When you’re a freelancer and you start to work directly with your clients, there’s something crucial you need to know.

Your design is not the one and only, most important aspect of the transaction.

While presenting your client with an amazing design is the final goal, there are a lot of other things at stake that could make or break your business deal.

There are 7 things that could potentially ruin any partnership with a client, and they have nothing to do with your design style.

7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make And How To Avoid Making Them

I don’t want you to have to make the same mistakes I’ve made when I was a beginner freelancer.

Today, I want to learn from my mistakes and avoid these 7 deadly sins of freelance graphic designers.

1. Poor Communication Skills

Poor communication is the biggest bummer of all the freelance design mistakes that you could make.

Everything you do and the way you’re going to make your client feel is all going to come back to how well you communicate with your client.

Now, communication is a two-way street.

If you and your client don’t communicate exactly what they’re looking for and what you’re capable of doing, then you’re going to find yourself working all-nighters to revise mistakes that could’ve easily been avoided had you communicated.

Some clients are angels, and some are the opposite.

Some clients will verbalize exactly what they’re looking for, and others will give you the vaguest idea of what they want and let you try to figure it out, which sometimes is a blessing, and others, a curse.

One way you can avoid poor communication is by creating a list of basic questions you want to ask each of your clients, regarding their expectations of what your design will be.

Decide what platform you’ll be communicating through and make sure you set hours you will be readily available to discuss changes and set your notification to loud so you never miss a beat.

If you ever feel like a client is being rude, take a deep breath, decide whether you’ll continue working with them or not, then write them a calm message. Remember: things on the internet last forever! Don’t let one snooty client ruin your reputation.

2. Limited Number of Revisions

Nothing is worse than thinking you finally finished a design that you’re happy with and proud of, you just presented it to your client, and they don’t love it.

They want you to revise it.

The number of times you agree to revise your project is something you will need to have discussed beforehand.

Not everyone will be on the same wavelength, so it’s important you decide how many times you will change the final version of your design, and what you will charge if they ask for supplementary changes.

And what do you know it, this all leads back to good communication.

Don’t let people walk all over you, but also don’t be so prideful you won’t make any changes. It’s a beautiful and delicate balance.

3. Not Fulfilling Client’s Needs

Speaking of being prideful, sometimes, you have to suck it up and make a design that you’re not completely proud of.

Lots of clients have complained that some designers they worked with only had themselves in mind when creating their design.

Needs and requests were not met, therefore leading to awful conflict and probably bad word of mouth followed shortly after that.

Try to sus out the vibe of what your client is looking for and see if the style aligns with yours. If it does, awesome!

If it doesn’t, decide whether or not you’re going to do the work anyway and get that coin, or whether to respectfully decline the offer to work with them.

4. Missing The Deadline

When you’re your own boss, it’s easy to get behind and have no “work anxiety” or drive to finish your work on time.

But a good reputation is crucial and constantly missing deadlines is a terrible way to do things.

Set up a deadline that you really think you can make.

Don’t think your Superman or Superwoman, and can handle 10 projects that are all due by next week.

Take on what you know you can handle, and discuss that with your client.

Everyone understands a pushback here and there, but don’t make that a habit.

People might eventually perceive you as lazy, and that’s not what we’re going for here.

5. Mispriced Work

Listen, you gotta know your worth.

In saying this, you should know how much to charge.

Don’t undersell yourself, because you’re the bomb!

But don’t overcharge either, because people don’t like it when someone takes advantage of them.

Give them a quote, and negotiate from there.

6. Not Making Clients Feel Like a Priority

No one likes to feel unimportant.

And maybe you’re not making your clients feel unimportant intentionally.

Sometimes, we all take on more than we can handle.

But if your clients don’t feel like a priority, they might cut your work contract short, or choose not to work with you again in the future.

This mistake goes hand-in-hand with missing deadlines. You can’t take on so much that you will make people feel unimportant.

Everyone wants to feel heard and important, and some companies or clients are cut-throat and won’t work with you again if you don’t make them feel like they’re important to you.

Do your best to make your clients know they’re important to you and you’re doing your best.

Communication, communication, communication.

7. Wasting Time

The final thing I want to talk about is wasting time.

When you work from home, it’s easy to get distracted.

Blame it on your pets or a messy kitchen, and then suddenly you’re 5 hours behind schedule and things are getting out of hand.

I have a whole list of things you can do to stay productive while working from home that will help you stay on top of your A-game.

Make sure you make a good schedule for yourself, one that works for you.

Don’t waste too much time on things that don’t matter. The dishes can wait. Or maybe, they can’t. You should definitely have a clean workspace. But right after that, get back to work!

Wrapping up

Everything is a learning curve, and while you start working from home, take advantage of all the freedom that comes with that, but make a good name for yourself and do your best.

What other giant mistakes do you think designers make that we should cover?

Let us know in the comments.

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

Read More at 7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make That Will Ruin Their Career

Each year, loads of development tools come out. It’s becoming harder and harder to decide what tools you actually need and which ones you can live without.

 Honestly, it’s probably a personal preference, but it really helps me decide what I need when I have a list of useful tools to look over.

 So here we go: the top 8 development tools you absolutely need in 2020.

1. IPstack

IPstack allows you to locate and identify website visitors with an IP address. This is extremely helpful for a lot of reasons, but simply knowing who is coming to your website is one of the most valuable tools anyone can ever ask for.

Built within this tool are 5 different modules that are definitely worth mentioning:

• Location module

This module gives you all the information for the visitor’s location. All the way down to the zip code. With this information, you can optimize your ad targeting based on geolocation.

• Currency Module

Using the information above, you’ll also get an accurate report on the primary currency being used in the visitor’s region.

• Time zone module

The time zone module instantly lets you know the local time of the visitor. No more guessing and counting in your head.

• Connection module

Gather valuable information about the ASN and the hostname of the ISP your website visitors are using.

• Security module

IPstack will also detect any proxies, crawlers, or tor users. Security is a big deal for many users, and Ipstack makes sure you feel comfortable at all times.

Ipstack is fast and trusted by literally the biggest names in tech. To top it all off, they partner with the largest ISPs around the world, so you can rest assured that the information you’re getting is 100% accurate.

2. VSCode

VSCode is an open-source code editor that makes editing code as easy as pie. The developers of this tool basically took everything that sucked about coding and reinvented it to be easier.

So for example, they use InteliSense, which provides smart completions based on variable types, function definitions, and imported modules.

Possibly the worst thing about coding is debugging. At the very least, it can be quite time-consuming. But not so much with VSCode. You will no longer have to print out a debugging statement. Now, you can simply identify the bug and fix it right from the editor. Attach this to your running apps and debug with breakpoints, call stacks, and an awesome interactive console.

VSCode has built-in Git commands, it’s completely customizable, and it’s completely free. Check it out.

3. Postman

Postman is a collaboration platform for API development, and it has a lot to offer. Essentially, it’s your all-in-one tool for creating APIs. Here’s a list of some of the features you’ll have access to:

• API client

Send REST, SOAP, and GraphQL requests super fast.

• Automated testing

Automate your manual testing process.

• App mock

Run simulated endpoints and predict potential behaviors of the app.

• Monitor

After all is said and done, keep an updated report of the performance of the app.

Of course, there are quite a few features that Postman offers. Overall, it’s definitely worth checking out and using. It will make your life so much easier, and the amount you end up paying compared to the value you get out of it is incredible.

4. Docker

Docker is a platform for building, testing, and deploying applications. As simple as that sounds, it has quite a bit to offer. When I say a lot, I really mean a ton. There is a wide variety of development tools ready to go at any time. 

Docker has been a developer favorite for a while now, and it’s only getting better. If I added absolutely everything you have to look forward to on the list, we’d be here for a while. My best advice is to go and check it out for yourself to see what you think.

5. Sublime Text

I think Sublime Text said it best when they described themselves as a sophisticated text editor for code, markups, and prose. Even if they didn’t use the Oxford comma in their original description. 

In fact, just watching the demo on their main page shows you just how easy it is to fix and create text. Across the board, Sublime is getting great reviews for its ease of use, friendly interface, and for being the best text editor on the market. 

You may want to take the time to learn all of the specific commands for making the process even faster, as there are quite a few to memorize. But, all-in-all, you really won’t find a better product for editing text for code.

6. GitHub

Github has been a fan favorite for many years now. Some even consider it to be the best social coding and social sharing platform on the market.

The concept is simple: code together with your team to avoid confusion and delays. It sounds kind of messy, but I can assure you that it works pretty flawlessly. It really streamlines the process of bug fixing as well. Instead of making changes on a local device and then sending off the patches to be approved and implemented, you can simply (if approved by the lead developer) fix it on the spot.

7. Sifter

Sifter is definitely one of the best issue tracking software out there today. Possibly one of the best things about Sifter is how easy it is to learn and use. I would be very confident in suggesting this tool to even beginners.

Sifter brings all the issues it found to one platform. From there, the lead developer can label, attach files (screenshots, Docs, etc.), and assign them to qualified team members in basically minutes. On top of that, Sifter leaves a progression trail so that you can track exactly who did what.

Sifter also integrates really well with Slack, GitHub, and others to make sure that you have absolutely everything you need to make your app perfect.

8. Microsoft Visual Studio

Visual Studio by Microsoft is an IDE that is a great fit for anyone. It uses IntelliSense to autocomplete code and is notorious for the massive amount of languages it can support.

Visual Studio is jam-packed with all sorts of integration, plugins, and shortcuts to make your life easier. And that’s what we all really want, right?

Wrapping up

Now don’t get me wrong, there are thousands of development tools out there to get lost in. This is simply a list of the top 8 development tools you need in 2020. Or the top 8 that you should at least look into.

Regardless of your skill level, I think you’ll find something on this list that will help you out tremendously. Be sure to check out each link and take advantage of those free trials!

Read More at Top 8 Best Development Tools You Need in 2020

For a lot of people, the first thing they think of when they hear the names of big companies is their logo. In truth, the logo is probably the biggest marketing decision you can make. It might sound simple, but there are quite a few things you need to keep in mind when designing a logo of your own. So without further ado, let’s talk about the basics behind designing your own logo.

Why do you need a logo?

Ideally, you’ll want to hire a professional to create your logo, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring some ideas of your own to the table. In fact, it’s best that you have a pretty good idea of what you want before the big design meeting. 

But let’s say that you want to go through most, if not all of this process by yourself. Where do you even begin? You need to start this journey off by understanding why you need the logo.

Your logo is an extension of your brand. It’s important that it represents you. That can be hard to do in a single picture, but that’s why this takes time. 

Pick something that scales as a favicon

A favicon is that little image that sits in the address bar when a tab is opened. It’s a small detail, but it’s very crucial.

The reason it’s so crucial is because those big, fancy, and incredibly detailed images will look absolutely terrible as a favicon. This is something that a lot of people don’t think about because they generally regard a big and fancy logo as perfect. 

One of my favorite examples of a favicon is that of Mailchimp.

This logo is simple, yes, but it still manages to capture the brand perfectly. Now, if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the main focus of the logo (the chimp) is its own entity. That makes it very easy to scale as a favicon. Just like this:

This is the Mailchimp favicon. They definitely couldn’t have put the entire logo in the address tab, and they knew that. So, they went into the logo design process with that in mind, and came out with this.

Test multiple colors

Speaking of being scalable, you want to make sure the logo looks good on multiple backgrounds in multiple colors. If you don’t you could end up having to redo this entire process when something as simple as a WordPress theme change comes up.

A good example of this would be Slack

As unusual and controversial as the Slack logo has been here lately, we all have to admit that  it works well with multiple colors. Of course, the logo itself has a variety of colors in it, but that really only helps it.

The Slack logo can be seen around the world with all sorts of background and font colors. It’s an iconic logo, so it was important that they got all the design elements right.

Be consistent with the brand

A logo means nothing if it doesn’t embody the brand. This is especially important for startups that are looking to get their name out there. 

I don’t think I need to go into this too much, but we definitely need to mention it here. Every tiny little detail is crucial. They have to match the brand’s story, their tone of voice, and their mission.

So, for example, the choice of font is a big one. If you run a SaaS company, you probably don’t want to use a script font. Something like that makes much for sense for a small town candle shop.

Something like this classy lemonade stand logo is perfect. It’s simple, it will scale well as a favicon, and it’s on brand. The colors work well and the font stands out, but it’s not over the top.

Make your logo easy to incorporate into your brand

This point sort of goes along to the one above, but it deserves its own mention. That being said, even if your logo is on brand, it doesn’t mean that it will be easy to incorporate into the rest of your brand.

What do I mean by that? Well, looks aren’t always everything. Even if you logo looks great and embodies your brand, it might not be easy to use. Yes, there is such a thing as a logo that is too detailed to use.

A logo should not be so complicated that it takes more than a few seconds for someone to recognize what it is. If it’s simple and straightforward, it will be easy to incorporate into your brand anywhere.

Other tips to follow

There are tons of tips to take into consideration here. But, whether you’re designing it yourself or paying someone else to do it, there are some that are pretty fundamental. So, in addition to the ones above, here are some quick tips that you should consider:

• Pick a style and stick to it

Just like a good party, a logo has a theme. This is a combination of all the elements. From the typography to the colors, everything should be perfectly thought out and implemented with a purpose. Each element needs to pay respect to the others.

• Keep constant communication with the designer

If you choose to hire someone, you have to keep constant communication with them. In the design world, you build off of your own ideas. So if the designer gets one tiny detail wrong, then the entire logo can be off in the end.

• Stay inspired

You are designing the face of your company. If you lack inspiration in the project, you should stop and brainstorm a bit. Or, if you really can’t handle it anymore, step away for a bit. Nothing is worse than rushed work in design, so don’t make your logo suffer.

• Get a lot of opinions

You’re not designing this logo for your own personal use. This logo will be seen by a lot of people, so get a lot of opinions. Show it off to colleagues, friends, family, or even random strangers. The more input you can get, the better your logo will come out.

Be yourself

This is probably the most important rule in design, so we’ll end here. Being yourself is what got you to the place where you can design your own logo in the first place. Don’t fall into the norms of the industry that you’re in. Be unique!

Read More at What Most People Don’t Tell You About Designing Your Own Logo

Seeing all the time, effort, emojis, drawings, and true works of art put into an Insta story, we know for sure stories are not what they once were. They’re no longer just pictures and videos shot in real-time. Stories have become a true marketing platform, with intensely strategic moves behind each piece of content published. Every Insta story most likely has a cool (maybe expensive) story app that was used to produce the content.  

With Insta stories looking more polished and aesthetically pleasing than ever, as a designer, you have to be on top of your game. But to what end and to what cost? 

I’m here to help you save a good buck. I’ve got the 10 best free Insta story apps for you to use to improve your Insta stories game without breaking the bank. Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

10 Best Free Insta Story Apps

1. Unfold

Unfold is an amazing Insta story app that is free, but also has in-app purchases if you fancy a certain look and template theme. With many texts and elements to choose from, and themes spanning from elegant or retro, there’s something for everyone.

Try it out today for free: https://unfoldstori.es/

2. Jane

A very underappreciated and not talked about enough app, in my opinion, is Jane. The app is free and has very many free beautiful templates for you to use to spice up your stories. They are quite girly and are perfect for maintaining an elegant or playful story vibe. Create amazing videos with royalty-free music and amazing visuals. Again, this app is free but has in-app purchases. 

Try it out free today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/%E7%AE%80%E6%8B%BC-jane/id891640660

3. Canva

Canva is hands-down one of the best online CMP’s out there. It’s great for beginner and advanced designers alike. With tons of templates to choose from and customize, you’ll surely find the one that suits your style best. The mobile app is free and has in-app purchases, although you can totally rock with all the free elements and templates and just tune them to your liking.

Try out this app out for free today:https://www.canva.com/app/

4. Hype Type

With a vast and wide collection of fonts, you can do some serious designing with this app. Hype type is absolutely killing the font game. If you’re focused on spreading a message, then this is absolutely the app for you. The app is free with some paid features, but it’s up to you to decide if they’re a necessary buy. 

Check out their app now: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hype-type-moving-text-photo-s/id1152687277

5. Cut Story

Another great app for managing your stories is Cut Story. Cut Story’s is an amazing video editing app where you can create engaging videos and add music, texts, elements, your logo and more to your video. There are special features that you can buy to enhance your UX, but only if you deem necessary.

Try out their free Insta story app now:https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cutstory-for-instagram-stories/id917630934

6. Mojo Story Maker

Mojo is the way to go for Insta stories because they have 100 templates for you to choose from! Customize your stories with text to create relevance, engage with your followers and make them feel what you feel, and share the message you want to portray with them. A huge plus to this app is that you can share your new and improved story directly to your Instagram and also your Snapchat!

Try this Insta story app now: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mojo-stories-editor/id1434861974

7. InShot

For all my influencers out here, Inshot is the app for you. We don’t always have time to film, import, and edit our footage on our laptops or computers, so having this app will be a valuable asset for you. Edit all your video content in a single app on your phone and import it directly to your Instagram. This app is truly a gift to all of us creators out there.

Give it a try if you haven’t already: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.camerasideas.instashot&hl=en 

8. Adobe Spark Post

Adobe, king of all things editing programs, in my own personal opinion. Adobe has great editing programs, from video-editing to photoshopping images, and when they saw an opportunity to create an app to help you create amazing stories to tell your followers, well, we all know they wouldn’t pass that up. With this app you can do more than edit stories photos, you can also edit video and image posts. The app is initially free and then they offer you the chance to upgrade if you end up falling in love with the app.

Go ahead and give this Insta story maker a go: https://spark.adobe.com/features 

10. Over

And last, but not least, we have the app called Over. I love that when you visit their webpage, it’s just absolutely inspiring. It inspires you to be different, to stand out, the influence others. A great app for you to use to for free to make your Insta stories more engaging for your followers and for you to really create a brand name and grow your recognizability.

Stand out of the crowd and try this amazing app free today: https://www.madewithover.com/

Now that you have 10 new and fresh apps for you to choose from to start stepping up your Insta story game, it’s time for you to hop on it. Download any one of these apps and tag us in any of your Instagram stories for a chance to be featured on our stories. Our Instagram handle is @webdesignledger.

Don’t sleep on these amazing free Insta story apps! Try them out today. 

Until next time, 

Stay creative.

Read More at 10 Best Free Insta Story Apps That Will Help You Slay the Instagram Game

The Right Pairs of Fonts Are Like Peas in a Pod

When fonts are matched together correctly, they really make the perfect pair. Pairs are everywhere around us – our socks, best friend, partner, peanut butter and jelly, and the list could go on. 

Thinking about fonts without thinking about font pairs is half the concept. After all, we’re all better in pairs, and there’s no exception with fonts. When a font is paired with a good partner, the original font is enhanced, and your ultimate design goal is accomplished. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though.

The key to picking font pairs is to start with the correct font. Sounds simple, enough. When you think about choosing a font, what comes to mind? 

The style and overall design of the project, or rather, the appearance of the words? You aren’t incorrect, yet you’re also not completely correct. Choosing a font has so many layers and complexities to the process, but we’ll map it out for you. First, let’s define the goal of a font.

Change Your Mindset

Fonts are constantly advertised and viewed as just a last minute design. When changing the font for a school paper, or a company proposal, you may not put much thought into the font you change your text to. 

Yet, fonts can add credibility to your content, make content more readable, present content for better conversions, and market your information to evoke feelings within your readers, which ultimately increases sales. 

Sometimes it’s the little changes that matter the most! The beauty and challenge with fonts are that they’re always displayed. 

Meaning, if your font is hard to read, then readers will just click away onto another website with much more readable fonts. The competition is higher than ever to get website visitors on your page and staying – don’t make your font the reason they click away. 

The Goal of the Font: Convey the Message

Although fonts do project a style and design, their main goal is to translate the marketing message. Think about it, without a font, your message wouldn’t be conveyed at all! They are the vehicle that translates the words you want your target audience to read. It doesn’t end there. A font translates much more than the physical message. 

You’re also communicating a feeling. Think about why we dress up for an interview or an important business meeting. We’re communicating an image without saying anything. That image is backed behind emotions. 

If the stakes are high like a proposal meeting, then perhaps you’d dress in business professional in order to seem credible. Think about selling a home. Why did you trust one realtor over the other to work with? 

Sometimes overdressing can separate yourself from your audience rather than associate yourself with them or seem trustworthy to your audience. If you’re aware your price range is on the lower side, you may feel intimidated and unsettled if your realtor is overdressed because they may not understand your situation.

Choosing the correct message to portray to your audience is a challenge within itself, but most likely if you have a marketing campaign, you already know this! If you’re a bank, you want to come across as trustworthy. 

If you’re a rolling skating arena, you want to appear fun. Finding it hard to see which feeling your business is trying to embody? Think of what emotions your business wouldn’t want customers to associate you with.

Serifs and Sans Serifs

Once you’ve come up with this message, you’re halfway there. Choosing a font is merely finding a style that represents this. Be aware of the different styles of fonts like serifs and sans serif fonts. This could be an easy deciding factor that could narrow down your search! Generally, serif fonts have a traditional style. 

These are the fonts that have the little feet at the end of each character. Sans serif fonts were invented after, and are usually considered a much more modern font. These fonts, not containing the feet at the end of each character, display well on digital screens. Upon picking a serif or sans serif font, experiment with the font against your design and how the font is described online. 

Serifs and sans serif fonts pair extremely well together because they have what the partner doesn’t! 

A great example of this is April Fatface and Roboto. Abril Fatface takes the spotlight, while Roboto takes a backseat, with its simple lines and versatile design. 

Another great example is Dancing Script and Josefin Sans. Both fonts have a similar delicate design that looks handwritten. Yet, Dancing Script could only be displayed on headlines or else it would overwhelm the readers, and Josefin Sans effortlessly simple. 

Finding Your Font’s Perfect Pair

Once you’ve got a font or an idea of a font you’re looking for, it might be time to use a font combination tool. These are great because they make the pairing process much smoother. If you have no idea where to start or aren’t into design, a font combination tool, like this one by Bold Web Design Adelaide, is a great place to find inspiration or start to realize what you like and don’t like in a font. 

Think of pairing fonts like music. There’s a melody and a harmony. One takes precedent: the melody. Without both, the music would feel incredibly empty. It may seem like the melody is more important, and it may relay the main message, but both are needed to make a song. They define each other, as without the melody the support music wouldn’t be called harmony and vice versa.

Pairing fonts is exactly like the melody and harmony in a song. One is the focal point that shines through, which I like to call the focal font. This is the font that usually has more personality, and is used for headlines or larger text. With two focal fonts, your reader would be incredibly overwhelmed when reading through your information. 

Pairing fonts is a balancing act, requiring both fonts to work together and not to take up too much attention from your readers. Secondly, both fonts have to be compatible. This relays back to your marketing messaging. You wouldn’t release a marketing campaign with one ad that’s creative and fun, and another that’s scary and serious. Ensure both fonts align with the message and emotion, and compliment each other. 

Pairing fonts is a great way to differentiate information from each other. Just as we section content within an article with headers and subheaders, different fonts can be used for the headers and paragraphs to further associate a transition within the content. 

Text that you want to stand out can be placed in a standout font, and support with a much simpler font. Even the weights of fonts within a pair can be changed, making a font bold, thin, italicized, and other variations to increase its versatility. The possibilities are truly endless. 

Play around and get familiar with the options out there. Once you’ve accomplished this, pairing fonts is a piece of cake. Your fonts will work together like a seamless song.

What Not to Do 

Don’t choose a font blindly. Picking the correct font for your business takes awareness and understanding. A font that works for another company, may not work for yours. Rather than looking at fonts as a design decision, think of it as a sales decision. 

If you’re just picking a random font from a list without much consideration, you could be throwing away potential leads to your products and services without even knowing. Within the age of digital content galore, you want to set yourself apart from the rest. 

A font is the puzzle piece to a unique brand identity and a competitive edge! Don’t put two loud fonts together. A font that definitely has a “personality” should not be paired with another font like it. 

Find a versatile font to pair with loud fonts or pair two versatile fonts together. Versatile fonts are simple and readable like Arial or Roboto. 

Conclusion 

At the end of the day, a font can always be changed if not now, later. Test different fonts and see which ones work well for your company’s design. If you’re working with print materials, print a couple of tests and get your team’s vote. 

A design is just an extension of the company, design, and culture. What better way to decide if it’s a great fit than to ask the ones that work there. When you see a good font pairing, it will seem effortless and you won’t be looking at the fonts, you’ll be reading the content. 

The fonts will balance each other out – working together to differentiate between text and information. After all, the right font pairs are like two peas in a pod. 

Read More at The Right Pairs of Fonts

5 Critical Elements that Can Make or Break Your Design

At first glance, designing a one-page website would seem to be intuitively easy. Especially, when compared to building a multi-pager. Designing one page takes one-third the effort of designing three pages – right?

In reality, designing a single-pager is generally much more difficult. The challenge you face is having to get all the necessary information on a single page. At the same time, you need to make sure the page is both visually appealing and user-friendly.

This guide for designing one-page websites is centered around 5 critical elements. Depending on how well you take them into account they can make or break your design.

As we outline each of these critical elements, we’ll provide examples. They will illustrate their importance – 15 examples in all.

#1 The GOAL: Identify & Understand the Goal of Your Website & Work Toward It

You might not understand perfectly what you expect your website to accomplish. Then, there’s little sense in proceeding with its design. It needs to have a single goal. Your design needs to take the user on a journey that reaches that goal and responds accordingly.

Is the goal to promote or sell something?

Is it to invite a visitor to view your portfolio?

Do you intend to announce an event or a series of events?

Once you’ve identified the goal, you’re almost halfway there. You still need to take into account what you need to do. You need to avoid chasing visitors away from the page before they hit the CTA button.

Some users are sensitive to page load speed (more than a few are oversensitive!). So, you might choose to avoid special effects (like parallax) that tend to reduce page load speeds.

Bistro Agency

This website’s interactive effects are above the fold and they don’t hinder its load speed.

Be Moving 3

Dynamic images can impact load speeds. This BeTheme pre-built one-pager features a static image that gives the appearance of being dynamic.

Think Pixel Lab

The tiny animated items that liven up this page’s illustration don’t slow anything down.

Be Product 2

Sometimes, it’s a page’s fresh look that makes the sale.

Sheerlink

Here’s an example of where large images and sliding panels will engage users.

Be App 4

You don’t need a detailed technical dissertation to promote an app when a cool visual presentation will do the trick.

#2 TEXT: Keep It to the Minimum & Make It Easy to Read

A one-pager featuring clunky blocks of text or reads like a book is going to engage visitors for a second. Sometimes, even less before they head elsewhere. Keep text brief and in nicely-spaced sections. Strip the information down to its bare essence.

Rely on bold headlines, brief paragraphs, and bullet lists to make your point.

Here are several examples worth bookmarking for future reference:

Dangerous Robot

This example illustrates how super-entertaining a one-page website can be.

Be Tea 3

A great example of careful organization.

Hello Alfred

The essential information is above the fold, where the use of bullet lists helps to keep the message as straightforward and concise as possible.

Be Cakes

This pre-built website illustrates how large attractive images help do the selling when accompanied by judiciously-placed paragraphs of text.

Mercedes-Benz

When a vehicle has the stature of a Mercedes, high quality images accompanied by a minimal amount of text is often sufficient.

#3 VISUALS: Identify the Right Patterns & Use Negative Space Wisely

Knowing how most people will scan a page is helpful. People tend to read text in an F pattern and scan an image in a Z pattern. Keep this in mind when you mix elements. You want the natural flow of the information to be directed toward your goal. Wise use of white space can be helpful.

Chris Connolly

In this example the use of white space is calming and provides a sense of order.

WeShootBottles.com

Here a wildly creative design has been splashed on a canvas of white space.

Be Dietician 2

The white space in this pre-built one-pager makes the different sections appear to pop out at you and demand your attention.

Dribble’s Year in Review

Effectively using several different design principles to the max is a challenge, but it can be done.

Nasal Drops

Not a particularly exciting subject for a one pager is it? This ingenious use of slides, white space, and animations actually succeeds in making a nasal drops one-pager exciting.

#4 NAVIGATION: Make It Easy to Navigate & Entertaining to Scroll

 When you have a long-form one-page website you have to pay close attention to how you manage navigation. Depending on your approach, you can keep visitors locked in or chase them off the page.

Alternative navigation is the key here. Horizontal sticky menu or a sidebar menu are examples. Your goal should be to enable users to jump to where they want to go with a single click, as opposed to scrolling. Auto-scroll links enable visitors to watch the page do the scrolling. This is yet another approach.

Sergio Pedercini

This designer’s website features 3 different auto-scrolling links.

Be Game

Be Game’s navigation experience is somewhat out of the ordinary, and even slightly entertaining.

Be Landing 2

The color scheme, the layout structure, and how you can scan the page with 3 mouse scrolls stand out in this example.

Brainflop

These folks really want to help you navigate their site quickly by provided a menu on the top and one on the left.

#5 CALL TO ACTION: Identify the Correct CTA & Don’t Hesitate to Use It

What’s nice about a one-pager is its aim is to get people to take a single action. This normally would involve using a single CTA button. You also might be selling several products or services, however. Then, you may want to place a CTA button at the end of every major section.

Be Hairdresser

In the Be Hairdresser pre-built website, one CTA button is above the fold and one is located in the menu.

The Art of Texture

Two CTA buttons placed above the fold give users a choice as to what they want to see.

Pyrismic

The Pyrismic site uses a simple opt-in form with a bold CTA button.

Reneza

This site doesn’t fool around with its use of CTA buttons. They’re used judiciously however; and with a proper choice of colors and text sizes.

Wrapping It Up

Now you know the 5 critical one-page website elements. It’s simply a matter of practicing with them until their use becomes habitual.

They may seem simple at first. Once you start mixing them in a one-pager and attempt to do so with consistency you’ll find it can be quite a challenge.

The good news is there’s a shortcut. Try using pre-built websites that have already incorporated these critical elements.

A good pre-built website resource is Be Theme It has an impressive library of more than 60 one-pagers, and 400+ pre-built websites of all kinds. Simply choose a pre-built website and customize it to fit your needs.

Read More at 15 Stunning Examples of What You Need to See in a One-Page Website Design

Being one of the most popular social networks worldwide, Instagram has reached 1 billion active users monthly. Are you surprised by the colossal number? Try to remember the first thing you did this morning when you woke up. It’s quite common for people to stay updated with the virtual world and even their personal business via social media platforms. We wouldn’t exaggerate at all if we said that Instagram is an amazing tool for business promotion. A mobile photo sharing app at first, Instagram now has a few more features that make it more interactive than ever before. Instagram Business Account will do wonders to your company.  

Whether you are a novice to Instagram Business Account, or you already have an account that’s turning in profit, the strategies and techniques are continuously evolving. The reasons businesses choose to use this social network vary; it’s a great place to stand out from the crowd of competitors, to look for new partners, to grow world-wide recognition, to attract more traffic to their websites, so on and so forth.

Create Attractive Visual Style for Your Instagram Business Account

Instagram has evolved from being an app for sharing photos exclusively, to now being able to share videos, stories, and to interact with your followers through live chats. But Instagram is not only about images, but also about text. So in order to make the best out of your Instagram Business Account to have to take care of the both types of content.

• Profile name
• Bio
• Email, Directions, Phone Number
• Theme, Topic, Color
• Filters
• Quotes
• Hashtags
• Tags
• Story
• Live

Profile name

You want your potential clients to find your Instagram Business Account with ease. Don’t overload your name with useless signs and symbols just for the sake of decoration, but keep it simple. Your business’s name is enough. You will notice that Instagram doesn’t allow a two-word name. If your company’s name is formed from more than just one word, the best thing to do is to write them all connected.

Bio

You are given a limited amount of words for your bio, so use it to its maximum potential. In your Bio you can write the name of your company properly, add the location of your headquarters, link to your official website, and the main objectives of your business. In order to structure your information better, make sure you edit your Bio from desktop, instead of the mobile version of the app. It will make it easier for your visitor to find the needed information.

Email, Directions, Phone Number

Right under your Bio, your potential clients have the chance to instantly contact you, find you, or call you. Make sure you add your information correctly and avoid any miscommunications.

Theme, Topic, Color

The looks of your profile can influence whether the visitor will stay or run in horror at their first visual interaction. I already mentioned that a well-structured bio will engage your visitors faster. Also, the first six images they see are just as important. Your featured images need to have the same theme, same topic, and same colors. Of course, you can play with this idea as much as you want. Get creative, get wild, stand out, but stay on point.

Filters

Instagram supplies each user with an arsenal of creative filters to apply to their photos. Not everybody is a professional photographer, but using the right filter can really change the mood of a photo. If you want the flow of your photos to be natural, try to stick to just a few of your favorite filters. Bare in mind that your photos don’t always need a filter.

Quotes

Sometimes photos aren’t enough. If you have a specific quote in mind, a simple description, or even important information, try to add it to the face of your photo in a clean and creative. You also want to keep the message short. People use social media for their convenience, so using a paragraph when a simple sentence will do, is a major turn-off for potential customers.

Hashtags

Plain and simple, hashtags are your keywords. You want to be using relevant hashtags that people will actually look for. Every photo you post should include a variety of hashtags. The more tags, the wider the audience. A helpful tip would be to pay attention to the number of posts pertaining to each tag when you write it out. Try to consistently use the more popular ones.

Story

The Instagram Story feature is a more recent one, and people seem to love it. Use it as a tool to share images and videos that only last 24 hours, for content that doesn’t need a special post, such as discounts, promotions, and shout outs. It is also a great channel for communication with your followers, as they can ask you questions that don’t require elaborate answers. Announce your customers regarding any sales, great offers, or freebies, via the story feature. It allows you to add the texts and emojis that will draw attention for sure.

Live

Live on Instagram literally means a live chat with your followers. It’s an amazing feature where you can interact with you potential customers and answer their questions regarding your products. The best way of using the live chat is to not use it daily. People get bored easily, so save it for special events such as the opening of your business, the launch of a new product, or an office tour.

We hope that these tips will make a difference for your Instagram Business Account. Let us know if they were helpful in the comment section below. Also, we are more than happy to answer any of your questions, so drop those below, too.

Read More at How to Create Attractive Visual Style for Your Instagram Business Account