinion - as well as those of other search engine experts - remains unchanged.

 

Bing will not challenge Google's dominance!

 

The cleverest Bing feature as we stand is the ability to categorise search results by what Bing feels is relevant. Recently, Google already did this with Universal Search and the latest version of Google allows us as users to select what results we wish to see first by dragging one result above another.

 

We will watch with interest when Bing is released in the first week of June. Its challenge will be to lead regular internet searchers from Google to Bing. Despite what is certain to be a massive PR and marketing drive, will you be swapping typing google.com.au for bing.com.au for future internet searches?

As web designers, I think we all have experienced the hard task of finding new ideas and inspiration. Read on to find out how my work habits and how the environment influence my design.

 

Working at home kills your creativity.

 

My work habits and environment have a big influence on my work. So I’m going to talk about my work environment first.

 

Being a full-time designer, I get to work at the office and surf the web for the next big thing. Personally, I find it very boring working at home. I can lose my focus and concentration on the design I'm doing. To think about it, how can you find new ideas if you are constantly facing your work and computer.

 

Yes, you can browse the web or CSS gallery sites such as Best Web Gallery to find inspiration. But since my work is web design, I also prefer to find inspiration offline (this way I can avoid being overly inspired by other websites).

 

Our Office.

 

To keep my creative juices flowing, I like to surf the net for web designs and print designs. That way I'm exposed to both the web and print design works of others and the trends that goes with it. I find it amazing that I manage to do design work for my boss while looking for inspiration for the next design I'll be doing.

 

For design feedback, I like to ask my non-designer friends because they often give me comments from a different perspective.

 

Book Stores

 

Book stores are like a massive inspirational depot filled with a wide range of books, magazines, gift products, posters, and print ads. Whenever I have a brain block, I like to walk around the book store and scan the magazines, book covers, and post cards.

 

I like to see fresh people and things around me, so I don’t go to the same location all the time. I hop around, trying to find the best food on the menu... metaphorically speaking.

 

Shopping Mall

 

Shopping centres are also inspirational depots. You can get inspired by so many things – from clothing to print ads, from window display to mall decoration, etc. By looking at the fashion design, you can tell what are the current trends. I look at the fashion trends and adapt it in my design.

 

Art Galleries

 

To find new art styles and trends, I visit contemporary art galleries. Sometimes I may even spot inspiring street art while walking on the street.

 

Inspired by Nature

 

Yes you can also get that from nature. The cloud formation, flowers, insects and birds. Even the flow of water can be an inspiration.

 

How to Avoid Copying

 

It happens sometimes: you get inspired by something, become too focused on it and end up creating something that is too similar to the original source. So, how can you avoid being a copycat? I have two techniques which work really well for me:

1. Zoom into the subject and pick up the details.
2. Mix and match different sources.

 

Conclusion

 

Next time you are outside, try to pay more attention to you environment, you may find a lot of interesting things that you can incorporate into your design. I don’t purposely go around to find inspiration. The places I mentioned in this article are part of my life and daily routine. Whenever I see something nice, I sketch to document it.

 

The best thing actually is enjoying life and designing beautiful things.

Wow! Back in the office after 3 days at CeBIT in Sydney! The first day spent on the floor surveying the offerings (and the competition). Then attending the Web Forward sessions which was keynoted by Google, who were never too far from peoples minds.

 

It's easy to get complacent while listening to the large organisations that shared some of their secrets. Our focus, however, is on how small to medium-sized businesses can take advantage of this technology. The main themes: mobile presence, SEO-ing sites and usability.

 

Especially for retailers, the location-aware capabilities of the iPhone and other mobiles are being utilised to attract customers already away from home. This often takes the form of special pages for mobile, and participating in directories where for mobile, google is not the only viable engine.

 

Being friends with Google, and hopefully great friends, means that all our sites are "crawled" by "spiders" from time to time. The spiders can be assisted in their work by using a number of techniques including making sure that when a page is prefixed with 'www', that same page without 'www', or however else that page can be reached, is 301 redirected so that Google counts the page just once.

 

Also that keywords, especially in the title, are ordered most subject specific first. Finally that javascript and css are in their own files and each product has its own page.

 

The bar has been raised so far on the usability front that Design, Look and Feel were suggested as job one when building a site. While Ajax and Flash need to be used with care from an SEO perspective, the subtle movements of on screen components entices and rewards users as they continue their interactions.

 

Click here to check out Haig Kayserian's video review!